Becoming a judge at the Constitutional Court is no easy journey and few legal minds get the opportunity. Even fewer get the chance to be second in command of the country’s top judicial office.
Three judge presidents are in the race for the deputy judge president post namely Gauteng judge president Dunstan Mlambo, Free State judge president Cagney Musi and Northern Cape judge president Pule Tlaletsi.
Mlambo is being challenged in court for a management decision he took in dealing with mounting caseloads in the Gauteng high courts.
Mlambo’s directive introducing mandatory mediation for civil cases has been contested by lawyers dealing with Road Accident Fund (RAF) cases who have tried to get the Constitutional Court to rule the decision as an unlawful judicial overreach.
The applications were refused without being heard but will be contested in the high court.
While Mlambo’s decision was applauded, some in the legal fraternity pointed out the real problem was a shortage of judges.
The judge president is no stranger to taking controversial decisions which introduce change to the operations of the high court.
The Gauteng division implemented the court online system in 2022, which rolled out filing of court papers online, and has been running smoothly under his watch.
It has been lauded as an effective administrative tool for judges, lawyers and litigants.
Mlambo was a candidate for the chief justice post in 2022 along with former chief justice Raymond Zondo, current chief justice Mandisa Maya and Constitutional Court justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga. Zondo was appointed and then later Maya.
Commentators in the legal fraternity believe Mlambo stands a good chance of being appointed as deputy chief justice after having been the Gauteng judge president for 13 years.
He started his career in the private sector as an article clerk, assistant and later an associate partner at Bowman, Gilfillan, Hayman, Godfrey from 1988 to 1993.
He went on to be a founding partner at Mlambo & Modise Attorneys from 1993-97.
Mlambo’s first experience of being a judge started at the labour court in 1997 then he went on to be a judge in the Gauteng division in 1999 moving to the Supreme Court of Appeal four years later.
In 2010, he became judge president of the labour court and labour appeal. He has been the head of Gauteng courts since 2012.
From a public prosecutor to a judge president, that is the story of the Free State head of courts, Musi.
Musi’s journey started as a public prosecutor from 1986 to 1992. From 1992 he became a magistrate.
It is often argued that the magistrate court is where the real law happens though high courts tend to take on complex and high profile cases.
In 2005, Musi was appointed as a judge of the Free State high court in Bloemfontein.
He was a judge at the high court for 12 years before taking on acting stints as a judge at the labour court, Lesotho high court, Lesotho labour appeal court, Lesotho commercial court and labour appeal court from 2008-13.
In 2015, he went back to the Free State high court as an acting judge president, a role he handled for different periods over three years. In 2018, he was appointed as the Free State judge president after being nominated by the province’s former judge president Mahube Molemela.
Molemela is the head of Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) and declined to contest the deputy chief justice post.
Just like the two other judge presidents, Musi has acted as a judge at the Constitutional Court and SCA.
In 2018 Musi, as a member of the Judicial Conduct Tribunal, recused himself from former Western Cape judge president John Hlophe’s misconduct hearing.
Hlophe had accused Musi of making remarks about him and wanted him to recuse himself. Musi denied allegations but recused himself from the tribunal which later found Hlophe guilty of misconduct and he was stripped of his judge title by parliament.
The head of high courts in the Northern Cape, Tlaletsi started his law career as a candidate attorney at the office of the state attorney and by the age of 29 he was a director at Gura Tlaletsi law firm.
He was appointed as a judge in the Northern Cape in 2003.
Tlaletsi acted as a labour appeal court judge and judge president in the province many times from 2006 until 2017 when he was appointed as head of the Northern Cape division.
Tlaletsi, during his acting period as a judge at the Constitutional Court in 2022, wrote a judgment that dealt with constitutional law. The judgment was unanimous and supported by former chief justice Zondo.
The interviews for the deputy chief justice post will take place on Wednesday.
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