Struggle judge's memories on display

MEMORIES and human rights contributions made by Struggle stalwart the late Judge Essa Moosa will be showcased at the Palestinian Museum in Cape Town.

Yesterday, the Moosa family handed over the judge’s case work, files and photographs, including a photograph of the judge – who died last year – with Nelson Mandela at Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s home, a day after Mandela’s release from Victor Verster Prison, which is now known as Drakenstein Prison.

His son, Faizel Moosa, said this was the first step in returning Judge Moosa to District Six, where he was born.

The former Western Cape High Court judge and human rights lawyer also had an office in the area, but had to vacate because of the Group Areas Act.

In the handing-over ceremony yesterday, Moosa said: “This initiative is bringing my father back in a sense… giving him time to come back to District Six triumphantly and also for him to be in history.”

The Palestinian Museum, which is in the process of being renovated, will be completed in July. After five years of delays, the museum, at the heart of District Six, is an eight-storey building overlooking the Castle of Good Hope and with a view of Table Mountain.

The chairperson of the museum and curator, Doctor Anwah Nagia, said the museum was dedicated to human rights activism. The first floor depicts the Palestinian war, with floor tiling that will represent each of the 6 000 villages destroyed. On the side walls will be the 14 Stations of the Cross, for the Christian faith, and a synagogue.

The second floor will highlight contemporary issues and wars across the globe. The third floor incorporates a movie and lecture hall; the fourth floor a restaurant; the fifth is a library; sixth a human rights centre with offices and a clinic; and the seventh floor a media centre and mosque. The top floor will be a peace garden with the names of human rights heroes written on the walls.

Moosa said it was his father’s wish that his belongings did not end up locked in a house for private viewing, but that they be put in the museum to assist students.

MUSEUM IN THE HEART OF DISTRICT SIX DEDICATED TO HUMAN RIGHTS