Mahube Betty Molemela (; born 18 March 1965) is a South African judge who has been the President of the Supreme Court of Appeal since 1 June 2023. Before her appointment to the Supreme Court in June 2018, she was the first woman Judge President of the Free State High Court from 2015 to 2018. A former attorney, she was appointed to the bench in the Free State in July 2008.
Early life and education
Molemela was born on 18 March 1965 in Bloemfontein in the former Orange Free State, now the Free State. She matriculated in 1981 at Albert Moroka High School in Thaba Nchu outside Bloemfontein, and she subsequently enrolled at the University of Fort Hare, where she completed her BA and BProc degrees. She later completed an LLB and an LLM in mercantile law from the University of the Free State.
Career as an attorney
Molemela began her legal career in 1987 as a prosecutor at the magistrate's court in Thaba Nchu. She went on to complete her articles at E. G. Cooper & Sons and Peete Jake Moloi Attorneys and gained admittance as an attorney in 1993.
After being admitted, Molemela practiced as an attorney for 15 years at several different firms in Bloemfontein, Phuthaditjhaba, and Johannesburg. She was admitted as a conveyancer and notary in 1996, and she was an arbitrator at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration from 1999 to 2001 and a part-time law lecturer at the University of the Free State from 2001 to 2003. In addition, while practicing, Molemela occasionally sat on the bench: she was a military judge in 2004, and she was an acting judge of the High Court of South Africa on several occasions – in the Free State High Court for periods in 2005, 2006, and 2007, and then in the Johannesburg High Court from November 2007 to March 2008.
Free State High Court: 2008–2018
In July 2008, Molemela was appointed permanently to the bench of the Free State High Court. During her later years on the bench, from 2012 to 2014, she was seconded as an acting judge in the Labour Appeal Court and Competition Appeal Court. On 1 June 2014, she began a ten-year term as a permanent judge of the Labour Appeal Court, appointed by President Jacob Zuma.
Soon afterwards, in October 2014, the Judicial Service Commission recommended her promotion to become Judge President of the Free State High Court, and she took office on 1 January 2015. She was the second woman judge president in South Africa, after Monica Leeuw of the North West High Court, and the first in the Free State. During her tenure as Judge President, she was seconded as an acting judge to the Constitutional Court from January to May 2015 and as an acting judge to the Supreme Court of Appeal from December 2016 to September 2017.
High-profile High Court cases handled by Molemela included two relating to the African National Congress (ANC), the governing party. She presided over a case concerning a right-wing conspiracy to disrupt the party's 53rd National Conference in 2012, and in 2017, she nullified the results of a Free State ANC elective conference, which had implications for voting at the party's 54th National Conference and which had the effect of stripping Ace Magashule of his party office.
Supreme Court of Appeal: 2018–present
On 10 April 2018, Molemela was interviewed by the Judicial Service Commission for appointment to the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein. She was one of three candidates recommended by the commission for appointment, and President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed her to the bench with effect from 1 June 2018. Several dissenting judgements written by Molemela at the Supreme Court were later upheld by the Constitutional Court.
Constitutional Court nominations: 2020–2022
During her time at the Supreme Court, Molemela was twice shortlisted for promotion to the Constitutional Court. She was first nominated to the shortlist in February 2020, although the interviews were delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and were not held until April 2021. During her interview, on 13 April, members of the Judicial Service Commission expressed concern about Molemela's rapid ascension through the ranks of the judiciary, with Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng asking her, "Why does it look like you can't stay in one place, to influence that place significantly, before you can move on? Why do you appear to be moving so soon after elevation to a particular position?"