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With the arrest of four men on charges of attempted murder, assault and robbery after a siege over the festive season against the headwoman and local residents opposed to the mining of the Xolobeni mineral sands, the prosecutor in the Bizana Magistrates Court showed welcome determination to keep them in custody until their trial commences.  Yet the media did not turn up to cover the marathon precedent setting bail hearing, preferring to cover the imprisonment of a king convicted of similar charges. 

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Who has the greater right to the kingship of AmaMpondo aseQaukeni – Princess Wezizwe Sigcau or her cousin Chief Zanozuko Sigcau?  Judge John Murphy ruled that the Princess ask the Constitutional Court to uphold her claim, but in the meantime President Zuma is legally empowered to recognise Zanozuko as King. The Princess has sought leave to appeal that ruling, but the ramifications of Murphy’s Law go way beyond the interests of the AmaMpondo. Sanral, an Australian mining company, and all who cherish the Pondoland Wild Coast are stakeholders in the final outcome of a dispute that has simmered for nearly 80 years.

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"I think that the intoxication of power is probably the single biggest challenge for the world at the moment, right up there with climate change," says Professor of psychology Ian Robinson of Trinity College, Dublin.  When the holder of a powerful office projects his “unbridled intuition” onto the world at large, it is time for drastic action. Will South African Members of Parliament rise to the occasion and impeach disgraced President Jacob Zuma?

“We do not see things as they are. We see things as we are.”

— Rabbi Shemuel ben Nachmani, as quoted in the Talmudic tractate Berakhot (55b.)

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Richard Spoor in a sea of briefs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peering down from the press gallery in the Constitutional Court on 17 August 2010 one couldn’t help but notice the asymmetry between the “for” and “against” benches. That was the day that Thembekile Mankayi vs AngloGold Ashanti Ltd was being argued. On the applicant’s side of the court a single attorney “David” (Richard Spoor) stood with a British law student and a social worker passing him ammunition as he aimed his slingshot at the “Goliath” ranged against him – the gold mining industry.

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About John GI Clarke

John Clarke hopes to write the wrongs of the world, informed by his experience as a social worker and theologian, to actualise fundamental human rights and satisfy fundamental human needs.  He has lived in the urbanised concentration of Johannesburg, but has worked mainly in the rural reaches of the Wild Coast for the past decade.  From having paid a fortune in toll fees he believes he has earned the right to be critical of Sanral and other extractive institutions, and has not held back while supporting Sustaining the Wild Coast (www.swc.org.za), the Southern African Faith Communities Environment Institute (www.safcei.org.za) and the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (www.outa.co.za), in various ways.

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