South Africa

Well it was all on at the Jo'burg High Court yesterday. Jay-Z's legal team     took no prisoners as they demanded Transvaal Judge President Bernard Ngoepe recuse himself from the trial for a supposed bias/prior involvement in matters involving the former Deputy-President. But we're getting ahead of ourselves here - let's set the scene : Jay-Z's legal team arrived just 20 minutes before the trial was set  to begin and declared themselves confident "I'm ready to kick it," said senior counsel, Jerome Brauns when asked for comment. Ethically challenged former journalist Ranjeni Munusamy was also  in attendance as a Zuma "aide" (whatever that means). 

 

Zuma's supporters were also making themselves heard in their usual classy manner -  SA Prisoner's Organisation for Human Rights (SAPOHR), Golden Miles Bhudu wearing an orange prisoner's outfit and shackles, said the judicial system will make mistakes because "it was run by people". He carried a poster saying Zuma was being raped. Another Zuma supporter bearing a traditional shield and three sticks, pointed at the complainants supporters saying "Look at those bitches". For the complainant a small group of supporters were in attendance including her family, People Opposed to Woman Abuse (Powa), the Gender Aids Forum, the Forum for the Empowerment of Women, a black lesbian group, and the Positive Women's Network. A small group of anti-rape protesters singing in Zulu asked in song "Why are you playing around with your pants, now you have caused a problem". Nice.

 

This set the stage for what was to be a heated opening to the trial. Immediately the defence brought an application for Ngoepe to recuse himself from the rape trial based on his involvement in granting search warrants relating to Zuma's separate corruption trial to be heard in Durban in June. The Judge questioned the relationship between the two trials and why it would effect his judgment on the matter at hand, but the defense was adamant on the matter. After considering the application he decided to recuse himself - but not for the reasons put forward by Zuma's defence. "The protection of the credibility of the judiciary should weigh with me heavily [when making the decision to step aside]" and with this in mind the JP decided to recuse himself. After this matter was settled the defense moved for an adjournment but were told the matter would have to wait until a new Judge was appointed to oversee the trial.

 

After an exciting day in Court it was time for Jay-Z to let his hair down with some of his fans. Being a one hit wonder and wanting to bring some gravity to such a somber situation our man broke into song with his usual "Bring me my Machinegun" tune - the same song which he's sung at nearly every other public appearance in the last year or so (no Idols contestant is our Jay-Z). He also declared  "We are happy with the decision [the recusal] because we were not going to be satisfied with him [JP Ngoepe] in the case...he was the one who gave permission to the Scorpions to search my houses" (the man has the mind of a legal-razor).

 

The day ended with the big man being whisked away in his Batmobile and the crowds dispersing by 3:30pm. As an interesting aside the quotes of crowd size seem extremely low - nothing over 3000 was quoted by any news source (hardly a massive turnout the the shills Friends of Jay-Z were calling for). The highest ranking ANC members at the trial were ANC Youth League president Fikile Mbalula and SACP Youth League president Buti Manamela ANC Gauteng secretary David Makhura, compare this to the Durban trial where it was like the who's-who of the Alliance's Left.  

 

Today promises to be another interesting encounter.