“My father would say unless we take the justice system with us, we will end up in trouble. We cannot wait another 20 years to transform the judiciary.”
These were the words of Faizel Moosa, as he accepted the Sydney and Felicia Kentridge Award on behalf of his late father, Western Cape High Court Judge Essa Moosa.
Moosa was honoured by the General Council of the Bar (GCB) of South Africa in Port Elizabeth at the weekend.
“I am sorry if I have offended anyone here,” continued Faizel to a largely white audience.
“My father would often say that if you want to save this country of ours you have to do much, much more for the poor. During my father’s last days he became increasingly concerned with the poor; stating outright that if we do not transform the judiciary, poor people will never have access to it,” he said.
Moosa died in February after a long illness.
Known as the people’s lawyer; Moosa matriculated from Athlone High School in 1954, worked as a bookkeeper, began studying law at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in 1957 and graduated in 1960.
The chairperson of the GCB, Vuyani Ngalwana SC, together with advocate Ahmed Cajee, conferred the award posthumously. It was accepted by Faizel Moosa.
“His colleagues described him as a man who was always available and worked for no money. You could even pay him with chocolates or a ‘thank you’. He was a giant. He had humanity and he had compassion.” said Cajee.
The award is given to a person or institution adjudged to have made an outstanding contribution to law in southern Africa.
The award has been made annually since 2000. Previous posthumous honourees were Justice Ismail Mohamed CJ, Bram Fischer SC and Justice Thembile Skweyiya.