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Bhavna Ramji

Ms B Ramji_BL6A5214

Capacity: Attorney
Admitted as Attorney: 2012
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: Black Indian
Date of Birth: May 1987
Qualifications: LLB (2009) LLM (2013) (University of KwaZulu-Natal)

Key Judgments

 

Candidate Biography | Updated September 2026

Bhavna Ramji is a senior attorney at Kropmans Attorneys Inc.

Ramji is an admitted attorney of the High Court of South Africa who has served as an Acting Judge of the Labour Court.

As a seasoned public interest practitioner with a rich academic publishing record, Ramji has dedicated her career to defending precarious workers, farm dwellers and marginalised communities at all levels.

Ramji earned her LLB and LLM degrees from the University of KwaZulu-Natal before serving articles at Bowman Gilfillan Inc. She holds an LLM with a focus on Constitutional Theory, Law and Litigation, for which she wrote her mini-thesis on the legal interpretation of the right to housing in South Africa and how such interpretations have contributed to the creation of enclaves of poverty rather than spaces for litigation.

Ramji was admitted as an attorney in 2012 and joined the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI) in 2014, where she represented the Commercial, Stevedoring, Agricultural & Allied Workers Union (CSAAWU) in high-stakes Labour Court and Constitutional Court litigation, challenging punitive cost orders that threatened to bankrupt vulnerable agricultural unions.

Following this, Ramji worked at SECTION27, focusing on health and education rights, before becoming the Director of the Law Clinic at the Casual Workers Advice Office (CWAO). At CWAO, she led groundbreaking legal battles enforcing the 2015 Labour Relations Act amendments regarding labour broker ‘deeming provisions’ and wage equalisation for temporary workers. She has also practised at Cheadle Thompson & Haysom and Kropmans Attorneys, holding higher rights of appearance in the High Court as a senior attorney.

While at Kropmans Attorneys, Ramji gained exposure to the Labour Court, where she litigated various matters and drafted and reviewed contracts and policies, predominantly for commercial entities. Since 2024, she has served as an Acting Judge of the Labour Court of South Africa, delivering several written judgments. She has also published in several South African law journals.

As an Acting Judge, she has delivered five ex tempore judgments and 29 written judgments. She has also co-authored several publications. Of particular significance is her co-authored article, The Courts, the Amendments and the Excluded: A Critical Analysis of the Labour Appeal Court’s Approach to Triangular Employment Relationships, which examines three Labour Appeal Court judgments preceding the section 198A amendments and is relevant to assessing the efficacy and potential implications of the Labour Law Amendment Bill, 2025.

Ramji also co-authored Tracing the Development of Employers’ Legal Remedies against Strike Action, in which the authors argue for courts to adopt a historically contextualised approach when considering applications for remedies against collective worker action, particularly given the historical use of legal mechanisms to criminalise Black workers who organised collectively.

She has published on subjects beyond law, reflecting her broader interest in labour and socio-economic issues. Ramji has appeared in matters of significant social and legal importance. In Mahlangu v Rula Tecno Park (Pty) Ltd 2015 JDR 2554 (LLCC), she represented 79 people on designated farmland, successfully preventing their eviction and securing recognition of their rights to reside on the property. Ramji has also acted as instructing attorney in significant matters, representing about 20,000 residents in a large-scale eviction matter.

Ramji’s reported judgments, Skhosana v CCMA 2025 46 ILJ 1019 (LC) and Zingeni v GPSSBC 2026 47 ILJ 449 (LC), are significant. In Skhosana, Ramji demonstrated a careful approach to the review of arbitration decisions, correcting the commissioner’s error on an individual employee’s standing but, after considering the merits, dismissing the review. The judgment demonstrates her labour law expertise, judicial independence and distinction between procedural entitlement and substantive merit. In Zingeni, she considered the fairness of a dismissal based on an employee’s lack of a matric qualification, taking into account the employer’s own conduct in appointing and confirming the employee, as well as the appropriate remedy under section 193 of the LRA. Together, the judgments demonstrate a contextual and balanced approach to labour disputes.

Apart from these, Ramji has participated in and delivered presentations at various legal events and professional forums. She is also a member of several professional organisations, including the South African Society for Labour Law.

As Ramji approaches the JSC for a permanent Labour Court seat, her record combines practical labour law experience, public interest litigation, judicial experience and scholarship, reflecting a commitment to workplace fairness, access to justice and constitutional labour rights.

October 2026 JSC Interview

Following its deliberations, the JSC recommended Ms Bhavna Ramji for appointment to the Labour Court.