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Innocent until proven guilty
16/06/2008 08:07 - (SA)
Jon Qwelane
Western Cape judge-president John Hlophe is a hated man, a very hated man.
His enemies will stop at virtually nothing - even adopting as their own the favourite cut-throat methods of downright thugs - to have him removed from the bench.
Those enemies are a curious bunch of bedfellows - so called "liberals" and rightwing conservatives who are nothing but rabid racists; the only semblance of difference between them being that some speak Afrikaans while the biggest majority comprises English-speakers.
There is also a smattering of allegedly "fair-thinking" people among Judge Hlophe's enemies, such as Patricia de Lille, but among such strange people she is no different from them, certainly ideologically, on this matter.
A verbose twit has castigated me for not commenting last week on the matter of Judge Hlophe, displaying - as is so often the case among the pseudo-liberal racists of this country - the all-too-often pervasive and annoying arrogance of judging the man "guilty" on no evidence at all, and expecting the rest of us to follow suit.
But I will never follow their thinking; now brace yourself for their predictable howls of "racist" and ill-defined or misunderstood so-called hate speech from those who always vow they will "never read this racist drivel again". Read their comments, and make up your mind if they are being truthful that they "never read" this column!
Innocent until proven guilty
About Judge John Hlophe, whatever happened to the lofty "constitutional" principle of innocent until proved guilty, so beloved of true liberals as part of their belief in fair play?
Does it in reality mean that the South African brand of "liberal" is, in reality, a rightwing racist in camouflage? I seriously believe so.
The major transgressors in finding Judge Hlophe guilty before he has even been charged with anything are the so-called liberals and their media, who have all been beside themselves with working out permutations regarding the "fate" they wish for him - impeachment or summary dismissal.
Why, they even trumpeted it loud and with almost triumphant prophecy, that he stands to forfeit everything including a long-service performance grant of R2 million, and earning his salary even in retirement - all of which he would lose if he were fired. They wrote, somewhat mockingly, that he will need the proceeds from his infant winemaking ambitions, and painted an altogether derisive picture of the man.
What never seemed to cross the minds of this motley crowd of constitutional saboteurs and racists was the injustice done to Judge Hlophe by the judges of the Constitutional Court, the men and women entrusted with safeguarding the constitution and ensuring that its dictates are met by everybody.
Strange
It remains strange, though not surprising, that the judges of the Constitutional Court deemed it fit to issue a defamatory statement to their beloved media hatchet men and women about Judge Hlophe even before the judges themselves had formulated properly their so-called allegations against him.
If you are still looking for reasons why some people do not care for the concept of "rule of law" and holding the judiciary in the highest esteem, you would need to search long and hard to find a better example than this shoddy affair involving judges of the Constitutional Court.
To its eternal credit, the Black Lawyers Association (BLA) has been steadfast in rejecting to be drawn into this shameful kangaroo court of arrant injustice against Judge Hlophe; the BLA maintains quite correctly that Judge Hlophe's constitutional rights to dignity and presumption of innocence have been deliberately trampled underfoot by pseudo-liberal racists and their rightwing fellow travellers.
I salute the BLA, and will drink a hearty toast to their principled stance. What the constant and unceasing systematic attacks on Judge Hlophe say is simply that the myth of a so-called transformed SA judiciary is just one hollow bit of nonsense.
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