Sandile Ngcobo : a short study in Judicial Leadership

• Pages: 1-10
• Published date: 01 August 2017
• Date: 01 August 2017
• Author: Richard Calland
• DOI: 10.25159/2522-6800/3915

1

https://doi.org/10.25159/2522-6800/3915

ISSN 2522-6800 (Online) | ISSN 2219-6412 (Print)

© Unisa Press 2017

Southern African Public Law

https://upjournals.co.za/index.php/SAPL/index

Volume 32 | Number 1 and 2 | 2017 | pp.1–10

ARTICLE

Sandile Ngcobo: A Short Study in Judicial Leadership

Richard Calland

Associate Professor, University of Cape Town

Email: Richard.Calland@uct.ac.za

ABSTRACT

This personal tribute to the retired Chief Justice discusses his judicial leadership while he

held the position of Chief Justice. It seeks to ll a gap and to ensure that this aspect of

Justice Ngcobo’s professional record is not overlooked. This tribute does not attempt to

delve into the academic literature related to judicial governance and leadership other than in

passing; nor does it draw on the even bigger scholarly pool on leadership in general. Instead,

it oers a discursive, somewhat personal account of my perception of the leadership role that

Ngcobo played, especially during his brief, but to my mind seminal, period as Chief Justice

between 2009 and 2011.

Keywords: judicial leadership; reforming Chief Justice; Judiciary; independence

For very good reasons, Sandile Ngcobo is widely regarded as a jurist of the highest

order. Understandably, this volume and much of the critical acclaim and commentary

on his career has focused on Ngcobo’s distinguished contribution to South Africa’s

jurisprudential journey since 1994. But far less has been said or written about the former

Chief Justice’s leadership role. This short essay seeks to ll a gap and to ensure that this

aspect of Justice Ngcobo’s professional record is not overlooked. As such, it re-deploys

some of the material and knowledge that I have cited elsewhere in my commentaries

on the South African Judiciary,1 attempts at modernising it,2 and its critical place in the

politics of the country since the advent of constitutional democracy in the mid-1990s.

While it seeks to place the commentary on Ngcobo’s leadership role within a wider

constitutional governance and political framing, it does not attempt to delve into the

academic literature related to judicial governance and leadership other than in passing;

nor does it draw on the even bigger scholarly pool on leadership in general. Instead, it

oers a discursive, somewhat personal account of my perception of the leadership role

1 Richard Calland, The Zuma Years: South Africa’s Changing Face of Power (Zebra Press 2013).

2 Richard Calland (forthcoming).