Highest bidder wins in the roulette of justice

Let’s agree on one thing: Esther Mahlangu is a national treasure. Just listen to Wickedpedia: she is known for her bold, large-scale contemporary paintings that reference her Ndebele heritage. She is one of South Africa’s best-known artists.

I know a lot of this country’s gems – Willem Boshoff jumps to mind – but Mahlangu needs a praise singer. Not because “she has spent more than seven decades practising her art form and has travelled extensively to collaborate with the world’s most respected museums, galleries, curators, art fairs, celebrities and global brands”.

Not because “in 1991 she became the first lady and first African to participate in the BMW Art Car Collection alongside other notables of the likes of Andy Warhol, David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein and Frank Stella”.

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Not because 86-year-old Dr Mahlangu is again having yet another honorary doctorate bestowed on her – this time by Unisa – and the single word out of her mouth will be fok because she worries, like all of us, about money that’s not part of the honour.

But because, Mr President with your glib words, she’s a victim of violence and saw no justice. I don’t know if she’s a gender-based violence statistic. But I do know a woman tied up and threatened with a gun is just a defenceless woman fighting men. And I do know her attackers walked free today, even though they were pointed out by Mahlangu; even though all evidence were overwhelming.

The court pleaded – what? And that’s your problem, Cyril. Sometimes, if it’s a high-profile case, judges can’t be paid off. But eyes glassed over because; who’s Mahlangu? Zuma-style, she disappeared in the just-another-black cracks. Highest bidder wins in the roulette of justice.

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But I ask: where’s the outcry because one of this country’s treasures were slighted by the never-ending graft of justice? It’s all I – and Esther – can assume unless Mr Justice tells us “insufficient evidence” killed the case. And forgive me if I roll my eyes. Because Mr Justice, we’re coming for you. We’re not done. Because we are all treasures.