Personal details
Edwin Cameron was born in Pretoria on 15 February 1953.
Education
He completed his schooling at Pretoria Boys’ High School and attended Stellenbosch University on the Anglo-American Open Scholarship, where he obtained a BA Law and an Honours degree in Latin, both cum laude. He lectured in Latin and Classical Studies before studying at Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship. There he obtained a BA in Jurisprudence and the BCL, with honours and prizes. Cameron received his LLB from the University of South Africa, and received the medal for the best law graduate.
Professional history
Cameron practised at the Johannesburg Bar from 1983 to 1994. From 1986 he was a human rights lawyer based at the University of the Witwatersrand’s Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS), where he was awarded a personal professorship in law. His practice included labour and employment law; defence of ANC fighters charged with treason; conscientious and religious objection; land tenure and forced removals; and gay and lesbian equality. From 1988 he advised the National Union of Mineworkers on AIDS/HIV, and helped draft and negotiate the industry’s first comprehensive AIDS agreement with the Chamber of Mines. While at CALS, he drafted the Charter of Rights on AIDS and HIV, co-founded the AIDS Consortium (a national affiliation of non-governmental organizations working in AIDS), which he chaired for its first three years, and founded and was the first director of the AIDS Law Project. He oversaw the gay and lesbian movement’s submissions to the Kempton Park negotiating process. This, with other work, helped secure the express inclusion of sexual orientation in the South African Constitution. In September 1994, he was awarded silk (senior counsel status). President Mandela appointed him an acting judge and later a judge of the High Court. In 1999/2000 he served for a year as an Acting Justice at the Constitutional Court. In 2000 he was appointed a Judge of Appeal in the Supreme Court of Appeal. He was appointed a Justice of the Constitutional Court in 2008.
Other activities
Community-related
- Chair of the governing Council of the University of the Witwatersrand from 1998 to 2008
- Patron of Guild Cottage Children’s Home, Soweto HIV/AIDS Counsellors’ Association (SOHACA), Ladybrand Hospice, Vuyani Dance Theatre
- Co-founder and first chair of Wits Law School Endowment Appeal (1998-2005)
- General Secretary, Rhodes Trust in Southern Africa from 2003 to 2014
International
- Keynote address at the XII International Conference on HIV/AIDS in Durban, 2000
- Edward A Smith Annual Lecture, Harvard University Law School, 2002
- President of Bentham Club and Bentham Lecture, University College, London, 2003
- Inaugural lecture in law, British Academy, 2004
- Lord Chief Justice Taylor Memorial Lecture, Inner Temple, 2008
- Visiting Judge, Birkbeck College, London
- Honorary Professor, City University, London
- Fourth Leslie Scarman Memorial Lecture, January 2012
- Keynote address at Columbia University Bio-Ethics Centre, October 2012
- Keynote address, Johns Hopkins Center for Public Health & Human Rights and Center for AIDS Research, April 2014
- Robert P Anderson Memorial Lecture, Yale Law School, October 2014
- High Court of Australia Annual Lecture, Canberra, Australia 2017
- O'Byrne Lecture, Calgary, March 2018
- Owen Lecture, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, March 2018
- Alberico Gentili Lectures, University of Macerata, April 2018
- Association American of Law Schools, Keynote Adress, New Orleans, 2019
Honours and awards
- Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights, 2000
- Transnet’s HIV/AIDS Champions Award, 2000
- University of Stellenbosch - Alumnus Award, 2000
- Special award by the Bar of England and Wales for ‘contribution to international jurisprudence and protection of human rights’, 2002
- San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s Excellence in Leadership Award, 2003
- Honorary Fellow of the Society for Advanced Legal Studies, 2001
- Visiting Fellow, All Souls College, Oxford, 2003
- Honorary Fellow, Keble College, Oxford, 2004
- Witness to AIDS’ awarded Sunday Times/Alan Paton Prize (South Africa’s premier literary award for non-fiction), 2006
- Prize for Civil Courage of German gay and lesbian movement, 2007
- Honorary Bencher of Middle Temple, 2009
- Winner of Brudner Prize, Yale University, for gay and lesbian scholarship, 2009
- Grand Prix du Conseil Québécois des Gais et Lesbiennes, Montreal, 2011
- Paul Harris Fellow, Rotary International
- Honorary doctorates in law from King’s College, London (2009), Wits University (2009), Oxford (2011), St Andrews (2012), Stellenbosch (2015) and Sussex (2016)
- Justice – A Personal Account (2014) winner of South African Literary Award (SALA) for creative non-fiction, 2015
- Honorary Member, American Academy of Arts and SCiences, 2016
Cameron has written scholarly articles on the judiciary, conscription, labour and employment law, the law of trusts, AIDS and HIV, the legal rights of gays and lesbians and the legal computation of time. Apart from his memoir, Witness to AIDS (2005), he has also written books on the law of trusts, labour law and gay and lesbian lives in South Africa.
JSC Interviews
JSC interview on the 3 October 1994
Speeches and Lectures
Wits Centre for Ethics, August 2009
Seminar in Honour of Professor Tony Honore, March 2010
The Fourth Scarman Lecture, January 2012
Columbia Bio-Ethics Keynote 18 October 2012
Tribute to Arthur Chaskalson – Sunday Independent 09 December 2012
Tribute to Arthur Chaskalson – Extraordinary Lives – podcast with Judge Lee Bozalek
State House Malawi speech against homophobia and AIDS stigma, Friday 28 June 2013 (transcript) (taken from Ground up)
State House Malawi speech against homophobia and AIDS stigma, Friday 28 June 2013 (YouTube)
Sunday Times Literary Award Address 29 June 2013.
Public Interest Lawyers Group conference speech 24 July 2014
SAOU ~ Discipline and Violence in Schools - Claiming Back the School 26 July 2014.
Bar Dinner Johannesburg Saturday : Acceptance of Honorary Life Membership 1 November 2014
Bram Fischer Memorial Lecture, Oxford, Tuesday 16 June 2015
Eudy Simelane Memorial Lecture , Thursday 07 April 2016
Tribute at farewell dinner to Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke, Thursday 19 May 2016
Durban International AIDS Conference, July 2016 - short film and interview (12 minutes)
UWC Dean's Distiguished Lecture 19 October 2017
Memorial Tribute to Joel Joffe, Saturday 11 November 2017
O'Byrne Lecture Calgary - Stigma and the Role of Courts Tuesday 20 March 2018
· Alberico Gentili Lectures, University of Macerata, April 2018
Personal details
Sisi Khampepe was born on 8 January 1957 in Soweto, Gauteng Province, South Africa. She is married with two children.
Education
She obtained her B Proc from the University of Zululand in 1980. She obtained her LLM degree at Harvard Law School, Massachusetts, USA in 1982.
Professional history
She began her legal career as a legal advisor in the Industrial Aid Society, where she did vacation employment from 1979 - 1980. Here she was exposed to the dishonourable employment conditions of Black workers. Between the years 1981 and 1983, she served as a fellow in the Legal Resources Centre.
In 1983 she joined Bowman Gilfillan Attorneys as a Candidate Attorney. After being admitted as an attorney in 1985, she established her own law firm, practicing under the name SV Khampepe Attorneys. Her law firm was especially renowned for defending the rights of workers against unjust laws and unfair employment practices. She also represented other human rights bodies such as hawkers, civic and black consumer union.
Her law firm was one of the few Black labour law firms in the country. She represented unions affiliated to both Nactu and Cosatu. She was the national legal advisor of SACAWU. She was the administrator of union funds in FIET and ICFTU.
In 1995 she was appointed by former President Mandela as a TRC Commissioner and in the following year she was a member of the TRC’s Amnesty Committee. She was then employed by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development as Deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions, a post she held from September 1998 to December 1999.
In December 2000, she was appointed as a Judge in the High Court (TPD). In the Labour Appeals Court in November 2007.
In the period April 2005 – February 2006, she was appointed by former President Mbeki to chair the Commission of Enquiry into the mandate and location of the Directorate of Special Operation (the Khampepe Commission).
In 2004, was appointed by former President Mbeki to oversee the elections in Zimbabwe.
In February 2006, the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Hert Hon Donald C McKinnon, seconded her as a member of the Commonwealth Observer Group to the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections in Uganda.
She was Vice Chairperson of the National Council of Correctional Services since 2005 to April 2010.
In October 2009 she was appointed as a Judge to the Constitutional Court.
Other activities
Justice Khampepe has been involved in various legal and community organizations.
Legal organizations:
1981 – 1983: International Law Society, Harvard Law School
1985 – 2000: The Law Society of the TVL (Northern Province)
1985 – Date: Member of the Black Lawyers Association
1987 : Association of Law Societies Community Organizations:
1978 – 1988: Facilitator of the Street Committee, Soweto
1983 – 1986: Selection Committee Member of South African Legal Education Programme
1985 – 1986: Legal Advisor of National Black Consumer Union
1985 – 1986: Legal Advisor of Sechaba Sizwe Agricultural Cooperative
1988 – 1989: Legal Advisor of African Council of Hawkers and Informal Business
1988 – 1999: Vice Chairperson of Women’s Desk on Children and Woman Abuse
1988: Legal Advisor of the Orlando Pirates Football Club
1990 – 1995: Trade Unions’ Fund Administrator of Federation International Des Employes
1993 – 1996: Vice Chairperson of the Mediation and Conciliation Centre
1993 – 1999: Executive Committee Member of Lesego women’s club
1993: Trustee of SACCAWU Investment Trust 1994: Employment Advisory Centre
1994: J G Strydom (Helen Joseph) Hospital Board of Governors
1994: Selection Committee Member of Public Service Commission
2006: Donor to the Sparrow Rainbow Village (AIDS Hospice)
Community Organizations:
1978 – 1988: Facilitator of the Street Committee, Soweto
1988 – 1999: Vice Chairperson of Women’s Desk on Children and Woman Abuse
1990 – 1995: Trade Unions’ Fund Administrator of Federation International Des Employes
1993 – 1999: Executive Committee Member of Lesego women’s club
1993: Trustee of SACCAWU Investment Trust
1994: Employment Advisory Centre
1994: J G Strydom (Helen Joseph) Hospital Board of Governors
1994: Selection Committee Member of Public Service Commission
2006: Donor to the Sparrow Rainbow Village (AIDS Hospice
Mbuyiseli Russel Madlanga was born and raised at the rural village of Njijini 16 kilometres outside the small town of Mount Frere, Eastern Cape Province. He is married to Nosisi Madlanga (born Nkenkana). He matriculated at Mariazell High School, Matatiele. He obtained the BJuris degree at the University of Transkei (Unitra). In 1981 – whilst doing that degree – he was awarded the Juta Prize for being the best law student. He enrolled for the LLB degree at Rhodes University. In his final year he was appointed tutor, tutoring first year law students.
After graduating, he lectured part-time in the Law Faculty of Unitra whilst working for the Department of Justice towards fulfilling his contractual obligations under a government bursary that had funded his LLB studies. He later lectured full-time at Unitra for two years. He proceeded to do an LLM in Human Rights and Constitutional Law, which he received cum laude at the University of Notre Dame in the USA. He interned at the Washington DC office of Amnesty International. On his return, he did pupillage at the Johannesburg Bar. On completion, he opened practice at the Mthatha Bar.
At the age of 34 he was appointed as a Judge of the Mthatha High Court becoming South Africa's youngest judge at the time. Within only three years of this appointment, he was appointed Acting Judge of Appeal at the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein. He was then appointed – this time on a permanent basis – as a Judge of Appeal in the Competition Appeal Court. He continued acting on the Supreme Court of Appeal Bench because the Competition Appeal Court was new and was yet to commence functioning. His acting appointment at the Supreme Court of Appeal – which was for a year – was cut short as he was then appointed to act as the Judge President of the Mthatha High Court. Whilst holding that position, he received yet another appointment; this time as an Acting Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa.
Personal circumstances forced him to resign from the Judiciary. He returned to the Bar as senior counsel, practising in Mthatha and Johannesburg. His practice took off immediately and he appeared in virtually all the High Courts in the country and in the Supreme Court of Appeal and Constitutional Court. Notably, he received a brief to represent the Republic of South Africa at the International Court of Justice at The Hague (Den Haag) in the Netherlands. This was in the case of the 'Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory". Another brief of note that he received was his appointment by Mr Trevor Manuel, the then Minister of Finance, as the Chairperson (which – in terms of the applicable legislation – was an executive position) of the Exchange Control Amnesty Unit. This Unit did not only grant amnesty to people who had contravened Exchange Control Regulations (Regulations) in expatriating their assets, it also facilitated the disclosure of assets worth R68,6 billion, 70% of which had been taken out of the country in contravention of the Regulations. The process also raised R2,9 billion in levies. The disclosure of offshore assets resulted in an estimated R1.4 billion increase in the tax base. This is what the then Deputy Minister of Finance, Mr Jabu Moleketi, said about the Unit on completion of its task:
"I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Amnesty Unit for their sterling work. When the unit was initially announced, we did not anticipate the huge task that they would be faced with, both in the number of applications received and the associated logistics. It is through the exceptional efforts and meticulous approach of our Unit that other countries now seek to use our amnesty as an international benchmark. I wish to specifically thank the chairperson, Advocate Mbuyiseli Madlanga, who has led the Amnesty Unit impeccably and with great enthusiasm."
Yet another assignment worth particular mention was Mbuyiseli's appointment as the Chief Evidence Leader of the Marikana Commission of Enquiry. This is a Commission of Inquiry that was appointed to enquire into the killings of 34 striking mine workers and 10 other people in Marikana, near Rustenburg, North West Province in August 2012. In that capacity he was lead counsel in a team of seven advocates, three of whom (including him) were senior counsel. He held numerous other briefs in high profile cases.
On appointment by the President, Mbuyiseli became a member of the Competition Tribunal for 9 years, during 3 of which he was its Deputy Chairperson. As a nominee of the Advocates for Transformation component of the General Council of the Bar, the President next appointed him as a member of the Judicial Service Commission, a position he held for 2 years. He was then appointed – directly from his practice as an advocate – to become a Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa with effect from 1 August 2013, this time on a permanent basis.
At the invitation of the Law School of his alma mater, the University of Notre Dame, he held the prestigious Clynes Chair as a visiting professor. This Chair is reserved for distinguished US and international legal scholars and amongst those who have held it are US Supreme Court Justices. In that capacity he offered a two credit three week course from 4 April 2016.
Walter Sisulu University awarded him a Doctor of Laws (LLD) degree (honoris causa) at the graduation ceremony of 13 May 2016.
On 31 March 2017 Justice Madlanga was appointed as the Editor-in-Chief of the South African Judicial Education Journal, a journal scheduled for launch in April 2018 and to be published under the auspices of the South African Judicial Education Institute, a statutory body with the mandate of providing continuing education to the Judiciary. He has been a member of the editorial board of the South African Law Journal. He currently serves on the editorial board of the Yearbook of South African law.
His interests are not only in the law and academics. For 8 years Mbuyiseli was a member of the Arbitration Panel of his church, the Methodist Church of Southern Africa; having been appointed to that position by Conference, the church's highest governing body. He has also held other leadership positions which – because of space constraints – cannot be specified here.