Monday 24 August 2015

The farce that is the Department of Correctional Services


Kudos to Justice Minister Michael Masutha for referring Oscar Pistorius’ parole back to the review board for clarification and process authenticity, albeit only after political pressure. It emerged that at the time of the decision to release him on parole, he had only served six of the mandatory 10 months (1/6th of the full sentence) BEFORE a decision is made to grant parole. This is apparently the normal order of things on most parole boards across South Africa’s Correctional Services institutions. The standard (but flawed) process is that the review boards unanimously grants parole to a prisoner, without verifying all the details of the prisoner’s sentence, and other extenuating circumstances. In other words, gross incompetence from officials in the Parole Review Boards, hence the reason why violent criminals are released prematurely and without merit.

It’s also heart-warming to know that his parole was vehemently opposed by various women groups around South Africa, including the ANC Woman’s league, by protesting the release of a convicted woman abuser, during woman’s month; especially given that Pistorius did not even serve the mandatory 1/6th of his sentence. Agreeably, this negates the value of recognising the abuse of woman and children in the month of August and giving the ideal little or no power in the ongoing fight against the abuse of women and children.

Coupled with the incompetence and insensitivity of prison officials highlighted by these various groups, the matter of the NPA who appealed the judgement and subsequent sentence from the case was filed and is to be heard in the Supreme Court of Appeal in November. With this being a circumstance of the case, the parole board conveniently ignored it and wanted Pistorius “out of prison as soon as possible”.

The treatment of Pistorius during his short term in prison is similar to the treatment of a sick patient in a hospital ward (although he did feign illness). He is kept in a separate cell of his own. Every request he made was subserviently carried out, and his needs were cared for above that of a normal prisoner; thus not only does he get the best lawyers to defend his case, but when found guilty of a serious crime, he still gets the best treatment in prison, regardless of the gravity of the crime he committed.  The reasons given for his special treatment is that he may be mistreated and abused in a crowded cell, with his person violated! If your average Joe committed the same crime but had different social and financial circumstances, he would be thrown with the wolves. But, because Pistorius is a “high profile prisoner”, he gets special treatment and care.

As far as I’m aware, if you are a convicted criminal, most of your Constitutional rights are revoked, and you become just a statistic and a member of the prison population of South Africa. There should be no discriminating or differentiating between prisoners convicted of the same or similar crimes. The realisation that “South Africa is the most unequal society in the world” does not stop in our free society, but is extended to the society of the criminally convicted as well. In South Africa money not only buys you wealth and prosperity but it also buys you a comfortable life in prison when convicted of any crime!

Monday 17 August 2015

All South Africans are good people, except the band members playing for the Nkandla Crooner


A close friend alerted me to the "open letter to South Africans" by Dawie Roodt on the news24 website, regarding a burglary at his home a few weeks ago. After reading it, one instantly acknowledges the fact that South Africa is filled with good people who will go out of their way to help or assist anyone in times of distress. His unfortunate experience is another statistic contributing to the sad state of affairs in which our security establishment, who is mandated to protect the People of South Africa, (and not only the Nkandla Crooner and his incompetent cronies!), finds themselves.

Although the experience was somewhat traumatising for him and his family, he still had the courage to look beyond the horror and acknowledge the fact that South Africans are good people. The overwhelming response and the way in which help was provided, assisted him in overcoming the terror that transpired in his home and gave him the courage to appreciate the positives of the whole ordeal.  His response to the question of whether his experience will make him consider relocation abroad, is laudable, and instead he provided some points for our esteemed government leaders to ponder.  Whether they will take heed to his suggestions or provide some sympathy for him and his family remains to be seen.

Enter Gwede Mantashe, the mumbling, has-been unionist who berates and scorns anything or anyone critical of the ruling party. His response to the open letter from Dawie Roodt…."They are in a publicity stunt and I don't engage such people," he said. "The letter was not directed to us, it was directed to everyone." 

Suppose it was wishful thinking that the sycophant incompetents will show some leadership and integrity……..

Read the full article here:

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Dawie-Roodts-open-letter-I-will-not-emigrate-20150812

Read Gwede Mantashe’s response here:

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/ANC-Roodts-open-letter-a-publicity-stunt-20150817

Tuesday 4 August 2015

The question of morality and the respect for life


I concur with all the animal lovers and nature conservationists who aired their disgust at the dentist who thought he was only giving Cecil a root canal, but administered too much anaesthesia, with the result that Cecil died on the operating table. I abhor cruelty to animals of any kind, domestic or wild. Some may be dangerous to human beings and therefore should be kept in the wild, while others are domesticated and becomes our closest friends and companions. Regardless of their place in the composition of life, animals were put on this earth for a reason, whether for human companionship or as a key element in the food chain. The protests and uproar against the shooting of Cecil the friendly lion is justified, as game hunting should have no place in society, regardless of any reasoning provided by the defenders of this “sport”.

The level of the uproar was quite fascinating, and it was heart-warming to witness the human spirit of concern for the right to life of any animal on earth. That said, I wonder how many of these animal rights activists and conservationists actually realised that there were thousands of people (yes, human beings) being slaughtered by fellow human beings (if we can call them that) in the same week that Cecil the Lion was hunted in the bush. The life of a single person should take much more precedence over the life of any animal, regardless of the circumstances.  Given the opportunity, that single human being can acquire the skills and ability to save a thousand lions at any point in time, yet we nonchalantly dismiss or choose to ignore the blatant killing of our fellow beings on a daily basis. I’d like to see similar protests and uproars from people across the globe, for the murder and maiming of people in the Middle East, Ukraine, and other regions on earth. The day that this happens, only then can we truly say we respect the right to life for all species on earth.

Sunday 2 August 2015

Chaos in the House of Assembly – Episode 246



It’s that time of the year again……the inevitable JZ question and answer session in the House.  We expect yet another thrilling episode of chaos, pandemonium and forced removals.  No, this is NOT apartheid South Africa and the forced removals from District Six. This is the forced removals from Parliament, of elected representatives of the people. A place where each individual’s constitutional right to Freedom of Association, speech, and Assembly should be respected and defended.  That said the Red Berets seemed to not understand what all this freedom really meant in the respected sanctuary of Parliament. For them, “pushing the envelope”, means any and everything goes, in getting what they want.

Once again, the ruling party went to extraordinary lengths to minimise disruptions from the Red Berets – Covert training operations for parliament security personnel, (read South African Police Services) is once again on the agenda; changing of Parliament rules are tabled, although it remains to be seen if this will be effected before the day in question. Then again, given the lengths these sycophants will go to defend their Emperor, holds no bounds. Will the Red Berets at least allow Mshiniwam to answer the questions put to him, before they go off on their predictable digression again? Or will they prevent any questions from being asked of Mshiniwam. Either way, we are in for another thrilling quarterly episode of Presidential Question and Answer session on Thursday, August 6th. The Game of Thrones has nothing on this mini-series!