The Presidential Years

The legal profession and the judiciary in South Africa have no perfect past. There have been failures and lost opportunities, institutional and individual. But it is also true that there have been women and men among South Africa's lawyers, including its judges and advocates, who have been committed to the rule of law and to the achievement of a constitutional democracy. Some have paid a high price for this.

I believe that people of this kind should be honoured ... The Bar and the Bench are institutions which are not beyond criticism, but criticism serves no purpose if it is purely destructive and does not acknowledge the dedicated contributions which have been made. These have been even at the worst times in our history.280