A South African politician under whose watch 94 psychiatric patients died resigned this week. But should she be taken to court to be held properly accountable?
In some distance events, disabled athletes already outcompete their able-bodied counterparts.
Cathy Freeman was criticised for flying the Aboriginal flag at the 1994 Commonwealth Games but the same act at the Sydney 2000 Olympics was hailed as a moment of reconciliation.
Reuters/Jerry Lampen
The Olympic Games are a theatre — sometimes farce, sometimes tragedy, reality TV, morality play or soap opera — where geopolitical, social and technological dramas are played out.
Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius arrives at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, South Africa, for his sentencing.
Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko
Under South African law, murder carries a minimum sentence of 15 years for first-time offenders. But courts may deviate from this if they find ‘substantial and compelling circumstances’ to do so.
Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius speaks with his legal team ahead of his sentence hearing at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, South Africa.
Reuters/Masi Losi/Pool
Disgraced Paralympic superstar Oscar Pistorius has been sentenced to six years in prison for the 2013 murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. You can find a selection of articles The Conversation has…
Oscar Pistorius walks without his prosthetic legs at a recent hearing at the Pretoria High Court.
Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters
Paralympian Oscar Pistorius was sentenced to six years in prison for killing his girlfriend. It comes after a well-publicised TV interview which some believe was used to influence the judge.
Judge Thokozile Masipa during Oscar Pistorius’ trial in the High Court.
EPA/Kim Ludrook
The debate about the quality of High Court judges after the Pistorius trials reflects a different cultural clash in South Africa – one in which incompetence is often associated with black people.
South African Oscar Pistorius at his trial for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
Reuters/Mike Hutchings
The Supreme Court of Appeal found that Oscar Pistorius must have foreseen, when shooting, that whoever was behind the toilet door might die, but reconciled himself with that possibility.
The swimsuit worn by competitors throughout 2009 improved performance and was subsequently banned.
Reuters/Wolfgang Rattay
Technology has become a major game-changer in sport. But innovation has to be tempered with caution and vigilance to ensure sport remains fair, safe and accessible.
Oscar Pistorius’ early release was a virtual certainty from the day he was sentenced.
EPA/Herman Verwey
Oscar Pistorius was convicted of culpable homicide for what was deemed a tragic accident. In light of that verdict, he has not been subject to any special treatment in terms of his sentence.
Oscar Pistorius has finally been sentenced, to what his judge described as “a sentence that is fair and just, both to society and to the accused”. For the culpable homicide of Reeva Steenkamp, he was sentenced…
Guns were part of Pistorius’ life at home and in public.
EPA/Phill Magakoe/Pool
South African paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius has been found not guilty of the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. The presiding judge, Thokozile Masipa, found him guilty, though, of culpable…
Oscar Pistorius has been cleared of premeditated murder charges, but found guilty of culpable homicide – a crime for which he could face a possible 15 years behind bars. He has also been found guilty of…
Oscar Pistorius arrives at court.
EPA/Kim Ludbrook
After six months of courtroom drama relayed around the world, Judge Thokozile Masipa has reached her verdict on Oscar Pistorius: not guilty of the murder of Reeva Steenkamp, but guilty of her “culpable…
The judge in Oscar Pistorius’ trial has asked for his mental health to be assessed.
EPA/Gianluigi Guercia
Oscar Pistorius’ trial took another dramatic turn earlier this week when the judge in the case agreed to a prosecution request to have his mental health assessed. After a psychiatrist called by the defence…
Pistorius trial has kept violence against women on the frontpage.
Kim Ludbrook/EPA
Who is responsible for violence towards women? This question runs like a thread through some of the public discourses swirling around the trial of athlete Oscar Pistorius. In some ways he represents an…
The Pistorius trial has drawn attention to attitudes to women in South Africa.
Gianluigi Guercia/Pool/EPA
As South Africa, in election week, watches the trial of Oscar Pistorius for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, my perception is that our society is experiencing an overall paroxysm of social…