Capacity: Advocate
Admitted as advocate: 2013
Gender: Man
Ethnicity: Coloured
Date of Birth: January 1969
Qualifications: BA, H.Dip.Edu (UWC), BA (Hons)(UJ), LLB (Unisa)
Key judgments:
- Lesedi Local Municipality v Mphele (2023) 44 ILJ 1967 (LC) (13 June 2023)
- Ngcobo v Oelofse 2024 (1) SA 233 (GJ) (24 August 2023)
- Chokoe v MEC for Human Settlements (031031/2022) [2024] ZAGPJHC 1237 (26 November 2024)
- Wiggil Farming (Pty) Ltd v Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (JR1520/23) [2024] ZALCJHB 324 (21 August 2024)
Candidate Biography (Updated April 2025):
Johannesburg advocate Bartholomew ‘Bart’ Ford’s career shares a striking exhuberance with the popular television character Bart from The Simpsons (no pun intended).
Shortly after graduating with a BA degree and Higher Diploma in Education from the University of the Western Cape in 1990, Ford began teaching at Pescodia High School (1991 – 1992), and later taught music the New Apostolic Church (1993 – 1995), both in his native Kimberley.
Ford began his career in labour law through serving as the industrial relations manager at then Spoornet (1995 – 1996) and furniture conglomerate Ellerines Holdings (1997 – 1998). It was during that time that he completed his BA (honours) degree from the then RAU (now University of Johannesburg).
Ford would later spend several of the subsequent years (1998 – 2012)working as a commissioner on the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA). In this role, Ford adjudicated numerous disputes over employers and employees, and developed the breadth and experience needed for this complex and challenging field. During that period, he also studied for his LLB degree, which he completed through Unisa.
In 2012 Ford left the familiar cushiness of permanent employment to join the Johannesburg Bar as an advocate. Unsurprisingly, considering this background, his practice is largely focused on labour litigation, including several stints as independent chairpersons in arbitrations and disciplinary hearings.
In 2021, Bart Ford, in a rebellious streak that Bart Simpson would be proud, resigned from the Johannesburg Bar to join the independent bar association (RSA Bar Association), where he currently serves as director.
From July 2022 Ford took up several stints as an acting judge in both the Labour Court and the Gauteng High Court.
While in the Labour Court, Ford’s judgment in Lesedi Municipality v Mpele, which landed in the law reports. In that case, the applicant, Lesedi Local Municipality sought to review and set aside an arbitration decision by the CCMA which found that it was substantively unfair for the municipality to dismiss its Chief Financial Officer, whom it had found to have embellished his qualifications to score the top job. The CCMA commissioner reinstated the CFO with backpay. In a strongly worded judgment, Ford found that the CCMA commissioner failed to properly assess the facts and evidence and reached an unreasonable decision. Ford then set aside the commissioner’s decision, substituting it with a decision that the CFO’s dismissal was substantively fair. “We live in a world; where inauthenticity and fake credentials have become the norm, where quick wealth and instant gratification is valuable more than integrity, where the disgusting trend of augmenting one’s qualifications and achievements have become fashionable. This rot must be resisted and exposed at all costs,” Ford said.
Like the colourful Bart Simpson cartoon character, the 56-year-old Ford’s career has also been filled with colour (and music). Starting off as a high school then church music teacher, a corporate manager, and later an advocate, Ford brings to the Bench a pocket filled with the essential life experiences necessary to adjudicate complex employment disputes in a fair manner. He faces stiff competition, as this is one of the rare occasions where the JSC is actually spoilt for choice.
April 2025 Interview
Adv Bartholomew Ford’s April 2025 interview for a position on the Labour court was unsuccessful. He was not nominated for appointment.