×

We've got news for you.

Register on SowetanLIVE at no cost to receive newsletters, read exclusive articles & more.
Register now

Fighting injustice since conception

l Narandran Jody Kollapen was born in 1957 in Lady Selbourne, the mixed-race Pretoria suburb that suffered forced removals as a result of the Group Areas Act.

l One of four children, the story of his life is that he took part in the 1956 women's march to the Union Buildings before he was born - his mother was pregnant with him!

l While black folk from Marabastad were moved to such places as GaRankuwa and Mamelodi, his own people were truck-loaded to Marabastad.

l He did two years of his undergraduate studies at the then University of Durban-Westville before relocating to Wits, where he further did his LLB part-time.

l After serving articles with a Pretoria law firm, he opened what he calls "a little practice" in Marabastad, where he did a lot of public-interest work, political cases of the time.

l He worked with renowned struggle attorney Priscilla Jana on many of these cases.

l Given his specialist interest, he then took up a position with Lawyers For Human Rights, where his first case was the landmark facilitation for the release of political prisoners.

l He is married to Rani with three daughters - Kumeshni, a medical doctor; Karusha, who has just completed her LLB and the baby of the family, Kiyashni, who is in high school.

Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.

Speech Bubbles

Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.