Salt River Legends: hands off Judge Desai and his comrades
AN UNIDENTIFIED vandal was caught on camera attempting to deface a mural of the Salt River Legends that was created in honour of Judge Siraj Desai and his comrades and unveiled in Salt River over the Heritage Day weekend.
The person was captured by neighbours’ security cameras, but unfortunately was not identifiable as he was wearing a cap, a mask and a cloak in an obvious attempt to disguise himself.
On Saturday, September 25, the Salt River Heritage Society honoured Judge Desai with a mural depicting him, Anwah Nagia, Dullah Omar and Ben Kies. Judge Desai’s spokesperson Professor Usuf Chikte said they were willing to offer R10 000 for information to help identify the suspect and have him successfully prosecuted.
Anwar Omar, the vice-chairperson of the society, told The Argus that he had received several calls from concerned residents informing him of the incident and, upon investigation, he managed to obtain the CCTV footage.
“Unfortunately, the individual is not identifiable, but it is clear that his garb does not fit naturally and that he was attempting to disguise himself. It seems that the person was disturbed while trying to deface the mural and quickly disappeared. The damage to the mural was minimal and was quickly rectified by the society,” he said.
Omar said the mural was created in honour of Judge Desai, but added that it was unclear if the person who attempted to deface it was targeting Desai or the whole mural.
“He went for the judge’s image and then Dullah Omar’s image. There are four images, but he went for those two. It’s anyone’s guess whether he was disturbed and couldn’t get to the others or not. But he started off with the judge, and the mural was done in honour of the judge,” said Omar.
Judge Desai has been in the news recently after coming under attack from Israeli interest group the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF), which filed a complaint against him with the Judicial Conduct Committee, claiming that his actions and conduct “are plainly in breach of the Code of Judicial Conduct and entirely unbecoming of a judicial officer”.
Responding to the SAZF complaint, Judge Desai said it was without merit and had to be dismissed.
Chikte said a number of South Africans from all walks of life had responded with outrage when they learnt through the media of the attack on Judge Desai’s integrity.
“The perpetrators of this action are the unreconstructed South African apartheid collaborators … They define themselves as a body that ‘looks after matters relating to Israel and its image in South Africa’. Thus, no values or principles, just image!” he said.
Omar said they had not reported the matter to the police as they had concluded that there was no merit in such action as the person in the CCTV footage was hardly identifiable.
Omar said the members of the community in the area liked the mural and before creating it they had got approval from the homeowner on whose wall it was painted and six neighbours, and could have got more if they needed to. Anyone with information can call Anwar Omar at 082 856 9620