Capacity: Senior State Advocate
Admitted as an advocate: 1995
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: African
Date of Birth: December 1958
Qualifications: B.Proc (1984) (University of Limpopo), LLB (1994) (University of North-West), LLM (2001) LLM (2005) (University of Pretoria)
Key judgments:
- Monageng v S (590/06) [2008] ZASCA 129 (1 October 2008)(Reg. Court)
- Law Society of Northern Provinces v Visser Heppell (15860/2013) [2013] ZAGPPHC
- Zulu v Road Accident Fund (89670/18) [2023] ZAGPPHC 108 (1 March 2023)
- S v Marule (A168/22) [2023] ZAGPPHC 98 (27 February 2023)
Candidate Biography (updated September 2025):
Advocate Daniel Mogotsi is currently serving as a Senior State Advocate on contract to handle Truth and Reconciliation Matters in the Pretoria office.
Advocate Mogotsi began his legal career as a Public Prosecutor. He has extensive experience, practicing both in the public sector and the private sector. Mogotsi served as a District Court Magistrate for a decade, was promoted to Regional Court Magistrate, where he sat for twenty-six years and eventually moved on to practice as an advocate and then Senior State Advocate.
He has also taken on a variety of managerial roles within the justice system throughout the years, including stints as the Acting Head of Office in Ditsobotla and Madikwe and Odi Cluster (Northwest Province) Regional Court Coordinator (assisting the Regional Court President). This demonstrates leadership capability and experience managing the administrative and logistical elements of judicial service. He has also served his legal community by acting as the chairperson for disciplinary hearings for fellow magistrates, which shows a commitment to transparency and accountability within the judiciary, something that is paramount to maintaining the court’s legitimacy.
Adv Mogotsi is committed to the upliftment and education of others, as is demonstrated by his mentorship of younger legal practitioners, and his role as a facilitator on subjects such as ethical leadership for the South African Judicial Education Institute from 2003-2019. This, when paired with his own participation in a variety of further education programs, covering everything from AIDS education to legal costs and consent as a defense to sexual offenses, shows a pattern of prioritizing education and remaining abreast of the changing legal landscape.
Mogotsi has served as an Acting Judge in both the Pretoria division of the High Court and the Johannesburg division. He served seven stints at the Johannesburg division and three stints at the Pretoria division, spanning from his first sitting in 2013 to his most recent in 2022. During this time, he was responsible for hearing a variety of matters and conducted himself well by all available accounts.
In the Law Society case, Mogotsi was tasked with deciding whether to strike Visser Heppell’s name from the roll of attorneys or, alternatively, to suspend him from practicing. This case hinged on whether or not Mr. Visser Heppell had upheld the standard of utmost honesty and integrity usually required by attorneys during the sequestration of his estate. Adv Mogotsi found that he had failed to make relevant disclosures but showed some clemency in opting for a six-month suspension rather than a full removal from the roll. This shows his ability to balance the need for transparency and accountability within the legal fraternity with the understanding that legal practitioners are still human beings, who must be given the chance to grow from their mistakes. Importantly, for this case, was that Mr. Visser Heppell did not, on the facts, prejudice any of his clients in his failures to accurately disclose key facts.
His colleagues describe him as a man of knowledge, skill and high integrity, with impeccable character, who is unafraid of the tasks faced by a Judicial Officer. This makes him well suited for a possible permanent position on the bench.
October 2025 Interview:
The Judicial Service Commission interviewed candidates for two vacancies in the Mpumalanga Division of the High Court. Following deliberations, the Commission had resolved not to recommend Advocate Daniel Desi Mogotsi for the position.
Advocate Daniel Desi Mogotsi‘s interview was unsuccessful.