Date: 11/11/2009
Source: The Democratic Alliance
Title: DA: Trollip: Speech by the Democratic Alliance Parliamentary leader, bidding farewell to former Chief Justice Pius Langa and welcoming new Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo, National Assembly

Honourable Speaker, It is with regret that this event has been tainted to a degree by the controversy surrounding the "appointment/nomination" process of announcing Chief Justice Pius Langa's successor. Nevertheless I trust that we have all learnt some salutary lessons in this regard. The people that we are honouring today are the custodians that hold the key to a prosperous and progressive South Africa. Our Constitution provides that "the Bill of Rights applies to all law and binds the legislature, the executive, the judiciary and all organs of state". Also that "everyone is equal before the law and has the right to equal protection and benefit of the law". Regarding the Courts, The Constitution in Chapter 8 Section 165 states:
1. The judicial authority of the Republic is vested in the courts.
2. The courts are independent and subject only to the Constitution and the law, which they must apply impartially and without fear, favour or prejudice.
3. No person or organ of state may interfere with the functioning of the courts.
4. Organs of state, through legislative and other measures, must assist and protect the courts to ensure the independence, impartiality, dignity, accessibility and effectiveness of the courts
5. An order or decision issued by a court binds all persons to who and organs of state to which it applies.
This debate is therefore a most apposite occasion for this Parliament and the executive to recognise the quality of the judicial leadership represented here today and to formally hand over the management of the courts with their constitutional obligations to those in whose hands they should reside, the judiciary. Our Constitutional Court is one of the most illustrious courts of the world. It ranks with the American Supreme Court, the House of Lords and the German Constitutional Court. Our erudite judges and internal judgments are read and quoted in these and many other courts around the world. Since the inception of the democratic dispensation in our country, we have been blessed by having exceptional and wise judicial leadership. Chief Justices, Mick Corbett, Ismael Mohamed, Arthur Chaskalson and Pius Langa. They have proven to be progressive and talented judges that we can be exceptionally proud of. The appointment of Judge Sandile Ngcobo not only coincides with a new Presidency in South Africa, but also with the departure of many other esteemed judges from the first bench appointed by the venerable President Mandela. We are thus entering a new, challenging and exciting judicial era in which he will be expected to show the same if not more impressive leadership than his predecessors. Judge Langa, your ascension through the ranks of the legal profession has been inspiring and embodies the essence of the "Open Opportunity Society". All the citizens of this country now know that one can overcome the most daunting obstacles, endure unimaginable personal suffering and sacrifice and yet progress from being a court messenger to an interpreter to the highest judicial office in the land. Many of your thought provoking judgments have embodied the ethos and spirit of our Constitution and its admired Bill of Rights. Your jurisprudence has not only ensured an inimitable domestic reputation but an international one too, where you have served many foreign nations with distinction. Judge Langa is a jurist of unimpeachable integrity and wisdom, even in times of tension, judicial turmoil and controversy he retained his inherent and coherent dignity and was, "cool under fire". We are all indebted to him for his inordinate contribution to our society and democracy, his professionalism and for his caring and compassionate spirit. Siyabulela kakhulu ngegalelo lakho bawo. The incoming Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo is held in the highest regard. In addition to South African legal qualifications, he holds an LLM degree from Harvard University where he was a Fulbright Scholar and a Harvard Law school fellow. He also worked with the legendary Chief Justice of the third circuit Federal Court of Appeals in the USA, the late justice Leon Higganbotham. As a judge of the Constitutional Court, he delivered 44 judgments and in three of these he gave dissenting judgments. As such he has contributed in no small measure to formative stages of South Africa's exciting and innovative jurisprudence. Judge Ngcobo sir; you are faced with enormous challenges, chief of which is surely the transformation of the judiciary and legal system in South Africa. Transformation is a complex issue not merely one of numbers and race. It involves the independence and legitimacy of the judiciary and the accessibility of the courts and justice to all the people of South Africa. All these issues are interrelated and explained well by Lord Denning. "Independence is all very well, but if it is not backed by justice, it turns obstinacy into recalcitrance, and as for impartiality, you can be impartial in distributing injustice as well as justice. We have a rich, and indeed in a sense, an incomparable legal and jurisprudential heritage spanning more than 200 years in South Africa. This includes Roman-Dutch Law, English Law and indigenous Law. We rejoice in this wealth of legal diversity involving the idea of natural law, the wealth of English common and Case law and the inherent wisdom of indigenous law. The latter with its underlying philosophy of Ubuntu in which judge Ngcobo has displayed particular interest, needs to be developed and preserved for the benefit of future generations. From the past we must take that which is good, noble and just and build the future jurisprudence on this, in accordance with the spirit and ethos of our Bill of Rights and its universal values. This will require the Wisdom of Solomon and a fierce determination not to be dictated to by anyone's self interest. The example that you set will determine the success of the seminal role that the judiciary must play in the further unfolding of our democracy and attainment of social justice and human dignity for all our people. An example of this kind of leadership is to be found in the Eastern Cape, where Judge President Somyalo has united the notoriously fractious three divisions into a professional and harmonized division. He achieved this through honest respectable leadership which was rewarded with respect, cooperation and camaraderie. The same cannot be said about the Western Cape division as there is a dearth of the required leadership and this has been compounded by racial myopia and mutual disrespect. We unfortunately always sow what we reap and racial seeds grow like weeds even on the most barren surfaces. Therefore Chief Justice Ngcobo, in this regard the Constitutional Court with you at its head has a crucial role to play and in the words of the great Roman bard Vergil" "CARPE DIEM" We wish you well in this great quest in which you may not fail!