Jean-Jacques Cornish

Shrien Dewani’s day in court dawns

Four years after the slaying in Cape Town of honeymoon  bride Anni Dewani grabbed world headlines, her British businessman Shrien is to go on trial in that city for her murder.

Families on both sides will be in the Cape Town High Court for the case that, unlike the Oscar Pistorius trial that has gripped the country since the beginning of the year, will not be televised.

Anni Dewani’s father Ashish Indocha says he’s be in court to look Shrien Dewani in the eye when he enters his plea.

The British businessman lost a four-year battle to avoid extradition to South Africa where three men are already serving sentences for Anni’s murder.

They will testify that Shrien paid to have his wife killed.

A male prostitute from London’s expected to testify that Shrien was a client who told him he was forced into marriage.

Shrien, who arrived in South Africa in April, has been held at a psychiatric hospital  in Cape Town.

The state is keeping its witness list a closely guarded secret.

But it’s unlikely they won’t call taxi driver Zola Tongo, who says he was paid by Shrien to organise his wife’s murder, and the hitmen Mziwamadoda Qwabe and Xolile Mngeni.

Shrien’s engaged Advocate Francois van Zyl who secured a plea bargain for Mark Thatcher, son of the late British premier Margaret Thatcher, when he was  charged with organising a coup in Equatorial Guinea.

Enquire about availability for radio, podcasts, reporting or opinion pieces.

Jean-Jacques Cornish is a journalist and broadcaster who has been involved in the media all his adult life.

Starting as a reporter on his hometown newspaper, he moved briefly to then Rhodesia before returning to South Africa to become a parliamentary correspondent with the South African Press Association. He was sent to London as Sapa’s London editor and also served as special correspondent to the United Nations. He joined the then Argus group in London as political correspondent.

Returning to South Africa after 12 years abroad, he was assistant editor on the Pretoria News for a decade before becoming editor of the Star and SA Times for five years.

Since 1999 he’s been an independent journalist writing and broadcasting – mainly about Africa – for Talk Radio 702 and 567 Cape
Talk, Radio France International, PressTV, Radio Live New Zealand, Business Day, Mail & Guardian, the BBC, Agence France Press,
Business in Africa, Leadership, India Today, the South African Institute for International Affairs and the Institute for Security Studies.

He has hosted current affairs talk shows on Talk Radio 702 and 567 Cape Talk. He appears as an African affairs pundit on SABC Africa and CNBC Africa.
He lectured in contemporary studies to journalism students at the Tshwane University of Technology and the University of Pretoria.

He speaks on African affairs to corporate and other audiences.
He has been officially invited as a journalist to more than 30 countries. He was the winner of the 2007 SADC award for radio journalism.

He’s been a member of the EISA team observing elections in Somaliland, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Egypt and Tunsiai.

In October 2009 he headed a group of 39 African journalists to the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Peoples’ Republic of China.

In January 2010 he joined a rescue and paramedical team to earthquake struck Haiti.

He is immediate past president of the Alliance Francaise of Pretoria.

Jean-Jacques is a director of Giant Media. The company was given access to Nelson Mandela in his retirement years until 2009.
He is co-producer of the hour-long documentary Mandela at 90 that was broadcast on BBC in January 2009.