Zakeria Yacoob

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Zakeria "Zak" Mohammed Yacoob (born March 3, 1948 in Durban ) is a South African lawyer. He was a judge at the Constitutional Court of the Republic of South Africa from 1998 to 2013 .

Education and professional career

Yacoob was born in Durban in 1948. He comes from a family of Indian descent . At 16 months he developed meningitis and lost his eyesight. He received his education between 1956 and 1966 at the Arthur Blaxall School for the Blind in his hometown Durban. He then took up studies at the University of Durban-Westville , where he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and private law in 1969 . This was followed by a two-year course at the same university, which he completed in 1972 with a Bachelor of Laws . Even at the university he was politically active and participated in the first elections for a student body. He then began his practical training as a lawyer and was admitted to the bar on March 12, 1973. He held this position until 1998. During this time he took part in numerous political processes. In 1984 he represented a group of anti- apartheid opponents known as the Durban Six , who had occupied the British consulate in Durban to protest against the discrimination against blacks in South Africa. On their behalf, he negotiated with the British government and addressed the United Nations in New York . Yacoob was also part of the defense team in a Delmas Treason Trial between 1985 and 1988 against 22 members of the United Democratic Front (UDF). In 1990 and 1991 he also defended several senior members of the ANC in the Vula Trial .

In 1998 Nelson Mandela appointed him judge at the Constitutional Court of the Republic of South Africa. He held this position until his age-related retirement in 2013.

Political commitment

At the political level, Yacoob became involved in the Durban Committee of Ten from 1980 , which campaigned for the rights of schoolchildren. As a member of the Natal Indian Congress , he organized numerous mass demonstrations against the apartheid system between 1981 and 1991. In his hometown, he campaigned for a more responsible housing policy for the city ​​council and was actively involved in protests against the South African Indian Council . He was also a member of the UDF and the ANC. Between December 1993 and June 1994 he was a member of the Independent Electoral Commission .

Others

Yacoob has been married since 1970 and has a son and a daughter. He lives in Durban with his wife. From 1995 to 1997 he was a member of the Board of Directors of the University of Durban-Westville and between 2001 and 2003 he was Chancellor . Yacoob is also extremely committed to promoting the blind. Not only was he chairman of the South African National Council for the Blind , but he also participated in numerous international conferences on the advancement of the blind.

Publications (selection)

  • Salient features of the negociating process. In: SMU Law Review. 52, No. 4, ISSN  1066-1271 , pp. 1579-1585.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Graham Leach: South Africa: no easy path to peace. 1986. p. 139 ff.
personal data
SURNAME Yacoob, Zakeria
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Yacoob, Zak
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African lawyer, judge (1998–2013) at the Constitutional Court of the Republic of South Africa
DATE OF BIRTH March 3, 1948
PLACE OF BIRTH Durban