Tembeka Ngcukaitobi

Ngcukaitobi was born on 25 December 1976{{Needs citation|date=November 2023}} in Cala in the former Transkei, now part of the Eastern Cape;{{Cite news |last=Campbell |first=Carol |date=15 April 2018 |title=Seminal work fills in missing history of black legal thinking on human rights |work=Africa Legal |url=https://www.africa-legal.com/news-detail/seminal-work-fills-in-missing-history-of-black-legal-thinking-on-human-rights// |access-date=16 November 2023}} he grew up in the nearby village of Lupapasi.{{Cite web |last=Phyllis |first=Yvonne |date=2021-07-22 |title=Interview: Tembeka Ngcukaitobi on land matters and historical distortions |url=https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-07-22-interview-tembeka-ngcukaitobi-on-land-matters-and-historical-distortions/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Daily Maverick |language=en}} His mother, Nomsa, was a domestic worker, a teacher at a school for the disabled, and then a nurse, and his father, Gcinabantu Hutchinson, was a mineworker in Johannesburg and then a clerk at the Magistrate's Court in Cofimvaba. His brother, Lulama Ngcukaitobi, later became a prominent politician in the governing African National Congress.{{Cite web |date=5 December 2022 |title=Ngcukayitobi launches foundation in honour of late father to help address social ills |url=https://www.dispatchlive.co.za/news/2022-12-05-ngcukayitobi-launches-foundation-in-honour-of-late-father-to-help-address-social-ills/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Dispatch |language=en-ZA}} Their father died in an accident in 1983 while studying law at the University of South Africa, and Ngcukaitobi became interested in law as a means of doing "what my father couldn't do".{{Cite web |date=13 November 2016 |title=No resting the case for Adv Tembeka Ngcukaitobi |url=https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times/news/2016-11-13-no-resting-the-case-for-adv-tembeka-ngcukaitobi/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Sunday Times |language=en-ZA}}{{Cite web |date=1 June 2019 |title=Silk status beckons Tembeka Ngcukaitobi |url=https://www.heraldlive.co.za/weekend-post/your-weekend/2019-06-01-silk-status-beckons-tembeka-ngcukaitobi/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Herald |language=en-ZA}}

He attended Mantanzima High School in Cala, and then, unable to afford the University of Natal, studied law on a bursary at the University of Transkei.{{Cite web |date=2 November 2016 |title=Who is Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi? |url=https://www.702.co.za/articles/231526/who-is-advocate-tembeka-ngcukaitobi |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=702 |language=en-ZA}} He was president of the university's student representative council in 1997 and graduated with a BProc and an LLB in 1999.{{Cite web |last=Macupe |first=Bongekile |date=2021-02-21 |title=Ngcukaitobi, the new sheriff at Walter Sisulu University |url=https://mg.co.za/education/2021-02-21-ngcukaitobi-at-walter-sisulu-university/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} He later completed two LLMs, one at Rhodes University and another at the London School of Economics.{{Cite web |title=Tembeka Ngcukaitobi |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.co.za/author/tembeka-ngcukaitobi |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Penguin Random House South Africa}}{{Cite web |title=The Author: Tembeka Ngcukaitobi |url=https://www.thelandisours.com/the-author/ |access-date=16 November 2023 |website=The Land Is Ours}}

Ngcukaitobi began his legal career at the Legal Aid Clinic in Mthatha and then at the Legal Resources Centre in Grahamstown. He received offers to clerk on the Constitutional Court of South Africa for three different justices, Arthur Chaskalson, Sandile Ngcobo and Kate O'Regan; he chose to clerk for Chaskalson. After that, he worked at Bowman Gilfillan between 2001 and 2010.

In August 2010, Ngcukaitobi was admitted to the Johannesburg Bar as an advocate of the High Court of South Africa.{{Cite web |title=Silk Members – The Johannesburg Bar |url=https://www.johannesburgbar.co.za/contact-details-of-all-members/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Johannesburg Society of Advocates |language=en-US}} He spent three years as director of the constitutional litigation unit at the Legal Resources Centre, during which time he worked with George Bizos as counsel for the families of the victims of the Marikana massacre.{{Cite web |last=Ngcukaitobi |first=Tembeka |date=13 September 2020 |title=Travels with George Bizos on the road to Marikana |url=https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/opinion/2020-09-13-travels-with-george-bizos-on-the-road-to-marikana/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Business Day |language=en-ZA}} Over the next decade, he appeared in front of the Constitutional Court and frequently in front of the Competition Appeal Court, the High Court, and the Supreme Court of Appeal.{{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}} Early in his career, he frequently served as junior counsel under Dali Mpofu, including in Gareth Cliff's campaign to be reinstated as a judge on Idols in 2015 and in the MDC Alliance's campaign to overturn the results of the 2018 Zimbabwean election;{{Cite web |date=27 November 2016 |title=Cliff recounts dark days |url=https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times/opinion-and-analysis/2016-11-27-book-extract-cliff-recounts-dark-days/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Sunday Times |language=en-ZA}}{{Cite web |last=Plessis |first=Carien du |date=2018-08-17 |title=SA legal heavyweights land in Harare in court bid to challenge Mnangagwa’s win |url=https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2018-08-17-sa-legal-heavyweights-land-in-harare-in-court-bid-to-challenge-mnangagwas-win/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Daily Maverick |language=en}} the Sunday Times nicknamed him "the Robin to Dali Mpofu's Batman".

In May 2019, less than a decade into his career as an advocate (an unusually short period), Ngcukaitobi announced that he had been recommended for silk status,{{Cite web |date=2019-05-23 |title=Tembeka Ngcukaitobi set to become a senior counsel after just eight years |url=https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2019-05-24-advocate-tembeka-ngcukaitobi-set-to-become-a-senior-counsel/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Sunday Times |language=en-ZA}} which he duly received at the end of February 2020. He is currently attached to the Duma Nokwe Group at the Johannesburg Bar.

Ngcukaitobi rose to public prominence during the presidency of Jacob Zuma, when he represented the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in a series of politically controversial cases, including a 2016 Pretoria High Court bid to gain access to Thuli Madonsela's report on alleged state capture.{{Cite web |date=14 October 2016 |title=Preservation order would unfairly bind incoming public protector to state capture report: Van Rooyen’s lawyer |url=https://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2016-10-14-preservation-order-would-unfairly-bind-incoming-public-protector-to-state-capture-report-van-rooyens-lawyer/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Sunday Times |language=en-ZA}}{{Cite web |date=2 November 2016 |title=The sheer brilliance of Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi |url=https://www.snl24.com/drum/news/the-sheer-brilliance-of-advocate-tembeka-ngcukaitobi-20170728 |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Drum |language=en-US}} In 2017, in EFF v Speaker, he fronted the EFF's successful bid to have the Constitutional Court order the Speaker of the National Assembly to implement another of Madonsela's reports, this one about the Nkandla scandal.{{Cite web |date=5 September 2017 |title=Accountability for Zuma lies with the Speaker – EFF lawyer |url=https://www.politicsweb.co.za/news-and-analysis/accountability-for-zuma-lies-with-the-speaker--eff#google_vignette |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Politicsweb |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=5 September 2017 |title=Mbete could have done more to institute proceedings on Nkandla: counsel |url=https://www.timeslive.co.za/politics/2017-09-05-mbete-could-have-done-more-to-institute-proceedings-on-nkandla-counsel/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Sunday Times |language=en-ZA}}{{Cite news |last=Maclean |first=Ruth |date=2017-12-29 |title=Zuma impeachment calls grow after court rules on home upgrade scandal |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/29/south-africa-parliament-jacob-zuma-court |access-date=2023-11-16 |issn=0261-3077}} Also in 2017, Ngcukaitobi represented the EFF in UDM v Speaker of the National Assembly.{{Cite web |date=15 May 2017 |title=Constitutional Court judges ask tough questions of parties in secret ballot case |url=https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/2017-05-15-constitutional-court-judges-ask-tough-questions-of-parties-in-secret-ballot-case/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Business Day |language=en-ZA}}{{Cite web |date=2017-06-22 |title=Concourt: Speaker has the powers to prescribe secret ballot |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2017-06-22-constitutional-court-delivering-ruling-on-motion-of-no-confidence-secret-ballot/ |access-date=2020-02-07 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}

In October 2019, the Department of Justice further announced that it would retain the assistance of Ngcukaitobi and three other senior advocates – Wim Trengove, Ngwako Maenetje, and Geoff Budlender – 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}} A year later, former President Zuma accused Ngcukaitobi of "irregular" collusion with Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, who was leading the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture.{{Cite web |last=Khumalo |first=Juniour |date=20 November 2020 |title=Zuma foundation accuses Judge Zondo of irregularly working with lawyer Tembeka Ngcukaitobi |url=https://www.news24.com/citypress/news/zuma-foundation-accuses-judge-zondo-of-irregularly-working-with-lawyer-tembeka-ngcukaitobi-20201120 |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=City Press |language=en-US}} In subsequent months, Ngcukaitobi served as counsel for the Zondo Commission, in which capacity he argued before the Constitutional Court that Zuma's failure to appear before the commission amounted to contempt of court.{{Cite web |date=15 March 2021 |title=Tembeka Ngcukaitobi implores Constitutional Court to vindicate authority of the judiciary |url=https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/2021-03-15-tembeka-ngcukaitobi-implores-constitutional-court-to-vindicate-authority-of-the-judiciary/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Business Day |language=en-ZA}}{{Cite web |last=Ferreira |first=Emsie |date=2021-06-24 |title=The trouble with clamouring for the Constitutional Court to rule on Zuma |url=https://mg.co.za/news/2021-06-24-the-trouble-with-clamouring-for-the-constitutional-court-to-rule-on-zuma/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} Zuma was represented by Ngcukaitobi's former mentor, Dali Mpofu. After the Constitutional Court handed Zuma a prison sentence, Ngcukaitobi also represented the Zondo Commission in challenging Zuma's further attempts to avoid serving his sentence.{{Cite web |last=Ferreira |first=Emsie |date=2021-07-06 |title=Zuma should be in jail now, Zondo lawyer tells high court |url=https://mg.co.za/politics/2021-07-06-zuma-should-be-in-jail-now-zondo-lawyer-tells-high-court/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}{{Cite web |last=Ferreira |first=Emsie |date=2021-07-11 |title=More hurdles for Zuma as showdown looms at constitutional court |url=https://mg.co.za/news/2021-07-11-more-hurdles-for-zuma-as-showdown-looms-at-constitutional-court/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} Tony Leon, writing in the Business Day, commended his "splendid laceration of Zuma" during this period.{{Cite web |last=Leon |first=Tony |date=9 July 2021 |title=Power of the courts prevail against SA’s once-most-powerful citizen |url=https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/opinion/2021-07-09-tony-leon-power-of-the-courts-prevail-against-sas-once-most-powerful-citizen/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Business Day |language=en-ZA}}

In 2020, Ngcukaitobi, under Wim Trengove, served as counsel to President Cyril Ramaphosa in his successful attempt to overturn Busisiwe Mkhwebane's report about alleged misconduct by Ramaphosa's CR17 campaign.{{Cite web |last=Rabkin |first=Franny |date=2020-02-06 |title=Court tests protector’s powers |url=https://mg.co.za/news/2020-02-07-court-tests-protectors-powers/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}} The case went to the Constitutional Court on appeal.{{Cite web |date=27 November 2020 |title=Mkhwebane ‘abused public office’ over CR17 funding, Con Court told |url=https://select.timeslive.co.za/news/2020-11-26-mkhwebane-abused-public-office-over-cr17-funding-con-court-told/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Sunday Times |language=en-ZA}} In 2023, Ngcukaitobi represented 19 parties, led by the UDM, in an application which sought to have the Pretoria High Court declare loadshedding to be unconstitutional.{{Cite web |last=Ferreira |first=Emsie |date=2023-03-20 |title=Load-shedding is not an act of God, litigants tell high court |url=https://mg.co.za/news/2023-03-20-load-shedding-is-not-an-act-of-god-litigants-tell-high-court/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}

In 2023-24, he was appointed as a member of the South African legal team arguing South Africa v. Israel regarding the Genocide Convention.{{cite web | last=Kgosana | first=Rorisang | title=The ‘A-team’ lawyers representing South Africa at the world court against Israel | website=timeslive.co.za | date=2024-01-05 | url=https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2024-01-05-the-a-team-lawyers-representing-south-africa-at-the-world-court-against-israel/ | access-date=2024-01-06}}

Ngcukaitobi has served as an acting judge in the Labour Court and in the Land Claims Court. In the latter capacity, in 2016, he handed down judgement in Msiza v Director-General of the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, ruling in favour of a labour tenant represented by the Legal Resources Centre.{{Cite journal |last=Du Plessis |first=Elmien |date=2019-12-05 |title=The Msiza-case: the perpetuation of injustices by the miscalculation of “just and equitable” compensation |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/eplj-2019-0009/html |journal=European Property Law Journal |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=211–226 |doi=10.1515/eplj-2019-0009 |issn=2190-8362|url-access=subscription }} In terms of the Land Reform (Labour Tenant) Act, the tenant had been awarded ownership of the land that he and his father had occupied for six decades; the matter concerned a dispute over the amount of compensation to be paid to the land's former owner. Section 25 of the Constitution required that "just and equitable" compensation be paid, but Ngcukaitobi departed from existing jurisprudence in ruling that this provision did not require compensation equivalent to the land's market value.{{Cite news |last=Levy |first=Ariel |date=2019-05-06 |title=Who Owns South Africa? |language=en-US |work=The New Yorker |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/05/13/who-owns-south-africa |access-date=2023-11-16 |issn=0028-792X}} He ordered compensation to be paid at an amount that was R300,000 under the land's assessed market value.{{Cite web |date=8 July 2016 |title=Landmark ruling sets aside market value for land claims |url=https://www.businesslive.co.za/rdm/politics/2016-07-08-landmark-ruling-sets-aside-market-value-for-land-claims/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Business Day |language=en-ZA}}{{Cite web |date=8 July 2016 |title=Land ruling 'to rattle investors' |url=https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2016-07-08-land-ruling-to-rattle-investors/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Sunday Times |language=en-ZA}} The Supreme Court of Appeal overturned his judgement in 2017, ordering compensation at the market value; it said that that Ngcukaitobi's R300,000 deduction from market value was arbitrary and that the valuation of a property's market value, calculated by a state expert, already took into account questions of justice and equity.{{Cite web |date=3 October 2017 |title=Ruling raises questions on state guidelines for land claims |url=https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/2017-10-03-ruling-raises-questions-on-state-guidelines-for-land-claims/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Business Day |language=en-ZA}}

As an acting judge in the Eastern Cape High Court in 2021, Ngcukaitobi controversially overturned the conviction of Loyiso Coko, who had been sentenced to ten years' imprisonment for raping his girlfriend in July 2018.{{Cite web |last=Ngcukana |first=Lubabalo |date=17 October 2021 |title=Sex vs rape: Ngcukaitobi's ruling sparks outrage |url=https://www.news24.com/citypress/news/sex-vs-rape-ngcukaitobis-ruling-sparks-outage-20211017 |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=City Press |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Sibanda |first=Omphemetse S. |date=2021-10-17 |title=Flawed Makhanda High Court judgment is an Achilles’ heel in rape case law in South Africa |url=https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2021-10-17-flawed-makhanda-high-court-judgment-is-an-achilles-heel-in-rape-case-law-in-south-africa/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Daily Maverick |language=en}} In a judgement written by Ngcukaitobi, he and judge Nyameko Gqamana said that the trial court, the Makhanda Regional Court, had erred in discounting Coko's argument that he had "genuinely believed" that his girlfriend had implicitly consented to penetrative sex; Ngcukaitobi pointed to Coko's evidence that the complainant had been "an equally active participant" in their foreplay, which had included oral sex.{{Cite web |last=Pheto |first=Belinda |date=16 October 2021 |title='A kiss can be just a kiss': Gender justice expert fumes over rape 'consent' judgment |url=https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2021-10-16-a-kiss-can-be-just-a-kiss-gender-justice-expert-fumes-over-rape-consent-judgment/ |access-date=2021-10-17 |website=Sunday Times |language=en-ZA}} Lawyers for Human Rights and the African branch of the International Commission of Jurists both expressed disappointment in the judgement,{{Cite web |last=Swemmer |first=Sheena |date=2021-10-14 |title=Eastern Cape high court judgment shows how problematic judicial views around consent in rape cases persists |url=https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2021-10-14-foreplay-judgment-shows-how-problematic-judicial-views-around-consent-in-rape-cases-persists/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Daily Maverick |language=en}} and the matter was heard on appeal in the Supreme Court of Appeal in 2023.{{Cite web |date=2023-11-15 |title=Court reserves judgment in Loyiso Coko rape conviction |url=https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/court-reserves-judgment-in-loyiso-coko-rape-conviction/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=SABC News |language=en-US}} The appellate court overturned Ngcukaitobi's judgment in April 2024.{{Cite web |date=2024-04-24 |title=State wins its appeal of controversial Coko rape ruling |url=https://mg.co.za/news/2024-04-24-state-wins-its-appeal-of-controversial-coko-rape-ruling/ |access-date=2024-05-02 |website=The Mail & Guardian |language=en-ZA}}{{Cite web |date=25 April 2024 |title=Tembeka Ngcukaitobi’s not-guilty judgment in rape trial overruled |url=https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/2024-04-25-tembeka-ngcukaitobis-not-guilty-judgment-in-rape-trial-overruled/ |access-date=2024-05-02 |website=Business Day |language=en-ZA}}

In addition to several academic articles, Ngcukaitobi has written two well-received books about land law and land reform in South Africa. The Land Is Ours: South Africa’s First Black Lawyers and the Birth of Constitutionalism (2018) is based on several years' research and focuses on historical land dispossession under colonialism and apartheid, as well as its links to a burgeoning constitutionalism among black lawyers.{{Cite web |last=Phillip |first=Xolisa |date=8 May 2018 |title=A moving account of how black land was stolen |url=https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/life/books/2018-05-08-book-review-a-moving-account-of-how-black-land-was-stolen/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Business Day |language=en-ZA}} Land Matters: South Africa’s Failed Reforms and the Road Ahead (2021), which was shortlisted for the 2022 Sunday Times CNA Literary Award,{{Cite web |last=Platt |first=Jennifer |date=4 September 2022 |title=The 2022 Sunday Times Literary Awards shortlist |url=https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times/books/news/2022-09-04-the-2022-sunday-times-literary-awards-shortlist/ |access-date=2022-09-05 |website=The Sunday Times |language=en-ZA}} sets out an argument for reforming policies on land ownership and land occupation.{{Cite web |last=Msomi |first=Sthembiso |date=23 May 2021 |title=Ngcukaitobi reflects on the long road back to the land in new book |url=https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times/opinion-and-analysis/2021-05-23-ngcukaitobi-reflects-on-the-long-road-back-to-the-land-in-new-book/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Sunday Times |language=en-ZA}} Ngcukaitobi has been strongly and publicly critical of the African National Congress's record in post-apartheid land reform.{{Cite web |last=Mabuza |first=Ernest |date=27 April 2022 |title=ANC had a chance to fix land reforms but squandered it, says Tembeka Ngcukaitobi |url=https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/2022-04-27-anc-had-a-chance-to-fix-land-reforms-but-squandered-it-says-tembeka-ngcukaitobi/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Business Day |language=en-ZA}}{{cite web |last=Matangira |first=Lungelo |date=5 March 2018 |title=Ngcukaitobi: ANC-led govt has failed on land reform, not best suited to lead it |url=http://ewn.co.za/2018/03/06/ngcukaitobi-anc-led-govt-has-failed-on-land-reform-not-best-suited-to-lead-it |access-date=2018-06-26 |website=Eyewitness News}}

Ngcukaitobi served as a commissioner at the South African Law Reform Commission from 2007 to 2011, having been appointed by President Thabo Mbeki. In September 2018, President Ramaphosa appointed him to a ten-member expert advisory panel on land reform policy, which was chaired by Vuyo Mahlati and tasked with supporting Deputy President David Mabuza's Inter-Ministerial Committee on Land Reform.{{Cite web |date=21 September 2018 |title=President Cyril Ramaphosa appoints advisory panel on Land Reform |url=https://www.gov.za/speeches/president-cyril-ramaphosa-appoints-advisory-panel-land-reform-21-sep-2018-0000 |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=South African Government}} The following year, during a contentious meeting in June 2019, he was elected president of the convocation of his alma mater, which had by then been restructured as Walter Sisulu University.{{Cite web |date=2 June 2019 |title=Dramatic scenes at WSU meeting |url=https://www.dispatchlive.co.za/news/2019-06-02-dramatic-scenes-at-wsu-meeting/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Dispatch |language=en-ZA}}

In October 2022, following consultation with political parties, President Ramaphosa appointed Ngcukaitobi as a member of the Judicial Service Commission, where he replaced Doris Tshepe.{{Cite web |last=Rabkin |first=Franny |date=4 October 2022 |title=Ngcukaitobi SC appointed to the JSC |url=https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2022-10-04-ngcukaitobi-sc-appointed-to-the-jsc/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Sowetan |language=en-ZA}} The opposition Democratic Alliance and African Christian Democratic Party welcomed his appointment, while the Freedom Front Plus raised "some question marks" but did not formally object.{{Cite web |date=3 October 2022 |title=Political parties weigh in on Ramaphosa’s nod to Ngcukaitobi for judges watchdog |url=https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/2022-10-03-political-parties-weigh-in-on-ramaphosas-nod-to-ngcukaitobi-for-judges-watchdog/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Business Day |language=en-ZA}} In January 2023, Ngcukaitobi was appointed as a part-time member of the Competition Commission's Competition Tribunal, with effect from April 2023. In July that year, he declined a nomination to stand as a candidate to replace Busisiwe Mkhwebane as Public Protector.{{Cite web |last=Masuabi |first=Queenin |date=2023-07-16 |title=New Public Protector must uphold law, not have political biases – legal experts |url=https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-07-16-new-public-protector-must-uphold-the-law-and-not-have-any-political-biases-say-legal-experts/ |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=Daily Maverick |language=en}}

{{Reflist}}

Category:1976 births

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century South African lawyers

• [https://chambers.com/lawyer/tembeka-ngcukaitobi-sc-global-2:270136 Tembeka Ngcukaitobi] at Chambers and Partners
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJgKY4qGw7Y Ngcukaitobi for the EFF] in the secret ballot case (2017)
• [https://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZALCC/2016/12.html Msiza v Director-General for the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform] (2016)
• [https://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZAECGHC/2021/91.html Coko v State] (2021)

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ngcukaitobi, Tembeka}}

Category:21st-century South African writers

Category:South African Senior Counsel

Category:South African legal scholars

Category:Walter Sisulu University alumni

Category:Rhodes University alumni

Category:Alumni of the London School of Economics

Category:21st-century South African non-fiction writers

Category:21st-century South African male writers

Category:South African male non-fiction writers

Category:People from Chris Hani District Municipality