The trial process step by step

(PART 2)

“Mr Fitness”, seeing you were at the helm of so many teams, which would you say was your most challenging project? Well, look, they were all difficult because most of the teams were in relegation troubles. Let me tell you the story of what happened at Real Rovers. They were in Polokwane, and I had to travel from Johannesburg to Polokwane and sometimes a driver would fetch me there and take me home. Shepherd Murape was the coach there before I joined. When I went there, after about seven or eight games, we played Vaal Professionals with Shakes Mashaba as their coach, in Thohoyandou. It was a fantastic game and we drew. From there, we had to go back to Polokwane. We arrived in Polokwane at 23h00. Then I still had to go back to Johannesburg. I said, “Well, where is the driver?” One of the officials said, “No, the driver has gone. He’s not here.” I said, “How am I going back to Johannesburg? I have to go back to my family, they’re waiting for me.” The guy said, “Come jump in my car, we’ll make a plan.” I said, “Alright,” thinking they are taking me back to Johannesburg. You know what they did? It was two officials, and they stopped at the highway and they were hitchhiking for a car to take me to Johannesburg. Twelve o’clock at midnight, in the dark! I said, “Are you guys crazy? I’m a coach, not a little clown or something. How can I go in any car at midnight and put my life at stake here?” So, about half an hour later, one car stops. By luck, there were four Swallows supporters inside and they were my friends during my time there. They asked, “Coach, what’s happening?” I said, “Listen, can you get me back to Joburg? I got no lift from my team.” Swallows fans took me back to my home in Joburg. Of course, on Monday, I told the officials, “Listen, go to hell. I won’t come back. You can do what you want.” Of the four Swallows guys who took me back, one was an official. Swallows were also fighting relegation at the time – it was Swallows, Real Rovers and Dynamos. He said, “Please come back to Swallows. You’ve already saved us three times. You’re the only one who can save us.” So, on Tuesday, I started training at Swallows. Guess what? I saved Swallows from relegation. The last game of the season is Real Rovers against Swallows in Polokwane. So… are you listening?

Of course, coach.

Good. So, some official from Real Rovers phoned me and said, “Coach, when you come up here, don’t worry. We’re sorry about what happened here. You were the Lion of the North, the King of Venda and

Polokwane. Please, don’t beat us. You don’t need the points anymore. We’ll look after you.” I said, “Yes, yes, don’t worry. I like you. I love the people up there. Don’t worry, I won’t beat you.” I then explained to my players what these guys did to me and (that) now they want us to give them the points to survive relegation. I said, “Let’s go there and relegate them.” I promised them an extra R200 each player from my own pocket to beat this team and take them to relegation. When we got to Polokwane, there was the boss there waiting for me. He had a car there, opened the boot and there was a lot of cash inside. He said, “Coach, today that’s for you. After the game, I meet you.” I said, “No, no, that’s fine. Don’t worry. You know, I’m not interested in money, but I love the people. I’ve already selected the reserve team (for this game).” In the meantime, I used the strongest team. Five minutes to go, Lucas Sebona, my striker, scored a beautiful goal and we took Real Rovers out. I then went to the officials of Real Rovers and said, (Rautmann starts singing) “This is the Revenge of the Ninja. Walter Rautmann the Ninja. You took me in a car, midnight, to Joburg, and this is my revenge to you for treating me like this. Bye-bye, Real Rovers.”

Ha, ha, ha!

Look, there were many other stories. At Bloemfontein Celtic, Phunya Sele Sele, Petrus Molemela (chairman) was a very violent man. Very dedicated to Celtic, strong man, big guy. Now, they were also fighting relegation and Augusto Palacios was there. Molemela called me and said, “Please, coach Walter, please, Mr Fix It, we need you. You’re the only one who can save us. I’m going to release Augusto Palacios.” The next day, I read in the newspaper: ‘Molemela assaults Palacios, punches him in front of all the fans in a meeting.’ Ha, ha, ha. So, I said, “Hmmm, can I go to Celtic after I’ve been to so many teams with problems? What’s going to happen there?” Any case, listen to this story now. We played Kaizer Chiefs after I had won a few games. I beat my old team AmaZulu twice in one week in Durban, in the cup and the league, 3-0 and 3-1. Mike Makaab was the coach. I hammered him. The Chiefs game was televised. You know Molemela liked to sit on the bench. I never allow a director to sit on the bench, but he was a fanatic, he had that heart for Celtic, so I thought, ‘Ag, let him sit on the bench.’ I just told him, “Don’t make any trouble. Don’t interfere. Just keep quiet and enjoy the game.”

Fair enough.

So, Chiefs scored a goal from an offside position. Clear offside, but the linesman didn’t raise his flag. Molemela was sitting there with a big umbrella because it was very hot. Suddenly, he closes the umbrella, runs after the linesman and pinches him in his arm with the umbrella, ha, ha, ha. I said, “You can’t do this” and banned him from the bench. So, after the game, we go to the change room, and he comes to me and says, “Coach, you can’t do that to me! You can’t put me away from the bench. You can’t tell me to go to the change room.” I said, “Listen, on TV, you can’t attack the linesman, otherwise he’ll be against us.” But he was so enraged that he took me by the arm and pushed me into the shower. I had a black eye and a black face, ha, ha, ha. On Monday, I phoned him and said, ha, ha, “Listen, if you attack me like this, I won’t come back there.” But I had no bad feelings against him and I told him that. He was such a fanatic for Celtic and a lover of football. I understood that he got excited, but still, you cannot assault your coach. After that, I can’t go back and coach the players like nothing happened. So, I decided not to go back there.

Tell us more…

Being a coach in those days was madness. Much later after my first stint with them, Swallows were in big danger of relegation again and a well-known ex-player and then TV analyst was the coach. Chairman David Chabeli called me and said, “Walter, we are in big danger. Can you start tomorrow?” I said, “No problem. Have you released the coach?” He said, “Yes.” The following day, I come to training and find the coach on the field with soccer balls that he kept for training. Then, suddenly, comes a car with Swallows officials in it, and they said to me, “Coach, just wait, we’re firing the other coach now.” Ha, ha, ha. I said, “That’s not the way to do it. That’s not right.” So, the other coach left, taking all the balls with him. An hour later, I started my first training session, without balls. The coach and a musician had bought shares in Swallows before, so they were fighting the club’s directors over ownership at a time when the team was in disarray, fighting relegation. Then players came to me, telling me some of the players were being bribed to lose games by the guys who were in charge before. It was even in the press. So, I had to save the team from relegation not knowing which players were bribed to lose. Bad situation. But I still managed to save Swallows yet again, making changes by giving young players a chance to play.

Great.

In my life, I’ve never been scared of anything… well, except for spiders since I was a child. At Rabali Blackpool in Venda, they put us in a resort with hot water springs. Very nice for rural people, but disastrous for townsfolk. I was staying in a bungalow. When you put on the lights, there were huge spiders everywhere, so I slept in darkness in fear of attracting the spiders by putting the lights on. Then, whilst we were training, monkeys came and stole the food. Dining was under a thatched roof, and big spiders would come from the roof down on the dining table. I could not eat! One time, I went for a swim after training and, when I got there, there was a cobra next to the pool. I phoned (Peter) Rabali (chairman) and told him, “Either you put me at Venda Sun Hotel or I’m back on the road to Joburg.” Luckily for me, he agreed and I went 13 games unbeaten without spiders around. Good story for you!

HAVE you wondered what exactly happens when your case goes to court?

Scorpion Legal Protection takes you through the trial procedure in a criminal case, step by step.

The state presents its case

The prosecutor (the lawyer on the side of the state) will start by addressing the court, explaining the charge and what evidence he/she will use to support charging you with the crime. The state will call its witnesses and ask questions (called “examination in chief”). Defence cross-examines witnesses

After each witness is questioned by the prosecutor, the defence attorney will get the opportunity to cross-examine the witness. This process will be followed with each and every witness.

The aim is to get evidence from the witnesses that helps prove your case, or shows that the witness is uncertain, not telling the truth, or confused.

Following this, the state prosecutor can re-examine the witnesses. This is to clear up or explain any answers that were given when the defence questioned the witnesses. The court is also allowed to ask questions but only to clarify things. The court may not cross-examine witnesses.

After all the witnesses have been crossexamined and re-examined, the prosecutor will close the state’s case. This means the prosecutor believes they’ve proved the case against you beyond reasonable doubt, and it’s now the accused’s turn to present their case.

Defence presents their case

If the defence is of the opinion that the state’s case is weak, or they failed to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt, the defence lawyer may ask the court to dismiss the charges.

Otherwise, the court will ask the accused if he/she wants to produce evidence to help prove their case.

If yes, the accused can address the court to explain what evidence they’ll produce for their defence. The defence will call their own witnesses to prove your case.

The first witness called will be you, the accused, to prevent you from changing your story based on what the witnesses say, but you can decide not to give evidence. The witnesses are cross-examined and re-examined, as described above. Closing

After the defence has given all evidence and witnesses, they can close the case for the defence. The prosecutor sums up the state’s case, giving reasons why the accused should be found guilty. The defence sums up reasons why the accused should not be found guilty. The magistrate gives judgment.

If you’re found guilty, you’ll be convicted. If you’re found not guilty, you’ll be acquitted. If you have a query, follow Scorpion Legal Protection on Facebook and ask your question during our next Live Q&A (every first Thursday of the month). * This is only basic advice and cannot be relied on solely. The information is correct at the time of being sent to publishing.