Personal details
Tholakele Hope Madala was born in Kokstad on 13 July 1937. He is married to Patricia Alice Ndileka Madala, a non-practising advocate of the High Court. They have three children and two grandsons.
Education
Madala matriculated at St John's College in Umtata in 1956. He proceeded to Fort Hare University where he obtained a B.A (Rhodes) Degree and a U.E.D. (S.A) Diploma.
He taught at the Lovedale Institute, in Alice, and in Swaziland before taking up law at the University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg in 1972. He was instrumental in setting up the first legal aid clinic on the Pietermaritzburg campus to service the indigent.
Professional history
Madala lectured at the University of Transkei, initially full-time but later part-time until 1980.
He then practised as an attorney and was admitted as an advocate in 1982. Madala handled many human rights cases.
Madala and other lawyers interested in the protection of the rights of the underprivileged established the Umtata Law Clinic, under the auspices of the Umtata and Districts Lawyers' Association. He became the chairperson of the Transkei Attorneys' Association.
From 1987 to 1990 he was the vice-chairperson of the Society of Advocates of Transkei. Between 1991 and 1993 he was the chairperson of the Society of Advocates of Transkei and represented the society on the General Council of the Bar of South Africa.
Madala took silk in 1993 and was elevated to the Bench in 1994, becoming the first black judge in the Eastern Cape and the fourth black judge to be appointed in South Africa.
In October 1994 he was appointed to the Constitutional Court of South Africa.
In 1995 he received an award from the Black Lawyers' Association - Legal Education Centre in recognition of his contribution in the area of human rights. The University of Natal awarded him an honorary LLD in April 1999
Other activities
Madala was a founder member and director of the Prisoners' Welfare Programmes, an association established in 1985 to provide legal, financial and educational assistance to political detainees, prisoners, ex-prisoners and their families.
Madala has participated in seminars and conferences, and has delivered papers on constitutional and human rights issues in South Africa, France, Ireland, Cyprus, the United States, Malawi and Swaziland.
He has served on:
the council of the University of Transkei;
the board of the University of Transkei's Faculty of Law and was a founder member of;
the board of the Thembelitsha Centre for the Rehabilitation of Drug Dependents;
the Transkeian Medical Council; and was a founder member of the board
On being appointed to the Bench, Madala stepped down as the deputy-chairperson of the Transkei National Building Society.
He is a member of the Black Lawyers' Association and serves on the board of trustees of the Black Lawyers' Association - Legal Education Centre. He is also the chancellor of the Anglican Diocese of St John and Deputy Chancellor of the CPSA.
Judge Madala was directly appointed by the President of the Republic of South Africa under the interim Constitution and was therefore not interviewed by the Judicial Service Commission. This mode of appointment is no longer followed.
