Former judge Willem Heath, who was internationally recognised for his expertise in combatting corruption and fraud, has died.
He was 79.
An impeccable source confirmed his passing to IOL on Wednesday afternoon.
Former Judge, Advocate Willem Heath, was born in Boksburg in 1945.
Heath studied at the University of Pretoria where he acquired two degrees.
One was a BA in Law which he got in 1966 and the other one was the LLB degree in 1968.
His career began as a prosecutor before starting his own private practice in Pretoria as an advocate.
In 1995, former president Nelson Mandela appointed him to head the Heath Commission of Inquiry into maladministration and corruption in the Eastern Cape which he chaired until 1997.
After the commission, Heath headed the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) until 2001.
Following his departure at the SIU, he set up Heath Executive Consultants, a firm offering legal advice and forensic investigation.
His most high-profile clients were those engaged in prolonged political battles.
Some of the big names he worked with include the late mining magnate, Brett Kebble.
Heath stepped in during the criminal case involving Kebble’s father, Roger, specifically targeting the involvement of the private security company Associated Intelligence Network.
He engaged the security company and its investigations led to Roger’s provisional arrest for fraud to later being withdrawn.
Judge Heath leveraged his judicial authority to adamantly proclaim the innocence of his clients, a practice he continued when representing the embattled former president, Jacob Zuma.
In 2005, when Zuma was charged with corruption, Heath announced that Zuma had asked him to “advise him on the merits of the case against him”.
He had provided counsel to both Zuma and later, the ANC on how to respond to the charges.