Bizos lived through joys, sorrows of SA

GEORGE Bizos, who died aged 92 on Wednesday, had a long and combative career as a lawyer and defender of human rights through some of the darkest periods of South Africa’s history.

Bizos was best known for defending the Rivonia trialists and he was a voice of reason before and after the advent of democracy in the country.

As a lawyer, Bizos sought redress for racial separation and was courageous as he defended his clients using the basic protection offered by the apartheid legal establishment.

The University of Cape Town in celebrating Bizos had once said: “The new apartheid government was determined to use the law not only to crush all opposition but also directly to oppress people.

“These lawyers were just as determined to use the law in whatever way they could to protect their clients against the abuse of state power.”

Bizos in his later years was one of the lawyers who represented the families of the 34 striking miners killed by police at Marikana.

He once memorably said he had lived through the joys and sorrows of the South African people and perhaps this more than anything else encapsulated his desire for justice and humanity.

The recent deaths of Denis Goldberg, Andrew Mlangeni, Zindzi Mandela, Achmat Dangor and now Bizos also allows for painful reflection on the loss of a generation of Struggle activists whose immense contribution to the democracy enjoyed by so many must never be forgotten.