Welcome

To the website of Professor Karthy Govender - former Human Rights Commissioner, Advocate, Arbitrator and Law Professor.

Wise Words

"The court should never be influenced by the weather of the day,

but inevitably, it will be influenced by the climate of the era. "

- Prof Paul Freund.

For a copy of lectures by Professor Karthy Govender, click here

- Seneca

1. Advocate

In 1994, Professor Govender passed the national Bar Examination, and on the basis of his performance in the written exam, he was excused from the oral examination. He has been an associate member of the Durban Bar since 1994.

He is an advocate of the Supreme Court of South Africa and an associate member of the Durban Bar. He was a consultant to the Legal Aid Clinic at the University of Natal and to the Community Law Centre, an organization that was set up to empower rural communities. In that capacity, he represented the Community Law Centre in court and assisted in the training of paralegals. Further, under the auspices of IMSSA, he served on a commission of inquiry into the Engineering Faculty of the University of Durban-Westville.

He was appointed and then reappointed to the Town and Regional Planning Commission of Natal and in this capacity he, inter alia, chaired quasi-judicial hearings and delivered the opinions of the Commission.

He has acted as junior counsel in the following cases in the Constitutional Court:-

S v ZUMA

YNUICO v MINISTER OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY

THE CERTIFICATION CASE

MISTRY V INTERIM MEDICAL AND DENTAL COUNCIL

He has been involved in other reported cases in lower courts and, as an advocate, regularly renders opinions on Constitutional and Administrative law matters to a variety of clients including to provincial and local governments.

He has been part of various teams that have been awarded tenders to draft provincial laws and regulations.

2. Mediator

He was trained as a mediator by the Independent Mediation Services of SA and was part of the team that carried out the balloting at the first ANC National Conference in 1990. In addition, he conducted numerous mediations on behalf of IMSSA.

3. Arbitrator

In 1995, after attending a training and assessment course, Professor Govender was admitted to the IMSSA panel of arbitrators. As an arbitrator, he has presided over many matters and handed down numerous awards. Some have been complex involving dozens of witnesses and many days of hearing. Most of these occurred as an IMSSA panellist on the arbitration panel of the Durban Metropolitan Council.

In 2002, he was appointed senior arbitrator with the South African Local Government Bargaining Council. His appointment has been renewed annually since then and he currently hears matters for SALGBC in Kwazulu-Natal and in other parts of the country when required. Most of these matters involve interpretations of agreements and or legal issues and rarely last more than a day. He has been reappointed annually since 2002 by the Bargaining Council to the post of senior arbitrator.

In October 2009, he was accredited by the CCMA - Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration - as a Mediator and Arbitrator for 3 years.

In 2011 he was admitted as an Arbitrator and Mediator to the TOKISO national panel.

In 2011 he was appointed by Sandile Ngcobo CJ to an advisory panel on institutional models for the office of the Chief Justice.

In July 2013 he was re-accredited by the CCMA as a Mediator and Arbitrator. His Accrediation has been annually renewed.

4. Chair of the Film and Publication Board

In October 2001, he was appointed as chairperson of the Film and Publication Review Board, a quasi judicial statutory body created by the Film and Publication Act 1996. Together with colleagues, Professor Govender hears appeals and then as chairperson writes the awards in respects of appeals lodged against the decisions of examiners. All the awards written by Professor Govender are public documents and accessible on the Film and Publication Board website. www.fpb.gov.za
He was re-appointed as the chair for a further period of 5 years, effective 1 April 2011.

5. Acting Judge of the High Court

In 2011 he was appointed as an acting judge of the High Court(KZN Division) and has acted for periods in 2012 and 2013 and has acted in the High Court in Pietermaritzburg and Durban in 2015 and for two sessions in 2017.

6. Workshops and Seminars

Professor Govender has conducted workshops, amongst other organisations, for Judges on the Right to Equality in the Northern Cape, for Magistrates on access to information, for Legal Aid South Africa on promotion of administritaive justice and on the promotion of equality and prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act, for ICASA on administritive justice, for the Consumer Protection Tribunal on administritive justice, for the the South African Human Rights commission on constitutional litigation and the right to equality, for KZN Gambling Board on administritive justice and for the KZN Liquor Authority on administritive justice.
Professor Govender has conducted workshops for judges in 2016 on the right to quality in Ballito KZN and for aspirant judges on Constitutional interpretation in July 2017.


Professor(UKZN)	Former Chairman (FPRB)	Senior Arbitrator (SALGBC)


Tokiso Panelist	Faculty Member