The Chancellor of the Central University of Technology (CUT) in the Free State is being interviewed alongside Judges Rammaka Mathopo (previously in the SCA), Dhaya Pillay, David Unterhalter and Bashier Vally for two Constitutional Court vacancies. 

The group was shortlisted by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC). A professor at the University of the Free State (UFS), Dhaya Pillay, has already been appointed as an acting judge of the Constitutional Court and is on Tuesday in the running for the permanent position as the second female candidate. Mathopo is now being interviewed by the group, and being probed regarding the offensive comments made by Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) Justices in their various judgments against their colleagues.  

“I know of a colleague who is alleged that he did not apply his mind. That offended the colleague tremendously. It is important to know when we write the judgments, they are not for the judge concerned. Posterity will come and deal harshly with us for having written so freely and wrongly about colleagues,” says Mathopo in his answer.

Justice Molemela was born in Bloemfontein and attended Albert Moroka High School in Thaba’ Nchu before continuing her studies at the University of Fort Hare in Alice, the University of the Free State, Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College and the University of Johannesburg. She was a prosecutor at the Thaba Nchu Magistrate's Court, going on to become an arbitrator at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA) between 1999 -2001. She has filled several directorships at private law firms including her own - M B Molemela and Partners in Bloemfontein - as well as at Smith Tabatha Buchanan Boyes. Interestingly, she was the chairperson of the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality’s power utility, Centlec. The utility has long been marred by allegations of misconduct and maladministration.

Judge Pillay, on the other end, joined the UFS Centre for Human Rights as a Professor in December 2020. She is reportedly converting her thesis into a book to be published towards the end of 2021. “Judge Pillay joins the Constitutional Court from her position as judge in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court, where she has served since 2009. 

She previously served for an acting term in the Supreme Court of Appeal and was a judge in the Labour Court. Judge Pillay has dedicated her professional life to the pursuit of transformation through law, and has a wealth of experience as a defender of human rights,” reveals the UFS.

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