George Bizos

Mural incorporating Mandela's speech from the Rivonia Trial of 1963-64

Bizos joined the Bar in Johannesburg in 1954.[7] During the 1950s and 1960s he was counsel to a wide range of well-known people including Trevor Huddleston of Sophiatown.[7]

At the Rivonia Trial from 1963 to 1964, Bizos was part of the team that defended Nelson Mandela, Govan Mbeki and Walter Sisulu. The accused were sentenced to life imprisonment, but spared the death penalty. Although it is sometimes said that he claims to have drafted Mandela's famous speech spoken at the trial, he says that his main contribution was to advise the use of the words "if needs be" before Mandela said that he was prepared to die. Bizos believed that this may have contributed to the avoidance of the death penalty, by having Mandela not appear to seek martyrdom.[6] This trial heralded the arrival of a group of tough human rights lawyers – Joel Joffe, Harry Schwarz, Arthur Chaskalson and Harold Hanson.[10]

Bizos was council for the accused in at least 26 other prominent anti-apartheid trials and inquests. In 1969 he acted for the defence of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and 21 others on charges of contravening the Suppression of Communism Act and Unlawful Organisations Act.[11] Together with Arthur Chaskalson and Dennis Kuny, he also represented the NUSAS Five who were charged with furthering the aims of the African National Congress and communism in 1975.[11]

Bizos subsequently became a senior member of the Johannesburg Bar in 1978. He was a member of the National Council of Lawyers for Human Rights, which he helped found in 1979. He was Senior Counsel at the Legal Resources Centre in Johannesburg in the Constitutional Litigation Unit. He also served as a judge on Botswana's Court of Appeal from 1985 to 1993.[12]

Bizos became a member of the African National Congress' (ANC) Legal and Constitutional Committee in 1990,[12] and at Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) he served as advisor to the negotiating teams and participated in drawing up the Interim Constitution. He was involved in the drafting of legislation, and particularly the Truth and Reconciliation Bill and amendments to the Criminal Procedures Act, to bring it into line with Chapter 3 of the constitution, guaranteeing fundamental human rights to all citizens of South Africa.[13][14]

Bizos was retained as counsel at various inquests into the deaths of people in detention.[7] During the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings, he was the leader of the team that opposed applications for amnesty on behalf of the Biko, Hani,[8] Goniwe, Calata, Mkonto, Mhlauli, Slovo and Schoon families.[15]

Bizos was appointed by President Mandela to the Judicial Services Commission in 1994.[12] It was responsible for recommending candidates for appointment as judges, as well as proposing post-apartheid reforms to the judicial system. Bizos was the leader of the team for the South African Government to argue that the death penalty was unconstitutional,[16] and counsel for the National Assembly in the Certification of the Constitution by the Constitutional Court.[17] He later served as a legal advisor to Mandela in 2005, during a bitter legal dispute with the latter's former lawyer, Ismail Ayob.[18][19][20][21] He also represented the Chinese Association of South Africa in a case that ended in 2008 in which Chinese South Africans were granted 'previously disadvantaged' status, thus qualifying them for Black Economic Empowerment benefits.[22]

In 2017 Bizos appeared along with surviving defendants at the Rivonia Trial, Denis Goldberg, Andrew Mlangeni and Ahmed Kathrada, along with fellow defence lawyers Joel Joffe and Denis Kuny, in a documentary film entitled Life is Wonderful, directed by Sir Nicholas Stadlen,[23] which tells the story of the trial. The title reflects Goldberg's words to his mother at the end of the trial on hearing that he and his comrades had been spared the death sentence.[24][25][26][27]

Bizos represented the following people, among others:

• Nelson Mandela, since the 1950s[7][14]
• Trevor Huddleston of Sophiatown, 1950s[7]
• Mac Maharaj in the Little Rivonia Trial[7]
• Govan Mbeki in the Rivonia Trial in 1963–64[7]
• Walter Sisulu in the Rivonia Trial in 1963–64, and afterwards his wife[7]
• Ahmed Timol's family, regarding his death in detention in 1971[7]
• Steve Biko's family, regarding his death in detention in 1977[14]
• Neil Aggett's family, regarding his death in detention in 1982[7]
• Rob Adam in a trial for involvement in ANC activities, 1982[28][7]
• Patrick Lekota (known as "Terror") and Popo Molefe at the Delmas Treason Trial, 1985–89[29][15]
• Chris Hani's family, during a Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing where Hani's assassins had applied for amnesty.[30]
• Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change of Zimbabwe, when he was charged with planning a coup d'état before the 2002 general elections[12][14]
• Winnie Madikizela-Mandela[14]