Capacity: Attorney
Admitted as Attorney: October 2006
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Black
Date of Birth: April 1969
Qualifications: BProc (1995) LLB (2023) (UNISA)
Key Judgments & Appearances:
- Johannes Dempers v Solidarity Trade Union (Case No: J 2166/2019) 2019 (LC)
- Matutu v Bargaining for the Meat and Trade (Gauteng) and Others (JR499/2017) [2020] ZALCJHB 11 (29 January 2020)
- Maduka, Paul and 36 Others v BKL Monitoring and Inspectorate CC (Case No: JS892/17)
- Mateo Mathebe v Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (J2158/2019) (unreported)
- Theodore Hoffman & Mouton Engineers (Pty) Ltd v Badenhorst (J2190/2019) (LC) (unreported)
Candidate Biography | Updated September 2026
Mr Soloman Bongani Mgaga is a practising attorney and Director of the Employment Law Department at Garlicke & Bousfield Inc.
Mr Bongani Mgaga is an attorney with almost two decades of legal experience in labour law and employment relations and currently serves as an Acting Judge of the Labour Court.
From starting his working life as a nineteen-year-old shop assistant to leading one of KwaZulu-Natal’s premier corporate firms, Mgaga’s rise through the legal profession is a story of determination and technical excellence.
Mgaga studied law at the University of South Africa (UNISA), where he obtained a BProc degree in 1995 and an LLB degree in 2023. In 2006, he completed his articles in Durban and was admitted as an attorney, after which he rapidly established himself as a prominent employment law litigating practitioner.
Mgaga began his professional career at Telkom, where he worked in employee relations and later served as Regional Legal Services Manager. His work included advising management on labour matters, mediating workplace disputes, presiding over internal disciplinary proceedings, representing Telkom in CCMA and Labour Court proceedings, and dealing with collective bargaining and industrial action.
In 2011, Mgaga joined Garlicke & Bousfield Inc as a Director in the Employment and Constitutional Law Department. Mgaga’s practice encompasses contract drafting, restraints of trade, strike interdicts, unfair dismissals and administrative law reviews across organs of state. Mgaga has acquired vast experience in the field of labour law, having appeared in over 100 arbitrations where written arbitration awards or rulings were issued, as well as making more than 50 Labour Court appearances and eight Labour Appeal Court appearances.
Mgaga has appeared in significant labour matters. In Edumbe Municipality v Putini and Others (2020) 41 ILJ 891 (LAC), the Labour Appeal Court accepted his submission that, in determining the substantive fairness of a precautionary suspension, an employer does not have to prove that the employee committed the misconduct underlying the suspension. The Court held that the employer only needs to show that serious allegations existed and that it reasonably believed the employee’s presence could jeopardise the investigation or workplace interests.
Mgaga has frequently stepped out of private practice to serve as an Acting Judge of the Labour Court on five separate occasions, where he has presided over urgent interdicts, retrenchment disputes and review applications.
In Mateo Mathebe v Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, Mgaga presided over an employment dispute involving PRASA. The applicant (Mathebe) was suspended from work pending finalisation of the disciplinary hearing and was to be dismissed. Mgaga observed that the matter was brought under a rule that is not applicable to the Labour Court and advised that a proper application be instituted. The matter forms part of his judicial experience in dealing with labour disputes involving the application of labour law.
In Theodore Hoffman & Mouton Engineers (Pty) Ltd v Badenhorst, Mgaga likewise applied legal principles regarding urgent and stay applications. He concluded that the applicant failed to show urgency and the application was removed from the court roll. Again, this case shows Mgaga’s competence, not just to apply labour law, but also to apply relevant legal principles to a given case.
When he is not applying legal principles, Mgaga is an avid chess player and contributes to community development as Chairperson of the Durban Metro Chess Academy.
With thirty years of labour law experience spanning telecommunications, top-tier corporate practice and acting judicial stints, Mgaga brings extensive labour law experience to the Labour Court, combining employee relations work, private practice, litigation and substantial experience as an Acting Judge.