Thursday, February 5, 18h00. Happy hour with the ICJ judges. Dress: Formal/traditional
A bizarre thought struck me earlier today. The conventional wisdom is that Bill Clinton wants to bomb Iraq to distract the world from his sex scandal. But what if he has set up a sex scandal to distract the world from his wanting to bomb Iraq?
The European Union Foundation for Human Rights in South Africa threw a cocktail reception at the Cape Town Club on the eve of the opening of Parliament. This, funnily enough, sparked the thought of Bill and Iraq, but more on that later.
As a nation, Americans are singularly uninformed considering the wealth of information available to them. More to the point, they celebrate their ignorance. Not that this is their intention.
It comes down to their administration of justice and the jury selection process. The rules require that the jurors have no preconceived ideas about their cases.
In the case of the OJ Simpson trial this meant that the jurors had to be almost completely ignorant, since the OJ story had been carried extensively by newspapers and television. By definition, this meant people who did not read newspapers or watch TV news.
Society's judgement -- delivered by those who have no contact with society.
The justice system in South Africa has been very similar. Judges delivered the law of the land, but judges were not people -- they lived in a world apart, cloistered away from the harsh realities of life in their jurisdictions.
In this regard, they were similar to their American counterparts.
I arrived in the US during the public confirmation hearings of chief justice William Renquist who was trying to explain to the panel why he had sold a house with a stipulation in the deed of sale that the place not be sold to blacks or Jews.
"I left it to my lawyer," said Renquist. "I just signed it. I didn't go into the legalese." Or words to that effect.
The Americans seemed to think this was perfectly reasonable behaviour. They went ahead and appointed him as chief justice. The chief justice is apparently not obliged to go into the legalese.
But back to Thursday's cocktail reception. The party was in honour of judges of the International Court of Justice attending the court's Jubilee Seminar for Africa in Cape Town.
The event was hosted by Cape High Court judge Mr Justice Siraj Desai. He was at the door to personally welcome the potpourri of decision-makers, politicians, lawyers, and journalists.
A smile and a handshake from a judge in the old South Africa? Unthinkable!
And yet, here were many of the finest legal minds in the country -- chief justice Mr Ismail Mohammed, Constitutional Court president Mr Arthur Chaskalson, judge president of the Cape Mr Gerald Friedman, minister of justice Dullah Omar, and many more -- mingling with the masses as it were.
This, South Africa, is something we have done right. Our constitution, and those who interpret it, are integral parts of our wider society (as constitutional affairs minister Valli Moosa reminded the ANC conference in Mafikeng). A judiciary that remains in touch with the public debate is less likely to make poor decisions.
Similarly, Americans who remain in touch with the Middle East debate will be less likely to support the Clinton-Blair chorus calling for Saddam Hussein's fez. "Fornigate" has distracted them away from that debate.
This is a pity, because if Clinton is stupid enough to bomb Iraq without a UN Security Council mandate, he's likely to drive the Arab world into declaring open season on American property and people around the globe.
Some of us who might get caught in the crossfire don't believe this is good.
• Thanks for the drink, Your Honour.