Candidate Bio:
A magistrate in Empangeni, Samukelisiwe Ndlovu previously worked as an attorney at her own firm. She also served as a legal advisor at Legal Wise and the eThekwini Municipality. Samukelisiwe has a secondary teachers diploma and an LLB, the latter from the University of Zululand.
Interview Synopsis:
Magistrate Samukelisiwe Ndlovu said that she was familiar with electoral legislation having “made some research and followed some cases when they were unfolding”, like the “Tlokwe Municipality matter where it was dealing with the postponement of the elections”.
The Electoral Court is an urgent court which sits on an ad hoc basis and Ndlovu confirmed that she would be available when such cases arose. She also confirmed that she did not, and had never, been a member of a political party.
Ndlovu said she had experience in judgment-writing from sitting in the magistrate’s court. When Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng pursued the nature of her judgment-writing, especially in a busy court where the norm is that adjudicators do not write judgments, Ndlovu said that hers averaged about 4-5 pages each.
