The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) warmly congratulates Justice Navi Pillay on her well-deserved Nobel Peace Prize.  We are immensely proud of this tireless champion for the rights of the downtrodden, the dispossessed and the voiceless.  We are inspired by this product of a humble working-class family from Durban who grew up and defied the brutality of the apartheid regime.

This is a fitting recognition of a lifetime of struggles as an Indian and Black woman who shattered countless glass ceilings, becoming the first woman to open a legal practice in the then Natal Province in 1967 and later the first Black female High Court Judge in South Africa in 1995. 

Following generations of struggle in South Africa, Justice Pillay has been a formidable voice for the victims of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and later the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the Palestinian Territories as well her work as the former United Nations’ Human Rights Commissioner. 

This award is a bold stance in defence of the international rule of law, justice, human rights and compassion at a time when the world has witnessed some of the most brazen forms of genocide in Gaza, wanton modern-day slavery in Myanmar, and shameful defiance of the United Nations’ Charter by its most powerful member states.

This recognition comes at a time when some of the most abhorrent forms of white supremacy, racism, tribalism, xenophobia, Afrophobia, Islamophobia, antisemitism, sexism and other forms of discrimination have been emboldened and unleashed.  It comes at a time when South Africa, seen by such dark forces as the international symbol of reconciliation and non-racialism has been subjected to the most naked aggression and ridicule. 

Justice Pillay represents the true spirit of South Africa, generations of struggle against apartheid and racism, and the Freedom Charter’s vision of a South Africa that belongs to all who live in it, Black and White.  She reflects the rich potential of ordinary South Africans and what we have achieved since the dawn of democracy in 1994.

No more fitting message could be sent to the young girl growing up in Chatsworth, the daughter of farm workers in Kuruman, the domestic worker in Sandton, the waitress in Cape Town, that all glass ceilings can and must be broken. 

The nation is humbled and inspired.  Thank you, Justice Pillay for making South Africa proud.  Malibongwe!

Issued by COSATU

Matthew Parks (COSATU Parliamentary Coordinator)

Mobile: 082 785 0687

Email: matthew@cosatu.org.za