In memoriam: Sternford Moyo
Monday 5 August 2024
Sternford Moyo presenting at the IBA 2022 Annual Conference.
Few individuals have made an impression on the IBA and the legal profession quite like Sternford Moyo, former IBA President (2021–2022), who passed away on 5 July.
Beloved of staff, officers and members alike, Sternford held numerous positions during his 20+ year collaboration with the IBA, including notably as both Chair and Advisory Board Member of the African Regional Forum and Co-Chair and Council Member of the IBA’s Human Rights Institute. He was the first African to hold the position of IBA President.
His achievements outside the IBA were no less impressive, including becoming President of the Law Society of Zimbabwe, President of the Southern African Development Community Lawyers’ Association, board member of the Southern Africa Human Rights Litigation Trust and chairmanship of an array of Zimbabwean companies.
By trade a corporate lawyer, chiefly in the mining sector, he was Senior Partner and Chairman of Zimbabwean law firm Scanlen and Holderness where he worked for more than 40 years.
Sternford had a great calling to champion and defend the rule of law and human rights, as evidenced by his six years as a Co-Chair of the IBA’s Human Rights Institute. A statement from its current Co-Chairs Anne Ramberg and Mark Stephens, along with Director Baroness Helena Kennedy KC – Sternford’s Co-Chair in IBAHRI for many years – points to his deeply held convictions and integrity:
‘Sternford was a great son of Zimbabwe and a proud African, a democrat with a deep commitment to the rule of law and a champion of its role in democracy. He was never slow in his criticism of government erosions of civil rights and liberty […] He was a constant support, and his wise counsel was invaluable to the Director and the legal team’.
His brave commitment to the rule of law was often at a cost to his own personal safety and wellbeing. While President of the Law Society of Zimbabwe, he was frequently arrested on state orders, and was reportedly the subject of a mock execution by the Zimbabwean Central Intelligence Organisation.
Few contributed so much to the rule of law, human rights, lawyers in Africa and the International Bar Association as Sternford
Peter Bartlett
LPD Representative, IBA Management Board
Keith Baker, an Honorary Life Member of the IBA, recalls meeting Sternford for the first time at the African Regional Forum Conference in Lagos in 2004 and hearing of these ordeals: ‘On one occasion he was rounded up with a dozen or so fellow citizens and driven out to the bush in a high-sided truck. In the middle of nowhere the truck pulled up and the prisoners were ushered out unharmed. It then drove away leaving the group to fend for themselves without food or water. They were in pretty bad shape when the truck came back three days later. The incident did not deter Sternford one little bit. I don’t get close to that degree of courage’.
Keith also helped Sternford with his IBA presidential campaign. ‘What a privilege’, he said. ‘Knowing this was a person prepared to put his life on the line for his beliefs gave me the impetus to devote my energies to help him over the line. The IBA was lucky to have such a person at the helm’.
‘Sternford was a big man, courageous, committed, a physical presence but a gentle giant’, continued Keith.
Many other IBA officers and staff have been sharing their thoughts and memories with Global Insight, painting a picture of an influential and persuasive leader who also possessed humility and grace.
Michael Greene, also an Honorary Life Member of the IBA, remembers Sternford being ‘always interested, enquiring, challenging, supportive and encouraging and a very collegiate team member with whom I worked on many significant projects over the years. I will greatly miss his warm and often unassuming presence and his abundant good humour. His deep resonant voice, smile and laughter will stay with me forever. His loss has had a profound impact and left a big void for many of those who have had been lucky enough to have known him’.
He was a ‘strong pillar of the African Regional Forum', said current Forum Chair, Caliis Badoo. ‘He was always full of wisdom about the Forum’s affairs and was a go-to person. My last encounter with Sternford was at the Mid-Year Meeting 2024 in Bucharest. He said he was very impressed with the work of the Forum – he let me know that we were doing well so that we were encouraged. He was extremely down to earth and affable – may his gentle soul rest in perfect peace’.
IBA Executive Director Mark Ellis, who knew Sternford for nearly 25 years, said that ‘sometimes in life, you meet people who you know make the world a better and more just place. Sternford Moyo was one such person. His passing is a huge loss for the legal profession and for me personally. I am devastated by his death’.
‘He was an extraordinarily special man who personified the very best of the legal profession. Sternford’s impact will be felt for generations to come,’ Ellis adds.
Current IBA President Almudena Arpon de Mendivil was Sternford’s Vice-President during his presidential tenure. ‘I feel fortunate for sharing two very special years close to him’, she says. ‘He was an excellent IBA President, bringing to the IBA his peace, strength and wisdom, granting our Association the stability needed at the time [during and immediately after Covid-19]’.
Peter Bartlett, the LPD Chair during Sternford’s presidency, perhaps sums it up best: ‘Few contributed so much to the rule of law, human rights, lawyers in Africa and the International Bar Association as Sternford. What a loss for all that knew him and what a loss for the legal profession’.