The world is watching South Africa

The spotlight once again is on South Africa as the Oscar Pistorius trial begins.
Questions as to why he shot his model girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp four times through the toilet door need to be answered.
Oscar’s status as an paralympian internationally is the reason for the hype in this case.
Permission to televise the proceedings from the High Court in Pretoria has been granted with limitations in place that cannot be violated.
This is a victory in terms of access to information since this trial has been dubbed a high profile case.
Let’s hope the state has done its homework in terms of evidence and has a watertight case to secure a conviction or the defence can poke holes in the state’s evidence to caste doubts in the mind of the judge.
Ultimately it will be the state’s responsibility to prove to the court that Oscar’s intention was to kill Reeva and this was a premeditated murder.
In mitigation, the defence is going to argue that the killing was a mistake and introduce psychological factors such as his disability to get a lesser sentence or even a complete acquittal.
Recently about a hundred tax fraud charges was dropped from the Shawn Mpisane charge sheet with tax experts blaming a weak legal team for the sudden withdrawal of charges without a valid reason. In the Oscar trial, our judicial system is being showcased around the world.
The state’s case has to be flawless to keep South Africa’s global credibility intact.
It’s going to an exciting three weeks ahead as the details of what happened on that fateful Valentine Day on 14 February 2013 are revealed.

VIJAY SURUJPAL
Phoenix