Mr Speaker, hon members, Chief Justice Pius Langa was to the judiciary what Nelson Mandela was to the executive, a visionary, a passionate and articulate champion of our Constitution. In paying tribute to this extraordinary jurist who is no more, it is befitting that this august House focuses on his call on 9 October 2006, in Stellenbosch, for transformative constitutionalism. No nation can pay a greater tribute to a true servant of the people than to carry forward his or her legacy. Pius certainly deserves this. May that token to have his ideas on transformative constitutionalism live amongst us until it is realised. Mr Pius Langa pointed out that the Constitution should serve as a historic bridge between the pulse of a deeply divided society characterised by strife, conflict, untold suffering, injustice and a future founded on the recognition of human rights, democracy, peaceful coexistence and the development of opportunities for all South Africans, irrespective of colour, race, class, belief or sex.
In his mind, the building of a new society based on substantive equality was the appointed task of all of us in the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. Equality, in itself, it is important. However, we are required to achieve substantive equality in order to level the playing fields. Until then, we are more or less stuck where we have been before 1994.
The type of transformation he had in mind entailed a socialist and an economic revolution, and nothing less. Only then would the economic playing fields be levelled. Only then would transformative constitutionalism materialise. The Constitution is our nation's strength. The accord we achieved as diverse people lives in the Constitution. The society we build must therefore have its foundation in the Constitution. Mr Pius Langa understood this as did the courts of the land that he abled.
It is no accident that those whom we hold in the highest esteem in society are indeed those who esteem the Constitution most highly. Mr Pius Langa was such a man. He was a founder member of the National Association of Democratic Lawyers and served as its president in 1988. We served together in the United Democratic Front. Power did not change him. Power only intensified his desire to give to the society the justice and transformation it yearned for and merited after centuries of injustice.
Mr Pius Langa lived by his principles, and the legacy he leaves behind deserves our ownership. He could speak to any person in our country in his or her own language. The former Constitutional Court Justice, Johann Kriegler, was astonished at his ability. Pius Langa knew how to speak with each of the justices in their own language. Most importantly, he knew how to speak up to them.
He started as a factory worker, became a court interpreter clerk, and rose to become the Chief Justice. In this way, he answered his own aspiration and those of the nation. He fused what he wanted for himself with what the nation also wanted. He had a profound understanding of our society. Perhaps the fact that he had been an interpreter clerk and witnessed daily the suffering of his own people at the hands of the apartheid regime must have exposed him deeply and profoundly to the people that he needed to lead and help take forward.
Today, therefore, we come with one voice to hail his achievements, with one heart to mourn his passing and with one understanding to recognise the inescapable imperative to seek substantive equality to transformative constitutionalism.
To his bereaved children, family, friends and colleagues, we offer our condolences, but also our gratitude for his life's work, his great integrity and his shining example. Hamba kahle [go well] trusted comrade, wise councillor and great spirit. You enriched us, guided us and protected us. May your rewards be commensurate with what you did for us, and may God let your spirit rest in peace. Thank you. [Applause.]