Oscar and injustice for the poor

By: Darlington Majonga

Nothing could have buttressed the widespread perception that our justice system tends to treat celebrities and prominent individuals with kid gloves more than the sentencing of athlete Oscar Pistorius did last week.

Five years in jail seems like a slap on the wrist considering the athlete was found guilty of killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, in the wee hours of Valentine’s Day last year.

What exacerbates the whole issue, at least in the court of public opinion, is the possibility that Pistorius is likely to effectively serve only 10 months behind bars before parole is considered.

We understand the courts, as emphasised by Justice Thokozile Masipa when she sentenced the Olympian, are not there to pander to the public’s every whim.

It indeed matters little that the majority of South Africans and many others in the nook and cranny of the globe who have been following the Pistorius trial feel the sentence was too lenient and somehow trivialised the tragic loss of human life.

The courts are there to serve the public interests, not public opinion, so we have been told.

While we maintain our respect for our justice system, we absolutely understand the public’s exasperation with cases involving not only Pistorius but other high-profile people as well.

Recently, musician Molemo “Jub Jub” Maarohanye and his friend saw their murder convictions being converted to culpable homicide on appeal.

Their sentences were subsequently reduced from 20 years to 10 years, two of which were suspended.

The two are likely to be released on parole within two years.

If you ask any ordinary person, they will tell you – like in the Pistorius case – that was a travesty of justice.

Of course, our competent judges know better and wouldn’t lose sleep over criticisms of their judgments and sentences.

But what should worry them is the social understanding that celebrities, politicians and other prominent and wealthy people are typically judged less harshly than average citizens when it comes to breaking the law and being punished for those crimes.

We are not in any way suggesting that celebrities are always guilty of the crimes they are charged with.

Yet it’s not a secret that one’s wealth and social status have a direct impact on the degree to which society applies laws to them.

And we are well aware too that failure to secure the services of a good legal team normally militates against the efforts of the poor to prove their innocence before the courts.

Not everyone can afford to have Barry Roux in their corner tearing into the state case to convince the court to reduce a murder charge to culpable homicide.

It’s not every man rotting in jail for murder who can afford to appeal against both conviction and sentence, like Jub Jub successfully did.

And, by the way, it’s not anybody’s problem that the majority of people are of no means and cannot afford top-notch legal representation when they are charged.

We have heard the pathetic excuse that celebrities face higher levels of social scrutiny because their crimes are more widely publicised.

Pistorius’s counsel tried to use the same line of defence during the mitigation proceedings, arguing the Blade Runner had already been punished by the court of public opinion.

While those assertions are certainly valid, they are not substantial excuses for the lenient nature of our legal system.

This whole sad scenario actually places a heavier onus on the entire justice system to do thorough work from investigation to prosecution to trial to sentencing.

It’s not the fact that Pistorius has been sentenced to five years in prison for culpable homicide that’s difficult to accept.

It’s the sad realisation that many others who were convicted of similar or less serious charges are doing more time behind bars.

In some cases, the lucky ones among the average citizens are released years after their sentencing when the case is reviewed or new evidence is discovered.

We have also seen celebrities getting away with other less serious crimes like drug possession or driving under the influence of alcohol – transgressions that would see ordinary people locked up in prison.

If our correctional centres are good enough to modify the behaviour of ordinary offenders, they should be good enough to rehabilitate our celebrities and the wealthy too.

Indeed, South Africa’s justice system needs to hold prominent citizens to the same standards to which it holds the rest of us.

And that standard must include the same degrees of punishment.