Editorial
Johannesburg – Disgraced Paralympic hero Oscar Pistorius went before the parole board yesterday. If he was successful, he would have been a free man this weekend in terms of our laws because he has served more than half of his sentence, after gunning down his girlfriend 10 years ago.
His parole was denied, but it would have been a bitter pill to swallow for Reeva Steenkamp’s parents and the late model’s family and friends.
This week Leigh Matthews’ parents had to face up to their daughter’s killer in Johannesburg Prison this week as Donovan Moodley faced the parole board for a second time. Moodley hasn’t served his full sentence yet either.
The Griekwastad murderer Don Steenkamp will be eligible for parole in August next year. He raped his sister on Good Friday 11 years ago. Then he murdered her and their parents. In 2014, he was sentenced to 20 years in jail. Next year is the half way mark.
Najwa Petersen is another case. She is overdue for parole after being convicted of murdering her husband, the legendary musician Taliep Petersen. She is almost 14 years into a 28-year sentence.
These are just the ones we know, because they are the ones that made headlines; either because of the status of the killers themselves or the appalling nature of this killings – or both.
It is hard enough to get a successful prosecution and a conviction in South Africa these days. Giving convicted killers the benefit of a progressive legal system hardly seems apt with our crime rate an international disgrace and our police and prosecutors overworked and overwhelmed.
We need to be exceptionally vigilant about how and when parole is granted. We need to be fair by honouring the memories of the victims and recognising the pain of their families who were never afforded the same rights when those self-same killers denied them their rights.