The Constitution’s specified qualifications are “[a]ny appropriately qualified woman or man who is a fit and proper person.” There is the additional qualification of citizenship for Constitutional Court judges.12
The stated qualifications both invite and exclude. They implicitly invite attorneys, magistrates and academics to apply. Previously almost all judges were selected from among advocates who, like English barristers, are the legal profession’s litigators. The selections were usually from among the advocates with years of experience—advocates who had taken “silk”; i.e., the senior counsels with SC appended to their names. Under the New Democracy Constitution, attorneys, magistrates and academics have been considered and have been appointed. Three of the judges appearing or featured in Courting Justice reflect the new standards— Constitutional Court Justices Kate O’Reagan and Yvonne Mokgoro were both law professors before their appointments; and Judge Tandazwa Ndita was a magistrate.
