Christopher Nicholson

Chris Nicholson     (Judge, author)
Bernt Carlsson: "the real target" of Pan Am Flight 103?
Born	Christopher Robert Nicholson 5 February 1945
Alma mater	University of Natal
Retired South African High Court Judge, prolific author  Judge  In office 1 January 1996 - July 2010 Employer High Court of South Africa

Christopher Nicholson was born on 5 February 1945 on a farm near Richmond, Natal, South Africa, and was educated at Michaelhouse and at the University of Natal (later University of KwaZulu-Natal) where he read law. He is a cousin of the brothers Peter and Graeme Pollock who played Test cricket for South Africa and a cousin of the writer Alan Paton.

Chris Nicholson practised as a human rights lawyer, assisting victims of apartheid, before majority rule was won in 1994. His efforts were recognised with two awards and he was appointed a High Court Judge in 1995.

Judge Nicholson retired in July 2010 to pursue his writing career, and has written eight books. The first two were nominated for the Alan Paton prize for non-fiction.

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."

In January 2024, Chris Nicholson was nominated as the Judge ad hoc that South Africa has a right to appoint under the Statute of the International Court of Justice in its CPPCG case against Israeli genocide in Gaza. In the event, ex-Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke was appointed as the Judge ad hoc for South Africa's case at the ICJ.

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 law 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.

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.

High Court Judge

Judge Nicholson was appointed to the South African 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, who at the time was vying for the top position on the KZN bench against Judge Willem Booysen. The latter, despite being a former Broederbonder, was supported by 14 judges. They argued that Tshabalala would not command the respect of the other judges.

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 2008, Judge Nicholson 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.

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.

Judge Nicholson retired from the bench in July 2010. A month later, the Mail & Guardian published an article calling for the reconstitution of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), which said:

"Judge Chris Nicholson, who was so brutally rebuked by the Supreme Court of Appeal, may well now have history on his side.

...his apprehensions of political interference have been proved to be correct."

Post retirement

Ex-Judge Chris Nicholson became a board member of the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra and is Patron of the Durban and Coast Child Welfare Association.

Nicholson chaired a Ministerial Committee enquiring into Cricket Administration in 2013 and delivered a report making recommendations for disciplining the CEO of Cricket South Africa and making various administrative reforms.

He received the St Michael's Award from Michaelhouse School for outstanding work in the Human Rights field. As chairman of the Board of Governors of the school Jamie Inglis said on 30 April 2004, the award was to honour people such as those identified by American President Woodrow Wilson who said ‘the princes among us are those who forget themselves and serve mankind.’ He also stated that suitable candidates were persons who carried out what Pope John XXIII stated when he urged persons ‘not to walk through life without leaving worthy evidence of your passage.’

Published works

Chris Nicholson's play "Justice is a Woman"

Following his retirement, Chris Nicholson has written eight books, 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.

On Nicholson's website, these books are available for download and viewable on all devices. For terms and conditions and privacy policy click here.

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

• "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.
• "Papwa the Pariah: Golf in Apartheid's Shadow" (2005) – A biography of Papwa Sewgolum, a South African golfer of Indian 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.
• "Richard and Adolf: Did Richard Wagner Incite Adolf Hitler to Commit the Holocaust?" (2007), Gefen Publishing House, – Nicholson investigates the degree to which Richard Wagner's anti-semitic views might have influenced Adolf Hitler. Five-star review on Amazon:

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.

• "One Hand Washes the Other" (2013) published by Arena Books
• "No Sacred Cows" published by Hands-On Books, South Africa
• "The Level Playing Field" (2015) published by the KwaZulu-Natal Cricket Union in association with Cricket South Africa
• "Elgar's Secret Lover"‎ Austin Macauley Publishers (8 December 2023)

When old friend Arnold Chater QC sends retired Norwegian Judge Christofferson a yellowing manuscript with the mysterious initials G.B. on the first page, the latter starts a quest to seek the truth about British composer Sir Edward Elgar’s secret muse in his masterpiece, the Enigma Variations, and whether he fathered an illegitimate child.

Fascinated with riddles and puzzles, the composer was in the habit of leaving a series of codes denoting the inspiration for his timeless compositions. But in the Enigma Variations, Elgar forsook his usual practice of inserting initials to honour his muse, explicitly refusing to name his great love by using a mysterious ellipsis. Cheekily, he gives a clue about his inspiration in the violin concerto with the words, ‘Here is enshrined the soul of …’

Chris Nicholson’s seminal musical thriller weaves an amazing tale with enigmas piled on riddles. He flagrantly delights in leading readers on a breathless chase of the women who were extraordinarily important in Elgar’s life. At the same time, he also unmasks Elgar as a man who hid himself and his intimate affairs behind a mask of respectability.

Nicholson is merciless in the details of Elgar’s life, loves and music, deciphering all the clues and delivering the final judgment as only he can.

Magnum opus

In January 2023, Chris Nicholson completed his seventh book which was provisionally 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.

All leading UK publishers turned it down

Retitled "Who Really Killed Chris Hani? and condensed to 51 chapters, the magnum opus was printed in January 2024 and is expected to be available for download on Chris Nicholson's website.

• Contents vii
• Foreword ix
• 1 Bloody Easter Saturday 1
• 2 Justice is seemingly done 10
• 3 Chris Hani – the best president South Africa never had 16
• 4 Further suspects and motives 23
• 5 Six similar sinister scandals 28
• 6 Was there a wider network? 34
• 7 God was here but he left early 38
• 8 Who stole South Africa? 43
• 9 A noxious outfit 52
• 10 Invasion: Seychelles 59
• 11 Crash or conspiracy? 69
• 12 Operation Celeste 83
• 13 The highly secret Le Cercle 97
• 14 Blood in the snow 106
• 15 The land God made in anger 120
• 16 Diamonds in the desert 129
• 17 Enter the Oppenheimers 132
• 18 Namibian mining’s shame 139
• 19 Tax evasion on an obscene scale 147
• 20 Follow the yellowcake road 152
• 21 Brave man’s death 159
• 22 Diamonds are SWAPO’s best friends 173
• 23 Pan Am Flight 103 179
• 24 The plot thickens 186
• 25 A cloak-and-dagger meeting 199
• 26 Lucky escapees 207
• 27 Gloating ‘superspy’ 212
• 28 A heinous plot 218
• 29 The most diabolical aspect of apartheid 229
• 30 Project Coast’s chamber of horrors 237
• 31 SAIMR and the HeLa cells 245
• 32 A morbid taste for murder 249
• 33 SAIMR unmasked 263
• 34 Julian Ogilvie Thompson and the ‘octopus’ 276
• 35 AIDS swamps the world 283
• 36 Bribery in high places 294
• 37 The art of the steal continues 312
• 38 Ducking and dodging prosecutions 322
• 39 Palm-greasing the black elite 332
• 40 Hani’s explosive memo 338
• 41 General Tienie Groenewald – the spy who said ‘never’ 347
• 42 Negotiation frenzy 355
• 43 Links that stink 360
• 44 Lies and cover-ups 367
• 45 Hail Hani! 376
• 46 Inside job? 385
• 47 Double-dealing spies like us 400
• 48 Sleazeballs 407
• 49 The last piece in the jigsaw 416
• 50 Final reckoning 425
• 51 The epitome of docility 438
• Afterword 443
• List of principal authorities 445

 

Documents by Christopher Nicholson

Title	Document type	Publication date	Subject(s)	Description
Document:Afterword to "Who Really Killed Chris Hani?"	Book	29 February 2024	Patrick 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 Africa	Article	5 January 2024	Gaza 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 103	Article	20 October 2018	Bernt 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

Title	Type	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:Targeting of Bernt Carlsson on Pan Am Flight 103	Letter	17 February 2023	Patrick Haseldine	Ian 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

Title	Type	Subject(s)	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:Afterword to "Who Really Killed Chris Hani?"	Book	Patrick 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 2024	Christopher Nicholson	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 Africa	Article	Gaza Israel Palestine South Africa 2023-2024 Israel-Hamas War	5 January 2024	Christopher 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

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