The Presidency has announced that President Cyril Ramaphosa has decided to honour the late Advocate Dumalisile Philemon Pearce Nokwe with the posthumous title of Senior Counsel ahead of his reburial on Saturday in Johannesburg. 

"President Cyril Ramaphosa has honoured late struggle veteran and human rights lawyer Advocate Dumalisile Philemon Pearce Nokwe with the posthumous conferral of the honorary title of Senior Counsel(Silk) for the Republic of South Africa.

The President has bestowed this conferral on the late Adv Nokwe on the eve of the esteemed legal practitioner's reburial in West Park Cemetery,Johannesburg,tomorrow,Saturday,17 May 2025,"said Vincent Magwenya,Spokesperson for the President Ramaphosa.

Magwenya confirmed that the remains of the Adv Nokwe will reburied next to his wife which passed away 17 years ago.

"He will be reburied along with his wife,Mrs Vuyiswa Malangabi-Nokwe who passed away in 2008.She was a distinguished activist in her own right and had obtained a BSc and Bachelor of Education degree,"said Magwenya.

Advocate Duma Nokwe passed away while in exile in Zambia in 1978 at the age of 50,and had lived in exile since 1963 and his mortal remains were repatriated to South Africa last year.

According to Vincent Magwenya,President Ramaphosa has accorded Adv Nokwe a Special Provincial Official Funeral and the President will deliver a tribute at tomorrow's ceremony.

Magwenya highlighted that the President Ramaphosa has chosen to respect Advocate Duma Nokwe in that manner because of his contribution to the legal profession and in response to the application made by Legal Practice Council and Duma Nokwe Group of Advocates for him to be appointed as Senior Counsel.

"The posthumous honour bestowed on the first African advocate of the Supreme Court is a high honour that recognises Adv Nokwe's expertise and contribution to the legal profession.

"President Ramaphosa has conferred the status of Senior Counsel on Adv Nokwe in line with the provisions of the Legal Practice Act of 2014,which governs this status and sets out the criteria for its conferral.

In this instance,the Legal Practice Council and the Duma Nokwe Group of Advocates made an application to the President for the Adv Nokwe's posthumous appointment as a Senior Counsel,"added Magwenya.

Advocate Duma Nokwe was born in 1927 and obtained his BSc degree from the University of Fort Hare and a diploma in education which allowed him to work as a teacher in Krugersdorp.

Magwenya mentioned that his political activism led to imprisonment during the 1952 Defiance Campaign and his dismissal by the then Transvaal Education Department.

Magwenya also mentioned that following his participation in the 1953 World Youth Festival and visits to the then Soviet Union,China and Britain,the South African authorities imposed a banning and restriction order on him.

Adv Nokwe studied law and obtained an LLB degree and became the first black advocate to be admitted to the Johannesburg Society of Advocates.

Magwenya revealed that the Native Affairs Department of the time debarred him from taking chambers with his white colleagues in the Johannesburg city centre and that development led to Adv Nokwe devoting himself to the liberation struggle.

Magwenya added that he was put on trial for treason and was subjected to banning orders,arrests and assault by the police.

Magwenya hinted that he was elected Secretary-General of the African National Congress in 1958 and mobilised communities against apartheid until the underground leadership directed him to leave South Africa in January 1963.

Adv Nokwe campaigned against the apartheid state on global platforms including those of the Organisation of African Unity and African Union,and remained an activist until he passed in Lusaka in January 1978,concluded Magwenya.