PIONEER
Yvonne Mokgoro
Lawyer | Judge | Lecturer
Born: 19 October 1950
“Although South Africans have a history of deep divisions characterised by strife and conflict, one shared value and ideal that runs like a golden thread across cultural lines is the value of ubuntu … Generally, ubuntu translates as humanness. In its most fundamental sense it translates as personhood and morality. Metaphorically, it expresses itself in umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu, describing the significance of group solidarity on survival issues so central to the survival communities. While it envelops the key values of group solidarity, compassion, respect, human dignity, conformity to basic norms and collective unity, in its fundamental sense it denotes humanity and morality. Its spirit emphasises respect for human dignity, marking a shift from confrontation to conciliation.”
Who is
Yvonne Mokgoro?
Activist during the apartheid era who was appointed as one of the first Justices of the Constitutional Court of South Africa.
Professions
and Roles
Lawyer, lecturer, professor, justice of the Constitutional Court.
Best Known For
Serving as a judge of the Constitutional Court and shaping the iconography of the court, with a focus on ubuntu and community-based justice.
Life highlights
- Mokgoro studied part-time, obtaining a Bachelor of Jurisprudence (B Juris) degree at the then University of Bophuthatswana (now North-West University) in 1982, and a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) two years later. While studying, Mokgoro was part of the South African Student Organisation (SASO) and had joined the ANC, operating at a regional level.
- After completing her LLB degree, Mokgoro was appointed as a maintenance officer and public prosecutor in the then Mmabatho Magistrate’s Court.
- In 1984, she was appointed as a lecturer of Law in the Department of Jurisprudence, University of Bophuthatswana, where she rose through the ranks to become Associate Professor and served in that position until 1991. At the same time, she was part of the Union of Democratic University Staff Association, struggling for the betterment of education for students and working conditions for staff.
- Mokgoro graduated with a Master of Laws (LLM) degree in 1987. She also studied at the University of Pennsylvania in the United States, where she obtained a second LLM degree in 1990.
- From 1992 to 1993, she served as Associate Professor at the University of the Western Cape, and later served as a Specialist Researcher (Human Rights) for the Centre for Constitutional Analysis at the Human Sciences Research Council, and also lectured part-time at the University of Pretoria, until her appointment to the Constitutional Court in October 1994.
- Justice Mokgoro was a judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa from its inception in 1994 until the end of her 15-year term in 2009.
- She was the Chairperson of the SA Law Reform Commission from 1995 until the end of her third term in 2011.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
“I met a wonderful man, Robert Sobukwe, just perchance, who was a practicing lawyer in my community in Kimberley, one of only two practicing lawyers. And I had an encounter with the law, as an ordinary person, as an ordinary member of society, where instinctively I had stood up for a young man who was being arrested for no apparent reason. And little knowing that I had placed myself in a very invidious position, standing up against apartheid police. And, of course, they dealt with me the way apartheid police dealt with you. They arrested me, and I got charged for obstructing the ends of justice, which was obviously spurious. And I was so fortunate to have this man, Robert Sobukwe, who had been recently been released after a ten year jail term on Robben Island; and he had been banished to my hometown, Kimberley.
At that point, he was practicing as a lawyer, because he studied law while he was on Robben Island. And he defended me, and he got me discharged from this spurious charge. And as we were walking together, we struck this conversation. And I was lamenting the paucity of young men in my hometown, you know, studying law. And I thought, ‘It would be wonderful if we had more people like you,’ I said to him. ‘Young men who go to university to study law, so that we can have people like you, you know, to practice law in the city and to defend people in the way, you know, you did with me.’ And he just looked at me and said, ‘Why men?’ At that point in time, you hardly, you know, had women as lawyers, particularly as practicing lawyers, particularly within black communities. And he actually encouraged and motivated me to study law. So, I went to university. I actually raised it for a legal degree, and the rest is history.”
– Yvonne Mokgoro
IN THE WORDS OF OTHERS
“Kate [O’Regan] and Yvonne [Mokgoro] were the two judges with probably the least professional experience, living in a country with a gender ceiling. To see them blossom, develop and grow is one of the most rewarding reflections on the 10 years.”
– Johann Kriegler, former Justice of the Constitutional Court
