Difference between revisions of "Christopher Nicholson"

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{{person
 
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|name=Chris Nicholson
 
|wikipedia=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Robert_Nicholson
 
|wikipedia=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Robert_Nicholson
 
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|description=Retired South African High Court Judge  
 
|description=Retired South African High Court Judge  
 
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'''Christopher Nicholson''' is a retired [[South Africa]]n High Court Judge and a former cricketer, who played one first-class match for the South African Universities cricket team in 1967. He attained prominence as a judge when he ruled that the South African Government had tampered with the evidence in the case against [[Jacob Zuma]], an act that led to the resignation of the [[President of South Africa]], [[Thabo Mbeki]].
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'''Christopher Robert Nicholson''' is the [[South Africa]]n High Court Judge who in 2008 acquitted President-to-be [[Jacob Zuma]] of corruption charges. In his ruling on 12 September, [[Judge Nicholson]] said it appeared that [[Thabo Mbeki|President Mbeki]] and his Justice Minister had colluded with prosecutors against [[Jacob Zuma|Zuma]] as part of the 'titanic power struggle' within the [[ANC]]. [[Jacob Zuma|Mbeki]] indignantly denied the accusations. The charges were linked to a multi-billion-rand arms deal involving, among others, [[British Aerospace]]. [[Judge Nicholson]] held that [[Jacob Zuma|Zuma]]'s corruption charges were unlawful on procedural grounds in that the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) did not give [[Jacob Zuma|Zuma]] a chance to make representations before deciding to charge him. The acquittal of [[Jacob Zuma]] led to the resignation of the [[President of South Africa]], [[Thabo Mbeki]].<ref>''[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/sep/21/mbeki.resignation "Mbeki is forced out after split in ANC"]''</ref>
  
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On 20 October 2018, [[Judge Nicholson]] published an article in the ''Saturday Star'' analysing in forensic detail claims that former foreign minister [[Pik Botha]] – who died on 12 October 2018 – had been booked to travel on the doomed [[Pan Am Flight 103]] which exploded over Lockerbie, [[Scotland]] on 21 December 1988, but had instead taken an earlier flight the same day from Heathrow to New York. Nicholson concluded his analysis by asking whether [[UN Commissioner for Namibia]] [[Bernt Carlsson]] "was not the real target of those who put the bomb on [[Pan Am 103]]."<ref>''[[Document:Lucky Escapees from Pan Am Flight 103]]''</ref>
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On 20 October 2018, eight years after his retirement as a Judge, [[Chris Nicholson]] published an article in the ''Saturday Star''. That article analysed in forensic detail claims that former foreign minister [[Pik Botha]] – who died on 12 October 2018 – had been booked to travel on the doomed [[Pan Am Flight 103]] which exploded over Lockerbie, [[Scotland]] on 21 December 1988, but had instead taken an earlier flight the same day from Heathrow to New York. Nicholson concluded his analysis by asking whether [[UN Commissioner for Namibia]] [[Bernt Carlsson]] "was not the real target of those who put the bomb on [[Pan Am 103]]."<ref>''[[Document:Lucky Escapees from Pan Am Flight 103]]''</ref>
  
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== Early life and sporting career ==
+
==Early life and cricket==
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Christopher Nicholson was born 5 February 1945 on a farm near Richmond, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and educated at [[Michaelhouse]] and at the [[University of Natal]] where he read law.<ref>http://secure.financialmail.co.za/08/0919/fox/bfox.htm</ref> He is a cousin of the brothers Peter and Graeme Pollock who played Test cricket for South Africa, and is a brother to Ravenor Nicholson, another first class cricketer<ref>https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players</ref> and is also a cousin of the writer [[Alan Paton]].<ref>http://www.futermanrose.co.uk/nicholson.html</ref>
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Christopher Nicholson was born 5 February 1945 on a farm near Richmond, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and educated at [https://www.michaelhouse.org/ Michaelhouse] and at the University of Natal (1964 to 1968) where he obtained a BA and Bachelor of Legislative Law degree. He represented the University First Cricket team and South African Universities Cricket team on a tour of [[England]] in 1967.
  
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Nicholson represented the South African Universities against North Eastern Transvaal as a right-hand off spin bowler and a left-handed batsman. He took 3 for 58 in the match and batting at number 9, scored a total of 17 runs.<ref>https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/28/28594.html</ref>
+
Chris Nicholson is a cousin of the brothers Peter and Graeme Pollock who played Test cricket for [[South Africa]], and is a brother to Ravenor Nicholson, another first class cricketer and is also a cousin of the writer [[Alan Paton]].<ref>http://www.futermanrose.co.uk/nicholson.html</ref>
  
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By the time Nicholson left university, the question of racial segregation in South African sport had led to South Africa's exclusion from the Olympic Games and in 1968 the English cricket team withdrew from a tour of South Africa due the South African government's objection to the inclusion of [[Basil D'Oliveira]], a South African born coloured player who had emigrated to the [[United Kingdom]] to play professional cricket. In 1971, leading South African cricketers left the field in a token protest against Apartheid during a match to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the founding of the Republic of South Africa.
+
==Legal career==
 +
After serving as a clerk for one year in 1969 to Mr Justice R Hill in Pretoria, Nicholson was admitted as an Advocate of the Supreme Court of [[South West Africa]] ([[Namibia]]) on 15 June 1970. One of the reasons for going to [[SWA]] was to help with voluntary work in the Anglican Church. He married Jillian Frances Almond on 25 July 1970. They have two daughters Jessica and Juliette. Nicholson practised as an advocate at the Windhoek bar until December 1971. He played cricket for [[SWA]] ([[Namibia]]) and proposed that non-racial sport be introduced in [[SWA]], which became so controversial that his practice suffered.
  
−
In 1973 Nicholson was among the founders of the Aurora Cricket Club – a mixed race club that applied for affiliation to the Maritzburg Cricket Union (MCU) and for inclusion in the all-white local cricket league. The club's inclusion in the league was supported by the Natal Cricket Association, and refused to be bullied by intimidatory police tactics such as taking the names of players and spectators – after each match the club voluntarily handed the police a list of all players.<ref>http://www.pmbhistory.co.za/?showcontent&global%5B_id%5D=163</ref>
+
Nicholson returned to South Africa and became an Advocate in Durban in January 1971. He helped to found the first non-racial cricket club, Aurora, in Pietermaritzburg and was the first vice-captain. Aurora was threatened with prosecution by Minister [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piet_Koornhof Piet Koornhof] for a breach of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_Areas_Act Group Areas Act.] At this stage his practice consisted of commercial litigation with some emphasis on [[human rights]] cases. Nicholson defended [[Harry Gwala]] in a marathon trial in the mid-seventies and was involved in a number of political trials.
  
 
==Legal Resources Centre ==
 
==Legal Resources Centre ==
−
In 1979 Nicholson, following on the efforts of [[Arthur Chaskalson]] in Johannesburg, founded the Durban chapter of the [[Legal Resources Centre]] (LRC) to assist those who could not afford advice or legal representation. One such case was the 1984 challenge he successfully brought against the pass laws, which were intended to restrict "idle and undesirable" people to rural confines. In another case in 1986 his name was closely associated with Archbishop Denis Hurley's case against the minister of law and order when he turned the internal security laws on their head by challenging the right to detain for purposes of interrogation.
+
In 1979 Nicholson, following on the efforts of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Chaskalson Arthur Chaskalson] in Johannesburg, founded the Durban chapter of the Legal Resources Centre (LRC) to assist those who could not afford advice or legal representation. Prior to and during his work with the LRC Nicholson undertook litigation and was involved in a number of reported cases which were broadly of a [[human rights]] nature. In the early days the litigation was directed against the pass and other laws which oppressed black people. Later in the mid-eighties the cases arose out of the detention and maltreatment of political opponents of the government.
  
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By the end of that decade the challenge had begun to take its toll. Exhausted, and diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, Nicholson resigned from his position at the LRC and took up a lecturing post at the Durban campus of the University of Natal where he taught evidence, civil procedure and professional practice. The slower pace of life in academia allowed him to spend time following his other pursuits – music and sport and to recover his health.<ref>http://www.capeargus.co.za/?fSectionId=3571&fArticleId=vn20080921084757112C459660</ref>
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Nicholson appeared before the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langa_massacre Kannemeyer Commission] for the families of the blacks shot at Uitenhage by the police on the 25th anniversary of the [[Sharpeville massacre]]. This Commission severely censured the police for their use of firearms and lack of adequate preparation and equipment.
  
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==Advocate and Judge==
+
He also became active in labour law as a result of acting for persons who were dismissed unlawfully. While Director of the LRC in Durban Nicholson published a number of books, compilations and articles. His name appeared on a secret [[State Security Council]] list of ‘politically sensitive people’ dated 10 July 1986 against whom action was to be taken. The list emerged during the [[TRC]] process. The action to be taken against him was euphemistically called ‘persistent investigation’ and consisted of more than a year of harassment, including death-threats on a daily basis to himself, wife and 12 and 10 year old daughters and the delivery of a load of ‘night-soil’. The LRC itself was targeted in a [[State Security Council]] document headed ‘Strategy for the combating of the LRC’ dated 27 October 1988.
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In the early 1990s he left the university and took silk, enabling him to become a judge. He was appointed to the bench in 1995, one of the first in post-Apartheid South Africa. He was later appointed to the Labour Appeal Court, and later became senior judge on the Natal bench. In 2006 he found the government to be in [[contempt of court]] over the provision of antiretrovirals for prisoners at Westville Prison and in mid-2008 he ruled against the [[Erasmus Commission]], set up by [[Ebrahim Rasool]] to probe allegations of bribery in the City of Cape Town, finding that the former premier had abused his provincial powers.
 
  
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[[Jacob Zuma]] was the deputy president of South Africa, leader of the [[African National Congress]] and poised to succeed [[Thabo Mbeki]] as [[President of South Africa]]. He was dismissed as deputy president by Mbeki in June 2005 when his financial advisor [[Schabir Shaik]], was convicted of corruption and fraud. Zuma was subsequently charged with corruption by the [[National Prosecuting Authority]]. On 28 December 2007, after various procedural delays the [[Scorpions]] (a government anti-corrpution and anti-fraud investigation branch) served Zuma an indictment to stand trial in the High Court on various counts of racketeering, money laundering, corruption and fraud. Zuma appealed against the charges and on 12 September 2008 Nicholson held that Zuma's corruption charges were unlawful on procedural grounds. In his judgment, Nicholson also wrote that he believed that there was political interference in the timing of the charges being brought against Zuma.<ref>http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/action/media</ref> Although this was initially denied by Mbeki, Mbeki was forced to resign on 20 September 2008.<ref>https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/sep/21/mbeki.resignation</ref>
+
Nicholson joined the law faculty of the University of Natal in January 1990 as a senior lecturer and served on the editorial board of the South African Journal for Human Rights. With the permission of the University he continued appearing in select cases for the LRC mostly of a [[human rights]] nature.
  
−
Nicholson's ruling dismissing the charges against Zuma was unanimously overturned by the Supreme Court of Appeal, in a ruling which was critical of Nicholson's judgement in the case, including his addition of personal opinions to the ruling, and of including "gratuitous findings" about Mbeki and others in his judgement.<ref>''[http://mg.co.za/article/2009-01-12-judge-nicholson-redcarded-by-sca "Judge Nicholson red-carded by SCA"]''</ref><ref>''[http://cdn.mg.co.za/uploads/zumajudgement.pdf "Zuma Judgment"]''</ref>
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==Taking silk==
 +
In July 1994 Nicholson left the University to return to the Legal Resources Centre as a Constitutional litigator. He became Senior Counsel in 1994 and took silk, enabling him to become a Judge. He acted as a Judge in the Natal Provincial Division from June 1995 until December 1995 and was appointed as a Judge of the High Court from 1 January 1996. The next year he was appointed as a Judge on the Labour Appeal Court, the highest court dealing with labour matters in the country.
  
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After Nicholson retired, he headed a commission appointed by [[Fikile Mbalula]], South African Sport and Recreation Minister, that investigated the affairs of the South Africa's national cricketing body [[Cricket South Africa]] (CSA). The investigation was triggered by a report from [[KPMG]], the federation's auditor that a bonus of Rand 4.5 million (about GBP 400,000 or $700,000) had been paid to CSA's chief executive [[Gerald Majola]] without the knowledge of the federation's remuneration committee. The commission found that Majola had breached the South African Companies Act at least four times and recommended that both the SCA and the [[South African Revenue Service]] should consider taking further action. The commission also recommended a restructuring of CSA's structure.<ref>http://www.supersport.com/cricket/domestic-cricket/news/120309/Judge_Nicholson_releases_findings</ref><ref>http://www.srsa.gov.za/MediaLib/Home/DocumentLibrary/Cricket-final-report-2012%20_1_.pdf</ref>
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In 1998, he was one of four Judges on the KwazZulu-Natal bench who refused to sign a petition against the present Judge president, Vuka Tshabalala. At the time, Tshabalala was vying for the top position on the KZN bench against Judge Willem Booysen who, despite being a former Broederbonder, was supported by 14 judges. They argued that Tshabalala would not command the respect of the other judges.<ref>''[https://web.archive.org/web/20120312061210/http://secure.financialmail.co.za/08/0919/fox/bfox.htm "Grounded in principle"]''</ref>
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In 2006 [[Judge Nicholson]] found the government to be in contempt of court over the provision of [https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/hiv-and-aids/treatment/ antiretrovirals] for prisoners at Westville Prison and in mid-2008 he ruled against the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erasmus_Commission Erasmus Commission,] set up by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebrahim_Rasool Ebrahim Rasool] to probe allegations of bribery in the City of Cape Town, finding that the former premier had abused his provincial powers.
 +
 
 +
In January 2009, following his Judgment acquitting [[Jacob Zuma]] of corruption charges, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) bench, led by deputy president [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Harms_(judge) Judge Louis Harms,] and including Judges Ian Farlam, Azhar Cachalia, Mandisa Maya and Nathan Ponnan, all agreed that [[Judge Nicholson]] was wrong to declare the charges against [[Jacob Zuma|Zuma]] unlawful.<ref>''[https://mg.co.za/article/2009-01-12-judge-nicholson-redcarded-by-sca/ "Judge Nicholson red-carded by SCA"]''</ref>  
 +
 
 +
[[Judge Nicholson]] retired in July 2010 to pursue his writing career.
  
 
== Books written by Nicholson ==
 
== Books written by Nicholson ==
 
[[File:CN_Justice_Woman.jpg|300px|right|thumb|[[Chris Nicholson]]'s play "Justice is a Woman"]]
 
[[File:CN_Justice_Woman.jpg|300px|right|thumb|[[Chris Nicholson]]'s play "Justice is a Woman"]]
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Following his retirement to pursue a writing career, Christopher Nicholson published six books,<ref>''[https://www.facebook.com/chrisnicholsonauthor/ "Chris Nicholson Author on Facebook"]''</ref> of which the first two ("Permanent Removal: Who Killed the Cradock Four?" and "Papwa Sewgolum: From Pariah to Legend") were nominated for the Alan Paton prize for non-fiction.<ref>''[https://www.amazon.co.uk/Christopher-Nicholson/e/B001JOF29K/ "Books By Christopher Nicholson"]''</ref>
+
Following his retirement, [[Chris Nicholson]] published six books,<ref>''[https://www.facebook.com/chrisnicholsonauthor/ "Chris Nicholson Author on Facebook"]''</ref> of which the first two ("Permanent Removal: Who Killed the Cradock Four?" and "Papwa Sewgolum: From Pariah to Legend") were nominated for the Alan Paton prize for non-fiction.<ref>''[https://www.amazon.co.uk/Christopher-Nicholson/e/B001JOF29K/ "Books By Christopher Nicholson"]''</ref>
  
 
Nicholson has also written a courtroom drama titled [https://hiltonvillage.co.za/events/eventdetail/6538/justice-is-a-woman "Justice is a Woman"] which was performed at [https://gracecollege.co.za/ Grace College, Hilton, KwaZulu-Natal] in May 2019<ref>''[https://hiltonvillage.co.za/events/eventdetail/6538/justice-is-a-woman "Justice is a Woman"]''</ref> and at the Hexagon Theatre in Pietermaritzburg in June 2019.<ref>''[https://www.news24.com/news24/courtroom-drama-takes-centre-stage-20190604 "Courtroom drama takes centre stage"]''</ref>
 
Nicholson has also written a courtroom drama titled [https://hiltonvillage.co.za/events/eventdetail/6538/justice-is-a-woman "Justice is a Woman"] which was performed at [https://gracecollege.co.za/ Grace College, Hilton, KwaZulu-Natal] in May 2019<ref>''[https://hiltonvillage.co.za/events/eventdetail/6538/justice-is-a-woman "Justice is a Woman"]''</ref> and at the Hexagon Theatre in Pietermaritzburg in June 2019.<ref>''[https://www.news24.com/news24/courtroom-drama-takes-centre-stage-20190604 "Courtroom drama takes centre stage"]''</ref>
  
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* [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Permanent-Removal-Killed-Craddock-Four/dp/1868144011 "Permanent Removal: Who Killed The Cradock Four?"] (2004) – Nicholson documents the cover-up and subsequent exposure of the murder of four anti-Apartheid activists, "[[The Cradock Four]]", in the Eastern Cape.<ref>http://www.flipkart.com/permanent-removal-christopher-nicholson-killed-book-1868144011</ref>
+
* [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Permanent-Removal-Killed-Craddock-Four/dp/1868144011 "Permanent Removal: Who Killed The Cradock Four?"] (2004) – Nicholson documents the cover-up and subsequent exposure of the murder of four anti-Apartheid activists, "[[The Cradock Four]]", in the Eastern Cape.
 
* [https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Christopher-Nicholson/dp/1868144119 "Papwa the Pariah: Golf in Apartheid's Shadow"] (2005) – A biography of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sewsunker_Sewgolum Papwa Sewgolum,] a South African golfer of [[India]]n descent who, on account of the colour of his skin, had to receive the trophy for winning the Natal Open Golf Tournament in the rain as he was refused admission to the whites-only clubhouse.
 
* [https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Christopher-Nicholson/dp/1868144119 "Papwa the Pariah: Golf in Apartheid's Shadow"] (2005) – A biography of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sewsunker_Sewgolum Papwa Sewgolum,] a South African golfer of [[India]]n descent who, on account of the colour of his skin, had to receive the trophy for winning the Natal Open Golf Tournament in the rain as he was refused admission to the whites-only clubhouse.
 
* [https://www.amazon.com/Richard-Adolf-Wagner-Incite-Holocaust/dp/9652293601/ "Richard and Adolf: Did Richard Wagner Incite Adolf Hitler to Commit the Holocaust?"] (2007), [https://www.gefenpublishing.com/ Gefen Publishing House], – Nicholson investigates the degree to which [[Richard Wagner]]'s [[Antisemitism|anti-semitic]] views might have influenced [[Adolf Hitler]]. Five-star review on [[Amazon]]:{{QB|This fascinating book reads like a novel and gave me a totally new insight into a genius but to my mind mad composer, and the ghastly Hitler, putting them into historical perspective and making me see their world in a new light- and wondering what would have happened if Hitler had not found Wagner and his music as a young man. Nicholson's theory is most interesting.<ref>''[https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/customer-reviews/R2SMR03S3H5SKJ/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B087JSTMNR "A monster and a genius- a ghastly combination"]''</ref>}}
 
* [https://www.amazon.com/Richard-Adolf-Wagner-Incite-Holocaust/dp/9652293601/ "Richard and Adolf: Did Richard Wagner Incite Adolf Hitler to Commit the Holocaust?"] (2007), [https://www.gefenpublishing.com/ Gefen Publishing House], – Nicholson investigates the degree to which [[Richard Wagner]]'s [[Antisemitism|anti-semitic]] views might have influenced [[Adolf Hitler]]. Five-star review on [[Amazon]]:{{QB|This fascinating book reads like a novel and gave me a totally new insight into a genius but to my mind mad composer, and the ghastly Hitler, putting them into historical perspective and making me see their world in a new light- and wondering what would have happened if Hitler had not found Wagner and his music as a young man. Nicholson's theory is most interesting.<ref>''[https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/customer-reviews/R2SMR03S3H5SKJ/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B087JSTMNR "A monster and a genius- a ghastly combination"]''</ref>}}
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:54. Tito Maleka
 
:54. Tito Maleka
 
:55. Sleaze balls
 
:55. Sleaze balls
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:56. The final piece in the jigsaw
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:56. The sword is mightier
 
:57. Final reckoning on liability
 
:57. Final reckoning on liability
 
:58. The nemesis of docility
 
:58. The nemesis of docility
 
:List of authorities}}
 
:List of authorities}}
  
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[[Guy Rose]], Nicholson's literary agent in [[London]], is arranging for "Slain Heroes" to be published early in 2023.
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[[Guy Rose]], Nicholson's literary agent in [[London]], is arranging for "Slain Heroes" to be published early in 2023.<ref>''[https://futermanrose.co.uk/nicholson.html "Judge Chris Nicholson"]''</ref>
  
 
{{SMWDocs}}
 
{{SMWDocs}}

Revision as of 19:17, 31 January 2023

Person.png Chris Nicholson   FacebookRdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
(Judge, author)
Christopher Nicholson.jpg
Bernt Carlsson: "the real target" of Pan Am Flight 103?
BornChristopher Robert Nicholson
5 February 1945
Alma materUniversity of Natal
Retired South African High Court Judge

Christopher Robert Nicholson is the South African High Court Judge who in 2008 acquitted President-to-be Jacob Zuma of corruption charges. In his ruling on 12 September, Judge Nicholson said it appeared that President Mbeki and his Justice Minister had colluded with prosecutors against Zuma as part of the 'titanic power struggle' within the ANC. Mbeki indignantly denied the accusations. The charges were linked to a multi-billion-rand arms deal involving, among others, British Aerospace. Judge Nicholson held that Zuma's corruption charges were unlawful on procedural grounds in that the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) did not give Zuma a chance to make representations before deciding to charge him. The acquittal of Jacob Zuma led to the resignation of the President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki.[1]

On 20 October 2018, eight years after his retirement as a Judge, Chris Nicholson published an article in the Saturday Star. That article analysed in forensic detail claims that former foreign minister Pik Botha – who died on 12 October 2018 – had been booked to travel on the doomed Pan Am Flight 103 which exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland on 21 December 1988, but had instead taken an earlier flight the same day from Heathrow to New York. Nicholson concluded his analysis by asking whether UN Commissioner for Namibia Bernt Carlsson "was not the real target of those who put the bomb on Pan Am 103."[2]

Early life and cricket

Christopher Nicholson was born 5 February 1945 on a farm near Richmond, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and educated at Michaelhouse and at the University of Natal (1964 to 1968) where he obtained a BA and Bachelor of Legislative Law degree. He represented the University First Cricket team and South African Universities Cricket team on a tour of England in 1967.

Chris Nicholson is a cousin of the brothers Peter and Graeme Pollock who played Test cricket for South Africa, and is a brother to Ravenor Nicholson, another first class cricketer and is also a cousin of the writer Alan Paton.[3]

Legal career

After serving as a clerk for one year in 1969 to Mr Justice R Hill in Pretoria, Nicholson was admitted as an Advocate of the Supreme Court of South West Africa (Namibia) on 15 June 1970. One of the reasons for going to SWA was to help with voluntary work in the Anglican Church. He married Jillian Frances Almond on 25 July 1970. They have two daughters Jessica and Juliette. Nicholson practised as an advocate at the Windhoek bar until December 1971. He played cricket for SWA (Namibia) and proposed that non-racial sport be introduced in SWA, which became so controversial that his practice suffered.

Nicholson returned to South Africa and became an Advocate in Durban in January 1971. He helped to found the first non-racial cricket club, Aurora, in Pietermaritzburg and was the first vice-captain. Aurora was threatened with prosecution by Minister Piet Koornhof for a breach of the Group Areas Act. At this stage his practice consisted of commercial litigation with some emphasis on human rights cases. Nicholson defended Harry Gwala in a marathon trial in the mid-seventies and was involved in a number of political trials.

Legal Resources Centre

In 1979 Nicholson, following on the efforts of Arthur Chaskalson in Johannesburg, founded the Durban chapter of the Legal Resources Centre (LRC) to assist those who could not afford advice or legal representation. Prior to and during his work with the LRC Nicholson undertook litigation and was involved in a number of reported cases which were broadly of a human rights nature. In the early days the litigation was directed against the pass and other laws which oppressed black people. Later in the mid-eighties the cases arose out of the detention and maltreatment of political opponents of the government.

Nicholson appeared before the Kannemeyer Commission for the families of the blacks shot at Uitenhage by the police on the 25th anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre. This Commission severely censured the police for their use of firearms and lack of adequate preparation and equipment.

He also became active in labour law as a result of acting for persons who were dismissed unlawfully. While Director of the LRC in Durban Nicholson published a number of books, compilations and articles. His name appeared on a secret State Security Council list of ‘politically sensitive people’ dated 10 July 1986 against whom action was to be taken. The list emerged during the TRC process. The action to be taken against him was euphemistically called ‘persistent investigation’ and consisted of more than a year of harassment, including death-threats on a daily basis to himself, wife and 12 and 10 year old daughters and the delivery of a load of ‘night-soil’. The LRC itself was targeted in a State Security Council document headed ‘Strategy for the combating of the LRC’ dated 27 October 1988.

Nicholson joined the law faculty of the University of Natal in January 1990 as a senior lecturer and served on the editorial board of the South African Journal for Human Rights. With the permission of the University he continued appearing in select cases for the LRC mostly of a human rights nature.

Taking silk

In July 1994 Nicholson left the University to return to the Legal Resources Centre as a Constitutional litigator. He became Senior Counsel in 1994 and took silk, enabling him to become a Judge. He acted as a Judge in the Natal Provincial Division from June 1995 until December 1995 and was appointed as a Judge of the High Court from 1 January 1996. The next year he was appointed as a Judge on the Labour Appeal Court, the highest court dealing with labour matters in the country.

In 1998, he was one of four Judges on the KwazZulu-Natal bench who refused to sign a petition against the present Judge president, Vuka Tshabalala. At the time, Tshabalala was vying for the top position on the KZN bench against Judge Willem Booysen who, despite being a former Broederbonder, was supported by 14 judges. They argued that Tshabalala would not command the respect of the other judges.[4]

In 2006 Judge Nicholson found the government to be in contempt of court over the provision of antiretrovirals for prisoners at Westville Prison and in mid-2008 he ruled against the Erasmus Commission, set up by Ebrahim Rasool to probe allegations of bribery in the City of Cape Town, finding that the former premier had abused his provincial powers.

In January 2009, following his Judgment acquitting Jacob Zuma of corruption charges, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) bench, led by deputy president Judge Louis Harms, and including Judges Ian Farlam, Azhar Cachalia, Mandisa Maya and Nathan Ponnan, all agreed that Judge Nicholson was wrong to declare the charges against Zuma unlawful.[5]

Judge Nicholson retired in July 2010 to pursue his writing career.

Books written by Nicholson

Chris Nicholson's play "Justice is a Woman"

Following his retirement, Chris Nicholson published six books,[6] of which the first two ("Permanent Removal: Who Killed the Cradock Four?" and "Papwa Sewgolum: From Pariah to Legend") were nominated for the Alan Paton prize for non-fiction.[7]

Nicholson has also written a courtroom drama titled "Justice is a Woman" which was performed at Grace College, Hilton, KwaZulu-Natal in May 2019[8] and at the Hexagon Theatre in Pietermaritzburg in June 2019.[9]

This fascinating book reads like a novel and gave me a totally new insight into a genius but to my mind mad composer, and the ghastly Hitler, putting them into historical perspective and making me see their world in a new light- and wondering what would have happened if Hitler had not found Wagner and his music as a young man. Nicholson's theory is most interesting.[10]

Magnum opus

In January 2023, Chris Nicholson completed his seventh book which is entitled "Slain Heroes", a magnum opus comprising 58 thoroughly researched and well-written chapters on high-profile assassinations that took place during the South African apartheid era. Each chapter marshalls the facts, provides much-needed context and brings fascinating new insights into the state-sponsored slaying of Steve Biko, Bernt Carlsson, Ruth First, Dag Hammarskjöld, Chris Hani, Anton Lubowski, Samora Machel, Olof Palme, Jeanette Schoon, Dulcie September, The Cradock Four, Abram Tiro and David Webster:

1. Bloody Easter Saturday
2. Chris Hani - The best President SA never had
3. The trial and appeal
4. Arthur Kemp
5. Six similar sinister scandals
6. Conspiracy raises its ugly head
7. The plunder of Africa
8. Who Stole South Africa?
9. Murder of a marine biologist
10. The attempted invasion of Seychelles
11. The murder of Dag Hammarskjöld
12. Operation Celeste
13. The highly secret organisation Le Cercle
14. Who Killed Swedish PM Olof Palme?
15. The land God made in anger
16. Diamonds in the desert
17. Enter the Oppenheimers
18. A feisty judge
19. Tsumeb and tax evasion
20. Follow the Yellow Cake road
21. Anton Lubowski
22. Diamonds are SWAPO
23. Pan Am 103
24. One blue and one green eye
25. A very secret meeting
26. Lucky Escapees from Lockerbie Flight
27. Craig Williamson
28. More Williamson victims
29. Prophets of doom
30. The most diabolical aspect of Apartheid
31. The sterilisation programme and the 'black bomb'
32. Foreign assistance in the AIDS
33. SAIMR and the AIDS war
34. 'Dr' Maxwell returns to South Africa
35. Maxwell's vision of saving the world
36. Alexander Jones bares his soul
37. Julian Ogilvie Thompson and Anglo American
38. The progress of AIDS throughout the world
39. Incentivising the decision makers
40. Georgiadis and F W de Klerk
41. Teflon Man - the charmed life of Fana Hlongwane
42. The British bribes Basil Hersov
43. John Bredenkamp and Richard Charter
44. More German Bribes
45. Avoiding Nuremberg trials
46. Bribing the black elite
47. The Hani Memorandum
48. General Tienie Groenewald
49. Negotiations in the 1980s
50. Links that stink
51. The owner of the BMW
52. Chris Hani returns to South Africa from exile
53. Inside job
54. Tito Maleka
55. Sleaze balls
56. The sword is mightier
57. Final reckoning on liability
58. The nemesis of docility
List of authorities

Guy Rose, Nicholson's literary agent in London, is arranging for "Slain Heroes" to be published early in 2023.[11]


 

Documents by Christopher Nicholson

TitleDocument typePublication dateSubject(s)Description
Document:Afterword to "Who Really Killed Chris Hani?"Book29 February 2024Patrick Haseldine
Bernt Carlsson
Olof Palme
Samora Machel
Dag Hammarskjöld
Anton Lubowski
Ruth First
Chris Hani
Dulcie September
Steve Biko
Carroll Quigley
The Cradock Four
David Webster
Guy Rose
Mads Brügger		Courts have decided that freedom of expression trumps all other rights as without it nobody, including the courts, would ever hear of breaches of other rights. So those who have attempted to suppress this book have prevented the world from discovering and prosecuting the criminals, who perpetrated the foul murders. In law we would describe them as accessories after the fact of these killings.
Document:Goliath's Revenge - Israel and Apartheid South AfricaArticle5 January 2024Gaza
Israel
Palestine
South Africa
2023-2024 Israel-Hamas War		"During the apartheid years I practised as a human rights lawyer and one of my colleagues defended a young boy, charged with assaulting a police officer. He had thrown a stone at the man, who was on board a tank-like military vehicle, but had arrogantly left his helmet off. A law in force with regard to firearms required a warning shot to be fired in certain circumstances. The prosecutor then demanded of the latter-day David: ‘Why did you not throw a warning stone?’"
Document:Lucky Escapees from Pan Am Flight 103Article20 October 2018Bernt Carlsson
Pik Botha
Pan Am Flight 103/Cover-up
Mats Wilander
Theresa Papenfus
Gerrit Pretorius
Jeremy Shearer
Roland Darroll		In this article, Judge Nicholson analyses in forensic detail conflicting claims that former foreign minister Pik Botha had been booked to travel on the doomed Pan Am Flight 103 which exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, on 21 December 1988. The Judge's analysis concludes by asking whether UN Commissioner for Namibia Bernt Carlsson "was not the real target of those who put the bomb on Pan Am 103."

 

Related Document

TitleTypePublication dateAuthor(s)Description
Document:Targeting of Bernt Carlsson on Pan Am Flight 103Letter17 February 2023Patrick HaseldineIan Ferguson: "In the early stages of the Lockerbie investigation, Bernt Carlsson's Presikhaaf suitcase was seen as the more likely bomb case. Police sources at the time said that this case was cleared of being the suspect case on November 23rd 1989."

 

Documents sourced from Christopher Nicholson

TitleTypeSubject(s)Publication dateAuthor(s)Description
Document:Afterword to "Who Really Killed Chris Hani?"BookPatrick Haseldine
Bernt Carlsson
Olof Palme
Samora Machel
Dag Hammarskjöld
Anton Lubowski
Ruth First
Chris Hani
Dulcie September
Steve Biko
Carroll Quigley
The Cradock Four
David Webster
Guy Rose
Mads Brügger		29 February 2024Christopher NicholsonCourts have decided that freedom of expression trumps all other rights as without it nobody, including the courts, would ever hear of breaches of other rights. So those who have attempted to suppress this book have prevented the world from discovering and prosecuting the criminals, who perpetrated the foul murders. In law we would describe them as accessories after the fact of these killings.
Document:Goliath's Revenge - Israel and Apartheid South AfricaArticleGaza
Israel
Palestine
South Africa
2023-2024 Israel-Hamas War		5 January 2024Christopher Nicholson"During the apartheid years I practised as a human rights lawyer and one of my colleagues defended a young boy, charged with assaulting a police officer. He had thrown a stone at the man, who was on board a tank-like military vehicle, but had arrogantly left his helmet off. A law in force with regard to firearms required a warning shot to be fired in certain circumstances. The prosecutor then demanded of the latter-day David: ‘Why did you not throw a warning stone?’"
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References

  1. ↑ "Mbeki is forced out after split in ANC"
  2. ↑ Document:Lucky Escapees from Pan Am Flight 103
  3. ↑ http://www.futermanrose.co.uk/nicholson.html
  4. ↑ "Grounded in principle"
  5. ↑ "Judge Nicholson red-carded by SCA"
  6. ↑ "Chris Nicholson Author on Facebook"
  7. ↑ "Books By Christopher Nicholson"
  8. ↑ "Justice is a Woman"
  9. ↑ "Courtroom drama takes centre stage"
  10. ↑ "A monster and a genius- a ghastly combination"
  11. ↑ "Judge Chris Nicholson"
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