Judge Oagile Bethuel Key Dingake has met many members of the African judiciary during his teaching stints as a member of faculty of the Judicial Institute for Africa (Jifa). He has been most recently working in Papua New Guinea where he was a member of the Supreme and National Courts. Last week, however, he was sworn in as a members of the Court of Appeal of the Seychelles.

Judge Dingake has an LLM from the University of London and a PhD from the University of Cape Town. He is one of those learned people who poses problems for anyone who is keen on titles. In its official statement announcing the appointment, the Seychelles judiciary referred to him as ‘Justice Professor Dingake’. They could also add ‘Dr’ to that list.  

The Seychelles judiciary further commented: ‘In his judgments he is known for his respect for the dignity of litigants, clarity of writing, familiarity of law from other jurisdictions, concern for the rights of those involved, and intolerance of injustice.’