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Bearing final witness to Reeva’s shattered body – should we?

By Daily Maverick 17-06-16 11:52

This week Barry Steenkamp pleaded with Judge Thokozile Masipa to rule that forensic police photographs of his 29-year-old daughter’s shattered skull and bloodied corpse be made public. State Prosecutor Gerrie Nel too said it was time that the world witnessed the violence and damage caused by the four Black Talon bullets Oscar Pistorius pumped into Reeva Steenkamp through his toilet door. But in what appears to be a matter of victim-one-upmanship, should we violate Reeva’s privacy?

Oscargate | The Optimist

By Karen de Villiers 05-03-14 12:11

We watch like bloodthirsty spectators as ordinary people who were at the wrong place at the right time are subjected to gruelling legal examination while social media partakes in a feeding frenzy.

The year in headlines: top ten South African news stories of 2013

By Brett Petzer 23-12-13 11:34

In many ways, this was South Africa’s year: the Beloved Country reached the ‘end of the beginning’ of democracy when Madiba passed, and the world celebrated his life and legacy with us. But Mzansi also made headlines when Oscar shot Reeva, and our own national conversation continues to revolve around the urgent national challenges we face and the search for the next generation of leaders.

Oscar Pistorius and the hero-worship of South African sportsmen

By Brett Petzer 20-08-13 12:22

There are murderers we instinctively greet as monsters. Reading of their exploits and seeking the damaged remnant of human mercy in them both entertains us, and reassures us that, say, the Modimolle Monster is not fundamentally the same as we and our loved ones are. Murderers, or those accused of murder, are entirely more troubling when they are people we emulated.

11 reasons for a national campaign against gender-based violence

By Brett Petzer 13-08-13 12:32

If the South African public and the diaspora have emphasised Reeva Steenkamp’s life as uniquely tragic, the ubiquity of the violence against women in this country was not lost on Steenkamp herself. She saw herself, prior to being personally victimised, as already deeply implicated in the common fate that awaits 1,095 South African women this year.

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