John Didcott
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Justice John Mowbray Didcott |
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|---|---|
| Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa | |
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In office 14 February 1995 – 20 October 1998 |
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| Nominated by | Judicial Service Commission |
| Appointed by | President Nelson Mandela |
| Succeeded by | Sandile Ngcobo |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
14 August 1931 Durban, Natal, South Africa |
| Died | 20 October 1998 (aged 67) Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa |
| Nationality | South African |
| Alma mater | Hilton College, University of Cape Town |
| Occupation | Judge |
| Profession | Lawyer |
John Mowbray Didcott (1931–1998) was a South African lawyer, judge and a Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa from the court's opening on 14 February 1995 until his death. Didcott was known for his firm support of human rights during 23 years on the bench in and after the apartheid era.
Didcott was born on 14 August 1931 in Durban. After matriculating at Hilton College, near Pietermaritzburg in 1948 he went to the University of Cape Town (UCT) where he obtained a BA in 1951 and an LLB in 1953. At university he involved himself in student politics and gained a reputation as a powerful public speaker. He was twice elected president of the UCT Students' representative council (SRC) and later became President of the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS). Didcott was a founder member of the Liberal Party of South Africa, which brought him to the attention of the security police.
In 1953 he was awarded an Abe Bailey Travel Bursary to the United Kingdom. He was also a member of the team representing the International Student Conference, which visited universities in Southeast Asia for six months in 1955 and 1956.
After graduating, Didcott was admitted to the Bar in Cape Town on 26 February 1954, but then joined the Cape Argus for a year as Supreme Court reporter. That experience alerted him to the difficulties and challenges faced by journalists and the media, and he was always an avid reader of newspapers, although often critical of their shortcomings.
In July 1956 Didcott moved to Durban to set up chambers. Shortly thereafter (during the 1960 State of Emergency he was tipped off that the security police planned to detain him for his political activities, and he fled the country to Southern Rhodesia, where he spent some months as a prosecutor until it was safe to return. He returned to the Durban Bar where he built up a successful legal practice. He took silk (appointed a Senior Counsel) on 19 July 1967 and was Chairman of the Bar from 1973 to 1975. He served as an acting judge of the Natal Provincial Division in 1971 and again in 1975. In June 1975, at the comparatively young age of 44, he was invited to take an appointment as a judge. For someone with strong liberal principles it involved careful thought. He had to balance the problem of administering apartheid legislation with the possibility of making a difference on the Bench and somehow helping to alleviate the impact of unjust laws. Convinced of the useful contribution he could make, he accepted. However, his decision and that of like-minded judges -was publicly challenged some years later when Natal University law professor Raymond Wacks urged that all 'moral judges' should resign. Judge Didcott had no time for this view.
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