News and views
Been in Joburg gives me access to all the news and views. 702 is my source of news and after a fire at their transmitter you now find them on 540 MHz.
That said – a few items which I believe do deserve comment.
Different peoples views of “justice”. We have two high profile cases currently in the courts. Case #1 is three employees murdered at a laundry service in Vereeniging. After a short investigation, the owner, his daughter, son in law, friend and gardeners are arrested for the murder. The town and people are suitably shocked.
Bail application was made and denied. Second Application was made and after a hearing the public prosecutor did not oppose bail, basically stating that the case against the accused was “not strong”. Apparently the entire case revolved around a “forced” confession from the Gardener who claims he was tortured. Bail was granted.
The court room apparently went wild and the accused family members were pelted with objects and a near riot ensued. Even the press came under attack.
The reason - the accused only got bail because they were white and the judge (also white) was racist. The mother of one of the murdered woman was quoted as saying :”I will teach my children to hate white people because white people hate blacks”.
Innocent until proven guilty was not an option here evidently.
Case #2. Our erstwhile former Deputy President – fired for been implicated in a bribery scandal – was charged with rape. Salient facts are he invited a married woman over to his place and allegedly “forced himself on her”. His trial started yesterday and first motion was to request the judge to recuse himself. Said judge duly recused himself – for personal reasons – and a massive victory was claimed by the Zuma camp and their supporters. It is understood the next judge is now facing the same application. I assume they will continue this ploy until some judge says no.
Zuma supporters claim Zuma is innocent and is subject to a smear campaign. They mention the complainant could not have been raped.
Zuma is on Bail. No problem there for them.
This is looking like a move towards Justice Africa Style.
One thing that concerned me about the judge was – as Judge President – he appointed himself to hear the case. And then decided to recuse himself for “personal” reasons?
Was he got to?
Joburg – and most of SA for that matter – has had day after day of rain. The roads have been interesting and it takes 90 mins to travel 50kms on a highway. I am very good at following distances when the roads are wet as most vehicles on the road drive as badly as I do.
Yesterday a good following distance proved useful. Traveling along at 60kmph the traffic decided to stop. I stopped around 10 meters from the car in front of me and as I do looked into my rear view mirror to make sure the lad behind me noted I stopped.
See 8 ton truck in rear view mirror. See 8 ton truck slam on brakes. See 8 ton truck skid out of control. Pull off the highway at a dash of speed. See 8 ton truck crash into poor Nissan 1400 Bakkie.
Shake head at the wonderful drivers we have. Continue on journey.
Tomorrow I go back to the Jungle! Tonight I have nookie…. Lots of it!!
Have fun people
And oh yeah – Happy Valentines day!
That said – a few items which I believe do deserve comment.
Different peoples views of “justice”. We have two high profile cases currently in the courts. Case #1 is three employees murdered at a laundry service in Vereeniging. After a short investigation, the owner, his daughter, son in law, friend and gardeners are arrested for the murder. The town and people are suitably shocked.
Bail application was made and denied. Second Application was made and after a hearing the public prosecutor did not oppose bail, basically stating that the case against the accused was “not strong”. Apparently the entire case revolved around a “forced” confession from the Gardener who claims he was tortured. Bail was granted.
The court room apparently went wild and the accused family members were pelted with objects and a near riot ensued. Even the press came under attack.
The reason - the accused only got bail because they were white and the judge (also white) was racist. The mother of one of the murdered woman was quoted as saying :”I will teach my children to hate white people because white people hate blacks”.
Innocent until proven guilty was not an option here evidently.
Case #2. Our erstwhile former Deputy President – fired for been implicated in a bribery scandal – was charged with rape. Salient facts are he invited a married woman over to his place and allegedly “forced himself on her”. His trial started yesterday and first motion was to request the judge to recuse himself. Said judge duly recused himself – for personal reasons – and a massive victory was claimed by the Zuma camp and their supporters. It is understood the next judge is now facing the same application. I assume they will continue this ploy until some judge says no.
Zuma supporters claim Zuma is innocent and is subject to a smear campaign. They mention the complainant could not have been raped.
Zuma is on Bail. No problem there for them.
This is looking like a move towards Justice Africa Style.
One thing that concerned me about the judge was – as Judge President – he appointed himself to hear the case. And then decided to recuse himself for “personal” reasons?
Was he got to?
Joburg – and most of SA for that matter – has had day after day of rain. The roads have been interesting and it takes 90 mins to travel 50kms on a highway. I am very good at following distances when the roads are wet as most vehicles on the road drive as badly as I do.
Yesterday a good following distance proved useful. Traveling along at 60kmph the traffic decided to stop. I stopped around 10 meters from the car in front of me and as I do looked into my rear view mirror to make sure the lad behind me noted I stopped.
See 8 ton truck in rear view mirror. See 8 ton truck slam on brakes. See 8 ton truck skid out of control. Pull off the highway at a dash of speed. See 8 ton truck crash into poor Nissan 1400 Bakkie.
Shake head at the wonderful drivers we have. Continue on journey.
Tomorrow I go back to the Jungle! Tonight I have nookie…. Lots of it!!
Have fun people
And oh yeah – Happy Valentines day!
1 Comments:
I'm suitably impressed with you sticking to a following distance ;)
How about the "travelgate" saga of which I'm still not sure if our Dept President paid or not ?
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