SAPA Mikey Schultz is seen during sentencing procedures of Oscar Pistorius earlier this week. File photo: Herman VerweyMikey Schultz’s behaviour shows what happens when people get away with murder, says Jovial Rantao.
Johannesburg - Strange days we live in. The scenes inside and outside Court GD at the North Gauteng High Court remind us of the irony of our times, the contradictions contained in the many steps and pitfalls that we endure as a nation that is a work in progress.
Inside the courtroom, one of our country’s famous sons, Oscar Pistorius, is fighting to stay out of jail after he was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Pistorius, supported by his expensive legal team, prevailed over the prosecution, led by advocate Gerrie Nel, who failed in his attempt to get the world-famous athlete convicted of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day just over a year ago.
Inside court on Thursday, Pistorius sat in the dock, on a bench behind Nel, listening to the State’s witness testifying on why prisons are good enough to accommodate an individual with Pistorius’s disability should the court decide to hand down a custodial sentence.
Behind Pistorius, a man who a few years ago got away with murder sat behind Pistorius, right next to the athlete’s family, in an exercise of bravado, arrogance and some, such as Aimee Pistorius, may argue, provocation. Pistorius’s family were clearly upset by the acts of Mikey Schultz and his friends, known not to be friends of Pistorius and asked the police to remove them.
The irony of this scene is inescapable.
Here you have Schultz, a man who confessed to killing businessman Brett Kebble and got away with it, prancing like a peacock, in and outside court like a celebrity.
Schultz took the life of Kebble, a father, a husband, a brother and son. And he did not get the punishment that fits the crime.
He and he co-conspirators got away by agreeing to a dubious deal with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
Their deal, which included alleged mafia boss Glenn Agliotti, was that they could get away with murder and drug dealing as long as they assisted the NPA in the case against the then-national police commissioner Jackie Selebi.
So happy were some in the NPA that after Schultz escaped jail and justice, they were at the ringside at Caesar’s Palace, now Emperors, when the self-confessed killer made his boxing career debut. They all wore T-shirts with the words “Team Schultz” emblazoned on them.
Perhaps we could understand the arrogance displayed by Schultz and co because if you can get away with murder, what could be worse? You can waltz into a courtroom where Nel, with whom you struck a sweetheart deal, is centre stage and cause a scene and nothing will happen to you.
What a country.
Schultz sat in court where Steenkamp’s cousin Kim Martin argued that Pistorius should pay for what he has done and be sent to jail. She said someone who takes a life should be jailed so that a message could be sent to society that people cannot commit a crime and get away with it. Her remarks were meant for Judge Thokozile Masipa and the assessors who have to decide on Pistorius’s future. However, they could not be truer for Schultz, who sat between the Steenkamp and Pistorius families.
Schultz and co were in court in support of the State’s case and one wonders what the family of Kebble thought of their escape from justice and their behaviour in court this week.
Schultz’s behaviour, which irritated the Pistorius family, shows what happens when people get away with murder. They become arrogant, they are not remorseful, they don’t repent and change their ways and they show society the middle finger for not punishing them for the crimes they committed. In a sad way, the deal that the NPA struck a few years ago, clearly not in the interest of justice, has come back to haunt them.
Perhaps Schultz’s presence was the reason Nel is pushing so hard to have Pistorius jailed. He perhaps has to do so because the presence of the hired hand in court is a stark reminder of what happens when you “strike deals” in the name of justice when you are in fact, through your acts, circumventing justice.
Schultz left at lunch time. He did not have to wait until the end of the court day. He made his mark. He sent his message. And the irony was there for South Africans and the world, courtesy of international networks, to see.
Strange days indeed.
*Jovial Rantao is editor of The Sunday Independent.
Sunday Independent