Bizos' fight against apartheid

By ANDREW AUSTIN

"I know of no person more worthy for this honour," reads the letter supporting George Bizos' nomination for the Barney Simons Memorial Award in Human Rights.

Pretty standard fare, until you see who wrote it - N. R. Mandela, Nobel peace laureate and world statesman.

With that sort of reference, advocate George Bizos SC was always going to be a shoo-in for the award he received at the International Bar Association conference in Auckland this week.

His trip to New Zealand has been emotional.

The story of how, as a young boy from Crete, he escaped Nazi-occupied Greece with seven New Zealand soldiers has made front page news. He has found the families of those brave men and has modestly accepted their awe.

"Fancy you being real," says Ruth Allen, as she shyly touches his shoulder.

Now, his week has finally caught up with him. He is exhausted as he sits in his hotel lounge, struggling to keep his eyes open. However, he wants to talk.

While he might have arrived here as an unknown, George Bizos is a household name in South Africa, where he has lived since 1941. Among the black population, Mr Bizos is adored for liberating and defending their leaders - they call him Mathlathlo, (Sotho for strength of the elephant). Opposing apartheid was the natural option for him, because, as he says, once you have come from an oppressive regime to a country "ruled by Nazi sympathisers, who trample on the majority's rights, it is not very difficult to be radicalised".

But it has not been an easy road for Mr Bizos, who first made his name defending Nelson Mandela in the 1963-64 Rivonia Treason Trial. This was a trial that shaped the struggle against apartheid and thrust men like Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Govan Mbeki into the spotlight. It was also the trial that heralded the arrival of a group of tough human rights lawyers - Joel Joffe, Arthur Chaskalson and Bizos.

In the racially explosive 1960s, it was unthinkable that white lawyers could represent the enemies of the state - the young lions of the African National Congress. For decades Mr Bizos was regarded with suspicion by many whites, who could not fathom why he risked all to defend so-called terrorists.

Mr Bizos says their belief in what they were doing kept them going.

"There was a group of us conditioned at university that we would not accept what was expected of a white man."

Although the trial resulted in Mandela and others being sentenced to life imprisonment, it could have been worse.

"There was a sigh of relief at the verdict, as odd as that sounds, because we expected the death penalty. We knew that a life sentence sometimes doesn't mean the life of the accused, but the life of the Government."

Mr Bizos says that through the years, his hope that South Africa would be free was buoyed by his clients, who were being sent to jail for long terms for their opposition to apartheid.

"They would say 'Don't worry, George, three years and it will be okay'. I did not know if it would come in three years, but I did not doubt that one day it would come."

When it did happen, Mr Bizos watched with pride and hope as Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was sworn in as the first President of a truly democratic South Africa in 1994.

Certainly Mr Bizos can take some credit for the fight against apartheid. But, undoubtedly one of his most controversial assignments has been his defence of Mandela's ex-wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, in numerous cases. The most testing was when she was accused of abducting and assaulting 14-year-old political activist Stompie Moeketsi Seipei.

Although Mrs Madikizela-Mandela has strong grassroots support, she has been viewed negatively by the international media.

Mr Bizos copped criticism for defending the "Mother of the Nation" in the Stompie case and admits she showed a lack of judgment.

"I think Winnie ... allowed herself to be influenced by people who were police informers and those who wanted to divide the liberation movement. She thought she was untouchable."

Why did he accept the case? The accused in the Rivonia trial had asked him to "keep your nose clean, as we need you to look after our families".

And because Nelson Mandela "asked me to take her case, I did".

But it is not the high-profile cases that brought him the most distress. It was when the unknown members of the struggle were convicted in cases where "justice ... cheated itself".

He also mentions inquests he handled into the deaths of activists like trade unionist Neil Aggett and the Craddock Four.

"These [decisions] were insults to the administration of justice and in a way an insult to me and my colleagues."

They were dark days, but Mr Bizos kept on taking the cases that would challenge the regime. To contain him, the authorities refused him South African citizenship. It was 32 years before he was given a passport and then it was only because a judge personally approached Prime Minister John Vorster.

His part in the struggle has since been acknowledged in the movie A Dry White Season, based on the novel by Andre Brink. Marlon Brando plays an eccentric white advocate who struggles to expose the lies of apartheid, in a role generally acknowledged to be based on Bizos.

Mr Bizos remains a defender of human rights. He was involved in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the 1990s, where he represented a number of families opposing amnesty applications of former security policemen. He wrote a book after the hearings called No One to Blame, the title stemming from a comment by Mrs Ntsiko Biko, frustrated that no one had been held responsible for the death of her activist husband Steve, beaten by security police in the late 1970s.

"Mrs Biko came to me and said, 'After all this George, there is no one to blame'."

It has been a life dedicated to defending human rights. At the age of 75, Bizos shows no sign of slowing down. He successfully defended Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangarei, who was charged with planning a coup d'etat by conspiring to assassinate President Robert Mugabe before the 2002 general elections.

High Court Judge Paddington Garwe ruled the treason charge was not credible.

Mr Bizos believes the case was "probably" one of the weakest cases brought by a prosecution, especially for such a serious charge.

"If the administration of justice in Zimbabwe was not under stress . ... one could have underwritten a favourable result. But because of the stress, you could never be sure what the result would be."

While there is a perception in some circles that President Thabo Mbeki's "quiet diplomacy" has not been critical enough of the Mugabe regime, Mr Bizos says there was never any pressure from the ANC Government for him not to take the case.

"I don't have to look over my shoulder. I do what I think is right."

He also says it is a misconception that "anyone in the ANC condones the excesses ... perpetrated in Zimbabwe".

With the Zimbabwe trial over, Mr Bizos promises to slow down. However, he still has the energy to go on. He is fitter than he has ever been, having lost a lot of weight. He says he has told his colleagues at the Legal Resources Centre in Johannesburg that "when they think I have lost it, they must have the courage to tell me to retire. Nobody has had this courage."

He has even had pressure from his wife, Arethe, and three sons - two of whom are surgeons.

"My sons and wife are full of suggestions I should take it easy, I should retire, I should use a driver, I should do this, that or the other. I politely ignore their suggestions."

He also has more time for his friends, one in particular - Nelson Mandela. The pair eat together regularly .

As for the future of the land he has spent most of his life defending, he is optimistic.

And he has a message for those white South Africans who left the country because of an escalation in crime.

"People have got the right to live where they want to live, but I would appeal to them not to feel they have to justify their departure by running down South Africa."

He admits the new South Africa has problems, but "we are busy trying to solve them".

George Bizos

Senior member of Johannesburg Bar, practising since 1954.

Appointed by Judicial Services Commission to recommend candidates for judicial office.

Awarded an Order for Meritorious Service Class II Medal by then-President Nelson Mandela on June 10, 1999.

Awarded the 2001 International Trial Lawyer Prize of the Year by the International Academy of Trial Lawyers on April 5, 2001.

Author of "No One to Blame - In Pursuit of Justice in South Africa" published in 1998.

Leader of the team of the Constituent Assembly before the Constitutional Court to certify the South African Constitution.

Leader of the team for the South African Government to argue that the death penalty was unconstitutional.

Leader of the team to oppose applications for amnesty on behalf of the Biko, Hani, Goniwe, Calata, Mkonto, Mhlauli, Slovo and Schoon families.

Judge on Botswana's Court of Appeal 1985-93.

Member of the ANC's legal and constitutional committee since 1990.

Counsel to United Democratic Front leaders, including future provincial Premiers Patrick Lekota and Popo Molefe in the Delmas Treason Trial - 1985-89.

Founder member of the National Council of Lawyers for Human Rights 1979-1993.

Counsel to Nelson Mandela since mid-50s. part of the team that defended him and others in the Rivonia Treason Trial 1963-64.

Counsel in the inquest into the death of black consciousness leader Steve Bantu Biko.