Prof Ntombizozuko Dyani-Mhango, Head of UP’s Department of Public Law, has been appointed to the board of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme. 

The Minister of Higher Education and Training Dr Blade Nzimande has announced the appointment of Professor Ntombizozuko “Zozo” Dyani-Mhango of the University of Pretoria’s (UP) Faculty of Law as one of the new board members of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).

Prof Dyani-Mhango is Head of the Department of Public Law at UP. She holds LLB and LLM degrees from the University of the Western Cape, and a Doctor of Juridical Science degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, US. Her doctoral thesis is titled ‘Sexual violence during armed conflict in Africa and the African Union’s right to humanitarian intervention: implications, challenges and solutions’.

Prof Dyani-Mhango was a full professor in UP’s Department of Jurisprudence from July 2020 to July 2021. She joined the Department of Public Law as a full professor and Head of department on 1 August 2021. Before that, she held academic positions at the School of Law, University of the Witwatersrand.

Prior to joining the University of the Witwatersrand, Prof Dyani-Mhango clerked at the Constitutional Court for Justice Sandile Ngcobo, who later became the Chief Justice of South Africa. She was also an intern (legal research) in the Chambers Section of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania.

Prof Dyani-Mhango’s areas of specialisation fall under international law, with a focus on African Union Law and its right to intervene, its relationship with the International Criminal Court, as well as its member states’ obligations in international criminal justice. She also focuses on South Africa’s international and constitutional obligations in this regard, as well as public power (separation of powers). She has published widely, and attended both local and international conferences presenting in these areas. Prof Dyani-Mhango is also admitted as an advocate of the High Court of South Africa, and is rated as an established researcher by the National Research Foundation.