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]
Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius is a South African former professional sprinter and convicted murderer. He was first convicted of culpable homicide of his then-girlfriend,which was subsequently upgraded to murder upon appeal. 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 fibulas. 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.
Matsie Angelina "Angie" Motshekga is a South African politician and educator who is currently serving as the Minister of Defense and Military Veterans since 3 July 2024. She is currently serving as the acting president of the Republic of South Africa since 17 August 2024,as President Cyril Ramaphosa attends the 44th Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Southern African Development Community in Harare,Zimbabwe. Motshekga also served as the Minister of Basic Education from May 2009 to 2024. 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.
Narandran "Jody" Kollapen is a South African judge who joined the Constitutional Court of South Africa on 1 January 2022. He was appointed to the apex court by President Cyril Ramaphosa after a decade of service in the High Court of South Africa. He is also a former chairperson of the South African Human Rights Commission.
Sisi Virginia Khampepe is a retired South African judge who served in the Constitutional Court of South Africa between October 2009 and October 2021. Formerly a prominent labour lawyer,she joined the bench in December 2000 as a judge of the Transvaal Provincial Division. She was also a member of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
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.
2015 in South Africa saw a number of social and political protests and movements form. At President Jacob Zuma's 2015 State of the Nation Address,the president was interrupted by an opposition party,the Economic Freedom Fighters,who demanded that he pay back the money used on his Nkandla homestead. South Africa also saw new xenophobic uprisings taking place,mainly targeted towards Africans from other countries. Foreigners were beaten,robbed and murdered during the attacks. The social protest Rhodes Must Fall started in 2015 at the University of Cape Town to protest for the removal of statues erected in South Africa during the colonial era depicting some of the well known colonists who settled in South Africa. In education,South Africa recorded a drop in its matric pass rate from 2013 to 2014. The protest #FeesMustFall was started towards the end of the year and achieved its primary goal of stopping an increase in university fees for 2016. South Africa also saw the discovery of Homo naledi in 2015. The South African national rugby union team came third in the 2015 Rugby World Cup and Trevor Noah started hosting The Daily Show on Comedy Central.
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.
Aubrey Phago Ledwaba is South African judge who is currently serving as the Deputy Judge President of the Gauteng Division of the High Court of South Africa. Formerly a practising attorney in Gauteng,he joined the bench as a puisne judge in November 2005 and was elevated to his leadership position in July 2013. He was an acting judge in the Constitutional Court in 2019 and an acting judge in the Supreme Court of Appeal between 2020 and 2021.
Malesela Francis Legodi is a South African retired judge of the High Court of South Africa. He was the first Judge President of the Mpumalanga Division of the High Court from August 2017 to August 2023. He joined the bench in October 2004 as a puisne judge of the Gauteng Division. Before that,he was a practising attorney in Mpumalanga.
Lorimer Eric Leach is a South African retired judge who served in the Supreme Court of Appeal from 2009 to 2020. He is best known for writing the judgement in which the Supreme Court found Oscar Pistorius guilty of murder. Before his elevation to the appellate court,he was a judge of the Eastern Cape Division from 1993 to 2009,and he practised as an advocate in Grahamstown from 1976 to 1993,taking silk in 1990.
Phineas Mathale Deon Mojapelo is a South African retired judge of the High Court of South Africa. He was the Deputy Judge President of the South Gauteng Division from January 2005 to June 2020,and he joined the bench in January 2003 as a puisne judge of the North Gauteng Division. He was also an acting judge in the Constitutional Court of South Africa in 2017.
Karyn Maughan is a South African legal journalist. She has worked for News24 since November 2020 and formerly worked in broadcast journalism for eNCA. She rose to national prominence for her reporting during the corruption trial of former President Jacob Zuma,as well as for Zuma's subsequent attempt to bring related criminal charges against her in private prosecution.