03 December 2012
Former Chief Justice Arthur Chaskalson has died in Johannesburg on Saturday after reportedly suffering from pneumonia.
Chaskalson was the president of the Constitutional Court from 1994 to 2001 and then became Chief Justice until he retired in 2005. He was hailed as one of the architects of South Africa’s democracy.
In a short statement Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the UFS, said: “Chief Justice Chaskalson stands as a giant on the South African landscape, a man whose sense of justice and his deep humanity put him on the right side of history as part of the legal team defending Nelson Mandela. It was completely appropriate that he was chosen to serve as the first Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, where he again served as a moral beacon for all citizens in our emerging democracy.”
IOL reports President Jacob Zuma has declared Chaskalson’s funeral a special official funeral. National flags, including that at the UFS, will fly at half-mast from Monday until Friday.