BIOGRAPHIES OF OUR TWO INDEPENDENT OMBUDSMEN

Keith obtained a BA LLB in 1977 (UND) and a Bachelor of Divinity in 1987 (Rhodes University). He was admitted as an advocate in 1979. He was appointed as Senior Counsel by President Mbeki in 2002. He has acted as a judge on a number of occasions since his appointment as Senior Counsel. He has appeared in all the courts of the land, including the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court.

In addition to practicing as an advocate, he also was trained as an IMSSA arbitrator, was a presiding officer in the Industrial Court and on occasions served as an assessor in the Labour Appeal Court in the Eastern Cape. He also co authored, with amongst others Professor Wiechers and Halton Cheadle, legislation in the Ciskei in the early 1990‘s, including the Labour Decree, the Public Defender Decree and a justiciable Bill of Rights.

He has been the legal advisor to the Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church Of Southern Africa since 1996. In this capacity amongst other things he has co authored a dispute resolution process and discipline procedure for the church. In 1998 he was also appointed as the first Convenor of the Connexional Arbitration Panel by the then Presiding Bishop, Rev Mvume Dandala.

He has served as a member the National Executive of Lawyers for Human Rights. During the early 1990‘s he also served on the Border and King William’s Town Conflict Dispute Resolution Committees.

Keith and his wife of 29 years, Roslyn, relocated to Cape Town from Grahamstown in 2007. They have two sons and a daughter.

Graeme studied at Wits and at Rhodes universities where he obtained his BA and LLB degrees. After articles in Johannesburg, he first joined a legal practice in King William’s Town and later established his own practice in King William’s Town and East London. During this time Graeme was a member of the Lawyers for Human Rights National Executive, and was a member of the Executive of the Kei Chamber of Business.

In 2001, Graeme accepted an appointment as Head of Strategic Acquisitions for ipac Ltd, a multinational provider of financial services based in Cape Town. In 2004 Graeme set himself up as a consultant, now trading as Dorrington Matthee. Dorrington Matthee specialises in providing legal, labour and BEE services and in assisting companies in their transformation.

Graeme and his wife of 15 years, Charlotte Brown, live in Cape Town. They have two daughters.