Johann van der Westhuizen

Johann van der Westhuizen
Inspecting Judge of the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services
In office
1 April 2016 – 31 December 2019
Appointed byJacob Zuma
Preceded byThembile Skweyiya
Succeeded byEdwin Cameron
Justice of the Constitutional Court
In office
1 February 2004 – 31 January 2016
Appointed byThabo Mbeki
Succeeded byLeona Theron
Judge of the High Court
In office
1 January 1999 – 31 January 2004
Appointed byNelson Mandela
DivisionTransvaal Provincial
Personal details
Born
Johann Vincent van der Westhuizen

(1952-05-26) 26 May 1952 (age 72)
Windhoek, South West Africa
CitizenshipSouth Africa
SpouseSarojini Persaud
EducationHoërskool Oos-Moot
Academic background
Alma materUniversity of Pretoria
ThesisNoodtoestand as regverdigingsgrond in die strafreg (1979)
Academic work
InstitutionsUniversity of Pretoria Faculty of Law (1980–1998)
Centre for Human Rights (1986–1998)

Johann Vincent van der Westhuizen (born 26 May 1952) is a South African who served on the Constitutional Court of South Africa from February 2004 to January 2016. He was a professor of law at the University of Pretoria from 1980 to 1999, when he joined the bench as a judge of the High Court of South Africa.

Born to a civil servant stationed in Windhoek, South West Africa, van der Westhuizen attended high school in Pretoria and studied law at the University of Pretoria, where he completed his doctorate in 1980. Thereafter he was a professor at the university's Faculty of Law, serving additionally as the head of the Department of Legal History, Comparative Law and Legal Philosophy from 1980 to 1994 and as the founding director of the influential Centre for Human Rights from 1986 to 1998. During the post-apartheid transition, he was additionally a legal adviser to the bodies that drafted the Interim Constitution and 1996 Constitution.

In January 1999, van der Westhuizen joined the High Court bench as a judge of the Transvaal Provincial Division and an appointee of President Nelson Mandela. He remained in the High Court until February 2004, when President Thabo Mbeki elevated him to the Constitutional Court. After his retirement in January 2016, he served a three-year term as Inspecting Judge of the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services from April 2016 to December 2019.