| Court Name: | Gauteng Division of the High Court of South Africa |
| Established: | 1877 (High Court of the ZAR) |
| Jurisdiction: | Gauteng and part of North West, South Africa |
| Location: | Pretoria (main seat), Johannesburg (local seat) |
| Coordinates: | -25.7446°N 28.1874°W |
| Type: | Presidential appointment on the advice of the Judicial Service Commission |
| Authority: | Chp. 8 of the Constitution; Superior Courts Act, 2013 |
| Chiefjudgetitle: | Judge President |
| Chiefjudgename: | Dunstan Mlambo |
| Termstart: | 2012 |
The Gauteng Division of the High Court of South Africa is a superior court of law which has general jurisdiction over the South African province of Gauteng and the eastern part of North West province. The main seat of the division is at Pretoria, while a local seat at Johannesburg has concurrent jurisdiction over the southern parts of Gauteng. Dunstan Mlambo has been the Judge President of the division since 1 November 2012.[1]
A High Court was established for the South African Republic (the Transvaal Republic) in 1877, while the Witwatersrand gold fields were visited by a circuit court subordinate to the High Court.[2] Both courts ceased to exist as a result of the British victory in the Second Anglo-Boer War. In 1902, two superior courts were established for the new Transvaal Colony: the Supreme Court of the Transvaal in Pretoria, and subordinate to it the High Court of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.[3] On the creation of the Union of South Africa these courts became the Transvaal Provincial Division and the Witwatersrand Local Division, respectively, of the Supreme Court of South Africa.
The Transvaal Provincial Division's area of jurisdiction was reduced in 1977 and 1979 when Bophuthatswana and Venda became nominally independent and established their own supreme courts. When the current Constitution of South Africa came into force in 1997 the Transvaal and Witwatersrand Divisions of the Supreme Court of South Africa and the Supreme Courts of Bophuthatswana and Venda all became High Courts. In 2001 some districts in North West were removed from the jurisdiction of the Transvaal Division and placed under the Bophuthatswana Division in Mafikeng. In 2009 the Transvaal and Witwatersrand divisions were renamed the North Gauteng and South Gauteng High Courts, respectively. In 2013, in the restructuring brought about by the Superior Courts Act, the courts became two seats of a single Gauteng Division of the High Court of South Africa.
| City | Coordinates | Jurisdiction | Former names | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pretoria (main seat) | -25.7446°N 28.1874°W | Province of Gauteng (Ekurhuleni, Emfuleni, Johannesburg, Midvaal, Mogale City), and North West districts of Bloemhof, Brits, Christiana, Klerksdorp, Potchefstroom, Schweizer-Reneke, Ventersdorp, Wolmaransstad, as well as Madibeng, Ga-Rankuwa and Tlokwe in North West province | High Court of the South African Republic; Supreme Court of the Transvaal; Transvaal Provincial Division; North Gauteng High Court[4] | |
| Johannesburg | -26.2023°N 28.0453°W | In civil and criminal matters: districts of Alberton, Boksburg, Germiston, Johannesburg, Kempton Park, Krugersdorp, Randburg, Randfontein, Roodepoort, Westonaria In civil matters only: districts of Benoni, Brakpan, Delmas, Nigel, Springs, Vanderbijlpark and Vereeniging | High Court of Witwatersrand; Witwatersrand Local Division; South Gauteng High Court |
| Judges President | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| № | Incumbent | Tenure | Notes | |
| 1. | Jacob de Villiers (1868–1932) | 1910 – 1920 | Subsequently Chief Justice of South Africa | |
| 2. | Sir John Wessels (1862–1936) | 1920 – 1923 | Subsequently Chief Justice of South Africa | |
| 3. | Sir Arthur Weir Mason (1860–1924) | 1923 – 1924 | Died in Office | |
| 4. | John Stephen Curlewis (1863–1940) | 1924 – 1927 | Subsequently Chief Justice of South Africa | |
| 5. | Daniël de Waal (1873–1938) | 1927 – 1937 | ||
| 6. | Benjamin Tindall (1879–1963) | 1937 – 1938 | Judge of Appeal from 1938 | |
| 7. | Leopold Greenberg (1885–1964) | 1938 – 1942 | Judge of Appeal from 1943 | |
| 8. | Charles Barry (1877–1956) | 1943 – 1947 | ||
| 9. | Gerrie Maritz (1889–1964) | 1947 – 1959 | ||
| 10. | Frans Rumpff (1912–1992) | 1959 – 1961 | Subsequently Chief Justice of South Africa | |
| 11. | Quartus de Wet (1899–1980) | 1961 – 1969 | ||
| 12. | P. M. Cillié (1915–1996) | 1969 – 1979 | Judge of Appeal from 1980 | |
| 13. | W. G. Boshoff (1916–1989) | 1980 – 1985 | Judge of Appeal from 1985 | |
| 14. | H. H. Moll (1921–2003) | 1985 – 1991 | ||
| 15. | Frikkie Eloff (1925–2017) | 1991 – 1998 | ||
| 16. | Bernard Ngoepe (1947–) | 1998 – 2012 | ||
| 17. | Dunstan Mlambo (1960–) | 2012 – present | ||
As of January 2023, the permanent judges of the Gauteng Division included:[5]