The Dewani murder case has been dominating headlines for weeks now and the latest “twist” in this saga is the publicity campaign to impugn the integrity of the South African judicial system. The crusade by Dewani’s publicist and supporters against the South African judicial system is malicious, manipulative and unfortunate and their claim that Mr Dewani would not be given a fair trial in South Africa is, in my view, without merit.
It is equally unfortunate, and very disappointing, that Adv Paul Hoffman, of the Institute for Accountability in Southern Africa, is apparently assisting the Dewani cause by adding fuel to their fire. While some of the concerns Hoffman raises are true, they are not entirely relevant to whether an accused can expect a fair trial in South Africa; and as he is a senior lawyer I believe we should be able to expect a more accurate and objective response from him. In various newspaper articles Adv Hoffman is quoted as referring to the Fred van der Vyfer case and as having cited “several cases in which police work had been questionable”.
The fact that the police are being sued for malicious prosecution by Fred van der Vyfer does not mean that Dewani would not get a fair trial in South Africa. On the contrary, the fact that Van der Vyfer was acquitted of murder charges, despite the work of the police, and is then able to sue the state in the civil courts supports the fact that South Africa has an independent judiciary and supports the probability that Dewani would get a fair trial, regardless of what the police do.
Furthermore, the suggestion by Hoffman that a trial could be prejudiced because Judge Hlophe allocates the judge to preside over it is absurd and borders on paranoia. Judge Hlophe’s integrity and reputation may have been damaged by his prior conduct and the investigations by the Judicial Services Commission, but Hoffman’s suggestion that Hlophe’s allocation of a judge to hear the Dewani matter could thus lead to an unfair trial very unfairly, and unnecessarily, impugns the reputations of the other judges serving on the bench.
At this time, when a well orchestrated campaign is being waged by a highly effective publicist under mandate from a well-resourced accused, which could thwart the judicial process, South Africa requires calm and objective voices. Despite the problems with the South African criminal justice system there is no reason to doubt that an accused will get a fair trial in our courts.
