History: Judge
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White
First appointed as Judge: 1. 11. 2021
Key judgments:
(1) A v Vantage Goldfields (Pty) Limited And Others (3651/2019) [2019] ZAMPMBHC 10 (11 November 2019);
(2) Ex Parte: Van Heerden (1079/2020) [2020] ZAMPMBHC 10 (27 March 2020);
(3) S v Mdluli (Cc149/17) [2018] ZAGPPHC 896 (15 March 2018);
(4) Gabaza Phikiwe Khumalo o.b.o Sipho Surprise Khumalo v RAF, Unreported Judgment, Case No. 530/17, Mpumalanga High Court (Functioning as Gauteng Division, Pretoria – Middleburg Circuit Court)
Candidate Bio:
Advocate Roelofse’s first work experience after graduation was in the Prison Service (as it was known then) and when the Head of Prison saw “Law” after his B.Com qualification, he instructed him to deal with prosecutions. He was responsible for motivating the commissioned officers, who were presiding over the trials to hear cases. To motivate the reluctant officers, he built a fully-fledged courtroom in his office which happened to be Dimitri Stafendas’s cell. He later obtained his Diploma Juris and was appointed as a prosecutor before moving to the private sector.
He was admitted as an advocate in 2003, practising in Mbombela without being a member of any Bar. He later joined the Pretoria Society of Advocates from 2008 to 2017 and he is now a member of the Mpumalanga Society of Advocates. He has been acting as a Judge in the Gauteng and Mpumalanga High Courts since 2018.
He was faced with an interesting case as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ex Parte: Van Heerden, where the applicant, a resident of Mbombela applied for an order to be temporarily exempted from the travel restrictions, in order to attend his grandfather’s funeral in the Eastern Cape. Roelofse AJ held that whilst he had extreme sympathy for the applicant, he had to uphold the law. He held that if he granted the applicant the relief sought, he would be authorizing the applicant to break the law under judicial decree, something that no court could do.
Advocate Roelofse holds a B. Com (Law) (1987) and B.Proc (1993) from the University of Pretoria, Dip Juris (1991) and LLB (2003) from the University of South Africa and a Post Graduate Diploma in Financial Planning (2003) from the University of the Free State.
October 2021 JSC Interview:
Interview of Adv Johannes Hendrickus Roelofse by the JSC, October 2021, for a position on the Mpumalanga Division of the High Court
Adv Roelofse’s application was successful. He was nominated for appointment to the Mpumalanga High Court.
April 2021 JSC Interview:
Interview of Adv J H Roelofse by the JSC, October 2021, for a position on the Mpumalanga Division of the High Court
Adv Roelofse’s was not recommended for appointment.
