Cape Town - Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng expressed shock and sadness on Friday at the death of former president Nelson Mandela.
“President Mandela was a truly selfless servant of the people of South Africa and the world,” he said in a statement.
“(He was) a legal eagle who was a true human rights champion; whose seminal contribution to redressing South Africa's unjust socio-political imbalances truly rendered him a father of our nation.”
Mogoeng said Mandela left a void that would be hard to fill.
Mandela died in Johannesburg on Thursday night. His funeral will be held in Qunu, in the Eastern Cape, on December 15.
Sapa