Justice has to be seen done too

Per normal, almost as if divinely decreed, the week we are winding down has been yet another eventful one for our country. Matters political, matters criminal, and others competed for headlines.

Often, as has been the nature of the landscape in SA, many would be hard-pressed to separate our politics from crime. It has become the norm and hardly an eyebrow is raised as more of the politicians ’ shenanigans are exposed daily.

So joined at the hip is the nature of the relationship that revelations at inquiries such as the Zondo commission into state capture, are often unthinkingly brushed aside as par for the course. People are simply punch-drunk and numbed but still yearn for good news.

It is this hunger for good news that we have witnessed in the sheer delight of the nationwhen the Directorate of Priority Crime Investigation, the Hawks, started to round up some the protagonists in corruption, a variant of the politics and crime game.

It gives us no joy to say that not only politics lies comfortably in bed with crime, but also the one sector that should be as removed from it as heaven is from hell.

In the news this week was the arrest of one Shepherd Bushiri, a self-proclaimed prophet, who was detained along with his wife Mary and a church member for alleged money-laundering and fraud.

The spectacle outside the court where they appearedwas to be expected, given the fanatical support Bushiri has. But the drama in the courtroom, where the media was ambushed with news that they were not to photograph proceedings or take footage cannot be justified or tolerated.

A pivotal tenet of the administration of justice is that not only should justice be done, but be seen to be done, literally so.

There ’ s a belief, justified or not, that there ’ s a special kind of justice for the monied and powerful while the poor have to make do with all manner of shambles, often ending in injustice.

There was no justification to bar cameras in court. Bushiri is a public figure. The least that would be expected of the court was to explain itself on the decision.

The presence of the media in that court is crucial to let the nation see justice in action. Many accused have been photographed in the dock or filmed. What sets this particular case apart?