In June 2013, the President of the Republic of Malawi, Dr. Joyce Banda, upon the recommendation of the Judicial Service Commission, appointed Mr Redson Edward Kapindu, a lecturer at the University of Johannesburg, a Judge of the High Court of Malawi. Justice Kapindu was sworn into office in July 2013, and will assume his judicial responsibilities in Malawi immediately upon the end of his contract with the University of Johannesburg (UJ) in December 2013.
Justice Kapindu completed his Bachelor of Laws (Honours) Degree from the University of Malawi in 1999. He graduated with an Upper Second Class Honours. In 2002 he went through a Post-Graduate Advanced Programme in Human Rights at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute, an institute at Lund University in Sweden, leading to the award of a Diploma in Human Rights with Distinction in that year. In 2004, He obtained a Master of Laws Degree in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa, with distinction, at the University of Pretoria. He is currently in the final stages of his Doctor of Philosophy Programme in Human Rights and Refugee Law at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
Justice Kapindu’s career commenced as a private practice lawyer with a firm called Lexon & Lords in Lilongwe, Malawi, a law firm he worked at as soon as he completed his studies in March 1999. In October 1999 he joined the Reserve Bank of Malawi as the Bank’s Legal Counsel responsible for litigation. He left the Reserve Bank in October 2001 and joined the Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) as Deputy Director of Legal Services; and was promoted to the position of Director of Legal Services in July 2003. In October 2007, Justice Kapindu joined the South African Institute for Advanced Public, Human Rights and International Law (SAIFAC) as the institute’s Deputy Director, a position that he currently holds until December 2013.
In January 2010, in addition to his responsibilities as Deputy Director of SAIFAC which has since become a research centre at the University of Johannesburg, Justice Kapindu joined the Faculty of Law at UJ as a Lecturer, a position he still holds until December 2013.
During his career, Justice Kapindu has also held a number of important positions in Malawi. Among others, he served as a two-term President of the Malawi Law Society (Lilongwe Chapter) in 2005 and 2007; and in 2006 he served as Vice President of the Malawi Law Society. He also served as a Commissioner on the Malawi Law Commission’s Special Commission for the review of child rights legislation between 2002 and 2006.
Justice Kapindu has published widely in the area of human rights with over 20 journal articles, book chapters, monographs and other publications and he has presented papers at numerous conferences, seminars and workshops in Africa and Europe.
