Please click below to view the slides from Sharon Constancon’s presentation at our CPD workshop this morning:

Valufin SMEs Education on Forex 2017

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN OF THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE UK LTD (SACC) TO BE HELD ON 16TH OCTOBER 2017

EVENT: SACC AGM
VENUE: Wedlake Bell, 71 Queen Victoria St, London, EC4V 4AY (Right next to Mansion House Tube Station)
DATE: Monday 16 October 2017
TIME: 18:00 to 18:30 (Networking and Chamber Connect Event to follow)
DRESS: Smart or traditional

AGENDA:
1. Quorum

2. Conflicts of Interest

3. Minutes of 2016 AGM, These minutes will be taken as read and any matters arising from Members will be addressed.

4. Address to Members by SACC Chairman, Sharon Constançon
a. Welcome Members and new Members
b. Thank you to Board Directors, Exco, Volunteers
c. Chairman’s Report

5. Finances:
a. Receive and Consider the Audited Annual Financial Statements for December 2016
b. Financial update for 2017

6. Notification of Resignation of Directors during the year
a. Melissa Powys-Rodrigues
b. Masechaba Mashigo
c. Sam Finnemore
d.Simon Goedhals
e.Francis West

7. Re-election of Directors – members will be required to vote by a show of hands. individually
The whole Board are individually standing for re-election, in alphabetical order:
i. John Battersby
ii. David Butler (current CEO)
iii.Chantele Carrington
iv. Sharon Constancon (Chairman)
v.  Carol Freeman
vi. Michael Miller (current Treasurer).

8. Election of new Directors:
i. Peter Maila
ii.Risana Zitha.

9. Election of the Chairman.
Members to ratify by show of hands, Resolution of Directors to appoint Sharon Constancon to replace
the outgoing Chair, Melissa Powys-Rodrigues.

10. Re-election of Executive Committee members.
The current Executive committee members are as follows:
i. Sean Godoy
ii. Given Mashabathakga
iii.Ntoshane Mohlamonyane
iv. Jaco van Zyl.

11. Election of new Executive Committee Member:
Unathi Malunga.

12. Any other business.

NOTES TO MEMBERS:
1. Attendance : All approved members as at date of AGM.
2. Proxy : We shall submit Proxy voting forms for those who wish to vote but are unable to attend.
3. Agenda Additions : Only items with supporting documentation and approved by the Directors can be included in the Agenda. Such items to be submitted by close of business on Sunday 15th October 2017.

We are delighted to confirm Transact SA-UK’s Agri-Business Deal Mission to Cape Town in
November 2017.

As a valued strategic partner, Transact SA-UK (TSA) would like to offer members of the South African Chamber of Commerce UK (SACC) priority registration and a partner member’s discount.

Transact SA-UK’s Deal Mission will be hosted from Monday 6 November to Thursday 9 November 2017.

This deal mission puts UK Agri business companies (the delegates) in front of SA farming associations, co-operatives and buyers, who are interested and have capacity to buy the products and services of our delegates (i.e. targeted).

The price of £3,400 (plus VAT) includes economy class flights from the UK to Cape Town, accommodation and all ground transport.

We have secured commercial partners to help with FX, legal and export credit finance, to support delegates in successful deal conversion.

Our proposition is tailored to allow delegates the opportunity to request specific introductions
in Cape Town through our trusted associates and closed contacts.
Importantly, to drive successful deal conversion, TSA has chosen specialist partners to support the
deal mission across the spectrum of transaction support including:
Introductory services
Legal counsel
Tax advisory
Foreign Exchange

Interested delegates will be pleased to know that TSA is focusing on key themes with demonstrable market and investor appetite including:
Food processing and packaging including machinery and equipment
Planting primary production investment
Yield enhancement
Environmental and sustainable technologies including water saving innovation

For more information or to register interest in joining the Deal Mission, please
contact [email protected] and [email protected].
This exclusive window to partners pre-registration and discount is open until Sept 15th

Please be advised that the London memorial for the late Lord Joffe will be held at St Martin-in-the-Fields on 15th November.

Please see link for further details and registration: https://www.joffememorial.org/

David Jinks, Head of Consumer Research at the international parcel broker ParcelHero, says the UK will turn towards the BRICS nations, and in particular South Africa, following a ‘hard’ Brexit.

The UK’s faltering steps towards quitting the European Union (EU) are showing no clear direction yet. Britain could leave the EU and still maintain access to the EU’s Single Market and the Customs Union: that would be a so called soft Brexit. However, it is highly likely access to the Single Market would mean accepting free movement of people from the EU to the UK; and that’s a huge stumbling block for many Brexiteers. Which means a hard Brexit is still very much on the cards.

A hard Brexit would likely leave Britain trading with the EU under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules; and that would mean tariffs at EU-UK borders, together with increased paperwork and border checks. In 2016, about 44% of the UK’s exports in goods and services went to EU countries; but under a hard Brexit these exports would cost considerably more in Europe and EU imports to the UK would rise in price similarly.
Small wonder many UK business are starting to brick together an approach to new markets. Some of the most lucrative are the so-called BRIC nations, which have now -significantly – become BRICS with the addition of South Africa to their ranks.

Because of the comparative ease of trading with the EU, British business have perhaps been slower than some other countries in seeing the huge potential of Brazil, Russia, India, China and, notably, South Africa. But Britain outside the EU will be free to pursue its own trade deals; and the BRIC Nations will be a key target.
It’s fair to say all the BRICS have both their attractions and challenges for the UK. How does the UK view each of the nations?

Brazil is the world’s tenth largest economy. Since opening its market to imports in the 1990s, Brazil has gradually reduced its import tariffs and trade barriers. But Customs procedures can be slow, with a significant number of work to rules recently, and some UK SMEs report difficulties with returns and non-payments selling directly to customers.

Russia was the world’s ninth largest economy by GDP in 2014; and has improved to 62nd in the World Bank’s ‘Ease of Doing Business’ ranking. Over 5,800 UK traders exported goods to Russia in 2013. However, couriers such as ParcelHero are not allowed to ship directly to Russian domestic addresses; but only to registered businesses
India is one of the world’s fastest growing economies. The UK exported goods worth £6.35 billion and services valued at £2.24 billion to India in 2014, and is the third largest investor in the country. However, there are barriers to trade and investment because of regulatory constraints, local sourcing requirements and import tariffs. For example, the tariff on a CKD car kit in India is 125%!

China is the great economic success story of the past 30 years. It’s now the world’s largest economy and a huge and expanding market for UK businesses. But China is not one single market: there are different regional economies and economic hubs. UK Businesses need to understand the regional economic and cultural differences.
So we turn to the new kid on the BLOC(S): South Africa. South Africa has a well-developed economic infrastructure and significant opportunities in its emerging markets. It also has a fast-growing new middle class. The UK is a valued trading partner for South Africa, with annual bilateral trade worth just under £10 billion. UK exporters are also developing ties with Commonwealth countries, and South Africa and India straddle both these markets.
Of course, British businesses are not blind to recent issues in the country, with ratings agencies S&P and Fitch officially downgrading South Africa to junk status earlier this year, threatening higher interest rates and inflation for ordinary South African consumers. And even the UK Government’s site ‘doing business in south Africa’ warns of a high crime rate and poor transport infrastructure in places.

And there’s no getting around the fact that South Africa has a complex import process, so UK businesses would face similar challenges trading with it to doing business with the EU post Brexit. The South African Revenue Service (SARS) defines approximately 90,000 product tariff codes that are strictly enforced on all imports. Customs South Africa (Customs SA), a division of SARS, requires that you register with its office to get an importer’s code. This can cause delays while clearing goods.

None the less, South Africa seems a natural fit with the UK in terms of trading links. UK exports of goods and services with South Africa rose by 25% in the last decade; while South Africa’s exports into the UK have increased by over 5% annually for the last decade.

In January this year the UK’s Brexit minister, Dr Liam Fox, met with South Africa’s Minister for Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies. Dr Fox, said: ‘South Africa is a key trading partner to the UK – a long-standing, strong and strategic ally for the United Kingdom in Africa and internationally. It is our largest export market in Africa; the largest economy in the southern Africa region and a fellow G20 member. South Africa is also the largest recipient of UK foreign direct investment in Africa, accounting for 30% of total UK foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2014, a value of £13.1 billion.’

And Dr Fox was quick to point out post Brexit opportunities. He stated: ‘As we become an even more outward looking country, we will continue building on our relationship with South Africa and today’s meeting was an opportunity to discuss how we progress that.’

Dr Rob Davies was equally enthusiastic. He explained: ‘The UK is a historical and strategic trade and investment partner for South Africa and remains a key market especially for agriculture exports accounting for over 20% of SA’s exports of wine and 30% of fruit exports globally. The UK is the biggest destination in the EU for South African investment, accounting for 30% of SA investments into Europe. Furthermore, 46% of SA’s global investment originates from the UK.’

And South Africa’s Dr Davies was equally positive about the relationship post Brexit. He explained: ‘We must ensure that we have a predictable trade and investment environment for mutual benefit for both parties. As we work to achieve this, South Africa looks forward to discussing how our trade post-Brexit could build on the recently concluded Economic Partnership Agreement with the EU.’
So the foundations are in place for strong trading relationships between Britain and the BRICS nations post Brexit; and with South Africa in particular, as an easy place to do business.

For more information on shipping to South Africa and the latest prices, visit: https://www.parcelhero.com/en-gb/international-courier-services/south-africa-parcel-delivery

By Roger Cooper

What a great night we all had last Tuesday hearing about Mike Procter’s life in cricket and the work he now does so passionately at Ottawa School in Durban.

His reminiscences of his time at Gloucestershire, winning the Gillette Cup in 1973 and the B&H Cup in 1977 will have brought back fond memories for Gloucestershire fans, especially his four wickets in five balls to get into the final in 1977. It is astonishing to think that is now 40 years ago!

It was also interesting to be reminded that many of the innovations in cricket today (or gimmicks, depending on your point of view!!) started with the Kerry Packer revolution at the same time and despite the opprobrium meted out then by the cricket establishment it sounded that the players enjoyed the experience and the chance to pit their skills against the best in the world, not to mention the opportunity to feel they were being properly paid for the entertainment they provided. There were obviously plenty more stories from that time that Mike didn’t tell!

Mike’s time as a match referee was also enlightening and as he said, his book “Caught in the Middle” gave him the opportunity to give his side of the story in the many controversies he found himself at the centre of!!
For me though, the highlight of the evening was his passionate recounting of what life is like for kids living in one of the townships in his home city of Durban; and what he is doing to make a huge difference to their lives. The joy and laughter and no small amount of skill that was apparent in his video taken at the school was moving.
Between us all, we raised just over £2,000 last Tuesday night and all of that will go to Mike’s Foundation and help to develop his fantastic work there.

Finally, the night would have been nothing (and a trifle lonely!) without you all taking the trouble to turn up and support the event and so, on behalf of Mike Procter and his Foundation and Bristol Rovers President’s Club I would like to thank you all wholeheartedly for your support and generosity.

Mike is now back in South Africa but a formal presentation of a cheque for £2,093.50 will be made by Harold Jarman to Sarah Blowen, a Trustee of the Mike Procter Foundation, on Saturday at Bristol Rovers’ home match against Peterborough United. You will recall that Harold Jarman, a Rovers’ legend, was a teammate of Mike’s at Gloucestershire CCC all those years ago.

The Foundation will issue newsletters from time to time providing updates on the progress being made. I hope you will find these interesting and rewarding.

Notice is hereby given of the Annual General Meeting of the South African Chamber of Commerce UK Ltd to be held as follows:

EVENT: SACC AGM
VENUE: Wedlake Bell, 71 Queen Victoria St, London EC4V 4AY
DATE: Monday 16 October 2017
TIME: 18:00 to 18:30 preceded by relaxed networking with the Board of Directors.

This is your opportunity to engage with the Directors on their involvement with the Chamber and an opportunity to address any issues directly to enable the Directors to take things forward.

Chamber Connects:
The AGM will be followed by our Chamber Connects presentation beginning at 19:00.

AGM agenda to follow in due course.

Notes:

1. Please note that only paid up members of good standing will be allowed to attend the AGM and vote on resolutions and election of office bearers.

2. The final notice of the meeting, final agenda and supporting documentation will be sent to all members on Monday 25th September, twenty one days before the AGM in line with the requirement to do so as laid out in the SACC constitution.

South African literacy organisation, help2read, and Seattle Coffee Company have released five limited edition coffee sleeves, each featuring the artwork of primary school learners enrolled in our reading help programme from schools around the Western Cape and Gauteng.

The campaign seeks to highlight the power and joy of reading. Learners from across the provinces were invited to design their very own coffee sleeve based on the reasons why the love reading. Over the course of the next month, Seattle Coffee Company Stores will feature the five designs selected from all of the wonderful artwork submitted.

Be sure to visit your local Seattle Coffee store to see the final results and stand a chance to win a R100 Seattle Coffee Company voucher in our social media competition.

Illiteracy is a major concern among primary school goers in South Africa, with more than 50% of learners unable to read for meaning by the end of Grade 4. In under-resourced and overcrowded schools most especially, teachers are unable to provide the individual attention that struggling readers need to master basic literacy concepts and become confident fluent readers. help2read’s volunteers play a vital role in providing these struggling readers between Grade 2 and Grade 4 with the one-on-
one support they desperately need.

The help2read coffee sleeves are available at the following Seattle Coffee stores across Cape Town:

Cavendish Square
Constantia Village
Tyger Valley
Towers
Loop Street
Strand Street
Regent Rd
Century City
Penlyn
Kenilworth
Masakhane
Doncaster
Pinehurst
Paarl
Winch
Montague Gardens
Airport City
Oakdale
Tokai
Gilpet
Hout Bay

Life has no shortage of compelling and moving stories and good acts undertaken by incredible and generous individuals – and here is one such story. The SACC was privileged to support an evening hosted by the Gary Kirsten Foundation, hearing of Gary’s inspiring and unstinting work to bring cricket to children in the township schools of Khayelitsha in the Western Cape. Gary’s innovative approaches have ensured that the cricket facilities he has installed are built to last, from the nets to the high cost artificial pitch surfaces – low maintenance but very high impact!

The engagement of dedicated cricket coaches to train and develop talent has given impetus and addressed some difficult social problems by bringing communities into an active and vibrant environment – where all are encouraged to succeed and where families are encouraged to participate in their children’s development. Gary has been ever present through the (nearly) three years of this initiative, supported by his family and close friends, Bobby Skinstad and Gaurav Kupur – who added to the evening’s entertainment.

This is all very exciting. Gary has worked with the Chris Hani school, which has turned around underperformance in its children to high attainment – and sport is a significant facet of this amazing story (one of its own, where the Principal’s passion, dedication and resilience have paid off)! Nine schools will have cricket equipment by the end of the year – but it’s an ongoing challenge for the Foundation to raise money to support the townships and create the fundamental change that is so vital for communities to thrive.

Gary’s amazing career runs on, but he insists that his achievement ‘is not about me’. His gifts of creating opportunities and facilities – and he has personally donated so much – create hope. His mantra of ‘the purpose of life is to contribute and to make things better’ resonates for us all in our daily and business lives. He had a vision – he lives the vision. He has touched many people and the affection in which he is held is great – both professionally (the Indian cricket team is a good example) and personally through his Foundation.

By John Battersby – June 29, 2017

By 1963, the levels of repression had become life-threatening for black South Africans subjected to ruthless repression and curfews and the handful of white South Africans who opposed the system were losing hope that it would change in their lifetimes.

It was against this background that Joel decided to emigrate to Australia and try to start a new life.

He was well advanced with his plans to leave when a police raid on 11th July 1963 on a house in the leafy Johannesburg suburb of Rivonia changed everything.

Nelson Mandela’s ANC colleagues – including Govan Mbeki, Walter Sisulu, Andrew Mlangeni, Ahmed Kathrada and Dennis Goldberg – were arrested and charged with plotting the overthrow of the apartheid government. Mandela was already serving a sentence on Robben Island and was indicted along with the rest.

Joel was approached initially by Hilda Bernstein to defend her husband, Rusty Bernstein, who was one of those arrested, and later he was asked by Mandela’s then wife, Winnie, to defend her husband. The die was cast. He agreed and his plans to emigrate were put on hold.

The decision changed his life and the trial changed the course of South African history and laid the foundation for the democratic order.

In January this year, I asked Joel at short notice to join a panel for a Memories of Mandela event at the British Museum.

His account of the trial had the large audience riveted. It was as though he was reliving the event which happened 64 years ago. His wife Vanetta, who was sitting in the front row and had heard the story many times before, was overcome with emotion.

“Joel was magisterial,” said Sir Nick Stadlen, a retired High Court Judge and a close friend who had become immersed in the Rivonia trial. “The best I have ever heard him.”

In preparation for the Rivonia trial, Joel, the instructing attorney, had assembled a formidable legal team headed by his revered colleague and friend Bram Fischer, an advocate from a distinguished Afrikaner family who turned against the apartheid system to become an underground activist for the South African Communist Party.

At the British Museum event, Joel related his first meeting with Mandela in October 1963 in the interview room at Pretoria jail accompanied by Fischer, George Bizos and Arthur Chaskalson who went on to become Chief Justice in the democratic South Africa.

Mandela arrived after the other defendants as he had to be flown from Robben Island where he was already serving another sentence.

“Ten minutes into the consultation the door of the interview room was suddenly flung open and Nelson Mandela strode into the room.

“Unlike the lawyers clothed in suits and the other prisoners who wore their awaiting-trial clothes, Mandela was clad in South African regulation prison garb for black prisoners – short trousers, open-toed, ill-made sandals and an open-necked khaki shirt.”

“He looked hollow-cheeked and had lost a great deal of weight.”

Joel went on to explain how the strategy of the legal team, which was trying to prevent the imposition of the death penalty, and that of the defendants, which was to prove that they were morally correct, did not always coincide.

When Mandela wanted to announce in his statement from the dock that he was prepared to die for his belief in a non-racial and democratic South Africa, Joel tried to dissuade him from such a course as death by hanging would be almost inevitable if they were found guilty as charged under the Sabotage Act of trying to overthrow the state by violent revolution.

“I could not bear the thought of Mandela being hanged and decided that on the re-typed version I would leave out the ‘prepared to die’ sentence and handed the re-typed speech back to Mandela.”

The next day Joel received a hand-written note from Mandela asking for the sentence he had omitted to be restored with the addition of the words “if needs be” to qualify the commitment that he was prepared to die for the ideal of a non-racial democracy in South Africa.

What Joel did not realise at the time was that his fellow lawyer George Bizos had spent the following evening persuading Mandela to agree to the “if needs be” qualification.

Joel recalled the hushed silence before Mandela uttered his final sentence following a three-and-a-half hour speech to a packed courtroom. A further hushed silence followed.

Mandela and his colleagues were spared the death sentence and Joel and his wife were had won wide admiration in the black community but not made many new white friends.

They had their passports confiscated and were effectively deported on one-way tickets.

After being declared undesirable by the Australian authorities in the wake of the Rivonia trial they headed to the United Kingdom to make their new home.

Joel eventually teamed up with colleagues from his student days in Johannesburg, Sir Mark Weinberg and later Sir Sydney Lipworth to form Hambro Life Assurance which became Allied Dunbar, a highly successful life assurance venture which made Joel a fortune.

It also gave him the opportunity to launch his passion for charitable giving, pioneering one of the earliest initiatives in corporate giving with the Allied Dunbar Trust which supported causes such as mental illness which received limited funds at that stage.

Joel was twice chairman of Oxfam and served the organisation in various capacities over two decades (1980 to 2001).

Around the same period, Joel became the leading philanthropist for UK-registered South African causes.

He was for a decade the chair of the Canon Collins Educational Trust of Southern Africa (CCETSA) which awards more than 100 scholarships annually to development-oriented post-graduate students in southern Africa. Many of the Canon Collins graduates went on to become Ministers and leaders in the post-apartheid government and institutions of the new democracy.

The Canon Collins Trust emerged from the South African Defence and Aid Fund – and its sister organisation, the British Defence and Aid Fund – founded by the late Canon John Collins of St Pauls Cathedral.

Defence and Aid played a lead role in funding the defence of anti-apartheid activists convicted under South Africa’s anti-communist and anti-terrorist laws over three decades to the tune of some GBP 100-million over 30 years and it was to them that Joel turned for funding for the defence at the Rivonia trial.

In 2012, Joel engineered the merger of the Canon Collins Trust with the Legal Assistance Trust (LAT} to form the Canon Collins Educational and Legal Assistance Trust (CCELAT) which was the fund-raising arm for the Legal Resources Centre in South Africa, one of the organisations credited with rolling back the frontiers of apartheid law.

Joel was for several decades the lead funder of both organisations – CCEELAT and LAT – and it is estimated that he gave away two-thirds of his fortune to charitable causes during his lifetime either directly or via the Joffe Charitable Trust which made grants to a host of human rights organisations in South Africa.

(I became a trustee of the LAT in 2007 and a trustee of the merged charity in 2012. I have been chair of trustees of CCELAT since 2015.)

Joel Goodman Joffe was born in Johannesburg of Jewish immigrant parents who had met and married in South Africa. His father, Abraham “Arthur” Joffe was from Latvia and his mother, Dena (nee Idelson) was from what was then known as Palestine.

The young Joel had a streak of the rebel in him from an early age. His grandfather founded the Reform Jewish Congregation in South Africa and he was required to go regularly to Synagogue until his Barmitzvah at the age of 13 and then never did so again.

He came from a musical family but when his godmother took him away to teach him to sing she found to her dismay that he was tone deaf and could not hold the tune of the song. So her attempts to get him to sing the Jewish song Hava Nagila fell flat, he told the BBC’s Desert Island Discs.

Despite his claim to being tone deaf, Joel appreciated a wide range of music on his “desert island” ranging from Beethoven’s violin concerto through Joan Baez’s There But for Fortune and We Shall Overcome to My Fair Lady. But his favourite disc was Richard Burton reading Dylan Thomas’ Under Milkwood.

He said that the books he would take to the island with him were the Bible and the autobiography of Nelson Mandela. His chosen disc was Under Milkwood and he would take a wind-up radio to listen to the BBC World Service including Desert Island Discs.

Joel’s parents sent him to a Catholic boarding school from the age of nine. He had an “uneventful” childhood and had a limited understanding of the racial injustice going on around him.

He reacted against “irrational discipline” at school and was frequently beaten when he did not fall in line.

He studied law at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and was called to the South African Bar in 1962. While working for a commercial law firm he built up a legal aid practice without the partners knowing.

When his seniors objected to his clandestine pro bono work he left and moved to the practice of James Kantor and his brother-in-law Harold Wolpe who was arrested shortly after the Rivonia raid and later escaped and went to Britain.

The police were incensed and, in an act of revenge, arrested James Kantor under the same 90-day detention law while knowing that he was not involved in the conspiracy.

It fell on Joel to wind up the practice and while he was doing so several relatives of the accused came to see him. Ironically, the two lawyers who could have defended those arrested at Rivonia had both been taken out of circulation.

It was also in 1962 that Joel married Vanetta Pretorius, an artist who had helped him with his Afrikaans for court cases.

Joel is survived by Vanetta and their three daughters, Lisa, Abigail and Deborah and four grandchildren. Vanetta was always at Joel’s side in his latter years and they received a constant stream of guests in their charming and welcoming 16th century home, Liddington Manor, home of the original Lord of the Manor in the Wiltshire hamlet of Liddington close to Swindon.

A couple of months before he died, Joel called his friend Sir Nick Stadlen, a retired High Court Judge, to donate a generous sum to a charity called Life is Wonderful which was formed to celebrate the values of the Rivonia generation and create digital platforms to make their stories and values more accessible to a younger generation.

(I am also one of two trustees of Life is Wonderful. Joel was the third.)

Stadlen has spent much of the past five years researching, interviewing and writing about the Rivonia trial for a book and a documentary.

He will focus in particular on the role of Bram Fischer, the leader of the Rivonia legal team who Joel praised and supported throughout his life inter alia by financing the biography of Fischer by Stephen Clingman and funding a series of lectures in Fischer’s name at Oxford University.

By various accounts, Bram Fischer was devoted to Joel and once described him as the closest human being to Jesus Christ that he had ever met.

Stadlen and Joel were interviewed by Matthew Parris on BBC Great Lives together in 2015 to discuss the life of Bram Fischer.

Along with long with Dennis and Laura Marcus, Joel and Stadlen played key roles in the celebration of the lives of the three surviving Rivonia defendants – Ahmed Kathrada, who has since died, Dennis Goldberg and Andrew Mlangeni who was unable to attend the gala dinner for 750 at a London Hotel in January 2016.

The event was called Life is Wonderful after a courtroom comment by Goldberg when he and his Rivonia colleagues learned that they had not been sentenced to death.

“Life….life is wonderful,” Goldberg proclaimed on hearing the judge’s verdict.

The Rivonia trio and George Bizos, the other surviving member of the legal team, also received the Freedom of the City of London at a ceremony at Guildhall and met with then-Prime Minister David Cameron in Downing Street. Joel was visibly delighted with the event and being reunited with his Rivonia colleagues.

Lord Peter Hain, a leading anti-apartheid activist and now a Labour Peer described Joel as an “iconic figure” who never sought the limelight.

“He just supported everyone else,” said Hain. “He was a totally generous person….warm, passionate and he continued to fly the flag for the anti-apartheid struggle and subsequently for the new South Africa.

In his later years, Joel was much encouraged by the surge of international interest in the Rivonia trial in general and in Bram Fischer in particular. Several documentaries and a feature film on the trial and a major feature film on Fischer are either in the pipeline or in production.

Joel also became one of the leading advocates of assisted dying in the UK by actively campaigning for everyone to a dignified death.

He said he was motivated by a strong belief in personal autonomy and that being able to die a dignified death was a human rights issue.

In 2002, he tabled a private member’s bill in the House of Lords which sought relief for those experiencing intense suffering by being able to request medical assistance to die provided they were of sound mind. The bill stirred vigorous debate amongst the medical profession, politicians and organised religions but it did not pass.

He re-introduced the Bill in the House of Lords on at least four occasions and, while it gained broader support at Westminster and much support in the public arena, it was never passed into law.

Like Mandela, Joel had an indelible impact on the lives of all those he came into contact with. He put the lives of others first and he was only at peace with himself when he was serving others. He was magnanimous and passionate, humble on occasions to the point of being self-effacing.

In the forward to Joel’s book on the Rivonia trial (The State vs Nelson Mandela: The Trial that Changed South Africa) Mandela described Joel as “the general behind-the-scenes in our defence”.