Richard J. Goldstone, former Justice of the Constitutional Court of SA, is born

On 26 October 1938, Richard Goldstone,a well-known figure in the legal fraternity, was born in Boksburg, Gauteng Province. In 1962, Goldstone graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and couple of years later he was made the judge of the Transvaal Supreme Court. Towards the end of apartheid, Goldstone headed a commission to investigate political violence and intimidation that took place between July 1991 and the 1994 general election. He then went on to serve as a judge of the Constitutional Court, and was tasked with assisting in the drafting of the South African Constitution, which was adopted in 1996. From August 1994 to September 1996 he was the first chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. In 2009, he was appointed to head a fact-finding mission to Israel to investigate violations against international human rights law with regard to Israel's occupation of Gaza Strip. His involvement has been criticized on the basis that it was biased against Israel and that the report submitted in his name mostly included interviews with members of Hamas. Richard Goldstone has been recognised internationally for his continuous contribution to the development of human rights law world-wide.