Opinion: Brickz was living his best life for only R50k

After a lengthy three-year battle with the law‚ on July 7 2017 kwaito star Brickz was found guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl back in 2013. Up until that fateful Friday the intensity of his crime had been diluted by time.

Three years and six months is a long time to wait for justice‚ so the news of the star’s guilty verdict left many South Africans shocked. But why? Why were we shocked that this man had been found guilty?

When reports broke in 2013 that Brickz had allegedly raped a young girl who stayed with him and his wife‚ South Africans were enraged. “His celebrity status and money should not be a factor in this case. He must be treated like an accused rapist‚” read some of the comments on social media at the time.

As the news spread‚ heated debates among fans dominated social media with people arguing over the statement of "innocent until proven guilty" versus “men are trash”.

After being arrested by police Brickz served a little over a month in prison and was released on R50‚000 bail.

When Brickz came out he compared prison to his kasi‚ where he was just catching up with the boys. You know‚ as one does after being arrested for rape. The anger fizzled out and like the forever pre-occupied species we are‚ we forgot to stay angry. We moved on. And so did Brickz.

People say money and status can’t buy you time or life‚ but this was clearly not true in this case.

Brickz paid R50‚000 for 42 months of freedom‚ while the law took its course. Issa long time for the victim to wait while the person who violated her was living his best life.

At that point‚ our alarms should have rang because the privilege of money and influence started rearing its ugly head. Despite the fact that average people do not have 50k ready for bail payment; the journey of the case from that moment had a familiar odour. A stench of a “privilege” that is extended to a select few with money and influence.

Money made sure he had good lawyers and the industry made sure he had the money to pay for his freedom. After a few court appearances‚ where his case was postponed for one reason or the other‚ it seemed like his case did not hold any prominence.

Brickz complained a few times to the media that the case had “wrecked” his life. However‚ the kwaito star still got booked to perform‚ he continued to make music and had interviews on the regular.

To put it into perspective‚ after spending four years behind bars rapper Molemo ‘Jub Jub’ Maarohanye‚ who was released on parole in January seemed to be as remorseful as they come. He even stayed away from social media because of the freedom of speech there. The first thing Jub Jub did after his release on parole in January was to ask for forgiveness‚ through a song titled Please Forgive Me (Ke kopa tswarelo).

Jub Jub and his co-accused Themba Tshabalala were convicted of culpable homicide after crashing their cars into a group of school children in 2010 which left four dead and another two brain damaged.

Meanwhile‚ Brickz’s life continued as if there were no regular visits to the court and he had committed no crime. He even had time to engage in twars (Twitter wars). Like back in 2014 when he and musician Ntsiki Mazwai went head-to-head after she said‚ "drugs pushed Brickz over the edge" and he hit back with a statement that left many dumbfounded- "I still have your nudes."

Side note: Privilege sometimes overlooks race‚ the real power lies with money and influence anyway…right?

Take Oscar Pistorius‚ for example‚ in 2014 the then murder-accused athlete got involved in a bar altercation whilst out on bail. His spokesperson Anneliese Burgess said at the time‚ “our client regrets the decision to go into a public place‚ thereby inviting unwelcome attention." And that was that.

So when Brickz picked up the pieces of his life as if he had no case looming‚ was it not a “questionable” deed?

The star plotted his musical comeback and attempted to redress the wrongs of the past which included blowing R2 million on drugs‚ to the detriment to many of his professional and personal relationships.

All this while rape accusations hung over his head‚ which South Africa seemed to turn a blind eye on or maybe there just wasn't time to "hold him accountable".

Months after rapper Okamalumkoolkat served time in an Australian jail after being found guilty of indecent assault and assault with indecent intent‚ he was still referred to as a "convicted sex offender" in the media.

While Brickz was just Brickz‚ it wasn't often that he was referred to as "alleged rapist Brickz".

So he went on like the case didn't exist. It also seems as though most famous faces are happy to express outrage over issues such as rape‚ femicide‚ and gender-based violence when the accused is unknown‚ however when a fellow celebrity ends up on the wrong side of the law‚ there seems to be a deafening silence amongst some of Mzansi's most outspoken celebrities.

The young teenager who was raped by Brickz is now 19-years-old‚ and if she managed to stay strong‚ she could be doing her first year in university. And while she will always have a mental scar to remind her of an ordeal that she probably hopes to forget every day‚ the rest of us should probably acknowledge that we forgot to be angry.

Perhaps we are shocked because we let Brickz live his best life among us. It might even be because we watched silently as R50k bought him freedom. The truth may be that we never had any direct link to the case‚ but we also may have to acknowledge that we failed to hold him accountable.

However‚ living in a South Africa where violent crimes against women are on a never-ending high maybe we need to become more accountable for each other. Unfortunately‚ money‚ status and privilege won this one. How sad…

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