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In 2015, Meshack Mabuza, then a private security guard, was posted to the Legal Resource Center (LRC) in Johannesburg. It was there that he met George Bizos, the man who inspired him to study law and, as Mabuza describes it, changed his life.
The two shared a special bond and speaking in the wake of Bizos’ death at 92 on Wednesday night, Mabuza, currently in his final year of school, said Thursday that he only wished Bizos had lived to see him graduate.
He remembered their last meeting, just before the lockdown.
Bizos’s door was always open for Mabuza and he had gone to visit him at the LRC offices – where Bizos continued to work even after his health began to deteriorate in 2018 – to show him his latest results.
“He was so proud of me. He told me I would be a great lawyer, ”Mabuza said, his voice heavy with emotion.
Their first exchange, Mabuza said, was at the LRC reception.
“I saw him come in, so I ran to the door to open it and greet him. And the way she looked at me… ”Mabuza said before her voice trailed off.
He paused for a moment and then simply said, “He was a lovely man.”
The two became fast friends, and Mabuza described it as “a privilege” to have been able to take care of Bizos.
He was fiercely protective of Bizos and even convinced the building management to install surveillance cameras in his office, fearing something would happen to him.
“But he never did anything, everyone loved him,” he said.
The two spent countless hours discussing everything from the law to family to food.
“He loved spinach, there was a man who sold vegetables outside the offices and he used to buy him spinach every day,” Mabuza said with a laugh.
Meshack Mabuza and George Bizos. Image supplied.
It was during these discussions that Bizos began encouraging Mabuza to study law.
“One day he told me: ‘You are very young, you need to do something with your life. Why don’t you become a lawyer?
“At first I thought it was impossible, but he convinced me that it wasn’t and that I could do it,” Mabuza said.
So the father of two, then in his mid-thirties, decided to enroll in an LLB at the University of South Africa and study while working.
He spent three years at the LRC before receiving a new position, but even after he moved, Mabuza and Bizos stayed in touch.
“I would show up every time I missed him. His personal assistant would let me in and we would just sit and talk, ”he said.
“It was as if the voice of God spoke through him, it taught me a lot, but above all, no matter how difficult life got, he had to keep pushing.”
Bizos encouraged Mabuza to study media law and international human rights law, and that is exactly what the now 39-year-old did.
He said that after completing his studies, he wanted to dedicate his life to fighting for media freedom, something that Bizos was passionate about.
“I just want to honor him,” Mabuza said. “She was a simple person, but she was my greatest inspiration and the light at the end of the tunnel of my life.”
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