My Own Liberator

Dikgang Moseneke was born in Pretoria in December 1947 and went to school there. He joined the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) at the age of 14. The following year he was arrested, detained and convicted of participating in anti-apartheid activity. He spent ten years as a prisoner on Robben Island, where he met and befriended Nelson Mandela and other leading activists. While imprisoned he obtained a Bachelor of Arts in English and political science and a B.Iuris degree, and would later complete a Bachelor of Laws, all from the University of South Africa. He also served on the disciplinary committee of the prisoners' self-governed association football body, Makana F.A. Moseneke started his professional career as an attorney's clerk at Klagbruns Inc in Pretoria in 1976. He was admitted as an attorney in 1978 and practised for five years at Maluleke, Seriti and Moseneke. In 1983 he was called to the Pretoria Bar. His application had sparked a dispute within the Bar which culminated in its abolishing its 'whites-only' membership rule. Moseneke practised as an advocate in Johannesburg and Pretoria and was awarded senior counsel status ten years later. Moseneke worked underground for the PAC during the 1980s and became its Deputy President when it was unbanned in 1990. Moseneke also 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. Between 1995 and 2001, however, Moseneke left the Bar to pursue a full-time corporate career, most famously as the chair of Telkom. In November 2001 Moseneke was appointed to the High Court in Pretoria, his hometown, by then President Thabo Mbeki. A year later he was made a judge in the Constitutional Court and, in June 2005, became Deputy Chief Justice. On 4 November 2013, Moseneke was appointed Acting Chief Justice during the long-term leave of Mogoeng Mogoeng. Moseneke is regarded as one of the strongest judges on South Africa's Constitutional Court. For example, he has been praised for his 'towering legal mind' and 'commitment to fairness and justice' and described as 'a most independent-minded and imaginative jurist'. He retired in May 2016 from his position as Deputy Chief Justice.