Publication: The Witness
Issued:
Date: 2006-11-21
Reporter: Opinion
Reporter:
Nazi
propagandists found out long ago that if something is sufficiently repeated it
will eventually acquire a life of its own and be
regarded as the truth, quite irrespective of whether it is grounded in reality.
Such is the phrase “a generally corrupt relationship” (between Schabir Shaik and
Jacob Zuma), wrongly attributed to Judge Hilary Squires in regard to his
judgment at the conclusion of the Shaik trial and quoted regularly ever since
(including, inadvertently, in this newspaper).
It has left the media with egg all over its face, not least Business
Day whose editor the judge unsuccessfully tried to contact by e-mail a year ago
to set the record straight. It has also prejudiced Zuma in so far as it has
appeared as if judgment had been passed on him without his ever standing trial.
But that does not necessarily lift the cloud that
has been hanging over Zuma for years. With the Shaik appeal now out of
the way, the national prosecuting authority, whose first attempt to charge Zuma
was so flawed that the presiding judge dismissed the case, must now reassess the
evidence. Zuma’s supporters have long demanded that their
man should have his day in court *1. They are quite right. That, alone, will
bring clarity, one way or the other.
With acknowledgements The Witness
*1 Just do it.