• The Pan-African Bar Association of South Africa has paid tribute to human rights lawyer George Bizos, who died on Wednesday.
• Bizos will be best remembered for being part of the legal team that represented former president Nelson Mandela and his co-accused in the Rivonia Trial.
• The association said Bizos was a beacon of hope and justice whose life was dedicated to the service of others.

The Pan-African Bar Association of South Africa (Pabasa) has paid tribute to celebrated human rights lawyer George Bizos, who died of natural causes at his home at the age of 92 on Wednesday.

Pabasa chairperson Muzi Sikhakhane, SC, said "truth, justice and compassion died" [on Wednesday] night, leaving the legal fraternity without a genuine point of reference.

Sikhakhane said:

Greatly admired for his intellect, tactical legal mind and commitment to justice, Bizos will be best remembered for being part of the legal team that represented former president Nelson Mandela and his co-accused in the Rivonia Trial in 1963-1964, where the struggle icon was sentenced to life imprisonment on Robben Island.

"Compassion, true compassion, and not careerism, drove Oom George to become one of the most formidable defenders of freedom, justice and equality," Sikhakhane said.

Fundamental to a just society

"He belonged to that generation of lawyers that placed law right at the heart of human struggles for justice and equality; a generation of lawyers that understood that law was fundamental to the creation of a just and civilised society. A generation that raised its hand in the fearless for those on the margins of the human condition."

Sikhakhane said Bizos was a man to whom suffering and persecution were no fiction or subjects for dinner-table ridicule.

"Having literally risked stormy seas as a child from Greece to come to our shores, his entire life was shaped by his first-hand knowledge of human suffering. He knew exactly what it was like to endure subjugation and systemic persecution. He knew well how to confront the boulders that are always strewn along the way to human emancipation.

"His absolute sincerity, fairness, rigorous intellect, independence of mind and, most of all, integrity and commitment to humanity, made him an indispensable part of the legal fraternity. His existence shone a light on the injustices faced by the marginalised."

Dedicated to service of others

Sikhakhane said Pabasa joined its colleagues in the legal fraternity to mourn the death of a man whose entire life was dedicated to the service of others. "He lived his life of struggle without expecting any reward, any recognition or appointment."

He added that Bizos was the last of the old generation of lawyers that sought no glory for their commitment to their clients and humanity.

"He will enter the golden gates of heaven proudly, having run his race and having told his truth to the world for those with ears and a conscience to take heed. He leaves us behind to take the baton and to defend our freedom and justice for which many paid the ultimate price. He leaves a void none of us can really fill. May he rest in eternal peace. May he share his eternity in the company of his other glorious friends and comrades with whom he served humanity so well, and so selflessly.

Sikhakhane added:

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