About Francois Botha

• Director of the Discrimination and Harassment Office University of Cape Town (UCT) for more than 19 years; and provided support and advice on social justice matters such as gender-based violence, racism, discrimination and a myriad of inter-personal relationship cases and difficulties,
• Magistrate in the Domestic Violence, Children’s Court and Sexual Offences Court, together with Magistrate and Prosecutor training (Law Race & Gender Research Unit, UCT) over a period of more than 13 years,
• Mediation Trainer: student and staff teams of mediators at UCT, Rhodes University, as well as at the Stellenbosch University. Established mediation training and pilot projects at these universities and provided ongoing training and noter-up sessions,
• Community Projects: Co-ordinated and drove community-outreach projects, such as the Delft Peer Schools Mediation Programme, The Southern Schools Peer Mediation Programme, Monwabisi Community Mediators Training. Served as Community and court-assigned mediator in the ‘For the sake of the children’ project at the Wynberg Court, specialising in Maintenance, Divorce and community issues. 
• Divorce Mediator and Parenting Coordinator: I have been mediating disputes since 2001, and my experience of mediation includes group, community, corporates, staff/students, parents/children, divorce matters as well as estranged families. I am FAMAC accredited, and I can be found on FAMAC’s website.

I have more than 20 years of experience of training, workshop facilitation and design, as well as significant mileage in the many courts where I have worked as prosecutor, magistrate, Childcare Commissioner (Children’s Court, Mitchells Plain), Regional Magistrate (Sexual Offences Court, Wynberg). 

My frame and approach is one that is based on the belief that we are all capable and willing to extend kindness and goodwill, even in the most harrowing of circumstances. This has stood me, and many of the clients that I have assisted, in good stead.