By Prince Hamnca, Own Correspondents and Sapa
South Africa's top judge, Chief Justice Ismail Mahomed, was hailed at his funeral in Pretoria on Sunday as a brilliant jurist and a pioneer in South African legal circles.
Judge Mahomed, 68, the first black South African to be appointed a judge and the country's first black chief justice, died in a Johannesburg clinic on Saturday. He had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer earlier this year.
President Thabo Mbeki and several senior cabinet ministers, including Justice Minister Penuell Maduna, Transport Minister Dullah Omar and Minister in the Office of the President Essop Pahad, as well as National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka and Constitutional Court vice-president Judge Pius Langa, were among dignitaries who paid tribute to Judge Mahomed on Sunday.
Mbeki said: "This is a great loss for the country and all our people. Beyond our borders, many will also be distraught by his death. It will be very difficult to replace a man of his intelligence, tenacity and discipline."
Maduna said much had been accomplished under Judge Mahomed's leadership. The country had benefited tremendously from his skills during and after the apartheid era. Judge Langa described him as a brilliant and hard worker.
Tabby Moyo reports from Windhoek that Namibian President Sam Nujoma described Judge Mahomed as "a tireless freedom fighter". Judge Mahomed served as the South West African People's Organisation legal adviser during the struggle for independence, and helped to draft Namibia's constitution.
- Talk is now centring around the reshuffling of the judiciary. "The issue now is going to be succession," said Dumisa Ntsebeza, former Truth and Reconciliation commissioner and vice-president of the Black Lawyers' Association. He added that talk in legal circles was that Mr Justice Arthur Chaskalson, president of the Constitutional Court, would be appointed as chief justice when his term of office expires.
Chaskalson's move might create a position for Langa to succeed him, Ntsebeza said.
But Ntsebeza warned against an "all-white" Supreme Court of Appeal.
Deputy Chief Justice Hendrik van Heerden cannot be considered as a candidate to replace Judge Mahomed because he is said to be in ill-health.
Ntsebeza named Judge Russell Madlanga - "one of the most promising and intelligent products of the former Transkei" - as a candidate for elevation to the appeals court.