STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS 2005
Thank you, Arthur Chaskalson
Richard Mantu
11 February 2005
President Thabo Mbeki has praised the Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Arthur Chaskalson, who retires in May this year.
Chaskalson, who represented members of the liberation movement, including Nelson Mandela, at the infamous Rivonia Trial, was appointed president of South Africa's apex court in June 1994.
In his State of the Nation Address to Parliament in Cape Town on Friday, Mbeki hailed Chaskalson as a "great son of our people" and a "giant among the architects of our democracy."
"On behalf of the nation, I am honoured to convey our humble thanks to you, Chief Justice Arthur Chaskalson, for everything you have done as a South African, a lawyer and a judge, to shepherd us towards the construction of a South Africa that truly belongs to all who live in it", Mbeki said.
South Africa marks the 10th anniversary of the inauguration of the Constitutional Court on Monday 14 February.
Born in Johannesburg on 24
November 1931, Chaskalson graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand with a B Com (1952) and LLB Cum Laude (1954).
In 1978 he helped establish the Legal Resources Centre, a non-profit organisation which sought to use the law to pursue justice and human rights in South Africa, and was its director from November 1978 until September 1993.
He was a leading counsel in several cases in which the centre challenged the implementation of apartheid laws.
Chaskalson was a consultant to the Namibian Constituent Assembly in the drafting of the Constitution of Namibia (December 1989 to March 1990), and a consultant to the African National Congress on constitutional issues from April 1990 to April 1994.
He served as a member of the technical committee on constitutional issues appointed by the multi-party negotiating forum in May 1993, to give advice on constitutional matters to the forum, which negotiated the country's transition to democracy.
These led to a
draft of the transitional constitution, which was finalised and adopted in December 1993.
Mbeki said he would consult with the Judicial Service Commission and leaders of the political parties represented in Parliament to determine South Africa's next Chief Justice.
Source: BuaNews
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