Mail & Guardian Reporter
THE high drama of former superspy Craig Williamson’s appearance in the Pretoria Supreme Court this week was deflated by a pitiful divorce case.
Just before Williamson’s case came up before Deputy Judge President Piet van der Walt, a man sporting a wavy hairstyle uncannily similar to that of former Civil Co-operation Bureau operative Ferdi Barnard took the stand.
Williamson, his small army of security guards and the rest of the court looked on as a stocky, disenchanted husband, clad in a blue crimplene suit and pink shirt, explained why he wanted to untie the knot.
He said his wife had tried to shoot him, had had an affair, had attacked him, and had consistently failed to find work.
Judge van der Walt granted him a divorce and swiftly moved on from the violence of marriage to the violence of the state.
* The squabble at the Johannesburg Bar over a partial migration to the city’s northern suburbs is being fuelled by gripes that new consultation rooms in Sandton are far too expensive.
Not only have the rooms been hit by the surge in Sandton’s rates, but it appears the lease is far pricier than initially thought. Some advocates have wrily suggested their colleagues who organised the rooms should have consulted an attorney before signing on the dotted line.