Granting an eviction order was hurtful to Judge Siraj Desai during his 25-year tenure in the Western Cape High Court. Every time he granted an order it reminded him of the evictions in District Six during the apartheid era in 1966.
As a learner at Trafalgar High, he was helpless to stop the old regime declaring District Six a white area and bulldozers flattening homes. On Monday 14 December Desai, who effectively retired last Friday, took a trip down memory lane with
Maverick Citizen.
In January 2021 Desai reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70. However, the high court went into recess on Friday 11 December and reopens late in January 2021, which means he has finished his term as a judge. He became a judge on 1 July 1995.