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Advocate Zuko Luvo Mapoma

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  • Advocate Zuko Luvo Mapoma
Adv Z L Mapoma_BL6A0290

 Capacity: Advocate
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: African
Date of Birth: April 1965
Qualifications: BProc (1990) (University of Transkei), LLB (1992) (UWC), Advanced Diploma in Labour Law (1997) (Rand Afrikaans University), LLM (2005) (UNISA), MBA Executive Programme (2007) (UCT)

Key Judgments and Appearances:

Candidate Biography | Updated August 2026:

Advocate Zuko Luvo Mapoma is an advocate and member of the Cape Bar.

Adv Mapoma’s legal career spans litigation, corporate leadership, judicial service and institutional governance.

His early career was shaped by student activism in organisations such as AZASO and SANSCO, experiences that laid an important foundation for his later work in the legal profession and public life.

During one of the most pivotal processes aimed at healing the nation from the wounds of the past, Adv Mapoma played a vital role in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). First, he served as a legal officer and member of the legal team that defended the TRC when it was subjected to intense legal challenges. Second, he was appointed as an Evidence Leader in the Amnesty Committee, where he largely worked on amnesty applications relating to former liberation movements.

Mapoma has rightly identified his experience at the TRC as his most significant contribution to the law and the pursuit of justice in South Africa.

Academically, Mapoma holds multiple postgraduate degrees, including an LLM in Corporate Law and an MBA from the University of Cape Town. Mapoma began his legal career as a candidate attorney at Sangoni Incorporated and was admitted as an attorney in 1995. He gained early experience in criminal and civil litigation before being recruited to join the TRC in 1996.

He later moved into corporate leadership, spending twelve years as a Senior Manager in the CEO’s office and Executive Manager at the Coega Development Corporation, where he oversaw key functions including Legal and Risk, Procurement and Human Resources. He returned to private legal practice as an advocate, completing his pupillage in 2015 and joining the Cape Bar in 2017.

Over a decade at the Bar, his practice has focused primarily on administrative and civil law litigation, including evictions, divorce, the administration of estates and interdicts. He has also appeared in matters involving criminal, constitutional and labour law. In Peter v Nkonde and Others, Mapoma successfully argued against an eviction application before the Western Cape Division of the High Court of South Africa. This case involved an eviction from a state-subsidised property, over which the appellant claimed ownership rights more than ten years after vacating the property. The Court determined that the appellant had lost ownership rights in terms of the eight-year statutory restriction period under the Housing Act and that ownership of the property therefore reverted to the provincial government.

Since April 2024, Mapoma has served as an Acting Judge of the Western Cape Division of the High Court for seven terms, amounting to 58 weeks, presiding over both civil and criminal matters. He has also sat pro bono in the Labour Court.

In Hart v Hart and Others, Mapoma adjudicated a dispute concerning the interpretation and enforcement of a special bequest in the deceased’s will relating to a guesthouse property in Camps Bay. The applicant, the deceased’s widow and usufructuary, sought to exercise her right to have the property sold and the proceeds reinvested for her financial benefit, despite the property being registered in the names of her stepsons. Mapoma held that the applicant was entitled, in terms of the will, to require the property to be sold without the consent of the registered owners, while the respondents’ role was limited to protecting their interest in the capital. He further found that their refusal to facilitate the sale and reinvestment was unreasonable and ordered them to take the necessary steps to give effect to the transaction.

In Pro-Khaya Construction CC v City of Cape Town and Another, Pro-Khaya sought enforcement of an adjudicator’s determination under a JBCC construction contract, which required the City of Cape Town to pay approximately R8.1 million, excluding VAT. The City challenged the determination on the basis that the adjudicator lacked jurisdiction and sought to have it reviewed and set aside. Mapoma held that the contractual adjudication process had been properly followed, that the adjudicator had the requisite jurisdiction and that the determination was final, binding and enforceable. The City’s counter-application to review and set aside the determination was accordingly dismissed.

Mapoma has demonstrated leadership within both the legal profession and higher education. He has served as Provincial Chairperson of the Black Lawyers Association since 2022 and served as Deputy Chairperson of Advocates for Transformation in the Western Cape from 2023 to 2025. He also contributed to institutional governance by serving as Chairperson of the University Council of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology from 2018 to 2023.

Beyond the legal profession, Mapoma has been involved in rural development initiatives, having founded and supported projects focused on crop production, agricultural mechanisation and sheep farming as part of broader efforts to alleviate poverty in rural communities.

Mapoma will now come before the JSC for the second time in 2026, hoping to fill one of the vacancies at the Western Cape High Court.

October 2026 JSC Interview

Following its deliberations, the JSC recommended Advocate Mapoma for appointment as a judge of the Western Cape High Court.

April 2026 JSC Interview

After deliberations, the Judicial Service Commission decided not to recommend Adv Zuko Luvo Mapoma for appointment to the Western Cape High Court.