Capacity: Associate Professor
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: White
Date of Birth: February 1975
Qualifications: BA (1996) BA(Hons) (1997)(NWU), PGDE (2006) PhD (2009)(Rhodes University)
Key Judgments:
- Leppan NO and Others v King (2471/2020) [2021] ZAECGHC 67 (20 July 2021)
- Madikizela and Others v Public Protector and Others (Case No. 800/2021) ZAECBHC (26 October 2021)
Candidate Bio | Updated March 2026:
Prof Rosaan Kruger is an Associate Professor at Rhodes University.
Born in 1975 in the small farming town of Steynsburg, Kruger went on to spend the majority of her working life in the Eastern Cape.
Prof. Kruger’s career began as a Candidate attorney at Potchefstroom University’s Centre for Community Law and Development after completing her BA, BA (Hons), and LLB degrees with distinction. This would be her last sojourn out of the Eastern Cape, as in 2001 she returned to the province to join Done Maree Attorneys in East London as a part-time professional assistant.
Kruger left practice in 2001 to join the Rhodes University as a law lecturer. During her eight years in this role, she earned a Post-Graduate Diploma and a PhD in Constitutional Law, with a thesis titled ‘Racism and Law: Implementing the Right to Equality in Selected South African Equality Courts.’ She is said to have used her thesis to teach her students critical concepts underpinning South Africa’s constitutional democracy. After completing her PhD, she was appointed as senior lecturer before being elevated to her current position as an Associate Professor in 2015.
Kruger has a solid track record as a legal scholar, contributing to the discourse around equality jurisprudence through her academic writing and submissions to Parliament. She has written extensively on constitutional law, equality, and anti-discrimination law, with 25 conference papers delivered nationally and internationally, seven book chapters (two of which are co-authored), and 14 journal articles (two of which are co-authored). Her notable articles being ‘The Ebb and Flow of the Separation of Powers in South African Constitutional Law – Glenister Litigation Campaign’, ‘The South African Constitutional Court and the Rule of Law: The Masethla judgment, a cause of concern?’ and ‘Equality and Unfair Discrimination: Refining the Harken test’.
Twenty years after leaving legal practice, Prof. Kruger received her first invitation to serve as an acting judge. Between April 2021 and August 2025, she completed 52 weeks on the bench. During this period, she also earned her first nomination for High Court judge and sat for the April 2022 JSC interviews. While her expertise in South African constitutional jurisprudence was firmly grounded in her academic work and leadership, her time as acting judge had not yet provided crucial exposure to the wide range of matters that come before the courts. Four years later, with more than 80 penned judgments, she hopes to join the ranks of academics-turned-judges who have successfully bridged their scholarship into their judicial approach.
Kruger penned Leppan N.O and Others v King, which raised the consequences of agreeing to have a semi-permanent caravan home in farmland with the requisite ministerial consent. The matter dealt with a trust bringing an application to the court requesting that the respondent vacate the campsite and terminate the agreement between the two parties. The court, on its interjection, raised the issue of whether the Subdivision of the Agricultural Land Act rendered the agreement unlawful. The court held that the Act required written consent from the Minister for subdivision of agricultural land to prevent unwanted uneconomic fragmentation of agricultural land. The subdivision of the campsite for running a caravan park was in contravention of the Act. The court held that the agreement was concluded illegally, and the respondent was requested to vacate the premises.
Outside of the classroom, Prof. Kruger was a part-time Commissioner on the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration, in the Gqeberha Office (2013 to 2022) and served with distinction as Rhodes University’s Dean of the Faculty of Law (2014 to 2020). As Dean, she contributed to the institutional development plan and the LLB curriculum approved by the Council for Higher Education as part of the National Review of the LLB.
April 2026 JSC Interview
After deliberations, the Judicial Service Commission decided not to recommend Prof Rosaan Krüger for appointment to the Eastern Cape High Court.
April 2022 JSC Interview