The Constitutional Court is expected to hold a special ceremonial sitting for outgoing Chief Justice Raymond Zondo on Wednesday morning.

Chief Justice Zondo is expected to leave the bench at the end of August following 27 years of service to the judiciary.

He will hand down his final judgement on the day.

‘Deputy Chief Justice Mandisa Maya, Justices of the Constitutional Court, Judicial Officers as well as representatives of the Executive, Parliament and the legal profession will participate in this event,’ the Office of the Chief Justice (OCJ) said in a statement.

Long serving

Chief Justice Zondo’s foray into practicing law began when he served articles under anti-Apartheid activist Victoria Mxenge before her assassination at the hands of Apartheid South Africa operatives.

Following that, he was a practising attorney in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, before his first approach to the bench just three years after the dawn of democracy.

‘Justice Zondo…was appointed as a Judge of the Labour Court in 1997. In Apr
il 1999 he was appointed as a Judge of the then Transvaal Provincial Division of the High Court. He served for close to eleven years as Judge-President of the Labour Appeal Court and Labour Court. His ten-year term of office as Judge-President ended in April 2010,’ the OCJ said.

Following 15 years on the lower benches, Chief Justice Zondo was then appointed as a Constitutional Court Justice in 2012.

‘In June 2017 he was appointed as Deputy Chief Justice of the Republic of South Africa. In January 2018 he was appointed as the Chairperson of the State Capture Commission, also known as the Zondo Commission.

‘With effect from 1 April 2022 he was appointed as the Chief Justice of the Republic. For the past two and a half years he has led the Judiciary of this country with great success. His term of office comes to an end on 31 August 2024,’ the statement said.

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Source: South African Government News Agency