Jan Steyn

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Jan Hendrik Steyn (4 March 1928 – 30 December 2013) was a South African judge, development leader and campaigner for social justice. Although raised in Afrikaner circles, he became a strong opponent of apartheid and worked to move South Africa toward democracy by combining law with development.

He served as a judge in the Cape High Court, later became president of the Court of Appeal in Lesotho, and also sat on the Courts of Appeal in Botswana and Swaziland. He led the Urban Foundation after the Soweto uprising and then headed the Independent Development Trust (IDT), which funded housing, education and jobs for poor communities.

In 1990 he helped secure a major development program with R2 billion in funding, backed by Nelson Mandela and other leaders. He served on many public-interest boards and received honorary doctorates from five South African universities. He was knighted by the king of Lesotho in 2008. He passed away in Cape Town in 2013, remembered for believing that everyone is equal before the law and that development is essential for a just democracy.