User:Boksembende/Pierre de Vos

Professor Pierre de Vos (born 29 June 1963 in Musina, Limpopo) is a South African constitutional law scholar and media commentator.

Background and career
Born in Musina, Limpopo, he was educated at the University of Stellenbosch, Columbia University and the University of Western Cape. De Vos taught law at the University of Western Cape from January 1993 and was appointed as the Claude Leon Foundation Chair in Constitutional Governance at the University of Cape Town in July 2009. He has written a Blog, Constitutionally Speaking, which deals with South African social and political issues from a political perspective, since September 2006. He is also a contributor to Thought Leader, a news website that is owned by the South African newspaper Mail & Guardian.

Academic interests
De Vos has published articles on sexual orientation discrimination, the enforcement of social and economic rights and other human rights issues.

Controversies

 * In February 2004, in the first case considered by the Equality Court set up in terms of the Constitution of South Africa, De Vos and his partner won a case against the owners of a gay bar in Cape Town after the owners admitted that they had discriminated against De Vos's partner because of his race. As part of a settlement, which was made an order of court, the bar was ordered to pay R10 000 to Siyazenzela, a non-profit organisation nominated by De Vos's partner.
 * In June 2009, after a radio debate between De Vos and Paul Ngobeni, a supporter of Judge President of the Cape,John Hlophe, De Vos was accused of being a racist who hated Hlophe. "This guy will be joining a group of gangsters who make (John) Hlophe their do-or-die issue. Whites want to entrench themselves in the last unelected branch of government - the judiciary," said Ngobeni. De Vos denied the charge.