Professor Nomthandazo Patience Ntlama-Makhanya

Key judgments:

• Madibeng Local Municipality v. Unknown Trespassers of Letlhabile – B Extension 1 Township and Others (57075/2020) [2023] ZAGPPHC 1304 (29 November 2023)
• Liquidators (Small and Medium Enterprises Bank Limited) v. Met Bank Limited (formally Metropolitan Bank of Zimbabwe) (A2023/043983) [2025] ZAGPJHC 216 (25 February 2025)
• Emisha Software (Pty) Ltd v. Servsol Software Solutions CC and Others (2023/069011) [2024] ZAGPPHC 567 (6 June 2024)
• Phetla v. Department of Home Affairs and Others (6583/17) [2023] ZAGPPHC 1931 (17 November 2023)

Candidate Bio | Updated March 2026:

Professor Nomthandazo Patience Ntlama-Makhanya is a Professor of Public Law at the University of Fort Hare.

Prof Ntlama-Makhanya’s journey moves from humble, grassroots beginnings to publishing scholarly papers, teaching the theory of law, and delivering judgments, all without having ever practised as an attorney or advocate. Ntlama-Makhanya is a nationally recognised scholar in constitutional law and human rights, so much so that she was voted to be one of the Winners in the Category of Law and Justice for the 2025 Mail and Guardian Power of Women Achievers Award.

After obtaining her B. Juris from the University of Fort Hare in 1997, Professor Ntlama-Makhanya immediately embarked on an academic career as a Junior Lecturer, teaching Criminal Procedure and the Law of Evidence at her Alma Mater.

Later, she coordinated the UNESCO Oliver Tambo Chair of Human Rights at Fort Hare between 2002 and 2004, facilitating training programs for government officials, community organisations, and traditional leadership structures. She then joined the South African Human Rights Commission as a researcher, where she focused on equality, non-discrimination, and human rights issues relating to gender, disability, and race.

In 2007, she returned to academia as a Senior Lecturer at the University of South Africa (UNISA), obtaining a Doctor of Laws in 2011. Her doctoral thesis was subsequently published as a book, and she was promoted to Associate Professor, a position she held until 2012. She also served as Associate Professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal before returning to Fort Hare as a Professor and Head of Research for the Law Faculty, where she continues to teach.

In addition to her over 20 years of experience in academia, she has served as an acting judge across multiple High Court divisions, including several stints in the Eastern Cape. In total, Professor Ntlama-Makhanya has acted as a judge for approximately 36 weeks. Moreover, she was appointed as a member of the Electoral Court by President Cyril Ramaphosa for a five-year term running from 2022 to 2026.

As an acting judge, Ntlama-Makhanya presided over Phetla v Department of Home Affairs, which concerned the condonation of late registration and confirmation of a customary marriage. Emphasising that customary law is a living system, she found that full lobola payment, spousal consent, and community recognition sufficiently validated the marriage, even where rituals were incomplete. This was not the first time she had an input on the interpretation of Customary Law in the High Court. In 2021, she appeared as an Expert Witness in a matter relating to customary marriage, where her testimony was cited by the Presiding Judge in the judgment.

Additionally, in Madibeng Local Municipality v Unknown Trespassers of Letlhabile, Ntlama-Makhanya dismissed a municipality’s application for an interdict against unlawful occupiers of land reserved for low-cost housing, finding that the municipality had failed to provide a lawful plan for alternative accommodation and reinforcing the state’s duty to the progressive realisation of housing. The judgment attracted media attention, underscoring its broader significance.

Beyond her academic and judicial work, Ntlama-Makhanya has an accomplished background in sport as the first Black national player to represent the Eastern Cape Province on the National Netball Team. Her athletic career included international tours to countries such as Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana, Australia, and England.

Professor Ntlama-Makhanya’s trajectory exemplifies how academic insight can strengthen the bench, bringing depth and rigour to judicial decisions while keeping practical outcomes in focus. Her record of sustained publication, alongside judgments of immediate legal relevance, positions her as a candidate whose scholarship directly informs her judicial reasoning.

Having served as a JSC commissioner from 2015 to 2020, she is likely aware that the Commission may probe whether her lack of traditional practice could be seen as a limitation, and how her unique path from academia to the bench might shape her approach to the High Court.