Giant step for Fortuin
2010-05-06
Lise Beyers
WELL-KNOWN Paarl attorney Chantel Fortuin is soon to take up the prestigious position of high court judge in Cape Town. Chantel is one of three new appointments to the high court bench of the Western Cape, after President Jacob Zuma signed and sealed the positions last week. Chantel had humble but steadfast beginnings while growing up in School Street, Paarl North. She was an only child of Tommie, a carpenter, and Mary a general worker at Paarl Hospital. During her Grade 5 year, the family was forcefully removed in terms of the Group Areas Act from Paarl North to New Orleans. Here Chantel stayed until her marriage in 1985. She is no stranger to the legal profession. After matriculating in 1981, she started her legal studies.
She put these studies on hold in 1986 and worked as a paralegal at the Paarl Advice Office in Newton which served the areas of Paarl, Wellington and Mbekweni. In 1993 she continued her studies on a part-time basis at the University of the Western Cape, where she graduated in 1995. Hereafter she did her articles at the Legal Resources Centre (LRC), and here a long relationship began. Here she was quite at home, as the LRC aspires to all that she believes in. It is a human rights organisation which uses the law as an instrument of justice for the vulnerable and marginalised, including poor, homeless, and landless people and communities who suffer discrimination by reason of race, class, gender, disability or due to social, economic, and historical circumstances. “I have always been drawn to the plight of the less privileged,” says Chantel. “There has always been a misconception that lawyers are only for the well off. But often it is the less privileged who need this service more than anyone else, and often they are denied this.” This passionate drive to protect the rights of the voiceless already started at school level, as learner at Northern Paarl High School. Here she became a UDF activist. In 1986 she spent two months in Pollsmoor for her political activity. At school, Chantel met fellow activist, Lloyd Fortuin, but it wasn’t until after school,while both were pursuing careers in law, that Cupid’s arrow struck. The two married and two children were born, Oliver and Ilke. Ilke is a journalism student at CPUT. Tragedy struck nearly three years ago, when Oliver, a promising student, died in a vehicle accident at the age of 22. Following this devastating blow, the bereaved family founded the Oliver Fortuin Foundation. “During Oliver’s short lifetime he inspired and touched everybody he knew in such a way, that we decided to establish this foundation as a non-profit organisation for the purpose of empowering the youth by getting them involved in community-based activities to address poverty in the Paarl community. “This is Oliver’s legacy and we hope to support our youth through this organisation and point them into the right direction.” At the LRC, Chantel rose to regional director of their Cape Town office. In the mean time the powers that be had noticed her passion for the law, and she was recommended for a position as high court judge by her peers. The latest nomination, her third, was backed deservedly by the National Association of Democratic Lawyers. She was the only black candidate short-listed for the Cape bench. “This is a giant leap for women in the legal fraternity. It has always been dominated by the opposite sex and I believe that we will now be making in-roads into true transformation of the legal profession.” Despite a hectic schedule, she and Lloyd are both active in the Anglican Church, where Chantel is currently the chancellor of the diocese.
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