Rammaka Steven Mathopo (born 28 January 1963) is a

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

Constitutional Court of South Africa The Constitutional Court of South Africa is the supreme constitutional court established by the Constitution of South Africa, and is the apex court in the South African judicial system, with general jurisdiction. The Court was first establ ...

. Before his elevation to that court in January 2022, he served in the Supreme Court of Appeal between June 2015 and December 2021. He was formerly a judge of the

Gauteng High Court The Gauteng Division of the High Court of South Africa is a superior court of law which has general jurisdiction over the South African province of Gauteng and the eastern part of North West province. The main seat of the division is at Pretoria, ...

from January 2006 to May 2015, and he practised as an attorney for 17 years before then.

Early life and education

Mathopo was born on 28 January 1963 in the region that later became

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 ...

. He was one of 11 siblings. He matriculated at Mokomene High School in Botlokwa Ga-Ramokgopa, north of

Polokwane Polokwane (, meaning "Sanctuary" in Northern SothoPolokwane - The Heart of the Limpopo Provin ...

in present-day

Limpopo Limpopo () is the northernmost Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The term Limpopo is derived from Rivombo (Livombo/Lebombo), a ...

, and completed a BProc at the

University of the North The University of Limpopo () is a public university in the Limpopo Province, South Africa. It was formed on 1 January 2005, by merger of the University of the North and the Medical University of South Africa (MEDUNSA). These previous institutio ...

in 1985. He was a member of the

Azanian Students' Organisation The Azanian Students Organisation (AZASO) was a student movement in South Africa founded in 1979 as a replacement for the banned South African Student Organisation (SASO). It would become the South African National Students Congress (SANSCO) in 19 ...

, an anti-apartheid group.

Legal practice

Mathopo served his

articles Article often refers to: * Article (grammar), a grammatical element used to indicate definiteness or indefiniteness * Article (publishing), a piece of nonfictional prose that is an independent part of a publication Article(s) may also refer to: ...

at SC Mhinga Attorneys between 1985 and 1989, when he was admitted as an attorney. Thereafter he opened his own practice, Mathopo Attorneys, where he practised until 2006. During that time, in 1993, he was the instructing attorney for the Motsuenyane Commission of Enquiry, which 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 ...

appointed internally to investigate allegations of abuses in

Umkhonto we Sizwe uMkhonto weSizwe (; abbreviated MK; ) was the paramilitary wing of the African National Congress (ANC), founded by Nelson Mandela in the wake of the Sharpeville massacre. Its mission was to fight against the South African government to brin ...

military camps. Later, he served two terms as an acting judge in the

in 2005.

Gauteng High Court: 2006–2015

On 26 January 2006, Mathopo was appointed permanently to the bench of the Gauteng High Court, where he served for the next 11 years. During that period, in 2013, he presided in ''Democratic Alliance v Acting National Director of Public Prosecutions and Others'', a highly prominent case concerning the so-called spy tapes saga. Mathopo ruled in favour of the opposition Democratic Alliance in ordering the

National Prosecuting Authority The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is the agency of the South African Government responsible for state prosecutions. Under Section 179 of the South African Constitution and the National Prosecuting Authority Act of 1998, which establi ...

(NPA) to make public the "spy tapes" – taped conversations between prosecutor

Bulelani Ngcuka Bulelani T. Ngcuka (pronounced ; born 2 May 1954) is a South African attorney, prosecutor and activist, who served as the first Director of Public Prosecutions in South Africa, and is the husband of former Deputy President of South Africa Phu ...

and

Scorpions Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the Order (biology), order Scorpiones. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by a pair of Chela (organ), grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward cur ...

head Leonard McCarthy – which had led the NPA to withdraw its corruption charges against 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 ...

. However, Mathopo declined to find acting NPA head Nomgcobo Jiba guilty of contempt of court for her failure to release the recordings before then. His judgement was upheld by the Supreme Court of Appeal in ''Zuma v DA'' a year later. Another of Mathopo's reported High Court judgements was ''Print Media SA and SA National Editors Forum v Minister of Home Affairs and Publications Board'', which declared provisions of the Films and Publications Act to be inconsistent with 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 ...

; that order was confirmed by the

in 2012. Mathopo also served a lengthy stint as an acting judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal between December 2013 and December 2014.

Supreme Court of Appeal: 2015–2022

In April 2015, Mathopo was among six candidates shortlisted for appointment to one of two vacancies on the Supreme Court of Appeal. He was viewed as one of the frontrunners, alongside

Nambitha Dambuza Nambitha Dambuza (born 31 October 1964) is a South African judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal. A former attorney, she sat in the Eastern Cape High Court from 2005 until her appointment to the Supreme Court in June 2015. Early life and ca ...

and

Trevor Gorven Trevor Richard Gorven (born 21 April 1954) is a South African retired judge who served in the Supreme Court of Appeal (South Africa), Supreme Court of Appeal between July 2021 and April 2024. Before his elevation to that court, he served in th ...

. He was interviewed on 14 April 2015 by the Judicial Service Commission, which subsequently nominated him and Dambuza for appointment. President Zuma duly appointed him to the Supreme Court with effect from 1 June 2015. During his years in the Supreme Court of Appeal, Mathopo twice acted as a judge in the Constitutional Court, first between August and November 2019 and then between February and November 2020. During his first acting term, he wrote the Constitutional Court's majority judgement in '' Tshabalala v S; Ntuli v S''. The judgement confirmed that the common purpose doctrine applied to the crime of

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

, including

gang rape In scholarly literature and criminology, gang rape, also called serial gang rape, party rape, group rape, or multiple perpetrator rape,Ullman, S. E. (2013). 11 Multiple perpetrator rape victimization. Handbook on the Study of Multiple Perpetrato ...

, with the implication that individuals could be convicted of rape even if they had not carried out the physical instrumentality of the sexual encounter. The ruling was widely commended as progressive. Other majority judgements he wrote while acting in the Constitutional Court included ''MEC for Health, Western Cape v Coetzee''; ''National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa v Aveng Trident Steel''; and ''Premier of Gauteng v Democratic Alliance'', which set aside the decision of the

Gauteng Executive Council The Executive Council of Gauteng is the cabinet of the executive branch of the provincial government in the South African province of Gauteng. The Members of the Executive Council (MECs) are appointed from among the members of the Gauteng Pro ...

to place the

City of Tshwane The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (; ; ), also known as the City of Tshwane (), is the metropolitan municipality that forms the local government of northern Gauteng in South Africa. The metropolitan area is centred on the city of Pre ...

under provincial administration.

Constitutional Court: 2022–present

In February 2021, the Judicial Service Commission shortlisted Mathopo and nine others for appointment to one of two vacancies in the Constitutional Court. During his three-hour interview on 13 April, Chief Justice

Mogoeng Mogoeng Mogoeng Thomas Reetsang Mogoeng (born 14 January 1961) is a South African jurist who served as the Chief Justice of South Africa from 8 September 2011 until his retirement on 11 October 2021. Early life Mogoeng was born on 14 January 1961 in G ...

consumed an hour with questions about alleged frictions on the Supreme Court bench. Mathopo confirmed that he had seen "colleagues, especially junior colleagues... subjected to unfair criticism, unfair differentiation ndunfair treatment by the senior colleagues", and he also suggested that some of the seniors were opposed to his own elevation. However, he also said that

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 ...

had ameliorated the situation when she was appointed as Deputy President of the Supreme Court. The ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'' reported that Mathopo was a "favourite candidate among lawyers", and the panel praised him for his involvement in judicial education and mentorship. It recommended him and four others for appointment to the vacancies. However, the

Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution The Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (CASAC) is a South African civil society organisation that aims to promote progressive constitutionalism and the advancement of constitutional democracy. Founded in September 2010 ...

challenged the recommendation, citing inappropriate treatment of some of the other candidates, and the Judicial Service Commission agreed to re-run the interview process. Mathopo's second interview, held on 4 October, was also viewed as a success. Commentator Eusebius McKaiser commended him for "not gaming like some of the other candidates when asked thorny questions, but offering honest answers and making a case for why he holds these thoughts". The Judicial Service Commission again recommended the same five candidates, including Mathopo, and Mathopo and

Jody Kollapen Narandran "Jody" Kollapen (born 19 May 1957) is a South African judge who joined the Constitutional Court of South Africa on 1 January 2022. He was appointed to the apex court by President Cyril Ramaphosa after a decade of service in the High Cou ...

were the pair whom President

Cyril Ramaphosa Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa (born 17 November 1952) is a South African businessman and politician serving as the 5th and current President of South Africa since 2018. A former Anti-Apartheid Movement, anti-apartheid activist and trade union leade ...

selected for appointment in December. They took office on 1 January 2022. Mathopo's first judgment as a permanent member of the court was a unanimous judgment in ''TM v Member of the Executive Council for Health and Social Development, Gauteng'' in May 2022..

Personal life

He is married to Ellen Vusiwana Mathopo and has two children. He is a member of the Rhema Church. He is a grandfather of 3