Tweet
I was going to research this lady as i was impressed with her air of gravitas when ever the Pretorius trial impedes on mywatching news in the morning....
I also was struck by on radio reports that intrudes on radio news Pretorius saying M'lady... it is good to remember where thsi lady started.. Humbling in fact...makes em feel once more i wasted my talent...
Women Have No Limits
Published: Wednesday | April 16, 20140 Comments
Thokozile Masipa
By George Davis
The woman presiding over the trial of Paralympic superstar Oscar Pistorius in South Africa serves as the best evidence to counter the argument that women need special facilitation in society if they are to make it to the top.
Thokozile Masipa is the kind of person whose achievements cannot but inspire men and women to be bulls, applying the china-shop treatment to those obstacles that stand between them and success in their chosen fields.
Masipa's achievements in a country that was officially uncivilised up to 1994, before constitutional changes marked the end of apartheid, stand as a rebuttal to those who believe the Jamaican woman gets an unfair shake where positions of power and authority are concerned.
The point is not to contrast the difficulties of being female in Jamaica with the harrowing experience of being woman and black in South Africa. No. Rather, the position is that the uniquely indomitable spirit, the resourcefulness, the bloody single-mindedness and the assassin's charm that are seemingly written into the DNA code of women can, in any circumstance, make obstacles seem as resilient as a plate of curried goat when confronted by the blade of their ambition. Masipa makes me, as a man, proud and strong. I can just imagine the effect she has on women.
Thokozile Masipa is a black woman who was appointed High Court judge in South Africa in 1998. At the time of her appointment, she was only the third black woman to be called to the Bench, following in the footsteps of Constitutional Court judge, Yvonne Mokgoro and High Court judge, Lucy Mailula.
Born in Soweto (where else?) in 1947, Masipa arrived to the world mere months before apartheid was elevated to the status of official ideology by the white-minority ruling class. Masipa earned a degree in social work at the University of South Africa. She went back to the institution and completed a degree in law, graduating in 1974.
Masipa worked as a news carrier during the repressive days of apartheid, reporting for publications such as the World Post and theSowetan. She made her name through her gripping accounts of the struggles experienced by non-whites, especially blacks, under apartheid. It was through sitting in the catbird seat and watching those events play out that Masipa was inspired to become a lawyer.
This was not a woman who left university and had the luxury of choosing which outstanding law firms could benefit from her talents. This was, instead, a woman who never got called to the Bar until she was near 50 years old.
A quiet, contemplative person who shuns the limelight, the 66-year-old has distinguished herself as a judge of the High Court in her homeland. She never complained about lack of opportunity in a country where, for much of her life, opportunity for black women was merely a word found in a dictionary, but which held no promise for the future.
free of the bombast
She has been described by colleagues as very intelligent and free of the bombast that characterises so many of her male counterparts on the highest Bench in South Africa. The Pistorius fan club will not want to recall the 252-year sentence she handed down to a serial murderer last year after finding him guilty of killing three women in separate housebreaking incidents. Nor will they want to recall the life sentence she handed down to a policeman in 2009 after he shot and killed his wife in a row over the divorce settlement. It's in her hands that Pistorius will be delivered at the end of the trial. May the Lord have mercy!
Masipa represents the new South Africa. She fills me with pride. To hear one of the most famous athletes in the world, a white man, sit in a South African court and say, "Yes, m'lady" and be speaking to a woman, a black woman, shows how far that country has come. It's something that many alive today would have sworn could never happen in the 'rainbow nation'.
It shows that women everywhere have no limits and need nothing in order to shine. By themselves, they will arrive at the point their talent and ambition dictate.
Selah.
I also was struck by on radio reports that intrudes on radio news Pretorius saying M'lady... it is good to remember where thsi lady started.. Humbling in fact...makes em feel once more i wasted my talent...
Women Have No Limits
Published: Wednesday | April 16, 20140 Comments
Thokozile Masipa
By George Davis
The woman presiding over the trial of Paralympic superstar Oscar Pistorius in South Africa serves as the best evidence to counter the argument that women need special facilitation in society if they are to make it to the top.
Thokozile Masipa is the kind of person whose achievements cannot but inspire men and women to be bulls, applying the china-shop treatment to those obstacles that stand between them and success in their chosen fields.
Masipa's achievements in a country that was officially uncivilised up to 1994, before constitutional changes marked the end of apartheid, stand as a rebuttal to those who believe the Jamaican woman gets an unfair shake where positions of power and authority are concerned.
The point is not to contrast the difficulties of being female in Jamaica with the harrowing experience of being woman and black in South Africa. No. Rather, the position is that the uniquely indomitable spirit, the resourcefulness, the bloody single-mindedness and the assassin's charm that are seemingly written into the DNA code of women can, in any circumstance, make obstacles seem as resilient as a plate of curried goat when confronted by the blade of their ambition. Masipa makes me, as a man, proud and strong. I can just imagine the effect she has on women.
Thokozile Masipa is a black woman who was appointed High Court judge in South Africa in 1998. At the time of her appointment, she was only the third black woman to be called to the Bench, following in the footsteps of Constitutional Court judge, Yvonne Mokgoro and High Court judge, Lucy Mailula.
Born in Soweto (where else?) in 1947, Masipa arrived to the world mere months before apartheid was elevated to the status of official ideology by the white-minority ruling class. Masipa earned a degree in social work at the University of South Africa. She went back to the institution and completed a degree in law, graduating in 1974.
Masipa worked as a news carrier during the repressive days of apartheid, reporting for publications such as the World Post and theSowetan. She made her name through her gripping accounts of the struggles experienced by non-whites, especially blacks, under apartheid. It was through sitting in the catbird seat and watching those events play out that Masipa was inspired to become a lawyer.
This was not a woman who left university and had the luxury of choosing which outstanding law firms could benefit from her talents. This was, instead, a woman who never got called to the Bar until she was near 50 years old.
A quiet, contemplative person who shuns the limelight, the 66-year-old has distinguished herself as a judge of the High Court in her homeland. She never complained about lack of opportunity in a country where, for much of her life, opportunity for black women was merely a word found in a dictionary, but which held no promise for the future.
free of the bombast
She has been described by colleagues as very intelligent and free of the bombast that characterises so many of her male counterparts on the highest Bench in South Africa. The Pistorius fan club will not want to recall the 252-year sentence she handed down to a serial murderer last year after finding him guilty of killing three women in separate housebreaking incidents. Nor will they want to recall the life sentence she handed down to a policeman in 2009 after he shot and killed his wife in a row over the divorce settlement. It's in her hands that Pistorius will be delivered at the end of the trial. May the Lord have mercy!
Masipa represents the new South Africa. She fills me with pride. To hear one of the most famous athletes in the world, a white man, sit in a South African court and say, "Yes, m'lady" and be speaking to a woman, a black woman, shows how far that country has come. It's something that many alive today would have sworn could never happen in the 'rainbow nation'.
It shows that women everywhere have no limits and need nothing in order to shine. By themselves, they will arrive at the point their talent and ambition dictate.
Selah.
Comment