Capacity: Attorney
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: Indian
Date of Birth: September 1960
Qualifications: B Proc (1989) (UNISA)
Key Judgments:
- Standard Bank of South Africa Ltd v Higgs [2024] ZAWCHC 140 (5 September 2024)
- D W D v I L L [2024] ZAWCHC 119 (20 August 2024)
- Chad Michael v S [2024] ZAWCHC 134 (6 August 2024)
- Jason Leon Campbell v The Minister of Police (9885/2019)
- Wesbank, a Division of Firstrand Bank v Jennifer Naidoo N.O (A87/2023)
Candidate Biography (Updated September 2024)
Ms Rehana Parker has been a practicing attorney for 31 years. After qualifying from UNISA with her B Proc in 1989, she completed her articles of clerkship at a law firm in 1992, whereafter she undertook the massive challenge of starting her own law firm. She commenced practice in 1993, as the founder and director of what is now RKP Attorneys Inc.
Ms Rehana Parker is also a trained mediator in land rights issues and family law and an arbitrator in personal injury law. In addition to running her own practice, she has served on various boards and councils. In particular, she currently serves as the chairperson of the BLA (Western Cape), having been elected in 2016. She also served as a councillor for the Cape Law Society intermittently from 2001 to 2018. She has further served on the audit and risk, and social ethics committees of the Independent Development Trust since 2021. Notably, she was the chairperson of the Independent Tribunal which the Minister of Cultural Affairs and Sport appointed in terms of the National Heritage Resources Act 1999, from 2013 to 2021.
As a member of SAWLA, Ms Parker has displayed a collaborative approach for the empowerment of women and plays a role of active support for the women’s agenda to eradicate all forms of discrimination in the legal profession and to ensure that transformation through education, training and research becomes a reality. This much is further evident in the cases she has taken on, and the clients she has represented throughout her 31 years of practice. As an indication of her importance and role in the empowerment of women in the legal profession, Parker was honoured as one of the female lawyers who “shattered the glass ceiling” in 2023 at the SAWLA’s celebration of 100 years of women legal practitioners.
During her time as a practicing attorney, Parker has appeared in numerous landmark matters, such as Joubert Galpin Searle Inc, Rehana Khan Parker, & Z Abduraghman v Road Accident Fund [2014] 2 All SA 604 (ECP) in which the awarding of a Road Accident Fund tender to various law firms was set aside.
Ms Rehana Parker has served as an acting judge on numerous occasions, in both the Western Cape Division of the High Court and the Gauteng Division of the High Court. She is currently serving as an acting judge of the Western Cape Division of the High Court. As an acting judge she has delivered a quite a few judgments, however very few, if any, have been reported.
The lack of reported judgments to her name may prove detrimental to Parker’s chances of being appointed permanently as a judge of the Western Cape Division of the High Court, however the experience, passion, dedication, and legal acumen that she could bring to the bench should not be overlooked.
October 2024 Interview:
