Lex Mpati is President of the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa[1] and Chancellor of Rhodes University,[2] his alma mater.
Lex Mpati | |
---|---|
President of the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa | |
Assumed office 15 August 2008 | |
Deputy | Kenneth Mthiyane Mahomed Navsa (Acting) Mandisa Maya |
Preceded by | Craig Howie |
Deputy President of the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa | |
In office 1 January 2003 – 14 August 2008 | |
Preceded by | Office created |
Succeeded by | Louis Harms |
Chancellor of Rhodes University | |
Assumed office 22 February 2013 | |
Preceded by | Jakes Gerwel |
Personal details | |
Born | Durban, South Africa | 5 September 1949
Citizenship | South African |
Spouse | Mireille Mpati (née Nontobeko) |
Alma mater | Rhodes University Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University |
Mpati has deep roots in Grahamstown and the province as a whole. He was born in Durban in 1949 but his schooling was in the Eastern Cape, first at St Joseph’s Catholic School at Fort Beaufort and then at Mary Waters High School in Grahamstown, from where he matriculated in 1967.
Mpati enrolled at Rhodes in 1979, under a special permit (required by black students), and graduated in 1982 with a BA degree in legal theory and Xhosa. He graduated with a B Law degree (LLB) in 1984. He was only the second black student to graduate with an LLB from Rhodes
Lex Mpati started his legal career in 1985 and was admitted as an Advocate in 1989. He served as a Judge in the Eastern Cape High Court from 1997-2000. He was appointed as a Judge of Appeal, first in an acting capacity, and in December 2000 as a full member of the Supreme Court of Appeal. He ascended to Deputy President of the Supreme Court of Appeal in 2003, and to President in August 2008. He is also a member of the Judicial Service Commission.
He attended Rhodes University as a student between 1979 and 1982, and subsequently returned to his alma mater as Chancellor in February 2013.
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