The latest developments in the Shrien Dewani saga complicate matters in the verdict of the killing of his wife Anni. We have heard about British-born Dewani's lavish lifestyle-the luxury home renovations, five-star hotels and private jet travel- but does being a millionaire automatically make someone corrupt? Recent evidence is flagging up the wider social politics in the debate around Dewani's innocence.
On the 14th of October Judge Traverso who is ruling on the case in the High Court of Cape Town, announced that she was not convinced that Dewani's bisexuality was relevant to the case. This destabilised the prosecution's argument that Dewani staged a hi-jacking in order to escape a traditional marriage while preserving his reputation. Amid the details of hiring expensive German prostitutes and signing on with controversial fetish sites, much has been made of Dewani's personal and somewhat decadent sex-life. The prosecution continued to assert that Dewani's sexuality was key in the motivation of the shooting with Anni's cousin Sneha Hindocha presenting texts that showed distance in the marriage. Anni had sent despairing statements such as 'want to cry myself to death' and 'one cannot even hug him.'
However the biggest flaw that has come to light in the case against Dewani is the inconsistency of the South African witness statements. In addition to the policeman who took Dewani's statement on the night of the murder 'losing' his notebook, the stories of previously convicted South African nationals did not add up. Prison inmate Mziwamadoda Qwabe, who was one of the men originally arrested for Anni's kidnapping and murder, claimed his accomplice Mngeni shot Anni when it was Qwabe's prints that were found on the gloves that were used to grab her legs while second jailed witness Zola Tongo, driver of the taxi at the time of the hijacking, said that Dewani offered him 15,000 rand for the killing when the underground rate for 'hitting' a foreigner was found to be well over 100,000.
Off the back of this, the defence argued that Dewani had been framed by the convicted South Africans in a desperate attempt to redeem a botched conspiracy. Van Zyl, who was defending Dewani in court, alleged that the men were planning to use the millionaire's wife for ransom after also her Armani handbag and jewellery had also gone missing. Tongo, with whom Dewani shared many dazzling stories about the high-life and who hails from a township referred to as the 'field of death', was said to have acted on what he saw as a money-making opportunity in the profligate couple. The defence Van Zyl went on to say that both Qwabe and Tongo had been offered plea bargains if they testified for the prosecution, and that Qwabe had shot Anni by accident in an attempt to rape her.
Together with racist comment from General Bheki Cele, South Africa’s former police chief that 'a monkey came all the way from London to have his wife murdered here,' there is also a speculation that Dewani might be caught up in a scheme to cover up Cape Town abhorrent crime and murder rate.
Shrien Dewani, held at Cape Town's Valkenberg psychiatric hospital because of his grief, insisted that he loved his wife very much alongside medical evidence that showed the couple had already started trying for a baby. As the trial carries on, the question of an impoverished and purchasable underclass in South Africa, remains an important backdrop.
