Clive Plasket

Plasket was born on 3 October 1957 in Springs in the former Transvaal.{{Cite web |title=Plasket, Clive Michael |url=https://www.supremecourtofappeal.org.za/index.php/judges/acting-judges-of-the-supreme-court-of-appeal/32-acting-judges/plasket-clive-michael/34-plasket-clive-michael |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=Supreme Court of Appeal}} He attended the Christian Brothers College in Springs and matriculated in 1975 at De La Salle College in Johannesburg.{{Cite journal |date=August 2003 |title=Names in the News: Judge Clive Plaskett |url=https://www.gcbsa.co.za/law-journals/2003/august/2003-august-vol016-no2-pp30-31-and-38.pdf |journal=Advocate |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=30}}

Thereafter he enrolled at the University of Natal's Pietermaritzburg campus, where he completed a BA in 1980, an LLB in 1982, and an LLM in 1986. In 2003, after over a decade in practice, he completed a PhD at Rhodes University. His doctoral dissertation was on judicial review of administrative action in post-apartheid South Africa.{{Cite book |last=Plasket |first=Clive |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a8-6NwAACAAJ |title=The Fundamental Right to Just Administrative Action: Judicial Review of Administrative Action in the Democratic South Africa |date=2002 |publisher=Rhodes University |language=en}}

Between his LLB and LLM graduations, Plasket was a temporary lecturer in law at the University of Natal from 1983 to 1984 and then a permanent lecturer at Rhodes's East London campus from 1984 to 1986. Thereafter he served his articles of clerkship in Johannesburg at Cheadle, Thompson & Haysom, the firm of Halton Cheadle, Fink Haysom, and Clive Thompson. After he was admitted as an attorney in July 1989, he remained at the firm as an attorney, gaining promotion to associate partner in 1990.

In 1991, Plasket left Cheadle, Thompson & Haysom for the Legal Resources Centre's Grahamstown office. Hired as an attorney, he was the office's director (initially in an acting capacity) from 1992 to 1997. In 1998, he moved to the firm of Netteltons, also in Grahamstown, where he remained until 2003. However, his work at Netteltons was part-time, as from 1998 Plasket was also a member of the law faculty at Rhodes University. He was a senior lecturer until he was promoted to associate professor in 2000, and he was regarded as an expert on administrative law.{{Cite web |title=JSC Candidates Judge Clive Plasket |url=https://www.judgesmatter.co.za/interviews/april-2019-interviews/jsc-candidates-apr-19/judge-clive-plasket/ |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=Judges Matter |language=en-ZA}}{{Cite web |date=21 April 2013 |title=Which white judges? |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/which-white-judges-20150429 |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=News24 |language=en-US}} He was also an acting judge in the Eastern Cape Division of the High Court of South Africa on multiple occasions from 2001.

In April 2003, President Thabo Mbeki announced that, on the advice of the Judicial Service Commission, he would appoint Plasket to the bench as a permanent judge of the Eastern Cape High Court.{{Cite web |date=11 April 2003 |title=Mbeki appoints new judges |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/mbeki-appoints-new-judges-20030410 |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=News24 |language=en-US}} He took office on 1 June 2003.

Notable judgements written by Plasket in the High Court included Premier of the Eastern Cape v Ntamo, on customary law,{{Cite web |date=2015-08-24 |title=Judges agree on a democratic approach to customary law |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2015-08-24-judges-agree-on-a-democratic-approach-to-customary-law/ |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} and Tripartite Steering Committee v Minister of Basic Education, on the government's constitutional obligations arising from the right to basic education.{{Cite web |date=2015-08-07 |title=Risky road to school ends – for some |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2015-08-07-risky-road-to-school-ends-for-some/ |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}

During his service in the High Court, Plasket was seconded to the Supreme Court of Appeal as an acting judge on multiple occasions. He wrote several reported judgements for the appellate court as an acting judge, including, with Judge Mahomed Navsa, the judgement in City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality v Blue Moonlight Properties (an appeal of Blue Moonlight Properties v Occupiers of Saratoga Avenue), which was upheld in the Constitutional Court in December 2011.{{Cite web |date=2011-12-01 |title=Jo'burg council forced to accommodate Berea evictees |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2011-12-01-joburg-council-forced-to-accommodate-berea-evictees/ |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} He also sat as an acting judge in politically controversial matters, including Democratic Alliance v President, on Menzi Simelane's appointment to the National Prosecuting Authority.{{Cite web |date=5 November 2011 |title=Simelane and Selebi feel the heat |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/archives/city-press/simelane-and-selebi-feel-the-heat-20150429 |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=News24 |language=en-US}}

{{See also|Judicial Service Commission (South Africa)#Transformation row}}

The Judicial Service Commission thrice shortlisted and interviewed Plasket as a candidate for possible elevation. On the first occasion, in April 2012, he was one of five candidates for two vacancies on the appellate court.{{Cite web |date=2012-04-13 |title=Interrogating the judges |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2012-04-13-interrogating-the-judges/ |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}{{Cite web |date=18 April 2012 |title=Judges fight for posts on the SCA |url=https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2012-04-18-judges-fight-for-posts-on-the-sca/ |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=Sunday Times |language=en-ZA}} Although he was considered a frontrunner,{{Cite web |date=2012-04-20 |title=Politicians grill 'outspoken' judges |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2012-04-20-politicians-grill-outspoken-judges/ |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} although the interview panel praised his "impressive CV",{{Cite web |date=17 April 2012 |title=Judicial independence features at judges' interviews |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/judicial-independence-features-at-judges-interviews-20150429 |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=News24 |language=en-US}} and although the Mail & Guardian said that commissioners from opposition parties "appeared enamoured" of him,{{Cite web |date=2012-04-26 |title=JSC fractures reflect broader political fault lines |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2012-04-26-jsc-fractures-reflect-broader-political-fault-lines/ |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} the Judicial Service Commission did not recommend him for appointment; Xola Petse and Ronnie Pillay were appointed instead, although the Mail & Guardian reported that Plasket was popular among the sitting judges of appeal and that he would be "favoured when future vacancies occur".{{Cite web |date=2012-04-26 |title=Is the JSC courting favourites? |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2012-04-26-is-the-jsc-courting-favourites/ |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}

One year later, Plasket was interviewed for two new vacancies on the Supreme Court of Appeal. During that interview, which lasted two hours, he was subjected to "brutal" questioning about affirmative action in the judiciary.{{Cite web |date=2013-04-12 |title=JSC conflict laid bare by inconsistency |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2013-04-12-jsc-conflict-laid-bare-by-inconsistency/ |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}{{Cite web |date=2013-04-09 |title=JSC defends transformation imperatives for the judiciary |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2013-04-09-jsc-to-recommend-two-judges-for-supreme-court-of-appeal/ |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}{{Cite web |date=10 April 2013 |title=Merit must trump race, says judge |url=https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2013-04-10-merit-must-trump-race-says-judge/ |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=Sunday Times |language=en-ZA}} Afterwards, Nigel Willis and Halima Saldulker were the commission's recommendations for elevation, and commentators were highly critical about the perceived difference in tone during the commission's interview of Willis, who, like Plasket, was a white man. Richard Calland, for example, suggested that the commission was biased against Plasket because of his demonstrated political independence.{{Cite web |last=Calland |first=Richard |date=2013-04-12 |title=JSC's attitude opens door to conservatism |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2013-04-12-00-jscs-attitude-opens-door-to-conservatism/ |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}

In February 2019, the Judicial Service Commission announced that it had shortlisted Plasket for an appellate appointment for a third time, now as one of nine candidates for five vacancies.{{Cite web |date=11 February 2019 |title=Commission names judges shortlisted for key positions in SA courts |url=https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2019-02-11-commission-names-judges-shortlisted-for-key-positions-in-sa-courts/ |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=Sunday Times |language=en-ZA}} During the interview, held in April, he was again questioned about affirmative action, and also about the Blue Moonlight judgement, socioeconomic rights, and land expropriation without compensation; Supreme Court of Appeal President Mandisa Maya complimented him as "a fearless fighter for the disadvantaged" whose "long battle" to ensure social justice in the Eastern Cape had created the perception that he was "an anti-government judge".{{Cite web |date=2019-04-02 |title=Supreme Court of Appeal gets a new deputy president, five new judges |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2019-04-02-supreme-court-of-appeal-gets-a-new-deputy-president-five-new-judges/ |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} After the interviews, Plasket was one of the candidates whom the Judicial Service Commission recommended for elevation (alongside Daniel Dlodlo, Caroline Nicholls, Fikile Mokgohloa, and Thokozile Mbatha), and his appointment was confirmed by President Cyril Ramaphosa in June 2019.{{Cite web |date=21 June 2019 |title=Ramaphosa appoints five new SCA judges - and three of them are women |url=https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2019-06-21-ramaphosa-appoints-five-new-sca-judges-and-three-of-them-are-women/ |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=Sunday Times |language=en-ZA}}

Plasket served in the Supreme Court of Appeal from 2019 until his retirement in 2022. Notable judgements penned by him included Cash Paymaster Services v Chief Executive Officer of the South African Social Security Agency, on the tender for social grants provision,{{Cite web |last=Chabalala |first=Jeanette |date=30 September 2019 |title=Cash Paymaster Services loses appeal bid, ordered to pay R316m back to Sassa |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/cash-paymaster-services-loses-appeal-bid-ordered-to-pay-r316m-back-to-sassa-20190930 |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=News24 |language=en-US}} and Esau v Minister of Co-Operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, on the legality of the COVID-19 lockdown.{{Cite web |last=Felix |first=Jason |date=28 January 2021 |title=Lockdown: SCA finds Level 4 regulations 'justifiable limitation' of rights – except exercise, hot food |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/lockdown-sca-finds-level-4-regulations-justifiable-limitation-of-rights-except-exercise-hot-food-20210128 |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=News24 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Felix |first=Jason |date=28 January 2021 |title=Govt's coronavirus council is lawful and constitutional, SCA confirms |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/govts-coronavirus-council-is-lawful-and-constitutional-sca-confirms-20210128 |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=News24 |language=en-US}}

After his appointment as a judge, Plasket was a visiting professor at Rhodes University between July 2003 and October 2014;{{Cite web |date=2014-10-12 |title=Legal luminary spotlights administrative law in farewell lecture |url=https://www.ru.ac.za/law/latestnews/legalluminaryspotlightsadministrativelawinfarewelllecture.html |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=Rhodes University |language=en-US}} he also served on the university council from 2008 to 2012. In addition to publishing further articles while on the bench, he was involved in several academic journals – the advisory board of Speculum Juris and the editorial boards of African Public Procurement Law Journal and Southern African Public Law – and he was an honorary law professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal from 2014 to 2016.

He is married to Adrienne Carlisle, with whom he has two children.

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.supremecourtofappeal.org.za/index.php/judges/acting-judges-of-the-supreme-court-of-appeal/32-acting-judges/plasket-clive-michael/34-plasket-clive-michael Clive Michael Plasket] at Supreme Court of Appeal
• [https://www.judgesmatter.co.za/interviews/april-2019-interviews/jsc-candidates-apr-19/judge-clive-plasket/ Clive Plasket] at Judges Matter
• [https://www.ru.ac.za/law/people/professorcplasket/ Clive Plasket] at Rhodes University
• [https://gcbsa.co.za/jscdocs/2019%20April/JUDGE%20PLASKET.%20FEB%202019..pdf Review] by the Bar Council (2019)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Plasket, Clive}}

Category:1957 births

Category:20th-century South African lawyers

Category:21st-century South African lawyers

Category:21st-century South African judges

Category:Judges of the Supreme Court of Appeal (South Africa)

Category:Living people

Category:People from Springs, Gauteng

Category:University of Natal alumni

Category:Rhodes University alumni

Category:Academic staff of Rhodes University law school

Category:Judges of the Eastern Cape High Court