Dunstan Mlambo | |
---|---|
Judge President of the Gauteng Division of the High Court of South Africa | |
Assumed office 1 November 2012 | |
Nominated by | Judicial Service Commission |
Appointed by | President Jacob Zuma |
Preceded by | Bernard Ngoepe |
Personal details | |
Born | c. 1960 (age 63–64) Bushbuckridge,Mpumalanga,South Africa |
Spouse | Cynthia Ramashela [1] |
Children | 4:Nhlanhla,Thulani,Thato,Khutsto [2] |
Alma mater | University of the North |
Occupation | Judge |
Profession | Jurist |
Dunstan Mlambo (born c. 1960) is Judge President of the Gauteng Division of the High Court of South Africa. [2] [3] Since 2002 he has also served as the chairperson of Legal Aid South Africa which provides legal aid to those who cannot afford it, [2] [4] and is a trustee of the Legal Resources Centre public interest law clinic. [5] [6]
Mlambo was born in Bushbuckridge and grew up in Barberton in Mpumalanga. His father was an apolitical civil servant and his uncle Johnson Mlambo was a political prisoner on Robben Island. After matriculating from Thembeka High School in the Kanyamazane township of Nelspruit in 1979,he studied law at the University of the North where he completed his B.Proc. degree in 1983. In 1987 he was admitted to the fellowship programme of the Legal Resources Centre in Johannesburg,targeted at black law graduates, [7] and in 1990 he was admitted as an attorney. [1] [2] [6]
Mlambo was appointed as an acting judge in the Labour Court and a judge in the Labour Appeal Court in 1997. [1] He subsequently served as a judge in the South Gauteng High Court and the Supreme Court of Appeal. [2] Prior to his appointment as High Court Judge President,he was Judge President of the Labour Court and Labour Appeal Court. [2] During his term of office as Judge President of the Labour Court,he was critical of the practice of labour brokering which deprives employees of labour law protection. [8]
Mlambo was appointed Judge President of the Gauteng Division of the High Court by President Jacob Zuma effective from 1 November 2012,succeeding Bernard Ngoepe. [9] [10] He stated in his CV that he had "devoted his practice of law towards the upliftment and protection of people on the ground as a public interest lawyer and trade union lawyer". [2] During a speech made shortly after he took office,he said he would ensure that "access to justice becomes what it should be". [11]
In Multichoice (Proprietary) Limited and Others v National Prosecuting Authority and Another,an application made by eNCA,MultiChoice and Eyewitness News (Primedia) to the High Court in Pretoria to broadcast the proceedings of the Oscar Pistorius murder trial to be held in the court from 3 to 20 March 2014 was opposed by the defence team. [12] [13] On 25 February 2014,Mlambo ruled that the entire trial proceedings may be broadcast live via audio and that parts of the trial may be broadcast live via television,subject to various restrictions to minimise any impact on the trial proceedings. The parts that he permitted to be broadcast audiovisually were the opening and closing arguments,the testimony of consenting state witnesses,the judgement,and the sentencing if applicable. His ruling took into account the right to freedom of expression and the defendant's right to a fair trial. His reasons for allowing live broadcasting of the trial included dispelling perceptions that the rich and famous receive preferential treatment from the justice system,enabling public access to an unedited firsthand account of the trial,and educating the public about criminal proceedings in general. [14] [15] [16] [17] The ruling was welcomed by members of the South African media,who described it as a groundbreaking decision supporting freedom of expression,freedom of the media,open justice and democracy. [15] [18] In a cartoon by Zapiro published in The Times on 27 February 2014,Pistorius is depicted walking a tightrope between the justice system representing the right to a fair trial and the media representing the public's right to know. [19]
In his judgement Mlambo granted ultimate discretion regarding what may be broadcast to the presiding judge in the trial,namely Thokozile Masipa. [20] The trial was interrupted on the second day after it transpired that eNCA was showing a still photograph of a non-consenting state witness onscreen while broadcasting her audio testimony. Masipa subsequently instructed the court that no photographs of any non-consenting witnesses may be used in the media,regardless of the source of the photographs. [21] On 10 March 2014,Masipa ruled that the forensic pathologist's post mortem evidence may not be broadcast live,including verbatim tweeting and blogging, [22] [23] but reversed her ban on live tweeting and blogging the following day. [24]
A state witness was harassed telephonically after his cellphone number was read out in court during cross-examination by the defence team on the second day of the trial. [25]
In his Business Day column published on 13 March 2014,Caxton Professor of Journalism at Wits University Anton Harber stated that the trial represents a turning point for local newspapers unable to compete with "the speed and conversational nature of electronic media". He also notes that the fact that the presiding judge has "her finger on the off button for live broadcast" is restraining the behaviour of the media. [26]
Pretoria Boys High School is a public,tuition-charging,English-medium high school for boys situated in the suburb of Brooklyn in Pretoria in the Gauteng province of South Africa,founded in 1901 by Alfred Milner,1st Viscount Milner.
Anneline Kriel is a South African actress,model and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss South Africa 1974 and was later crowned Miss World 1974. She is the second of three South African women to hold the Miss World title after Penelope Coelen in 1958 and before Rolene Strauss in 2014. In South Africa she achieved "icon" status where she became known as a "Princess Diana" figure and also appeared in several local film and television projects such as Kill and Kill Again in 1981. She was also in a high-profile marriage (1980-1985) with the late South African hotelier,Sol Kerzner.
Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius is a South African former professional sprinter and convicted murderer. Both of his feet were amputated when he was 11 months old as a result of a congenital defect;he was born missing the outside of both feet and both fibulae. Pistorius ran in both nondisabled sprint events and in sprint events for below-knee amputees. He was the 10th athlete to compete at both the Paralympic Games and Olympic Games.
Jani Allan was a South African journalist,columnist,writer,broadcaster,and a media celebrity.
The Congress of the People (COPE) is a South African political party formed in 2008 by former members of the African National Congress (ANC). The party was founded by former ANC members Mosiuoa Lekota,Mbhazima Shilowa and Mluleki George to contest the 2009 general election. The party was announced following a national convention held in Sandton on 1 November 2008,and was founded at a congress held in Bloemfontein on 16 December 2008. The name echoes the 1955 Congress of the People at which the Freedom Charter was adopted by the ANC and other parties,a name strongly contested by the ANC in a legal move dismissed by the Pretoria High Court.
Matsie Angelina "Angie" Motshekga is a South African politician and educator,serving as the Minister of Basic Education since May 2009. She was also appointed as an acting president of the Republic of South Africa on 2 July 2021,as President Cyril Ramaphosa attended the state funeral of Kenneth Kaunda in Zambia. She was previously a Member of the Executive Council in the Gauteng provincial government. Motshekga is a member of the African National Congress. She is a former president of the party's women's league.
Reeva Rebecca Steenkamp was a South African model and paralegal. She modelled for FHM magazine and was the first face of Avon cosmetics in South Africa. Steenkamp once worked as the live roaming presenter for FashionTV in South Africa and starred in television advertisements for Toyota Land Cruiser,Clover Industries,Redds and Aldor Pin Pop. She was a celebrity contestant on the BBC Lifestyle show Baking Made Easy in 2012 and on Tropika Island of Treasure season 5 which aired on SABC 3 in February 2013.
The Gauteng Division of the High Court of South Africa is a superior court of law which has general jurisdiction over the South African province of Gauteng and the eastern part of North West province. The main seat of the division is at Pretoria,while a local seat at Johannesburg has concurrent jurisdiction over the southern parts of Gauteng. Dunstan Mlambo has been the Judge President of the division since 1 November 2012.
Events in the year 2014 in South Africa.
Thokozile Matilda Masipa is a judge in the Gauteng Division of the High Court of South Africa. She was the presiding judge in the 2014 trial of Oscar Pistorius for the killing of Reeva Steenkamp. Her verdict of not guilty of murder was later overturned on appeal.
The trial of Oscar Pistorius for the murder of Reeva Steenkamp and several gun-related charges in the High Court of South Africa in Pretoria opened on 3 March 2014. Pistorius was a leading South African runner who won attention as an athlete with a disability competing at a high level,including at multiple Paralympic Games and the 2012 Summer Olympics. Steenkamp,a model,had been Pistorius's girlfriend for three months. In the early morning of Thursday,14 February 2013,Steenkamp was shot and killed by Pistorius at his Pretoria home. Pistorius acknowledged that he shot Steenkamp,but he said that he mistook her for an intruder. Pistorius was taken into police custody and was formally charged with murder in a Pretoria court on 15 February 2013. The entire trial was broadcast live via audio,and parts of the trial were also broadcast live via television.
Gerhard C. "Gerrie" Nel is a South African advocate. Until January 2017,he was a prosecutor for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) of South Africa. He is nicknamed "Bulldog" for his tenacity in the courtroom,and is regularly assigned to difficult and high-profile cases.
Barry Roux SC is a South African lawyer who was admitted to the bar in 1982. His practice covers criminal,insurance,delictual,aviation,matrimonial,medical negligence,general contractual and liquidation work. He served as the defence advocate in the trial of Oscar Pistorius.
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Solly Tshepiso Msimanga is a South African politician serving as the Leader of the Opposition in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature since May 2019. He has been a Member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature since February 2019,having previously served from 2014 to 2016. Msimanga was the Executive Mayor of the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality from 2016 to 2019 and the DA Provincial Chairperson from 2014 to 2017. He is currently the Democratic Alliance's Gauteng Premier candidate for the 2024 elections. Msimanga was the party's unsuccessful candidate for the 2019 elections.
Events in the year 2021 in South Africa.
Jacqueline Motlagomang Mofokeng was a South African politician. A member of the African National Congress,she served in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature from 1999 to 2019. In the 2019 national elections,she was elected to the National Assembly of South Africa.
Mohammed Dangor is a South African politician,diplomat and anti-apartheid activist who has been a Permanent Delegate to the National Council of Provinces since June 2019. He is a member of the Gauteng provincial delegation representing the African National Congress. Dangor had previously served as South Africa's ambassador to Libya,Syria,and Saudi Arabia.
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