Capacity: Advocate
First admitted as advocate: 1999
Senior Counsel Status: 2019
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Indian
Date of Birth: January 1976
Qualifications: BComm LLB LLM (cum laude)(UKZN)
Key judgments:
- Mthombeni v S (AR680/2018P) [2020] ZAKZPHC 25; 2020 (2) SACR 384 (KZP) (8 July 2020)
- Qayi v S (AR228/2019) [2021] ZAKZPHC 83 (14 September 2021)
- Liberty Group Limited v Mohammed Shaaz Moosa (2311/2021P) [2021] ZAKZPHC (November 2021)
- Zungu v Mtubatuba Municipality (6959/2020P) ZAKZPHC (19 November 2020)
- S v Mhlongo (CCD74/2019)(ZAKZDHC)(23 March 2021)
Candidate Bio:
Advocate Hoosen Gani SC is well known in the Pietermaritzburg Bar, having held an illustrious practice there since 1999. He now seeks elevation to the Bench, as a judge of the KwaZulu-Natal High Court.
Gani was called to the Bar straight out of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where he had completed his BComm, LLB and LLM degrees (the latter with distinction).
In the early years, Gani’s practice was typical junior counsel far: a little bit of criminal law, some labour law, some family law cases and a sizeable chunk of commercial law. He would soon rise through the ranks however, commanding a sizeable practice in tax law, corporate law, administrative law, and constitutional law.
It is Gani’s constitutional law expertise that propelled him to make regular appearances in the High Court, the Supreme Court of Appeal, and several appearances in the Constitutional Court.
The oft-cited case of Natal Joint Municipal Pension Fund v Endumeni Municipality is the leading authority on the interpretation documents and legislation, the approach to legal interpretation generally. Gani represented the pension fund, which sought to use municipal regulations to claim back 45 years’ worth of money wrongfully paid to a municipal employee who had only lived for 43 years at the time. The appeal was successful and the SCA found in favour of Gani’s client, the pension fund.
In a case involving a dispute over who has final say over the rules of the roads in gated-estates, Gani represented a resident owner in golf estate in the lush Durban suburb of Mount Edgecombe. In the case, Mount Edgecombe Country Club Estate Management Association v Singh, the resident owner sought to challenge the estate managing agent’s ability to restrict the movement of cars and domestic workers on the common. The resident owner lost in the High Court, was successful in a Full Court appeal on the issue of domestic workers’ movement but lost in the SCA on the issue of roads: the SCA found that the roads in a gated complex are private, and the road rules are valid and enforceable against anyone on the property.
Since January 2020, Gani has held several acting stints as a judge of the KwaZulu-Natal High Court. He has written judgments involving insolvency law, legal professional ethics, and criminal law. He now seeks permanent appointment.
April 2022 Interview
