Cape Town - Retired Constitutional Court judge Thembile Skweyiya died on Tuesday, the South African Judiciary said.
“We received news of the passing of former Justice Skweyiya with deep sadness,” Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng said in a statement.
“He served the nation with great distinction as an anti-apartheid lawyer, human rights activist, senior counsel, Judge of the High Court as well as a Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa.”
At the time of his passing, Skweyiya was the inspecting judge of prisons, having only served in the post for four months.
Skweyiya was born in Worcester in the Western Cape’s boland region in 1939. He went on to study law at the then University of Natal from 1963 to 1967. He was admitted as an advocate in 1970 in KwaZulu-Natal, and also became an advocate of the high courts in Lesotho and Namibia and 1974.
“He was one of the African pioneers in the legal profession and became the first African to be conferred with the silk status (Senior Counsel) in 1989,” the judiciary said.
“As counsel specialising in commercial law, Justice Skweyiya could have settled for a more lucrative practice in commercial law. But his passion for justice and freedom resulted in the bulk of his practice being dedicated to cases associated with civil liberties and human rights.”
Skweyiya became a judge of the KwaZulu-Natal high court in 2001, and was promoted to the Constitutional court the following year. He retired from the Concourt last year.
“His enormous contribution to the development of our jurisprudence is known and appreciated worldwide,” the judiciary said.
“The late Justice Skweyiya will be missed for his wisdom, humility and passion for human rights, judicial independence, and a functional constitutional democracy. He was indeed a pleasant person to work with, very considerate and a peaceable man. His death is a great loss to South Africa and we will miss him.”
Skweyiya is survived by his wife, Sayo, and four children.
ANA