Law must serve the people – Lim’s first judge president

POLOKWANE – “The legal profession is not a money-making business. It is a career meant to serve the people.”

These are the words of Ephraim Mampuru Makgoba, who has been appointed Limpopo’s first judge president.

“The harder you work, the more money you will make. Honesty is a very important attribute in the legal field, otherwise you will not serve the people well.”

He takes up office on August 1 when the high court is expected to be officially opened, and says part of his job will entail supervising not only other judges in the province, but the legal fraternity as a whole.

Makgoba was born on January 1, 1953 at Ga-Mathabatha village, some 70km south east of Polokwane near Burgersfort. Growing up as one of eight siblings, he, like many young boys his age, herded cattle and goats. He decided to become a lawyer when he was in secondary school.

“It was a rare profession. I saw such pride in the legal area and I wanted to help the community – in the 1950’s there were no attorneys there.”

Human rights issues were close to his heart, another reason he chose to become a lawyer. He is married to Dorah Ramadimetja and they have three children.

He describes himself as hard working, caring and always willing to assist, especially legally as he loves to see the legal profession grow.

Makgoba was admitted as an attorney in 1980 after he obtained his B.Proc at the then University of the North in 1977, and has since played a huge role in the legal field in Limpopo. He started to practise as an attorney at the law firm, Henstock and Green in 1980 while lecturing part-time in criminal law at the University of the North.

He then moved to Nelspruit and upon his return to Polokwane, he practised as an attorney from 1984 to 1992 after which he joined the firm Makgoba Kgomo and Makgeleng Attorneys from 1993 to 2007.

He was also an instructor in professional ethics, magistrate’s courts and high court practice at the School for Legal Practice in Polokwane fom 1998 to 2007.

Makgoba acted as judge of the high court from 2000 to 2007 and was appointed judge of the high court from 2008. In 2015, he was appointed acting judge of the competitions appeal court and his nomination as judge president of Limpopo was officially signed by president Jacob Zuma last week.

During his years as an attorney, he trained and produced 12 candidate attorneys presently practising as attorneys, one of whom is a judge in the South Gauteng local division high court, and being a part-time lecturer, he lectured students who are now prominent judges: JP Mlambo, JA Bosielo and J Kubushi and acting judges Mandla Mbongwe, George Phatudi and Henry Msimang.

He contributed to community work in various aspects, ranging from chairing the Great North Football Association Disciplinary Committee, chairing the revision court for the first Polokwane Municipality elections, chairing the valuation board of the Polokwane Municipality and being deputy chair of the Louis Trichardt Municipality’s valuation board.

He has been awarded for his excellence many times, among them the Practical Legal Training Achiever Award at the School for Legal Practice in 2000, the Legal Education and Development (Lead) achiever certificate as instructor in vocational legal training and as examiner of candidate attorneys, a certificate of acknowledgement by Lead as instructor, training candidate attorneys for eight years and the award for being an outstanding board of control chairperson of the School for Legal Practice in Polokwane for eight years.

Asked what his most inte-resting cases are, he says they involved commercial matters and constitutional and administrative issues, but he prefers commercial and administrative law.

Makgoba says he looks forward to uplift the legal profession in Limpopo and advises those who want to study law to have a lot of discipline, as law is a demanding career with long working hours. Honesty is also paramount and the willingness to take up a lot of responsibility.

Interviews held for judge president