Nonkosi Mhlantla
{{Short description|South African judge}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| office = Justice of the Constitutional Court
| term_start = 1 December 2015
(Acting: January 2013 – December 2013)
| appointer = Jacob Zuma
| predecessor = Thembile Skweyiya
| term_end3 = 2015
| office2 = Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal
| appointer2 = Kgalema Motlanthe
| office4 = Judge of the High Court
| term_start4 = 1 June 2002
| term_end4 = 30 November 2008
| 1blankname4 = Division
| 1namedata4 = Eastern Cape
| appointer4 = Thabo Mbeki
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1964|05|02}}
| birth_place = Port Elizabeth, South Africa
| birth_name = Nonkosi Zoliswa Mhlantla
| alma_mater = University of the North
| termstart2 = 1 December 2008
| termend2 = 30 November 2015
| honorific_prefix = The Honourable
}}
Nonkosi Zoliswa Mhlantla (born 2 May 1964) 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.
Early life and career
Mhlantla was born on 2 May 1964 in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape.{{Cite web |date=9 November 2015 |title=President appoints new Constitutional Court judge |url=https://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2015-11-09-president-appoints-new-constitutional-court-judge/ |access-date=2023-12-05 |website=Sunday Times |language=en-ZA}} She grew up in the Port Elizabeth townships of KwaZakhele and New Brighton.{{Cite journal |last=Brooks |first=Richard |date=April 2009 |title=Appointment as SCA judge: Judge Nonkosi Mhlantla |url=https://www.gcbsa.co.za/law-journals/2009/april/2009-april-vol022-no1-p14.pdf |journal=Advocate |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=14}} In 1982, she matriculated at Kenneth Masekela High School in KwaThema, a township outside Springs in the former Transvaal, and she went on to the University of the North, where she completed a BProc in 1987.
Between 1990 and 2002, she practised as an attorney in Port Elizabeth, running her own firm named N. Mhlantla & Associates. As a junior attorney, she handled some criminal matters, including Apartheid-era political trials, but she focused primarily on civil, labour, and arbitration matters.{{Cite web |last=Nhlabathi |first=Hlengiwe |date=30 November 2015 |title=Newsmaker: SA's newest ConCourt judge raises the Bar |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/newsmaker-sas-newest-concourt-judge-raises-the-bar-20151130 |access-date=2023-12-05 |website=News24 |language=en-US}} During this period, she served briefly as an acting judge in the High Court of South Africa, filling a vacancy in the Eastern Cape Division between April and September 2000; she also served as a commissioner in Small Claims Court.
Eastern Cape High Court: 2002–2008
Mhlantla was appointed permanently to the Eastern Cape High Court on 1 June 2002. She was the first woman to be appointed to that bench in its 138-year history. Towards the end of her six-year tenure in the High Court, from June 2007 to November 2008, she was seconded as an acting judge to the Supreme Court of Appeal.
Supreme Court of Appeal: 2008–2015
In August 2008, Mhlantla was shortlisted as one of several candidates to fill one of two permanent vacancies in the Supreme Court of Appeal.{{Cite news |date=27 August 2008 |title=Controversial judges aim for top job |work=IOL |url=https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/controversial-judges-aim-for-top-job-413989 |access-date=5 December 2023}} She was appointed by President Kgalema Motlanthe later that year.{{Cite web |date=2009-08-04 |title=Book of SA Women: Judges |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2009-08-04-book-of-sa-women-judges/ |access-date=2023-12-05 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} Throughout 2013, she served as an acting judge in the Constitutional Court of South Africa,{{Cite web |last=Evans |first=Sarah |date=2015-06-25 |title=Top court nominations begin to address judicial gender injustice |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2015-06-25-top-court-nominations-begin-to-address-judicial-gender-injustice/ |access-date=2023-12-05 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} during absences by Justice Edwin Cameron, Justice Johann van der Westhuizen, and Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng.{{Cite web |date=28 November 2012 |title=Appointment of an acting Judge of the Constitutional Court |url=https://www.gov.za/news/media-statements/appointment-acting-judge-constitutional-court-28-nov-2012 |access-date=2023-12-06 |website=South African Government}}{{Cite web |date=2013-11-04 |title=Moseneke steps in as interim chief justice |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2013-11-04-moseneke-steps-in-as-interim-chief-justice/ |access-date=2023-12-06 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} During that period, she wrote several majority judgements for the Constitutional Court.
Constitutional Court: 2015–present
In June 2015, the Judicial Service Commission announced that Mhlantla was one of four candidates who had been shortlisted for possible appointment to fill a permanent vacancy on the Constitutional Court.{{Cite web |last=Wakefield |first=Adam |date=10 June 2015 |title=Judge candidates announced - and they're all women |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/judge-candidates-announced-and-theyre-all-women-20150610 |access-date=2023-12-05 |website=News24 |language=en-US}} The seat had formerly belonged to retired Justice Thembile Skweyiya, and commentators had criticised the delay in appointing Skweyiya's replacement.{{Cite web |last=Thamm |first=Marianne |date=18 March 2015 |title=Constitutional Court: JSC moves to fill vacancy after legal action threat |url=http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2015-03-19-constitutional-court-jsc-moves-to-fill-vacancy-after-legal-action-threat/ |accessdate=2015-12-15 |website=Daily Maverick}} The other candidates were also women – Dhaya Pillay, Leona Theron, and Zukisa Tshiqi – but Mhantla was the most experienced among them.{{Cite web |last=Masengu |first=Tabeth |date=7 July 2015 |title=Lady justice and the road to equality |url=https://www.news24.com/citypress/voices/lady-justice-and-the-road-to-equality-20150707 |access-date=2023-12-05 |website=City Press |language=en-US}} She was nominated to the position by the National Association for Democratic Lawyers, of which was a founding member, and she was viewed as "a safe choice on the constitutional interpretation front", given her record of moderate judgements. Her interview took place in July in Johannesburg.{{Cite web |last=Evans |first=Jenni |date=9 July 2015 |title=Four women judges grilled over vacant ConCourt position |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/four-women-judges-grilled-over-vacant-concourt-position-20150709 |access-date=2023-12-05 |website=News24 |language=en-US}}
On 9 November 2015, President Jacob Zuma announced that he would appoint Mhlantla to the Constitutional Court bench, with effect from 1 December.{{Cite web |last=Quintal |first=Genevieve |date=9 November 2015 |title=Zuma appoints new Constitutional Court judge |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/zuma-appoints-new-constitutional-court-judge-20151109 |access-date=2023-12-05 |website=News24 |language=en-US}} When Justice Sisi Khampepe retired in 2021, she became the longest-serving woman in the Constitutional Court.{{Cite web |date=2020-10-19 |title=The leading female candidates in the running for the next Chief Justice |url=https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-10-19-the-leading-female-candidates-in-the-running-for-the-next-chief-justice/ |access-date=2023-12-05 |website=Daily Maverick |language=en}}
Personal life
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.judgesmatter.co.za/n-z-mhlantla/ N. Z. Mhlantla] at Judges Matter
- [https://concourtblog.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/jsc-ads-judge-nz-mhlantla.pdf Application] to the Constitutional Court
{{Constitutional Court of South Africa}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mhlantla, Nonkosi}}
Category:University of Limpopo alumni
Category:Judges of the Constitutional Court of South Africa
Category:20th-century South African lawyers
Category:21st-century South African lawyers
Category:South African women judges
Category:20th-century South African women lawyers
Category:21st-century South African women lawyers
Category:Judges of the Supreme Court of Appeal (South Africa)