SPI sadly mourns the passing of Justice Yvonne Mokgoro, and we extend our deepest sympathies to her family, her colleagues and the nation as we have lost one of the greats.
Justice Mokgoro’ s life is an exemplar for social justice in South Africa, the region and globally. She served on the Constitutional Court as the first black woman judge from 1994 to 2009 and she will always be an incredible role model for young black women navigating their way in the legal world, a space and reality still heavily dominated by the norms and values attendant on being white and male.
Judge Yvonne Mokgoro was a student activist with SASO in the early 1980s. When on trial as a youth living in Kimberly she was represented by Robert Sobukwe, who encouraged her to study law. She went on to study law both in South Africa and the USA.
In addition to her career as a legal academic and a Concourt judge, Judge Mokgoro chaired numerous bodies including the South African Law Commission and the council of the University of Venda. In 2021 she was appointed chair to the UN Human Rights Council’s Racial Justice Body that examined systemic racism in law enforcement and criminal justice systems.
Justice Mokgoro has always been a very good friend to SPI. Over the years she generously gave her time, and shared her sharp jurisprudential acumen in sessions convened to find ways to use the formal legal processes to advance more universal enjoyment of the socio-economic rights as transformative pathways to the fundamental rights to life, dignity and equality. She used her skills to challenge our thinking but she also advised us on the limitations of what law and the courts could do, and she would always challenge us to build strategies to advance rights beyond the courts, within society.
Judge Mokgoro’ s legal and jurisprudential contributions are happily recorded for posterity in the judgments that she wrote in her time at the constitutional court. Her ability to describe the fundamental truths of the constitution come through so clearly in the following extract from the judgement of S v Khosa:
“The right of access to social security, including social assistance, for those unable to support themselves and their dependants is entrenched because as a society we value human beings and want to ensure that people are afforded their basic needs. A society must seek to ensure that the basic necessities of life are accessible to all if it is to be a society in which human dignity, freedom and equality are foundational.”
We are the richer for her life; she will be sorely missed. We say goodbye to the late, great, Justice Yvonne Mokgoro. Hamba Kahle, Madam Mokgoro.
