PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa says Priscilla Jana was an outstanding and fearless human rights lawyer who devoted her practice to fighting the apartheid regime, defending a broad range of struggle leaders and asserting the rights of marginalised South Africans.
Jana, who was also the deputy Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission, passed away on Saturday at the age of 76.
Several organisations have sent messages of condolence on her passing.
Jana was one of the attorneys that represented former president Nelson Mandela while he was on Robben Island.
She also defended Solomon Mahlangu and played a pivotal role in engineering international awareness and protest against the execution of the Umkhonto we Sizwe cadre, who was sentenced to death and eventually executed.
Together with Advocate Reagan Jacobus, they defended many other anti-apartheid trialists, including Anton Lubowski in Namibia.
They also kept close contact with the later ANC president Oliver Tambo, when it was dangerous to do so.
Ramaphosa said in Jana, South Africa has lost a champion of the struggle waged for justice, freedom and democracy.
“Priscilla Jana was at the side of Solomon Mahlangu, Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and many other leaders as they waged their fight for freedom on our streets and in the courts of the unjust apartheid legal system. She helped to focus global attention on apartheid South Africa and went on to fly the flag of a free and democratic South Africa by representing our country in the Netherlands and Ireland,” said Ramaphosa.
“We will always be indebted to Priscilla Jana for her contribution to our freedom and for her championing of equality and of the causes of vulnerable South Africans in our democratic dispensation. May her soul rest in peace at the end of the extraordinary life she has led in service to our nation.”
The Ahmed Kathrada Foundation said Jana played a significant role in anti-apartheid protest politics.
“She was a member of the South African Students Organisation {SASO}, the Black People’s Convention and the Federation of Transvaal Women [FEDTRAW]. Although she was banned by the apartheid government and her home was petrol bombed at some stage this did not deter on intimidate her – she continued with her activism against apartheid,” the foundation said in a statement.
“In the first democratic elections in April 1994, Priscilla Jana was elected as a Member of Parliament and played an important role in the drafting of our democratic constitution. Later she served as South Africa’s Ambassador to the Netherlands and Ireland. She was the Deputy Chairperson of the South African Human Rights Commission at the time of her passing.”
“In Fighting for Mandela, she poignantly writes, “My entire adult life has been dedicated to dismantling the apartheid system and attempting to replace it with something wholesome and good for all South Africans. I cannot regret one minute of it.”
(COMPILED BY INSIDE POLITICS STAFF)
