Rage - Smith Wilbur - Страница 132

'You claim to be the leader of your people." 'I do,' Moses replied.

'A leader is chosen or elected. How were you chosen?" 'When an oppressed people has no voice, then their leaders come forward of their own accord to speak for them,' Moses told him.

'So you are a self-proclaimed leader,' the judge said quietly. 'And your decision to declare war on our society was taken alone. Is that correct?" 'We are involved in a colonial war of liberation,' Moses Gama replied. 'Like our brothers in Algeria and Kenya." 'You approved of the methods of the Mau Mau then?" Judge Villiers asked.

'Their cause was just - their methods, vhatever they ,might have been, were therefore just." 'The end justifies the means - any means?" 'The struggle for liberation is all, in the name of liberty any deed is sanctified." 'The slaughter and mutilation of innocents, of women and children. These are also justified?" bIf one innocent should die that a thousand might go free, then it is justified." Tell me, Moses Gama, do you believe in democracy - in the concept of 'One man, one vote"?" I believe that every man should have one vote to elect the leaders of the nation." 'And after the leaders are chosen, what should happen?" I believe that the people should submit to the wisdom of their chosen leaders." 'A one-party state - with a president for life?" 'That is the African way,' Moses Gama agreed.

'It is also the way of the Marxists,' Judge Villiers observed drily.

'Tell me, Moses Gama, what makes a black totalitarian government superior to a white totalitarian government?" 'The wishes of the majority of the people." 'And the sanction of your people, of which only you are aware, makes you a holy crusader - above the laws of civilized man?" In this land there are no such laws, for the men who make the laws are barbarians,' said Moses Gama softly, and Judge Villiers had no more questions to put to him.

Twenty-four hours later Mr Justice Andr Villiers delivered his judgement to a hushed and expectant court.

'The basis of the case brought by the crown against the accused rests upon the consideration of how an individual reacts to what he perceives as an injustice. It raises the question of the individual's right or duty to resist those laws which he considers unjust or evil. I have had to consider what loyalty a person owes to a government, which was elected by a process from which he was totally excluded, a government which has furthermore embarked upon a programme of legislation that will deliberately alienate that person from most of the major rights, privileges and benefits of the society of which he is a member --' For almost an hour Judge Villiers enlarged on and examined this proposition, then he summed up. 'I have therefore reached the conclusion that no duty of loyalty exists towards a state in which the individual is denied the basic democratic right of representation. Accordingly, on the charge of high treason I find the accused not guilty." There was a throaty roar from the body of the court and in the non-white section of the gallery they were dancing and singing. For almost a full minute Judge Villiers watched them, and those member of the court who knew him well were amazed by his forbearance But the judge's features were crumpled with an unusual compassion and terrible sadness as he took up his gavel to quieten them.

In the silence he spoke again. 'I come now to the other charges against the accused. Those of murder and attempted murder. The crown has, with the help of the most eminent and trustworthy witnesses, made out a case which the accused has not attempted to challenge. I accept that the accused placed a large body of explosive in the assembly chamber of the South African parliament with the intention of detonating that charge during a speech by the prime minister and thereby inflicting the greatest possible damage and death. I accept also that when his plot was discovered, he slew Colonel Blaine Malcomess and immediately thereafter attempted to murder Minister Courtney." The judge paused and turned his head towards Moses Gama who sat impassively in the dock, still wearing his leopard-skin robes of chieftainship.

'The accused has offered the defence that he is a soldier in a war of liberation and is therefore not subject to the civil law. While I have already e4pressed my sympathy for and understanding of the accused's aspirations and those of the black people whom he claims to represent, I cannot entertain his demand that he be treated as a prisoner of war. He is a private individual who, while fully aware of the consequences of his actions, set out on the dark road of violence, determined to inflict the greatest possible destruction in the most indiscriminate fashion. It is therefore without any hesitation whatsoever that I find the accused guilty of murder and two charges of attempted murder." There was no sound in the courtroom as Judge Villiers went on softly, 'The prisoner will rise for sentence." Slowly Moses Gama came to his full height and he regarded Judge Villiers with an imperial stare.

'Is there anything you wish to say before sentence is passed upon you?" the judge asked.

'This is not justice. We both know that - and history will record it SO." 'Is there anything further you wish to say?" When Moses shook his head, Judge Villiers intoned, 'Having found you guilty on the three main charges, I have carefully considered whether any extenuating circumstances exist in your case - and at last having determined that there are none, I have no alternative but to impose upon you the maximum penalty which the law decrees.

On all the remaining charges, taken jointly and severally, I sentence you, Moses Gama, to death by hanging." The silence persisted for a moment longer and then from the rear of the court a woman's voice rose in keening ululation, the harrowing wall of African mourning. It was taken up immediately by all the other black women in the courtroom and Judge Villiers made no attempt to silence it.

In the dock Moses Gama raised a clenched fist above his head.

'Amandla." he roared, and his people answered him with a single voice: 'Ngan'ethu/ Mayibuye! Afrika!" Manfred De La Rey sat high in the grandstand, in one of the special boxes reserved for the most important spectators. Every single seat in the stand had been sold weeks before and the standing areas around the field were crammed to capacity. This great concourse of humanity had assembled to watch one of the major events of the sporting calendar, the clash between the Western Province and Northern Transvaal rugby football teams. At stake was the Currie Cup, a trophy for which every province of South Africa competed annually in a knock-out tournament. The fanatical partisanship which this contest evoked went far beyond that of mere sporting competition.

Manfred smiled sardonically as he looked around him. The Englishman Macmillan had said that theirs was the first of the African nationalisms. If that was correct, then this was one of their most important tribal rituals, one that united and reaffirmed the Afrikaners as a cohesive entity. No.outsider could grasp the significance of the game of rugby football in their culture. True it had been developed at a British public school qlmost one hundred and fifty years ago, but then, Manfred thought wryly, it was too good for the rooinekke and it took an Afrikaner to understand the game and play it to its full potential.

Then again to call it a game was the same as calling politics or war, a game. It was more, a thousand times more. To sit here amongst his own, to be a part of this immense spirit of Afrikanerdom, gave him the same sort of religious awe that he felt when he stood within the congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church, or when he was part of the throng that gathered before the massive Voortrekker Monument that stood on the hills above the city of Pretoria. On the day of the Covenant with God, his people gathered there each year to celebrate the victory that the Almighty had given them over the Zulu King Dingaan at the battle of Blood River.