Our Members

The strength of SALDA lies in its members — the deans and academic leaders of South Africa’s accredited law faculties and schools. Together, they form a national network committed to advancing legal education, fostering transformation, and shaping the future of the legal profession through collaboration and shared vision.

Prof Mzukisi Njotini

President:
South African Law Deans’ Association

Dean:
Faculty of Law, University of Fort Hare

Council Member:
South Africa Judicial Education Institute (SAJEI)

Member:

South African Young Academy of Science (SAYAS)
ICT Committee of the Council (ICToC) of the Council on Higher Education

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+27 43 704 7531

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mnjotini@ufh.ac.za

BIOGRAPHY

Prof Jacques de Ville

Deputy President:
South African Law Deans’ Association

Dean:
Faculty of Law, University of the Western Cape

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+27 21 959 3757

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jdeville@uwc.ac.za

BIOGRAPHY

Dr Lynn Biggs

Honorary Secretary:
South African Law Deans’ Association

Executive Dean:
Faculty of Law, Nelson Mandela University

Member:
South African Law Deans’ Association

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+27 41 504 4688

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Lynn.Biggs@mandela.ac.za

BIOGRAPHY

Prof Freddy Mnyongani

Dean:
School of Law, University of KwaZulu-Natal

Associate Professor:
South African Law Deans’ Association

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+27 31 260 2549

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mnyonganif@ukzn.ac.za

BIOGRAPHY

Prof Lonias Ndlovu

Director:
School of Law, University of Venda

Member:
South African Law Deans’ Association

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+27 15 962 8311

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lonias.ndlovu@univen.ac.za

BIOGRAPHY

Prof Charles Maimela

Dean:
Faculty of Law, University of Johannesburg

Member:
South African Law Deans’ Association

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N/A

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charles.maimela@up.ac.za

BIOGRAPHY

Prof Danwood Chirwa

Dean:
Faculty of Law, University of Cape Town

Member:
South African Law Deans’ Association

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+27 21 650 2705

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Danwood.Chirwa@uct.ac.za

BIOGRAPHY

Prof Juanita Pienaar

Acting Dean and Vice Dean:
Faculty of Law, University of Stellenbosch

Member:

South African Law Deans’ Association
Southern African Law Teachers Association
International Association of Law Schools

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+27 79 490 7770

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jmp@sun.ac.za

BIOGRAPHY

Prof Mpfariseni Budeli-Nemakonde

Executive Dean:
School of Law, University of South Africa

Member:
South African Law Deans’ Association

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+27 12 429 8427

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budelm@unisa.ac.za

BIOGRAPHY

Mr Siphuxolo Somandi

Acting Dean:
Faculty of Law, Rhodes University

Member:
South African Law Deans’ Association
Law Society of South Africa

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+27 46 603 8149

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S.Somandi@ru.ac.za

BIOGRAPHY

Adv Mashele T Rapatsa

Director:
School of Law, University of Limpopo

Member:
South African Law Deans’ Association

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+27 15 268 2670

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Mashele.Rapatsa@ul.ac.za

BIOGRAPHY

Prof Kathleen van der Linde

Dean:
Faculty of Law, North West University

Member:
South African Law Deans’ Association

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+27 11 559 2132

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kevdlinde@uj.ac.za

BIOGRAPHY

Prof Serges D Kamga

Dean:
Faculty of Law, University of the Free State

Member:
South African Law Deans’ Association

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+27 51 401 2702

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Kamgasad@ufs.ac.za

BIOGRAPHY

Prof Mafuku Tholaine Matadi

Head:
Department of Law, University of Zululand

Member:
South African Law Deans’ Association

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+27 76 241 2237 / 0359026504

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matadit@unizulu.ac.za

BIOGRAPHY

Professor Tracy Gutuza

Acting Head and Academic Director:
School of Law, University of the Witwatersrand

Member:
South African Law Deans’ Association

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+27 11 717 8493

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tracy.gutuza@wits.ac.za

BIOGRAPHY

Prof Paul Masumbe

Head:
School of Law, Walter Sisulu University

Member:
South African Law Deans’ Association

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+27 47 502 2707

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pmasumbe@wsu.ac.za

BIOGRAPHY

Prof Steve Cornelius

Acting Dean:
Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria

Member:
South African Law Deans’ Association

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+27 12 420 4126

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steve.cornelius@up.ac.za

BIOGRAPHY

Past Presidents

Recognising the leaders who have served SALDA as President over the years.

Prof Vivienne Lawack

Previous President:
South African Law Deans’ Association

Dean:
Faculty of Law, Nelson Mandela University

Terms of Service:
November 2009 to March 2015

Prof Managay Reddi

Previous President:
South African Law Deans’ Association

Dean:
School of Law at the University of KwaZulu-Natal

Terms of Service:
May 2015 to November 2018

Biography: Prof Mzukisi Njotini

Prof Mzukisi Njotini is the Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Fort Hare. He holds an LLB (Vista University), LLM (cum laude) in Information Technology Law (UNISA), MBA (UJ) and LLD (UNISA). He is a seasoned academic who worked as the Vice-Dean: Teaching and Learning, and Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Johannesburg (UJ). As Vice-Dean. He also worked as Professor and Director of the School of Law at the University of Limpopo (UL), and Senior Lecturer and Lecturer in the College of Law at the University of South Africa.

As Director, he led and oversaw, inter alia, the re-accreditation of the LLB programme by the Council on Higher Education (CHE). Prof Njotini developed several courses and programmes, the most notable being the Research Methodology in Law and Criminal Justice (UNISA) and the Short Learning Programme in Law and the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) (UJ).

Prof Njotini’s areas of specialisation include Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Law, 4IR and the Law, Cybersecurity and the Law, Legal Philosophy, and Law and Ethics. He has contributed extensively to academic knowledge in his chosen area. Furthermore, he has taught multiple courses, for example, Legal Ethics, Corporate Governance and the Law, Law for Social Work, Law of Delict, Cyber Law, and Law and Industry. Prof Njotini did his post-doctoral research with the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Faculty of Law, Oxford University in the UK.

Biography: Prof Jacques de Ville

Jacques de Ville is the Dean of the Law Faculty at UWC (2018-). He served as Head of the Department of Public Law and Jurisprudence at UWC from 2009 to 2017. He holds the degrees BCom (law) (cum laude), LLB (cum laude) and LLD.

He is the author of a number of publications in the area of public law, including Constitutional and Statutory Interpretation (2000) and Judicial Review of Administrative Action in South Africa (2003). His research and publications since 2005 have focussed on deconstruction, psychoanalysis and constitutional theory. This includes the translation of and contribution to a book on legal philosophy, the translation of a text of Jacques Derrida, and three books on Derrida and his relation to law.

Biography: Dr Lynn Biggs

Lynn holds a Bachelor of Commerce: Law (BCom Law) degree, a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree, a Master of Laws (LLM) (Labour Law) degree and a Doctor of Laws (LLD) degree. Her master’s treatise was in the field of labour law and her doctoral thesis was in the areas of franchising law and consumer protection. She was a member of the LLB National Review Reference Group as well as a desktop evaluator and panel member of the South African Council on Higher Education’s (CHE) National Review of the LLB in 2016.

Lynn is a Fellow of the Teaching Advancement at University (TAU) Fellowship Programme (2018/2019), which seeks to contribute towards the enhancement of teaching and learning in higher education in South Africa by supporting the development of a cadre of academics across institutions and disciplines as scholars, leaders and mentors in their fields. She is an alumnus of the Higher Education Resource Services South Africa (HERS-SA) Academy (2020/2021), a professional development programme for women employed in the higher education.

She has completed the Universities of South Africa (USAf) Higher Education Leadership and Management (HELM) Women in Leadership (WiL) Programme for 2022, a programme for developing highly competent, effective leaders and managers who function in a complex, changing and paradoxical higher education contexts. Lynn has been nominated as the SALDA representative Council Member of the Legal Practice Council, a national, statutory body, for regulatory affairs of the legal profession, for a term of three years commencing, 1 November 2024. She attended the Southern African Regional Universities Association (SARUA) Deans and Senior Leadership Programme, from 31 October to 12 December 2024.

Biography: Professor Freddy Mnyongani

Professor Freddy Mnyongani is the Dean and Head of the School of Law at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), a role he assumed in June 2024. He is an admitted Attorney of the High Court of South Africa and holds a Bachelor of Theology (BTh) from St Joseph’s Theological Institute, a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) and Master of Laws (LLM) from the University of the Witwatersrand, and a Doctor of Laws (LLD) from the University of South Africa (Unisa).

Professor Mnyongani began his academic career in 2007 as a Research Assistant in the Department of Public, Constitutional and International Law (PCIL) at Unisa. In 2008, he was appointed as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Jurisprudence. While at Unisa, he also taught Philosophy of Law on a part-time basis at St John Vianney Seminary, a Catholic institution dedicated to the formation of future priests.

After a decade at Unisa, Professor Mnyongani joined the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Durban campus in 2018. At UKZN, he has served in various leadership roles, including Academic Leader of both the Private Law and Public Law cohorts, Academic Leader of Teaching and Learning in the School of Law, and Acting College Dean of Teaching and Learning for the College of Law and Management Studies (CLMS).

Professor Mnyongani's primary research interests lie in Public Law, though he also engages with selected areas of Private Law. He is a regular reviewer for various South African law journals and is also an editorial Board member of the South African Journal of Bioethics and Law (SAJBL) and continues to supervise postgraduate research.

Biography: Prof Lonias Ndlovu

Lonias is a professor and Director of the School of Law at the University of Venda, which he joined in August 2016. He served as the dean of the School of Law at the University of Venda from 2019 to 2021. He holds the degrees of Bachelor and Master of Laws (Fort Hare) and Doctor of Laws (University of South Africa). He also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Higher Education (with distinction) from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN).

Before joining the University of Venda, he worked at the universities of Fort Hare, Zululand and North West. At the University of Zululand, he occupied managerial positions as Head of the Law Department and Deputy Dean. Lonias is an Advocate of the High Court of South Africa. He is a consultant for the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), where he teaches on the WIPO/Harvard University PatentX Programme on Patent Law and Global Public Health. His teaching and research interests lie in international trade law, intellectual property law and commercial law generally.

Biography: Prof Charles Maimela

Details to follow.

Biography: Prof Danwood Chirwa

Danwood Chirwa has been Dean of Law at the University of Cape Town since January 2019, a member of UCT Council (July 2020 – June 2024), a member of the South African Legal Practice Council (Nov 2021 – Nov 2024), a member of the Board of Trustees of the UN Trust Fund on Contemporary Forms of Slavery (since 2017 and its chair from 2020 to 2022). He has also been a member of the Law Specialist Panel for the NRF since 2018 and its convenor between 2020 – 2023, and an assesor since 2024. From 2009 to 2014, he was Head of the Department of Public Law at the University of Cape Town. Chirwa has taught and conducted and supervised research in the areas of Administrative Law, International Human Rights, Children’s Rights, and Constitutional Law.

Biography: Prof Juanita Pienaar

B.Iuris (cum laude); LLB; LLM and LLD - North West University
Joined the Faculty of Law, Stellenbosch University in April 1994
Professor in Private Law - 1997
Research interests: Property Law, land Reform, African Customary Property Law
Published widely in above research fields, author and co-author of a number of source and textbooks on Property Law and Land Reform
Received various research-related awards, including the prestigious Chancellor's Award for Research

Biography: Prof Mpfariseni Budeli-Nemakonde

Prof Mpfariseni Budeli-Nemakonde holds an LLB and an LLM (cum laude) from the University of the North (now the University of Limpopo), as well as a PhD in Commercial Law from the University of Cape Town, where she became the first Black South African woman to obtain a PhD in the field.

She has served in several senior academic leadership roles, including Chair of the Department of Mercantile Law, Director of the School of Law, and Deputy Executive Dean of the College of Law between 2014 and 2024 and currently the Executive Dean of the College of Law at the University of South Africa.

Biography: Mr Siphuxolo Somandi

Details to follow.

Biography: Adv Mashele T Rapatsa

Mashele is Director of the School of Law at the University of Limpopo, South Africa, and also has experience as Head of Department of Public and Environmental Law. He is a member of Senate and the Faculty Board, and serves on numerous such Senate and Faculty Committees.

He is a Member of UL Council, representing Senate. He is the inaugural Journal Manager of Turf Law Journal, and presides over the Turf Law Conference. He has published over 38 academic articles in peer-reviewed journals, and supervised over 19 LLM research projects to completion. He serves as peer-reviewer in various law journals, and as external examiner of postgraduate research projects at various universities.

His human rights PhD is under assessment at Groningen University, Netherlands. His areas of interest are human rights, constitutional law, labour law and humanitarian law.

Biography: Prof Kathleen van der Linde

Professor Kathleen van der Linde is a professor of Corporate Law and her main research interests are the legal aspects of corporate finance and corporate insolvency and restructuring. Prior to joining UJ in 2009, she taught at the University of South Africa. She headed the Department of Mercantile Law at UJ for two terms and served on the NRF Specialist Committee for Law Ratings for four years, including two as convenor. Her recent international exposure includes being appointed by the Amsterdam district court in 2021 as an independent expert to represent creditor interests in the Steinhoff global settlement and developing and presenting a module for the Augsburg Summer Program on European and International Economic Law in 2023. She is part of the editorial team of the Journal of South African Law and is a member of the editorial advisory board of the Nottingham Insolvency and Business Law eJournal.

Biography: Prof Serges D Kamga

Serges Djoyou Kamga, is a full Professor of Human Rights Law and currently serves as the Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of the Free State in South Africa.

He has previously held the position of Vice President of the African Network of Constitutional Lawyers and is a member of the Executive Committee of the International Association of Constitutional Lawyers.

Professor Kamga has worked at several institutions, including the Thabo Mbeki African School of Public and International Affairs at the University of South Africa (UNISA), the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria, and the South African Institute for Advanced Constitutional Law (SAIFAC), which is affiliated with the University of Johannesburg. His research demonstrates a deep and ongoing commitment to enhancing knowledge across various fields, including human rights, development studies, international affairs, and the African Renaissance. Additionally, his work addresses the issue of illicit financial flows and their impact on human rights in Africa.

As an accomplished academic, he is the author, editor, or co-editor of thirteen books and has published seventy-five articles and book chapters. Professor Kamga holds a C1 rating from the South African National Research Foundation and has received several research grants and awards, including the prestigious Ali Mazrui Award for Scholarship and Research Excellence.

Biography: Prof Mafuku Tholaine Matadi

Associate Professor Matadi is a distinguished member of the Faculty of Commerce, Administration, and Law at the University of Zululand, where she serves as the Head of the Law Department. She holds a LLB/HNS (UWB), LLM, PGDIPHE(UKZN), and LLD (UNIZULU).

She teaches courses in Legal Research Methods, Constitutional Law, and Fundamental Rights. As a member of the African Network of Constitutional Lawyers (ANCL), she actively contributes to the advancement of constitutional scholarship across the continent.

Her research interests include Child Law, Constitutional Law and Human Rights, Law in Higher Education, and Gender-Based Violence. Her work in these areas reflects a deep commitment to addressing critical social issues through legal education and scholarship.

Biography: Associate Professor Tracy Gutuza

Associate Professor Tracy Gutuza is the Acting Head and Academic Director of the School of Law at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

She had held the position of Academic Director since 1 November 2022. Prior to joining the University of Witwatersrand in 2022, she was an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Cape Town, where she also served as the Deputy Dean. Her main research interests are tax law, international tax law, and corporate finance. Her research focuses on the interaction between tax law, other areas of law and other disciplines.

Biography: Prof Paul Masumbe

Professor Paul S. Masumbe (LLD) is Associate Professor and Head of School of Law at Walter Sisulu University. He is external examiner for masters and doctoral degrees in law at various universities and a reviewer of journals both locally and internationally. His research interests include International Criminal Law, Human Rights Law, Labour Law with emphasis on dismissal, and selected areas of Private Law.

Biography: Professor Steve Cornelius

Professor Steve Cornelius has been a member of the Faculty since January 2010, and has served within various leadership and academic roles, including two terms as Head of the Department of Private Law from 1 September 2015 to 31 August 2024. A dedicated legal scholar and educator, Professor Cornelius has made significant contributions in the field of Law of Contract, teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students, supervising numerous postgraduate theses, and publishing extensively in leading law journals.

He is a National Research Foundation (NRF) B2-rated researcher, recognised as an internationally acclaimed legal scholar. Professor Cornelius is the recipient of numerous academic honours, including the University of Pretoria Exceptional Academic Achiever Award (2019, 2022), the ATKV/SA Akademie Prize for best article in a law journal, and the Spoor and Fischer Prize for best new contribution to the Journal for South African Law.

His international profile includes appointments as Visiting Fellow at Anglia Ruskin University (UK), Visiting Professor at Università degli Studi di Cagliari (Italy), and editorial roles on prestigious journals such as the International Sports Law Journal, International Journal for Private Law, and De Jure.

Beyond academia, Professor Cornelius has held several prominent roles in sports law and governance, including service on panels and boards such as the Independent Doping Hearing Panel (SAIDS), Cricket South Africa Board (Independent Director and Chair of the Social and Ethics Committee), the Badminton World Federation, and the International Federations of Horseracing Authorities.

Biography: Prof MG Karels

Professor Karels is the Dean of the Faculty. She is actively involved in the management, administration and leadership of every aspect of the life and work of the Law Faculty and is engaged in central University management. She teaches in public law – more specifically, criminal procedure and the law of evidence. Her research interests are child justice and the scholarship of teaching and learning.

Biography: Ms Noni Ludidi

Details to follow.

Biography: Prof Engela C Schlemmer

Professor Engela Catharina Schlemmer is the Dean and Head of the School of Law at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, a position she has held since May 2021.

An advocate of the High Court of South Africa, she holds five law degrees, including a BA (Law) and LLB cum laude from the former Rand Afrikaans University, two LLMs—one from the same university and one from Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany—and an LLD.

She began her academic career in 1989, became a full professor by 1999, and joined Wits in 2011 after more than a decade at the University of South Africa. At Wits, she has held leadership roles such as Assistant Dean: Academic Planning and Chair of the Curriculum Development Committee.

Professor Schlemmer is a leading scholar in international economic law, investment law, and comparative commercial law. She has published extensively and delivered papers globally. Rated a B3 researcher by South Africa’s National Research Foundation, she has held visiting professorships in Europe, Asia, and Africa and served on expert bodies including the International Law Association and the UN Forum on Sustainability Standards.

She has advised South Africa’s Judicial Service Commission and Department of Trade and Industry and continues to mentor postgraduate students in trade and investment law.

Her leadership advances Wits Law’s mission to foster globally impactful, socially engaged legal education and research.