The Rule of Law

Hannes Wessels,

Growing up in Rhodesia I remember a police force, the British South Africa Police (BSAP), that was highly respected by the majority of people, and magistrates and judges who were learned, competent and incorruptible. So the fundamentals required for a society to function under a ‘rule of law’ under which all would be treated equally, were firmly in place, and in most respects the country flourished.

As evidence of this I remember Alec, the young son of the then Prime Minister Ian Smith, being arrested at a police checkpoint for illegal possession of cannabis. The word on the street was that being who he was, some sort of ‘arrangement’ would follow, the charges would be suppressed and people would understand and acquiesce. But nothing of the sort happened, the prime minister made it clear he would not interfere, Alec was charged, convicted and sentenced in an open criminal court and the citizenry were reassured that the country’s rules applied to all.

Politics aside, I think it is true to say the country’s administrators fully understood the critical importance of avoiding the selective application of the law if the country was to prosper and acted correctly upon that premise. As a result, prior to the war that changed everything, despite the racial divide and an unequal distribution of wealth, the country was remarkably peaceful and mostly crime-free. Because the vast majority respected the police and the courts, and preferred to abide by the law.

This changed quickly after independence in 1980 when Edgar Tekere, then a minister in the new Mugabe government, was acquitted of murder following the slaying of a defenceless white farmer outside the city of Harare despite overwhelming evidence proving his guilt. It was immediately clear race and political power would henceforth take precedence over the law of the land.

Looking at the Western world today it is deeply distressing to note this critical component in the matrix that leads to what is loosely known as ‘good governance’ is also being found wanting.

An alarming flaw showed itself in the US in the course of the O J Simpson murder trial in Los Angeles over 30 years ago. Simpson, by then an American film and sports icon, was accused of murdering his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman.

An investigation led by hapless Detective Mark Fuhrman, revealed blood matching the football star’s was found on the paving next to the bodies. Both had been stabbed to death repeatedly, Nicole’s throat had been slit with such force she was almost decapitated. The accused’s blood was also found on her driveway, her gate, inside his bedroom, on his gloves, socks, and inside the car he later used to try and escape arrest. There were confirmed reports of Simpson beating his wife before the murders.

Despite compelling evidence, the astonishing outcome of the court’s deliberations was to see Simpson acquitted of all charges and the only conviction coming out of the trial being Detective Fuhrman who, when evidence was produced by the defence of him using the word ‘n…r’ some ten years before the trial in the course of working on a screenplay with a lady he was romantically involved with, was convicted of perjury.

Simpson’s defence attorney called Fuhrman a ‘genocidal racist’, compared him to Hitler, and accused him of wanting to ‘… take all black people out and burn them and bomb them.’ America celebrated when Simpson emerged a hero and Fuhrman a convicted felon.

If one studies the ‘Epstein Files’ saga it is hard not to conclude the selective application of the law seen in the Simpson case in America appears to have spun out of control.

Despite President Trump’s repeated promises on the campaign trail to release the ‘Epstein Files’ , his administration has lied and obfuscated in order to do the exact opposite.

There is absolutely no doubt a legion of people were involved in illegal activities in connection with this sordid saga but bar the conviction of Ghislaine Maxwell, the Department of Justice, the FBI and other relevant organs of state are doing everything they can to bury this issue.

The reason is clear; the people implicated are rich and powerful, and so they are above the law. Thomas Massie, the Kentucky congressman who has refused to buckle under pressure and has insisted on full release of the papers has just lost his seat in an election where his almost unknown opponent was heavily financed by the same people likely to be prosecuted if the law was allowed to follow the correct course.

It beggars belief, but some well-informed commentators go so far as to suggest the war against Iran has been confected to divert public attention from the Epstein issue. There is now reference by political commentators critical of the Trump administration to the ‘Epstein Class’, a distinct group who are known to all, who routinely operate brazenly above the law, who will never be held to account for alleged malfeasance no matter how serious the crime.

In the UK the same malaise has taken hold, albeit manifesting in a different guise. In the case of the notorious ‘Grooming Gangs’ where thousands of miscreants were spared prosecution for racial reasons, the one man who did feel the wrath of the law was Tommy Robinson; his crime, for which he did lengthy spells in prison, was trying to expose the perpetrators.

More recently, thanks in large part to Elon Musk and ‘X’ because virtually the entire UK media chose to look the other way, the circumstances surround the appalling death of Henry Nowak, have come to light.

Eighteen years old, after a night out drinking he was stabbed repeatedly. When the police arrived, the stricken man was accused of having used a racial

slur whereupon he was handcuffed, arrested and died from loss of blood. Clearly the arresting officers, on hearing they may have a ‘racist’ in custody, dispensed with any thought of calling an ambulance and allowed him to die for his sins.

In this context it is hard, if not impossible to believe the majority of Britons or Americans retain much genuine respect for the public servants of their respective countries tasked with applying the rule of law.

The UK police force, captured by Woke ideology and all but invisible in public (except when briefly spotted driving by in police cars adorned with the LGBTQ++ rainbow), which targets miniscule Right-wing ‘threats’ while playing down immigrant-related violence, is a recipe for eventual civil unrest in it application of two-tier justice.

Ordinary, decent citizens are increasingly disillusioned and angry. A reckoning will surely occur unless sane governance returns in the UK, US, and all western, so-called ‘democracies’.