If there was anything to celebrate about the rape trial of former deputy president Jacob Zuma, it was that the proceedings in Johannesburg have revealed a small but significant sign that South Africa was slowly moving into a non-racial future, says official opposition Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon.
In his regular internet column, SA Today, Leon on Friday said that it was notable that the presiding judge Willem van der Merwe ”has white skin” — as do lead prosecutor Charin de Beer and senior counsel for the defence Kemp J Kemp.
”Yet few, if any, voices have been heard protesting that Mr Zuma, as a black man, would not receive a fair trial in a ‘white court’,” noted Leon.
The DA leader argued that race was also minimised in the fraud trial of Zuma’s business adviser Schabir Shaik and his co-accused, which concluded in the Durban High Court last year.
Despite the fact that Judge Hilary Squires was white, ”and a former Rhodesian judge as well”, few made an issue of his race or background. Those that tried to do so after the guilty verdict were soon shouted down, said Leon.
The non-racial response of South Africans to the Zuma trial suggested two conclusions.
Leon said: ”One conclusion was that regardless of what the African National Congress says in its drive to expand its power over the courts, the people of our nation believe that the judiciary and the legal profession are largely ‘transformed’ and free of racial prejudice.
”The second conclusion of the non-racialism of the Zuma trial was that when the ANC and its ideological fellow-travellers emphasise the importance of race, they are in fact imposing their own prejudices on a population that has begun to look beyond colour.
”Looking beyond race, as many South Africans are starting to do, does not mean ignoring the past, nor does it mean ignoring the vast inequalities in our society.
”But we will not be able to redress those inequalities unless we can look beyond race. As a nation, we must focus more on what unites us, rather than what separates us. A growing economy, for example, is a goal shared by both the government and the opposition, and one that will benefit all South Africans, black and white, rich and poor.
”And a non-racial justice system, one that holds every individual to the same legal and moral standards, is a common vision shared by all South Africans.
”To judge from the reactions or non-reactions of millions of people watching the Zuma trial, we are already well on our way to fulfilling that ideal.”
Judgment in the Zuma rape trial is to be delivered from 9am South African time on Monday May 8. — I-Net Bridge