Date of Birth

2 May 1964

University

B.Proc (1987) (University of the North — now University of Limpopo)

History at the Court:

Acted: February 2013 – December 2013 (four full terms). Appointed: 1 December 2015.

Brief biography

Justice Mhlantla was born in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, and grew up in the townships of KwaZakhele and New Brighton. After completing her B.Proc at the University of the North in 1987, she was admitted as an attorney and practised in Port Elizabeth from 1990. She ran her own firm, N. Mhlantla & Associates, for over a decade, specialising in civil and family law.

In April 2000, Mhlantla was appointed as an acting judge of the Eastern Cape Division of the High Court (Grahamstown), serving in that capacity until September 2000. On 1 June 2002, she was appointed permanently to the Eastern Cape bench, becoming the first woman appointed to that court. She served on the Eastern Cape High Court until November 2008. During this period, she also served as a judge of the Competition Appeal Court from 2005 to 2008.

In 2008, Mhlantla was appointed to the Supreme Court of Appeal, initially acting from June to November 2008 and then permanently from 2009. She served on the SCA until her appointment to the Constitutional Court.

In February 2013, Mhlantla began acting on the Constitutional Court, serving in that capacity for four full terms until December 2013. She wrote several majority judgments for the court during this period. Following a JSC interview in July 2015, she was appointed as a permanent justice of the Constitutional Court with effect from 1 December 2015, filling the vacancy left by the retirement of Justice Thembile Skweyiya.

Justice Mhlantla is now the most senior justice on the bench after the Chief Justice and Deputy Chief Justice.

JSC interviews

October 2008 – Supreme Court of Appeal (appointed)
July 2015 – Constitutional Court vacancy (appointed, effective 1 December 2015)

Selection of Judgments written

To be populated.