Human rights lawyer George Bizos had died

Johannesburg – Advocate George Bizos had died in Wednesday.

The renowned human rights lawyer loved to tell the story of the phone call he received from Cyril Ramaphosa – with a message from Nelson Mandela asking him to join the team to write the Constitution.

There was no hesitation, and his only question was whether he would have to join the African National Congress (ANC).

Born on 15 November 1927, Bizos arrived in South Africa in 1941 and first settled in Durban. He was famously known for having represented families of apartheid –era victims, including widows of the Crackock Four who were brutally killed by security forces.

Bizos was also passionate about education and in the 1970s helped start Greek school Saheti in Johannesburg.

Praised as the struggle stalwart of stalwarts, he was also a family man.

Bizos was married to Rita Daflos, who died in 2017 – just before his 90^th birthday. Together they had three sons.