Magistrate in anti-gay outburst
August 19, 2005 Edition 1
Karyn Maughan
A Magistrate who condemned homosexual sex as "unnatural" and said it was unfortunate that the South African constitution allowed "a male to f*** a male" has been blasted by two High Court judges.
Now, despite his claims that he must have been carried away while sentencing a gay rapist, the outburst has been referred to the Magistrates Commission.
Queenstown Regional Court magistrate K Masimini hurled the expletives while sentencing a man convicted of sodomising a fellow detainee in police cells.
Addressing the convicted Fezile Dunjwa, Masimini said the offence of which he had been convicted was a "very unnatural offence of which I think your father can never be proud of you".
"You know what is funny, even animals ... a male animal will never f*** another male animal.
"Well, unfortunately the constitution of our country also says, itself, a male can f*** a male, a woman can f*** a woman, which is very unfortunately (sic)," he said.
Asked by Eastern Cape High Court judges Dayalin Chetty and Jeremy Pickering to explain his "crude and vulgar language", Masimini answered that it was "absolutely not necessary for me to use such language ... I must have been carried away emphasising how deplorable the offence was".
"The mistake is highly regretted," he said.
But the judges were not impressed.
"What is disconcerting is that the magistrate's half-hearted apology evinces a peculiar lack of appreciation for the gravity of his conduct," said Mr Justice Chetty, adding that passages of Masimini's sentencing remarks were so offensive that he had "consciously refrained" from reproducing them.
While confirming Dunjwa's conviction and sentence - he will serve two years in jail - for indecent assault and robbery, Judge Chetty said Masimini's conduct deserved strict censure and ordered a copy of the sentencing remarks passed to the Magistrates Commission.
A transcript reveals that the magistrate also told Dunjwa he hoped he would "come back and do the right thing, before it is too late".
"I understand your position, you were probably for a long time in those police cells."
But he said Dunjwa, as an awaiting-trial prisoner, should have
controlled himself.
karynm@incape.co.za
