Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp

It’s been 3 weeks since Oscar Pistorius shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp and still it’s the main topic in conversations. Please understand me correctly, it is a terrible tragedy and my heart goes out to both families. What bothers me though is the fact that South Africa’s pride and joy, has in a single moment become the person most people love to hate. Found guilty before he’s been to trial. Friends and family quoting newspapers and magazines on his character, stating facts from the evening, how he’s a player, had a temper and loved guns. It seems that most people actually want Oscar to turn out to be a cold blooded murderer. However, call me naïve; I just see a terrible tragedy. I know for a fact that if they were not well known, the story might have reached the papers, though a small article, as the case with the rest of the murders in South Africa. It feels, that people so easily believe what the newspapers and magazines say (though when it suits them, they are quick to tell you one cannot believe a word they say). An interview from an ex-girlfriend (whom he dumped for Reeva and who already gave a derogative interview a while ago) is stated as the absolute truth, though the comment of another ex-girlfriend who stated that Oscar is kind and never lifted a hand to her, is conveniently omitted. If a temper and love for guns makes you a killer, well then I know a lot of men who qualify. And then there is the fact that he shot 4 times – I know the law, I used to have  a .38, but handed it in to the police a couple of years ago due to the fact that I am against violence (clearly visible in my art). Though years ago a friend once stated, that when you find someone in your house at night, though the law says you may not shoot until your life is in danger, you do so, even if you shoot the whole door out of its frame. And maybe this adds to the tragedy, that South Africa has become such a violent country, that we all fear for our lives on a constant basis, that yes when you are threatened you may over-react. Could it be possible that Oscar felt so vulnerable, that he actually felt responsible to protect Reeva? I can only pray that he tells the truth, for even if he accidently shot her, he has to live the rest of his life with the terrible guilt that he killed his girlfriend. And if he is guilty, I trust that the trial will prove it. As for the rest of South Africa, with all the derogative remarks (even on his disability), my heart is aching. I read recently “ What other people say of you, says more about them then of you” – well, I’ve really come to know people. And then, to all the other victims of murder in South Africa, I am truly sorry that you are not famous, for your lives are treated as less. As for me, a murder of a celebrity in Pretoria, a murder of a child on the Cape Flats, a murder of a farmer in the Free State, they are all a murder too much, and before South African society and politicians do not see it as such, we cannot build this country