Person

Molteno, Donald Barkly

1908-1972

Donald Barkly Molteno (1908-1972), grandson of Sir John Molteno, was born at Wynberg, Cape and educated at the Diocesan College, Rondebosch and Cambridge University, where he graduated with Honours in Law in 1930. He was called to the English Bar at the Inner Temple the same year. After practising for a while in London, he returned to South Africa and was admitted as an advocate to the Bar of the Cape Provincial Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa in 1932. He practised at the Cape Bar until 1964, being made Q.C. in 1952, and President of the Cape Bar Council from 1961 to 1963. He represented Africans in the House of Assembly as M.P. for Cape Western from 1937 to 1948. Molteno played a leading role in organizations such as the Cape Joint Council of Europeans and Bantu, Cafda and the Civil Rights League. He was associated with the South African Institute of Race Relations from 1936, when he was appointed its first regional representa¬tive in the Western Cape, and later became president from 1958 to 1960. He was chairman of the Liberal Party's constitutional committee, and after joining the Progressive Party became chairman of the commission which advised it on constitutional policy. Molteno was one of the Counsel engaged in each of the important constitutional cases questioning the powers of the Union Parliament after the passing of the Statute of Westminster in 1931. He was a member of the University of Cape Town Council from 1951 to 1960, and a part-time lecturer in Constitutional and Administrative Law. From 1964 he lectured fulltime in the Department of Roman Dutch Law and in 1967 was appointed Professor of the newly created Department of Public Law. He was Dean of the Faculty of Law from 1970 to 1972, and died in 1972 after a long illness.

BC579