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Human Rights champion honoured at graduation


Judge Kathleen Satchwell, described as an unstinting champion of human rights, and a determined, resilient fighter on behalf of those denied such rights, was honoured at the weekend when Rhodes University conferred on her the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa.

Judge Satchwell, who spoke fondly of the people in her life who played a significant part in her success received an honorary doctorate from Rhodes at the Law, Pharmacy and Education graduation ceremony held on 9 April, in Grahamstown.

Delivering her address in both English and isiXhosa she stressed throughout that true to the African proverb - Umntu, ngumntu ngaBantu - she was indeed who she was because of others. And because of this profound belief the honour bestowed on her was as much an honour for her as it was for the people - most of whom were in the audience - who deeply touched her life.

For almost four decades Kathleen Satchwell has been a determined, resilient fighter on behalf of the rights of political detainees, conscientious objectors, victims of the pass laws or the group areas act and more recently, the rights of same-sex partners, or rape victims, among others.

Her activism began during a ten-year stay in Grahamstown from 1969 to 1978. While fully engaged in all the activism she studied part-time, through UNISA, for a law degree – the foundation of her present position as a high court judge.

Human rights issues continued to occupy much of her time when working as an attorney in Johannesburg for seventeen years. She has been a high court judge in the Transvaal Provincial Division – the first woman to be appointed to the position in this division since late 1996.

One of her main triumphs in recent years has involved not a ruling from the bench, but rather a challenge to the bench. In 2001 she instituted legal proceedings to secure equal benefits for her same-sex domestic partner as were accorded to the spouses of all other South African judges.

The Constitutional Court ruled in her favour, granting this right, thereby according such benefits to her partner, Lesley Carnelley.

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