On October 1-3, the Labour Law Colloquium was once again held at Stellenbosch University. This annual event, which brings together the leading minds in the labour law world, often celebrates the works of prolific South African thinkers. In 2024, the Labour Law Colloquium honoured the recently retired Chief Justice Zondo. This year, the conference included a tribute to some of South Africa’s great legal thinkers, one of them being Judge Dennis Davis, whose contributions to the South African legal landscape are acknowledged.

Dennis Davis is a man who has done it all. Born in 1951 in Cape Town, into a Jewish family consisting of a father who was a mechanic and a mother who was a legal secretary. Davis went to a Jewish school but ended up being an ardent anti-Zionist. He stated in an interview, “I went to a Jewish school—that’s where my parents sent me—and that school completely shaped my vision. It took me years to realise that the rubbish I had been taught was not true. The traditional Zionist idea of a land without a people for a people without a land was drummed into us.” Davis went on to study law and became engaged with the anti-apartheid movement.

Academically, Davis was appointed the director of the Centre for Applied Legal Studies at Wits University while also being a Professor at the University of Cape Town. During the post-apartheid transition, Davis was an advisor for the Convention for a Democratic South Africa and the Multi-Party Negotiating Forum. He was also a member of the Katz Commission, which led to the creation of the South African Revenue Service. 

Davis subsequently served in the High Court for around 21 years, being actively involved in many prolific and landmark cases. In Grootboom, the Constitutional Court upheld a High Court judgment written by Davis. This case upheld the justiciability of socioeconomic rights in South Africa. The (in)famous Prince judgment was also upheld, in which Davis wrote the High Court judgment. This case effectively decriminalised personal marijuana use based on the right to privacy. 

One of the most famous cases delivered by Judge Davis was the Kylie case, which held that the dismissal of a sex worker could amount to an unfair dismissal, and that sex workers, although operating in an unlawful sector, also deserved fair labour treatment. This case involved Kylie (a sex worker whose real name was omitted from the proceedings), who worked at a “massage parlour” which offered optional extras. Kylie refused to offer certain services and was subsequently dismissed. She believed that this was unfair and sued. The Kylie case is groundbreaking for a number of important reasons. The Kylie case opens up possibilities for sex workers, and perhaps others in informal or criminalised forms of work, to claim certain labour protections, and potentially shifts the policy conversation on decriminalisation and labour rights. This case also pushed a value-based form of interpretation, especially when dealing with people from different backgrounds, be it socio-economic or otherwise. While the court did not legalise sex work, it recognised that legal protection need not depend on full legality of the underlying activity. This case, however, does straddle the line between what is and what ought to be. Although never tested in court, it is hard to imagine that South African judges would give the same protection to those dealing in the illicit drug industry, for example. This shows that the judgment is both cautious and forward-looking, detecting the winds of change in society and jumping ahead of inevitable legal developments in a world where law traditionally lags quite substantially behind society.

The Kylie case continues to be a staple in labour law modules in South African legal studies. In attendance at the conference was Prof Elmarie Fourie, professor of labour law at the University of Johannesburg and the Director of the Centre for International and Comparative Labour and Social Security. As a phenomenal scholar, Professor Fourie has advocated for the rights and dignity of domestic workers and dedicated her life to the study and advancement of workers in the informal sector, especially waste pickers and cross-border traders. Her indefatigable promotion of the rights of workers, especially the most vulnerable groups in South Africa, is commendable beyond current recognition. When asked about the impact of the Kylie case, she said, “The case illustrates how our progressive constitution and rights and values such as human dignity can play an important role in extending protection to the vulnerable in our society”.

Judge Davis became a man who has shaped the South African legal landscape to a remarkable degree. He also chaired the Davis Tax Committee, which assessed the South African tax framework. He was unpaid for this work as he was a sitting judge at the time. On top of this, he was a television presenter, hosting different TV programmes, most notably his “Judge for Yourself” programme on ETV. He has been a visiting professor at many universities, such as Cambridge, Florida, Harvard, Toronto, New York and Georgetown. 

Davis retired from the bench in 2020, but anyone who knows or has met the man knows that he can’t sit still and continues to be an active mind in South Africa. He still lectures, consults and contributes to law and politics, sometimes being recalled to the bench, and still moves the needle well into retirement.

Gabrielle Liang is a South Africa correspondent for JURIST and an assistant lecturer at the University of Johannesburg.