Sureshni Moodliar

Sureshni Moodliar was admitted as an attorney of the High Court in 1990. Sureshni graduated from Rhodes University with a B.A in Legal Theory and African Political Studies. She completed her LL.B at the University of Natal, Durban (now Kwazulu-Natal University). Sureshni thereafter did public interest litigation at the Legal Resources Centre, both in Durban and in Port Elizabeth. She served as a Councillor in the first Transitional Local Council of the former Port Elizabeth Municipality (now the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality) and was a founder member of its Gender Commission and she served on its Town Planning and Land Usage Committee.

Sureshni’s experience in local government research, writing and as a councillor makes her well placed to use her expertise to advise and represent several local authorities and parastatals which she has done for two decades including the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality, Ndlambe Municipality, Makana Municipality, Mandela Bay Development Agency, Kouga Development Agency and Coega Development Corporation (CDC), amongst others.

She has expertise and has advised local authorities on procurement, municipal finances, administrative justice and has represented them in disciplinary enquiries and civil litigation. She has represented them in forensic anti-corruption legal work such as fraud and money laundering proceedings, some of which are documented in the book ‘How to steal a city’ by Crispian Olver.

Key Positions

• Served as Board member of BASA (Business and Arts Council of South Africa)
• Chairperson of the legal task team of the National Coordinating Committee for Repatriation of Exiles (NCCR) 
• Founder member of the Port Elizabeth Rape Crisis Centre 
• Served as City Councillor on the Port Elizabeth Transitional Local Council (TLC) 
• Founder member of the Port Elizabeth TLC Gender Commission 
• Member of the Town Planning and Land Usage Committee 
• Accredited Mediator/Facilitator 
• Listed in the Femina/Nedbank directory of South Africa’s leading women 
• Served on the board of the Institute for Development Planning and Research 
• Has been a Trustee of the Womens' Legal Centre 
• Board Member of African Pioneer Limited
• Published research in Local Government and gender in book by Debbie Budlender “The fourth  womens’ budget”.
• Acting Judge of the High Court of South Africa, Eastern Cape