- Faculty of Law honours 2016 academic achievers

On 5 April 2017, the Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria hosted its annual Recognition of Achievement Function for those students who excelled in the 2016 academic year.  

The keynote speaker at this prestigious event was Judge Jody Kollapen from the North Gauteng High Court Division, who was recommended as a Constitutional Court Justice just a day before the function.  Judge Kollapen, a human rights stalwart, expressed his appreciation of the high caliber students that the Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria delivers and said that it is always a pleasure for the judiciary to admit TuksLaw students to the organised profession.  He explained his own struggles as a young man to gain entrance to the historically white universities which he succeeded in doing after his second year of law studies.  He also mentioned that he was a proud father of three daughters who are all pursuing their studies at the University of Pretoria.

He congratulated and motivated achievers as quality educated skilled young professionals to make meaningful contributions to the socio-economic advancement of an inclusive South African democracy, and appealed to them to help build South Africa based on the principles set out in the Constitution.

Upon introducing Judge Kollapen to attendees, Dean André Boraine said that ‘as a practising attorney, human rights activist, representative of the South African Human Rights Council and African national institutions at various sessions of the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights in Gambia, Burundi, Rwanda and Algeria, a nominee as Justice for the Constitutional Court, TuksLaw is indeed honoured to welcome Judge Kollapen as keynote speaker to this prestigious event’.

Several awards, bursaries, merit certificates and prizes were presented to acknowledge the many achievements of TuksLaw students.

Deputy Dean Anton Kok concluded the event by again congratulating all the Faculty’s achievers on their accomplishments, and on behalf of the Faculty of Law and law students, he expressed the Faculty’s appreciation towards the bursars, donors and prize givers for their continued support.