President Cyril Ramaphosa has accorded the late South African Human Rights Commission Deputy Chairperson, Ambassador Priscilla Jana, a special category two provincial funeral.
“President Ramaphosa has authorised that the National Flag be flown at half-mast at every flag station in the Gauteng province on the day of her funeral service,” the Presidency said on Wednesday.
The acclaimed human rights lawyer, who was 76-years-old, passed away in a frail care home on Saturday, 10 October 2020.
The Presidency has described Jana as an outstanding and fearless human rights lawyer who devoted her practice to fighting the apartheid regime.
She defended a broad range of struggle leaders and asserted the rights of marginalised South Africans.
Jana represented the likes of former President Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Ahmed Kathrada, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and Emeritus Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
She was also a former Member of Parliament from 1994 to 1999, serving on several committees.
Jana also served as the South African Ambassador in the Netherlands from 2001 to 2005 and the Ambassador in Ireland from 2006 to 2011.
The SAHRC said as a Black female lawyer, Jana, overcame pernicious limitations imposed by the apartheid system that marginalised her based on race, sex and gender and fought for the liberation of the then oppressed majority of South Africans.
“She continued to give of herself, well up until the age of 76, still labouring tirelessly to substantively turn South Africa into a country where all people who live in it are equal, enjoy their freedom and innate human dignity,” the SAHRC added. – SAnews.gov.za
