Sandile Ngcobo

Sandile Ngcobo, born in 1953, is a South African jurist who served as a Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa from 1999 to 2011 and as Chief Justice of South Africa from 2009 to 2011. Before his elevation to the Constitutional Court he sat as a judge of the Cape Provincial Division from 1996 to 1999, and as Chief Justice he authored significant opinions on public participation rights and on victims involvement in presidential pardon decisions. His tenure closed amid controversy in 2011 when President Jacob Zuma sought to extend his term beyond its normal limit; Ngcobo withdrew his acceptance of the extension, and the Constitutional Court subsequently ruled the extension provision unconstitutional. In retirement he has chaired high-profile inquiries, including into the private healthcare sector and into presidential impeachment proceedings connected to the Phala Phala scandal.