Geoff Budlender

Budlender was born on 18 May 1949 in Port Elizabeth.{{Cite journal |date=August 2009 |title=Cape Bar 2009 silks |url=https://www.gcbsa.co.za/law-journals/2009/august/2009-august-vol022-no2-pp14-15.pdf |journal=Advocate |pages=14–15}} He grew up in a middle-class family in the suburb of Mill Park and matriculated at Grey High School.{{Cite web |last=Huisman |first=Biénne |date=2021-12-02 |title=Geoff Budlender, a raconteur and mensch whose work in human rights 'is bigger than Mount Kilimanjaro' |url=https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-12-02-geoff-budlender-a-raconteur-and-mensch-whose-work-in-human-rights-is-bigger-than-mount-kilimanjaro/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Daily Maverick |language=en}}

In 1968, he entered the University of Cape Town as a medical student. Later that year, he became involved in student activism as one of the students who lodged a sit-in during the Mafeje affair.{{Cite web |date=26 July 2004 |title=New UCT Council chair recalls Bremner sit-in |url=http://www.news.uct.ac.za/article/-2004-07-26-new-uct-council-chair-recalls-bremner-sit-in |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=University of Cape Town |language=en}} He joined the National Union of South African Students, which at the time was strongly opposed to apartheid, and was elected as the president of the university's student representative council in 1971. In 1972, he transferred from his medical degree to study law, and he graduated with a BA LLB in 1975. Budlender's student activism attracted the attention of the apartheid government, and Prime Minister John Vorster was said (possibly apocryphally) to have described him as "the second most dangerous man in South Africa".{{Cite news |date=2006-11-23 |title=A law unto himself |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/nov/23/worlddispatch.southafrica |access-date=2023-11-16 |issn=0261-3077}}{{Cite news |date=8 November 2004 |title=Is Geoff Budlender still dangerous? |work=Business Day |url=https://allafrica.com/stories/200411081149.html |access-date=16 November 2023}}

After completing his degree, Budlender served his articles at a Johannesburg law firm that specialised in defending political activists; among other cases, he worked on the defence of anti-apartheid activist Tokyo Sexwale against charges brought under the Terrorism Act.

In 1979, he, Arthur Chaskalson, and Felicia Kentridge co-founded the Legal Resources Centre, supported initially by external donors such as the Ford Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation. The Centre pursued public interest litigation and strategic litigation on a pro bono basis and mounted several prominent challenges to the apartheid state. After the end of apartheid, research by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and testimony by state operative Paul Erasmus revealed that Budlender had been a target of so-called Stratcom "dirty tricks" operations against members of the anti-apartheid white left.{{Cite web |date=1998-04-17 |title=PW rage as trial postponed |url=https://mg.co.za/article/1998-04-17-pw-rage-as-trial-postponed/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}{{Cite web |date=1995-06-22 |title=You are lucky to be alive Harber |url=https://mg.co.za/article/1995-06-23-you-are-lucky-to-be-alive-harber/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}

After South Africa's first democratic elections, Arthur Chaskalson was appointed to the new Constitutional Court of South Africa, and Budlender replaced him as national director of the Legal Resources Centre between 1994 and 1996. During that period, in 1995, the Centre represented the appellants in the matter of S v Makwanyane, in which the Constitutional Court handed down its landmark ruling that capital punishment was inconsistent with the interim Constitution; Budlender was an instructing attorney on the case under Advocate Wim Trengove.

In 1996, President Nelson Mandela appointed Budlender as director-general in the national Department of Land Affairs, which was then under the political leadership of Minister Derek Hanekom. After the June 1999 general election, newly appointed Minister Thoko Didiza announced that Budlender would be replaced as director-general;{{Cite web |date=1999-10-22 |title=Mass exodus of the DGs |url=https://mg.co.za/article/1999-10-22-mass-exodus-of-the-dgs/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} the Mail & Guardian said that he would "leave a gap that will be difficult to fill",{{Cite web |date=1999-12-23 |title=The good, the bad and the ugly: The 1999 |url=https://mg.co.za/article/1999-12-23-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-the-1999/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} and Helena Dolny of the Land Bank publicly suggested that his departure was part of an "ethnic cleansing" of the department's "white left".{{Cite web |date=1999-12-30 |title=Land Affairs denies Dolny's 'ethnic cleansing' |url=https://mg.co.za/article/1999-12-30-land-affairs-denies-dolnys-ethnic-cleansing/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}

In 2000, he returned to the Legal Resources Centre as head of its constitutional litigation unit, a position he held until 2004. In that capacity, he was an attorney for the respondents in Government v Grootboom in 2000.{{Cite web |date=4 January 2012 |title=Compromised by politics |url=https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/opinion/columnists/2012-01-04-compromised-by-politics/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Sowetan |language=en-ZA}} In subsequent years, he represented the Treatment Action Campaign in its campaign to reverse the AIDS-denialist health policies of President Thabo Mbeki's government; in Minister of Health v Treatment Action Campaign, handed down in the Constitutional Court in 2002, they secured an order compelling the government to provide nevirapine to all HIV-positive pregnant women. Budlender also represented the Treatment Action Campaign in its bid to interdict Matthias Rath from distributing multivitamins as a quack treatment for AIDS.{{Cite web |date=2008-03-12 |title=Matthias Rath a liar, court told |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2008-03-12-matthias-rath-a-liar-court-told/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}

Having until then practiced as an attorney, Budlender was admitted to the Cape Bar as an advocate on 18 January 2005;{{Cite web |title=Budlender SC, Geoff |url=https://capebar.co.za/advocates/budlender-sc-geoff/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Cape Bar - Society of Advocates Cape Town |language=en-US}} he was granted silk status in 2009. As an advocate, he argued a number of further politically sensitive cases, including several in the Constitutional Court. Among other clients, he represented mineworkers affected by lung disease in a massive class action suit against 32 mining companies;{{Cite web |last=Evans |first=Sarah |date=2015-10-15 |title=Silicosis case poised to rewrite law books |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2015-10-15-silicosis-case-poised-to-rewrite-law-books/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}{{Cite web |last=Evans |first=Sarah |date=2015-10-14 |title=Silicosis class action: A question of manageability |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2015-10-14-silicosis-class-action-a-question-of-manageability/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} pensioner Elizabeth Gumede in a challenge to the constitutionality of the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act;{{Cite web |last=Ogrady |first=Jenni |date=2008-09-11 |title=Customary law debated in Constitutional Court |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2008-09-11-customary-law-debated-in-constitutional-court/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} Black Sash in its campaign to hold Minister Bathabile Dlamini accountable for the 2017 social grants crisis;{{Cite web |last=Pather |first=Raeesa |date=2017-03-15 |title=Concourt weighs up extending an illegal social grant contract |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2017-03-15-concourt-cps-and-the-catch-22-contract/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}{{Cite web |last=Tandwa |first=Lizeka |date=2018-01-23 |title=Sassa debacle inquiry: Judge tells Dlamini to stop dodging questions |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2018-01-23-sassa-debacle-inquiry-judge-tells-dlamini-to-stop-dodging-questions/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} and activist Andrew Feinstein during the Seriti Commission of Inquiry into the Arms Deal.{{Cite web |last=Evans |first=Sarah |date=2014-10-20 |title=Two more arms deal critics refuse to testify |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2014-10-20-two-more-arms-deal-critics-refuse-to-testify/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}

In addition, in 2012, retired judge Ian Farlam recruited Budlender to serve as one of five evidence leaders at his commission of inquiry into the Marikana massacre.{{Cite web |last=Parker |first=Faranaaz |date=2012-09-21 |title='All systems go' on Farlam Commission |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2012-09-21-all-systems-go-on-farlam-commission/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} He served as head evidence leader throughout the commission's two-year tenure,{{Cite web |date=2013-11-28 |title=Marikana operation flawed, says evidence leader |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2013-11-28-marikana-operation-flawed-says-evidence-leader/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}{{Cite web |date=2014-01-06 |title=Marikana commission resumes hearings |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2014-01-06-marikana-commission-resumes-hearings/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} though he said in his closing arguments that he had found the dishonesty of the commission's witnesses to be "dispiriting".{{Cite web |last=Tolsi |first=Niren |date=2014-11-13 |title=Marikana: The end of a bitter road promises little closure |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2014-11-13-marikana-the-end-of-a-bitter-road-promises-only-closure/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}

In 2017, Tokyo Sexwale, in his capacity as non-executive chairperson of Trillian Capital Partners, commissioned Budlender to conduct an independent investigation into the veracity of allegations that Trillian had links to the Gupta family and to state capture. Budlender reported that many of the allegations were credible, and Sexwale resigned after tabling it.{{Cite web |last=Bezuidenhout |first=Jessica |date=2017-06-30 |title=Ugly truth about 'Gupta company' |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2017-06-30-00-ugly-truth-about-gupta-company/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}{{Cite web |date=2017-06-30 |title=Key findings from Budlender's damning Trillian dossier |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2017-06-30-key-findings-from-budlenders-damning-trillian-dossier/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} Budlender's report also implicated McKinsey & Company in questionable dealings with Trillian,{{Cite web |date=2017-06-30 |title=McKinsey caught up in Trillian lies |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2017-06-30-mckinsey-caught-up-in-trillian-lies/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} and McKinsey, accused of failing to cooperate with Budlender's investigation, later apologised publicly to him.{{Cite web |date=2017-10-20 |title=McKinsey's apology is a laugh |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2017-10-20-00-mckinseys-apology-is-a-laugh/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} Over the next year, Budlender was commissioned to carry out similar investigations at two public entities – the Public Investment Corporation and the Industrial Development Corporation – that were also suspected of involvement in state capture.{{Cite web |last=Kekana |first=Mashadi |date=2018-10-18 |title=Ramaphosa appoints commission of inquiry into alleged PIC 'improprieties' |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2018-10-18-ramaphosa-appoints-commission-of-inquiry-into-alleged-pic-improprieties/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}{{Cite web |last=Donnelly |first=Lynley |date=2017-11-24 |title='Zuma's Cabinet is fighting back on state capture' |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2017-11-24-zumas-cabinet-is-fighting-back-on-state-capture/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}

In October 2019, the Department of Justice further announced that it would retain the assistance of Budlender and three other senior advocates – Wim Trengove‚ Ngwako Maenetje, and Tembeka Ngcukaitobi – in guiding state capture-related investigations and prosecutions. R5 million was made available for the legal fees of each advocate.{{Cite web |date=14 October 2019 |title=Department of justice hires legal eagles to nail state capture looters |url=https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/2019-10-14-department-of-justice-hires-legal-eagles-to-nail-state-capture-looters/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Business Day |language=en-ZA}} Subsequent to that announcement, Budlender appeared for the National Prosecuting Authority on several occasions,{{Cite web |last=Koko |first=Khaya |date=2021-11-15 |title=R1.6bn freezing order sought by NPA for Transnet 'corruption' |url=https://mg.co.za/news/2021-11-15-r1-6bn-freezing-order-sought-by-npa-for-transnet-corruption/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} most recently in opposing former president Jacob Zuma's bid to have Billy Downer removed as the state prosecutor assigned to his corruption trial.{{Cite web |last=Ferreira |first=Emsie |date=2023-10-26 |title=Zuma blames Stalingrad on the media |url=https://mg.co.za/politics/2023-10-26-zuma-blames-stalingrad-on-the-media/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}{{Cite web |last=Ndlovu |first=Mandisa |date=2023-09-28 |title='It is not for Zuma to decide who should prosecute him,' says advocate Geoff Budlender |url=https://mg.co.za/politics/2023-09-28-it-is-not-for-zuma-to-decide-who-should-prosecute-him-says-advocate-geoff-budlender/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} He also served as counsel for President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2022 when Busisiwe Mkhwebane challenged her suspension from the office of Public Protector.{{Cite web |last=Ferreira |first=Emsie |date=2022-11-24 |title=Mkhwebane's suspension rests on facts, not optics, Concourt hears |url=https://mg.co.za/politics/2022-11-24-mkhwebanes-suspension-rests-on-facts-not-optics-concourt-hears/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}

Budlender acted as a judge of the High Court of South Africa for the first time in 2001, serving in the Witwatersrand Local Division between May and June. After that, he acted in the Cape High Court for several non-consecutive terms. On three separate occasions, the Judicial Service Commission shortlisted and interviewed him for permanent appointment to the Cape bench;{{Cite web |date=2010-04-23 |title=JSC thinking leaves us in the dark |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2010-04-23-jsc-thinking-leaves-us-in-the-dark/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} the third and final occasion was in late 2004, following a contentious interview in October.{{Cite web |date=2004-10-29 |title=Judging the judges |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2004-10-29-judging-the-judges/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}

In September 2009, he was one of nine shortlisted candidates interviewed for appointment to vacancies on the Constitutional Court,{{Cite web |date=20 September 2009 |title=Con Court Judge interviews begin |url=https://ewn.co.za/2009/09/20/Con-Court-Judge-interviews-begin |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Eyewitness News |language=en}} and, during his interview, he suggested that he had been passed over for judicial appointment in the past because of his involvement in litigation which Thabo Mbeki's administration considered hostile, especially his work with the Treatment Action Campaign.{{Cite news |date=21 September 2009 |title=Budlender faces tough questions |work=IOL |url=https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/budlender-faces-tough-questions-459121 |access-date=16 November 2023}} The Judicial Service Commission did not recommend him for appointment to the Constitutional Court.{{Cite web |date=2009-09-22 |title=No place for Hlophe on Concourt shortlist |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2009-09-22-no-place-for-hlophe-on-concourt-shortlist/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}

The Judicial Service Commission's omission to appoint Budlender as a judge has remained a controversial issue, is frequently described as "inexplicable",{{Cite web |date=2011-05-09 |title=Legal fraternity's finest struggle to find a place at the Bar |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2011-05-09-legal-fraternitys-finest-struggle-to-find-a-place-at-the-bar/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}{{Cite web |last=Tolsi |first=Niren |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=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} and is frequently mentioned as an example of the commission's overzealous application of affirmative action.{{Cite web |date=2009-07-25 |title=Several more qualified than Hlophe |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2009-07-25-several-more-qualified-than-hlophe/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}{{Cite web |date=2012-11-23 |title=Greater transparency could encourage better JSC appointments |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2012-11-23-00-greater-transparency-could-encourage-better-jsc-appointments/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}{{Cite web |last=Lewis |first=Jack |date=2013-06-19 |title=Transformation by quota is barking mad |url=https://www.groundup.org.za/article/transformation-quota-barking-mad/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=GroundUp News |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Tolsi |first=Niren |date=2021-10-12 |title=JSC lets politics trump conscience and excellence |url=https://mg.co.za/news/2021-10-12-jsc-lets-politics-trump-conscience-and-excellence/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} As early as 2004, legal journalist Carmel Rickard caused a stir by suggesting that Budlender's non-appointment demonstrated that the bench was effectively "closed" to white men. She wrote in the Sunday Times:

There is no white in South Africa who can match his credentials. If Budlender is unacceptable to the commission, no other white male lawyer can make it. It's time for the Judicial Service Commission to be frank with the legal profession and say that white male lawyers should no longer apply for positions on the Bench.{{Cite news |last=Rickard |first=Carmel |date=18 July 2004 |title=The bench is closed to pale males, struggle credentials or not |work=Sunday Times |url=https://allafrica.com/stories/200407190877.html |access-date=16 November 2023}}

Budlender joined the council of his alma mater, the University of Cape Town, in 2002; he served as its chairperson between July 2004 and July 2008. In January 2023, he was appointed as a part-time member of the Competition Commission's Competition Tribunal.{{Cite web |date=9 January 2023 |title=Competition Tribunal snaps up legal experts' skills |url=https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/2023-01-09-competition-tribunal-snaps-up-legal-experts-skills/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Business Day |language=en-ZA}}

In October 2021, the International Bar Association awarded Budlender its Pro Bono Award for his pro bono work at the Legal Resources Centre and elsewhere.{{Cite web |last=Makhafola |first=Getrude |date=30 October 2021 |title=Advocate Budlender receives international award for his pro bono work in SA |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/advocate-budlender-receives-international-award-for-his-pro-bono-work-in-sa-20211030 |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=News24 |language=en-US}}

He is Jewish and lives in Claremont, Cape Town.{{Cite web |last=Alcock |first=Sello S. |date=2009-02-01 |title=Top SA Jews slam Gaza attack |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2009-02-01-top-sa-jews-slam-gaza-attack/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} His wife, Aninka Claassens, is a sociologist at the University of Cape Town; they met during apartheid in Driefontein, where Budlender was representing a community against forced removal and Claassens was working for Black Sash. They have four children and several grandchildren. His son Steven Budlender is also an advocate;{{Cite web |last=Cabe |first=Musawenkosi |date=2020-06-15 |title=Corporate bullying in fight over Xolobeni mining |url=https://mg.co.za/news/2020-06-15-corporate-bullying-in-fight-over-xolobeni-mining/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} the pair appeared together in the Constitutional Court in 2022, arguing on behalf of the defendants in Mineral Sands Resources v Reddell.{{Cite web |last=Bega |first=Sheree |date=2022-02-22 |title=Concourt hears landmark 'Slapp' defamation and free speech case |url=https://mg.co.za/the-green-guardian/2022-02-22-concourt-hears-landmark-slapp-defamation-and-free-speech-case/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://justice.org.uk/geoff-budlender/ Interview] with Justice

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Category:1949 births

Category:Living people

Category:20th-century South African lawyers

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Category:People from Gqeberha

Category:Alumni of Grey High School

Category:University of Cape Town alumni

Category:South African Senior Counsel

Category:Human rights lawyers

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Category:South African anti-apartheid activists