By Nomfundo Manyathi-Jele

The Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) congratulated former Public Protector advocate Thuli Madonsela on being selected as the recipient of the 3rd Commonwealth Law Conference Rule of Law Award in a press release in February. According to the press release issued by the LSSA, Ms Madonsela would accept the award at the closing ceremony of the 20th Commonwealth Law Conference in Melbourne, Australia, which will be held from 20 to 24 March.

LSSA Co-chairpersons, Jan van Rensburg and Mvuzo Notyesi said: ‘The LSSA, which is a member of the Commonwealth Lawyers Association, nominated Ms Madonsela for the award. We are delighted and proud that this worthy South African lawyer will receive international recognition from her peers across the Commonwealth for her work in protecting our Constitution and promoting the concept of the Rule of Law – that all are equal before the law – to all South Africans’.

According to the LSSA press release, the Commonwealth Lawyers Association (CLA) partners with LexisNexis in presenting the biennial Commonwealth Law Conference Rule of Law Award which recognises an individual, institution or firm or lawyers who have made an outstanding contribution to the rule of law, which has had an impact, both within their own country, and to the broader Commonwealth. ‘The CLA says its judging panel found Ms Madonsela to be a very worthy winner who demonstrates the attributes this award seeks to foster within the Commonwealth’, the press release stated.

The two previous winners of the Commonwealth Law Conference Rule of Law Award have been Robin Sully from Canada and Upul Jayasuriya from Sri Lanka.

Nomfundo Manyathi-Jele, Communications Officer, Law Society of South Africa, nomfundom@lssa.org.za

This article was first published in De Rebus in 2017 (March) DR 9.