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Priscilla Jana speaking at a conference at the Landsdowne Road Hotel in Belfast on December 10, 2007.
Paul Faith – PA Images / PA Images via Getty Images
- President Cyril Ramaphosa has praised the human rights work done by Pricilla Jana, who died at the age of 76 on Saturday.
- He said the country lost a champion of the struggle that put the focus on apartheid.
- He said their fight was a fight in court.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has branded celebrated human rights lawyer Priscilla Jana as a human rights icon and said she had a formidable legal intellect.
Jana, who was also vice chair of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), died on Saturday at the age of 76.
“Jana was a prominent and courageous human rights lawyer who dedicated her practice to fighting the apartheid regime, defending a wide range of leaders in the struggle and upholding the rights of marginalized South Africans,” Ramaphosa said.
He expressed his condolences to his family and friends, as well as to the leadership and staff of the SAHRC.
Jana was a former South African MP and Ambassador to the Netherlands and Ireland.
“Our nation and our legal fraternity have lost a champion in the fight we wage for justice, freedom and democracy,” Ramaphosa said.
READ ALSO | Human rights lawyer Priscilla Jana has died
He added that she belonged to some of the biggest icons in South Africa.
“Priscilla Jana stood by Solomon Mahlangu, Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and many other leaders as they fought for freedom on our streets and in the courts of the unjust apartheid legal system.”
Ramaphosa said he helped focus world 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.
“We are forever indebted to Priscilla Jana for her contribution to our freedom and for championing equality and 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 the service of our nation “.
