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Read this exceptional article by Justice Malala

His story was so incredible, so exceptional, that South Africa clung to his legend. Now come months of darkness and doubt...

...It is not a rags to riches story, a poor boy made good – we have many of those here and on the African continent. His story is more intense. To be without legs, and to become the epitome of excellence in the very field where you are not supposed to excel: that is the stuff of legends. That is why many of us here, when talking about Pistorius, take on the hyperbole of sportswriters. We like an impossible story....

... Those billboards were being pulled down on Thursday. Pistorius, hero, had gone from being a figure of sympathy in the morning – when stories went viral that the shooting of a woman at his house may have been a case of mistaken identity – to being accused of murder in the evening as police revealed there were reports of shouting at his house the evening before....

... lovers turned away from soppy Valentine's Day celebrations. It was Oscar all the way.

Why, though? There have always been niggling, worrying features to Pistorius. At the London Olympics last year, when he behaved in an unsportsmanlike manner towards another athlete and shocked many, we were reminded of his flaws...

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In the morning, though, when the story first broke, there was no touching Pistorius. His model girlfriend – a sign of status among jock sportsmen – was coming in to give him a Valentine's surprise, went the story. Many would not dare contemplate the alternative. It reminds one how we South Africans refused to believe that Hansie Cronje could be anything other than the gentleman cricketer so many thought he was.

In a country of very few heroes, particularly those who transcend the always-present colour line, we do not want them to flicker and die. So we clung to that narrative....

...Worse, he is not just one of us. When our Olympics team was in the doldrums at the Games, we knew one truth: Pistorius would redeem us. He ran his guts out, and did. Now he is fallen, and we are lost.