Tholakele Madala

Tholakele Madala was born in Kokstad on 13 July 1937. He matriculated at St John's College in Umtata before obtaining a BA degree at the University of Fort Hare.

He taught at the Lovedale Institute in Alice, and in Swaziland before enrolling for a law degree at the University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg in 1972. Here he helped to set up the first legal-aid clinic on the campus to give poor people access to legal assistance.

Madala later played an important role in starting the Umtata Law Clinic, which gained a reputation for fearlessly championing the protection of human rights of the underprivileged. He became a lecturer in the law faculty at the University of Transkei before practising as an attorney.

From 1987 to 1990 he was the vice-chairman of the Society of Advocates of Transkei. Between 1991 and 1993 he was the chairman of the Society of Advocates of Transkei and represented the society on the General Council of the Bar of South Africa.

In 1982, he was admitted as an advocate and handled many human rights cases. He took silk in 1993 shortly before being made a judge. He was a founding Constitutional Court judge, appointed by then president Nelson Mandela in 1994. Earlier in 1994, he was appointed to the Umtata Bench and was the first black judge in the Eastern Cape and South Africa's fourth black judge. In 1995, the Black Lawyers Association (BLA) gave him an award in recognition of his human rights work.

Described by a former colleague, Grahamstown High Court Judge Jeremy Pickering, as "a very good, decent, modest and honourable man", Madala performed his duties as a Constitutional Court judge with quiet, unassuming wisdom and, sometimes, understated humour.

His commitment to human rights shone through strongly in his judgments. In 2002, he upheld a ruling that the partners of judges in same-sex relationships could receive the same benefits as the married spouses of judges.

Madala also upheld the rights to privacy and dignity of AIDS sufferers who had been named without their consent in a biography of politician Patricia de Lille, awarding them each damages of R35000.In a 2008 judgment, he ordered Gauteng's health department to pay the medical and legal fees of a man who had a stroke while undergoing treatment at a state hospital due to an incorrect surgical procedure.

He was also a founder member and director of the Prisoners' Welfare Programmes, which helped political detainees and their families. His other activities included being on the Board of Trustees of the BLA’s legal education centre.  Madala was also a chancellor of the Anglican Diocese of St John.

Madala passed away on 25 August 2010.  He is survived by his wife Patricia, herself an advocate, although not practising, and three children.