Staff Reporter.
Caption: March 2003. South Africa. Kemp J Kemp, advocate to Jacob Zuma. Kemp and Zuma at his rape trial in the constitutional court.
The Legal Practice Council has confirmed that prominent lawyer Advocate Kemp J Kemp has died after contracting COVID-19.
Kemp, who was arguably best known for defending former president Jacob Zuma during his 2006 rape trial, passed away on Tuesday night.
Dr Llewellyn Curlewis is the former president of the Law Society of the Northern Provinces and is currently on the management committee of the Gauteng Legal Practice Council.
Curlewis said that Kemp had a brilliant and sharp legal mind.
“He was one of the most brilliant brains in the South African legal fraternity and this is a big loss for the law and the legal fraternity itself. On behalf of the legal fraternity, especially in the former Transvaal, Eastern Gauteng division of the Legal Practice Council our deepest condolences go out to the family and friends of this colleague.”
A close friend, who did not wish to be named, said Kemp had been admitted to hospital after battling Covid-19 symptoms a few weeks ago.
He was discharged and had been staying with a friend but recently moved back to his Ballito apartment.
When he didn’t answer his phone, the alarm was raised and he was found dead in his bed.
The legal community is mourning his death. In posts on social media, Kemp was described as “eccentric” with a brilliant legal mind. “He was a legal legend who would come to chambers at 3am in his pyjamas,” said one person who posted.
Another post read: “Kemp was a true Renaissance man — brilliant mind, sportsman of note, genuinely humble and kind and he knew how to have fun too. “He leaves behind two adult children.