Professor Nicolaas Johannes (Niek) Grové

Position, academic and professional qualifications

Niek Grové returned to the Faculty of Law in January 2018 after serving as Registrar of the University of Pretoria and a member of the Executive Mangement for a period of 18 years. He is a member of the Department of Mercantile Law.

He obtained a BA degree at the University of Pretoria in 1976 with Roman-Dutch Law and Afrikaans as majors, thereafter obtaining the LLB degree in 1978 and an LLM degree in 1985, also at UP. He obtained the LLD degree in 1989 at the former Rand Afrikaans University (now UJ) with a thesis on Consumer Credit Law with the title “Gemeenregtelik en Statutêre Beheer oor Woekerrente” under the supervision of Prof J M Otto. In 1997 he qualified as Mediator at the Arbitration Foundation of South Africa (AFSA).

Academic and professional experience

He commenced his academic career in January 1981 as a senior lecturer in the Department of Mercantile and Labour Law at the University of Pretoria, was appointed as Associate Professor in the Department of Mercantile and Labour Law in 1986 and subsequently as Associate Professor in the Department of Private Law in 1987. In 1989 he became a full Professor in the Department of Private Law at UP, a position which he held until 2000.

Since 1 March 2000 he served as Registrar of the University of Pretoria and member of the University Executive. He stood down as Registrar at the end of 2017. During his tenure as Registrar he was responsible for the following portfolios: The Office of the Registrar (including Institutional Governance and the Secretariat), Legal Services, UP Archives and intermittently for Internal Audit, Information Governance, Academic Administration and the Client Service Centre (which were later restructured as the Department of Enrolment and Student Administration), TuksSport, Facilities Management, Security Services, Residence Affairs and Accommodation and Employee Relations.

In addition to his duties as member of the Executive of the University of Pretoria, he served as director of campus companies such as TuksSport (Pty) Ltd, TS Soccer (Pty) Ltd, the TuksSport Study Centre and as trustee of the Eduardo Villa Trust and the Javett Arts Centre Foundation. He is also a trustee of the UP Pension and Provident Funds.

Areas of specialisation

His field of expertise is Contract Law and Consumer Credit Law.

Teaching experience

He previously lectured the following modules: Law of Contract; Family Law; Law of Persons; Unjustified enrichment; Cession; Law of Purchase and Sale; Lease agreements; Suretyship; Law of Agency; Negotiable instruments; Insurance; Law of Insolvency and Consumer Credit Law.

Doctoral candidates

He acted as supervisor for the following doctoral candidates: Juanita Chamberlain (1995), Steve Cornelius (1999), Villiers Terblanche (2003), and Monica Vessio (2016) (co-supervisor Prof Corlia van Heerden).

University-related activities

Intermittently between 1984 and 1997 he was an editorial member of De Jure, and served as editor during the following periods: 1986, 1991-1993 (including the 25^th commemorative edition in 1992), 1996-1997.

He was the acting assistant editor of the Tydskrif vir Hedendaagse Romeins-Hollandse Reg in 1985.

He was Head of Residence for House Olienhout from 1983 to 1985.

He served as Chairman of the Law Faculty’s Research Committee from 1997 to 2000.

He served as Co-chairperson of the Broad Transformation Forum (BTF) at UP, which played a major role in the transformation of the University’s governance structures from 1997 until its dissolution in 1999.

He developed a programme for a postgraduate diploma in Dispute Resolution in co-operation with AFSA (1998). The first presentation of the programme took place in Johannesburg during 1998/1999.

He drafted the UP Statute as required in terms of the Higher Education Act, 1997 and concomitant documents during his last years at the Faculty (1999-2000).

He served as Chairperson of the Institutional Forum (UP) (October 1999-2003) and as a member of the Forum until the end of 2017.

He was Chairperson of the Legal Advisory Committee of USAf (Universities South Africa, formerly known as Higher Education South Africa) for a number of years.

Community Service, External Activities and Contract Research

Over the past number of years he was a director of a number of campus companies; including TuksSport (Pty) Ltd, the TuksSport Study Centre, Bookmark at UP (Pty) Ltd, the Eduardo Villa Trust, TS Soccer (Pty) Ltd and the TuksFM Trust. He also is a trustee of the University of Pretoria Pension and Provident Funds and a trustee of the Javett Arts Centre Foundation.

He also served as Chairperson of the Iemas Board, the largest trade-co-operative in the country, from 1996 until 2009 and from 2008 to 2017 as non-executive director of MiWay Insurance Limited.

He is a board member of the Hatfield City Improvement District (CID).

Tel: +27 (0)12 420 4248

Email : [email protected]

(April 2019)

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