Eastern Cape judge Ndumiso Jaji dies

High court judge Ndumiso Patrick Jaji has died suddenly in a Port Elizabeth hospital after a short illness.

Colleagues and friends in Makhanda and elsewhere in the province are shaken by the news of the death of Jaji, 53, who served on the Eastern Cape bench for three years.

The National Association of Democratic Lawyers (Nadel), an organisation Jaji served for many years before he was elevated to the bench, said its members were filled with sadness and grief at his untimely death.

“Tears are still flowing uncontrollably from our eyes, because the sense of deprivation at his departure afflicts us with great intensity,” said Nadel secretary general Nolitha Jali.

“Patrick belonged to a generation of activists who, in the early 80s, confronted the apartheid regime as part of the Congress of South African Students and since then his life has been synonymous with the youth's resistance against apartheid.”

Jaji completed his B Proc at the University of Durban Westville in 1995 and his LLB in 1996. He achieved an MSc in transport and maritime management at Antwerp University, Belgium, in 2003.

He served as an attorney at Goldberg & De Villiers in Port Elizabeth between 1996 and 2002 and became an acting magistrate in that city in 2010.

Jaji first acted in the high court in Bloemfontein in 2014. In 2015 he was appointed as a magistrate in Cape Town.

He was elevated to the Eastern Cape high court bench in 2017.

Before his appointment he served in various capacities in Nadel, including as its secretary general.

Jali said Jaji was determined to advance the cause of a free and just society before and after his appointment to the bench.

“Throughout his life, Patrick was the epitome of age-old values of selflessness, service, sacrifice, and Ubuntu. He understood that his privileged position, having triumphed over the trappings of poverty in Kwazakhele, must be used to advance the interests of others, true to Nadel’s values and mission.”

She said at this dark time during the pandemic, he would want people to draw inspiration from those who had never given up in the face of adversity.

Mthatha attorney Mvuzo Notyesi, a close friend and colleague, said Jaji had been honest and up-front about his views and beliefs, on and off the bench.

“He was reliable and resolute in what he stood for, which was fairness and justice. He was a man of justice and he will be deeply missed.”

Eastern Cape judge president Selby Mbenenge said Jaji had an extroverted nature and was a friend to all his colleagues.

He said the family had not yet provided funeral details. He would organise a memorial service via web conferencing service Zoom in due course, he added.