When you see someone looking like they are mentally challenged, the first thing any responsible adult should do is to order professional assessment of mental capacity.

Is the man mentally stable? Is he having capacity to take the responsible decisions or to even answer questions in court, under oath? What is in his local clinic file? Is he on treatment? Does he need assessment?

It’s very surprising and surely very irresponsible that the SA police, politicians, National Prosecutions Authority, courts and even journalists and analysts don’t even want to think of starting there.

That says a lot about the critical state of mental capacity as a country. Has factionalism and self-hate destroyed us that much?

Kagiso Sedumedi, Oxford, United Kingdom