Oscar Pistorius must reflect on his life and how he chooses to live it, after being cleared of the ‘premeditated murder’ charge, following the shooting of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on February 14, 2013. Conviction on the allegation of committing culpable homicide was still a possibility. The 41-day trial was an examination of South African society itself since the end of apartheid in 1994.
Pistorius had provided millions who watched the court’s proceedings vignettes of his fragile emotional state, but what will stand out after yesterday’s events will be the enduring image of a dignified Zulu judge Thokozile Masipa, who presided over two Afrikaner lawyers and a wealthy Afrikaner accused, and managed to reassert the dignity of a judicial system that has so often been criticised for bias in the past. To give the law its due, no quarter was given and none asked for as the prosecution and the defence tried rigorously to prove their case. Pistorious was also made to walk the hard yards, under the composed presence of the learned judge.
The end of this trial could throw open sensitive issues like domestic violence in South Africa. In 2009, it was estimated that a woman was killed by her husband or boyfriend every eight hours. With a population of 51 million, where the gap between the rich and the poor is among the greatest around the globe, there were 40 firearm offences reported to the police daily.
The proceedings were fair. Pistorius must now redeem himself, but South African society should still tackle some pertinent questions in the 20th year of its democracy.
