Ismail Ayob

Ismail Mahomed Ayob (born 1942) is a South African lawyer. He is married to Zamila Ayob and they have one son, Zayd Ismail Ayob, who is also his law partner .

Early life

Born in Mafeking, Ayob attended the Methodist Coloured School until the age of 14 when was sent to Pretoria to continue his schooling at the Pretoria Indian Boys High School as schools in his area were closed to him because of his race.

Higher education

As an Indian, Ayob found that he could not attend university after he completed high school in 1959. He moved to London, where he attended the prestigious London School of Economics where he read for the LLB degree. He qualified as a barrister and returned to South Africa to practice as an attorney.

Early career

Ayob's cousin Ismail Mohammed, who was later Chief Justice of South Africa, helped get Ayob his first job in 1969 at the firm of Cachalia & Loonat which was involved in anti-apartheid cases. In 1973, he left the firm to start his own, called Ismail Ayob & Associates.

Career

Apartheid era lawyer

The bulk of his practice for the first twenty years was in human rights acting for opponents of the apartheid regime. Ayob defended and represented many South African political prisoners. Ayob was among the few people, who was allowed to visit Nelson Mandela on Robben Island when he was imprisoned there. His most high profile case was that of Helene Passtoor, a Belgian woman accused of ferrying arms for the then-banned African National Congress. Another high profile client of Ayob's was Winnie Mandela, who he also represented during the Stompie Moeketsi kidnapping trial.

Post-apartheid

Following the end of apartheid, Ayob was elected as the first chairperson of the Gauteng Law Society and was re-elected each year for five successive years.[citation needed] During this time he was also elected as a council member of the Law Society of the Transvaal. As of 2007, he resides and practices law as an attorney in private practice in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Nelson Mandela lawsuit

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Ismail Ayob, as a trusted friend and personal attorney of Nelson Mandela for over 30 years served Nelson Mandela loyally and faithfully, and was asked by Nelson Mandela in May 2005 to stop selling certain prints signed by Mr Mandela and also to account for the proceeds of the sales of these prints (the proceeds of the sale were used exclusively for the benefit of Mr Mandela and his entire family) in an unusual, extensive, and prominently publicised application to the High Court of South Africa..

Mr Ayob responded that he never sold any prints but had acted only in a professional capacity as Attorney and agent for Mr Mandela and his family under oath he said that he had never sold any prints nor was he a partner of anyone selling prints. He furthermore stated that he had never sold any prints. In terms of the written contracts Ayob was to receive royalties due to the Mandela family. These royalties were received from time to time and were held in the Mandela company accounts under his control  and gave a full accounting with an explanation.

Mr Ayob denied any wrongdoing , and declared that he was the victim of a smear campaign orchestrated by Mr Mandela's advisors, in particular lawyer, George Bizos . One particular issue was the drawing up of a last will for Mr Mandela. Nelson Mandela stated under oath that despite many requests, Ismail Ayob refused to draw up a Will. In his answer Ismail Ayob enclosed copies of five different Wills signed by Nelson Mandela over a period of years. These were produced as annexures to Ismail Ayob's answering affidavit.

After a difference of opinion with Mr Mandela, all of Ismail Ayob, Zamila Ayob and Zayd Ismail Ayob were subject to a well publicised and wide ranging attack by Mr Mandela’s advisors to demonise the entire family (please see the links above and those being interviewed). This campaign was driven through the media by page one headlines and lead stories on radio and television and six weeks later through the High Court with proceedings being launched by Mr Mandela. His new advisors supported the application by way of supporting affidavits. Mr Mandela’s name was used through the national and international media from the second quarter of 2005 through to the beginning of 2006. major clients, religious bodies, Mosques, the Law Society, cultural bodies, community associations, and the South African Revenue Service authorities were all contacted and attempts were made to vilify Ismail Ayob and his family and to cause enormous damage to Ismail Ayob and his family's good name and reputation. (Again, see above links) There were public meetings held in Pretoria and Durban. At these meetings, the Minister Essop Pahad in the office of the South African President Thabo Mbeki attacked Ismail Ayob and his entire family. He declared that it was an issue of guilt or innocence, giving the impression that it was a criminal matter. This was patently untrue as he was aware that it was a civil dispute. Ahmed Kathrada at a meeting he addressed in Laudium called on Ismail Ayob to “surrender”. An Ahmed Docrat called Ismail Ayob a “crook” at the same meeting. There were calls for Ismail Ayob and his family to be ostracized by society and to be expelled from Mosques and community and charitable organizations and that there be protest marches and paid newspaper advertisements signed by supporters of Mr Mandela.

Zamila Ayob who knew Mr Mandela was cited as a Respondent in the action. The founding Affidavits of Nelson Mandela and his advisors supporting the application against Zamila Ayob actually confirm that she should never have been cited as there was no case against her.

The application launched by Mr Mandela and his advisors was resisted by both Ismail Ayob and Zamila Ayob and was demonstrated to be false and malevolent and their defence included documents signed by Mr Mandela personally and witnessed by his secretaries, which gave irrefutable proof to the falsehood of very many of the allegations made by Nelson Mandela and his advisors. In terms of the High Court rules, Mr Mandela and his new advisors were required to reply within two weeks of the answer of Ismail Ayob and Zamila Ayob. Some 20 months later, no reply had been made.

2007 court action

Ismail Ayob, George Bizos and Wim Trengrove being trustees of the Nelson Mandela Trust, it was common cause that the Trust was set up to hold millions of rands donated to Nelson Mandela by prominent business men for his children and grandchildren. Ismail Ayob resigned from the Trust. In 2006, the two remaining trustees of the Nelson Mandela Trust launched an application against Mr Ayob for disbursing money in terms of the trust deed without their express consent. Mr Ayob explained that of these disbursements, money was paid to the South African Revenue Service, to the children and grandchildren of Nelson Mandela, to Nelson Mandela himself, and to an accountig company for four years of accounting work. It was alleged that Ismail Ayob made defamatory remarks about Nelson Mandela in his affidavit for which the court order stated that Ismail Ayob should apologise. These alleged statements that Nelson Mandela had foreign bank accounts and had not paid tax on these were later pointed out to have originated not from Ismail Ayob's affidavit but from Nelson Mandela's affidavit, George Bizos's affidavit, and Iqbal Meer's affidavit against Ismail Ayob (please see above articles).[clarification needed] In order to maintain Wikipedia standards, try to obtain copies of the High Court order and papers in the matter. Those are available form the High Court of South Africa in Johannesburg (case name: Nelson Mandela Trust and Ismail Ayob)

(source:wikipedia)