George Bizos

George Bizos a distinguished human rights advocate who defended against apartheid in South Africa. He is also known as Mathlathlo (Sotho for strength of the elephant). He is married to Arethe, and has 3 sons - 2 of whom are surgeons.

Early Life

In May 1941 at the age of 13 George Bizos with his father Antoni Bizos (the mayor of the the small village of Vasilitsi, south of Koroni and Kalamata on the Messinian peninsula of the Peloponnese, Greece) helped 7 New Zealand soldiers who where hiding in the hills to escape Nazi occupied Greece to Crete. But the escape did not go well and they where adrift for 3 days until they managed to attract the attention of crew on the British destroyer, HMS Kimberley which was on its way to the Battle of Crete. After the battle HMS Kimerley then dropped them off at Alexandria, Egypt. As refugees they where sent to South Africa and landed in Durban, from here they went by train up to Johannesburg. They disembarked at the Braamfontein railway station because it was feared that the Ossewabrandwag would have a demonstration at the central station. The Ossewabrandwag blamed Jan Smuts for bringing the vuilgoed (rubbish) of Europe to South Africa. The local Greek community helped intergrate them into socity. Bizos did not go straight away to school because he could not speak English or Afrikaans but by 1948 - the year that the Nationalist Party was voted into power - Bizos had managed to gain entry into the law faculty at the University of the Witwatersrand. It was here that he says he first became politically active.

Career

Bizos joined the Bar in Johannesburg in 1954. He was counsel to Trevor Huddlestone of Sophiatown in the 1950s and since then Bizos has been counsel to Nelson Mandela. He was part of the team that defended Mandela, Govan Mbeki and Walter Sisulu in the Rivonia Trial in 1963-64. This trial heralded the arrival of a group of tough human rights lawyers - Joel Joffe, Arthur Chaskalson and Bizos. He defended Winnie Madikizela-Mandela on more than 20 occasions. Bizos was counsel at the inquests into the deaths in detention of Ahmed Timol in 1971, of Steve Biko in 1977 and of Dr Neil Agget in 1982. He also represented and the family of Chris Hani.

In the 70`s Bizos to helped start a Greek school, called Saheti. It embraced Hellenism, yet was non-exclusionist, even during the heart of apartheid. It was here that people like Chris Hani's children were educated.

He has been a senior member of the Johannesburg Bar since 1978. He is a member of the National Council of Lawyers for Human Rights, which he helped found in 1979. He is Senior Counsel at the Legal Resources Centre in Johannesburg in the Constitutional Litigation Unit. He was a judge on Botswana's Court of Appeal from 1985 to 1993. Bizos was counsel to United Democratic Front leaders, including future provincial Premiers Patrick Lekota and Popo Molefe in the Delmas Treason Trial - 1985-89. In 1990 he became a member of the African National Congress's Legal and Constitutional Committee, and at CODESA he served as advisor to the negotiating teams and participated in drawing up the Interim Constitution. He was involved of the drafting of legislation, and particularly the Truth and Reconciliation Bill and amendments to the Criminal Procedures Act, to bring it into line with Chapter 3 of the constitution, guaranteeing fundamental human rights to all citizens of South Africa. In the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings, He was the leader of the team to oppose applications for amnesty on behalf of the Biko, Hani, Goniwe, Calata, Mkonto, Mhlauli, Slovo and Schoon families. He was appointed by then President Mandela to the Judicial Services Commission which, in terms of the constitution recommends candidates for appointment as judges and proposes reforms to the judicial system to erase its apartheid past. Bizos was the leader of the team for the South African Government to argue that the death penalty was unconstitutional and counsel for the National Assembly in the Certification of the Constitution by the Constitutional Court.

He successfully defended the Zimbabwean opposition Movement for Democratic Change's leader Morgan Tsvangarei, who was charged with planning a coup d'etat by conspiring to assassinate President Robert Mugabe before the 2002 general elections.

Honors and Awards

• 10 June 1999 he received the Order for Meritorious Service Class II medal from then President Mandela.
• 5 April 2001 he was awarded the 2001 International Trial Lawyer Prize of the Year by the International Academy of Trial Lawyers.
• The International Bar Association (IBA) named Bizos the winner of the 2004 Bernard Simons Memorial Award

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