Mahube Betty Molemela (née Eister; born 18 March 1965) is a South African judge who has been the President of the Supreme Court of Appeal since 1 June 2023.
[1] She matriculated in 1981 at Albert Moroka High School in Thaba Nchu outside Bloemfontein,[2] and she subsequently enrolled at the University of Fort Hare, where she completed her BA and BProc degrees.
[1] On 1 June 2014, she began a ten-year term as a permanent judge of the Labour Appeal Court, appointed by President Jacob Zuma.
[3] Soon afterwards, in October 2014, the Judicial Service Commission recommended her promotion to become Judge President of the Free State High Court,[4] and she took office on 1 January 2015.
[5] She was the second woman judge president in South Africa, after Monica Leeuw of the North West High Court, and the first in the Free State.
[1] High-profile High Court cases handled by Molemela included two relating to the African National Congress (ANC), the governing party.
[9] On 10 April 2018, Molemela was interviewed by the Judicial Service Commission for appointment to the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein.
[12] She was interviewed by the Judicial Service Commission on 17 April,[23] and the Daily Maverick reported that her interview went well, with Chief Justice Raymond Zondo complimenting her judicial record and Molemela "mostly [holding] her ground solidly, though some will have perceived a certain degree of fence-sitting... relating to her personal jurisprudential philosophy.