Segopotje Mphahlele

Segopotje Sheila Mphahlele (born August 1968) is a South African judge who is currently serving as the Judge President of the Mpumalanga High Court. Formerly an attorney and insolvency practitioner, she has been a judge of the High Court of South Africa since December 2013.

Born in Pretoria, Mphahlele was appointed to the Gauteng Division of the High Court in 2013, but she transferred to the Mpumalanga Division when it was established in 2019. She was appointed as the division's inaugural Deputy Judge President in 2021 and became its first female Judge President in 2023, in both cases at the appointment of President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Early life and education Mphahlele was born in August 1968 in Mamelodi outside Pretoria. She attended the University of the North, where she completed a BProc in 1991 and an LLB in 1993.

During the same period, between 2000 and 2013, she was an insolvency practitioner, managing the insolvency practice at the Merithing Trust. After her interview in Cape Town, the Judicial Service Commission recommended Mphahlele for appointment, which President Jacob Zuma confirmed with effect from 2 December 2013.

Sitting in Middelburg, Mpumalanga in 2017, Mphahlele presided in the coffin case, concerning an assault on a black man which received international coverage. She convicted the two assailants of attempted murder, among other charges, and, in a scathing ruling, sentenced both to lengthy prison sentences. The sentences were welcomed by the South African government, but they were cut short in 2019 when the Supreme Court of Appeal overturned the attempted murder convictions in Oosthuizen v State.

Mpumalanga High Court: 2019–present During her later years in the Gauteng High Court, Mphahlele was centrally involved in strengthening the High Court's circuit in Mpumalanga Province, and she transferred to the Mpumalanga Division when it was established in 2019; indeed, she served as acting Deputy Judge President in early 2019.

Deputy Judge Presidency In February 2021, Mphahlele and one other candidate, judge Shane Kgoele, were shortlisted for the position of Deputy Judge President of the Mpumalanga Division, a position which had not been filled permanently since the court's inauguration. Although Judge President Frans Legodi praised her temperament, the panel also pointed to a submission from the Mpumalanga Society of Advocates which complained about her treatment of counsel. Mphahlele responded that, "Their complaint was that I called them to order in court and not in private", which she did not to embarrass the counsel but to improve the efficiency of the court.

Judge Presidency In April 2023, as the retirement of Judge President Legodi approached, Mphahlele and judge Brian Mashile were shortlisted as possible successors. When the Judicial Service Commission interviewed Mphahlele that month, Legodi said that he had "started offloading" his leadership responsibilities onto her as "kind of a hand-over".