Sandile Ngcobo

Sandile Ngcobo [ ˈŋǀʱɔːbɔː ] (born March 1, 1953 in Durban ) is a South African lawyer. He was a judge at the Constitutional Court of the Republic of South Africa from 1999 to 2011 , and as its chairman from 2009 to 2011.

Education and professional career

Ngcobo received his university education at the University of Zululand , where he graduated from BProc in 1975. with a focus on constitutional law , commercial law and accounting . He was imprisoned from 1976 to July 1977. In September of the same year he accepted a position in the Maphumulo municipal administration . He later moved to a law firm in Durban to complete his practical training and work as a lawyer. His activities ranged from commercial law to inheritance law and criminal law . In 1982 he took on the position of litigator at the Legal Resources Center , where he primarily looked after the interests of the non-white population. He represented pupils whose school admissions had been revoked because of their skin color before the South African Supreme Court . In 1985 Ngcobo first took part in an advanced course on American law organized by the International Law Institute and then, supported by the Fulbright Program , began studying at Harvard University , which he completed in 1986 with a Master of Laws . He focused on constitutional and labor law as well as human rights . From July 1986 he worked for a year as a research assistant for A. Leon Higginbotham , judge at the Federal Court of Appeals. He also taught at Harvard, Pennsylvania and Stanford Universities . From August to November 1987 he then worked as a lawyer in a law firm in Philadelphia .

In early 1988 he returned to South Africa and took a position at Natal University . At the end of the year, he moved to a law firm in Durban before returning to Philadelphia, where he worked for a large law firm on labor law cases. In 1992 he started his own business as a lawyer in his hometown of Durban. In 1993, he joined the civil service as a judge at the KwaZulu Labor Court . In 1994 he sat on the electoral court of the Independent Electoral Commission . In April 1996 he was appointed as a temporary judge at the Constitutional Court of the Republic of South Africa and in November 1997 he was appointed judge at the Court of Appeal for Labor Law . In February 1998, Ngcobo was appointed a member of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission . In 1999 Nelson Mandela appointed him full-time judge at the Constitutional Court of the Republic of South Africa. He was also chairman of the court from 2009 until his retirement in 2011.

Others

Ngcobo is married to Zandile Ngcobo. With her he has a daughter and two sons.

Awards (selection)

• Honorary Professor at the University of Cape Town (1999)

Web links

• Biography on the website of the Constitutional Court (English)
• Biography on Who's who Southern Africa (English; archive version from 2018)