2019 David Sanders Lecture – Advocate Adila Hassim
Advocate Adila Hassim discussed how we value the life and dignity within and beyond the health system.
She explored the issues through the evidence that was presented at the Life Esidimeni hearings in relation to engagement with the state officials, and the limits of the law for those who are vulnerable.
Adv Adila Hassim is a Counsel at Thulamela Chambers. She has been involved in a range of litigation regarding socio-economic rights, and was lead Counsel in the Life Esidimeni arbitration. She has a long history of engaging in the intersections between policy, law and health spanning back to being a clerk with Judge Pius Langa in the Soobramoney v Minister of Health (KwaZulu-Natal) case in 1997. She has published in various legal and health journals and co-edited Health & Democracy: A Guide to Human Rights and Health Law and Policy in Post-apartheid South Africa, with Mark Heywood and Jonathan Berger (2007). After serving as a head of litigation at the AIDS Law Project, Adv Hassim was Co-founder and Director of Litigation at SECTION27 until 2017. She holds a BALLB from the University of Natal, a LLM from the St Louis University School of Law, and a JSD from University of Notre Dame Law School. She also co-founded Corruption Watch and serves on its board of directors; and is a trustee of the Constitution Hill Trust.
The 2019 David Sanders Lecture is supported through the NRF/DST/UWC Research Chair in Health Systems, Complexity and Social Change.