By Bonile Ngqiyaza
The Labour Appeal Court has three new judges after the last round of Judicial Service Commission interviews.
President Thabo Mbeki has accepted the commission's recommendations for the appointment of judges Dennis Davis, Mashangu Monica Leeuw and Sisi Khampepe.
Judge Dennis Davis, who has been appointed to serve in both the Competition Appeal Court and the Labour Appeal Court, has had an academic teaching career spanning almost three decades.
This career has run in parallel with his academic writing in the areas of human rights and constitutional law, and his contribution to developmental and competitive law. Davis' writings on aspects of the law have often been cited in judicial decisions.
In his nomination letter, Professor Evance Kalula, of the Institute of Development and Labour Law, wrote that Davis was a remarkable jurist and scholar.
"As an academic, I do not always agree with all his judgments. I do, however, find his judgments of the highest quality, well-thought through and penetrating. Judge Davis has few equals in his mastery of the law generally and labour law in particular in its relevant South African setting."
Judge Sisi Khampepe has distinguished herself mostly in dealing with labour-related issues during her practise as an attorney.
Khampepe was a member of the Electoral Appeal Tribunal in 1994, a Truth Commissioner during former President Nelson Mandela's administration, was a member of the judicial observer mission during the Zimbabwean presidential elections in 2002 and was the chairperson of the Commission of Inquiry to look into the mandate and location of the Scorpions from April 2005 to February last year.
"It is a well-known fact that during her practice as an attorney (which spanned some 10 years, Khampepe) did mostly labour-related matters. As a result, she became a specialist in labour matters. In the process, she also earned the respect of all the role-players, stakeholders as well as her peers. Her contribution to the development of labour law is immeasurable," acting Judge President Lebotsang Bosielo wrote in his nomination of Khampepe.
"I am of the view that her appointment will give the much-needed impetus to the overall transformation of the judiciary, particularly in the Labour Appeal Court, where we have no female judges," said Judge Bosielo.
In his nomination of Khampepe, Advocate Ishmael Semenya said: "She gained an enviable reputation as a campaigner for a proper balance in the contest of labour and capital.
"As a judge of the Transvaal Provincial Division, her industry has attached a great deal of respect for her amongst those that practise in that division," Semenya added.
Judge Mashangu Monica Leeuw has a legal career that started in 1976 after her graduation from the University of the North.
Her experience includes work for the Skweyiya Commission, where she served as an investigator and evidence presenter, tasked with the investigation of corruption in the former Bophuthatswana government.
In his nomination of Leeuw, Judge Ronald Deon Hendricks of the Bophuthatswana Provincial Division described her as a "dedicated (and) competent" candidate.
"She has vast experience in the law and she has the personality befitting a judge of that court. She is held in very high esteem by all members of my division," Hendricks said.
Leeuw sits on an International Association of Women Judges committee responsible for compiling a (training) manual on the Jurisprudence of Equality Programme (JEP) for the South African chapter of the (IAWJ).
The manual is aimed at training or having workshops on all laws affecting women and children.