The Supreme Court of Appeal on Tuesday apologised to late chief justice Ismail Mahomed for not having done anything about apartheid legislation which prohibited him, as an Indian, from staying in Bloemfontein while arguing cases.
When, as a senior counsel, Mahomed appeared before the Appeal Court, he was not allowed to spend the night in Bloemfontein, and often had to stay in Kimberley instead.
"We did not realise all this, but we should have done so," said acting Chief Justice Hendrik van Heerden in a tribute to Mahomed who died in Johannesburg on June 17 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.
"We should have, at the very least, pressed for exemption from the prohibition in the case of counsel appearing in Bloemfontein. But, we did not do so.
"Speaking for myself, and as a member of the court before which Ismail appeared, I can only say: 'Mea culpa'," said Van Heerden.
Members of the legal fraternity, including all 18 appeal court judges, academics, and Enver Mahomed, the brother of the late chief justice, attended an official function at the appeal court on Tuesday to pay tribute to Mahomed.
In 1974, Mahomed became the first person of colour to be appointed a senior counsel in South Africa.
Five years later, Mahomed was appointed as a judge of the Appeal Court in Swaziland and, in 1982, as judge of appeal in Lesotho.
He went on to become chief justice of Namibia and president of the Lesotho Appeal Court, before being appointed South Africa's first "black" judge in 1991.
In 1993, he became an acting judge at the Appeal Court in Bloemfontein, followed a year later by his appointment as a judge on the Constitutional Court.
Mahomed became deputy president of the Constitutional Court in 1995, before being appointed chief justice of South Africa a year later - a position he held until his death at the age of 68.
In his tribute on Tuesday, Van Heerden described how Mahomed had succeeded in his chosen career despite hurdles presented by racist legislation of the time.
After acquiring his BA Honours and LlB degrees at the University of the Witwatersrand, Mahomed was prevented from joining the Pretoria Bar, which did not allow people of colour to join its ranks.
"Those who were members of that Bar at the time must surely feel a sense of guilt today," said Van Heerden.
Mahomed then joined the Johannesburg Bar, but was prevented by the Group Areas Act from occupying an office. Chambers were reserved for whites.
Van Heerden quoted from a speech by Mahomed at a dinner given by the Johannesburg Bar in 1991: "The dominant consequence of my being 'non-white' manifested itself in rejection and exclusion - a constitutional exclusion from the Bar in my home city, leaving me to find an alternative bar in Johannesburg, leaving me for 12 years to squat from hour to hour from office to office in the chambers of one or other colleague temporarily in court; exclusion from the common room, leaving me to consume my sandwiches in vacant offices."
Despite all this, said Van Heerden, Mahomed quickly built up an extensive litigation practice, especially dealing with cases concerning the Group Areas Act.
Later in his life, Mahomed received honorary doctorates in law from the University of Delhi, the University of Pennsylvania, and the National University of India.
The same honour was bestowed on him by the universities of Natal, Pretoria and Cape Town, and the University of the Free State is to follow suit posthumously later this year.
"Ismail had a passion for the law. Indeed, the law was his life," said Van Heerden.
"He was a very good chief justice, as administrator, in his relationships with his colleagues, and in his legal thinking and its application to appeals before him. Moreover, he had a masterly command of the English language.
"We shall sorely miss him." - Sapa