CAPE TOWN – Two students from the University of the Western Cape’s (UWC) law faculty will be arguing in the final rounds of the 30th African Human Rights Moot Court Competition, becoming one of three teams from South African universities to make it to this stage.
They were in the quarter finals together with teams from Stellenbosch University and the University of Johannesburg, well as teams from Kenya, Ghana, Senegal and Uganda.
This competition is the largest annual gathering on the African continent for students and lecturers of law.
Lazola Nomkala and Kamogela Maila, both third year LLB students, argued in a hypothetical case before the African Court of Human and People’s Rights this week, during the quarterfinal rounds.
Each team had to argue the case twice, once as the lawyers for the applicant and the other as the respondents.
The teams also had their written submissions assessed.
Due to the current global pandemic, the competition followed a hybrid form with a combination of online and in-person interaction.
According to the UWC, Professor Frans Viljoen, Director of the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria, Professor Nicola Smit, Dean: Faculty of Law at the University of Stellenbosch and former Constitutional Court Judge, Edwin Cameron, as Chancellor of the University of Stellenbosch, addressed teams on Tuesday ahead of the semi-final rounds.
It said while single university teams battle it out in the preliminary rounds, the two teams facing off in the final round on Friday will be a reconfiguration of finalists from different universities.
According to UWC’s Faculty of Law’s head of the Department of Public Law and Jurisprudence, Wessel le Roux, who is also the team’s coach, he said the university actively seeks to integrate practical legal training into legal education and one way in doing so, is through moot courts.
“The Faculty has a very active Moot Court Society and Kamogelo and Lazola are the latest successful mooters to come through the programme.
“The African Human Rights Moot Court is the oldest and most prestigious on the African continent and while UWC didn’t make it to the semi-finals, taking part in the final rounds is a significant accomplishment,” le Roux said.
He added that UWC has consistently participated in the moot for the past 30 years and Nomkala and Maila’s achievements reconfirms the place of UWC among the top mooting universities in Africa.
IOL