Former Chief Justice Pius Langa dies

Langa, who was 74 years old, retired in 2009 and went on to chair the Press Freedom Commission. He was born in Bushbuckridge in 1939 and first started work in a shirt factory before moving on to serve in various positions in the then Department of Justice. It was in 1977, after obtaining B Juris and LLB degrees from Unisa, that his legal career took off. In that year, he was admitted as an Advocate of the SCA, practised at the Natal Bar, and, in early 1994, attained the rank of SC. With the establishment of a Constitutional Court, Langa was appointed, with 10 others, to serve in the new court. He became its Deputy President in 1997, and assumed the position of Deputy Chief Justice four years later. Langa was appointed as Chief Justice and head of the Constitutional Court in June 2005, a position he held until his retirement. Among the qualifications he was awarded are Doctor of Laws degrees, [i]honoris causa[/i], by the universities of Zululand, Western Cape, Cape Town, Unisa, Rhodes, Yale in the US and the National University of Ireland. He was awarded the degree Doctor of the Public Service, [i]honoris causa[/i], by North Eastern University, Boston, Massachusetts. Full Mail & Guardian Online report