Judge Babalwa Mantame

Capacity: Judge
First appointed as Judge: February 2013 (Western Cape Division of the High Court)
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: African
Date of Birth: December 1973
Qualifications: B.Juris (1996) LLB (1999) (Walter Sisulu University)

Key Judgments:

Candidate Bio (Updated September 2024)

Judge Babalwa Mantame is a judge of the Western Cape High Court.

Judge Babalwa Mantame is an experienced judge of considerable ability who was appointed to the bench at a relatively young age. She began her legal career as a candidate attorney at GI Yako Incorporated in Mthatha in 1999, after qualifying from (now) Walter Sisulu University with a B.Juris in 1996 and LLB in 1999. She was admitted as an attorney in 2000, and eventually became a senior state attorney at the Office of the State Attorney in Cape Town from 2002 to 2011, whereafter she practiced for her own account as the founder and director of BP Mantame Attorneys until 2013.

Between 2011 and 2013 Mantame acted as a judge in the Western Cape Division of the High Court for a total of 8 stints, before being appointed permanently to the bench in February 2013 in the Western Cape Division of the High Court, where she presently sits. Recently, she was further appointed as an acting judge of appeal in the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) between June 2024 and September 2024.

As a leader in her own right in the legal profession, during the period wherein she was a practicing attorney, Mantame served the Black Lawyers’ Association (BLA) in various capacities, including leading the BLA as Chairperson of the Western Cape, and later being elected and serving as a member of the BLA’s national executive committee. She was a member of the South African Women Lawyers Association (SAWLA) from 2006 until she was elevated to the bench.

During her time on the bench, Judge Babalwa Mantame has been instrumental in imparting judicial skills to acting judges, especially women. She has been active in serving on various boards and councils, including the Council of the Law Society of South Africa and the Judicial Committee of the Lower Court, and she has further lectured high court practice, labour law, and magistrates’ court practice to candidate attorneys in Cape Town as part of their practical vocational training.

As a humble servant of the judiciary, who is conscious of the need for transformation, Judge Babalwa Mantame has acquitted herself with incisive judgments in various legal fields that were historically not open to African practitioners. She has produced astute and captivating judgments covering almost every sphere of the law. Her acting stint in the SCA is also sure to have further developed her leadership and management skills, such that she should be more than capable of taking on the position of Judge President of the Western Cape Division of the High Court.

In particular, her judgment in City of Cape Town v Khaya Projects (Pty) Ltd is evidence enough of her ability to deliver crucial, accurate, and well-prepared judgments in matters raising constitutional issues. In this matter the applicant sought two forms of declaratory relief; first, that Khaya Projects failed to satisfy its constitutional obligations as per section 26(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, alternatively that the first respondent in concluding the contract to provide and construct housing as part of the Witsand EECO Human Settlement Projects undertook constitutional obligations in terms of section 26(1), and second, that the arbitration between the first and second respondent that was referred to the fourth respondent in 2009 for adjudication had lapsed in terms of section 23(a) of the Arbitration Act 42 of 1965. In holding that the dispute was still before arbitration, Mantame stated that the applicant and the first respondent did not have a direct contractual relationship. The contractor was said to have done a shoddy work by failing to provide habitable low-cost houses. Even if that was the case, the contractor was accountable to its regulatory body, if a complaint was lodged. She noted that the case put by the applicant was far from the constitutional obligations that are envisaged within the meaning of section 26(1) of the Constitution. The application was dismissed with costs. An appeal to the SCA was dismissed, and as such Mantame’s judgment stands.

It is clear that Judge Babalwa Mantame has acquired a vast amount of experience on the bench, and she has proven her capabilities, competence, and legal acumen through many of her judgments.

October 2024 Interview:

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