Durban, 20 October 2002
Programme Director,
Hon Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, Dr Mtshali
IBA President, Dianna P Kempe QC,
Honourable judges from our Appeal Court and the various Provincial Divisions,
Esteemed International guests,
Ladies and gentlemen.
Thank you for inviting me to address you at this important event that brings together thousands of lawyers from all parts of the world to our country.
We welcome you to our country and trust that you will have an enjoyable and productive stay.
Your conference comes hot on the heels of the recent Judges Symposium we hosted just before the World Summit on Sustainable Development. The symposium brought together over sixty Judge Presidents from all over the world.
I strongly believe that you are gathered here today in Durban in your various capacities as individual lawyers and law associations because of your passion for the rule of law and the well being of legal practitioners, not only in your home countries but throughout the world.
The legal profession plays a very important role in helping us negotiate the minefield that is local and international laws. I would like to congratulate the International Bar Association for the important role it is fulfilling throughout the world in supporting the legal profession, and ensuring that the judiciary remains independent and relevant to developments in this age of globalisation.
The rule of law is indeed the bedrock upon which South African liberty and justice are based. This is what many of our fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters shed their blood and sacrificed their lives for. It is a legacy that we must bequeath of on the next generations. The first of their sacrifices is in our freedom and cherished democracy.
South Africa has quickly emerged from its not so distant status of being the pole cat of the international community to becoming a fully-fledged member and player in the world arena, especially on our own continent. This of course presents us as a country and people with interesting opportunities and challenges.
A number of local individuals and entities have quickly forged strong economic and social links with their counterparts in other parts throughout the continent. Of course, this therefore means that our government's vision of a strife free and democratic Africa where the rule of law rules supreme is also shared by businesses and other organisations.
The success of the African Union, which South Africa chairs, and its programmes such as the New Partnership for Africa's Development, is therefore not solely dependent on governments of the member states, but also on organisations such as the IBA and its constituents in these member states.
We have been working hard here to forge partnerships between government and civil society and specifically with regard to making South Africa a better place - a safer place - for the vulnerable members of our society, especially our children, the elderly and women. I believe in order to bring an end to bloody conflicts in some parts of the continent where we are experiencing civil strife we need to cultivate similar partnerships.
South Africa is working hard at bringing together warring parties in various flash points on the continent, particularly in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo in the Great Lakes region. However, governments on their own cannot bring about peace and stability. We need civil society and organisations such as yours to help us produce tangible fruit of the rule of law.
Our government is determined to make real the many rights that are enshrined in our Constitution. The primary challenge though has been the effective implementation these high ideals and the realisation of our vision for a human rights-based society. We are constantly evaluating our processes and making changes where necessary.
This means that we have to bridge the discrepancies between the content of the law and the ideal of justice. We have to be responsive to the emerging and something conflicting needs of the new South African society. We have to inculcate in our people a respect for the law and that the many laws that we promulgated in the last six years are there, and rightly so, for the benefit of the majority of our people and not merely for the government and lawyers.
Indeed this is well captured in the words of the former US President and recent Nobel Prize winner, Jimmy Carter when he said: "The law is not the private property of lawyers, nor is justice the exclusive province of judges and juries. In the final analysis, true justice is not a matter of courts and law books, but of a commitment in each of us to liberty and mutual respect."
We try hard to ensure that every new piece of legislation that we construct should underwrite and support the values and principles espoused in our Constitution. And those interpreting the law should bind themselves to developing a jurisprudence that gives effect to the human rights framework that is the very essence of a new democratic South Africa.
Laws alone will not bring about the improvement in the status of our people that we are all so committed to. But it is what we do with these laws that will make a difference in the lives of all the people of this country.
Your active involvement in developing your communities is therefore essential and this will by no means compromise your independence. While we appreciate and understand the fact that legal practitioners and judiciary should remain independent, this does not mean that they should lack any compassion, sensitivity and understanding of the context in which most of the cases brought before come from. Indeed this is captured well by British writer Thomas Fuller who said: "Rigid justice is the greatest injustice."
As you hold your first ever conference on beloved African continent, I would like to welcome you in our beautiful country and hope that you will enjoy your stay.
I wish you well in your deliberations.
I thank you.