1935 - 1981

Human Rights Attorney, Member of the African National Congress (ANC) and the ANC Youth League, Robben Island Prisoner, Founding member of the South African Democratic Lawyers’ Association

Griffiths Mxenge was a courageous attorney who became a significant threat to the ruling white government when he began practicing law in Durban from 1974. He and his wife Victoria successfully defended black political activists in Apartheid courts and became leading figures in mass campaigns against some of the racist regimes most repressive laws.

He was an ANC member since the mid-1950s and was detained for 190 days in 1965. A year later Mxenge was convicted under the Suppression of Communism Act and spent three years on Robben Island before being placed under banning orders.

He was most notably the instructing attorney in the 1977-79 Bethal Treason Trial, where he defended 18 members of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) who were jailed for inciting a revolution and playing a role in the Soweto Uprising.

In 1981 Mxenge was assassinated by four members of the security polices most ruthless death squad operating from Vlakplaas, west of Pretoria. His murder was brutal and remains one of the most notorious political assassinations in South Africa. Amnesty was granted to Mxenges killers by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1997 despite severe objections by his family

Did You Know?

In 2008, both Griffiths Mxenge and his wife Victoria were posthumously awarded the national Order of Luthuli in Silver by President Thabo Mbeki for their excellent contribution to the field of law.