President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced the appointment of “Judge Narandran ‘Jody’ Kollapen and Rammaka Steven Mathopo as Judges of the Constitutional Court with effect from 1 January 2022.”

Making the announcement, the presidency noted that Ramaphosa “thanks Acting Chief Justice Zondo and leaders of parties for their valuable inputs on all the candidates on the list submitted by the Judicial Service Commission to the President… Justices Kollapen and Mathopo have illustrious careers in the legal profession and the Judiciary.”

Kollapen has been a Chair of the South African Human Rights Commission and is a Judge and acting Justice of the Constitutional Court, since 2017. He has a long history of human rights activism.

Mathopo, a Gauteng Judge since 2005,  has also been an acting Justice of the Constitutional Court.

The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) had given the president a list of five nominated candidates at the end of October, which included Justice B Molemela, Justice R Mathopo, Justice F Kathree-Setiloane, Justice J Kollapen and Justice B Valley.

The process of finalising the appointments was officially concluded on 21 December when the president received the formal submission from the Justice Department in relation to the JSC’s recommendation. DM