Zuma guilty in the public court of opinion not in a court of law

South African Judge Van der Merwe referred to the poem If by Rudyard Kipling when acquitting ANC Deputy President Jacob Zuma saying if Kipling had known of this case at the time he wrote his poem, he might have added the following: “And if you can control your body and your sexual urges, then you are a man, my son.”
That word of wisdom to the ladies especially, summed up the whole trial in acquitting Zuma whom many, especially the anti Aids campaigners had hoped that the former second most powerful person in SA would go to jail.
Judging from the uncalled hullabaloo created even from the remotest part of this world, Zuma was only guilty in the public court of opinion but not in a court of law.
The bench in the public court of opinion had longed sent Zuma to jail saying he deserved not less than a jail sentence.
In his six hour ruling, the judge said he had no doubt that the two parties had a mutual consent when having sex meaning the lady had not been raped. Reading in between the lines, Zuma is guilty only because he was the second in command in SA.
He is only guilty because he headed the National Aids Council which advocated for the use of condoms in its campaign to fight the pandemic. Having gone against the will of people where he was supposed to lead by not only words but examples, Zuma was demonized.
His critics had one thing in mind, send Zuma to jail and it will serve an example to the rest which is unacceptable.
What if the lady was not infected with the virus would the case have created such debate? The verdict we can set here is had Zuma controlled his sexual urges which many are unable to do before they had an affair and used a condom he would only be accused of having an affair.
There is no difference between Zuma and the likes of Bill Clinton, Charles Clarke and many more people who have been overwhelmed by their sexual desires.
Zuma’s critics should understand that he was doing it at his own risk, he never infected anyone and what the lady is suffering from is guilt of having an affair. To the lady, Zuma was a family friend but to Zuma just like many men, there is no term like a family friend.

of media and the government

I am perturbed by the endless outcry by politicians mainly from the government side on role of the media in the country which has caused nonstop attention from the first to the fourth estate.
A tired saying by the anti media, mainly from the first three estates says people would prefer a country with a government minus the media rather than a country with the media but no government.
This chicken egg matter would work no where in the modern world as the media in one of its key objectives, must watch the government for the people. No single democratic country can thrive without the media, and no government can work without the media, period.
What Messer Raphael Tuju, John Michuki and his son in law Mutahi Kagwe and other media critics should realize is that, the media watches for the society and no one time should they expect the media to pat their backs for a job well done.
What is the media expected to do when the Anglo Leasing is hatched? When the government engages in extravagance in expense of a starving society, should the media sit back and spike Maina Kia’s report as a sign of support to the government?
The proposed media bill hopes to curb and control the media but reading between the lines it hopes to curb unpopular politicians who have vested interests from owning media houses.
The media bill is well intended and some of its clauses should be supported as they seek to protect the oppressed journalists who have no one o speak out for them.
While we blame the current government, the opposition should not be spared either as it provides continuity to an error created by the leaving regime. What the government and the opposition should realise is that almost everywhere in the world the fourth estates sets the agenda.
What the new Kibaki inner circle has realized is that, in order to make Kibaki marketable in the coming elections, they have to tame the media which has vigorously dried his dirty linen in public.
With no media in the country which seems to endorse his candidacy, the government has resulted to gagging the media by arresting journalists, raiding the media houses which as expected, have shredded his character and that of his cronies into pieces.
While analyzing the media, the leading media in the country are nothing to write home about for the government. The Standard Group which has kept the government on its toes is controlled by people affiliated to KANU. Nation Media Group cannot be relied on anymore. The Royal Media Service which has supported his tenure is under going a face lifts and with its journalists being harassed, its support is in doubt.
The government should see this as a normal scenario as seen in the world. In Italy for example, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi owned and controlled the leading media in the country.