Society of Advocates honours former Concourt judge

The Polokwane Society of Advocates hosted a annual gala dinner in honour of retired Judge of the Constitutional Court Yvonne Makgoro at Protea Hotel Ranch Resort on Saturday evening.
The event was attended by Limpopo Judge President Ephraim Makgoba, a number of judges of the Limpopo Division of the High Court as well as legal practitioners from the province.
Chairperson of the Polokwane Society of Advocates as well as the Mpumalanga Society of Advocates, William Mokhare welcomed the guests and introduced Makgoro.
Mokgoro was a judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa from its inception in 1994 until the end of her 15 year term in 2009. She was born in Galeshewe Township near Kimberley and matriculated at the local St Boniface High School in 1970. She studied mostly part-time, obtaining a Bachelor of Law (B.luris) degree at the University of Bophutha­tswana in 1982, a Bachelor of Law (LLB) two years later, and completed her Master of Laws (LLM) in 1987. She also studied at the University of Pennsylvania in the USA, where she was awarded a second LLM degree in 1990.
She started her work experience as a nursing assistant and later as a retail salesperson before her appointment as a clerk in the Department of Justice of the erstwhile Bophutha­tswana. After completion of her LLB degree she was appointed maintenance officer and public prosecutor in the then Mmabatho Magistrate’s Court. In 1984 she was appointed lecturer in law in the Department of Jurisprudence of the University of Bophuthatswana, where she rose through the ranks to Associate Professor and served there until 1991. From 1992 to 1993 she served as Associate Professor at the University of the Western Cape, from where she moved to the Centre for Constitutional Analysis at the Human Science Research Council, serving as Specialist Researcher (Human Rights) and also lectured on a part time basis at the University of Pretoria, until her appointment to the Constitutional Court in October 1994.
She is a honorary (emeritus) Professor of Law at the University of the North, University of the Western Cape, University of Cape Town, University of Pretoria and the University of South Africa. She has been conferred with Doctor of Laws degrees (Honoris Causa) by the University of North West, the University of KwaZulu-Natal, the University of Toledo (Ohio) USA, University of the Western Cape, University of Pretoria, University of the Witwatersrand,University of South Africa and the University of Pennsylvania (USA).

Story: BARRY VILJOEN
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