23 Facts About Dikgang Moseneke

Dikgang Ernest Moseneke OLG was born on 20 December 1947 and is a South African jurist and former Deputy Chief Justice of South Africa.

Dikgang Moseneke joined the Pan-Africanist Congress at the age of 14.

Dikgang Moseneke spent ten years as a prisoner on Robben Island, where he met and befriended Nelson Mandela and other leading activists.

Dikgang Moseneke started his professional career as an attorney's articled clerk at Klagbruns Inc in Pretoria in 1973.

Dikgang Moseneke was admitted as an attorney in 1976 and practised for five years at Maluleke, Seriti and Moseneke, mainly before the Company Court in liquidation matters and in criminal trials.

Dikgang Moseneke's application had sparked a dispute within the Bar which culminated in its abolishing its "whites-only" membership rule.

Dikgang Moseneke practised as an advocate in Johannesburg and Pretoria and was noted for his Company Law, Bankruptcy and Indirect Tax practice and was briefed extensively by black and Asian businessmen.

Dikgang Moseneke was awarded senior counsel status ten years later.

Dikgang Moseneke worked underground for the PAC during the 1980s and became its Deputy President when it was unbanned in 1990.

Dikgang Moseneke served on the technical committee that drafted the interim constitution of 1993.

In September 1994, while practising as a silk, Dikgang Moseneke accepted an acting appointment to the Transvaal Provincial Division.

Between 1995 and 2001 Dikgang Moseneke left the Bar to pursue a full-time corporate career, most famously as the chair of Telkom.

In November 2001, Dikgang Moseneke was appointed to the High Court in Pretoria, his hometown, by then President Thabo Mbeki.

On 4 November 2013, Dikgang Moseneke was appointed Acting Chief Justice during the long-term leave of Mogoeng Mogoeng.

Dikgang Moseneke was regarded as one of the strongest judges on South Africa's Constitutional Court.

Dikgang Moseneke made a significant contribution to South African property law.

Dikgang Moseneke penned the Constitutional Court's last three majority judgments on the Restitution of Land Rights Act and decided a leading case on expropriation in 2014.

Dikgang Moseneke has twice been passed over for appointment as Chief Justice, despite being the most senior judge on the Court.

Finally, whereas Dikgang Moseneke had been active in the struggle against apartheid, Mogoeng had been a prosecutor in a bantustan.

Dikgang Moseneke has seven honorary doctorates from the University of the North, University of Natal, University of Pretoria, Tshwane University of Technology, University of South Africa, University of Cape Town, Nelson Mandela University and CUNY.

Dikgang Moseneke was named as an executor of the will of Nelson Mandela, who died in late 2013.

Dikgang Moseneke is currently chairman of the board of directors of the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra.

Dikgang Moseneke was the 2020 recipient of the Bolch Prize for the Rule of Law, awarded by the Bolch Judicial Institute at Duke Law School.