A Judge for our times

FORGING a successful career in law is rarely easy, but for a black lawyer during the decades of apartheid, the obstacles that needed to be overcome were daunting.

- MARK LEVIN

One who mounted each of those obstacles and found success that he could not have contemplated in the 1960s, was Vuka Tshabalala. One of his daughters, Vuyo Mthethwa, has recently published a book on his legal journey, Vuka Tshabalala: On Trial. His career is written from her perspective based on stories she has heard from him as well as some of his colleagues.

Tshabalala was born in 1937 in Orlando East, Johannesburg but when he was two, his family moved to Clermont in Durban. After his father, an inveterate gambler, died five years later, it was left to Tshabalala’s mother, an extraordinary woman in her own right, to find the means to provide for her young family.

He attended various schools including Loram Secondary School in Durban and St Francis College, Mariannhill where he matriculated.

While studying for a BA degree at Fort Hare University, his mother died of cervical cancer. Despite this loss, he graduated in 1959 and was given special permission to read for a LLB degree at the white University of Natal at both its Durban and Pietermaritzburg campuses. Financial support was provided by a member of the Baumann family from Bakers (Pty) Ltd.

After graduating, Tshabalala served three years of clerkship with a law firm, but his real goal was to be an advocate. As a black man, he was breaking new ground. He needed to complete a pupillage under a practicing advocate.

Philip Meskin accepted this role, but the Bar Council declined the application, citing the Group Areas Act. One of the reasons put forward by the council was that white people would be uncomfortable having an African sitting in on a consultation.