Capacity: Judge
First Appointed as a Judge: May 2017 (Labour Court)
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Black
Date of Birth: October 1969
Qualifications: B Proc (1991)(Limpopo University), LLB (1993)(Wits), LLM (2003)(UJ)
Key Judgments:
- Vzlr Inc and Others v Road Accident Fund and Others (019085/2024) [2024] ZAGPPHC 298 (14 March 2024)
- Thwala v S (A175/2023) [2024] ZAGPPHC 266 (29 January 2024)
- Ndobe v Minister of Police (14/22926) [2022] ZAGPPHC 665 (21 October 2022)
- Cawood and Others v Road Accident Fund (27980/2022) [2022] ZAGPPHC 766 (12 October 2022)
Candidate Bio (Updated September 2024)
Judge Graham Nasious Moshoana is a judge of the Labour Court.
Judge Moshoana was admitted as an attorney in 1995 and practiced for 22 years. His legal career began at Moseneke & Partners as a candidate attorney in 1993. He moved on to start his own practice and served as director until 2017.
Judge Moshoana’s legal career displays a commitment to labour-related issues. He served as a Commissioner for the Commission of Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) for four years. Beginning in 2007, he served as an acting judge of the Labour Court. He was appointed permanently to the Labour Court in 2017.
Moshoana began acting in the High Court from 2022 onwards, serving five terms.
In Thwala v S Moshoana heard an appeal against the conviction and sentence of the appellant, who shot and killed the deceased. The court a quo sentenced the appellant to life imprisonment for murder, ten years for robbery, five years for attempted murder and 15 years for the contravention of the Firearms Control Act. The appellant contends that the court a quo’s sentence was unduly harsh and that it erred in not finding that substantial and compelling circumstances existed to justify a deviation from the prescribed minimum sentence.
The appellant appealed on multiple grounds. Judge Moshoana characterised the appellant’s defense as an alibi, which must be accepted unless proven false beyond a reasonable doubt. The appellant also contested his positive identification by the deceased’s friend. On identification, Moshoana reasoned that the court must test the reliability of identification by weighing various factors such as lighting, visibility and eyesight.
Applying these factors, Moshoana concluded that there was no reason to conclude that the identification was unreliable. Amongst other factors, Moshoana referred to the fact that the identifier had made the positive identification immediately after the incident. Moshoana reasoned further that the court could, given the circumstances, base its findings on one witness. The witness’s testimony was further supported by evidence in the form of fingerprints lifted from the scene that matched the appellant’s. This, according to Moshoana, casted doubt on the appellant’s alibi.
Moshoana found that in assessing all of the evidence, the appellant could be proven to be guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The alibi of the appellant was also proven to be false beyond a reasonable doubt. Moshoana held further that “none of the grounds raised by the appellant drive this Court to a conclusion that the appellant was wrongly convicted.”
As to the sentence, Judge Moshoana asserted that an Appellate Court may only interfere with the sentence opposed by the trial court where there has been an irregularity that results in failure of justice. Moshoana found that the appellant had been correctly sentenced, adding that:
This country is struggling with violent crimes. As a deterrence, Courts must impose stiffer sentences in order to send a clear message to the world of malefactors.
Judge Moshoana has also co-authored a book on labour law, entitled The Role of Labour Court in the Transformative Age, which explores the role of labour courts in South Africa and Namibia.
In addition to his BProc from the University of Limpopo, LLB from Wits and LLM from UJ, Moshoana holds a higher diploma in labour law and a diploma in corporate law from UJ. Adding to that list, he is currently reading for an LLD in mercantile law.
Undoubtedly the largest question that will loom over Judge Moshoana at the JSC interviews is his experience. While he has been practicing law for some time, he has only been serving as a permanent judge in the Labour Court since 2017 and as an acting judge of the High Court since 2022. Acting experience is a common question to come up in interviews.
October 2024 Interview:
October 2024 Interview Synopsis:
Judge Moshoana’s October interview largely picked up where his previous interview left off. His interview started with Chief Justice Maya walking through his academic qualifications and his career before being elevated to the bench.
A talking point once again was his writing abilities. Not only has he written more than 340 judgments in his judicial career, CJ Maya was particularly impressed with his extrajudicial writing of articles and books. She described him as a “prolific writer” and pointed out how well he has done in being able to co-author a book while being a sitting judge. When quizzed on where he finds the time to write all these things he explained that it is rooted in his enjoyment of reading.
During his questions asked by Judge President Mlambo, Judge Moshoana confirmed that all of his judgments were handed down punctually within the three month prescribed period. Picking up on a contentious point in his previous interview JP Mlambo invited him to set the record straight and confirm his affiliation with the law firm he used to practise at. On this he made two points, firstly that he has no interest or any financial interest in the practise at all. Secondly that he has also expressed these sentiments to his previous Judge President as well. Premier Lesufi picked up on this line of questioning and asked if he had taken any additional steps after his last interview to confirm that he has no affiliation with the practise to which Moshoana responded in the affirmative.
Commissioner Ngcukaitobi put forward the objections made against him, the first was connected to his affiliation to his previous practise. The comment was that after his 2023 interview, Judge President Waglay noted that they had not meet to discuss the matter and on this basis Adv Ngcukaitobi SC questioned if this was because he was unable to cooperate with the JP? Moshoana dismissed this and confirmed that the JP received an email in this regard.
The next objection was made by Mr Zulu who was a litigant before him. The base of his complaint was that Moshoan did not provide him reasons for the decision in his judgment. Moshoana explained that this had occurred because it was an ex tempore judgment and it was Mr Zulu’s responsibility to get the transcript of the judgment. The final objection was that he failed to raise a conflict of interest in a matter he presided over, however Moshoana set this to rest and explained that he had made a disclosure in the matter.
Judge Moshoana was ultimately successful in his interview.
October 2023 Interview:
October 2023 Interview Synopsis:
Judge Graham Moshoana’s October 2023 interview for a position on the Gauteng High Court was unsuccessful. He was not nominated for appointment.
April 2017 Interview:
April 2017 Interview Synopsis:
A practising attorney, Graham Moshoana, was tested on his ability to write judgments and deliver them on time and his experience in the field of labour law.
He was also quizzed about disciplinary steps taken against his law firm after it was discovered that they were not keeping fee journals. Moshoana said this had happened when he and his partners were still young and had opened up several branches of their law firm, but had struggled to keep up with there practice.
He confirmed that they had pleaded guilty and had been given a suspended sentence. Moshoana said he unreservedly accepted wrongdoing on his part.
