Women judicial officers are in a unique position to impact the rights of the marginalised and underprivileged through the judicial system and to protect and empower women. In collaboration with Juta, the South African Chapter of the International Association of Women Judges (SAC-IAWJ) is developing a first-of-its-kind journal aimed at providing a platform for the publication of contributions by women jurists and men aligned with the objectives of the SAC-IAWJ.

Some of the primary objectives of the SAC – IAWJ are to contribute towards the promotion of human rights and equality; to enhance the administration of justice for the benefit of all including access to justice, to encourage and implement strategies to achieve gender equality and full participation of women in the justice system; to support programmes and activities to discourage violence and abuse in our society with particular focus on violence against women, children and other vulnerable groups; and to assist in the provision of public legal education and information programmes

The journal will serve these objectives, and will also strive to close the potential communication gap between the Higher and Lower Courts, encourage women jurists to improve their research and writing skills, enlarge the pool of thought leaders in the legal field and support the dissemination of their work more widely.

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In honour of women’s month and in anticipation of the forthcoming journal, we discussed its scope and objectives with three inspiring women: Editor-in-Chief and Chair of the Board of the journal, Judge President of the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa, Justice Mandisa Maya, Professor Zozo Dyani-Mhango of the Department of Jurisprudence at the University of Pretoria and Managing Editor of the journal, and Justice Baratang Constance Mocumie who is a Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa and who sits on the Board of the journal. 

To reach out to us or for more information about the journal which will be available in print and digital format in early 2022, please contact the publisher at pvanaardt@juta.co.za

Presenter bio – Kgomotso Mokoena
Kgomotso is a lecturer at the University of Johannesburg and CEO and Director of Business Development of the SpreadLuv Movement, a non-profit organisation focused on providing effective career guidance to learners at under-resourced schools in the province of Gauteng. She has worked as a legal researcher for former Justice Kate O’Regan, current Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng and the late former Chief Justice Arthur Chaskalson of the Constitutional Court of South Africa. She is a fellow both of Brightest Young Minds and the Aspen Institute’s African Leadership Initiative. She is also the 2014 recipient of the Inyathelo Youth in Philanthropy Award in addition to having been named one of the Mail and Guardian’s Top 200 Young People to Watch in 2015. Kgomotso holds a diploma in Social Entrepreneurship from the Gordon Institute of Business Science and practised at Cheadle Thompson Haysom Inc in Johannesburg for four years. She has been the head of SpreadLuv for eight years. Kgomotso holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Law, a Bachelor of Laws degree and a Masters in Law degree (Intellectual Property Law and Media Law) all from the University of the Witwatersrand. She is a member of the Charities Aid South Africa Board of Directors and is the chair of its Governance Committee. Kgomotso is a seasoned facilitator, having facilitated conversations with the likes of former Justices Dikgang Moseneke and Edwin Cameron. Kgomotso is also reading towards her PhD in Labour Law at the University of the Western Cape.