Mr Speaker and hon members, I stand here this afternoon in humble admiration of a mighty man. It is with deep sadness that we mourn the loss, almost a month ago, of former Chief Justice Pius Langa. He was not only a great jurist, but one of the founding fathers of our constitutional democracy.
His legacy will always reflect the best of South Africa's golden era at the dawn of our democracy, a time of hope and rebirth. Much like his first name which rings true to his nature, the word pious also means devout, sincere and moral. Words which do not only describe the type of man that he was, but also the association that we as a nation have with the era when men and women like him were the custodians of our constitutional democracy.
Chief Justice Langa was devoted to building a new, free and fair nation. He sincerely wanted to create a just society for all South Africans. It is appropriate that those who worked with him have said that he always stated plainly that "we must do what is right".
Born in 1939, Pius Nkonzo Langa's life was a timeline which represented the best and the worst of South Africa's history. He left school at the age of 14 and went to work in a clothing factory. The apartheid government wanted him to lead a life of incomplete education and work as a manual labourer, but through sheer force of endeavour, Chief Justice Langa continued to study.
He completed matric on his own outside of the walls of a classroom. His passion for upholding justice and his desire to serve the people led him to a career in the law. He gained his degree through correspondence, and in 1977 was admitted as an advocate of the Supreme Court.
He defended activists, trade unions and masterfully fought the apartheid machine from the inside out. When you think of the journey to this point in his life, you realise that Chief Justice Langa possessed the potent combination of supreme intelligence and deep diligence. Augmented by a moral compass that pointed true north, he was a man who single-handedly forced cracks in the apartheid system.
His appointment as one of the first judges to the highest court in the land was a significant achievement and evidence of the accomplishments of his career and his humanity. But, he will be remembered most for his term, first as a judge and later as the Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court.
His contribution to our jurisprudence is something we can be proud of. He remained bound to his lifelong task of standing up for the weak in society, as witnessed in several of his most historical judgments. In the case of The Government of the Republic of South Africa and Others v Grootboom in 2000, he ruled that citizens had the right to shelter from the state.
He was part of the judgment which forced the government to provide treatment to HIV pregnant mothers. He stood up for women's rights, being part of both the Carmichele judgment, which held that the state had a duty to protect women from sexual violence, and the Baloyi judgment, which ruled that the state had a duty to provide effective remedies to domestic violence. Pius Langa spent his life striving for the continual improvement of all his fellow citizens.
Three years ago, he spoke of his retirement as the Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court. He spoke of taking off his robes and thought of the words of a dying man, "So much to do, so little done." This was a man for whom retirement did not mean his work was done. He did not sit back and think of his triumph over adversity or of the prestige of his achievements. He thought of what must still be done.
Almost all of us in this House today had the honour and privilege of being sworn into office by Chief Justice Langa in 2009. Under his watch, we swore to be faithful to the Republic of South Africa and to obey, respect and uphold the Constitution and all other laws of the Republic. We can only hope that in the almost five years since we took this oath, we have been equal to that pledge.
Lala ngoxolo, Chief Justice Langa. Kumndeni wakho, sithi, akwehlanga lungehlanga. Lalani ngenxeba, nina bakwaLanga. Ngiyabonga. (Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)
[Rest in peace, Chief Justice Langa. To your family we are saying, you know that none of us is spared this journey. Be consoled, Langa family. Thank you.]