By Nomfundo Manyathi

Four attorneys have been recommended to President Jacob Zuma by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to fill vacancies on the Bench. The four attorneys, namely Buyiswa Majiki, Judith Cloete, Mokgoatji Dolamo and Babalwa Mantame, were interviewed in Cape Town in October.

Butterworth attorney Ms Majiki, 42, has been recommended to the Eastern Cape High Court. There were two vacancies at the court and six candidates were interviewed. Ms Majiki, who is a former President of the South African Women Lawyers’ Association, was admitted as an attorney in 1995 and has been practising for 17 years. Advocate Murray Lowe was recommended for the other position at this court.

The other three attorneys were all recommended to the Western Cape High Court. The JSC had advertised four vacancies in this court and eight candidates were interviewed. A fifth vacancy arose at the court and the JSC consequently recommended five candidates to the President.

Ms Cloete, 49, was admitted in 1988 and has been an acting judge at the same court since October 2010. Mr Dolamo, 57, was admitted as an attorney in 1990 and has acted as a judge of the North Gauteng High Court and the Western Cape High Court; and Ms Mantame, 38, was admitted in 2000 and has acted as a judge of the same court for several terms. The two other recommended candidates for this court are advocates Owen Rogers and Ashton Schippers.

Other recommendations were:

• Judge Achmat Jappie as Deputy Judge President at the KwaZulu-Natal High Court.
• Judges Dimpheletse Moshidi and Willem Wepener to the Electoral Court.
• Judge Basheer Waglay as Judge President of the Labour Courts.
• Advocate David Fourie as judge of the North and South Gauteng High Court.
• See 2012 (Oct) DR 7.

Nomfundo Manyathi, nomfundo@derebus.org.za

This article was first published in De Rebus in 2012 (Dec) DR 9.