Gauteng Division

The Gauteng Division of the High Court of South Africa is a superior court of law which has general jurisdiction over the South African province of Gauteng and the eastern part of North West province. The main seat of the division is at Pretoria, while a local seat at Johannesburg has concurrent jurisdiction over the southern parts of Gauteng. Dunstan Mlambo has been the Judge President of the division since 1 November 2012.[1]

Gauteng Division of the High Court of South Africa
The Palace of Justice in Pretoria
25.7446°S 28.1874°E / -25.7446; 28.1874
Established1877 (High Court of the ZAR)
LocationPretoria (main seat), Johannesburg (local seat)
Coordinates25.7446°S 28.1874°E / -25.7446; 28.1874
Composition methodPresidential appointment on the advice of the Judicial Service Commission
Authorized byChp. 8 of the Constitution; Superior Courts Act, 2013
Appeals toSupreme Court of Appeal or Constitutional Court
Judge President
CurrentlyDunstan Mlambo
Since2012

History

A High Court was established for the South African Republic (the Transvaal Republic) in 1877, while the Witwatersrand gold fields were visited by a circuit court subordinate to the High Court.[2] Both courts ceased to exist as a result of the British victory in the Second Anglo-Boer War. In 1902, two superior courts were established for the new Transvaal Colony: the Supreme Court of the Transvaal in Pretoria, and subordinate to it the High Court of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.[3] On the creation of the Union of South Africa these courts became the Transvaal Provincial Division and the Witwatersrand Local Division, respectively, of the Supreme Court of South Africa.

The court building in Johannesburg

The Transvaal Provincial Division's area of jurisdiction was reduced in 1977 and 1979 when Bophuthatswana and Venda became nominally independent and established their own supreme courts. When the current Constitution of South Africa came into force in 1997 the Transvaal and Witwatersrand Divisions of the Supreme Court of South Africa and the Supreme Courts of Bophuthatswana and Venda all became High Courts. In 2001 some districts in North West were removed from the jurisdiction of the Transvaal Division and placed under the Bophuthatswana Division in Mafikeng. In 2009 the Transvaal and Witwatersrand divisions were renamed the North Gauteng and South Gauteng High Courts, respectively. In 2013, in the restructuring brought about by the Superior Courts Act, the courts became two seats of a single Gauteng Division of the High Court of South Africa.

Seats
CityCoordinatesJurisdictionFormer names
Pretoria (main seat) 25.7446°S 28.1874°E / -25.7446; 28.1874 (Gauteng Division, Pretoria) Province of Gauteng (Ekurhuleni, Emfuleni, Johannesburg, Midvaal, Mogale City), and North West districts of Bloemhof, Brits, Christiana, Klerksdorp, Potchefstroom, Schweizer-Reneke, Ventersdorp, Wolmaransstad, as well as Madibeng, Ga-Rankuwa and Tlokwe in North West province High Court of the South African Republic; Supreme Court of the Transvaal; Transvaal Provincial Division; North Gauteng High Court[4]
Johannesburg 26.2023°S 28.0453°E / -26.2023; 28.0453 (Gauteng Division, Johannesburg) In civil and criminal matters: districts of Alberton, Boksburg, Germiston, Johannesburg, Kempton Park, Krugersdorp, Randburg, Randfontein, Roodepoort, Westonaria

In civil matters only: districts of Benoni, Brakpan, Delmas, Nigel, Springs, Vanderbijlpark and Vereeniging

 High Court of Witwatersrand; Witwatersrand Local Division; South Gauteng High Court

List of Judges President
Judges President
№ Incumbent Tenure Notes
1. Jacob de Villiers
(1868–1932)		 1910 – 1920 Subsequently Chief Justice of South Africa
2. Sir John Wessels
(1862–1936)		 1920 – 1923 Subsequently Chief Justice of South Africa
3. Sir Arthur Weir Mason
(1860–1924)		 1923 – 1924 Died in Office
4. John Stephen Curlewis
(1863–1940)		 1924 – 1927 Subsequently Chief Justice of South Africa
5. Daniël de Waal
(1873–1938)		 1927 – 1937
6. Benjamin Tindall
(1879–1963)		 1937 – 1938 Judge of Appeal from 1938
7. Leopold Greenberg
(1885–1964)		 1938 – 1942 Judge of Appeal from 1943
8. Charles Barry
(1877–1956)		 1943 – 1947
9. Gerrie Maritz
(1889–1964)		 1947 – 1959
10. Frans Rumpff
(1912–1992)		 1959 – 1961 Subsequently Chief Justice of South Africa
11. Quartus de Wet
(1899–1980)		 1961 – 1969
12. P. M. Cillié
(1915–1996)		 1969 – 1979 Judge of Appeal from 1980
13. W. G. Boshoff
(1916–1989)		 1980 – 1985 Judge of Appeal from 1985
14. H. H. Moll
(1921–2003)		 1985 – 1991
15. Frikkie Eloff
(1925–2017)		 1991 – 1998
16. Bernard Ngoepe
(1947– )		 1998 – 2012
17. Dunstan Mlambo
(c. 1960– )		 2012 – present

References
  1. "Zuma appoints judges to high courts". Mail & Guardian. 24 May 2012. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
  2. Ellis, Pat (April 2010). "A short history of the North and South Gauteng High Courts" (PDF). Advocate. General Council of the Bar of South Africa. 23 (1): 48–49. Retrieved 25 December 2011.
  3. van Zyl, Dirk (April 2010). "More on the South Gauteng High Court" (PDF). Advocate. General Council of the Bar of South Africa. 23 (1): 49–50. Retrieved 25 December 2011.
  4. "Determination of areas under the Jurisdiction of Divisions of the High Court of South Africa" (PDF). gov.za.
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