Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng is the fourth Chief Justice of the Republic of South Africa since the dawn of democracy.
Synopsis
He was born in a small village called Goo-Mokgatlh (Koffierkraal) village, in the North West Province of South Africa. He is married to Mmaphefo and they were blessed with three children: Johanna, Mogaetsho and Oteng.
Educational Background
Mogoeng holds the B Juris and Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degrees from the Universities of Zululand and Natal respectively. He also holds a Master of Laws (LLM) degree from the University of South Africa. In October 2013, the University of the North West awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD) degree to him. In March 2018, the University of Johannesburg also awarded the Chief Justice with an honorary doctor of Laws degree.
Professional History
Mogoeng Mogoeng started his professional career as a temporary interpreter and was later appointed as High Court prosecutor from March 1986 to February 1990 in Mafikeng. He did pupillage at the Johannesburg Bar and practiced as an Advocate at that Bar from June 1990 until the end of 1991. He left to join Mafikeng Bar from January 1992 and later served as the Deputy Chairperson of that Bar Association until his elevation to the Bench. In June 1997, he was appointed Judge of the North West High Court and in April 2000 a judge of the Labour Appeal Court. In October 2002, he was then elevated to the position of Judge President of the North West High Court.
Mogoeng was requested by fellow judges President to serve as a member of the five-member committee led by the then Chief justice Pius Langa. That committee investigated racial and gender discrimination within the Judiciary and proposed the necessary remedial action.
He was appointed to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of South Africa in 2009 and subsequently elevated to the position of Chief Justice of the Republic of South Africa on 08 September 2011. In that capacity, he leads both the Constitutional Court and the Judiciary. He also Chairs the:
- Judicial Service Commission (JSC)
- South African Judicial Education Institute (SAJEI) Council,
- National Efficiency Committee (NEEC)
In April 2017, Chief Justice Mogoeng was elected as the President of the Conference of the Jurisdictions of Africa (CCJA) for a period of two years. In August 2017, the Chief Justice was appointed Chancellor by the Council of the University of KwaZulu-Natal for a period of four years
Other activities
Mogoeng is an ordained pastor and he serves in several church structures.
- Prior to joining the judiciary in 1997, Mogoeng also served in the following capacities, all of which have since been resigned:
- Chairperson: North West Parks Board
- Chairperson: Agricultural Services Cooperation of the North West Province
- Chairperson: Agricultural College and the Agricultural School of the North West Province
- Chairperson: Agricultural Marketing Board of the North West Province
- Chairperson: Dirapeng (Pty) Ltd
- Chairperson: Golden Leopards Resorts (Pty) Ltd
- Member: Black Lawyers Association
Speeches by the Chief Justice
OPENING CONGRATULATORY REMARKS BY CHIEF JUSTICE MOGOENG at the Inaugural Congress Republic of Korea
THE PROMOTION OF DEMOCRACY AND CONSTITUTIONAL JUSTICE (Korea Visit)
CELEBRATING 15 YEARS OF THE SIGNING OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN CONSTITUTION
THE ROLE OF THE JUDICIARY IN PROMOTING PEACE, GOOD GOVERNANCE AND SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Personal details
Dikgang Moseneke was born in Pretoria in December 1947. He attended primary and secondary school there. But at the age of 15, when in standard eight, Moseneke was arrested, detained and convicted of participating in anti-apartheid activity.
He was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment, all of which he served on Robben Island. Moseneke studied for his matric as well as two degrees while in jail.
Moseneke is married to Kabo and they have a daughter and two sons.
Education
While Moseneke was jailed on Robben Island he obtained a BA in English and political science, as well as a B Iuris degree. He later completed an LLB. All three degrees were conferred by the University of South Africa.
Professional history
Moseneke started his professional career as an attorney’s clerk at Klagbruns Inc in Pretoria in 1976. In 1978 he was admitted and practised for five years as an attorney and partner at the law firm Maluleke, Seriti and Moseneke.
In 1983 he was called to the Bar and practised as an advocate in Johannesburg and Pretoria. Ten years later, in 1993, he was elevated to the status of senior counsel.
In 1993 Moseneke served on the technical committee that drafted the interim constitution of 1993. In 1994 he was appointed Deputy Chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission, which conducted the first democratic elections in South Africa.
In September 1994, while practising as a silk, Moseneke accepted an acting appointment to the Transvaal Provincial Division of the Supreme Court.
Before his appointment as Justice of the Constitutional Court, in November 2001 Moseneke was appointed a Judge of the High Court in Pretoria. On 29 November 2002 he was appointed as judge in the Constitutional Court Court and in June 2005, Moseneke was appointed Deputy Chief Justice of the Republic of South Africa.
Other activities
Between 1995 and 2001 Moseneke left the Bar to pursue a full-time corporate career in the following capacities. He has since resigned all these positions:
- Chairperson: Telkom South Africa Limited (Since October 1994)
- Chairperson: African Merchant Bank
- Chairperson: Metropolitan Life Ltd
- Chairperson: African Bank Investments Ltd
- Chief Executive: New Africa Investments Ltd
- Director: New Africa Publications (Pty) Ltd
- Director: Phaphama Holdings (Pty) Ltd
- Director: Urban Brew (Pty) Ltd
- Chairperson: Alisa Car Rental (Pty) Ltd (Hertz)
- Director: Life Officers’ Association
He is a founder member of the Black Lawyers' Association and of the National Association of Democratic Lawyers of South Africa.
In 1986 Moseneke was appointed visiting fellow and lecturer at Columbia Law School, University of Columbia, New York.
He has served in several community and non-governmental organisations, including as:
- chairperson of Project Literacy for more than 10 years;
- trustee of Sowetan Nation Building; and
- deputy chairperson of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund.
Moseneke is the first chancellor of Pretoria Technikon and currently serves as chancellor of the University of the Witwatersrand.
Moseneke holds several honorary doctorates and is a recipient of numerous awards of honour, performance and excellence. These include:
- the KWV Award of Excellence;
- the Black Lawyers Association Excellence Award (1993);
- Unisa School of Business Leadership Excellence Award (1997);
- Black Management Forum Empowerment Award (1998);
- Sunday Times Businessman of the Year Nominee (1998);
- International Trial Lawyer of the Year Award (from the International Academy of Trial Lawyers) (2000);
- Soweto Achiever Award (2002);
- honorary professorship in Banking Law, Unisa (2002);
- honorary professor in the Department of Mercantile Law, Unisa (2004-2006);
- Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) from the University of the North;
- Doctor of Commerce (honoris causa) from the University of Natal; and
- Doctor of Technology (honoris causa) from Tshwane University of Technology.
- Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) from the University of South Africa.
- Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) from the City University of New York.
In the past 20 years, Moseneke has read numerous papers at law and business conferences, published several academic papers in law journals at home and abroad.
Speeches and Lectures
Final Court Sitting - Moseneke DCJ 20 May 2016
A Jurisprudential Journey from Apartheid to Democratic Constitutionalism
Courage of Principle: An address by Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke to mark the 30th anniversary of the assassination of Ruth First
The Hart Memorial Lecture 2012 - Georgetown University Law School
Striking a Balance between the will of the people and the Supremacy of the Constitution
Openning Statements at Special Meting of JSC
VIIth World Congress of the International Association of Constitutional Law
Tribute to former Chief Justice Langa D.M
Separation of Powers, Democratic Ethos and Judicial Function
NICRO’s contribution to the criminal justice system during the past 97 years
For more Speeches by the Judge Click Here
Speeches and lectures Published on Law Journal
Transformative constitutionalism: its implication for the law of contract’ (2009) 20 Stell LR
Oliver Schreiner memorial lecture: Separation of Power, democratic ethos and judicial function
Retirement of CC Justices-Tribute on behalf of the Constitutional Court of SA
The Fourth Bram Fischer memorial-lecture: transformative adjudication
Attack on the judiciary
For more Published Speeches of the Judge Click Here
JSC Interviews Curriculum Vitae of Justice narrated version.
JSC interview
JSC interview for the DCJ position
Personal details
Johann Vincent van der Westhuizen was born in Windhoek, Namibia.
Education
He received the degrees BA Law cum laude, LLB cum laude, LLD and LLD honoris causa from the University of Pretoria. He also researched for lengthy periods in Germany (as an Alexander von Humboldt-fellow) and the USA and for shorter periods in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
Professional history
He was professor in and the head of the Department of Legal History, Comparative Law and Jurisprudence in the University of Pretoria's Faculty of Law, as well as the founding director of the university's Centre for Human Rights. He is currently an honorary professor at the University of Pretoria and a member of the Centre’s board of trustees, the Law Faculty Council of the University of Pretoria and council of the Judicial Education Institute of South Africa
As an academic, Van der Westhuizen has taught widely in South Africa and abroad, including at Yale Law School and in Germany and Canada; presented numerous papers at national and international conferences; authored and edited several publications; and participated in numerous radio and television programmes in the USA, Germany, Canada, Japan and South Africa.
He was admitted as an advocate of the High Court of South Africa and was an associate member of the Pretoria Bar. He acted as counsel in many human-rights matters, and served as a consultant and in-house advocate for the Legal Resources Centre and on the governing body of Lawyers for Human Rights.
During the drafting of South Africa's Constitution he served as a member of the Independent Panel of Recognised Constitutional Experts, which advised the Constitutional Assembly, and of the Technical Refinement Team, responsible for the final drafting and editing.
In 1999 he was appointed by President Nelson Mandela as a judge in the Transvaal Provincial Division of the High Court (now the North Gauteng High Court) in Pretoria. He joined the Constitutional Court of South Africa - the country's apex court - on 1 February 2004.
Constitutional Court judgments written by Justice Van der Westhuizen dealt with matters including constitutional amendments, provincial boundaries and powers, fair trial issues, equality, the development of African customary law, the right of access to adequate housing and other socio-economic rights, asset forfeiture and search and seizure procedures, the right to privacy and the contractual and delictual liability of private security companies,freedom of expression and land claims
Speeches and Lectures
Getting used to Life Without Death :(The Abolition of Capital Punishment in South Africa)
A few reflections on the role of courts, government, the legal profession, universities, the mediaand civil society in a constitutionaldemocracy (172 kb)
Legal Language: Instrument of Deception or Empowerment? (NOTES ON PLAIN LANGUAGE AND THE CONSTITUTION)(162 kb)12 September 2013
Courts as Economic Freedom Fighters 16 September 2015