Judge Kriegler steps down as Freedom Under Law chair after 15 years

Judge Johann Kriegler has stepped down as director of public interest organisation Freedom Under Law [FUL] after 15 years as chair. 

He will be replaced by judge Azhar Cachalia. 

The organisation said Kriegler conveyed to its board at its biennial meeting on Sunday that he wished to step down as a director and chair. 

“The board resolved at the meeting to express its deepest appreciation for the dedication and unflagging leadership displayed by Justice Kriegler since the founding of Freedom under Law in 2008.   

“For the lengthy period he has led the board he has been unsparing of himself in work done to confront lapses in the rule of law across the Southern African region,” FUL said on Tuesday. 

FUL said it believed without Kriegler's personal bravery and clear moral leadership, many abuses of power would have passed without being exposed or challenged.

“His tenacity has ensured that many of those challenges have been successful.” 

FUL said Kriegler served on the first Constitutional Court, retiring in 2022 at the age of 70.   

His career included 25 years at the Johannesburg Bar where he was elected its leader, then 10 years as a high court and appellate division judge, followed by his eight years at the Constitutional Court.   

“He gave up the first two years of his retirement to a two-year acting judicial appointment chiefly engaged in judicial education [for aspirant judges, induction orientation for new appointees and continuing education for lower and superior court judges] and the training of public prosecutors,” FUL said. 

It said Kriegler co-drafted the South African judicial code of conduct.

FUL said Kriegler has also been involved in training judges from a number of countries — ranging from Hong Kong and Iraq to Sudan, Namibia and Swaziland — with an emphasis on constitutional, human rights and electoral dispute adjudication.

It said Kriegler headed the Independent Electoral Commission through the country’s first democratic elections in 1994 and was instrumental in establishing its first permanent elections agency, which he chaired for a number of years.

Kriegler has engaged in electoral missions, often in war-torn places, under the auspices of the UN, the AU and other international agencies.   

“Freedom under Law is proud to have been led by such a brave and honourable combatant for the rule of law. It wishes Justice Kriegler and his wife, Betty Welz, who herself has given so much of the past 15 years to promoting FUL’s work, well in the time they will have together,” it said. 

In his parting remarks, Kriegler said 15 years ago FUL was registered as a not-for-profit company, principally to promote the rule of law in Southern Africa.

“It has actively pursued this goal in various ways, notably by strategic litigation. This has been made possible by the generous backing of public-spirited funders and — crucially — by the exceptional services provided willingly and at no charge by some of the country’s foremost attorneys and advocates.

“FUL can, with due modesty, claim success in a long list of notable interventions where the rule of law has been at stake, for instance regarding [police officials] Richard Mdluli, Berning Ntlemeza, [senior prosecutors] Nomgcobo Jiba, Shaun Abrahams, [judge] John Hlophe, [former Sars commissioner] Tom Moyane and [judge] Nkola Motata — all household names today.”

The new chair, Cachalia, has been a director since 2021. 

Cachalia recently retired as judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal, on which he had served for 15 years, with two court terms spent on the Constitutional Court. He was a founder and leading member of anti-apartheid formation the United Democratic Front. 

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