Copyright sagoodnews
By Steuart Pennington ‘I Will Not Be Silenced’ by Karyn Maughan is an extraordinary read on so many levels. Her deep sensitivity on how best to report on a court case; on how to navigate the justice system while focusing unerringly, relentlessly, on the truth; and on how to ‘protect the victim or survivor from being drowned out by the loud noises of the person accused of harming them or taking their life.’ As Karyn forthrightly says, “I will not be silenced. As a student of history, I know that it is important to stand up for what you know to be true, and to always leave a record. As much as the arc of history bends towards justice, those who bend it towards truth leave their fingerprints for eternity.” Her book does just that, it reads like a thriller as she takes you through the Zuma rape trial; her relationship with Zuma’s first wife Ntuli-Zuma and the accusation of her ‘poisoning’ Zuma; the Stalingrad strategy endlessly employed by Zuma as he constantly raised fictitious charges against her and Billy Downer in an attempt to scare them away from the truth; her battle with diabetic comas as the stress on her personal security took its toll; the social media war that daughter Duduzile Zuma waged against her dignity and reputation; the attempt by Iqbal Surve’s Sekunjalo business empire to portray her as a Nazi propogandist; her early friendship with Dali Mpofu shattered as she learnt of his ‘inflated sense of himself as an exceptional being’; her worry regarding the global trend ‘of what appears to be the distortion of facts to create an alternative reality where powerful people accused of criminality cast themselves as victims and those who seek accountability from them are criminalized’; and the close relationships she developed with the journalists and legal practitioners who supported her voice and writings on this difficult and dogged journey. I could not put the book down, it is a must read for aspirant journalists; it is a lesson to all of us that the pursuit of truth can never be bedfellows with expediency and double standards no matter what the ‘situation’ or public opinion may call for; that bravery is about being resolute in the value of what the fight for truth is for while conquering the fear that comes with it; and that standing up for what is right in a world bedeviled by fake news, distortion, self-interest, corruption and greed is more difficult, and more important, now, than ever before. A must read! I couldn’t recommend it more highly, a fascinating South African story written by an uncompromising, forthright South African journalist, an increasing rarity in these times. Printed by Tafelberg ISBN: 978-0-624-09128-8 Epub: 978-0-634-09131-8
