A Bulawayo man who allegedly made racial remarks that blacks have half brains of a monkey allegedly referring to President Robert Mugabe’s reported sleeping in meetings, yesterday heaved a sigh of relief after the court ruled that he had no case to answer.
Report by Senior Court Reporter
Bulawayo magistrate Gladys Mushowe in exonerating Gerald James De Klerk (70) dismissed witnesses’ evidence as unreliable, riddled with inconsistencies, and not convincing enough for a reasonable court to convict the accused. De Klerk was facing charges of causing offence to persons of a particular race and religion as defined in section 42 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.
De Klerk had denied making any racial statements and in his defence said the report to the police was fabricated against him as he only commented on an article in the NewsDay issue of February 11 this year, headlined “Mugabe sleeps in meetings”. He said he never uttered the alleged words, but was only referring a friend to the NewsDay article. His lawyer, Godfrey Nyoni, tendered the article to the court as an exhibit for De Klerk’s defence. Charges against De Klerk had been that on February 20 this year, he was overheard by his tenants and workers while engaged in a conversation with someone making racial remarks and denigrating Mugabe. He is alleged to have said: “Did you hear that bloody bugger was sleeping in the meeting? That is why this country is like this, they can’t think.” The court heard that De Klerk further said: “Honestly I don’t know why I am staying here with these black bastards. I think there is something wrong with me. I promise I will kill the black bastards if they start with me. God never made these black things.” “Do you know that these hotties have half of monkey brain? In America they are experimenting and have found that coloureds have smaller brains than us. I wonder where they came from.” De Klerk’s conversation was allegedly disturbed by the people who were outside listening to him, who confronted him about the matter. A police report was made, leading to his arrest.
