KwaZulu-Natal ANC convener Jeff Radebe and the country’s top legal minds are among the dignitaries that will attend the book launch of the province’s retired judge president Vuka Shabalala.

The 246-page book titled Vuka Shabalala On Trial, written by his daughter, Dr Vuyo Mthethwa, will be launched at Durban University of Technology (DUT) on Friday.

Dr Mthethwa said among the people who have been invited and confirmed their attendance are the current Judge President Thoba Poyo-Dlwathi, former judge president Achmat Jappie who succeeded judge Shabalala, retired judge Chris Nicholson who once presided over Jacob Zuma’s corruption trial, Advocate Moerane Moerane, DUT Vice Chancellor Dr Thandwa Mthembu, Constitutional Court Justice Leona Theron, and others.

Justice Theron, who wrote the book’s foreword, was groomed by Shabalala when she became a judge at the age of 33 in the province.

Mthembu, who is also the deputy vice-chancellor of DUT, said that she has realised her father’s 16-year-old dream by publishing the book. Her father wanted her to write a book about his difficult experiences in the legal field.

“Apart from honouring his dream as he has persistently asked me to write this book, I am also honouring him for raising us after my mother passed on. This is my thanksgiving ceremony for my father to say thank you baba for all that you did for us and I am glad that I finished the book while he is still alive to hear and read what I say about him,” said Mthembu.

Furthermore, she said by writing the book about his life, she wanted the next Shabalala generations to know the experiences of the forefathers because relying on oral narration was not enough.

On what influenced her to give the book this title, Dr Mthembu said although her father, as a lawyer, represented people on trial in various courts, he himself was on trial because of the difficulties and hardships he experienced as a lawyer under the apartheid system.

She said her father could not do pupillage because of the Group Areas Act which prevented black people from entering white areas.

“I remember him telling us that he was offered to do pupillage by a white-owned law firm which had offices in West Street in central Durban, but he couldn’t take the offer because West Street at that time was reserved for white people,” said Mthembu.

She further stated that whenever Shabalala had to go out of Durban to represent his clients in the rural areas of the province, he had a problem finding a place to sleep because black people were not allowed to get accommodation at hotels.

Shabalala, 88, became the first black advocate in Natal in 1969. He was appointed as deputy judge president after a strong resistance by 14 white judges in 1998, who petitioned the then chief justice, complaining that he was inexperienced for the position. He eventually became the judge president in 2000 and retired in 2010.

His wife, Pearl Shabalala, who was a known United Democratic Front (UDF) activist in Clermont township west of Durban, was shot and killed in political violence between Inkatha Freedom Party and UDF, which was an ANC front.

willem.phungula@inl.co.za

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