Dunstan Mlambo (born September 1959) is a South African judge serving asDeputy Chief Justice of South Africa.^[3] Formerly Judge President of theGauteng Division of theHigh Court of South Africa.^[2][4] Since 2002 he has also served as the chairperson of Legal Aid South Africa which provideslegal aid to those who cannot afford it,^[2][5] and is a trustee of theLegal Resources Centrepublic interestlaw clinic.^[6][7]

Mlambo was born inBushbuckridge and grew up inBarberton inMpumalanga. His father was an apolitical civil servant and his uncleJohnson Mlambo was a political prisoner onRobben Island. Aftermatriculating from Thembeka High School in theKaNyamazanetownship ofNelspruit in 1979, he studied law at theUniversity of the North where he completed his B.Proc. degree in 1983. In 1987 he was admitted to the fellowship programme of the Legal Resources Centre inJohannesburg, targeted at black law graduates,^[8] and in 1990 he was admitted as anattorney.^[1][2][7]

Mlambo was appointed as an acting judge in theLabour Court and a judge in theLabour Appeal Court in 1997.^[1] He subsequently served as a judge in theSouth Gauteng High Court and theSupreme Court of Appeal.^[2] Prior to his appointment as High Court Judge President, he was Judge President of the Labour Court and Labour Appeal Court.^[2] During his term of office as Judge President of the Labour Court, he was critical of the practice oflabour brokering which deprives employees of labour law protection.^[9]

Mlambo was appointed Judge President of the Gauteng Division of the High Court byPresidentJacob Zuma effective from 1 November 2012, succeedingBernard Ngoepe.^[10][11] He stated in his CV that he had "devoted his practice of law towards the upliftment and protection of people on the ground as a public interest lawyer and trade union lawyer".^[2] During a speech made shortly after he took office, he said he would ensure that "access to justice becomes what it should be".^[12] Mlambo was appointedDeputy Chief Justice of theConstitutional Court of South Africa byPresident Cyril Ramaphosa effective from 1 August 2025, taking over from the acting Deputy Chief Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga.^[3]

InMultichoice (Proprietary) Limited and Others v National Prosecuting Authority and Another, an application made byeNCA,MultiChoice and Eyewitness News (Primedia) to the High Court in Pretoria to broadcast the proceedings of theOscar Pistorius murder trial to be held in the court from 3 to 20 March 2014 was opposed by thedefence team.^[13][14] On 25 February 2014, Mlambo ruled that the entire trial proceedings may be broadcast live viaaudio and that parts of the trial may be broadcast live via television, subject to various restrictions to minimise any impact on the trial proceedings. The parts that he permitted to be broadcastaudiovisually were the opening and closing arguments, the testimony of consenting state witnesses, the judgement, and the sentencing if applicable. His ruling took into account the right tofreedom of expression and thedefendant'sright to a fair trial. His reasons for allowing live broadcasting of the trial included dispelling perceptions that the rich and famous receive preferential treatment from the justice system, enabling public access to an unedited firsthand account of the trial, and educating the public about criminal proceedings in general.^{[15][16][17][18]} The ruling was welcomed by members of theSouth African media, who described it as a groundbreaking decision supporting freedom of expression,freedom of the media,open justice anddemocracy.^[16][19] In a cartoon byZapiro published inThe Times on 27 February 2014, Pistorius is depictedwalking a tightrope between the justice system representing the right to a fair trial and the media representing the public's right to know.^[20]

In his judgement Mlambo granted ultimate discretion regarding what may be broadcast to the presiding judge in the trial, namelyThokozile Masipa.^[21] The trial was interrupted on the second day after it transpired that eNCA was showing a still photograph of a non-consenting state witness onscreen while broadcasting her audio testimony. Masipa subsequently instructed the court that no photographs of any non-consenting witnesses may be used in the media, regardless of the source of the photographs.^[22] On 10 March 2014, Masipa ruled that the forensic pathologist's post mortem evidence may not be broadcast live, including verbatimtweeting andblogging,^[23][24] but reversed her ban on live tweeting and blogging the following day.^[25]

A state witness was harassed telephonically after his cellphone number was read out in court during cross-examination by the defence team on the second day of the trial.^[26]

In hisBusiness Day column published on 13 March 2014, Caxton Professor of Journalism atWits UniversityAnton Harber stated that the trial represents a turning point for local newspapers unable to compete with "the speed and conversational nature of electronic media". He also notes that the fact that the presiding judge has "her finger on the off button for live broadcast" is restraining the behaviour of the media.^[27]

• Living people
• People from Bushbuckridge Local Municipality
• 20th-century South African judges
• 21st-century South African judges
• University of Limpopo alumni
• Judges of the Gauteng High Court
• Judges of the Supreme Court of Appeal (South Africa)

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