2014 South African Person of the Year: 2nd Runners-up, Oscar Pistorius and Shrien Dewani
The Daily Mavericks Person of the Year reflects those who have dominated headlines during the year and cast some kind of spotlight on an aspect of South African society or public life.
The one thing both men shared was access to money and influence.
The day after OPs arrest, former UK tabloid editor Stuart Higgins was already on his way to Pretoria from London to assist with a communications strategy while Dewanis family called in Max Clifford, the UKs king of spin. Its alleged that one of Cliffords first moves was to plant a story in Britains Mirror denying rumours that Dewani was having an affair with a female manager in the family firm, in order to counter the allegations that Dewani was secretly gay.
Both men had the necessary funds to hire top legal teams, with the OP camp allegedly approaching a forensic scientist who testified for OJ Simpson. OPs legal bill was said to top R17 million, and his upcoming appeal will presumably take him well beyond this. To fight his extradition, Dewani turned to the services of barristers at Londons Matrix Chambers which features some of the UKs leading human rights lawyers. For his SA trial he procured one of the top legal minds in the country, Advocate Francois van Zyl.
In the case of both men, lawyers argued that they would be especially vulnerable to life in prison. While Dewani fought extradition from the UK to stand trial in South Africa, his legal team said he had severe post-traumatic stress disorder and that his high profile, wealth and looks could see his human rights infringed behind bars.
OPs lawyers said that his disability and psychological weakness would make him a target in jail. Defence witness Annette Vergeer, a probation officer, testified to the court that his disability and state of mind would cause his detention to be an excessive punishment.
State prosecutor Gerrie Nel and witness Zach Modise the acting national correctional services commissioner used the fact of Dewanis extradition as evidence that South Africas prisons were fit for purpose even for those who feel very vulnerable, a category Modise put both Dewani and Pistorius into.
In both cases, it was the criminality of black South Africans that was ultimately pinpointed as being at the heart of the two crimes. OP would never have shot through a door if he had not feared that a black intruder was breaking into his home to harm him. Dewanis defence maintained that his wifes death was a botched hijacking and robbery by the black men already convicted of Hindochas murder which had nothing to do with their client.
In both cases, the quality of police work in the investigations has come in for strong criticism. Hilton Botha, came under fire for his initial handling of the crime scene, including a failure to wear protective covers on his shoes. One vital piece of evidence the toilet door was not treated with sufficient care.
In the Dewani case, the ballistics investigation was flawed - the fact that police only transcribed telephone discussions about the murder three months before trial and the fact that no investigations diary was kept. State witnesses offered a plea bargain by the NPA were found to be so unreliable on the stand that in one case an immunity deal has now been revoked.
We should acknowledge that even that defective work represents the top end of South Africas two-tier criminal justice system: one for the rich, one for the poor. What, then, are we left with? Two men cleared of murder. One in jail, perhaps not for very long. One totally free.
The verdict in the OP trial attracted the charge that Masipa may have mis-applied the law: a charge the appeal court will now have to consider. The Dewani verdict seems far less ambiguous: Traverso said that the evidence was simply too flimsy to proceed.
They are two verdicts which have left many greatly unhappy: the families of both women, but also many ordinary South Africans. Some will argue that these verdicts give substance to the idea of a society where women can be killed with impunity; that they may even embolden those who beat, or rape, or murder women in South Africa. But perhaps we can take comfort in the fact that the judges presiding over the trials were manifestly un-swayed by the court of public opinion or, for that matter, by political pressure.
When the Gauteng Premier attended the OP trial, she made a point of seeking out state witnesses to thank them for their testimony against the athlete. The ANC Womens League in both cases expressed disappointment with the verdicts.
But these politicians sounding off about the trials clearly made not a jot of difference. If there is a positive takeaway message here, it is that the independence of the South African judiciary has been tested and found to be resolute".
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