65 Years Of Friendship tells the heartrending story of a remarkable friendship between two remarkable men: world-renowned human-rights lawyer George Bizos, and Nelson Mandela.

George and Madiba met as students at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1948. They would later become legal colleagues, and Mandela would become George Bizos’ most famous client soon after, for it was Bizos who formed part of his legal defence during the famous Treason Trial, and again during the Rivonia Trial, when Mandela and others faced the death penalty for plotting to overthrow the state. After seeing his friend sentenced to life imprisonment instead, Bizos became Mandela’s lifeline, navigating the complicated network of the Struggle.

Working tirelessly, be it by secretly meeting Oliver Tambo in exile or arguing for the abolishment of the death penalty in the Constitutional Court years later, Bizos offered his unwavering support to Mandela on his long walk towards a democratic South Africa. In this touching homage to their friendship, George Bizos tells a fascinating tale of two men whose work affected the lives of all South Africans.

George Bizos is one of a distinguished group of human rights lawyers who in the dark days of apartheid sought to uncover the state's role in eliminating its opponents.

Some, like Biko, Timol and Aggett, were arrested and died in detention, while others, like Matthew Goniwe, were abducted and killed. As counsel for the families of the deceased, George Bizos was centrally involved in many of the inquests following these high-profile deaths.

He is thus well placed to tell the story of the great courtroom dramas in which, with devastating skill, he and his colleagues pared away the tissue of lies protecting the security forces and the state functionaries—only to be rewarded with the invariable finding that there was 'no one to blame'.

Hoewel hy algemeen bekend is as die Afrikaner-Kommunis wat vir Nelson Mandela van die galg gered het, is bitter min bekend oor Bram Fischer die man. Fischer was 'n gerespekteerde senior advokaat by die Johannesburgse Balie, wat gekies het om hom by die onderdruktes te skaar en wat ondergronds gegaan het om by die gewapende stryd aan te sluit. Hy is op 5 November 1965 in hegtenis geneem nadat hy vir bykans tien maande op vlug was. “Ek is dit verskuldig aan politieke gevangenes, aan die uitgewekenes, aan dié wat stilgemaak is en diegene onder huisarres om nie 'n toeskouer te bly nie, maar op te tree.” Ná Bram Fischer dié woorde uit sy verklaring voorgelees het, wat hy in die beskuldigdebank tydens sy hoogverraadverhoor gelewer het, is hy lewenslange tronkstraf opgelê. Fischer was onwrikbaar verbind tot die droom van ’n nie-rassige demokrasie, maar ook ’n humoristiese, opgewekte mens en ’n toegewyde gesinsman vir sy vrou en kinders. Die vele fasette van die merkwaardige man word weerspieel in Die Bram Fischer Wals, Harry Kalmer se liriese huldeblyk. Die bondige, maar kragtige solostuk, met die protagonis as die verteller, neem die gehoor op 'n emosionele reis soos Fischer se verhaal ontvou. Die opvoering het in 2013 'n silwer Standard Bank Ovation-prys gewen met die premiere van die Engelse weergawe by die Nasionale Kunstefees in Grahamstad. Dit is in 2014 bekroon met die Adelaide Tambo-prys vir menseregte in die kunste. Die teks word aangevul met 'n voorwoord deur adv. George Bizos, 'n inleiding deur die dramaturg waarin hy vertel oor die pad wat daartoe gelei het dat hy die drama geskryf het en 'n nawoord deur Yvonne Malan, getiteld “Die krag van morele moed”.

A spell-binding autobiography by one of the world's most admired human rights advocates. This story, told on a grand scale, unfolds from Bizos' daring rescue of 6 NZ soldiers from the Nazis as a boy in Greece. He arrives in Johannesburg together with his father, penniless and unable to speak English. He studies law at Wits and becomes an advocate, building a career on defending the downtrodden against apartheid abuses in a hostile justice system. He becomes the defender of Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and the families of Steve Biko, Chris Hani and the Cradock Four. He mediates in the events around Winnie Mandela and even defends Morgan Tsvangirai in Zimbabwe. These cases are related as gripping courtroom dramas, augmented by the drama behind the scenes. His whole remarkable, courageous and beneficial life told by himself in astonishing detail, involving hundreds of colourful characters and anecdotes. This is no doubt the