Professor Thuli (Thulisile) Madonsela is a professor of law occupying the Law Trust Research Chair
in Social Justice at Stellenbosch University. She is also a member of the African Academy of Sciences
and founder of the Thuma Foundation for Democracy Leadership and Literacy a Member of the
African Academy of Sciences, a 2017 Harvard Advanced Leadership Fellow and a One Young World
Counsellor. The former Public Protector of South Africa and full-time Law Commissioner, Professor
Madonsela was one of the drafters of the South African Constitution and a co-architect and drafter
of several constitutionally-mandated laws, including the Equality Act, Employment Equity Act and
Promotion of Administrative Justice Act.
She has an extensive background in applied constitutional and administrative law principles
mainly based on her public service years and her investigation of improper conduct in state affairs
as Public Protector. She helped draft several international human rights instruments and country
reports. She currently teaches Constitutional Law, Social Justice Law, Administrative Law, and
Constitutional Governance and Ethical Leadership and has written and published extensively on
these matters. An advocate of the High Court of South Africa, Professor Madonsela holds eight
honorary law doctorates in addition to her normal law degrees and over 70 awards including the
German Africa Award, A French Knighthood and Time 100 Most Influential People in The World
(2014). Professor Madonsela is a mother of two, an avid mountaineer who has summited Mt
Kilimanjaro twice under the #Trek4Mandela campaign and for the Social Justice M-Plan and
regularly hikes for the #Action4Inclusion campaign, a quest to end student debt.
