Capacity: Advocate
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: White
Date of Birth: February 1972
Qualifications: B.Iuris (1993) LLB (1995) (UFS), LLM (Corporate Law) (2000) (UNISA)
Key Judgments:
- Taxpayer B v Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service 85 SATC 388 (29 November 2022)
- Hogue v Minister of Home Affairs [2022] 4 All SA 129 (WCC)
- Weinert v Municipality of the City of Cape Town [2023] 1 All SA 536 (WCC)
- Pentagon Financial Solutions (Pretoria) (Pty) Ltd v Pieter Willem Basson [2023] 3 All SA 560 (WCC)
- Van Der Westhuizen v Akarana Homeowner’s Association 2024 (1) SA 301 (WCC)
Candidate Bio | Updated March 2026:
Advocate Phillipa Van Zyl is a practising advocate of the Cape Bar.
She qualified from the University of the Free State with her B.Iuris in 1993, and her LLB in 1995, whereafter she worked as a tutor in the Law Faculty of the University of Cape Town, before becoming a legal administration officer for the Western Cape provincial government from 1997 to 1998. During her time in government, she presided over disciplinary hearings, prepared opinions, and reviewed and commented on draft legislation. She thereafter became a legal advisor for the Blaauwberg Municipality from 1998 to 2000.
Whilst practising as an advocate since 2001, she became a member of the Arbitration Foundation of South Africa (AFSA), the Cape Bar Advocacy Training Committee, and the Cape Bar Judicial Appointments Review Committee. She has appeared in numerous cases in the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court of Appeal. While Adv Van Zyl has found great success as a junior advocate for more than twenty years, her need to balance personal and professional responsibilities as a single mother of two children has stopped her from applying for senior counsel status.
Since January 2022, she has acted as a judge of the Western Cape Division of the High Court for 9 and a half terms, during which she has delivered approximately 163 judgments. Of her written judgments, 14 have been reported, and 6 appeals have been finalised, of which 4 were dismissed.
In Hogue v Minister of Home Affairs, Bangladeshi nationals challenged the refusal of their permanent residence applications in South Africa. The first applicant had initially held a general work permit, later obtained a critical skills visa, and applied for permanent residence under section 26(a) of the Immigration Act. His wife applied under section 26(b) as a spouse, while their minor children applied under section 26(c). The Minister rejected all applications, prompting the applicants to seek judicial review, condonation for delay, and a declaration that the first applicant was not a prohibited person under section 29(1). They argued that the refusals were unlawful and unreasonable, lacking sufficient evidence.
Van Zyl found that the respondents had failed to justify their decisions, making the review of relief inevitable. Relying on section 8(1)(c)(ii)(aa) of the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act and section 172(1)(b) of the Constitution, she held that exceptional circumstances warranted substituting the decision rather than remitting it. She condoned the delay and failure to exhaust internal remedies, declared the first applicant not a prohibited person, and ordered the issuance of permanent residence permits to all applicants.
Before she started writing judgments, in 2019 Advocate Van Zyl revised and updated the titles “Heritage” and “Religion” in anticipation of the third edition of Joubert et al’s The Law of South Africa (LAWSA), which titles have since been published in Volumes 21 and 34 of LAWSA. She has also updated the title “Interdicts” in anticipation of the third edition of LAWSA, which was published in 2025.
Advocate Van Zyl sits before the JSC in April 2026 for the second time following an unsuccessful attempt in October 2024. She hopes that her continued experience as an acting judge since 2024 and her deeper understanding of the workload and responsibilities of judges will lead to a successful nomination this time.
April 2026 Interview:
After deliberations, the Judicial Service Commission recommended Adv Philippa van Zyl for appointment to the Western Cape High Court.
October 2024 Interview:
After deliberations, the Judicial Service Commission decided not to recommend Adv Philippa van Zyl for appointment to the Western Cape High Court.