CELEBRITY VERSUS THE UNKNOWN MAN

Sir,

On April 13, 2011, a man and wife went to sleep together. In the middle of the night the husband woke up hearing a noise in the bathroom. He heard a window opening.

He grabbed his gun, went to the bathroom door and heard noises inside. He fired. He shot his seven months pregnant wife. Both she and the baby died.
The circumstances between Siyabonga Mdunge’s actions and those of Oscar Pistorius could not be more similar, both heard noises in a bathroom, both fired through a closed door and both ended up killing their partners. Both incidents are a tragedy.

evised across the world, Siyabonga’s was conducted quietly with almost zero press attention. Siyabonga received a suspended sentence and Oscar went to jail. So my question is why were these two cases treated so very differently? It can’t be racism, it can’t be rich versus poor, it can only be celebrity versus the unknown man.

The prosecutors were unable to prove that there was any domestic violence involved in this case.  The lives of everyone involved in the awful death of Reeva Steenkamp, have been turned into a media circus. It is a disgrace that Oscar Pistorius had to go through South Africa’s first televised trial by media just because he is a celebrity. The masses wanted a piece of him so the South African justice system turned into a giant television screen. The family of Thobile Mdunge, thankfully never had to go through this further intrusion and have their lives spread across global media. Celebrity is a double edged sword.

Julie Nixon

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