Cape Town - If it was up to South Africans, Oscar Pistorius would be serving at least 15 years prison time for murder.
The court of public opinion was outraged on Wednesday after Judge Thokozile Masipa handed down a six-year sentence - departing from the minimum murder sentence by seven years.
But, as Judge Masipa made it explicitly clear in her sentencing, the court of public opinion has no place in a court of law.
“Our courts are courts of law, not of public opinion,” Judge Masipa said. “We should adjudicate without fear, favour or prejudice. Public opinion may be loud and persistent, but it can play no role in this case.”
The law may have no need of the public’s opinion, but the Cape Argus asked them for it after the sentencing yesterday. In a Twitter poll completed by nearly 500 people, 50 percent said they would have given Oscar 15 years behind bars, while 33 percent said he should rot in jail for life. Just 12 percent said they agreed with Masipa’s six-year sentence, while 5 percent said they would have given the disgraced Paralympian no jail time.
Local celebrities chimed in to the conversation which dominated social media discourse throughout the day.
Actress Boity Thulo was one of many who said Pistorius’s race, class and gender played a role in his lenient sentence. “Oscar has been sentenced to white privilege years in prison,” she wrote. “Poor guy.”
Entertainer Maps Maponyane thought the sentence made South African courts an international laughing stock. “I’m pretty sure the world is LOLing real hard at our justice system today,” he wrote.
Even British television personality Piers Morgan added his opinion on the topic. “If #Pistorius was black & non-famous, he’d have got life imprisonment. Saved by celebrity status.”
Comedian Siv Ngesi said culpable homicide-convicted hip hop artist Jub Jub must be hoping for the same leniency. “Jub Jub must be praying he was white and disabled,” Ngesi tweeted. “Masipa has failed us and Reeva.”
Television personality Jo-Ann Strauss added her concern for the Steenkamps: “I feel for Reeva’s parents. They’ve been dragged to the lowest depths a soul can endure. Let’s continue praying for them.”
Comedian Deep Fried Man voiced a question many have wondered. “But why is #Pistorius being sentenced by the same judge who didn’t think he was guilty of murder in the first place?” he asked.
Author Max du Preez refused to be drawn into the suspicions being bandied about. “I’m sorry, I have no view on the #OscarPistorius sentence,” he tweeted. “Criminal case heard by competent judge. No reason to suspect prejudice. Move on?”
Comedian Loyiso Gola tweeted to the critics: “The judge has a better perspective on the case than all of you.”
It was Gugulethu Mhlungu, co-host of Night Talk on Cape Talk radio, who came out in front of a humorous trend that hijacked the Oscar conversation. “There are house songs longer than Oscar’s sentence,” he tweeted.
The hashtag #LongerThanOscarsSentence had tweeters offering ridiculous and topical suggestions as to what may last longer than the six-year sentence.
Holding on for the Telkom mobile call centre is #LongerThanOscarsSentence
— W R Magic (@andrewndlovu) July 7, 2016
Shoprite money market queue is #LongerThanOscarsSentence
— Retired Stepdad✊ (@JujuJinaj) July 6, 2016
Cape Argus