Judge Dunstan Mlambo

The Honourable Justice Dunstan Mlambo is Judge President of the Gauteng Division of the High Court of South Africa.

Judge President Mlambo started his judicial career an Acting Judge in the Labour Court in June 1997 and permanently in that Court in November 1997. In 1999 he was appointed an Acting Judge in the Gauteng Local Division, Johannesburg.

In 2000 he was appointed permanently in that Court. In 2003 he was appointed an Acting Judge of appeal at the Supreme Court of Appeal and in 2005 he was appointed permanently as a Judge of Appeal at that Court. In 2010, he was appointed Judge President of the Labour Court and Labour Appeal Court.

Judge President Mlambo was appointed Judge President of the Gauteng Division of the High Court effective from 1 November 2012.

He served as the Chairperson of Legal Aid South Africa from 2002 until February 2019 and currently as Chairperson of the Court of Military Appeals, a position in which he is serving since 2012. The Judge President is the Chairperson of the Judiciary and Administration IT Steering Committee and a member of the Judicial Accountability Committee. From June 2019 to date he also serves as Chairperson for the Centre for the Advancement of Community Advice Offices in South Africa (CAOSA). He is a Council member of the world body of the International Association of Refugee and Migration Judges and has been the President of the Africa Chapter of this organization since 01 March 2020. He further serves as Editor in Chief of the judiciary magazine.

Judge President Mlambo has consistently attended sessions of the CCPJ in Vienna regarding the development of UN Instruments on Access to Justice but more particularly regarding Legal Aid Services. Judge President Mlambo was involved in the adoption of the Lilongwe Declaration. He was the Chairperson of the UNODC Expert Group Meeting that approved the Draft UN Principles and Guidelines on Access to Justice in Criminal Justice Systems in 2011. He was also the Chairperson of the UNODC Expert Group Meeting that finalised the revision of the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, now called the Nelson Mandela Rules.

Judge President Mlambo regards himself as a social justice activist and is a strong proponent of access to justice initiatives and programs. In this role he has attended and addressed conferences domestically and globally to address grassroots level based marginalisation.

Supported by the UNHCR