Madlanga lauds legal excellence at Fort Hare moot court launch

Former Constitutional Court Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga has expressed confidence in South Africa’s legal fraternity, saying the country continues to produce excellent legal practitioners. Madlanga, who is currently chairing the high-profile Madlanga Commission of Inquiry into allegations of corruption, political interference and criminality within the country’s law enforcement and criminal justice institutions, was speaking on Friday at the University of Fort Hare after the institution launched an international moot court competition in his honour. The commission has recently attracted national attention over its scrutiny of the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC), with Madlanga questioning aspects of its conduct and indicating the directorate, in its current form, should be reconsidered following evidence heard by the inquiry.

“In anything, there is always room for improvement. But that said, we have excellent legal practitioners in the country and I am largely happy with what they do. But, as I say, with anything, there is always room for improvement,” Madlanga said.

The Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga International Moot Court Competition was officially launched at the university in a ceremony attended by judges, legal academics, practitioners, representatives from South African universities and an international guest from Brazil. The competition aims to equip law students with practical courtroom experience before they enter the legal profession by exposing them to simulated court proceedings in which they argue fictional legal disputes before panels of judges. Acting deputy vice-chancellor for research, partnerships and innovation, Professor Mzukisi Njotini, said the programme would benefit not only Fort Hare students but aspiring legal practitioners from across South Africa and beyond.

[paywall]

“Students at large, not only at the faculty of law but students at the University of Fort Hare, nationally and internationally, are going to be benefiting from this competition. We had speakers from all over South Africa and internationally. “This launch today is intended to accelerate our view that students must not only possess the theory of the law, they must also have the needed experience to be able to take advantage of the opportunities when they exit our academic programmes,” he said.

Njotini said the competition would begin with an internal contest among UFH law students before expanding into a national and international event. “The importance of this competition is that it is broken down into different aspects. It is an internal moot court competition… “The second aspect is the national competition, where universities in South Africa will compete with students from the University of Fort Hare, building partnerships with the magistrates’ courts and the high courts to give students that experience of being in court,” he said.

[/paywall]