The men accused of producing the allegedly racist Reitz initiation video "just want to say sorry" to the black staff they are accused of humiliating.
And, with President Jacob Zuma's advocate, Kemp J Kemp, fighting their cause with the National Prosecuting Authority, they want to walk away from their part in the politically explosive video without a criminal record.
Attorney Christo Dippenaar, who is representing former University of the Free State (UFS) students RC Malherbe, Johnny Roberts, Schalk van der Merwe and Danie Grobler, yesterday confirmed they had suggested that the crimen injuria case against them be resolved through a "restorative justice" process. Continues Below ↓
In a four-page "representations" document penned by Kemp, the men proposed that their prosecution be resolved out of court through "alternative dispute resolution".
According to Dippenaar, such an approach would involve the men meeting and apologising to Naomi Phororo, Emmah Koko, Nkgapeng Adams, Sebuasengwe Mittah Ntlatseng and Mothibedi Molete - the university staff they depicted, among other things, eating stew they appeared to have urinated in.
"They (the Reitz accused) have tried on four different occasions to apologise to the staff... They initially tried to meet with them about this after it happened, but they were stopped from doing so by a certain union.
"They want the chance to apologise, they have no problem with doing so," he said, adding that the "facts (about the alleged racist video) are totally different from what was put out in the media".
Dippenaar further explained that following the mooted meeting between the men and their accusers, an official appointed by the Justice department would release a report that could result in the case against the men being withdrawn at their next court appearance in February.
Crucial to such a favourable outcome for the men would be the buy-in of their alleged victims, who received a heroes' welcome when they arrived and left the Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court for yesterday morning's postponement of their case.
After arriving to songs and clapping by dozens of protesters from unions and the ANC Women's League, Phororo, Koko, Adams, Ntlatseng and Molete remained impassive as they sat with their arms folded in front of them, two rows behind their alleged abusers.
The five had briefly grown quiet when the men - minus Grobler, who lives in Namibia and was not required to fly down for the postponement of his trial- made their entrance into the tiny courtroom. The men did not once turn to look at them or greet them during their court appearance.
While chief magistrate Mziwonke Hinxa postponed the case against them to allow prosecutor Ben Molutsi to consider the possibility of a "restorative justice" ending to the Reitz saga, newly appointed UFS vice-chancellor Jonathan Jansen was meeting the government over his decision to drop the university's complaint against the men.
Jansen met Education Department Director-General Mary Metcalfe in Pretoria.
Despite pressure from the government, Jansen has declined to suspend his decision.
u See Page 8
This article was originally published on page 1 of The Star on October 27, 2009
Showing page 1 of 7 comment pages, 65 total comments
3 Weeks ago Fest unfolding wrote :
Some black people want/need those women to have been humiliated. They're thankful for it, as it gives fuel to their desire to air their hatred of white people. They don't want to hear anything other than that those "poor black women, mothers and sisters" were tortured racially (and that they actually ate urine - which we know didn't happen-see video) They want it to be true. And if it's found otherwise - they'll insist upon the pain of those "victims". The more pain those "victims" felt, the more aroused the protesters become. It's a weird kind of sick fest.
3 Weeks ago Anonymous wrote :
White ppl continue to say get over it and forget the past.. Yes that is true!! But how do u move on if ppl like those boys and Benjamin Burger continue ill-treating and disrespecting blacks mainly bcoz a person is black. How do u move on if u ppl dont stop ur past behaviours?? Tell me HOW???
3 Weeks ago Anonymous wrote :
The UNISA statement was very well said, people like that do not need to be in public places with other humans, where can I view this video? I have only seen clips in the media. I wat to see the entire video so I can judge fairly. But from what I have seen and heard- I think it is a definate violation of human rights!
3 Weeks ago Anonymous wrote :
Well in there eyes blacks are blacks why should they respect blacks they will walk you out of the way and not wink an eye
3 Weeks ago Anonymous wrote :
It's easy to other people to say whatever they want ,coz it never happen to them. This is not about been a black racist mntu, ''ubuntu'' humanity people.
3 Weeks ago Anonymous wrote :
I don't care who says what these boys, they've done wrong.
3 Weeks ago Anonymous wrote :
This has been blown out of proportion. The "victims" were laughing and enjoying themselves in all the events. The guys and the"athletes" knew each others names and nobody was holding a gun to their heads to drink / eat that stuff. I wish that the racist black people ( I know that not all blacks, just like not all whites are racist ) with huge chips on their shoulder would get over themselves. It really is not necessary to shout "racism" every time something that you do not like happens.
Why not make the most of the opportunity of BEE and EE and try make a career and life for yourselves instead of continuing to be negative and blame the past for your unhappiness.
God has given this earth to us all - nobody owns any country and we should be free to live where we want to and raise our families in a safe environment. It is sad when leaders that the uneducated majority look up to promote violence and aggression. They should be fired ( not by the firing squad - I mean that they should lose their jobs! ).
Weakest Link - it is people like you, Julia Malema, Thebe Meeko that are ruining our country - pull yourself together and look forward! Don't sweat the small stuff!
3 Weeks ago Anonymous wrote :
These are mothers, wives and sisters. They are already at a disadvantage by being poor.If the justice system doen't do anything about these boys it would have failed them big time. These guys did this because that knew that they would get away with this, they wouldn't have done the samething to a white worker, so for such a reason this qualifies to be a rasist act. It should no be a slap on the hand just because they are white and the act was done agaist black people, they should be punnished accordingly. Jonathan Jansen is promoting such things as he is white as well, how do you not punish a child that did wrong? To punish is so a person can realise that they did wrong and will never repeat it again. they should go to jail like every criminal who infringes on another persons rights.
3 Weeks ago Anonymous wrote :
Koos... Its easier for u to say that bcoz first of all u are white and probably dont regard blacks as human beings... It is inhuman wat this guys did. Their victims are as good as dead bcoz they've been stripped off their dignity. The worse thing is that it was done by ppl young enough to be their kids. Where is RESPECT? Were they not taught to respect their elders? Or maybe they taught to respect anyone who is white, respect animals like cats and dogs AND NOT black ppl. The sooner ppl like u get it thru their skulls that blacks are also human and derserve to be treated with respect the better. Imagine if that was ur granny treated like that..
3 Weeks ago Anonymous wrote :
Oh get over it.
I was stopped by 5 black traffic officers driving 116km in a 80km zone. They pulled me by my arm (physical abuse) to the camera, screamed at me (verbal abuse) how they are dismayed that i am female the way I was driving (discriminating against my gender) Kept screaming that I ought to be jailed. (as if I did not know my rights -are they my rights as a white South African -bless Mandela's heart, but what happened to the constitution again???) I as mocked and laughed at (as if I did not know they were trying to make me nervous and scared) and the only way I got out of that situation was to pretend like I was really scared, a single mom on her way to fetch her children and sooooo very sorry. Gave them some kind of kick in seeing a white woman pleading and placing them in such a power play. This is no longer about how humiliated these poor black people were, they had moved on with their lives and display some kind of innocent sorry image for the media in order to stretch out this unfortunate incorrect and horrible experience they had. These blokes have aged, learned from their wrong doing which was imprinted in their frame of reference by a previous regime. For the youth league to make such immature statements is another clear opportunity to reverse the hatred left behind from something that no longer has anything to do with this case.
Get over it and move on man!
There are much much bigger problems to deal with in this crashing political climate. We are no longer heading towards first world status, we are returning to the routs of the heritage of being part of the African continent. Corruption is in the order of the day, we dont even know who what and when, just that it is.
We are part of Africa and where once a proud rainbow nation are now split between this black and white thing once again.
Shame on all of you.
Social bookmarking allows users to save and categorise a personal collection of bookmarks and share them with others. This is different to using your own browser bookmarks which are available using the menus within your web browser.
Use the links below to share this article on the social bookmarking site of your choice.