Nabeelah Mia to lead Lawyers for Human Rights ‘into its next chapter’ after being appointed new National Director

The announcement this week that South African lawyer and “brilliant legal mind” Nabeelah Mia has been appointed as the new National Director of Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR), an independent NGO, has been widely welcomed and praised. 

Nabeelah will lead the longstanding rights organisation into its next chapter, from 1 April. Her appointment follows a deliberate succession process and reflects LHR’s commitment to stability, feminist leadership, and organisational transformation, at a time of growing pressure on human rights institutions locally and globally.

“The Board has full confidence in Nabeelah’s ability to lead Lawyers for Human Rights into its next chapter,” says Kaajal Ramjathan-Keogh, Chairperson of the Board of LHR, which was founded by a group of activist lawyers in South Africa in 1979. 

“She brings a rare combination of institutional memory, strategic clarity and principled leadership. Her appointment reflects a conscious and considered transition, anchored in LHR’s values as a feminist, people-centred organisation that remains responsive to a rapidly changing human rights landscape.”

Based in Johannesburg, Nabeelah is a dedicated advocate for human rights and is fuelled by an unwavering passion for social justice and the protection of dignity for all. She has worked on issues of torture prevention, ensuring the protection of the rights of those deprived of their liberty, and seeking alternatives to detention. 

Nabeelah has served on LHR’s’ Senior Management team since 2022, as Head of the Penal Reform and Detention Monitoring Programme, and has played a central role in shaping organisational strategy, governance, and external engagement in recent years. The organisation says she will bring deep institutional knowledge, extensive public interest law experience, and a strong record of strategic leadership within the human rights sector to her new role as National Director, effective 1 April 2026. 

“An excellent appointment,” said Jason Brickhall, an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Public Law at the University of Cape Town. “LHR is a precious jewel in the access to justice ecosystem and it is in great hands.”

Among many other congratulatory messages, Claude Marie Bernard Kayitare of the Southern Africa Network for Immigrants and Refugees praised the appointment as a well-deserved recognition of Nabeelah’s dedication, leadership, and the remarkable work she has done within LHR and the broader human rights community. “We are confident that under your guidance, LHR will continue to grow as a strong, principled, and people-centred organisation, advancing justice and dignity for all.”

Nabeelah holds a BSocSci in Law and Psychology and an Honours in Psychology from the University of Cape Town, and a Masters in Law from UCLA, specialising in Public Interest Law and Policy, and International and Comparative Law. 

She began her legal career with leading South African firm Webber Wentzel in 2013, and has since worked at Sonke Gender Justice, as a clerk at the Constitutional Court for Justice Nonkosi Mhlantla, as a researcher at the South African Institute for Advanced Constitutional, Public, Human Rights and International Law, and as an attorney for the Centre for Environmental Rights, before joining LHR in 2021. 

Nabeelah will take the baton as National Director from Zibusiso Wayne Ncube, who first joined Lawyers for Human Rights as a Candidate Attorney in 2013, and served as National Director for the past five years. She regularly deputised for him, and has been closely involved in organisational leadership, financial oversight, and governance matters for the rights organisation. He congratulated Nabeelah on her appointment, saying LHR was “in great hands” with her stepping into the role. 

As National Director, Nabeelah Mia will lead the development of LHR’s next multi-year strategic plan, oversee organisational operations and financial sustainability, strengthen donor and stakeholder relationships, and guide the organisation’s national, regional and international advocacy and litigation work.