Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke

Dikgang Moseneke was born in Pretoria on 20 December 1947. He is the eldest of the four children of Karabo Mabel and a school headmaster Samuel John Sedise Moseneke.

He attended primary and secondary school there. At 15, when in standard eight (Grade Ten), Moseneke was arrested, and convicted of participating in anti-apartheid activity.

He was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment, which he served on Robben Island. While Moseneke was on Robben Island, he studied for his matriculation and successfully completed his tertiary education. He obtained a BA in English and Political Science, as well as a B Juris degree and later completed an L.LB. all at UNISA..

Moseneke started his professional career as an attorney’s clerk at Klagbruns Inc in Pretoria, in 1976. In 1978, he was admitted as an attorney and practised for five years as a partner at the law firm Maluleke, Seriti and Moseneke.

In 1983, he began practice as an advocate in Johannesburg and Pretoria and in 1993, he was elevated to Senior Counsel. Moseneke was appointed visiting fellow and lecturer at Columbia Law School, University of Columbia, New York in 1986.  

In 1993, Moseneke served on the technical committee that drafted the interim constitution of 1993. In 1994, he was appointed Deputy Chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission, which conducted the first democratic elections in South Africa.

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

In November 2001 Moseneke was appointed a Judge of the High Court in Pretoria. On 29 November 2002 he was appointed as a judge in the Constitutional Court by President Thabo Mbeki. In June 2005, Moseneke was appointed Deputy Chief Justice of the Republic of South Africa.

In 2006, he succeeded Justice Richard Goldstone as Chancellor of the University of the Witwatersrand. He is a founder member of the Black Lawyers' Association and of the National Association of Democratic Lawyers of South Africa.

In the past 20 years, Moseneke has read numerous papers at law and business conferences published several academic papers in law journals at home and abroad.

Moseneke is married to Kabo and they have a daughter and two sons. 

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