JOHANNESBURG: South Africa’s former chief justice Pius Nkonzo Langa, who fought for the release of jailed anti-apartheid activists, died in a Johannesburg hospital on Wednesday at the age of 74, the presidency said.

“The country has lost one of its best legal minds, a dedicated human rights jurist and a veteran struggle activist,” President Jacob Zuma said in a statement.

Langa was one of 11 judges appointed by former president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela to serve on the newly established Constitutional Court after the end of apartheid in 1994.

Before that, Langa spent years advocating for the release of political prisoners under the apartheid regime, including Mandela.

In 2005 Langa was appointed by then president Thabo Mbeki to become chief justice and head of the Constitutional Court. During a legal career spanning several decades, Langa was also involved in constitutional reviews in Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Tanzania.

He also chaired a Southern African Development Community (SADC) commission that investigated the disputed 1998 Lesotho elections.

In 2000 he was appointed the Commonwealth special envoy to help the south Pacific Ocean island of Fiji return to constitutional democracy. He retired in October 2009 but even then his work continued. He headed the Press Freedom Commission, which examined regulations governing the print media in South Africa.

Helen Zille, leader of the main opposition Democratic Alliance, said Langa’s “commitment to human rights, equality and justice” made him one of “our most admirable proponents of democracy.”

Langa’s brother Mandla said the former top judge had been in hospital for about a month before his death. He did not disclose the nature of the illness.