Newsletter 94
12/05/14
Open letter to Jani Allan: Oscar Pistorius
Hello Jani,
I disagree that Eugene
Terre’Blanche and Oscar Pistorius are cut from the same cloth.
Eugene Terre’Blance was a selfish
right-wing Afrikaner who believed that South Africa was for Afrikaners
only.
All his attempts to form an army
came to nothing. By all accounts he was of low intelligence. He was not
even a good horseman.
Oscar Pistorius is a very
different person altogether. He is undoubtedly of high intelligence. He
has overcome a physical adversity to get to the top of his chosen
profession.
He is one of the most recognized
faces on planet Earth today, both for his athletic achievements and now
for the murder of Reeva Steenkamp.
The road to fame and wealth
affects people in different ways. Some become extremely positive and
successful human beings, some don’t.
Many wealthy businessmen,
sportsmen and politicians suffer from a syndrome which I call the “OJ
Simpson”- syndrome, where they think that their fame and their wealth
take them above the law. They are immune.
If they break the law, they will
simply hire the best lawyers and spin doctors who will get them out of
their predicament.
The judicial system in South
Africa is deeply flawed and many of the officers are flawed as well. I
know because I fought a law case for 11 years. It is these flaws that
Oscar Pistorius and his legal team hope to exploit.
There is a saying in the legal
circles that if you have enough money, good lawyers can get you off
anything. Oscar Pistorius is banking on this!
Sport is entertainment – top
sportsmen and women are coached to handle the media. Even the Blue Bulls
Rugby players go through a course in Media technique.
Oscar has performed in front of
large crowds, he has given many interviews. He is skilled at performing
in front of cameras. Therefore when the going gets tough in the court
room, he throws, excuse the pun, an “Oscar performance.”
Oscar believes that with the
defense lawyers hired at great cost and his ability to perform at the
right time, he can convince the court that his version is the correct
one. Unfortunately he has made a critical miscalculation. A court room
is not a race track and the officers of the court are not fellow
competitors.
Oscar is out of his comfort zone
and he is up against a brilliant legal mind in Gerrie Nel. In short
Gerrie Nel has exposed Oscar ruthlessly and like Usain Bolt, he has left
Pretorius for dead.
The lessons to be learnt out of
this tragic event are as follows:
To every young girl who has got
herself into an abusive, destructive relationship, I say leave and leave
soon!
We as parents can try to guide and
protect our daughters when they are heading into bad relationships.
Unfortunately “love is blind”, terribly blind.
To our sons we have to try to
convey to them that in a relationship, they come from a different
perspective. They come from physical needs whereas the girl comes with
emotional needs. It is these two needs that sometimes get tragically
confused.
One day I filmed a male lion
trying to mate with a lioness. The lioness refused to mate and he killed
her.
Researchers working on Chimpanzees have found
that their emotions are similar to that of humans. Pleasure,
sadness, curiosity, alarm and rage have all been recorded in
Chimpanzee behaviour. In addition, brutality comparable with human
beings has also been recorded as male Chimpanzees brutalize and even
kill female Chimpanzees, apparently to reinforce the male dominated
society. Chimpanzee's share 99% of our genetic make-up.
I venture that all of us at some
time in our lives, have suffered “temporary insanity.” I remember
vividly when a woman would not do what I wanted, taking out my gun and
firing, fortunately into the air. I was in love with the woman and
deeply hurt by a remark she made. I was “temporary insane.”
In retrospect Oscar Pistorius
should have pleaded “a crime of passion.” Instead he took the low road
and concocted a version which is untrue, unbelievable and impossible.
Judge Masipa comes from a social
worker background, I suspect she will be ruthless on Oscar Pistorius.
As parents the lesson from this
tragic event is to teach our children that mistakes happen all the time.
It’s how you stand up from those mistakes that is important. How you
take responsibility for your actions. Oscar Pistorius never learnt or
else he thought he was too rich and too famous to take responsibility.
He will pay dearly for that.
To Reeva Steenkamp, if only she
could have run out of the house and not into the toilet, she may have
been alive today.
To the Steenkamp family, my
deepest condolences.
Love, Light and Peace
JV
