Chief Justice Zondo pays tribute to Justice Mokgoro, says she embodied SA's Constitution

JOHANNESBURG - Chief Justice Raymond Zondo described Justice Yvonne Mokgoro as the embodiment of the values of South Africa's Constitution.

Zondo spoke at Mokgoro’s funeral in Bryanston on Thursday.

She died at the age of 73 after a long illness.

Zondo expressed gratitude to Justice Mokgoro and her 10 fellow judges who formed the bench of South Africa’s first democratic Constitutional Court.

He remembered how Mokgoro was part of the panel that outlawed the death penalty, bringing an end to suffering during apartheid.

Zondo also reminisced on Mokgoro’s contribution in a Constitutional Court matter that resulted in prisoners being allowed to vote and another that resulted in South Africans living abroad casting their ballots in the 1999 election.

The chief justice said that Justice Mokgoro had a special passion for vulnerable groups and that can be seen in the many judgments that she penned.