Condolences to Fikile Bam's family

2011-12-19 13:05

Johannesburg - The Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory on Monday sent condolences to the family of Land Claims Court Judge President Fikile Bam.

"We will remember Bam as a patriot and a leading legal mind in South Africa," spokesperson Sello Hatang said.

Bam passed away on Sunday after a long battle with cancer. He was also the founder, a trustee and staff member of the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory at the time of his death.

Hatang related the friendship Bam enjoyed with former president Nelson Mandela while they were serving time on Robben Island.

"As a law student in the 1950s, Bam only saw Nelson Mandela from a distance, but he later shared a prison cell with him on Robben Island from 1964 to 1974" he said.

"Every year Mandela would save the sweets he was allowed to buy on Christmas Day and give them to Bam on his birthday."

Bam was born on July 18 1937 in Tsolo, in the Eastern Cape. He attended St Peters Secondary School and went on to study law at the University of Cape Town in 1960.

- SAPA