The Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria is proud to announce that TuksLaw again walked away with the national laurels at the 57th Philip C Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition (White & Case Jessup Cup), hosted by the Faculty on 19 and 20 February 2016.

The TuksLaw team, coached by Nyambeni Ndavhana, won the final round with a unanimous bench after having won all of their preliminary rounds. The team, consisting of Tinotenda Kakora, Sewela Masie and Stephan Buabeng-Baidoo, beat last year's winners, UWC. Tinotenda and Stephan were named best oralists. Stephan commented that 'it was an enjoyable experience as it is always good to compete against the best young legal minds in the country. The competition was highly competitive, but in the end hard work, teamwork and prayers got us through'.

Jessup is the world's largest moot court competition, with participants from more than 550 law schools in more than 80 countries. The Competition is a simulation of a fictional dispute between countries before the International Court of Justice, the judicial organ of the United Nations. Having won the 2016 national round of a competition of this calibre, Tinotenda's thoughts were: 'It feels so good to have won as it was touch and go for a while. In the end, it all came down to prayer and team effort.'

TuksLaw Mooting Society Chair and National Coordinator of the competition, Raphael Chitambira, said that it had been an honour to coordinate the Jessup National Rounds this year and added: 'Special thanks must go to the University of Pretoria's Faculty of Law for their assistance throughout the organising period. We had approximately six weeks to plan this competition amidst the on-going protests at the University. On the morning of 19 February the Hatfield Campus was closed due to protests and we had to relocate to Adams & Adams, who kindly hosted us and ensured that all our needs were met. The final was hosted at the offices of the official competition sponsors, White & Case, who ensured that all the funding for the competition was covered. A final thank you goes to the Moot Executive Committee and those who volunteered to assist throughout both days.'

Sewela Masie commented: 'The thought of the competition being postponed or cancelled due to protests was scary, considering all the hard work we as a team had put in. It was mind-blowing to find out that we had won all our rounds. Being the first all-black team to win was amazing. I am looking forward to the international rounds.'

The 2016 Jessup compromis deals with fictitious issues concerning the legality of mass surveillance programmes and the international legal consequences of cyber-attacks attributable to states.

TuksLaw wishes the team the best of luck as they prepare to represent South Africa at the international rounds in Washington DC at the end of March 2016.