With a remarkable career path spanning more than four decades and someone who is always searching for justice, Constitutional Court justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga has been awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree from Rhodes University.
A former Rhodes student who studied towards his LLB during the mid-1980s, Madlanga was praised for his tenacity and immense contribution to law in SA.
Rhodes orator and distinguished professor in the history department at Rhodes, Prof Paul Maylam, in announcing Madlanga’s award, said it was a pleasure and honour to welcome Madlanga and to recognise his deep concern for human rights and justice.
“[Madlanga] is a true son of the Eastern Cape, a graduate of Rhodes University and now an honorary doctor,” Maylam said.
Accepting the prestigious degree, Madlanga thanked Rhodes for the “immeasurable honour” while highlighting one of his biggest passions, to eradicate gender-based violence (GBV) in SA.
“No woman is immune to GBV in SA [and] compared to other countries, SA has much higher cases,” Madlanga said.
According to Madlanga, between April 2020 and September, 988 women were killed in GBV-related incidents.
“Nothing justifies GBV and judicial officers are not immune from blame.
“The end goal is breaking down the patriarchal influence in judges and their judgments.”
Madlanga, originally from a small village outside KwaBhaca (formerly Mount Frere), matriculated from Mariazell High School in Matatiele in 1979 and obtained a BJuris degree at the former University of Transkei.
After graduating from Rhodes with an LLB, Madlanga lectured part-time in the law faculty at the now Walter Sisulu University while working for the department of justice to fulfil contractual obligations under the bursary he received.
He obtained an LLM in human rights and constitutional law, cum laude, at the University of Notre Dame in the US where he also interned at the Washington DC office of Amnesty International.
After returning to SA, Madlanga completed his pupillage at the Johannesburg Bar before opening his own practice in Mthatha, where he was later appointed a judge of the high court.
Three years later, he was appointed acting judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein but later moved back to Mthatha to act as judge president of the Mthatha high court.
In May 2001, Madlanga, who had also acted as judge of the ConCourt, left the judiciary and returned to the Advocate’s Bar, working in Mthatha and Johannesburg, and later represented SA at the International Court of Justice at The Hague.
He was appointed as the chief evidence leader in a team of seven as part of the commission of enquiry into the Marikana massacre which saw 34 striking mineworkers and 10 others killed.
He was appointed as a member of the Competition Tribunal and a member of the Judicial Service Commission before being appointed as a justice of the ConCourt in August 2013.
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