Capacity: Judge
Further appointments: N/A
First appointed as a judge: 01-11-2003
Key judgments: (1) S v NKUNA 2012 (1) SACR 167 (B) ; (2) PILANE AND ANOTHER V PHETO AND OTHERS (582/2011) [2011] ZANWHC 63 (30 SEPTEMBER 2011) ; (3) LAW SOCIETY OF THE NORTHERN PROVINCES V GABARONE MOTHOGAE & ANOTHER [2007] JOL 19024 (B)
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Coloured
Candidate Bio:
The gallery couldn’t’t hold back their sniggers when, during the April 2017 round of Judicial Service Commission (JSC) interviews for the position of North West High Court Judge President, Judge Ronald Hendricks listed “the ability to lead” as one of his leaderships strengths. (watch video below)
While stating the obvious is apparently not one of Hendricks’s self-identified shortcomings, he did identify a lack of patience as a potential weakness during his unsuccessful interview. Hendricks didn’t impress during his second interview for the deputy judge president position in October 2017 when he floundered on questions regarding his involvement of alleged corruption and the alleged bullying a cleaner at the High Court.
Hendricks’s handling of traditional leadership cases has raised concern among critics in the academic fraternity.
In the 2011 matter of Pilane and Another v Pheto and Others, Hendricks was asked to rule on whether the respondents were members of the Bakgatla – Ba – Kgafela Royal Family and had the powers to call a meeting of the “royal family”.
Hendricks found that the respondents were “not core members” of the royal family and did not have the standing to call such a meeting. The judgment was criticised by academics Aninka Claassens and Boitumelo Matlala.
In an article published in the New South African Review they argued that the judgment was a “disconcerting and novel interpretation of customary law” which deferred membership of a royal family and chiefly status to “the discretion of a ‘paramount’ based in another country.” They added that the judgment meant chiefs could not be held accountable by the communities.
Hendricks appears to have handled several cases involving Kgosi Nyalala Pilane of the Bakgatla ba Kgafela during his time on the North West Bench and has previously acquitted him of fraud and corruption charges linked to the administering of millions of rands that the Bakgatla community derive from platinum mining activity on their land.
That incident and other alleged misspent millions was investigated by the Maluleke Commission which found wide-ranging malfeasance in how the Bakgatla Ba Kgafela Traditional Council had used the platinum billions. The report led to North West Premier Job Mokgoro instituting a forensic investigation into the financial affairs of the council.
On the more curious side in a 2005 case, S v Nkuna, Judge Hendricks had to ascertain whether an accused could be convicted of murder when the body of the deceased had not been found.
No direct evidence was led and the state relied on circumstantial evidence in the matter. Henricks convicted the accused of murder, finding there was no evidence to suggest that the victim was still alive.
In his reasoning, Hendricks found that to “require the production or discovery of the body (corpus delicti) in all cases would be unreasonable and unrealistic and, in certain cases, would lead to absurdities. To my mind it would lead to a gross injustice particularly in cases where a discovery of the body is rendered impossible by an act of the offender himself. … It is thus proper for a court to convict an accused on circumstantial evidence provided it has the necessary probative force to warrant a conviction, and the fact that death can be inferred from circumstances that leave no ground for a reasonable doubt.”
Hendricks holds two degrees, including an LLB, from the University of Pretoria. He worked as an advocate from 1993-2003 and acted at the high court in the North West before his permanent appointment in 2003. He acted in the Labour Court and in the Labour Appeal Court in 2007 and 2010 respectively. Over the course of 2012, 2014 and 2016 he has spent stints as acting Judge President of the North West Division of the High Court.
April 2022 Interview
Judge Ronald Deon Hendricks’s April 2022 interview for the position of Deputy Judge President of the North West Division of the High Court was successful. He was nominated for appointment.
October 2019 interview:
October 2019 Interview Synopsis
Judge Hendricks has had two difficult interviews in front of the JSC previously, but his ability to focus on managerial issues in this round was perhaps what allowed him to crack the nod. His views on electronic filing, infrastructure and case management were met with approval of the JSC.
However, concerns were again raised about his series of judgments dealing with traditional leaders and leadership in the area. Hendricks appears to have handled several cases involving Kgosi Nyalala Pilane of the Bakgatla ba Kgafela during his time on the North West Bench and has previously acquitted Pilane of fraud and corruption charges linked to the administering of millions of rands that the Bakgatla community derive from platinum mining activity on their land. He answered concerns about this case by saying the state had not proved their case beyond a reasonable doubt.
That incident and other alleged misspent millions was investigated by the Maluleke Commission which found wide-ranging malfeasance in how the Bakgatla Ba Kgafela Traditional Council had used the platinum billions. The report led to North West Premier Job Mokgoro instituting a forensic investigation into the financial affairs of the council.
In 2017 the Judge was asked about assertions that the North-West High Court was thwarting the repeated attempts of community leaders to try and preserve their mineral assets and land. Kgosi Nyalala Pilane had successfully obtained several court interdicts to stop community members from being allowed to meet, including six interdicts against meetings of the ‘royal family’, arguing that only the royal family could call meetings, not the community. In this case the community placed a newspaper advertisement calling on members of the Bakgatla – Ba – Kgafela Royal Family to attend an urgent meeting. Pilane sought to interdict the meeting.
The effect of Hendricks’ decision to uphold Pilane’s application to interdict the meeting was that only the most senior traditional leader can call a meeting of the community, even when it is a meeting to hold that very leader to account. Judge Hendricks was taken on appeal to the Constitutional Court, where his decision was overturned. That Court held that the interdicts infringed basic rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association, as well as the constitutional principle of accountability.
Hendricks described the Constitutional Court decision as ‘liberal’, and emphasised the decision of the minority on the Constitutional Court, led by CJ Mogoeng, as agreeing with him. This raised eyebrows, with a number of questions put to him on why asserting the land rights of the people of Bakgatla was ‘liberal.’
Hendricks was appointed to the position.
October 2017 interview:
October 2017 Interview Synopsis
The sole candidate for the deputy-judge president vacancy at the North West High Court, Judge Ronald Hendricks was immediately thrown into the shadier parts of the province’s political economy.
An objection to Hendricks’s candidacy had been raised by a member of the public in a letter to the Judicial Service Commission in which accusations of corruption within the division were raised. Hendricks did not deal with the matter authoritatively, dancing around the question like a tango-dancer on melting ice.
Commissioner Julius Malema told Hendricks that members of the cleaning staff at the high court had come to him with complaints about the judge’s bullying. Hendricks denied threatening the cleaner and any collusion to make the cleaner’s life unbearable.
While Hendricks floundered on the allegations of corruption and collusion he also fared terribly on questions relating to gender parity in society and feminism.
April 2017 interview:
April 2017 Interview Synopsis
On his leadership style, Hendricks said that one “has to demonstrate in order to lead” and that one would “have to give guidance to the people you are leading”.
He later listed his leadership strengths as having “the ability to take the lead”, being able to attend to and resolve problems and that “I am a good listener”. He identified losing one’s patience as a potential weakness.
“I am definitely a team leader,” he told the commission, “I like to operate in a group and work together.”
When asked by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng how he would “anticipate” and then “crush” any “factionalism in a court setting”, Hendricks said he would use the personal touch: calling people in to discuss “an impasse or a misunderstanding… you have to do it on a personal level and not through correspondence”.
When asked about conflicts in the workplace he said he would mediate between affected parties.
He suggested that to broaden the pool of prospective female judges provincial workshops for lawyers and legal academics be held where attendees would be informed of what “the work of a judge entails” and practical experiences and guidance could be shared.
