Justice Sachs as Kosami festival

Nigel Britto

Clearly, the crowds that stormed Kala Academy for the first four days of the D D Kosambi festival of ideas grossly underestimated the stature of justice Albie Sachs. His name did not have the instant recognition of the Dalai Lama or APJ Abdul Kalam, but the humorous South African legal luminary with an inspiring life story made sure the 700-odd people who came to hear him had an intellectually stimulating evening they're not likely to forget. 

Clad in a printed silk shirt and sporting a red dot on his forehead, the iconic judge who abolished capital punishment, legalized gay rights and founded South Africa's constitutional court didn't speak much; the rainbow nation's Ambedkar preferred to let his achievements speak for themselves. As a white screen rolled down and Sachs walked down to the front row beside his friend Charles Correia, he led his audience to a virtual tour of the institution he started and nurtured, South Africa's Constitutional court. He explained the quirkiness of its architecture and design, and explained how every little detail used in its construction had its roots in South Africa's rich colonial and cultural history. 

Sachs, who was appointed judge by Nelson Mandela in 1994, retired from his beloved court in 2009, and while he was there, often led tours around it, detailing how the building serves as a symbol of the South African people's new-found rights. 

Much like Mandela, Sachs too had to undergo torture, imprisonment and exile before returning triumphant to his homeland. During his travails in the former Portuguese colony of Mozambique, he was the target of an assassination attempt. When a bomb placed in his car exploded, Sachs lost his eye, but retained his vision; he lost his arm, but retained his spirit. 

Like the former pope did before him, Sachs later met his assailants to extend his forgiveness. The story goes that they cried for two weeks after the emotional meeting. In any case, tears are not alien to Sachs; he says he wept when a particular judgment of the court restored the rights of an HIV positive man to work for South Africa's national airline. "I cried because I was so happy to be part of a court that can finally protect people's basic human rights," he said. 

Even in the auditorium, when conducting the virtual tour of the court, several members of the audience had to dab their eyes with handkerchiefs as Sachs explained how every aspect of the court (built on the grounds of a former prison) and its procedure served as a metaphor of a nation reborn. "We realized we needed to stop locking each other up and figure out a way to live together like decent human beings," he said. The happy design of the court does just that; outsiders can look through the windows at proceedings, "justice has to be transparent, not secret", he said. 

Even the colonial procedures were done away with. "We didn't want to be called 'My Lord' or 'Your Honour'," he said. Also, "instead of black or red robes, we wore green ones to symbolize the nascent court. We discarded Latin terminology too. Instead of words like inter alia or contemplate, we used 'among others' and 'envisage' respectively." Sachs also made sure the constitution he fathered did away with legal jargon and was worded in the most accessible language possible. 

Known for his funny side, the judge once started a judgment with 'does the law have a sense of humour?' Even after his recovery from the assassination attempt in Mozambique, he twisted Descartes' words and said, "I joke, therefore I am". He also recalled how he told himself jokes during the darkest moments of his life. 

Speaking about India's contribution to South African jurisprudence, he said, "South Africa learned a lot from the Indian judiciary; in the 1970s and '80s we received a lot of good judgments from the Supreme Court, particularly by justices Bhagvati and Krishna Iyer." 

In response to a question, he also declared that "democracy is available to all countries", arguing that "those who oppose democracy are usually dictators who oppress and torture their subjects". 

After the lecture, many listeners went to the nearby stall where books by the speakers were being sold. Unfortunately, most had to go home disappointed as the stall had books by all speakers except this one. 

This article was first published in The Times of India's Goa edition dated February 10, 2011.