Speeches

Tribute by the Hon Andries Nel, MP, Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development at a Court Sitting in Memoriam of Retired Judge President Achmat Naeem Jappie of the KwaZulu-Natal Division of the High Court Pietermaritzburg on 13 July 2026

Programme Director, Honourable Judge President Thoba Poyo-Dlwati,

Deputy Chief Justice Dunstan Mlambo and Justice Leona Theron,

Judges President Zeenat Carlese and Aubrey Ledwaba.

Retired Judge President Vuka Tshabalala,

Deputy Judge President Zaba Nkosi,

Members of the Judiciary,

The National Prosecuting Authority and Legal Aid South Africa,

Representatives of the organised legal profession,

Distinguished guests,

Most importantly, Judge Soraya Hassim and the Jappie family,

Today we gather in this Court not merely to remember a distinguished judge. We gather to honour a life that reminds us why justice matters.

We gather to honour a man whose quiet dignity, unwavering integrity and profound humanity strengthened public confidence in justice itself.

Judge President Achmat Naeem Jappie belonged to that remarkable generation of South African jurists who witnessed the law in two very different forms.

They knew the law when it was used to divide and oppress. They helped shape the law that now unites and helps to free the potential of each person.

They experienced a legal system that denied rights. They helped build one dedicated to protecting them.

In remembering Judge President Jappie, we therefore remember something larger than one distinguished judicial career. We remember the journey of our Republic.

This year South Africa celebrates thirty years since the adoption of our democratic Constitution under the theme: One Constitution. One Nation. Reflect. Renew. Recommit.

Thirty years ago we made a fundamental national choice. We chose constitutional supremacy over parliamentary sovereignty. We chose human dignity over racial domination. We chose equality over exclusion. We chose accountability over arbitrary power. And we chose an independent judiciary as the guardian of those values. That choice changed South Africa forever.

But constitutions do not defend themselves. Rights do not enforce themselves. The rule of law does not preserve itself. People do. Women and men of courage and integrity. Judge President Jappie was one of those people. His journey itself reflected the injustice of apartheid.

Born in Port Elizabeth in 1954, he encountered barriers deliberately designed to limit the ambitions of young South Africans classified by race. Even the choice of where to study law was determined by apartheid legislation. Yet determination found a path where discrimination erected obstacles.

Through perseverance, and a measure of ingenuity, he entered the University of Durban-Westville and began the legal education that would shape the next four decades of his life. 

His story reminds us that talent is universal. Opportunity was not. Democracy sought to change precisely that.

At the Durban Bar he quickly earned respect as an able advocate. Yet his significance lay not simply in professional success. During the turbulent 1980s he defended political activists at a time when many faced prosecution under unjust laws. 

He understood something fundamental. The law can become an instrument of oppression. But in the hands of principled lawyers and independent judges, it can become an instrument of freedom. That conviction shaped the judge he later became.

When he was appointed to the Bench in 1998, South Africa's constitutional democracy was still young. The Judiciary itself was undergoing profound transformation. Judge President Jappie became one of the generation entrusted with giving practical meaning to the Constitution.

He did so not through flamboyance. He did so through excellence. Not through self-promotion. But through painstaking scholarship. His colleagues remember a judge who was courteous but firm. Patient but disciplined. Humble but authoritative. One who insisted that every litigant be heard.

One who understood that justice is measured not only by outcomes but by the fairness of the process.

Those qualities explain why the tributes paid to him have been remarkably consistent. Chief Justice Mandisa Maya described him as a jurist who served with honour and integrity. This Division remembered him as a gentleman, a mentor and a thoroughly decent human being. Practitioners remembered that no one left his courtroom believing they had not received a fair hearing. No judicial officer could hope for a finer epitaph.

Judge President Jappie also understood something that is sometimes overlooked. The Constitution is implemented not only through judgments. It is implemented through institutions. He knew that missing files delay justice. Failing infrastructure weakens justice. Administrative dysfunction denies justice.

When he became Judge President, he confronted these problems directly because he understood that constitutional rights become meaningful only when courts function efficiently, professionally and independently. That insight remains profoundly relevant today. Today South Africa faces challenges that test the resilience of our constitutional order.

We confront organised crime that seeks to infiltrate state institutions. The work of the Madlanga Commission reminds us that criminal networks do not merely threaten public safety; they seek to undermine the very institutions upon which constitutional democracy depends.

There are allegations touching institutions across our criminal justice system, including the judiciary itself. Such allegations must never be ignored. Nor must they be assumed to be true without due process.

The Constitution requires something more demanding. It requires independent investigation. Evidence. Accountability. Above all, fidelity to the rule of law.That is the standard Judge President Jappie upheld throughout his life.

We are also confronted by the scourge of political violence. Every councillor assassinated. Every municipal official threatened. Every prosecutor intimidated. Every witness or whistle-blower silenced. Every attack upon a judicial officer – is an attack upon constitutional democracy itself.

Violence can never become an alternative to the law. The answer to injustice is justice. The answer to criminality is law enforcement. The answer to violence is the rule of law. South Africa is also engaged in an important national conversation about migration.

Many South Africans have genuine concerns about employment, public services, security and the enforcement of immigration laws.

President Ramaphosa has rightly recognised those concerns as legitimate while making equally clear that they must be addressed through lawful state action - not through vigilantism, intimidation or xenophobic violence.  

That distinction is fundamental. That is the discipline constitutional democracy demands of all of us.

Judge President Jappie spent his life demonstrating that difficult questions must always be answered through law rather than through anger, prejudice or force.

He also understood, and lived, the beautiful and profound words of the Holy Quran in the Surah Al-Hujurat 49:13: "O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise (each other)."

Perhaps our greatest challenge today is one less visible but equally serious. It is the erosion of public confidence.

Recent research tells us that too many South Africans have become less satisfied with the way democracy is working. Confidence in public institutions has declined. Across Africa, many citizens question whether justice is equally available to the powerful and the poor alike.

These findings should concern every one of us. Because democracy ultimately rests not upon constitutions alone. It rests upon trust. Trust that elections matter. Trust that Parliament matters. Trust that government acts lawfully. Trust that courts remain independent. Trust that justice belongs equally to everyone.

Judge President Jappie understood that every fair hearing strengthened that trust. Every carefully reasoned and timeously delivered judgment strengthened that trust. Every litigant treated with dignity strengthened that trust.

That is why judicial independence remains one of the defining constitutional questions of our time. An independent judiciary is not a privilege enjoyed by judges. It is a guarantee enjoyed by the people. Without independent courts, rights become promises without remedies.

Without independent courts, constitutional supremacy becomes aspiration rather than reality. Without independent courts, democracy itself is diminished.

Government therefore remains firmly committed to strengthening the institutional independence of the Judiciary while at the same time ensuring that trust is maintained through appropriate accountability.

We remain committed to the establishment of a single Judiciary. We remain committed to a judiciary-led court administration model. These are not administrative reforms They are constitutional imperatives.

They honour the vision of those, like Judge President Jappie, who devoted their lives to building courts worthy of the Constitution.

President Nelson Mandela reminded the judges of our newly established Constitutional Court that their authority comes from the people through the Constitution.

Judge President Jappie never forgot that truth. He exercised authority with humility because he understood its source. He exercised authority with courage because he understood its purpose. He exercised authority with restraint because he understood its limits. And he exercised authority with humanity because he understood the people whom the law exists to serve.

Today we bid farewell to a distinguished jurist. But we also renew a promise. A promise to preserve the independence of our courts. A promise to strengthen the institutions of justice. A promise to defend the rule of law.

A promise to ensure that every South African regardless of race, gender, wealth, language or place of birth can enter a courtroom with confidence that they will receive justice according to law.

That, I believe, is the memorial Judge President Achmat Naeem Jappie would have wanted. Not a monument of stone. Not words spoken for a single morning. But institutions of integrity. Courts that function. Judges who are fearless. Justice that is accessible.

A Constitution that lives not only in our law reports, but in the daily experience of the people. May his example continue to inspire and guide us. And may his memory continue to strengthen the Republic he served so faithfully.

In honour of his memory I request that we rise and recite the Preamble to the Constitution of the Republic.

"We, the people of South Africa,

Recognise the injustices of our past;

Honour those who suffered for justice and freedom in our land;

Respect those who have worked to build and develop our country; and

Believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity.

We therefore, through our freely elected representatives, adopt this Constitution as the supreme law of the Republic so as to –

• Heal the divisions of the past and establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights;

• Lay the foundations for a democratic and open society in which government is based on the will of the people and every citizen is equally protected by law;

• Improve the quality of life of all citizens and free the potential of each person; and

• Build a united and democratic South Africa able to take its rightful place as a sovereign state in the family of nations.

May God protect our people.

Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika. Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso.

God seën Suid-Afrika. God bless South Africa.

Mudzimu fhatutshedza Afurika. Hosi katekisa Afrika."