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Prof. Fareed Moosa

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Capacity: Professor and Attorney

Gender: Male

Ethnicity: Indian

Date of Birth: January 1971

Qualifications: B.Proc(1993), LLB(1995)(UWC), LLM(1997)(UCT), LLD(2017)(UWC)

Key Judgments and Appearances:

Candidate Bio | Updated August 2026:

Professor Fareed Moosa is a law academic at the University of the Western Cape and a practising attorney at Moosa & Pearson Inc.

Prof Moosa began his legal career in 1993 as a legal researcher before serving as a candidate attorney at Legal Aid at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), where his work focused primarily on criminal matters, alongside some civil litigation, particularly divorce. He subsequently worked briefly as a legal adviser at the South African Revenue Service (SARS).

Since his admission as an attorney in 2000, Moosa has developed extensive experience in criminal and civil litigation, including public-interest litigation, while specialising in tax law. He has appeared in the Magistrates’ Courts, Superior Courts and several tribunals and is also a qualified mediator.

Alongside his practice, Moosa has accumulated substantial judicial experience. He served as an Acting Magistrate on a pro bono basis for one day per week for ten years and subsequently acted as a judge for a cumulative 23 weeks, presiding over civil matters and trials, as well as constitutional litigation. His judicial work has produced at least 23 reported judgments.

In Equal Education and Others v Head of Department: WC Education Department and Others, Moosa AJ sat as a member of a Full Court in a constitutional challenge concerning the placement of late applicants in Western Cape public schools. In a minority judgment, he agreed that the Western Cape Education Department’s management of late placements infringed learners’ constitutional rights but disagreed with the majority that a proper case had been established for declaring the admissions policy unfairly discriminatory under section 9 of the Constitution.

Moosa has also been involved in significant litigation as an attorney. In Sayers v Khan, he successfully represented the defendant in a dispute concerning statutory formalities for the sale of land under the Alienation of Land Act. The Court accepted his argument that the failure to incorporate the purchaser’s statutory cooling-off right into the deed of sale rendered the agreement void and upheld the defendant’s special plea. The Supreme Court of Appeal later overruled that interpretation in Gowar Investments, holding that non-compliance rendered the agreement voidable rather than automatically void.

In Moosa NO and Others v Minister of Justice and Correctional Services and Others, Moosa challenged the exclusion of spouses in polygamous Muslim marriages from the definition of “surviving spouse” under the Wills Act. The Constitutional Court unanimously confirmed the declaration that section 2C(1) was unconstitutional and ordered that it be interpreted to include spouses in both monogamous and polygamous Muslim marriages. The judgment significantly advanced the constitutional recognition and protection of spouses in Muslim marriages, particularly in matters of succession.

Moosa’s adjudicative experience also extends to tax disputes. He has served as Chairperson of the Tax Board following appointment by the Minister of Finance, complementing his specialist experience as a tax practitioner and academic.

Running parallel to his practice has been a 29-year academic career. Moosa is a Professor in UWC’s Department of Mercantile and Labour Law, where he teaches tax modules and courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels and contributes to the delivery of the Department’s academic programme. He served as Head of Department from 2018 to 2020.

His academic record includes 91 published journal articles, 39 of which are peer-reviewed. His research has received formal recognition, and he has received an award for his research and been nominated for several other awards during his career, including the Cape Law Society’s Human Rights Attorney of the Year Award.

Beyond practice, academia and judicial service, Moosa has contributed to the legal profession through several professional structures. He is a member of the Society of Law Teachers of Southern Africa and the Legal Practice Council, where he serves on the Dispute Resolution, Fees Assessment and Disciplinary Committees. He is also a founding member and Trustee of the Basic Rights Foundation South Africa, a civil rights organisation committed to promoting and protecting fundamental rights.

Prof Moosa brings extensive experience from both sides of the bench, complemented by specialist expertise in tax law, public-interest litigation and legal scholarship.