Glenn Graham Goosen (born 12 April 1962) is a South African

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

of the Supreme Court of Appeal. He was formerly a judge of the

Eastern Cape High Court The Eastern Cape Division of the High Court of South Africa is a superior court of law with general jurisdiction over the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The main seat of the division is at Makhanda, with subordinate local seats at Gqeberha ...

from January 2012 until December 2022, when he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Appeal. Before joining the bench, Goosen practised as an advocate in

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha ( , ), formerly named Port Elizabeth, and colloquially referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipal ...

, gaining silk status in 2004. He was also a prominent student activist in the

anti-apartheid movement The Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM) was a British organisation that was at the centre of the international movement opposing the South African apartheid system and supporting South Africa's non-white population who were oppressed by the policies ...

and served briefly as director of investigations for the

Truth and Reconciliation Commission A truth commission, also known as a truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state ac ...

Early life and education

Goosen was born on 12 April 1962 in

(later renamed Gqeberha) in the Eastern Cape. He matriculated at St Patrick's Marist Brothers College in Port Elizabeth and went on to the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

(UCT), where he completed a BA in 1984 and an

LLB A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

in 1988. He was a researcher at UCT's Centre for African Studies in 1987. While at UCT, he became involved in the student

, gaining election as the president of the UCT student representative council in 1985 and serving on the national executive of the

National Union of South African Students The National Union of South African Students (NUSAS) was an important force for liberalism and later radicalism in South African student anti-apartheid politics. Its mottos included non-racialism and non-sexism. Early history NUSAS was found ...

. He also joined the

End Conscription Campaign The End Conscription Campaign was an anti-apartheid organisation allied to the United Democratic Front and composed of conscientious objectors and their supporters in South Africa. It was formed in 1983 to oppose the conscription of all whit ...

in 1986.

Legal practice

In 1989, Goosen served his

articles of clerkship Articled clerk is a title used in Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries for one who is studying to be an accountant or a lawyer. In doing so, they are put under the supervision of someone already in the profession, now usually for two ye ...

at Brereton & Co, a firm focused on

human rights law International human rights law (IHRL) is the body of international law designed to promote human rights on social, regional, and domestic levels. As a form of international law, international human rights law is primarily made up of treaties, ag ...

and

public interest law Public interest law refers to legal practices undertaken to help poor, marginalized, or under-represented people, or to effect change in social policies in the public interest, on 'not for profit' terms ( ''pro bono publico''), often in the fields ...

. The head of the firm, Vanessa Brereton, later confessed to having spied on anti-apartheid activists, including Goosen, on behalf of the

South African Police The South African Police (SAP) was the national police force and law enforcement agency in South Africa from 1913 to 1994; it was the ''de facto'' police force in the territory of South West Africa (Namibia) from 1939 to 1981. After South Af ...

. At the time, Goosen remained active in the anti-apartheid movement, sitting on the executive of the United Democratic Front from 1989 and becoming active in the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

when it was unbanned by the apartheid government in 1990. Goosen was admitted as an

advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. List of country legal systems, Different countries and legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a ba ...

in 1990 and he practised at the Port Elizabeth Bar for the next two decades. During that time, he took a brief hiatus from practice between 1996 and 1997 while he served as national director of the investigations unit of the post-apartheid

(TRC). He had originally interviewed, unsuccessfully, for the more junior post of national legal officer for the TRC, which was ultimately filled by Hanif Vally. He resigned from the TRC in 1997 amid rumours of "personal differences" between him and TRC commissioner

Dumisa Ntsebeza Dumisa Buhle Ntsebeza (born 31 October 1949) is a South African lawyer and political activist. He was a member of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Ntsebeza was born in Cala, Eastern Cape in the former Transkei. He is the chairman of t ...

. Upon returning to the bar in 1998, Goosen became active in the governance and mentorship programmes of the Port Elizabeth Bar, Eastern Cape Bar, and General Council of the Bar. He was awarded silk status in 2004, and he served as an acting judge on several occasions between 2005 and 2011, sitting in the

Eastern Cape Division The Eastern Cape Division of the High Court of South Africa is a superior court of law with general jurisdiction over the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The main seat of the division is at Makhanda, with subordinate local seats at Gqeberh ...

of the

High Court of South Africa The High Court of South Africa is a superior court of law in South Africa. It is divided into nine provinces of South Africa, provincial divisions, some of which sit in more than one location. Each High Court division has general jurisdiction ov ...

. In April 2010, he was one of nine candidates shortlisted and interviewed for permanent appointment to one of five vacancies in the Eastern Cape High Court. However, during Goosen's interview, Dumisa Ntsebeza – who by then was a member of the Judicial Service Commission – repeatedly pointed to the existing preponderance of white males in the court, and the Judicial Service Commission did not recommend Goosen for appointment.

Eastern Cape High Court: 2011–2022

In October 2011, the Judicial Service Commission interviewed Goosen for a new vacancy in the Eastern Cape High Court, and on that occasion it recommended him for appointment. President

Jacob Zuma Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (; born 12 April 1942) is a South African politician who served as the fourth president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He is also referred to by his initials JZ and clan names Nxamalala and Msholozi. Zuma was a for ...

confirmed his appointment with effect from 1 January 2012. In the High Court, his best-known judgement was ''Madzodzo v Minister of Basic Education'', sometimes known as "the furniture case", which was handed down in February 2014 and which concerned the content of the right to basic education as enshrined in Section 29(1) of the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

. Goosen ruled that the

Department of Basic Education The Department of Basic Education (DBE) is one of the departments of the South African government. It oversees primary and secondary education in South Africa. It was created in 2009 after the election of President Jacob Zuma, when the forme ...

had violated the right to basic education by failing to provide furniture to rural schools in the former

Transkei Transkei ( , meaning ''the area beyond Great Kei River,

he river The He River is a tributary of the Xi River in Guangxi and Guangdong provinces in China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it ...

Kei''), officially the Republic of Transkei (), was an list of historical unrecognized states and dependencies, unrecognised state in the southeastern region of South Africa f ...

. He agreed with the

Legal Resources Centre The Legal Resources Centre (LRC) is a human rights organisation based in South Africa with offices in Johannesburg (including a Constitutional Litigation Unit), Cape Town, Durban and Grahamstown. It was founded in 1979 by a group of prominent South ...

that the right to education required the provision of "a range of educational resources", including school furniture, and that the government's budgetary constraints did not nullify learners' entitlement to effective relief. Goosen later served lengthy stints as an acting judge in the Supreme Court of Appeal, first for a year between June 2020 and May 2021 and then for one term between June and September 2022. In addition to dissenting judgements, he wrote the court's majority judgements in ''Martrade Shipping v United Enterprises'', a

shipping law Maritime law or admiralty law is a body of law that governs nautical issues and private maritime disputes. Admiralty law consists of both domestic law on maritime activities, and private international law governing the relationships between priva ...

matter, and in ''National Union of Metalworkers v Dunlop'', in which the court ruled in favour of the National Union of Metalworkers in finding that the Labour Relations Act protected unions from

civil liability In law, liable means "responsible or answerable in law; legally obligated". Legal liability concerns both civil law and criminal law and can arise from various areas of law, such as contracts, torts, taxes, or fines given by government agencie ...

for damages incurred in the course of

industrial action Industrial action (British English) or job action (American English) is a temporary show of dissatisfaction by employees—especially a strike or slowdown or working to rule—to protest against bad working conditions or low pay and to increas ...

Supreme Court of Appeal: 2022–present

In October 2022, Goosen was one of 11 candidates interviewed by the Judicial Service Commission for possible appointment to one of five permanent vacancies at the Supreme Court of Appeal. Although the

National Association of Democratic Lawyers National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

suggested that his elevation would result in an "over-representation of white men" on the Supreme Court, the Eastern Cape branch of Lawyers for Transformation pointed to his "impeccable credentials" in the anti-apartheid movement, as did former Supreme Court President

Lex Mpati Lex Mpati (born 5 September 1949) is a South African retired judge who was the President of the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa from August 2008 to May 2016. He was appointed to the bench in February 1997 as a judge of the Eastern Cape ...

, who supported his nomination. In addition, both Deputy Chief Justice

Mandisa Maya Mandisa Muriel Lindelwa Maya (born 20 March 1964) is the Chief Justice of South Africa. She was formerly the President of the Supreme Court of Appeal from 2017 to 2022 before she was elevated to the position of Deputy Chief Justice of South Afri ...

and

Gauteng Gauteng ( , ; Sotho-Tswana languages, Sotho-Tswana for 'place of gold'; or ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts f ...

Judge President Dunstan Mlambo praised Goosen for having assisted the judiciary in transitioning to virtual hearings, of which Goosen had been an early adopter during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. During his interview, when asked about his ''Madzodzo'' judgement, Goosen expressed his belief that

transformative justice Transformative justice is a spectrum of social, economic, legal, and political practices and philosophies that aim to focus on the structures and underlying conditions that perpetuate harm and injustice. Taking up and expanding on the goals of rest ...

was a constitutional imperative and must inform all judicial interpretation, including interpretation of the Bill of Rights. The Judicial Service Commission selected him as one of five candidates suitable for appointment, and he joined the bench on 1 December 2022.

Academic activities

Goosen has several academic publications and since 2008 has been an adjunct professor in

public law Public law is the part of law that governs relations and affairs between legal persons and a government, between different institutions within a state, between different branches of governments, as well as relationships between persons that ...

at the

Nelson Mandela University Nelson Mandela University, formerly Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, is a public university in South Africa. Established in 1882 as Port Elizabeth, Art School it comprises the former University of Port Elizabeth, the Port Elizabeth Tec ...

Personal life

He is married to Therese Boulle and has three children.