Capacity: Judge
First Appointment: April 2021 (Mpumalanga High Court)
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: African
Date of Birth: June 1974
Qualifications: B.Juris (1996) LLB (2001)(UniZulu) LLM (2007)(UP) Certificate in Mining Tax Law (2010)(Wits)
Key Judgments:
- Altimax (Pty) Ltd v Msukaligwa Local Municipality (437/2017) [2023] ZAMPMHC 18 (5 May 2023)
- T v Lekwa Local Municipality (1900/17) [2019] ZAMPMHC 9 (23 October 2019);
- S v The State, Unreported Judgment, Case No. R17/2019, Mpumalanga Division, Middleburg
- N v Mahlangu And Another, Unreported Judgment, Case No. 3341/18, Mpumalanga High Court, Middleburg
Candidate Bio (Updated September 2024):
Judge Moira Thando Mankge is a judge of the Middelburg High Court, Mpumalanga.
Judge Mankge began her career as a legal intern at Ngobese Associates in 1996. Following this, she would serve as a District Court Prosecutor for 7 years. In 2009, Mankge began as a District Court Acting Senior Magistrate. Mankge was a prosecutor for seven years before being appointed as a magistrate for nine years until 2013. She then enrolled in pupillage and was admitted as an advocate of the High Court in 2015, practicing until 2019.
In T v Lekwa Municipality Judge Mangke found that municipalities have a duty to promote a safe and healthier environment in the municipality. In this case the municipality was held to be negligent in not fixing the door of a transformer box in question. The plaintiff’s child had been electrocuted after being exposed to live electrical cables from a distribution transformer box belonging to the defendant. Mankge AJ, as she was at the time, held that the defendant was liable to compensate the plaintiff for damages.
Judge Mankge acted as a judge of the Mpumalanga Division of the High Court from 2019 to 2021. She described this time as ‘not uncomfortable, but a bit challenging and intimidating’ in her April 2021 interview for permanent appointment to the same division. She was successful in her appointment in 2021and is now applying for appointment as the Deputy Judge President of the same division.
Having acted as a judge for a relatively short period and served as permanent judge only since 2021, it will be interesting to see whether the JSC feels that Mankge has the necessary experience to be appointed as Deputy Judge President. As indicated by one of the Commissioners in her previous interview, this may be counterbalanced by the widespread positive feedback from officials who have worked with her.
Judge Mankge holds a B.Juris (1996) and LLB (2001) from the University of Zululand, an LLM (2007) from the University of Pretoria and a Postgraduate Certificate in Mining Tax Law (2010) from the University of Witwatersrand (Mandela Institute).
April 2021 Interview:
April 2021 Interview Synopsis:
Commissioner Legodi asked Acting Judge (as she then was) Mankge what she was doing to illicit the resounding positive feedback from officials she had worked with, joking that he too wanted the same positive reviews. Mankge said she approached everyone with grace.
Legodi asked Mankge to respond to those who may say that she had not had enough experience as an advocate. Mankge said that experience is “content-based” and the content of her practice, being that she has experience across various court levels, is a testament to this. She also pointed to her time as a prosecutor and assured the JSC that she was ready in terms of her character. Mankge said she “will not be intoxicated by power.”
Commissioner Nyambi asked Mankge to expound on the attributes of a good judge. Mankge highlighted impartiality, open-mindedness and expeditiousness. Mankge also spoke to kindness as a judge, seeking to honour and represent women in law
Judge Mankge was successful in her interview.
