Law students urged to forge their own path with constitution as a guide

Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Andries Nel, has urged law students at the University of Stellenbosch to look to prominent legal minds of the past to guide their careers.

Nel, himself a law graduate, delivered the keynote

address at Career Day for Law Students held at the university, under the theme: "The Constitution at 30: Preserving Nelson Mandela’s Legacy of Equality and Justice."

South Africa’s most prominent legal trailblazers who fought for constitutional and human rights for all South Africans include former President Nelson Mandela, human rights lawyer Advocate Duma Nokwe, anti-apartheid hero Oliver Tambo, Priscilla Jana, former Justice of the Constitutional Court Albie Sachs and human rights lawyers Griffiths and Victoria Mxenge.

“South Africa has a very proud history of lawyers who had devoted themselves to justice. They came from many different backgrounds. In many cases, they came from different paths. But they shared a conviction that the law must serve justice. When the law was used as an instrument of oppression, they reclaimed its moral purpose. When the courts enforced injustice, they used the courtroom as a site of struggle and resistance,” the deputy minister said.

He acknowledged that today’s law practitioners face different challenges from those who practiced during apartheid.

“That tradition of using the courtroom as a site of struggle is far from over. We now have a whole new generation of public interest lawyers who’ve continued in that struggle. The question then, that you need to ask yourselves…is what you, individually and collectively, do with South Africa’s constitution.

“You will answer that question not only through what you believe but what you choose to do with your legal education because the law is not merely a profession, it is a public trust. That public trust is now passing to you,” he emphasised.

This year, South Africa commemorates the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution, which Nel also had a hand, as a member of the constitutional parliament at the time.

“Thirty years ago, we made a very profound choice as a nation to choose constitutional supremacy over arbitrary power. But constitutions do not defend themselves, rights do not enforce themselves, the rule of law does not preserve itself, people do.

“And it’s people of integrity, people of courage, people with knowledge, people who understand that legal knowledge is not only a source of personal opportunity but a responsibility to society and a responsibility that now belongs to you,” Nel said. – SAnews.gov.za