By Moses Moreroa – moses.moreroa@ul.ac.za
The University of Limpopo (UL) has proudly congratulated its esteemed alumnus, Justice Dustan Mlambo, on his appointment as South Africa’s new Deputy Chief Justice. His rise from the halls of Turfloop to one of the highest judicial offices in the country not only marks a personal achievement but reaffirms UL’s long-standing reputation as a cradle of legal excellence and leadership in South Africa.
In an earlier interview with Alumni On The Move magazine, Justice Mlambo reflected on how Turfloop laid the foundation for his legal journey.
As a new candidate in legal practice in his formative years, Justice Dunstan Mlambo believed that being devoted in his practice of law towards the upliftment and protection of people on the ground as a public interest lawyer meant just one thing: to ensure that access to justice became what it ought to be. As a young man growing up in Bushbuckridge in Mpumalanga Province and having witnessed the tough hand of the apartheid regime as his uncle Johnson Mlambo was a political prisoner on Robben Island, Judge Mlambo was already familiar with much of the oppressive laws of the time.
He says that when he arrived in Turfloop in 1980 to study law, the campus had already established a reputation of being politically vibrant. “We had our fair share of political upheavals on campus,” he edifies. He completed a B.Proc degree in 1983 at the then University of the North (now University of Limpopo) and says his interest in law was deepened by the fact that most of the lecturers were practising lawyers and advocates. “So, we were taught law from a practical point of view and that sharpened our interest. The lecturers inculcated in us how we should love reading law books and read judgements by judges. What stayed with us was that we aspired reading judgements penned by African names. When I became a judge, I remembered those days and determined to also write brilliant, cutting-edge and ground-breaking judgements,” he recalls his motive.
Socially, he says Turfloop was equally a hive of activity and he colourfully remembers how he loved to watch soccer and eventually became a secretary of Cosmos in the then Sovenga League (now Turfloop Soccer League). “I was also a sprinter,” he giggles, believing there may be a picture of him somewhere in the admin block running a 100m sprint.
In 1987, he was admitted to the fellowship programme of the Legal Resources Centre in Johannesburg, targeted at black law graduates, and between 1988 and 1992 he was admitted as an attorney as he started with legal practice at Bowman, Gilfillan, Hayman, Godfrey Inc. From 1993 to 1997, he was a director and partner at Mlambo Modise Attorneys. At this juncture, he developed a curiosity in public interest law and “by then it was clear that the wheels were turning against apartheid, we were able to specialise and I followed political cases and labour law.”
He then got noticed for his quality, influential work and was approached in 1997 to take a career as a judge. “Even when that happened, I was resistant because I never dreamt of even being a judge because there were no black judges at the time,” he tells after being asked if had he ever imagined himself as judge president.
He was among the crop of first judges appointed to the judiciary and says that at the time he knew that he was a transformation candidate. “We were the first candidates to occupy jobs previously held by white males and we aspired to develop a cutting-edge jurisprudence that is all-inclusive and non-racial,” he says that was the mindset at the time. His judicial career started when he was appointed as an acting judge in the Labour Court and a judge in the Labour Appeal Court between 1997 and 1999. He subsequently served as a Judge in the South Gauteng High Court (2000 – 2005), Justice of the Supreme Court of Appeal (2005 – 2010), and Judge President of the Labour and Labour Appeal Court (2010 – 2012).
Justice Mlambo was then appointed to Judge President of the Gauteng Division of the High Court effective from 1 November 2012, succeeding another University of Limpopo law graduate – Judge Bernard Ngoepe.
In the busyness of the law business, Justice Mlambo says it is easy to balance work and family life. “If you become a lawyer, you’re married to the law and reading books; your family should know that upfront and get used to it,” counsels the father of four. He reiterates that anyone who aspires to be a good lawyer, advocate or judge needs to read. “Reading makes you cut above the rest. You get to know law and cases inside out. Again, your preparation will be top class and propel you to new frontiers,” he ascertains.
He was a member of two judicial committees – Judicial Oversight Committee (from 2014), and Chairperson of the Judiciary and Administration IT Steering Committee (from 2012). His division became a leader in South Africa in terms of using judicial digital platforms to continue doing the work when Covid-19 lockdown restrictions were enacted.
Another of Justice Mlambo’s proud contribution to the judiciary is promoting gender parity. “I want to believe that as head of the court, I have made it possible for a lot of permanent judges to be groomed, especially in our female ranks. I have influenced the appointment of more female judges than any other judge president in history…women were marginalised when it came to accessing these fields and I have debunked the myth that we can’t, as jurists, make a change,” he concludes.
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The University congratulates Justice Mlambo on his appointment as Deputy Chief Justice, effective 1 August 2025. President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the appointment on Thursday, 31 July 2025, following the Judicial Service Commission’s (JSC) resolution on 3 July, recommending Justice Mlambo as suitably qualified for the role.