South Africa's first nonwhite chief justice dies at 68

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Ismail Mohamed, the first nonwhite to serve as chief justice in South Africa, died of pancreatic cancer in a Johannesburg hospital Saturday. He was 68.

Mohamed, who was of Indian descent, defended anti-apartheid activists for decades and was considered one of the most gifted orators among South Africa's lawyers.

He became the country's first nonwhite judge in 1991, when South Africa was still ruled by the white minority. Former President Nelson Mandela named him chief justice of the Supreme Court of Appeal in 1996. He held the post until his illness forced him to step down in February.

Mohamed, a devout Muslim, studied law at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, one of the country's top universities. But after he passed the bar in 1957, apartheid laws prevented him from renting chambers in the building that housed the Johannesburg Bar, which was located in a whites-only area.

For 12 years, Mohamed was forced to borrow desk space from colleagues when they were busy in court and decamp to the law library when they returned. He eventually obtained a special permit in 1969, but still faced numerous restrictions under apartheid.

Mohamed was considered an expert on the Group Areas Act, which segregated neighborhoods by race. He was also a leading authority on constitutional law. He helped author the constitution for neighboring Namibia, which gained independence from South Africa in 1990.

When he was named chief justice, Mohamed had to move to the judicial capital of Bloemfontein, a place that brought back painful memories.

During the apartheid era, Bloemfontein was part of the Orange Free State, which for years barred Indians from remaining in the province overnight. When working in the province, he had to leave each night before dusk and return the next morning.

''My return to that province revives fresh wounds and painful memories which I cannot and would not want to obliterate,'' he said.

Upon becoming chief justice, Mohamed said he hoped to contribute to ''the urgent need to salvage the image of the law.''

''The judiciary needs to be a friend and protector of the people, instead of an instrument of racial, gender and political oppression,'' he said.