Covid-19 takes former TRC commissioner Ntsikelelo Sandi

Former Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) member, human rights activist, lawyer and occasional Dispatch columnist advocate Ntsikelelo Sandi this week succumbed to Covid-19.

Sandi’s sudden death in hospital early on Monday morning shocked and saddened friends and colleagues who had kept in touch with him throughout his hospitalisation.

“He had assured us he was over the worst and on his way to recovery,” said chairman of the Eastern Cape Society of Advocates David de la Harpe, SC.

De La Harpe said Sandi joined the Makhanda Bar in 2001.

“He was dedicated in equal measure to the pursuit of justice, the bar as an institution and to his colleagues whom he regarded not only as colleagues but as his friends. He was a good and decent man whose presence among us will be sorely missed.”

Sandi was born in Makhanda in 1959.

He attended school there before enrolling for law at Fort Hare in 1982. He was hounded off campus in the middle of his first year by Ciskei security forces.

In 1983 he enrolled for journalism and law at Rhodes University. His anti-apartheid activism led to him to him spending several months in detention without trial in the mid-1980s.

He graduated with his BA LLB from Rhodes University. A recipient of the Helen Suzman Leadership Award, he went on to earn his LLM degree in international law at Essex University in England. He completed his pupillage at the then Grahamstown Bar in 2001.

He was a member of the Amnesty Committee on the TRC from its establishment in 1995 right up until 2001. He has, over many years, written some hard-hitting columns for the Dispatch on forgiveness and reconciliation, state capture, and the thorny land issue.

Former editor of the Dispatch leader page, Dawn Barkhuizen, said Sandi had been a wonderful man whose writing reflected a wide, sweeping gaze.

“He was international in both his field of work and his way of thinking. He had a brilliant mind. He could pull pieces of international history into the present context in a way that was exceptional. And for all his brilliance, he was a humble, delightful human being.”

A friend and colleague of Sandi’s at the Makhanda bar, advocate Matthew Mpahlwa, said he was kind and compassionate, particularly with younger advocates.

“He lent us his books and was always willing to listen. He was like an uncle to me.”

Another colleague, advocate Izak Smuts, SC, said Sandi was passionate about SA, and about the citizens of the city in which he lived.

“His youth activities were not smiled upon by the security apparatus of the apartheid era, but he was never diverted from his commitment to make life better, easier and more comfortable for those around him.”

Smuts said his activism, his commitment to justice and fairness had drawn him into Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR).  His time on the TRC had seen him sifting through depressing accounts of the horrors of the past, but he had always sought to “do his best to reconcile an evil past with a hopeful future”.

Retired Constitutional Court judge Johan Froneman said Sandi had personally become acquainted with the iniquities of the apartheid system through his detention without trial.

“But he was also one of many of that generation who generously embraced the promise of a non-racial future for our country with commitment and integrity. He treated all of us, no matter our race or language, with friendliness, good humour and a passion for our common future. It was a privilege to know him. We will miss him and I wish his family strength in these difficult times.” - DispatchLIVE

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