New form of despotism

STRANGE how bureaucrats will sometimes not pass up the opportunity to lord it over the public - albeit needlessly.

Worse still, if presented with the opportunity to be fussy bureaucrats will rise to the occasion with panache or flatulent officiousness.

Small wonder one luminary once lamented that "bureaucracy, the rule of no one, has become the modern form of despotism".

Despotic is just the word to describe the decision by one H du Plessis, prosecutor in the Musina magistrate's court, who ordered that the media covering a case involving seven suspects, including four minors, be kicked out of the proceedings.

The incident has sparked racial tensions in the Limpopo town because the suspects, who are white, targeted graves belonging to black people.

Citing the involvement of minors, Du Plessis asked the police to remove the media and the complainants.

Bewildering is the only way to describe Du Plessis' decision, which exposes his ignorance of general court practice as far as minors are concerned.

A cursory enquiry to his seniors at the National Prosecuting Authority would have revealed that the media is fully cognisant with the practice in which they are required to strictly report only evidence given by minors without disclosing their identity.

Where ignorance is bliss, over-zealousness tends to hold sway - as happened in this saga when officialdom would not pass up the opportunity to flex its muscles against the hapless media.