Vusumuzi Dube
Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Chronicle Writer
THE legal fraternity has described the late Advocate Sampson Mlaudzi as a humble and gentle legal giant that mentored many great lawyers, some of whom became judges.
Adv Mlaudzi died on August 5 in Gaborone, Botswana after a long illness and will be buried at his rural home in Whunga Village, Beitbridge this morning.
In his condolence message, Law Society of Zimbabwe president, Mr Lison Ncube said the legal fraternity, while mourning the death of Adv Mlaudzi, was also celebrating the life of a legal giant and icon.
“We celebrate the life of Advocate Sampson. We look back and we see how much of a legal luminary he was having been one of the persons who founded a black law firm in the early 80s which probably became the third black owned law firm if I’m not mistaken during their time post-independence,” said Mr Ncube.
He said the late Adv Mlaudzi was a humble man and full of wisdom.
“I can say that for the years he practiced, we can safely say and prove that he had a clean slate, he was one of our senior lawyers that we look up to, who did not have any legal complaints that culminated into him being taken to the Law Society’s ethics committee for any sort of sanction or reprimand,” said Mr Ncube.
He said the fraternity looks at Adv Mlaudzi’s achievements, calling upon the young legal brains to take a leaf from, take up the reins in their different spheres of deployment and service within the legal fraternity.
“Advocate Mlaudzi, you’ll be dearly missed and on behalf of the council of the Law Society we stand with the family during this difficult time and we pray that the good Lord will come for the family and give them the strength that they require. Your works and your legacy will live on. We’re honoured and humbled to have shared these years with you and for that we say may your dear soul rest in peace,” said Mr Ncube.
Speaking at the late Adv Mlaudzi’s funeral service yesterday, Retired Judge, Justice Maphios Cheda described him as a legal eagle.
“I initially knew him not as a simple legal eagle. His journey began in the classroom as a dedicated teacher, where others would have settled, he chose to rise. At an age when most think of slowing down, he enrolled at the University of the North (now known as the University of Limpopo) in South Africa and pursued his law degrees with the zeal of a man half his age.
“He returned to Bulawayo and began practicing as a lawyer, laying the groundwork for what would come. Not long after, together with Advocate Russell Sigidi, he co-founded what must have been the third Black law firm in Bulawayo — a remarkable feat in its time,” said Retired Justice Cheda.
He said the late Adv Mlaudzi taught him how to draft a proper letter of demand.
“He guided me for two years, lessons so fundamental that they ultimately led me to the bench,” said Retired Justice Cheda.
Family spokesperson and elder brother, Mr Elton Sinyosi said burial will take place at Whunga Village this morning.
“He wrote that he wants to be buried at exactly 8am. We are leaving now for Beitbridge,” said Mr Sinyosi, speaking after a church service held at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe in Queenspark.
Adv Mlaudzi initially worked as a teacher from 1965 to 1973. He then moved to the justice sector, where he was employed as a court interpreter from 1974 to 1980, before deciding to pursue legal studies.
He was awarded an LLB (Hons) degree by the University of the North in South Africa and registered as a legal practitioner in 1986 under Lazarus & Sarif. In 1988 he was a founding partner at Samp Mlaudzi and Partners, where he remained until his untimely death.
Adv Mlaudzi leaves behind a wife and five children.
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