Final-year Law students showcased their exceptional legal and academic nous at the 53rd Ellie Newman Memorial Moot Court Competition which is the flagship moot of UKZN’s Law School.
Named after its founder, the late Professor Ellie Newman QC, the initiative aims to prepare students for courtroom procedures and litigation.
The theme of this year’s competition was: ‘Unlawful Detention of the Marginalised’, confronting pressing questions of social justice and addressing the realities of homelessness and the increasing number of individuals forced to live on the streets. It was thus apt for the 53rd session of the competition to be hosted in partnership with the Denis Hurley Centre in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the unlawful detention of human rights activist Paddy Kearney.
Kearney was a tireless champion of justice and human dignity. He served as Chair and Founder of the Denis Hurley Centre, Founding Director of the Diakonia Council of Churches, Chair of the Gandhi Development Trust, and advisor to both the KZN Christian Council and the Provincial Commission on Social Cohesion, among many other significant roles. Throughout his life, he stood with the poor and marginalised, working to advance interfaith partnership, social cohesion and peace.
Presiding over this year’s competition were Madam Justice Leona Theron, Judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa; Advocate Vishalan Naidu, Member of the General Council of the Bar and Society of Advocates, KZN; and Advocate Muhammad Suleman of the Ubunye Chambers, Durban Bar. They are all alumni of the UKZN Law School.
The competition featured students, Mr Jordan Ward and Mr Nilay Sham, representing the Appellant; while Mr Ethan Hann-Singh and Ms Shreya Bugwandin, represented the Respondents. Theron commended the students on their excellent presentations and resilience when responding to tough questions from the Bench. Hann-Singh was announced as the overall winner of the competition!
The Dean of the School of Law, Professor Freddy Mnyongani, congratulated the students on their “excellent demonstration of legal reasoning, persuasive advocacy, and the pursuit of justice. Our finalists have worked tirelessly to refine their skills, and we are proud to offer them this platform to showcase their talent,” he said.
Mnyongani praised members of the Law School and the legal profession who gave generously of their time in the preliminary rounds of the Moot Competition.
The Director of the Denis Hurley Centre, Dr Raymond Perrier, explained that the Centre helped homeless people and foreign nationals by providing food, counselling, healthcare and training. “We try to be ‘a voice for the voiceless’ – speaking out to Government and the media when the rights of the vulnerable are infringed, and pursuing ways of using legal actions to gain remedy,” he said.
The partnership between the Centre and the School of Law has been growing over the past few years with UKZN’s Street Law students having worked with the Centre and discovered for themselves the gap between the promises made by our exemplary laws and Constitution and the lived experience of the poor and marginalised.
The event was attended by legal luminaries, including Justice Zak Yacoob and Professor George Devenish alongside University of KwaZulu-Natal leadership including Dean of Students, Professor Percy Sepeng; and College of Law and Management Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Head, Professor Ernest Khalema. Guests enjoyed a performance by the String Quartet of the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra.
Words: Hazel Langa
Photographs: Sethu Dlamini