Mbuyiseli Madlanga
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Mbuyiseli "Russell" Madlanga (born 27 March 1962) is a
judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...
of the
Constitutional Court of South Africa The Constitutional Court of South Africa is a supreme court, supreme constitutional court established by the Constitution of South Africa, and is the apex court in the South African judicial system, with general jurisdiction. The Court was fi ...
, having been appointed on 1 August 2013.


Early life

Madlanga was born in 1962 in Njijini village,
Mount Frere Mount Frere, officially KwaBhaca, is a town located in the Eastern Cape province, previously known as the Transkei region, of South Africa. Its name in Xhosa is KwaBhaca, or "village of the Bhaca chiefdom", or "place of the Bhaca people", who set ...
, to a family of the amaBhaca. He attended Mariazell High School in
Matatiele Matatiele is a town located in the northern part of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. According to the South African National Census of 2011, its 12,466 residents (1,113.44 per km²) and 4,107 households (366.83 per km²) make Matatiel ...
. His father, a teacher, encouraged him to apply for a bursary to read law at the University of Transkei, where he completed a BJuris in 1981 in an atmosphere of growing unrest. During his final year he began working in a magistrate's office, though he was close friends with African National Congress activists under investigation by his colleagues. In 1985 he moved to Grahamstown, then in a state of "complete chaos", and completed an
LLB Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the China, People's Republic ...
at Rhodes University the following year. From 1987 to 1989 he worked as a law lecturer at the University of Transkei, teaching
customary law A legal custom is the established pattern of behavior that can be objectively verified within a particular social setting. A claim can be carried out in defense of "what has always been done and accepted by law". Customary law (also, consuetudina ...
, the law of delict and the
law of contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tr ...
. He won a scholarship to attend the University of Notre Dame and completed his LLM there in 1990. For the next six months he worked in the Washington, D.C. office of
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...
, where he briefly met
Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...
after his release from prison.


Legal career

In 1991, Madlanga returned to South Africa, now a much freer place, and began practice as an
advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. Different countries' legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a barrister or a solicitor. However, ...
in Mthatha. His admission to the
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was moved by his close friend and mentor Tholie Madala; Sandile Ngcobo, with whom Madlanga would also later work at the
Constitutional Court of South Africa The Constitutional Court of South Africa is a supreme court, supreme constitutional court established by the Constitution of South Africa, and is the apex court in the South African judicial system, with general jurisdiction. The Court was fi ...
, was a colleague and friend of both. On 1 September 1996, Madlanga was appointed to the bench of the
Transkei Division The Eastern Cape Division of the High Court of South Africa is a superior court of law with general jurisdiction over the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The main seat of the division is at Makhanda, with subordinate local seats at Port El ...
of the High Court (now the Mthatha seat of the Eastern Cape Division). He later became its
acting Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by an actor or actress who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film, radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode. Acting involves a broad r ...
Judge President. From 1998 to 1999, he was an acting judge on the Supreme Court of Appeal. The following year he became an acting judge of the Constitutional Court upon Arthur Chaskalson's invitation. He was on the bench in '' Mohamed v President of the Republic of South Africa'', which held that the South African government may not extradite a suspect who may face the
death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
unless it receives an assurance it will not be imposed; ''Prince v President, Cape Law Society'', which upheld a law criminalising the use of
marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various tra ...
, even for religious reasons; ''Carmichele v Minister of Safety and Security''; '' Minister of Public Works v Kyalami Ridge Environmental Association''; and '' S v Mamabolo.'' Madlanga authored ''S v Steyn'', which declared unconstitutional provisions of the
Criminal Procedure Act, 1977 The Criminal Procedure Act, 1977 (Act No. 51 of 1977) is an act of Parliament, act of the Parliament of South Africa that governs criminal procedure in South Africa, criminal procedure in Law of South Africa, South Africa's legal system. It detail ...
that removed an accused person's automatic right of
appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...
against a
magistrate's court A magistrates' court is a lower court where, in several jurisdictions, all criminal proceedings start. Also some civil matters may be dealt with here, such as family proceedings. Courts * Magistrates' court (England and Wales) * Magistrate's Cour ...
conviction. In 2001, Madlanga resigned from the bench, saying the salary was insufficient to support his family, and returned to private practice. He appeared for South Africa at the International Court of Justice in the case regarding the Israeli West Bank barrier. He also served as evidence leader at the commission of inquiry into the fitness of Bheki Cele to hold office as national police commissioner, and at the Farlam Commission investigating the
Marikana miners' strike The Marikana massacre was the killing of thirty-four miners by the South African Police Service (SAPS) on 16 August 2012 during a six-week wildcat strike at the Lonmin platinum mine at Marikana near Rustenburg in South Africa's North West prov ...
.


Constitutional Court appointment

On 1 August 2013, Madlanga was appointed permanently to the Constitutional Court, replacing Zak Yacoob. His appointment had been widely expected, especially after he impressed at his interview before the
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(on which Madlanga had served since 2010), though some felt a woman ought to have been appointed. He was questioned on his 1998 judgment in ''Bangindawo v Head of the Nyanda Regional Authority'', in which he had held controversially that there was "no reason whatsoever for the imposition of the western conception of the notions of judicial impartiality and independence in the African customary law setting". Madlanga admitted at the interview that this judgment was wrong. Madlanga's first judgment for the Constitutional Court was ''Gaertner v Minister of Finance'', on the right to privacy and search and seizure. In March 2014, he wrote a 94-paragraph judgment dismissing Uruguayan businessman Gaston Savoi's challenge to his prosecution on charges of corruptly procuring a contract from the
KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...
government. A year later, Madlanga delivered the controversial main judgment in ''Paulsen v SlipKnot Investments 777 (Pty) Ltd'', which removes an exception to the ''in duplum'' rule. This judgment was described as "consumer friendly", but marked a "sea change" for South African banking practice, and was strongly criticised extra-curially by
Malcolm Wallis Malcolm John David Wallis (born 8 July 1950) is a judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa. Early life Wallis matriculated at Durban High School and earned a BCom and LLB from the University of Natal. From 1973 he was in practice a ...
. Madlanga's next judgment for the Court was ''DE v RH'', which abrogated the action for adultery. Madlanga was one of the authors of the majority judgment in the 2015 ''My Vote Counts v Speaker, National Assembly'', which was widely condemned. The majority refused to hear an application by an NGO to compel Parliament to enact legislation requiring the disclosure of political parties' private funding.


Nomination to position of Chief Justice

Madlanga was included in the list of 8 nominations for the position of Chief Justice of the Republic by President Ramaphosa on 4 October 2021.


Personal life

Madlanga's wife is Nkosisi Monica Madlanga (''
née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
'' Nkenkana). He has six children.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Madlanga, Mbuyiseli 1962 births Living people People from Umzimvubu Local Municipality Xhosa people Judges of the Constitutional Court of South Africa 20th-century South African judges Walter Sisulu University alumni Rhodes University alumni University of Notre Dame alumni 21st-century South African judges