Capacity: Advocate
Admitted as Attorney: 1999
Admitted as Advocate: 2017
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: African (Coloured)
Date of Birth: August 1974
Qualifications: B.Juris (1995), LLB (1997) (University of Port Elizabeth), MBA (2011) (NMMU)
Key Judgments & Appearances:
- Hobongwana v Benteler South Africa (Pty) Ltd [2023] 4 BLLR 359 (ECP)
- Jayiya v Member of the Executive Council for Welfare, Eastern Cape Provincial Government and Another 2004 (2) SA 611 (SCA)
- Pono v The Member of the Executive for The Department of Health, Eastern Cape 236/2020 EC.
- Toti v King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality 4368/2022 EC.
- S v Mbaxa CC511/2024 EC.
Candidate Bio | Updated March 2026:
Advocate Gaynor Appels is an advocate and member of the Eastern Cape Society of Advocates.
She has been a member of Advocates for Transformation since she began practising as counsel and aligns herself with the principles of transformation of the legal profession. Using her 26 years of experience as a legal practitioner, Appels is actively involved in training and mentoring pupils and previously disadvantaged juniors at the Bar and has previously trained pupils at the GCB Teacher Trainer Course.
She holds a B.Juris and LLB from the University of Port Elizabeth and an MBA from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. While her focus areas include administrative, constitutional, labour, and civil law, her litigation work as an attorney from 1999 to 2000 focused primarily on criminal law. Appels made a switch from instructing to instructed, and started practising as an advocate in 2017
As an advocate, Appels has appeared in the case of Hobongwana v Benteler South Africa (Pty) Ltd [2003] 4 BLLR 359 (ECP). Where the court found Benteler liable for damages suffered by Hobongwana (independent contractor) for injuries sustained while performing an inherently dangerous task. She describes this matter as “a case of David versus Goliath in that the plaintiff challenged an international company about its duty as an employer towards its employees…”
Appels has acted in the Eastern Cape Division of the High Court in both Gqeberha and Makhanda, a position she has held for various periods between July 2024 and December 2025. In Pono v MEC for Health, EC, she had to consider a matter involving the determination of the quantum of the plaintiff’s damages in respect of the loss suffered by her in her personal and representative capacity as a result of the medical negligence which occurred when she was in labour. She considered various factors, including the life expectancy and severity of the minor child’s cerebral palsy, and the related expenses of the plaintiff, and she ordered an award for compensation.
Appels has served some time in government at the Office of the State Attorney, where she was an Assistant State Attorney and at the Department of Public Works as Deputy Director. During her stint at the Department of Public Works, she occasionally chaired disciplinary committees (from 2005 to 2016). Appels was also a member of the Coega Dispute Adjudication Panel from 2008 to 2009, adjudicating construction disputes.
In tandem with this, she is also a member of the General Council of the Bar and the Eastern Cape Branch of Advocates for Transformation. She has co-authored an article outside the legal field titled: “Strategic Management: An Eastern Cape Construction SME case study”.
In striking a work-life balance, Appels has a penchant for keeping physically active through a membership in Swimming South Africa and the St. Albans Running Club.