The hallowed halls of South Africa’s highest court will soon feel decidedly lighter. On 31 May 2026, Constitutional Court Justice Zukisa Laura Lumka Tshiqi will hang up her robe for the final time, drawing the curtain on a remarkable twenty-one-year journey across the nation’s judiciary. Her retirement marks not merely the departure of a judge, but the quiet closing of a chapter in the young democracy’s legal evolution.
Appointed to the Constitutional Court in 2016, Justice Tshiqi brought with her a reputation forged in the crucible of late-apartheid activism. Born in Soweto, she cut her legal teeth defending the disenfranchised as a public prosecutor before rising through the ranks: first to the High Court in 2005, then the Supreme Court of Appeal in 2012. Along the way, she earned a quiet reverence from colleagues for her razor-sharp reasoning and an almost maternal firmness from the bench.
Her two decades on the bench have been defined not by grandstanding but by meticulous, empathetic jurisprudence. Legal scholars point to her majority judgments on land rights and customary law as quiet masterpieces—rulings that balanced constitutional idealism with the messy realities of rural South Africa. She never sought the spotlight, yet her voice consistently anchored some of the court’s most sensitive decisions.
“She represents the best of us,” said a fellow justice, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Fiercely intelligent, deeply human, and utterly incorruptible.”
As 31 May approaches, the Judicial Service Commission has already begun the solemn work of finding a successor to fill Tshiqi’s chair—a nearly impossible task, some whisper. For now, the Constitutional Court prepares to say goodbye to a judge who proved, over twenty-one years, that justice does not need to roar to be heard. Sometimes, it simply speaks softly and carries a binding order.
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