A Vessel of Moral Vision: Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga and the Pursuit of Justice

In a rural village 16 kilometers outside Mount Frere in South Africa’s Eastern Cape, a young boy grew up herding cattle and goats amid a landscape that tempered his spirit and trained both his mind and his character for the challenges ahead. The days were long, the surroundings modest, yet the rhythm of daily life—laughter, labor, and the quiet harmony of community—wove together lessons far beyond the fields. That boy, who once fashioned toys from wire and clay, would one day rise to become one of South Africa’s most respected jurists: Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga ’90 LL.M., retired acting deputy chief justice of the Republic of South Africa.

Justice Madlanga’s journey—from humble beginnings to the apex of his nation’s judiciary—embodies the transformative power of education, ethics, and faith in justice. At the heart of his formation stands Notre Dame Law School, where a young South African lawyer once walked the tranquil paths of campus, carrying the hopes of a nation still trembling in the twilight of apartheid.

A Journey of Family and Fortitude

Madlanga’s early years were defined by scarcity and abundance in equal measure—scarcity of material wealth, but abundance of community and love.

Although he grew up in a family of six children, the household was rarely small. His late father, who deeply valued familial relationships, welcomed not only children but also adults, and there were often as many as 20 people living at his home.

“Growing up amongst that many children and adults, all with different personalities, taught one—quite early on—how to navigate life in the midst of different personalities that you could not avoid,” he recalled. “It taught one patience.”

His father, a school principal, and his mother, a housewife, instilled in him the dignity of work and the value of education. When he reached his final year of high school, uncertain about what to pursue next, his father wrote him a letter with a simple question: Would you not like to be a judge someday?

“I did not even have to think about it,” said Madlanga. “The following year I registered for a junior law degree.”

That single letter from his father set him on a path that would transcend the borders of his small village. What began as a young man’s promise to his father would soon evolve into a lifelong pursuit of justice guided by humility, intellect, and principle.

The Vision That Crossed Continents

That journey eventually carried him to the University of Notre Dame—an ocean away from the Eastern Cape but deeply aligned with the values that had shaped him since childhood.

After completing his law studies at Rhodes University, Madlanga came across a scholarship advertisement on a notice board that would change his destiny: the Bradlow Notre Dame Human Rights Law Scholarship, created by then University of Notre Dame President Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, C.S.C. and Justice Richard Goldstone, a prominent South African jurist who would later serve on the Constitutional Court of South Africa. “The benefits afforded by the scholarship were costs of travel, a comfortable living stipend, and a waiver of tuition fees by Notre Dame,” said Madlanga. “I applied and got the scholarship. As they say, the rest is history.”

In the early 1980s, when South Africa’s apartheid regime still held millions under its iron grip, a quiet conversation in the American Midwest helped plant a seed of hope. Justice Goldstone, then serving on South Africa’s Transvaal Supreme Court and leveraging his insider position to fight apartheid and promote justice, met with Father Hesburgh, a moral voice of the American civil rights movement.

When Father Hesburgh asked how Notre Dame could assist in promoting justice in South Africa, Goldstone’s reply was simple yet profound: “Educate our lawyers.”

From that exchange emerged Notre Dame’s LL.M. Program in International Human Rights Law—a program initially envisioned to apply lessons from America’s civil rights movement to the struggle against apartheid. What began as a partnership rooted in moral conviction has since expanded into a globally recognized program that has educated more than 500 lawyers from over 100 countries. Among its earliest graduates was a young Mbuyiseli Madlanga, whose life and work stand as a living testament to the transformative vision shared by Father Hesburgh and Justice Goldstone.

Full Circle at Notre Dame

At Notre Dame Law School, Madlanga found himself in a new world—not only of ideas, but of moral imagination. He studied under Father Bill Lewers, a human rights advocate who had lived through political upheaval in Chile, and Professor Donald Kommers, one of America’s leading scholars in comparative constitutional law.

“Father Lewers exuded charm and was an excellent teacher who brought the subject matter alive through his references to his lived experiences in Chile,” Madlanga reflected. “Professor Kommers was the consummate scholar. The two of them left an indelible mark on me and have contributed to the lawyer that I am.”

Decades later, Justice Madlanga returned to Notre Dame as a visiting scholar in 2016, serving as the Judge James J. Clynes Jr. Visiting Chair. He was assigned to co-teach Comparative Constitutional Law alongside Professor Donald Kommers—the very mentor who had once supervised his mini-dissertation.

“The emotion and thrill that engulfed me when I learned that I would share a classroom stage with one of my respected professors are indescribable,” said Madlanga.

The Youngest Judge in South Africa

After completing his LL.M. at Notre Dame Law School, Madlanga returned home to South Africa to begin his legal career. He completed his pupillage and quickly distinguished himself as an advocate.

Within only five years of practice, and at the age of 34, he was appointed to the Transkei Division of the High Court, becoming South Africa’s youngest judge at the time.

“I will not say that there were pivotal moments that led to this elevation,” he said. “Perhaps, despite my age and relative lack of experience, the judge president of the division, who recommended me for appointment, saw something in me.”

That “something” was evident to all who encountered him—a calm moral force that would come to anchor his leadership on South Africa’s highest court.

As acting deputy chief justice of South Africa, Justice Madlanga not only supported Chief Justice Mandisa Maya in leading the Constitutional Court, but also assumed significant responsibilities of his own. Among these was serving as chairperson of the Judicial Conduct Committee, where he reviewed all complaints against judges at the initial stage—a role that demanded discernment, fairness, and the courage to uphold judicial integrity from within.

For Madlanga, the most rewarding part of his role as acting deputy chief justice was supporting the chief justice in leading both the Constitutional Court and the wider South African judiciary. “What I loved most was presiding at the hearings when the chief justice could not sit,” he reflected.

The Madlanga Commission

In July 2025, Madlanga was once again called to national service when President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed him to chair the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Criminality, Political Interference, and Corruption in the Criminal Justice System—known as the Madlanga Commission. “The appointment came as a complete surprise,” he said.

As chairperson, Madlanga is leading the investigation into allegations made by KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, who claimed that criminal syndicates had deeply corrupted South Africa’s criminal justice system at nearly every level.

“As a nation, we have always had ideas about corruption in the criminal justice system, but the allegations that it was seriously infiltrated and unduly influenced by criminal syndicates shook the nation,” Madlanga stated. “The revelations we are getting thus far are astounding, but it is early days to make any conclusions as those implicated are yet to answer the allegations against them.”

Even in the face of such daunting national challenges, Madlanga remains steadfast in his belief that the truth must prevail. Through every stage of his legal journey, he has upheld the belief that the rule of law is strengthened most by principled reasoning and a deep concern for human dignity.

Where Integrity Meets Vision

From the hills of the Eastern Cape to the halls of Notre Dame to South Africa’s highest judicial bench, Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga’s journey reflects the enduring truth that greatness is not born of privilege but of purpose.

In every decision, every judgment, and every act of service, he embodies the values that first brought him across the ocean to Notre Dame—the conviction that the law, at its highest, is not merely an instrument of power but a vessel of moral vision.

“It is impossible to capture in a few words who and what God’s magnum opus, Justice Madlanga, means to me and to South Africa. I once believed it was impossible to meet someone blessed with both a brilliant mind and genuine compassion, yet Justice Madlanga embodies both. His enormous contribution to South Africa’s legal system has taught me that the highest form of excellence is one expressed through being a gentle advocate and a compassionate jurist.”

- Zolile Shude ‘26 LL.M. candidate
Former law clerk to Justice Leona Theron at the Constitutional Court of South Africa

- Written by Arienne L. Calingo