Personal details
The late Ismail Mahomed was born in Pretoria on 5 July 1931 and died on 17 June 2000. He was married.
Education
Judge Mahomed matriculated at Pretoria Indian Boys' High School in 1950. He completed a BA degree at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1953 and a BA honours with distinction in political science in 1954. He completed his LLB in 1957.
Professional history
Judge Mahomed was admitted to the Johannesburg Bar, because the Bar in Pretoria, where he lived, was reserved for whites.
During the early sixties he was admitted as an advocate in Lesotho, Botswana, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. In 1984 he was admitted to the English Bar.
He built an extensive litigation practice and in 1974 he became the first black person in the country's history to take silk.
Judge Mahomed's practice was concentrated on civil rights. He appeared in numerous trials on behalf of some of the leading figures in the anti-apartheid movement and played a leading role in challenges to the government's administrative and executive decrees during his 35-year career as an advocate.
In 1979 he was appointed a judge of the Appeal Court in Swaziland and in 1982 he was made a judge of appeal in Lesotho. He later became the Chief Justice of Namibia and the president of the Lesotho Court of Appeal. In this capacity he gave some of these courts' leading constitutional and administrative law judgments.
He also co-chaired the Conference for a Democratic South Africa, better known as Codesa.
In 1991, after the unbanning of the ANC, he became the first black person in South African history to be made a permanent judge of the Supreme Court of South Africa.
Judge Mahomed was appointed to the Constitutional Court in 1994. In 1998 he was made Chief Justice, a position he held until his death in 2000.
Other activities
Judge Mahomed published numerous articles in law journals and lectured on human rights jurisprudence at universities abroad.
He was made an honorary professor of law at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1990. He received honorary doctorates in law from the University of Delhi and the University of Pennsylvania.
He was awarded the Indicator Human Rights award in 1990 and also received the special award of the Black Lawyers' Association for his outstanding contribution to the development of human rights in South Africa.
Service on the Constitutional Court
- Justice 1994 - 1998 Appointed by President Nelson Mandela
- Elevated By President Nelson Mandela to Chief Justice 1998 - 2000
- Died 17 June 2000
Personal details
The late John Mowbray Didcott was born in Durban on 14 August 1931 and died on 20 October 1998. He was married and had two daughters.
Education
Judge Didcott matriculated at Hilton College, outside Pietermaritzburg, in 1948.
He studied at the University of Cape Town, where he obtained the degrees of Bachelor of Arts in 1951 and Bachelor of Laws in 1953.
He was the secretary of the Students' Representative Council from 1951 to 1952 and the president of the council from 1952 to 1954. He also served as vice-president of the National Union of South African Students from 1953 to 1954 and as its president from 1954 to 1955.
In 1953 he was awarded an Abe Bailey Travel Bursary to the United Kingdom. He was also a member of the team representing the International Student Conference, which visited universities in southeast Asia for six months in 1955 and 1956.
Judge Didcott was admitted to the Bar in Cape Town on 26 February 1954. He served as a Supreme Court reporter on the staff of the Cape Argus from 1954 to 1955, after which he practised at the Durban Bar from July 1956 until June 1975.
He was appointed senior counsel on 19 July 1967. From 1973 to 1975 he was the chairperson of the Society of Advocates of Natal. He was the Natal delegate to the annual general meetings of the General Council of the Bar of South Africa held in 1961, 1966, 1969, 1971, 1973 and 1974.
Judge Didcott served as an acting judge of the Natal Provincial Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa during February 1971 and from April to June 1975. He was judge of the Natal Provincial Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa from 16 June 1975 until 12 October 1994. He was also a member of the Special Electoral Court for the 1994 general election.
From August to December 1984 he was a visiting scholar at the Law School of Columbia University, New York. He served as chancellor of the University of Durban-Westville from 1988 to 1993. He has been a member of the board of governors of the University of Cape Town Foundation since 1990 and honorary professor in the Department of Procedural and Clinical Law at the University of Natal in Durban since 1989.
He was awarded the degree of Doctor of Law (honoris causa) by the University of Natal on 17 April 1991, by the University of Cape Town on 28 June 1991 and by the University of the Witwatersrand on 30 April 1992.
Judge Didcott served on the Constitutional Court from his appointment in 1994 until his death in 1998.
Service on the Constitutional Court
- Justice 1994 - 1998
- Died 20 October 1998
JSC Interviews