18 Facts About Jody Kollapen

Narandran "Jody" Kollapen was born on 19 May 1957 and is a South African judge who joined the Constitutional Court of South Africa on 1 January 2022.

Jody Kollapen was appointed to the apex court by President Cyril Ramaphosa after a decade of service in the High Court of South Africa.

Jody Kollapen is a former chairperson of the South African Human Rights Commission.

Jody Kollapen served as the national director of Lawyers for Human Rights in 1995 and 1996, and thereafter he joined the Human Rights Commission as an ordinary member.

Jody Kollapen was an acting High Court judge in 2010 and joined the bench in the Gauteng Division permanently in May 2011.

Jody Kollapen was born on 19 May 1957 at the Holy Cross Health Care Centre in Lady Selborne, a suburb of Pretoria.

Jody Kollapen's family lived in Marabastad in central Pretoria until 1968, when he was 12 years old, at which time they were forcibly relocated under the Group Areas Act.

Jody Kollapen later said that he inherited "a sense of justice" from his mother, who was twice jailed in Pietermaritzburg for participating in anti-apartheid passive resistance campaigns.

Jody Kollapen was pregnant with Kollapen in August 1956 when she attended the Women's March.

Jody Kollapen was a member of the Black Students Society and obtained a in 1978 and an LLB in 1981.

Jody Kollapen appeared as counsel in high-profile human rights matters including the trial of the Sharpeville Six and the South African Medical and Dental Council's suit against the medical practitioners who failed to prevent Steve Biko's death in police custody.

Jody Kollapen became involved in the Political Prisoner Release programme of the non-profit Lawyers for Human Rights, in which capacity he was the instructing attorney in other famous political trials, including the Delmas Treason Trial.

Jody Kollapen was an extraordinary lecturer at the University of Pretoria's Centre for Human Rights in 2011.

Jody Kollapen was an acting judge in the Land Claims Court.

On two occasions, Jody Kollapen was unsuccessfully nominated for permanent elevation to the Constitutional Court.

Jody Kollapen was again recommended as suitable for elevation, but the results of the selection process were nullified following a challenge by the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution.

In October 2021, the Judicial Service Commission re-ran its April 2021 interviews; commentator Eusebius McKaiser said that, despite offering "occasional stylised little soliloquies", Jody Kollapen made a strong impression.

Jody Kollapen is married to Rani Kollapen and has three daughters.