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Tshegofatso  Phala – Executive Director

“Tshego” is an accomplished public interest lawyer with over 10 years’ experience in public interest litigation. Holding a Bachelor of Arts and LLB degree from the University of Witwatersrand, Tshego practised as an attorney in the Pro Bono Department at Webber Wentzel Attorneys between 2011 and 2016 and was appointed as a partner in 2017.

Keen to embed herself in movement lawyering, she joined the Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa (ISLA) in February 2019 leading their Sexual Rights Litigation in Africa. She is also a 2020/21 Fellow of the Mandela Washington Fellowship for young African leaders and is currently the Chairperson of the board of the National Council of and for Persons with Disabilities in South Africa.

In the course of her practice, Tshego was part of a number of landmark cases that advanced the rule of law and constitutional democracy in South Africa, as well as the protection and advancement of the rights of LGBTQI persons (with particular focus on LGBTQI youth, transgender and intersex persons).

Tshego has a passion for human rights and the protection of vulnerable and marginalised persons and communities in society. She believes that movement-led lawyering and community lawyering can contribute positively to bringing about social change and the legal empowerment of marginalised voices.”

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Mufaro Magidi – Head of Support Services

Mufaro Dean Magidi, PhD, brings over a decade of hands-on experience in financial management, operational oversight, and organisational leadership within the non-profit sector.

Mufaro has played key roles in supporting strategic direction and ensuring financial and operational processes align with statutory requirements and organisational objectives.

His work is driven by a strong passion for social justice, and he has dedicated his career to advancing equality and improving access for underserved communities. This commitment is reflected in the leadership roles he has held across various social justice organisations, where he has consistently contributed to impactful change.

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Chandre Stuurman – Senior Attorney
Bertha Justice Alumna

Chandre obtained her BA (Law) degree from Stellenbosch University in 2009, and completed her post-graduate LLB degree in 2011 at the same university. In 2011, Chandre was a student researcher in the South African Property Law Research Chair headed by Professor AJ van der Walt, focusing on Constitutional Property Law, and in particular Section 25 of the Constitution. In addition, she was involved in the Financial Literacy Project of the University’s Legal Aid Clinic.

Chandre completed her training at Shepstone & Wylie, Cape Town, 2012 to 2014, where she worked in, among others, in the Corporate & Commercial as well as the International Transport, Trade & Energy, Departments. Chandre was admitted and enrolled as an attorney in the Western Cape High Court and has obtained Right of Appearance in the Western Cape High Court, in May and October 2014, respectively.

Chandre joined the EELC in 2014 and is a passionate social justice lawyer with a drive to use the law as a tool for social justice and for equality in education. Chandre is particularly interested in the advancement of the rights of children with disabilities, and who are experiencing barriers to learning, and focuses her practice on ensuring that their right to an equitable and quality inclusive education system, is realized.

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Tarryn Cooper-Bell – Senior Attorney

Tarryn obtained both her Bachelor of Science degree as well as her LLB from Rhodes University. She thereafter completed her training as a candidate attorney at the Rhodes University Law Clinic where she was involved in general litigation and various other access to justice programmes.

After her admission in 2012 she was employed as an associate at the Boksburg based law firm of Malherbe, Rigg & Ranwell Attorneys where she specialised in municipal law. The call towards human rights and social justice however inspired her return to the Rhodes University Law Clinic as an attorney in charge of the advice office programme in early 2014 where she furthered the Law Clinic’s work in the human rights field.

She thereafter progressed through the ranks to head of legal services for the Grahamstown office and member of the Rhodes University Law Clinic management committee. As an attorney at the Law Clinic, Tarryn was involved in general litigation, LLB student supervision and lecturing of various modules in the LLB Legal Practice course.

Tarryn joined the EELC in April 2017 to contribute towards the fight for social justice and equal, quality education for all on a national level.

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Anjuli Maistry – Senior Attorney

Anjuli joins the EELC as a senior attorney. Prior to this she worked at the Centre for Child Law (CCL) and Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR). At CCL, where she worked for four years, she focused on litigation, having worked on a variety of cases related to children’s access to socio-economic rights, including their access to basic and higher education as well as birth registration. At LHR, where she worked for five years, she managed the Johannesburg law clinic, and focused on litigation related to refugee and migrants’ rights.

In 2020 she obtained her LLM in children’s rights at the University of Pretoria. At EELC she focusses on undocumented children’s rights to education, migrant and stateless children’s rights to education, school-related violence, including sexual and gender-based violence, and access to education for girl children.

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Pila-sande Mkuzo – Attorney
Bertha Justice Alumna

Pila-sande is from East London in the Eastern Cape. She completed her Bachelor of Laws degree at the University of Fort Hare in 2017. She was awarded the Canon Collins Leigh-Day Scholarship and in 2018 received the Dean of Research Exceptional Achievement Award.

Pila-sande has been active in social justice work, including forming part of the steering committee of the East London #TheTotalShutdown and the HIV Policy Conference. As a student, she served as the Secretary of the Indlovukazi Women Empowerment Society and she is currently the chairperson of Passionate Unlimited Peers in Action (PUPA) based in the Eastern Cape. She has also served under the Eastern Cape Aids Council Women’s Sector and the NACOSA Provincial Advisory Committee. Pila-Sande completed her articles at the EELC as a Bertha Justice Fellow

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Yasmina Shabodien – Finance Administrator

Yasmina Shabodien joined the EELC in March 2019 in the role of Office Administrator.  Yasmina is from Cape Town and has worked in the non-profit sector for over twenty years in an administrative capacity.  Prior to joining the EELC, she has worked for Kagiso Trust, Impumelelo Social Innovations Programme and Black Sash.   Her portfolio includes financial administration, events management and office administration amongst others.  Working for these various organisations has strengthened her commitment and passion to improve social development, social justice and equality within marginalised communities.

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Ebrahiem Daniels – Attorney
Bertha Justice Alumna

Ebrahiem joined the EELC as a Candidate Legal Practitioner in 2021 and has since been admitted as an attorney in the Western Cape High Court. He holds an LLB (Cum laude) from the University of the Western Cape where he was involved in societies such the Students for Law and Social Justice, and the Top Achievers Programme as a mentor. He also served as chairperson of a non-profit organisation called the Chamber of Legal Students who were made up of law students who represented high school learners and university students in disciplinary hearings, as well as assisting university students with drafting academic exclusion appeals so that students were able to continue their studies.

In 2023, Ebrahiem was chosen to serve on the first steering committee of the National Youth Coalition, a youth-led Coalition promoting the development of ethical and transformative young leaders in South Africa. Ebrahiem is currently also a member of Lawyers4Palestine, a group of lawyers advocating for the rights of Palestinians.

Ebrahiem is a passionate social justice lawyer who is adamant about ensuring that people are empowered to assert their own rights. He believes in the concept of servant leadership and the idea that he should never be the one holding the microphone. He believes in being the microphone and assisting to amplify the voices and lived realities of people, whether through advocacy or in the inside of the courtroom.

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Yolisa PilisoAttorney
Bertha Justice Alumna

Yolisa Piliso is an admitted attorney of the High Court. He joined the EELC in 2021 as part of his Canon Collins – Joel Joffe scholarship and completed his practical vocational training in 2023. He is a Masters candidate at the University of the Western Cape, pursuing Human Rights Protection.

He is a catalyst for the protection and promotion of human rights, using the law and policy as tools. Yolisa’s lawyering is rooted in community and movement lawyering and is also involved in parliamentary advocacy.

Yolisa also formed part of the inaugural steering committee for the National Youth Coalition, a coalition that is composed of over 100 South African organisations engaged in youth rights. He serves on the Kingdom of the Netherlands’ youth advisory council in South Africa.

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Malixole Sikhungo-  2nd Year Candidate Attorney

Malixole holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of South Africa. Having spent time as a paralegal,  Malixole went on to advocate for the rights of vulnerable and marginalized communities.  He considers himself an ‘advocate’ for social justice and his heartfelt passion for the protection of the rights of the ‘ignored’ – particularly homeless individuals originates from his own lived experience. Malixole used the media to raise awareness of the challenges faced by homeless people, to shift misconceptions and to propose solutions to the homelessness crisis. Malixole joins the EELC as a candidate attorney through the Bertha Justice fellowship programme.

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Daniel Peter Al-Naddaf-  Attorney

Daniel joins the EELC as a Candidate Attorney through the Bertha Justice Fellowship programme. He holds a BCom and LLB (cum laude) from the University of the Witwatersrand, and an LLM in Public International Law (cum laude) from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Prior to joining the EELC, Daniel was the Regional Safeguarding Officer for Southern Africa at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). Daniel is especially passionate about education equality for neurodiverse, refugee, asylum-seeker and LGBT+ learners.

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Keamogetse Hope Mokadi – Candidate Attorney

Hope Mokadi is a Candidate Attorney at the EELC. She holds a Bachelor of Social Work degree and an LLB from the University of the Witwatersrand, where she was involved in societies such as the Wits History Makers and the Student Society for Civic Engagement at Wits in which she served as a chairperson.

She was also a Global Fellow Representative at Wits for the Open Society University Network (OSUN) based at Bard College, New York. In the programme she played the role of assisting young leaders to develop and sustain their community projects in their respective communities and encouraging active citizenship and community engagement throughout the University.

Prior to joining the EELC, Hope worked as a school social worker for the Centre for Social Development in Africa on the Community of Practices for Social Systems strengthening to improve Child-wellbeing Project.

Hope is fueled by a deep passion to empower vulnerable and marginalised groups to claim their rights. Hope is especially passionate about the promotion and protection of young children’s right to ECD.

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Katherine Sutherland  – Legal Researcher

Katherine Sutherland holds a LLB (2020) and a Bachelor of Social Sciences (2015) degree from the University of Cape Town (UCT). She has worked in the civil society sector as a researcher and in grassroots community engagement for over three years. Katherine is a Canon Collins Sol Plaatje scholar and is doing her LLM in Public Law by dissertation at UCT on the topic of the increasing privatisation of public services, specifically in the basic education sector, and how to hold private actors who perform public services accountable through administrative and constitutional law.

She hopes to strengthen and inform South Africa’s regulation of the private sector and ensure that human, and specifically children’s rights, are upheld and protected in an increasingly privatised world.

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Jay-Dee Booysen – Media and Communications Specialist

Jay-Dee Booysen is the Media and Communications Specialist at the EELC, where she leads all communication and visibility initiatives. She earned her LLB in 2015 from the University of the Western Cape, followed by an Honours degree in Journalism from Stellenbosch University in 2016.

Before her work in the civil society sector, Jay-Dee gained valuable experience as a journalist at the community newspaper TygerBurger. With six years in civil society, she previously served as the Communications Officer and then Communications Manager at Equal Education. Driven by a passion for leveraging communications to advocate for children’s rights to education, Jay-Dee is committed to showcasing the transformative power of storytelling in the pursuit of justice.

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