Capacity: Judge
First admitted as Advocate: July 1985 | Senior Counsel 1996
Admitted as Judge: April 2022
Gender: Male
Ethnicity:
Date of Birth: January 1957
Qualifications: BA Law (1978) LLB (1980) BA (Hons) (1981) (UWC), Dip. (International Trade Law) (1998) (California, USA), LLM (Constitutional & International Trade Law) (2001) (UNISA).
Key Judgments:
- SAMWU obo Abrahams v City of Cape Town [2008] 7 BLLR 700 (LC)
- JF v PF (2272/2020) [2021] ZAECPEHC 14 (25 February 2021)
- Emfuleni Resorts (Pty) Ltd v Eastern Cape Gambling Board (1706/2021) [2022] ZAECGHC 105 (24 February 2022)
- Mason N.O. v Mason (2353/2016; 3039/2016) [2023] ZAECQBHC 56 (14 September 2023)
- Heron Mauritius Limited v Commissioner for South African Revenue Service (3929/2023) [2024] ZAECPEHC 17 (27 February 2024)
Candidate Biography (updated August 2024):
Judge Denzil Potgieter is a judge of the Gqeberha High Court, Eastern Cape Division.
He is a stalwart of the liberation struggle in South Africa, and a stalwart of the Cape Bar. Potgieter was born in Uitenhage (now Kariega), Eastern Cape, a town within the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality. That is probably where he witnessed firsthand some of the apartheid injustices which propelled him into youth activism and an illustrious career in using the law to fight for justice and liberation.
Judge Denzil Potgieter explains that he was compelled to leave his home in the Eastern Cape to study at the University of the Western Cape, the only university reserved for people the apartheid government classified as ethnically “Coloured”. It was there that he received his political orientation but also earned a string of qualifications: a Bachelor of Arts, a BA Honours (in Philosophy) and an LLB degree. He would go on to earn several other postgraduate qualifications in International Trade Law, including from the University of California.
Denzil Potgieter started his legal career in 1980 as an articled clerk (candidate attorney) at the prestigious law firm of Bisset, Boehmke & McBlain. After being admitted as an attorney and conveyancer, he joined the law firm of the late Justice Minister Dullah Omar, AM Omar & Co as a professional assistant (associate attorney). He then earned the elusive triple admission, this time as a notary public.
After his time as an attorney, Potgieter did his pupillage and took up chambers at the Cape Bar in 1985. When the apartheid state declared a state of emergency, Potgieter’s practice as a “struggle lawyer” took on a new life, and he was then immersed in political litigation. His practice involved defending anti-apartheid activists charged with political offences like treason and terrorism, but also secured release of business people who supported the anti-apartheid struggle. His work also took him to Namibia, where he defended anti-apartheid activists from SWAPO (the South Western African People’s Organisation) and its military wing, PLAN (the People’s Liberation Army of Namibia).
In 1990 with the lifting of the ban of political organisations like the ANC and the Pan Africanist Congress, Potgieter’s practice scope of clients widened to representing state institutions and public entities in democratic South Africa. In 1996, he was appointed as a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) commissioner, where he sat on the Amnesty Committee, which had the ominous task of receiving amnesty applications from some of grand apartheid’s most cold-blooded killers. He sat on the TRC until its closure in 2001.
Judge Denzil Potgieter has been appointed as an acting judge in the Western Cape High Court, the Eastern Cape High Court and the Labour Courts intermittently since 2011. He was appointed permanently as a judge in the Eastern Cape High Court in 2022. He has written several judgments. In SAMWU obo Abrahams v City of Cape Town, a matter dealing with an interdict pending disciplinary proceedings involving municipal workers participating in a strike, Judge Denzil Potgieter agreed with the trade union that the municipality’s disciplinary proceedings were in breach of their collective bargaining agreements, and granted an interdict to stop these agreements. In Emfuleni Resorts (Pty) Ltd v Eastern Cape Gambling Board, a matter dealing with the issue of whether certain betting credits provided for free and as an incentive to gamble to certain valued guests of Emfuleni Resorts (Pty) Ltd should be considered as part of its casino’s taxable revenue for the purpose of determining its liability for gambling tax, Potgieter held that on a proper interpretation of the relevant legislation this source of revenue was to be included as part of the taxable income, stating that this inclusion did not amount to arbitrary deprivation of property, as claimed by Emfuleni Resorts (Pty) Ltd.
As a skilled advocate with nearly 40 years in legal practice, and as a senior counsel since 1995, Potgieter represented clients both large and small in fighting against the might of the evil of the apartheid state in two countries. After democracy, Potgieter applied his skills building a new, just South Africa as lead counsel in some of the most high-profile cases to come before the High Courts, the Labour Courts, the Supreme Court of Appeal and even the Constitutional Court.
Potgieter is also well known as the founding member of the Cape branches of both the National Democratic Lawyers Association (NADEL) and Advocates for Transformation.
Potgieter’s appointment as the Judge President of the Western Cape High Court would hold tremendous symbolic significance: it would crown an illustrious career in human rights and the fight against apartheid oppression, and would allow Potgieter to continue to remain true to his commitment towards the alleviation of the plight of victims of human rights violations.
April 2022 Interview:
April 2022 Interview Synopsis:
Judge Denzil Potgieter’s April 2022 interviewApril 2022 interview for a position on the Eastern Cape Division of the High Court (Gqeberha) lasted just under an hour. In what was a relatively relaxed interview, Potgieter provided the JSC with insight into his prestigious legal career, confirming that in addition to having been a senior counsel, he had undertaken many stints as an acting judge, and as a result thereof had written various judgments and gained experience in all the duties of permanent judges.
He was questioned particularly on the circumstances in which an appeal judge was capable of interfering with factual findings of a trial court, and he answered these questions impressively. On being asked whether, if he was appointed, the fact that he would stand to serve as a judge for about 10 years only worked in his favour, Potgieter stated that he believed he would be more than capable of making a significant contribution to the bench in that period of time, with his experience in practice having sufficiently prepared him for such a position.
His interview to become a judge of the Eastern Cape Division of the High Court was successful. He was nominated for appointment.
