External links
- Rammaka Steven Mathopo at Supreme Court of Appeal
- R. S. Mathopo at Judges Matter
- Judicial Service Commission interview of April 2021
- Judicial Service Commission interview of October 2021
Rammaka Mathopo | |
|---|---|
| Justice of the Constitutional Court | |
| Assumed office 1 January 2022 | |
| Appointed by | Cyril Ramaphosa |
| Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal | |
| In office 1 June 2015 –31 December 2021 | |
| Appointed by | Jacob Zuma |
| Judge of the High Court | |
| In office 26 January 2006 –31 May 2015 | |
| Appointed by | Thabo Mbeki |
| Division | Gauteng |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Rammaka Steven Mathopo 28 January 1963 Transvaal,South Africa |
| Alma mater | University of the North |
Rammaka Steven Mathopo (born 28 January 1963) is a judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa. Before his elevation to that court in January 2022,he served in the Supreme Court of Appeal between June 2015 and December 2021. He was formerly a judge of the Gauteng High Court from January 2006 to May 2015,and he practised as an attorney for 17 years before then.
Mathopo was born on 28 January 1963 in the region that later became Gauteng. [1] He was one of 11 siblings. [2] He matriculated at Mokomene High School in boTlokwa,north of Polokwane in present-day Limpopo,and completed a BProc at the University of the North in 1985. [1] [3] He was a member of the Azanian Students' Organisation,an anti-apartheid group. [1]
Mathopo served his articles at SC Mhinga Attorneys between 1985 and 1989,when he was admitted as an attorney. [1] Thereafter he opened his own practice,Mathopo Attorneys,where he practised until 2006. [1] During that time,in 1993,he was the instructing attorney for the Motsuenyane Commission of Enquiry,which the African National Congress appointed internally to investigate allegations of abuses in Umkhonto we Sizwe military camps. [1] Later,he served two terms as an acting judge in the Gauteng High Court in 2005. [1]
On 26 January 2006,Mathopo was appointed permanently to the bench of the Gauteng High Court,where he served for the next 11 years. [1] During that period,in 2013,he presided in Democratic Alliance v Acting National Director of Public Prosecutions and Others,a highly prominent case concerning the so-called spy tapes saga. [4] Mathopo ruled in favour of the opposition Democratic Alliance in ordering the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to make public the "spy tapes" –taped conversations between prosecutor Bulelani Ngcuka and Scorpions head Leonard McCarthy –which had led the NPA to withdraw its corruption charges against President Jacob Zuma. [5] [6] However,Mathopo declined to find acting NPA head Nomgcobo Jiba guilty of contempt of court for her failure to release the recordings before then. [3] His judgement was upheld by the Supreme Court of Appeal in Zuma v DA a year later. [3]
Another of Mathopo's reported High Court judgements was Print Media SA and SA National Editors Forum v Minister of Home Affairs and Publications Board,which declared provisions of the Films and Publications Act to be inconsistent with the Constitution;that order was confirmed by the Constitutional Court of South Africa in 2012. [3] Mathopo also served a lengthy stint as an acting judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal between December 2013 and December 2014. [1] [7]
In April 2015,Mathopo was among six candidates shortlisted for appointment to one of two vacancies on the Supreme Court of Appeal. He was viewed as one of the frontrunners,alongside Nambitha Dambuza and Trevor Gorven. [8] He was interviewed on 14 April 2015 by the Judicial Service Commission, [9] which subsequently nominated him and Dambuza for appointment. [10] [11] President Zuma duly appointed him to the Supreme Court with effect from 1 June 2015. [12] [13]
During his years in the Supreme Court of Appeal,Mathopo twice acted as a judge in the Constitutional Court,first between August and November 2019 and then between February and November 2020. [1] During his first acting term,he wrote the Constitutional Court's majority judgement in Tshabalala v S;Ntuli v S . The judgement confirmed that the common purpose doctrine applied to the crime of rape,including gang rape,with the implication that individuals could be convicted of rape even if they had not carried out the physical instrumentality of the sexual encounter. [14] The ruling was widely commended as progressive. [2] [15] [16] Other majority judgements he wrote while acting in the Constitutional Court included one which set aside the decision of the Gauteng Executive Council to place the City of Tshwane under provincial administration. [17]
In February 2021,the Judicial Service Commission shortlisted Mathopo and nine others for appointment to one of two vacancies in the Constitutional Court. [18] During his three-hour interview on 13 April,Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng consumed an hour with questions about alleged frictions on the Supreme Court bench. [3] Mathopo confirmed that he had seen "colleagues,especially junior colleagues... subjected to unfair criticism,unfair differentiation [and] unfair treatment by the senior colleagues",and he also suggested that some of the seniors were opposed to his own elevation. [19] However,he also said that Mandisa Maya had ameliorated the situation when she was appointed as Deputy President of the Supreme Court. [20] The Sunday Times reported that Mathopo was a "favourite candidate among lawyers", [2] and the panel praised him for his involvement in judicial education and mentorship. [3] It recommended him and four others for appointment to the vacancies. [21]
However,the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution challenged the recommendation,citing inappropriate treatment of some of the other candidates,and the Judicial Service Commission agreed to re-run the interview process. [22] Mathopo's second interview,held on 4 October, [23] was also viewed as a success. [24] Commentator Eusebius McKaiser commended him for "not gaming like some of the other candidates when asked thorny questions,but offering honest answers and making a case for why he holds these thoughts". [25] The Judicial Service Commission again recommended the same five candidates,including Mathopo, [26] and Mathopo and Jody Kollapen were the pair whom President Cyril Ramaphosa selected for appointment in December. [27] They took office on 1 January 2022. [28]
He is married to Ellen Vusiwana Mathopo and has two children. [1] He is a member of the Rhema Church. [3]
Zukisa Laura Lumka Tshiqi is a South African judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa. She formerly served in the Supreme Court of Appeal from December 2009 until October 2019,when President Cyril Ramaphosa elevated her to the Constitutional Court. She was a practising attorney until she was first appointed to the bench in the Gauteng High Court in 2005.
Nonkosi Zoliswa Mhlantla is a South African judge of the Constitutional Court. Elevated to that court in December 2015,she was formerly a judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal between December 2008 and November 2015. She entered legal practice as an attorney in her hometown,Port Elizabeth,and joined the bench in June 2002,becoming the first woman ever to be appointed to the Eastern Cape Division of the High Court of South Africa.
Steven Arnold Majiedt is a South African judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa. He joined the Constitutional Court in October 2019 as an appointee of President Cyril Ramaphosa. Formerly a practicing advocate,he served in the Supreme Court of Appeal from 2010 to 2019 and in the Northern Cape High Court from 2000 to 2010.
Xola Mlungisi Petse is a South African judge who has been the Deputy President of the Supreme Court of Appeal since 2019. A former attorney,he joined the Supreme Court as a puisne judge in June 2012. Before that,he was a judge of the Eastern Cape High Court from July 2005 to May 2012.
Owen Lloyd Rogers is a South African judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa. Before his appointment to that court in August 2022,he served in the Western Cape Division of the High Court for nine years,having joined the bench in February 2013. Formerly an advocate and senior counsel at the Cape Bar,he was also a judge of the Competition Appeal Court between 2016 and 2022.
Mahube Betty Molemela is a South African judge who has been the President of the Supreme Court of Appeal since 1 June 2023. Before her appointment to the Supreme Court in June 2018,she was the first woman Judge President of the Free State High Court from 2015 to 2018. A former attorney,she was appointed to the bench in the Free State in July 2008.
Wendy Hughes,formerly known as Wendy Hughes-Madondo,is a South African judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal. Formerly an attorney in private practice,she was a judge of the Gauteng High Court from July 2013 until July 2021,when she was appointed to the Supreme Court of Appeal.
Keoagile Elias Matojane is a South African judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal. Formerly an attorney,he was a judge of the Gauteng High Court from December 2009 until December 2022,when he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Appeal.
Baratang Constance Mocumie is a South African judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal. Before joining the Supreme Court,she was a judge of the Free State High Court from March 2008 until June 2016. She is also a judge in the Military Court of Appeal and the primary South African liaison judge to the Hague Conference on Private International Law,and she was the president of the South African chapter of the International Association of Women Judges between 2010 and 2014. She began her legal career as a prosecutor and magistrate in the North West and Gauteng provinces.
Fayeeza Kathree-Setiloane is a South African judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal. She joined the appellate court in December 2023 after 13 years in the Gauteng High Court. Before her appointment to the bench in October 2010,she practiced as an advocate of the High Court in Johannesburg;she was involved in constitutional litigation,including through the Legal Resources Centre,and also served a stint in corporate advisory at Werksmans.
Trevor Richard Gorven is a South African judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal. Before his elevation to that court,he served in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court from December 2008 to June 2021. He was formerly an advocate in Pietermaritzburg,primarily practising civil litigation,and he received silk status in 2006.
David Unterhalter is a South African jurist and judge of the Gauteng Division of the High Court of South Africa. He is also professor of law at the University of Cape Town. Before he was appointed to the bench in January 2018,Unterhalter was a prominent advocate,specialising in public law,competition law,and trade law. He was called to the Johannesburg Bar in 1990 and took silk in 2002.
Tati Moffat Makgoka is a South African judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal. Formerly an attorney in Pretoria,he served in the Gauteng High Court from August 2009 until June 2018,when he was elevated to the Supreme Court of Appeal. He was an acting judge in the Constitutional Court in 2023.
Boissie Henry Mbha is a retired South African judge who served in the Supreme Court of Appeal from June 2014 to August 2022. He was also the chairperson of the Electoral Court from 2018 to 2022,and he acted in the Constitutional Court for a term in 2016. A former attorney,he was appointed to the bench in October 2004 as a judge of the High Court's Gauteng Division.
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.
Petrus Arnolus Koen is South African judge who is currently serving in the KwaZulu-Natal Division of the High Court of South Africa. Before joining the bench in November 2006,he was Senior Counsel in Pietermaritzburg. He is best known for presiding in the corruption trial of former President Jacob Zuma from May 2021 until he recused himself in January 2023.
Annali Christelle Basson is a South African judge of the High Court of South Africa. She was appointed to the Gauteng Division in January 2016 after serving in the Labour Court from 2007 to 2016. Before her appointment to the bench,she was a legal academic at the University of South Africa,where she specialised in labour law and mercantile law. She was an acting judge in the Constitutional Court in 2018 and was shortlisted for permanent appointment to that court in 2019.
Legoabe Willie Seriti is a South African retired judge who served in the Supreme Court of Appeal between 2010 and 2019. Before his elevation to that court,he was a judge of the Gauteng High Court from 2003 to 2010. He is best known for his role in the Seriti Commission of Inquiry into the Arms Deal,which he chaired between 2011 and 2015. He was formerly an attorney in his hometown of Pretoria.
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.
Robert Wolseley Nugent is a South African retired judge who served in the Supreme Court of Appeal from 2002 to 2013. Formerly an advocate and Senior Counsel in Johannesburg,he was appointed to the bench in 1993 as a judge of the Transvaal Provincial Division. In 2018,he chaired the Nugent Commission into maladministration at the South African Revenue Service.
