Ernie Grosskopf

Ernst Martin Grosskopf (born 29 December 1930) is a South African retired judge who served in the Supreme Court of Appeal. Formerly an advocate in Cape Town, he joined the Cape Provincial Division in 1976 and was elevated to the Appellate Division in 1995. He retired from the judiciary in 1998, shortly after the latter court was restructured as the Supreme Court of Appeal.

Early life and legal career Grosskopf was born on 29 December 1930 in the Orange Free State. The youngest of three children, he belonged to a prominent Afrikaner family; his father was the Afrikaans writer E. B. Grosskopf, and his maternal uncle was politician Koos Strauss. In another significant political matter, he was assigned with Peet Nienaber and John Smalberger to hear the appeal in the Upington 25 case, involving 25 defendants facing the death penalty for their involvement in protests which had led to the death of an Upington policeman; the trial judge had found that only four of the defendants participated in the fatal attack, but controversially convicted 21 other protestors on the basis of the common purpose doctrine. Grosskopf wrote for the appellate panel in setting aside most of the convictions.

Appellate Division: 1995–1998 In the second quarter of 1995, Grosskopf was permanently elevated to the Appellate Division by the first post-apartheid president, Nelson Mandela. Though he remained on the appellate court after it was restructured as the Supreme Court of Appeal in 1997, he retired on 31 March 1998 and returned to Cape Town with his wife, Deidre.