Lazar Sidelsky

Lazar Sidelsky (7 October 191117 May 2002) was a South African lawyer. His firm, Witkin, Sidelsky and Eidelman, pioneered the advancement of black South Africans in the legal profession during the apartheid era. Sidelsky is known for having employed and mentored a young Nelson Mandela, a law clerk in his firm.

Early life Sidelsky was born in Johannesburg in 1911 to Lithuanian Jewish parents that had fled pogroms in their home country.

Career and Mandela By the 1940s, Sidelsky was a partner in one of Johannesburg's largest and most successful legal firms, Witkin, Sidelsky and Eidelman. Sidelsky spearheaded a credit programme allowing black South Africans to secure mortgages. As part of this stream of work, Sidelsky worked with a black real estate agent, Walter Sisulu. Sisulu recognised potential in Mandela and introduced him to Sidelsky in 1942. Sidelsky hired a 24-year-old Mandela as an articled clerk, allowing Mandela to qualify as an attorney.

In his memoir, Long Walk to Freedom, Mandela said that Sidelsky had treated him with “enormous kindness” and reflected on the opportunity: “It was a Jewish firm, and in my experience I have found Jews to be more broad-minded than most whites on issues of race and politics, perhaps because they themselves have historically been victims of prejudice.”

Sidelsky died in May 2002, with Mandela paying a shiva visit to his relatives.