Pretoria - Parliament’s Presiding Officers, Members and officials have extended their condolences to the family of former Chief Justice Pius Langa, who passed away on Wednesday.
“Our thoughts are with Justice Langa’s family and friends at this time, and we extend sympathies to them,” said a statement issued by Parliament.
It said Langa had contributed significantly to the struggle for a non-racial South Africa and the establishment of a constitutional democracy where human rights are protected.
“This contribution our government recognised in 2008 when he was awarded the Order of Baobab in gold for his exceptional service to law, constitutional jurisprudence and human rights,” said Parliament.
CEO of the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, Sello Hatang, has also expressed condolences, saying Langa worked tirelessly to ensure that the human rights of South Africans were protected within the framework of the law, that the independence of the judiciary was promoted as a fundamental pillar of democracy, and that freedom was made a reality for all South Africans.
Hatang said Langa had served with excellence and that he honoured and promoted the legacy of Mandela.
Langa rose from modest beginnings – as a worker in a shirt factory, interpreter and messenger for the Department of Justice in the 1950s and 1960s - to obtain a B Juris in 1973, his LLB in 1976 and admission as an advocate of the Supreme Court of South Africa in 1977.
He was a founder of the National Association of Democratic Lawyers (NADEL) and a member of the African National Congress Constitutional Committee, in which he worked on the draft Bill of Rights.
Former President Nelson Mandela appointed him to the Bench in 1994 and when the Constitutional Court was established, Justice Langa was one of those appointed judges of the new court.
In 1997, he became the Deputy President of the Constitutional Court, Deputy Chief Justice in 2001 and Chief Justice from 2005 to his retirement in October 2009.
President Jacob Zuma has also expressed his deep sadness at the loss. - SAnews.gov.za
