The Office of the Judiciary has paid tribute to South African judge Yvonne Mokgoro, who also served as a judge of Namibia’s Supreme Court and has died at the age of 73.
Mokgoro broke barriers and set precedents during her 15-year tenure as a judge of South Africa’s Constitutional Court from 1994 to 2009, judiciary executive director Benhardt Kukuri said in a statement on Tuesday.
Mokgoro, who served as an acting appeal judge of Namibia’s Supreme Court from 2016 to 2020, leaves a legacy of “integrity, dedication to the rule of law, and an unwavering commitment to justice and equality”, Kukuri stated.
Mokgoro was seriously injured in a road accident in South Africa’s Northern Cape province in April last year. She died on Thursday last week.
Kukuri noted that Mokgoro was the first black woman to serve as a judge of South Africa’s Constitutional Court.
The judicial experience and legal expertise that she brought to Namibia’s Supreme Court “were invaluable and her contribution to Namibian jurisprudence shaped it in ways for generations to come”, Kukuri said.
Chief justice Peter Shivute, deputy chief justice Petrus Damaseb and Namibia’s judiciary “are profoundly saddened by the loss of a true legal giant”, he stated.
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