Monday, December 5, 2016

Prejudice … We are Guilty as charged

The Reality:
At 5am on 20 June 1960 I joined other lads around the radio of our Hostel Master, Richard Brown. We were breathless in anticipation and excitement. Two boxers on the other side of the World were about to settle a contest of pugilistic superiority. We did not know either of them from a bar of soap.
But we unreservedly rooted for Floyd Patterson, an American boxer, in his fight against Jens Ingemar Johansson, a Swedish boxer. In their previous fight the Swede had beaten Patterson, flooring him 7 times. This proof of the Swede being the better boxer was simply discounted by us. Patterson was our man. He was better. He was superior. He was going to win. He was going to get revenge. It was a revenge that we all needed. The issue/situation was compounded by old debates about Aryan supremacy, first mooted when Max Schmeling beat the legendary "Brown Bomber", Joe Louis, in 1939.
We were now “fundamentalist” supporters of Patterson for no reason other than that we were Coloured lads and Patterson was Black. As was later pointed out to us by Fr Adalbert we had blindly favoured Patterson purely on account of his ethnicity, disregarding who of the two might have been the “saint” or the “sinner”.
Simply put, we were guilty of prejudice; racial prejudice; no more no less. As a German, Father Adalbert knew all about racial prejudice having witnessed the horrors of Nazism and the Holocaust.
We are indeed prejudiced; all of us are prejudiced; deeply biased and prejudiced. It is as natural as breathing. We naturally regard ourselves, and our race, ethnic or tribal grouping, more favourably, more considerately, more sensitively … than we do others. We are naturally inclined to be disdainful, dismissive, even condemnatory of others, whenever they are in a situation of competition with our grouping.
As said we don’t make these distinctions consciously. It is all automatic and just as we do not consciously take a breath we do not consciously decide to be disdainful and dismissive about those in competition with our group. That is why and how we came to be in support of Patterson. As Coloureds it was this Black boxer that we had a racial/ethnic affinity with. He was part of “us” and the Swede was “the other”.
So, with respect, the clichéd statement that “racism is not something that we are born with but must be learnt” is not 100% correct. We are born with capacity for inherent and active bias in “our” favour and against “others”, whether it be about a boxing match, a soccer match, a beauty contest, political leadership ... etc. It is instinctive. 
It is prejudice because it is not based on reason. We don’t think about it.  We don’t reason it out. As said, it is as natural and automatic as breathing. The definition of prejudice is a conclusion that is not based on reason.
In the Beginning:
Feel free to imagine that this was encoded in our DNA when we were once alone in the cave, clinging together, mistrustful, resentful, fearful of everything and everybody out there. It was a matter of survival to stick together at all costs. This instinctive culture was founded on fear then, and still is. So, whether you are English, Jewish, Zulu, Greek, Ndebele, Maori, American, Tswana, Coloured, Muslim, Christian … you are biased and prejudiced in favour your own race, ethnic, tribal grouping as a matter of pure instinct. I adverted to this in an SABCTV1 broadcast.
This was not a problem prior to 1948. It was openly acknowledged, supported propagated. It was both the glue and the propellant of nationalism. In terms thereof nations routinely “went forth, invaded, conquered , subjugated” and even enslaved other nations. The Greeks did. The Romans did it. The Vikings did it. Genghis Khan is credited with killing more people in his conquest of Asia than people killed in the last World War. Locally we had King Shaka Zulu, Mzilikazi and Lobengula doing the same thing.
Might is right” was a universal culture. The 1885 Conference of Berlin specifically authorised the invasion, conquest and annexation of Africa by European nations. This was the blue print for the colonization of Africa.
No one lamented the decimation, brutalization, extermination and genocide of “first humans” such as the Khoi-San of Southern Africa, the Aborigines of Australia, the Native-Americans and the Aztecs of South America.
It is the way the world was and had been from the time Cain killed Abel.
An Epiphany:
Then a chap named Hitler overdid the “might is right” culture, tried to conquer the whole world, perpetrating the Holocaust in the process. The horror of it all induced an epiphany on the part of mankind leading to most nations signing off on the Universal declaration of Human Rights (“UDHR”) at the United Nations (“UN”) in 1948.

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

The Republican Convention

Watching and listening to the Republican ConventionI was hit by déjà vu. What is being played out has all happened before and Ipersonally witnessed the Rhodesia version.
In each instance the campaign model or strategywas/is the same. Instil fear. Whip up paranoia. Stir up apprehension.
Do this by taking the truth of the existence of athreat and turn it into the BIG LIE that a half-truth often is. Understand thata half-truth is often worse than the most pernicious lie.
Certainly Germany, like many other countries hadthreats to contend with. So too as regards Rhodesia and the USA. However, andit is very big however, none were/are under threat of being overrun by an externalenemy and everyone murdered in their beds or subjugated, as was at leastnotionally the case with Winston Churchill and the United Kingdom, forinstance. ISIS is a threat to the whole world, not just America.
In these situations, the common theme is that thecreated/imagined external enemy is then represented by a named proxy.
Germany brazenly identified the Jews as a start.
Ian Smith named “Communist inspired Blacks”.
The Trump camp identifies Muslims by way of theverbal lynch pin of “radical Islamic terrorists”.
To Germany feel free to add the Polish. To Rhodesiafeel free to add “the Brits and Communists”. To the Trump camp feel free to addthe Mexicans, Chinese and all others that are now disrespecting, bullying andmaking America “small”.
In this way we see how human passions are inflamedat their most basic level. Thinking is replaced by feelings. Cognitive processis pushed out by emotion. Humans find themselves back in the cave stressed outby real and largely imagined threats out there, banding together, driven byirrational emotivism, engulfed by mob instinct.
The mob does not think. Once it is infused with themood of a mob it is only capable of following. It follows whosoever has beenposited as the leader. The leader has been created in the imagination of themob. This has been done by way of stentorian rhetoric that he is great; hecares; he will save you; he is a leader; he is strong … etc. … etc. … withhardly a shred of hard evidence that he has any of these attributes. There is NO hard evidence that Trump is any of the things that are beingclaimed about him. Neither is there a shred of evidence as to how he is goingto make America "safe" and "great again". Whatgives the leader credibility is mood and passion … not merit. The herd instinctis to follow, not to question.
The simplest of cognitive questioning would havemade it obvious to the German people that Hitler was a narcissistic demagogueon a diabolical mission. I was personally driven to distraction trying to getotherwise very bright White Rhodesians to see that Ian Smith’s gambit to tryand preserve White supremacy and minority rule was absolutely doomed tofailure.
At least the paranoia of White Rhodesians wasunderstandable. They did stand to lose their status of racial dominance. WithGermany the herd was induced into embracing Nazism and its fascist culture. TheTrump herd is on a similar path. It feels good about being a herd … aboutacting without question … following a new found leader, whose only credibilityis a torrent of narcissistic rhetoric about himself … about fear … about “usand them” … about lost greatness … about nationalism ... about regainingdominance … over others … dominance over all others.
Ian Smith was simply naïve on account of his racistculture.
Hitler was a narcissistic demagogue with ademonical ideology.
Donald Trump is simply a narcissistic con man. Hehas spotted the real concerns that many American have, as articulated by Bernie Sanders and conjoined them to what Rhodesian Whites and many Americans feelabout losing their status of power and dominance over others.
So he has very artfully hijacked the RepublicanParty and turned its members into a mindless nationalistic herd with truth andjustice being suffocated in the dust being thrown up by their thunderinghooves.
Those thundering hooves are also trampling upon sacredAmerican values, destroying America’s status as the leader of the free worldand seeking to turn it into a pariah State.
God help America.

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Order ---http://proudlyzimbabwean.orgfree.com/book_page.html



Saturday, June 11, 2016

The Republican Party Has to Dump Donald Trump

 …. It has no option whatsoever
Despite the obvious racism Trump displayed in his rantings about Muslims and Mexicans, in particular, there was always just enough obfuscation about what he actually meant for the Republican Party to duck, dive and wriggle.
Now there is simply no room to wriggle.  His attack on U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel for just being of Mexican roots, was undeniable racist, and none other than Paul Ryan, Party Leader confirmed this much in observing that this accorded with the textbook  definition of racism.
Other Party leaders have mumbled this and that but have not been able to deny that this was indeed racist. Mitt Romney however has made no bones about the fact that Trump is racist.
It is also necessarily the case that, at a stroke, he has characterized all humans of Mexican blood or heritage as untrustworthy, because if a Mexican Judge cannot be trusted, simple logic determines that no Mexican can be trusted. So in Trump’s America this grouping stands to be victimized as deviant.
To-day Trump included, in Hillary Clinton rant and froth, that “we will protect and defend Christians”repeating this and removing any doubt about the exclusivity of this protection by way of hand signal/gesture.
 At a stroke Trump has committed to a fundamental breach of the Social Contract, in terms of which all citizens must be protected equally in return for their loyalty to the State, whatever their political affiliations, race, colour of religion.
Incidentally, all Christians should very easily understand that the above constitutes a brazen repudiation of what is at the very heart of the teachings of Jesus Christ as expressed by – “love thy neighbour as thyself, and do unto others as you would have them do unto you”.
The Republican Party has no option but to dump Trump. There can be no wriggling. It cannot be the case that it endorses racism and un-constitutionalism, because the Constitution, in letter and spirit stipulates equality as not negotiable. The obvious analogy is that it would have to dump a candidate who was uncovered as a serial killer/rapist whatever the popular vote.
It matters not that he enjoys popular support. For instance, a law that is passed in terms of popular support, will still be struck down by the US Supreme Court if it is inconsistent with the Constitution. This is not rocket science. It is not complex jurisprudence. It is 2nd year law stuff.
We should remember that Watergate was a saga in which the Republican Party led and brought home the indictment against President Richard Nixon that the President and the Constitution could not be incongruent.

So Republican leaders need to get the above confirmed by its legal eagles and give notice that at the upcoming Republican Convention the Party of Lincoln, Roosevelt, Eisenhower and Reagan has no option but to rule that, just as it cannot endorse a rapist, it cannot endorse a racist and a candidate who is also bent on breaching reconstitution.
For more clarity on this issue view this masterful take by Senator Elizabeth Warren.

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On 19 July 2016 the Republican Party official endorsed a bigoted, misogynist, mendacious, brazen lying fraudster as its candidate to be President of the United States of America.

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Order --- theother.orgfree.com.



Wednesday, May 25, 2016

The Loss of Courageous Empathy --- as humanity regresses

From the time man was in a cave, huddled together, suspicious, fearful, even terrified of a world that he had very little understanding of, he was instinctively averse to anything and everybody that was different or foreign.
Brotherly love meant just that, i.e., acceptance and love of those that were part of you and yours, not strangers.
As man conquered his real and imagined enemies, human or animal, he developed a culture of dominance. As he started to leave the cave and become more adventurous this culture expanded to “go forth, invade, conquer and subjugate”.
It became a universal culture across this planet. The Greeks did it. The Romans did it. Genghis Khan is credited with killing more humans in his invasion of Asia than were killed in the last world war. In the southern African region, King Shaka Zulu and Mzilikazi depopulated whole regions with their genocidal mfecane campaigns. Subjugation often took the form of slavery.
You will find no text disapproving of slavery in either the Bible or the Quran. It was this culture that drove colonization of the Americas and Africa in particular.
So whether it be colonial Africa, America or Great Britain the culture of dominance is very, very deep rooted indeed. As much as the world was hit by the admonishment by the Man from Jerusalem that “love your neighbour as yourself, and do unto others as you have them do unto you” mankind has never lost this culture of dominance. It has always been there, lurking in the subconscious ready to become manifest given the right conditions.
“Democracy everywhere is facing serious challenges. The United States is gripped by the most bizarre presidential primary campaign in living memory, with populist outsiders threatening to topple established party machines … Europeans trace their malaise to a democratic deficit in the European Union. And, in the United Kingdom, the vision of recovered national sovereignty is fuelling the campaign to leave the EU."
[Subjecting the British electorate to the Brexit referendum by Harold James]
The reason why Harold James describes the USA presidential campaign as bizarre is that Americans, in their millions, are following a man who, by the hard evidence spewing from his own mouth, would ordinarily be dismissed out of hand as a bigoted, misogynistic, narcissistic, dangerous, sexist buffoon. The previous front runner, on the Republican side, Ben Carson, was summarily dumped despite presenting as a modicum of sweet reason and love.
In the United Kingdom the polls are showing beyond any doubt that the primary, overarching concern of those that support leaving the European Union is the issue of “migration”, i.e., foreign invasion of their areas, schools, hospitals … etc. …
Simply put these humans are displaying a strong subconscious need to preserve, secure and protect their dominance against “others”. That is what Harold James is referencing by use of the words “national sovereignty”. It is the prospect of internal displacement by “others” that is the predominant concern, not the economic fall-out. These British humans are not that concerned about losing the strength and advantages of European unity. They are obsessed with ensuring internal dominance by the exclusion of “others”.
It is the same with the Americans. There is a huge insecurity that has infused the traditional gun toting, macho dominant “real Americans”. Consciously and sub-consciously, this almost certainly largely White grouping sees itself, what it has and what it represents, as under threat from all sides.

Those threats have built up over time and include the fact of a neutral but “Black President”, Mexicans, Muslims, Chinese and the upsurge of competitiveness for dominance from “other Americans” such as African-Americans and Hispanics. Campaigns and demonstrations like the “Black Lives Matter” movement has served to spook these “real Americans” at the very core of their beings.

This is a hysterical reaction that has built up deep in the psyche, welling up from the subconscious, as much as it is the case with some, such as the Ku Klux Klan and their hero Donald Trump, that such dominance should never have been put in jeopardy in the first place. This pro-Trump grouping feels challenged and insecure in their position and status of dominance.
It is therefore not at all surprising that, as I am typing this out, Donald Trump is making a speech to an adoring mob that “we are going to build a wall … a high wall … a real wall ... a Trump wall …” etc. The absurdity and futility of a powerful nation like the USA needing a wall against “little Mexico” is completely lost on these humans now gripped by a mob mentality of “us and them”. One does not need an overactive imagination to foresee situations where “water boarding and worse” is going the be used to force humans to give up their relatives who might be illegal migrants so that they can be cleaned out like vermin.
What is also particularly worrisome is that the moment he attacked Hillary Clinton for relying on the female vote, and she had actually done no such thing, there was a swing from Hillary to Trump as regards popularity.
The notion, claimed on social media, that Trump is some sort of champion for the now dispossessed, disempowered masses (apparently by Obama), is so ludicrous and disingenuous as to be no more, no less, a bare faced lie. It is quite difficult to imagine a "fat cat" that has had his snout more deeply in the trough of rapacious capitalism than Donald Trump.
This phenomenon is not new. The most horrific example of this, in the modern era, occurred in Germany with the advent of another narcissistic, bigoted, very dangerous buffoon by the name of Adolf Hitler. In that case the “others” were specifically identified as Jews, the Polish and any other human beings found to be different, such as Gays, up to and including Gypsies.
In America the brand logo is “Make America Great Again”. In Germany it was “Nazism”. In both cases otherwise sentient humans flock in their millions to support new found madness in nationalistic fervour, because consciously and sub-consciously their need to regain dominance has been inflamed.
Thus the world is seeing that the courageous empathy pioneered by the likes of Abraham Lincoln is being lost. It had found concrete expression in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, signed off by nearly all nations in 1948, after two world wars and the Holocaust. It is being lost despite the sterling efforts of the current Prince of the Man from Jerusalem (the Pope) and other voices of reason.
Nationalistic fervour to protect dominance is the name of the game. Unkindness, mean spiritedness, even bigotry and their diabolical effects are now inconsequential with the Americans in particular.


In South Africa the second last voice of courageous empathy, being that of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, has been all but silenced.
The last voice,being Professor Jonathan Jansen, is soon to be lost to Standford University in the USA.
It may be that in this way , providence will rekindle it in that hitherto great country, so full of promise as leader of the free world.
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Order --- http://proudlyzimbabwean.orgfree.com/book_page.html



Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Why I support Hillary Clinton to be leader of the free world.

From the time man was in a cave, huddled together, suspicious, fearful, even terrified of a world that he had very little understanding of, he was instinctively averse to anything and everybody that was different or foreign.
Brotherly love meant just that, i.e., acceptance and love of those that were part of you and yours, not strangers.
As man conquered his real and imagined enemies, human or animal, he developed a culture of dominance. As he started to leave the cave and become more adventurous this culture expanded to “go forth, invade, conquer and subjugate”.
It became a universal culture across this planet. The Greeks did it. The Romans did it. Genghis Khan is credited with killing more humans in his invasion of Asia than were killed in the last world war. In the southern African region, King Shaka Zulu and Mzilikazi depopulated whole regions with their genocidal mfecane campaigns. Subjugation often took the form of slavery.
You will find no text disapproving of slavery in either the Bible or the Quran. It was this culture that drove colonisation of the Americas and Africa in particular.
So whether it be colonial Africa, America or Great Britain the culture of dominance is very, very deep rooted indeed. As much as the world was hit by the admonishment by the Man from Jerusalem that “love your neighbour as yourself, and do unto others as you have them do unto you” mankind has never lost this culture of dominance. It has always been there, lurking in the subconscious ready to become manifest given the right conditions.
“Democracy everywhere is facing serious challenges. The United States is gripped by the most bizarre presidential primary campaign in living memory, with populist outsiders threatening to topple established party machines … Europeans trace their malaise to a democratic deficit in the European Union. And, in the United Kingdom, the vision of recovered national sovereignty is fuelling the campaign to leave the EU."
[Subjecting the British electorate to the Brexit referendum by Harold James]
The reason why Harold James describes the USA presidential campaign as bizarre is that Americans, in their millions, are following a man who, by the hard evidence spewing from his own mouth, would ordinarily be dismissed out of hand as a bigoted, misogynistic, narcissistic, dangerous, sexist buffoon. The previous front runner, on the Republican side, Ben Carson, was summarily dumped despite presenting as a modicum of sweet reason and love.
In the United Kingdom the polls are showing beyond any doubt that the primary, overarching concern of those that support leaving the European Union is the issue of “migration”, i.e., foreign invasion of their areas, schools, hospitals … etc. …
Simply put these humans are displaying a strong subconscious need to preserve, secure and protect their dominance against “others”. That is what Harold James is referencing by use of the words “national sovereignty”. It is the prospect of internal displacement by “others” that is the predominant concern, not the economic fall-out. These British humans are not that concerned about losing the strength and advantages of European unity. They are obsessed with ensuring internal dominance by the exclusion of “others”.
It is the same with the Americans. There is a huge insecurity that has infused the traditional gun toting, macho dominant “real Americans”. Consciously and sub-consciously, this almost certainly largely White grouping sees itself, what it has and what it represents, as under threat from all sides.

Those threats have built up over time and include the fact of a neutral but “Black President”, Mexicans, Muslims, Chinese and the upsurge of competitiveness for dominance from “other Americans” such as African-Americans and Hispanics. Campaigns and demonstrations like the “Black Lives Matter” movement has served to spook these “real Americans” at the very core of their beings.

This is a hysterical reaction that has built up deep in the psyche, welling up from the subconscious, as much as it is the case with some, such as the Ku Klux Klan and their hero Donald Trump, that such dominance should never have been put in jeopardy in the first place. This pro-Trump grouping feels challenged and insecure in their position and status of dominance.
It is therefore not at all surprising that, as I am typing this out, Donald Trump is making a speech to an adoring mob that “we are going to build a wall … a high wall … a real wall ... a Trump wall …” etc. The absurdity and futility of a powerful nation like the USA needing a wall against “little Mexico” is completely lost on these humans now gripped by a mob mentality of “us and them”. One does not need an overactive imagination to foresee situations where “water boarding and worse” is going the be used to force humans to give up their relatives who might be illegal migrants so that they can be cleaned out like vermin.
What is also particulalry worrisome is that the moment he attacked Hillary Clinton for relying on the female vote, and she had actually done no such thing, there was a swing from Hillary to Trump as regards popularity.
The notion, claimed on social media, that Trump is some sort of champion for the now dispossessed, disempowered masses (apparently by Obama), is so ludicrous and disengenuous as to be no more, no less, a bare faced lie. It is quite diffcult to imagine a "fat cat" that has had his snout more deeply in the trough of rapacious capitalism than Donald Trump.
This phenomenon is not new. The most horrific example of this, in the modern era, occurred in Germany with the advent of another narcissistic, bigoted, very dangerous buffoon by the name of Adolf Hitler. In that case the “others” were specifically identified as Jews, the Polish and any other human beings found to be different, such as Gays, up to and including Gypsies.
In America the brand logo is “Make America Great Again”. In Germany it was “Nazism”. In both cases otherwise sentient humans flock in their millions to support new found madness in nationalistic fervour, because consciously and sub-consciously their need to regain dominance has been inflamed.
Thus the world is seeing that the courageous empathy pioneered by the likes of Abraham Lincoln is being lost. It had found concrete expression in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, signed off by nearly all nations in 1948, after two world wars and the Holocaust. It is being lost despite the sterling efforts of the current Prince of the Man from Jerusalem (the Pope) and other voices of reason.
Nationalistic fervour to protect dominance is the name of the game. Unkindness, mean spiritedness, even bigotry and their diabolical effects are now inconsequential with the Americans in particular.

In South Africa the second last voice of courageous empathy, being that of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, has been all but silenced.
The last voice,being Professor Jonathan Jansen, is soon to be lost to Standford University in the USA.
It may be that in this way , providence will rekindle it in that hitherto great country, so full of promise as leader of the free world.
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To get a book that will enthrall, intrigue, entertain and provoke very meaningfully go to -- http://proudlyzimbabwean.orgfree.com/book_page.html



Monday, May 2, 2016

74. Dispensing death

In a case I had to deal with on the Mutare circuit involved an accused who the assessors and I had little difficulty in finding guilty of the premeditated, planned and viciously executed murder of an elderly defenseless woman in the sanctity of her home, to which the accused had gained access through the roof tiles. He had thereafter subjected his victim to a long, slow and lingering death by torture. This involved slicing her all over her body whilst playing a "cat and mouse" game with her and then leaving her to die of blood loss, cold and exposure. 
Under Zimbabwean law murder is punishable by death unless there are "extenuating circumstances", i.e. special features mitigating the crime. There were simply no extenuating circumstances, only aggravating features. This was a case of the cold blooded and ruthless putting to death of a human being by an arrogant and unrepentant killer. There was little his counsel could advance on his behalf. 
Any normal person will baulk at sending another human being to death. It is hardly surprising. When a person is hanged he is placed on a trap door with his hands handcuffed behind his back and his feet manacled together. His head is covered with a black hood. The noose is then placed around his neck with the knot under the left side of the chin. 
Upon the hangman pulling a lever the trap doors spring open and the man falls a distance that has been especially calculated taking into account his weight and height. Once the man has fallen the length of the rope the noose snaps tight and the knot jerks his head backwards dislocating the vertebrae at the axis bone of the neck which severs the spinal cord. This induces an instant loss of blood pressure and unconsciousness with brain death occurring within minutes. As the central nervous system is shut down, on severance of the spinal cord, all muscles instantly relax, including the sphincter muscle, often leading to the release of faeces and urine down the legs of the deceased. 
Correctly executed it is a most effective and humane way of putting a human being to death. This scientific fact however brings little comfort to the mind of any normal human being involved with the execution of a human being. There is something terribly disturbing to one's innermost self about the whole business of consciously, purposefully and cold heartedly killing another human being. 
As I proceed to pronounce on sentence there is a particular expression of expectancy etched in the faces of the relatives of the deceased, seated in court awaiting justice for their loved one. I hear the voice of the judge, in his red robes, black sash and white wig, set out the reasons for sentence, the words falling like the deft strokes of an artist painting a picture that is disquieting, chilling, disturbing to the senses. 
“You took it upon yourself to decide that this defenseless fellow human being should be put to death, to die even though in the sanctity of her own home …”
That voice is mine, but it is not me, it is the voice of a Judge, the voice of justice. This phenomenon of disassociation in which I have an impression of having a dual personality occurred when I first walked into court as a judge and was to remain with me for all the years I served. When I first walked into "A" court, some 10 years after Sir Hugh Beadle said- "Sergeant - take him away - and I hope to never see him in my court", the fear for a court that then gripped me as a private individual was still with me and was to never leave me every time I entered court.
This fear, however, did not infuse the mind or heart of me as the presiding judge. Therein lay only a deep sense of solemnity and reverence for the age old business at hand. I am conscious also of the faces of all those in court, solemn and expectant, that the wheels of justice must now make their final turn. 


The voice of justice goes on- 
“The manner of her death, at your hands, was to be cruel and sadistic. After so many years of living, interacting with others, including her most loved ones, her life was to be prematurely terminated in a process involving prolonged torture; with death coming as a blessed relief after slow, lingering, terrible suffering. 
Stand up. Because there are no extenuating circumstances as envisaged by law in your case, the court is obliged to impose the following sentence. 

You are to be taken to a place of execution and there hanged by the neck until you are dead. Do you understand?” 

Court was then adjourned. Although dealing with the issues regarding sentence and imposing the death sentence was an extremely solemn and serious business indeed, at no stage did I feel any discomfort, only a deep sense of solemn exaltation at this final turn of the wheels of justice. 
Having exited the courtroom I reached a point where I had to step down in order to enter a passage leading to my chambers. It was only a small step. I tried to take the step and failed. Try as I might I could not manage the simple business of stepping down into the passage. I was not paralyzed but my legs would not respond. 
I had only experienced this once before when our boat bumped onto a submerged hippopotamus in the Zambezi. The animal rose up behind the boat bellowing at nerve vaporizing sound decibel levels whilst advancing on the boat. A terrible fate for us was just nano seconds away when fortunately the boat started and we sped away in the nick of time to a safe distance. 
When I then tried to stand up in the boat I found that I could not. I had lost the use of my lower limbs. I had also lost control of my arms, as when I tried to pick up an object in the boat, I found that I ended up throwing the object high into the air instead of simply bringing it up to where I wanted it. All my movements were jerky and uncontrolled. Undoubtedly the boat experience was due to shock. Being that close to such an animal in that state of rage made my blood curdle, my body freeze and all my nerves jangle. I was shaking like a leaf. 
However I had not been aware of any effect whatsoever impacting my person in sentencing the accused to death. Other than feeling very sombre, I felt as normal as could be. But I was not. I could not take the step and was only able to finally do so, and walk to my chambers, when the court interpreter arrived and physically assisted me. Obviously imposing the death sentence on another human being affected me profoundly even though I was not conscious of this.



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Extract from my book.  Link - http: //theother.orgfree.com/

PS: I have sentenced 5 people to death. In the book I address the issue of whether or not the death sentence is to be supported or not.

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To get a book that will enthrall, intrigue, entertain and provoke very meaningfully go to -- http://proudlyzimbabwean.orgfree.com/book_page.html



Monday, April 25, 2016

The Toxicity of Nationalism ... Brexit

He is not British … he is not from the United Kingdom … he is a foreigner … he is different … he is black … who the hell does he think he is … ???
so what he has to say is to be disregarded … ignored … resented … poo pooed … hated … because it comes from the mouth from he who is NOT one of US.
This is the attitude on the part of most British folk towards the well meaning advice by President Barrack Obama about Britain possible exiting the European Union. Alas the reaction is as natural as breathing. He is seen as an intruder. His advice is heard as invasive.
It is a humongous case of the British being “us” and Obama being part of “them”.
It harks back to the time when we were in caves, clinging together, fearful, suspicious and guarded against anything and everything that was different … especially if it dared to step onto our turf. It is the outer wall of our instinct of survival.
The herd sticks together and instinctively relies on and trusts members of the herd; conversely being very averse to others.
In modern parlance we do not refer to the herd, or herd mentality. We now reference this phenomenon as nationalism. The herd instinct and mentality certainly ensured our survival when we were still in caves as insular groups struggling and competing against all kinds of odds, most of which we had very little understanding off.
But we have made incredible progress since then, and the biggest progress we have made is to become infused with understanding as to what is a threat and what is beneficial. We have learnt to discriminate between good and bad, positive and negative, beneficial and malignant.
We do this in our daily lives and mostly we succeed, as individuals, as families, as friends … until the trigger of nationalism is sprung. At that point common sense, reason, tolerance and acceptance of that which is different is resented, railed against and even attacked.
The worst example in modern times was master-minded by Adolf Hitler, and his 3rd Reich. He created the “Nazi” brand and by screeching the language of nationalism managed to induce over 12 million otherwise perfectly good German folk to join. There is no need to burden this post with making the obvious point of just how malevolent the Nazi brand was towards “others”.
The other worst example that is with us right now is ISIS with its uncompromising dogma that Islam be the one and only nation on this planet.
Barrack Obama is just another human being. However, he is a very, very credible human being. He certainly has the credibility to proffer advice to the United Kingdom, especially as the UK is America’s best friend on this planet. In fact, had it not been for America, the UK might well have been overrun by Hitler’s 3rd Reich. So America and the UK are indeed closely bonded.
So why in the name of heaven would you want to resent advice from your best friend?? Surely what you should do is to assess the advice and then accept it, wholly or in part, or reject it … but maintain the mutual respect?? Why is well meaning advice from you best friend making you go mad??
Why the frothing at the mouth, stamping of feet, hissy fit and fanny wobbles?? None other than the Mayor of London, and possible future Prime minister of the UK, Boris Johnson, became so irrational as to even drag Obama’s ethnicity into the equation. WOW!!!! It is mind boggling!!!!
I would say to Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage that President Obama is not the enemy and you are not Winston Curchill making "we will fight on the beaches ... " speech. It is NOT time for British nationalism.
Polls are showing that the majority of British people resent Obama ’s advice. It is nationalism that has been triggered. Nationalism is never a good thing.
It is the same malady that has infused the Republican camp. America now has its own and new version of Hitler.
PS: Clinton thanked her own supporters and said, “To all the people who supported Senator Sanders, I believe there is much more than unites us than divides us.”
That lady is right!!!!

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Tuesday, April 12, 2016

The Case of the Coloured Correctional Service Officers

Coloured officers (and one White) are being denied promotion even though they have been recommended by assessment Boards after very long service.

Government wants the posts filled by "other" South Africans.

Our ANC government contends that the issue must be decided on the basis that these "other" South Africans are “black” which Coloureds are not.
  1. This is in terms of the ANC government’s employment equity plan.
  2. The Court is being asked to accept that this is right because “Blacks” suffered more than Coloureds in the past.
  3. History tells us that the suffering for Coloureds actually started from the time a European first visited/landed at the Cape of Good Hope in the 1600s … and that the oppression of African tribes started much later, about 100 – 150 years later.
  4. History also tells us that the suffering of Coloured folk included the genocide of their kith and kin, being the KhoiSan, of whom they are the only direct descendants.
  5. History tells us that the KhoiSan were the original exclusive and/or dominant inhabitants of the whole of the Western Cape (“WC”) … and more.
  6. History tells us that the other African tribes had no claim(s) on the Western Cape and only inhabited it under colonial oppression.
  7. So the historical reality is that the other South Africans have no claim on the WC other than in terms of their so called “blackness”, that they acquired under colonial oppression..
  8. The ANC government contends that the group that is the majority in the whole of South Africa must also be the majority in the workplace in the WC. Since “Blacks” are the majority in the whole of South Africa, so the argument goes, they must be the majority in the WC.
  9. The BLACK BRAND: --- The eleven or so dominant African tribes in the region, Zulu, Xhosa, Pedi, Shangaan, Sotho … etc. have all submerged their once proud individual tribal identities and amalgamated under the “black” brand label.
  10. However, the reality is that Black is not a race, tribe or ethnic group and it did not exist prior to colonialism. It was imported from the USA where it was invented during what is known as the “Jim Crowe era”* for the specific purpose of differentiating mixed race folk with just “one drop”** of African blood in their veins for the purpose of oppression ... and was imported and used for oppression in South Africa.
  11. The label “black” gained acceptance in the USA because all humans with the dreaded “one drop” were forced to join together to confront and defeat oppression in the heroic Civil Rights campaigns under Dr Martin Luther King Jr in particular.
  12. Because of the heroism in the USA and the heroism in South Africa, under the black label, the label has stuck. It is like being forced to wear a sack by a bully and then you get rid of the bully but keep wearing the sack.
  13. Having humans grouped under a label or brand name is not a new phenomenon. Hitler and the 3rd Reich did a similar thing by inventing the label/brand “Nazi”, for the purpose of dominance, which then attracted over 12 million Germans.
  14. So the Court is being asked to accept that a member of the Pedi tribe, for instance, who would otherwise not be a member of a majority group, in relation to the Coloured group, must now be treated as part of the majority just because he has classified himself under the brand name “black”.
  15. if these utterly nonsensical arguments are accepted by the Court, it will mean that: -
  • every employer in the Western Cape will be bound to ensure dominance by members of the so called black South Africans over Coloured South Africans numerically and as regards seniority;
  • Coloured workers will be incrementally shed so as to make way for the influx of these “black” South Africans;
  • as demanded by then Chief Government Spokesperson, Jimmy Manyi#, Coloured folk will be forced to migrate out of the Western Cape;
  • in this way they will lose their numerical dominance in that region;
  • they will lose their homeland;
  • they will lose their ancestral home;
  • they will lose the land of their forebears;
  • they will lose their cultural homeland;
  • the annihilation of the remnants of the KhoiSan original inhabitants will be complete;
  • these proud South Africans will cease to exist as a cognizable ethnic cultural grouping;
  • cultural expropriation of a whole people will be assured;
  • and, yes, the ANC will at last have the juicy WC in its grubby hands in terms of this stinky new kind of colonialism.
What brings out the rottenness and crass hypocrisy of this ANC government is that Coloured folk are actually classified as "black" under the Employment Equity Act; but, as I have argued, ad nauseam, this racial approach guarantees racism.
So Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, I am putting it to you that this is completely inconsistent with “ethical” leadership of government.
It is the vile face of racist bigotry served up as “equity”.
As a Judge, sworn to uphold justice “without fear favour or prejudice”, you will see through this vomitus offering.
This is NOT an "equity plan" for humans.
It is a diabolical plot.
There is no doubt that you will see it for what it is ... that it is “cruel, and/or inhuman and/or degrading” for being the “tyranny of the majority”.
The question is will you then condemn and reject it because that is what judicial "ethics" demand of you and your brother Judges sitting on the Constitutional Court Bench??
Your "ethical" standard is set by your oath of office to act "without fear, favour or prejudice".
Will you????

Please Please Share .. far and wide . .across this planet. !!!!

Also see ---- http://coginito.blogspot.co.za/2016/01/congratulations-to-solidarity.html

Monday, March 14, 2016

J’accuse … of cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment

… and I find you guilty.
Today I happened to visit an animal and bird “sanctuary” in Pretoria, that is very well patronized by us humans.
It was one of the most revolting experiences of my life, and I forced my family to leave early. I felt so much revulsion. An unbearable aching from deep inside overwhelmed me.
On display were huge samples of some of the most beautiful creatures that this planet is blessed with, ranging from the jaguar … European deer … South American Macaw … vulturine guinea fowl … and any number of our bird species ...... all caged up … cruelly caged up.
By exactly what process of reasoning do we, as the species known as homo sapiens, think, imagine or suppose that there is anything good about having a jaguar in a cage??? Exactly how sick are we between the ears??
For goodness sake, it is over 60 years since we had advanced to the point of being able to put humans on the moon and yet we are still so diabolically ignorant and inhumane about other creatures.
A jaguar is a powerfully built animal precisely because it was intended by nature, or God, that it spend its life using that power to roam vast distances, hunt and exercise all its incredible senses in the business of being alive and survival. Is that NOT obvious?? 
Is it not obvious that birds were designed by nature, or God, to fly … and fly … and fly freely … high … low … everywhere and anywhere that involves the natural life of a bird???
By what process of reasoning did we arrive at the conclusion that these creatures need to be caged up instead.???
Do we … can we … really NOT see that this is gratuitous cruelty of diabolical proportions???
Exactly what satisfaction is there in seeing other creatures in situations of suffering? 
On what basis do we accord ourselves the right to do this to fellow inhabitants of this planet??
These are all questions that are very, very obvious … but we are either not asking them or we just don’t care. We don’t care because these creatures cannot defend themselves against us.
Nature, or God, gave us more intelligence and we show our appreciation by exercising power over other creatures, capriciously and with diabolical cruelty.
To us might is right. We are infused with a bully boy mentality of truly evil proportions. We are an evil species. We are like a deadly virus on this planet, slowly but surely ensuring the misery and extermination of other species.
Yet we talk about justice. Daily we froth at the mouth, moan, whine, whinge and cry about injustice. We demand justice for ourselves … but deny it to other creatures.
We deny other creatures justice and then cannot understand why we deny each other justice. .The reason why there is so much injustice between man and man on this planet is because we don't have a sense of justice. At the very least it is deeply flawed.
We call ourselves civilized. Civilization is a matter of enlightened standards of conduct and consciousness. What standards of conduct and consciousness are we into here? We are as uncivilized as ever.
It is my hope and prayer that nature, or God, intervenes sooner rather than later. There was time when the creatures on this planet existed in reasonable natural balance. Animals abounded. Great herds roamed freely across vast plains and in huge forests. Most species were thriving in accordance with the dictates of nature.
Today man has grabbed it all for himself, forcing most other species out to inevitable extinction after cruel reduction to their quality of life.
It is time for nature, or God, to intervene.
I am accusing man, you, yes you, of being guilty of mindless, gratuitous cruelty to other creatures.
There is no doubt that man, and you, are guilty as charged.
What is needed is the extermination of man, including you, to the point that other creatures can once again be free.
Saturday, March 12, 2016

PS: 02 May 2016 - We now have a seemingly positive relocation of lions back to South Africa and this is to be applauded.
However we need to be vigilant as there is a corrupt incestuous relationship between the SA government and the canned lion industry.

PPS: 08 May 2016 --- I am in tears of joy watching a program on Carte Blanche of 33 lions that have spent their lives in cruel captivity,being released to the Emoya Lion sanctuary started by a wonderful young woman. 



See also ---- http://coginito.blogspot.co.za/2015/05/the-king.html

PS: Wonderful news: -
 https://cecilspride.wordpress.com/2015/10/15/hunter-of-cecil-the-lion-said-his-life-is-ruined/

To get a book that will enthrall, intrigue, entertain and provoke very meaningfully go to -- http://proudlyzimbabwean.orgfree.com/book_page.html



Wednesday, January 27, 2016

CONGRATULATIONS TO SOLIDARITY

For winning a case in which the Labour Court has ruled that the employment equity plans of the South African Police Force are unconstitutional for being no more, no less a system of racial quotas.
However just about the same issue is awaiting adjudication by our Constitutional Court in the case of the Coloured Correctional Services Officer.
SOLIDARITY First appellant
PJ DAVIDS Second appellant
CF FEBRUARY Third appellant
AJ JONKERS Fourth appellant
LJ FORTUIN Fifth appellant
GM BAARTMAN Sixth appellant
DS MERKEUR Seventh appellant
TS ABRAHAMS Eighth appellant
DR JORDAAN Ninth appellant
JJ KOTZE Tenth appellant
DMA WEHR Eleventh appellant
and
DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES First respondent
MINISTER OF CORRECTIONAL SERVICES Second respondent
NATIONAL COMMISSIONER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONAL
SERVICES
Third respondent
MINISTER OF LABOUR Fourth respondent
Our Constitutional Court will have to decide the same issue as regards these applicants regarding the employment equity plan of the Department of Correctional Services.
At the heart of this case is the proposition by the ANC government that humans from other regions can migrate to a region in which resident humans were/are dominant and be placed in position of dominance over the resident humans simply because the incoming migrants are the majority in South Africa.
The region is the Western Cape of South Africa. The resident group are the Coloureds. The incoming migrants are the “so called Blacks”.
I purposefully use the expression “so called Blacks” because black is a colour. It is not human. It is not a race or ethnic group. It is an adjective, not a noun.
It is simply a label/brand name that was imported from the USA, where it had been invented during what is known as the Jim Crowe era, in order to oppress all mixed race folk that had just “one drop” of African blood in their veins. So it was imported into South Africa for the same purpose of oppression. Regrettably the label has been embraced and embedded. The 10 major tribes of South Africa have amalgamated under the “black” label/brand so as to ensure exclusion of and dominance over any other race/ethnic grouping.
Whenever humans amalgamate under a label or brand name the objective is prejudicial to other humans, excluded by the label/brand. The worst example is that of Adolph Hitler and his Nazi label/brand. Whether it be boys at school, or prisoners, or Al Capon and company, once humans amalgamate under a brand name they are into gangsterism, as much as this was not the primary intention. However the road to hell is indeed often paved with good intentions.
So government’s stance was/is that any so called Black is entitled to travel to the Western Cape and be placed in a position of work place dominance over resident Coloureds even if that person might have originated from a tribe that was numerically inferior standing on its own.
In terms of this reasoning the Applicants were discriminated against and denied promotion despite meritorious service and being recommended for promotion by selection panels … because they are Coloured … because they are not black … and even though the Employment Equity Act actually defines Coloureds as also being “black”.
So here, at a stroke, we see the crass hypocrisy in the insistence that Coloured folk should now be redefined as “black”.
In Australia the “problem “of Coloured folk was to be sorted by breeding the blackness out of them under what has become known as the Stolen Generation. In South Africa it is imagined that it is much simpler to just force them to change to “black”.
I had the enormous privilege to meet with the Applicants. It was a meeting that humbled me and filled me with incredible sadness. It offended my sense of justice at its very foundations that humans could be subjected to what was no more, no less “cruel, unhuman and degrading” treatment in the land of their birth. At that stage they had actually already been before two (2) Superior Courts, being the Labour Court and Labour Appeal Court and had won both cases but given no remedy. Hence the appeal to the Constitutional Court.
The justification by the ANC government for this cruel nonsense was/is that “so called Blacks” suffered more than Coloureds historically.
Nothing could be more nonsensical given the reality that Coloureds are the direct descendants of the KhoiSan who have suffered genocide and their suffering goes right back to the Van Riebeeck era. So, as a grouping, they have had to also contend with genocide of their kith and kin from day one. The suffering of the tribal groups that are now “black” started about 100 – 150 years later.
If government wins this case the consequences will include the imperative that all employers ensure Black dominance in the work place in the Western Cape. This will induce, precipitate black migration into that region and Coloured migration out, just as Jimmy Manyi once demanded. They will lose their traditional home. They will lose their ancestral homeland. They will lose their spiritual homeland.
This “Black colonialism” will ensure the group displacement of the Coloured people as much as this is impermissible in terms of United Nations protocols.

To my mind what is vomitus about all this is that humans have to endure such diabolical discrimination in their own land and have had to spend years in heart breaking limbo waiting for the Courts to come to their rescue.
This is a very bad indictment against our government.
It is also an indictment against the Democratic Alliance and its new leader, Mmusi Maimane, who stand by and watch … and watch … and watch … and watch … offering NO support and assistance whatsoever, even though these victims are part of their constituency.
Mmusi Maimane is never going to be caught dead appearing to be doing ANYTHING against this pernicious form of “Black nationalism”.
His pious posturing on racism is being shown up for the hypocrisy that it is.
Please join me in praying that our Constitutional Court does not shirk its grave responsibility to uphold human rights and protect a minority from oppression by the majority.


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