“Put on your armour, and do what’s right”

Advocate Carol Steinberg reflected on the importance of speaking out against injustice when she accepted the Europcar Women in Leadership Award at the Absa Jewish Achievers on 19 November.

“You can’t moan from the sidelines, put on your armour, and try and do what’s right,” said Steinberg in her acceptance speech. “You always find allies who also want to do what’s right.”

Steinberg’s belief in using language to make a meaningful difference has underpinned her varied career. From being a successful playwright, to helping to establish the first department of arts and culture in South Africa’s democracy, to becoming a senior advocate at the Johannesburg Bar, Steinberg has always believed in the power of words.

Also a member of the Judicial Service Commission, she uses her passion for words to make compelling legal arguments. “I love words, I love language, and I love working with words to persuade,” she said in her Absa Jewish Achiever Awards video.

Specialising in constitutional and public law, Steinberg has honed the art of persuasion in her freedom of expression cases and anti-corruption work. “The wonderful thing about working in South Africa is there’s a never-ending supply of meaningful work to do,” she reflected.

Having passionately argued before the Constitutional Court in the Bongani Masuku antisemitic hate-speech case, Steinberg tapped into her legal lexicon and Jewish identity to secure a guilty verdict.

Asked by a judge to explain why the swastika – which featured during a march where offensive language was used – is a symbol of hate, she realised that not every judge knew about the Holocaust. “I just threw away my prepared notes and spoke about what happened,” she recalled.

When the Masuku judgment came out, she flipped to the end, and saw that her side had won. “When I read the full judgment and got to the last sentence, I burst into tears. It was written by the judge who had asked me to explain the significance of a swastika. It said that it would be apt to end with some words from the Torah: ‘Life and death are in the tongue.’ And that’s something this judge had gone out and found.”

That’s why Steinberg is so passionate about giving a public voice to the voiceless – something the courtroom facilitates. “I always remind myself about Nazi Germany because all it took was for ordinary people to be silent. Justice should be seen. That’s back to life,” she said, reflecting on the theme of this year’s awards.

“There’s nothing as meaningful and gratifying as being honoured and recognised by one’s own,” said Steinberg, on accepting the award, pointing out that the desire to make a difference was shared by the event’s inspiring nominees.

“That day in the Constitutional Court, I turned to Michael Katz, my instructing attorney, and I said to him, ‘Do you know we’re the only two Jews in this whole massive group of lawyers? If we hadn’t been here today, there wouldn’t have been a Jewish voice at all in a case about antisemitic hate speech.’ Michael said to me, ‘If not us, then who?’”

The winners and nominees share this philosophy, Steinberg said. “This is a group of people who say, apropos South Africa, ‘If not us, then who?’ People who are role models and heroes and have stood up at the right time to do the right thing. And that’s an amazing thing about this very powerful and vulnerable community.”