Raymond Zondo: Key things to know about SA’s new Chief Justice

On Thursday, 10 March 2022, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Raymond Zondo as the country’s next Chief Justice, effective 1 April 2022. 

According to the Presidency, in terms of the Constitution, the Chief Justice is the head of the judiciary and exercises responsibility over the establishment and monitoring of norms and standards for the exercise of the judicial functions of all courts.

THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT RAYMOND ZONDO

The current Acting Chief Justice is mostly known for chairing the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture aka Zondo Commission, but there’s much more about him than the Commission. 

• Raymond Mnyamezeli Zondo was born at Ixopo, KwaZulu-Natal. He is married and he and his wife have been blessed with four children.
• The 61-year-old obtained his secondary and high school education at St Mary’s Seminary at Ixopo where he matriculated. 
• He holds a BJuris degree from the University of Zululand and obtained his LLB from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He also holds an LLM (cum laude) from the University of South Africa and another with a specialisation in commercial law.
• Justice Zondo was first appointed as a judge of the Labour Court in 1997 and was Judge President of the Labour and Labour Appeals courts between 2000 and 2010. 
• He has been a judge of the Constitutional Court since 2012 and was appointed as Deputy Chief Justice in 2017. 
• In March 2011 Justice Zondo was honoured by the KZN Legal Forum, consisting of many legal bodies, with an award for his contribution to human rights in South Africa.  
• In January 2018, then president Jacob Zuma appointed Zondo as the chair of the State Capture Commission. Zondo was recommended by then Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, as ordered by previous Public Protector Thuli Madonsela in her report, State of Capture, released in October 2016.

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