10

June 15

2013

NEWS

S AT U R D AY S TA R

Father spent almost two decades in prison for crime he did not commit
Innocent pleas fell on deaf ears for 19 lost years while the culprits confessed to TRC and gained amnesty
HAZEL MEDA
REE State welder Tshokolo Mokoena has big dreams for his 11-month old daughter, Karabo. I would like her to be the minister of justice. This all comes from what I have experienced. Mokoena spent 19 years in prison for a crime he didnt commit. He and his friend Fusi Mofokeng were wrongfully arrested in April 1992, accused of taking part in a shoot-out between an ANC Self-Defence Unit and the Bethlehem police. Mokoena and Mofokeng were convicted of murder and robbery under the notorious doctrine of common purpose. The real perpetrators of the crime confessed and were given amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 1998. But the two friends insisted they were innocent and told the TRC they couldnt confess to a crime they didnt commit, so they were sent back to prison. Mokoenas first child was three years old when he was arrested and he lost contact with her and her mother from whom he was separated for a few years. It was tough. I found it difficult to cope, but I accepted that I am not the first man to experience this, he says. He had dreams of a happy family life, but it seemed that dream would not come true as he was moved to several different prisons and was unsuccessful in appealing against his conviction. Mokoena and Mofokeng were released on parole in April 2011 after a campaign by the community , churches, ANC members and the Wits Justice Project. Shortly afterwards, Mokoena went into a clothing store to buy a jacket. One of the saleswomen, Percival Vangxa, caught his eye. I was attracted to her at first glance, he says. He asked her for her phone number and what time she finished work. They met later that afternoon. I told her my history and she accepted it, Mokoena says. Their love for each other grew and Vangxa soon fell pregnant. Karabo was born in July . I felt like God had answered my prayer. Its all Gods doing, the proud father says. Although it had been years since Mokoena had last held a baby in his arms, he adjusted easily to fatherhood. Theres nothing difficult about it you just need to take responsibility . Mokoena is actively involved in raising Karabo and looks after her while his partner is at work on Saturdays. Thats when I get to bond with my daughter. I bath her, feed her and do everything for her. The 52-year-old enjoys his role as a father, but is not planning to have any more children. Age is not on my side really , so two kids should be enough! Mokoena has a criminal record and strict parole conditions, which complicate his life. He has to notify the police whenever he leaves Bethlehem and has to sign in at the police station every two months. The Wits Justice Project is continuing to

FREE AT LAST: Tshokolo Mokoena salutes as he leaves prison after serving 16 years for a crime he did not commit.

help Mokoena and Mafokeng in their appeals for a full pardon. Despite these challenges, Mokoena is finally enjoying the family life he dreamed of, with little Karabo the light of his life. Mokoena does not expect any gifts this Fathers Day . Instead, he will be taking his partner and daughter out for breakfast. Hazel Meda is a member of the Wits Justice Project, which investigates prison conditions and miscarriages of justice. The project is based in the Journalism Department at the University of the Witwatersrand.

TVs feckless fathers give dads a bad name

THE routine misrepresentation of fathers as useless on TV , in adverts and in books bears no relation to real life, parents say . Children in particular are bombarded with the casual contempt of men in programmes such as The Simpsons, Flintstones and Peppa Pig. And the negative stereotype is reinforced in adult shows such as Outnumbered and Shameless, a Netmums survey shows. Many parents complain it amounts to a form of discrimination that would cause an outcry if women were treated in the same way . Almost half complained children were surrounded by images of feckless fathers, with more than a quarter attacking the subtle form of discrimination and a fifth saying mothers would not accept being portrayed the same way . More than half agreed society was becoming more appreciative of how important a dads role is and that fathers are much closer to their kids than in the past. Nine in 10 dads said they felt they were working harder than their own fathers to be a good parent. The type of jokes aimed at dads would be banned if they were aimed at women, ethnic minorities or religious groups. Daily Mail

How to shield your calls, chats and browsing from unwanted surveillance
RYAN GALLAGHER
IF YOU have followed the startling revelations about the scope of the US governments surveillance efforts, you may have thought you were reading about the end of privacy . But even when faced with the most ubiquitous of modern surveillance, there are ways to keep your communications away from prying eyes. First, instead of browsing the internet in a way that reveals your IP address, you can mask your identity by using an anonymising tool like Tor or by connecting to the web using a Virtual Private Network. Additionally , you can avoid Google search by using an alternative like Ixquick, which has solid privacy credentials and says it does not log any IP addresses or search terms or share information with third parties. When it comes to sending emails, if you are using a commercial provider that has been linked to the Prism spy initiative, you can throw a spanner in the NSAs works by learning how to send and receive encrypted e-mails. PGP or its free cousin GPG are considered the standard for e-mail security , and these can be used to both encrypt and decrypt messages meaning you can thwart surveillance unless you are unlucky enough to have Trojan spyware installed on your computer. Novice computer users learning how to use PGP or GPG may find it daunting at first, but there are plenty of tutorials online for both Mac and Windows users that can help guide you through the process. For journalists working with confidential sources, attorneys seeking to ensure attorneyclient privilege, or others whose work requires secure communications, learning how to use PGP or GPG is an absolute necessity . Organisations seeking to protect themselves from e-mail grabs could go one step further: they could take more control of their messages by setting up their own e-mail server instead of relying on a third-party service, helping ensure no secret court orders can be filed to gain covert access to confidential files. And if you need to store private documents online, you can use Cloudfogger in conjunction with Dropbox. For instant messaging and online phone or video chats, you can avoid Microsoft and Google services like Skype and Gchat by adopting more secure alternatives. Jitsi can be used for peer-topeer encrypted video calls, and for encrypted instant message chats you can try using an off the record plug-in with Pidgin for Windows users or Adium for Mac. Like using PGP encryption, both Pidgin and Adium can take a little bit of work to set up but there are tutorials to help ease the pain. As for phone calls, if you want to shield against eavesdropping or stop the NSA obtaining records of who you are calling and when, there are a few options. You could use an encryption app like Silent Circle to make and receive encrypted calls and send encrypted texts and files, though your communications will be fully secure only if both parties to the call, text or file transfer are using the app. Other than Silent Circle, you could try RedPhone for making encrypted calls or TextSecure for sending encrypted texts. A new frontier of sweeping secret surveillance is not a conspiracy theory but a burgeoning reality . But it is not an Orwellian dystopia at least, not yet. Tools to circumvent government monitoring exist and are freely available. The onus is on us as individuals to learn how to use and adopt them. Washington Post