Namibia’s third chief justice, Johan Strydom, was “a selfless and dedicated leader who served the judiciary and our country with distinction”, chief justice Peter Shivute has said in a statement issued by the Office of the Judiciary.
The statement was issued after Strydom died at the age of 88 at Swakopmund on Friday.
Strydom served as the first judge president of Namibia’s High Court after the country’s independence in 1990, and was appointed as Namibia’s third chief justice in 1999, when he succeeded the previous chief justice, Ismail Mahomed.
Strydom served as chief justice until June 2003, was then appointed as acting chief justice until the end of September 2004, and thereafter continued to serve as an acting judge of appeal of the Supreme Court until 2015, Shivute recounted on Friday.
“Throughout his tenure, he served with dedication and laid a strong foundation for the rule of law and transformation of the judiciary, furthering the principle of judicial independence,” Shivute said.
“His contribution to the development of jurisprudence in Namibia cuts across different areas of the law, from constitutional law to administrative law, criminal law and procedure, commercial law, insolvency and admiralty, to name but a few.”
Shivute added: “His immense contribution to the administration of justice and the rule of law is evident in the many judgements he authored and the positions he occupied in his 38 years of dedicated public service.”
Strydom’s personal assistant during his tenure as head of Namibia’s judiciary, Mina Viljoen, who was the personal assistant of all four of Namibia’s chief justices to date, yesterday described him as a patient, humble and considerate man and “a people’s person”.
“He liked it if people came to his office,and he would have coffee with them. He had an open-door policy,” Viljoen said.
“He listened to everyone with attention. He would listen to both sides of a complaint and then call both parties in to resolve a problem,” she recounted.
Strydom also used to enjoy receiving visits from his grandchildren to his office at the Supreme Court in Windhoek, Viljoen said.
She recalled that Strydom was a devout Christian, who, however, did not need to loudly proclaim his faith, as his nature was testimony of his beliefs.
As a judge, Strydom was equally at home in the fields of civil cases and criminal law, Viljoen said.
Strydom was born at Otjiwarongo in June 1938, and grew up at Outjo.
He attended school at Outjo and Otjiwarongo, and later studied at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa, where he obtained BA LLB degrees.
After working as a public prosecutor in Windhoek for a year, he started to practise law as an advocate in 1965.
He obtained senior counsel status in 1982, and in 1983 was appointed as a judge of the then High Court of South West Africa.
Strydom was appointed as acting judge president of the High Court with Namibia’s independence in March 1990.
The appointment was made permanent in March 1991.
He became the country’s chief justice in March 1999.
Strydom is survived by his wife, Lena, his son, lawyer Albert Strydom, his daughter, Lizette Burt, and his children’s families.
