Former South Africa Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke To Deliver 2020 Murphy Lecture

The 2020 Murphy Lecture has been canceled due to the worldwide public health crisis and related travel restrictions for many. Learn more at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Coronavirus Updates.

Moseneke will speak about “The Transition from Apartheid to Democracy and Constitutionalism.”

Dikgang Moseneke, the former deputy chief justice of South Africa who earned two degrees while imprisoned for protesting apartheid, will deliver the 2020 William P. Murphy Distinguished Lecture at UNC School of Law on Wed., March 18 at 4:00 p.m.

Moseneke is a Rubenstein Fellow in residence at Duke University this semester, where he is co-teaching “Legal Analysis for Development Governance” and writing his second memoir.

Moseneke is from Pretoria, South Africa, and was a political prisoner there for 10 years for opposing the country’s racial segregation. While imprisoned, he met fellow prisoner and future South African President Nelson Mandela and earned two degrees from the University of South Africa. After his release, Moseneke earned his law degree and began his legal career, becoming a partner at the law firm Maluleke, Seriti and Moseneke.

Moseneke helped draft the country’s temporary constitution as apartheid ended, and in 1994 helped conduct the first election in South Africa in which citizens of all races could participate. He later spent time working in the media, insurance and banking industries, but in 2001, he came back to law when he was appointed to the High Court in Pretoria by President Thabo Mbeki. A year later, Moseneke was appointed as a judge in South Africa’s Constitutional Court. In 2005, he rose to deputy chief justice, a position from which he retired in 2016.

The Murphy Lecture Series was established by the UNC School of Law Class of 1990 to celebrate former faculty member Professor William P. Murphy’s teaching and his work in constitutional law, labor law and civil rights. This lecture series is responsible for bringing noted lawyers, political figures and public advocates to the campus.

A reception with light refreshments will begin at 4 p.m. in the Rotunda, with lecture to follow.

The event is free and open to the public.