The late Chief Justice Pius Langa has been hailed as a champion of law and democracy. Politicians, legal eagles and hundreds of community members paid tribute to the 74-year-old Langa during a memorial service in Durban on Thursday night.

Langa, who died last week after a long illness, will be accorded a special official funeral in Durban on Saturday.

One of the political activists, Don Mkhwanazi says Langa has always been driven by a thirst for quality and justice for all. “I knew Judge Langa when I was still young at university, I used to go to court cases as I was very much interested in law.”

Mkhwanazi says Langa was also a leader in the underground struggle of our country. “He was the president of the National Democratic Lawyers Association and we work together very closely on matters of national importance in the struggle.”

Born in Bushbuckridge in 1939, Langa obtained his law degree from the University of South Africa, and was admitted as an advocate in 1977.

In 1994 he was promoted to senior counsel. Judge Langa went on to become one of the first 10 judges of the Constitutional Court and in 2005 he became the first black Chief Justice until his retirement in 2009.
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