Justice Yvonne Mokgoro: South Africa’s trailblazing defender of justice, human dignity and the constitution
MANY great legal minds have made important contributions to the development of the law, justice and constitutionalism in South Africa. One figure who stands out as a particularly influential jurist of the era is retired judge Yvonne Mokgoro. She was among the first justices of the country’s new constitutional court, serving from 1994 to 2009. Researchers at South Africa’s Human Sciences Research Council have aptly described this remarkable jurist: As the first black African woman appointed to the Bench in 1994, she brought with her fresh scars of the oppressive system of apartheid that alienated and marginalised her as a…