Dikgang Moseneke

Dikgang Ernest Moseneke achieved his BA and BJuris through Unisa while on Robben Island and later completed a Unisa LLB. He received an Honorary Doctorate in Law from Unisa in 2011.

Born in Pretoria, the son of a school headmaster, Moseneke was tried for his Pan Africanist Congress political activities and sent to Robben Island in 1963. He was just 15 years old and the Island’s youngest apartheid-era prisoner. On Robben Island, Moseneke finished matric and his first two Unisa degrees. After his release, he embarked on a career in law and in 1983, became the first black advocate to be admitted to the Pretoria Bar. He went on to help draft South Africa’s 1993 Interim Constitution and to serve South Africa’s new democracy in a number of senior positions. Moseneke was called to the bench in 2001 and appointed Deputy Chief Justice of South Africa in 2005. Today, he remains a powerful voice for constitutionalism and judiciary independence. He has served as Chancellor of Wits University since 2006.

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