Adv Ameermia honoured with EPF Achievement Award

Date: 30 October 2025 By: Anton van Zyl

A former Louis Trichardt resident and town secretary, Adv Mohamed Shafie Ameermia, received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the third annual Empire Partner Foundation (EPF) Awards, held at the Sandton Convention Centre this past weekend.

The EPF Awards — often described as the “Tech Oscars” — celebrate individuals and organisations that use technology to drive social change. The foundation runs hackathons, youth innovation programmes, CSI projects and digital content initiatives through its EPF Studio.

Adv Ameermia is currently the national director of ProBono.org, an organisation that provides free legal services to indigent and marginalised South Africans through the volunteer work of the private legal profession. The organisation also has an office in Musina that assists refugees.

The EPF helped ProBono.org develop a digital case-management system designed to improve efficiency, streamline operations, and allow for real-time tracking of legal assistance.

Older residents of the Soutpansberg will remember Adv Ameermia, who served as town secretary from May 1999 to 2001, in what later became the Makhado Municipality. In 2003, he joined the Department of Education as a legal adviser and, between 2001 and 2014, held several senior positions in provincial government departments. These included chief director: legal services in the Limpopo Department of Human Settlements and adviser to the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture on development projects.

In February 2014, he was appointed a full-time commissioner of the South African Human Rights Commission for a seven-year term, serving as the provincial commissioner for the North West and Free State.

Adv Ameermia has also represented South Africa abroad. He was awarded an International Law Fellowship by the Center for American and International Law, followed by an International Law and Arbitration Fellowship Programme. In 2022, Ohio University in the United States awarded him the Robert and Rene Glidden Visiting Professorship Scholarship in recognition of his contributions to advancing human rights.

In September 2023, he was appointed national director of ProBono.org, a position he continues to hold.

Adv Ameermia said he was deeply moved to receive the award and felt blessed to be able to serve humanity. He thanked his wife, Shenaz, and his two sons, Mahmood and Aadil, for their support.

“My message to everyone is that together, we can all make a difference to address poverty, inequality and unemployment in the society we are called upon to serve,” he said.

He added that the EPF partnership showed how strategic collaboration could strengthen the social justice ecosystem. “The technology has made a difference to the lives of poor and vulnerable communities, so that they too have access to justice and can live in dignity, freedom and equality,” he said.

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Anton van Zyl

Anton van Zyl has been with the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror since 1990. He graduated from the Rand Afrikaans University (now University of Johannesburg) and obtained a BA Communications degree. He is a founder member of the Association of Independent Publishers.