A Day in Court

Spending a morning at Cape Town Magistrates Court is no laughing matter. The number of dangerous-looking criminals, many of them foreigners, wandering around is enough to make anyone nervous at the best of times.

One very young defendant, whom I suspect was Congolese and had to have an interpreter, was set free because the state had failed to find a fingerprint expert to connect him to his own rap sheet. This violent thief was given a suspended sentence and is now back on the street.

The whole experience was sobering.

The reason for my visit was the Patricia de Lille Crimen Injuria case, in which Mrs. de Lille, leader of the Independent Democrats and Member of Parliament brought a charge against a woman who “insulted” her via SMS.

The content of the five offending SMS’s included the word “Kaffir” amongst others, and it was mildly amusing to watch Mrs. de Lille on the stand describe herself as “black” (for those who don’t know, she is Coloured). Despite the lack of ANY explicit or implicit threat to her person, Mrs. de Lille maintains her human rights were violated.

It is an interesting case, and without wishing to take sides, it must be said that South Africa’s Crimen Injuria law is pretty unique among democracies. In very few places is “insulting” someone privately i.e. where slander or libel legislation does not apply, a crime.

This is a criminal, not a civil case, and the bill is footed by the taxpayer. The burden of proof is upon the plaintiff, although the law is so subjective, the plaintiff merely has to take the stand and claim to have been hurt.

The case is ongoing, and I for one am curious as to how it turns out.