PErsonal Details

Justice Tembeka Ngcukaitobi

Education
  • B Proc: LLB University of Transkei, now Walter Sisulu University
  • LLM  Rhodes University
  • LLM  London School of Economics and Political Science
Professional history 
  • 1999-2000: Legal Resources Centre, South Africa
  • 2001-2002: Law Clerk: Constitutional Court of South Africa
  • 2002-2008: Associate, Senior Associate, Partner: Bowman Gilfillan
  • 2009-2011: Director of the Constitutional Litigation Unit of the Legal Resources Centre
  • 2011: Advocate of the High Court of South Africa, Johannesburg Bar
  • 2014: Acting Judge of Labour Court
  • 2015: Acting Judge of Land Claims Court
  • 2017: Acting Judge, Land Claims Court
  • 2019: Recommended for Senior Counsel status
  • 2020: Appointed Senior Counsel
  • 2021: Acting Judge, High Court of South Africa
  • 2022: Appointed Commissioner of the Judicial Service Commission
  • 2025: Acting Judge, High Court of South Africa
  • 2026: Acting Justice, Constitutional Court of South Africa June 2026 - to date
Other Activities
  • Commissioner at the South African Law Reform Commission, 2007-2011, appointed by President Thabo Mbeki
  • Inaugural Executive Committee Member of Council for Advancement of South African Constitution
  • Founding member of the Pan African Bar Association of South Africa
  • Served as Trustee of Constitutional Court Trust
  • Adjunct Professor of Law, Nelson Mandela University
  • Professor of Law, Walter Sisulu University
  • Co-authored The Constitutional Law Casebook with Jason Brickhill and Nikki Stein, Juta, 2013
  • Co-authored Labour Dispute Resolution with John Brand, Juta
  • Updated the Chapter on Equality Section of The Bill of Rights Handbook by Iain Currie and Johan De Waal, Juta, 2015
  • Contributed the Chapter Precedent, Separation of Powers and the Constitutional Court to Acta Juridica: Reinventing Labour Law, Juta, 2012
  • Authored The Land Is Ours: South Africa’s First Black Lawyers and the Birth of Constitutionalism, Penguin, 2018
  • Authored Land Matters: South Africa’s Failed Land Reforms and the Road Ahead, Penguin, 2021