Leaving the court, the defence lawyer for Pastor Timothy Omotoso fled from a mob baying for his blood because of his aggressive questioning of the alleged victim who is now 22 years old.

Three days of testimony by Cheryl Zondi have grabbed television, radio and print headlines in South Africa.

She’s told the court that in 2015 Pastor Timothy Omotoso who’s church is called Jesus Dominion International,  forced her to perform lewd sexual acts on him.

Omotoso defence lawyer Peter Daubermann questioned her aggressively, seeking to depict her as a willing subject.

Judge Mandela Makaula took Daubermann  to task for asking Zondi how deeply the accused had penetrated her.

Daubermann submitted that Zondi was lying when she said she was frightened into obeying Omotoso and was too fearful to leave his home.

Omotoso, who was arrested 18 months ago, faces 97 charges ranging from rape and sexual assault to human trafficking and racketeeering.

His wife Taiwo, wearing a bright orange dress, was scolded by the judge for gesturing and talking during Zondi’s testimony.

The trial has been adjourned until Monday.

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Some years ago I had the pleasure of driving a minister of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic and her ambassador from Durban to Johannesburg.

Several times along the N3, she said: “Look at this world class infrastructure. Do you know what you have? Do you appreciate it.”

I recall feeling rather proud and expressed the wish that one day the Saharawis too could  have a motorway across their desert land. 

What might the minister have said had we been traveling along the road on Sunday?

With the burning trucks, it might have reminded her of the war her people have fought to rid their country of Moroccan occupation.

Together with arterial roads closed by demonstrators in Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town in recent days, they are certainly not showpieces for a developing country heading for prosperity.

How do we explain this motorway mayhem to potential investors or tourists?

The authorities warned motorists on Sunday not to use the N3 at night.

Their caution is laudable, even though it sends a dire message to potential investors in and visitors to South Africa.

Such caution is invariably expressed by countries concerned about the well-being of their citizens abroad.

It invariably attracts fury from the targets of their warnings because it tends to deter tourism.

We saw this last month when Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Lindiwe Sisulu  angrily responded to a travel advisory from Australia.

She says it casts a slur on the country. 

Sisulu appears to have been responding to media  reports rather than  facts.

The Australian travel advisory was first issued in the year 2000.

True, it advises travelers to South Africa  to exercise a high degree of  caution.

Actually, it places South Africa on the second lowest degree of danger – in the same category as  countries like Belgium and France.

In much the same way as an advisory would use a health ministry warning of cholera to urge travelers take health precautions, the Australian document uses material from SAPS annual reports  to advise of the potential of murder,  rape, mugging and robbery.

The advisory has been updated to include water shortages in the Western Cape – again using language  deployed by the local authority.

I remember after contracting malaria in Zimbabwe , I asked the South Africa health authorities in high dudgeon: why did no-one warm me?

True, there were posters at the border posts. Surely I have a right to expect more from a caring government?

If you are traveling to a country where protestors make nocturnal travel hazardous, would you not expect your own people to tell you so?

It is axiomatic that there are good things and bad things about any destination: from insect-born lurgies and pickpockets to dread diseases and flat out terrorists.

The simple answer to avoiding them is stay home.

If you can’t or won’t accept this option, arm yourself with the information you need for your security. Above all: don’t shoot the messenger.

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The group says the ICC decision gives victims hope that those responsible for grave crimes over the past two years could be held to account,

The panel of three ICC judges will investigate how President Pierre Nkurunziza’s decision two years ago to run for an unconstitutional third term ignited protests in Burundi that were suppressed by his security service and the youth league of his ruling party known as the Imbonerakure.

It will look at the allegedly unchecked abuses by these groups including rape, torture and executions.

Last month Burundi became the first country officially to withdraw from the ICC.

The court still has jurisdiction over crimes committed during the 13 years that it was a member.

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Ferguson says she was motivated by the #me too movement of women naming their violators.

Danny Jordaan headed the organizing body for the 2010 Football World Cup in South Africa.

He was Mayor of Nelson Mandela metropole until was ousted by the opposition Democratic Alliance two years ago.

He’s not responded to Jennifer Ferguson’s allegation.

Ferguson fell foul of the apartheid regime for opposing conscription and supporting those forced to fight against the liberation forces.

Her activism was recognized by then ANC leader Nelson Mandela who put her on the ruling party’s list to become an MP.

She says she was in her hotel room celebrating this when Danny Jordaan entered and raped her.

Dazed and confused, she failed to report this because she feared it might be though she had provoked the attack.

Speaking from Sweden, where she now lives, Ferguson says there is something in South Africa where the wounded male psyche is expressing itself violently.

She says South Africa’s had a scourge of rape and child abuse since colonial times.

She feels she’s part of a much bigger collective need for truth in order to heal and forgive,

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They’ve  commended the courageous testimony  of  69 survivors of detention and abuses, including a woman whom Habre was found guilty of raping four times.

ends intro

The United States welcomes the judgement of the Extraordinary African Chambers in Senegal, calling it  a landmark in the global fight against impunity for atrocities, including war crimes and crimes against humanity.

It says Habre’s eight-year term as the president of Chad until 1990 was marked by large-scale, systematic violations, including the murder of  at least 40 000 people, widespread sexual violence, mass imprisonment, enforced disappearance, and torture.

Amnesty International says the judgment  marks a significant moment for international justice and a huge relief for the tens of thousands of victims who have waited for this day for over 25 years.

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The High Court judge, who is a white woman, says in a Facebook  exchange with a friend that rape is apart of black culture.

Judge Mabel Jansen says  in her message that black men believe a woman is there to pleasure them.

She adds that this is is seen as an absolute right and a woman’s consent is not required.

Jansen holds that she  still has to meet a black girl who was not raped at about 12 years old

Concluding that murder is also is not a big deal, she says   gang rapes of baby, daughter and mother are  a pleasurable pastime.

The Democratic Alliance  has reported the messages

to the country’s Judicial Services Commission to be investigated.

The party says the judge’s  comments are hurtful and demeaning and undermine the dignity of South Africa’s people.

The women’s league of the ruling African National Congress says the judge’s  racist comments misrepresent facts about black culture.

Jansen says her postings, made  confidentially to somebody in a position to help,  have been have been taken completely out of context .

She says the real issue… is the protection of vulnerable women and children.

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