Justice Dikgang Moseneke, “All Rise” in conversation with Helen Mountfield QC with an introduction by Professor Kate O’Regan

Following an introduction by Prof Kate O’Regan, Director of the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, and a former colleague of Justice Moseneke on the South African Constitutional Court, Justice Moseneke will be in conversation with Helen Mountfield QC, the Principal of Mansfield College.

This event is being hosted by Mansfield College in partnership with the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights and forms part of the Mansfield Public Talks series.

Justice Dikgang Moseneke was born in Pretoria. At the age of 15, when in standard eight, Moseneke was arrested, detained and convicted of participating in anti-apartheid activity.

He was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment, which he served on Robben Island. Moseneke studied for his matric as well as a law degree while in jail.

He started his professional career as an attorney’s clerk at Klagbruns Inc in Pretoria in 1976. He practised as an attorney until 1983 when he was called to the Bar and practised as an advocate in Johannesburg and Pretoria. Ten years later, in 1993, he was elevated to the status of senior counsel and served on the technical committee that drafted the interim constitution of 1993. In 1994 he was appointed Deputy Chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission, which conducted the first democratic elections in South Africa.

In November 2001 Moseneke was appointed a Judge of the High Court in Pretoria and a year later he was appointed as judge in the Constitutional Court. In June 2005, he was appointed Deputy Chief Justice of the Republic of South Africa, a position he held till his retirement from the Court in 2016. 

He is the author of two biographical works: My Own Liberator: A Memoir (Pan Macmillan, 2016) and All Rise: A judicial memoir (Picador, 2020).