Gift Xaba

Gift joined Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr as a Candidate Attorney in 2016 and was appointed as an Associate in 2018. Gift was promoted to Senior Associate in 2022.

• Probono & Human Rights (Dispute Resolution & Litigation)
• Involved in the preparation of proceedings in the High Court, Equality Court, the SCA, & the Constitutional Court including, but not limited to, research, drafting, and briefing of counsel.
• Involved in wide range of matters including litigation on, inter alia, the following pertinent legal issues:
  • The right to education as envisaged by section 29 of the Constitution of South Africa ("Constitution")
  • The right to have access to health care services as envisaged by section 27 of the Constitution
  • The right to human dignity entrenched in section 10 of the Constitution
  • The right to freedom of conscience, religion, association thought, belief and opinion entrenched in section(s) 15, 18, & 31 of the Constitution
  • The right relating to citizenship as envisaged by section 20 of the Constitution
  • The rights relating to property & access to housing as envisaged by section(s) 25 & 26 of the Constitution
  • The right relating to access to information as envisaged by section 32 of the Constitution
  • The rights relating to just administrative action, access to courts, and enforcement of rights as envisaged by sections 33, 34, 38 of the Constitution

 Areas of interest

• Public law
• Constitutional law
• Human Rights Law & advocacy
• Interpretation of the Bill of Rights
• Administrative law
• Public Interest Litigation

 Publications & interest

• Gift has published pieces on subjects relating to:
  • Comparative law, foreign law, jurisdiction, foreign judgments, and enforcement of foreign judgments; and
  • Judicial precedence, bond guarantees and letters of credit.
• Gift also has experience and interest in estate planning, and the laws relating to administration of estates, Wills, intestate succession and has been involved in litigation regarding disputes arising from the 'Family House' concept.
  
  
• As a public interest lawyer, Gift, in particular, has special (keen) interest on the following legal concepts / subjects:
  • Constitutional education & the rule of law
  • Public interest litigation & social change
  • Transformative Constitutionalism & rights, participatory democracy, and the rule of law
  • Cause-lawyering & public interest law
  • Public interest law strategies.