Judge Mmathebe Violet Phatshoane has been appointed as the new Chairperson of the Sol Plaatje University (SPU) Council.
Judge Phatshoane served on the SPU Council since June 2014 and has played an integral role in the development of the University. She is poised to lead the Council, until April 2025, as it governs SPU in the next phase of its growth in terms of its research profile, academic offerings, digital expansion, financial consolidation, and exciting community engagement endeavours.
Judge Phatshoane is the newly appointed Deputy Judge President of the Northern Cape Division of the High Court, with effect from 1 July 2021. She is also an Acting Judge of Appeal at the Supreme Court of Appeal, a position she will hold until September 2021. She previously acted as Deputy President of the Labour Court and Labour Court of Appeal. She has made rulings on labour law, private law, civil procedure, and criminal law.
She obtained a BProc from the University of the North and her LLM and LLB degrees from the University of the Free State.
After being admitted as an attorney in 1999, she set-up her own, highly successful, law firm Phatshoane Henney Group Inc in 2002. She also served part-time at the CCMA from 1999 to 2004 and lectured at the University of the Free State from 2006 to 2009. In 2012 she was the recipient of the Alumni “Extraordinary Achiever” Award from the University of the Free State
Judge Phatshoane is a member of the National Judicial Case Flow Management Committee and a member of the South African Chapter of International Women Judges and served as its Vice-President from 2012 to 2014.
The outgoing Chairperson of the SPU Council, Judge Yvonne Mokgoro will be honoured for her immense contribution to the University through her leadership of the Council since August 2014. She has had a steady hand on tiller of the SPU vessel and will continue to be its champion as it enters new waters.
