Prof Tshepo Madlingozi joins Stellenbosch University’s Centre for Social Justice

Prof Tshepo Madlingozi has been appointed an extraordinary professor at Stellenbosch University’s Centre for Social Justice while serving as a commissioner at the South African Human Rights Commission. Stellenbosch Universityhas appointed human rights scholar and activistTshepo Madlingozias an extraordinary professor at itsCentre for Social Justice. The appointment strengthens the centre’s research and policy engagement on constitutionalism, reparative justice and human rights.

Trained in both law and sociology, Madlingozi has built a career that combines academic scholarship, community-based advocacy and international human rights engagement. His work focuses on the intersection of decolonisation, reparative justice, human rights and participatory democracy. In 2024,Cyril Ramaphosaappointed Madlingozi as a full-time commissioner at the SAHRC.

At the commission he oversees the anti-racism, education and equality focal areas and chairs the body’s legal and ethics committee, which handles strategic litigation, policy reform and accountability processes. Before joining the SAHRC, Madlingozi served as director of theCentre for Applied Legal StudiesatUniversity of the Witwatersrand. He was also an associate professor in the university’s School of Law, where he taught social justice and human rights while supervising postgraduate students.

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His activism has also been closely linked with grassroots justice movements. For more than a decade he worked with theKhulumani Support Group, a social movement representing thousands of survivors of apartheid-era human rights violations. He served as advocacy coordinator and later as chairperson, contributing to campaigns for reparations, redress and reconciliation.

Madlingozi’s academic reach extends internationally. He is an adjunct professor atNelson Mandela University, a visiting professor at theInternational Institute of Social StudiesatErasmus University Rotterdam, and teaches within the African human rights system through theVienna Master of Arts in Applied Human Rights. Welcoming the appointment,Thuli Madonsela, director of the Centre for Social Justice, said the university was honoured to deepen its collaboration with a scholar of Madlingozi’s stature.

“The CSJ, the law faculty and SU in general stands to benefit immensely from a person of his calibre,” Madonsela said. “Prof Madlingozi is recognised as an authoritative voice on social justice, human rights and transformative constitutionalism and is globally recognised for his academic expertise, prestige and distinct intellectual capacity. His presence will help diversify academic thought and drive research in service of society.”

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