Gay Professor Murdered in Norwood | Carl Mischke More than just another number

By Melanie Nathan, April 18, 2013.

Prof C Mischke, Faculty of Law, Department of Mercantil, University of Johannesburg

An accomplished Professor of law, Carl Mischke, was brutally murdered this week in Norwood, a suburb of Johannesburg where I spent my teens.  Like me he too was a member of the Johannesburg’s LGBTI community and also happens to have received his law degree from the same law school as I did in the 1980’s. Our thoughts go out to his family, friends, law community and LGBTI  community in South Africa.  Crime in South Africa, is horrendous and the gay community has been known to be targets of violence and homophobia. This murder has been chalked up as yet another in a series by a gang or gangs targeting gay men, possibly through the internet. Three men are currently under arrest and have been charged in the murder of another gay man in the same suburb and another arrest was made today in the murder of the professor. See below.

Professor Carl Mischke matriculated from Hoërskool (Highschool) Linden in 1983 and proceeded to obtain his BA and LLB degrees from the University of the Witwatersrand in the turbulent 1980’s. He was awarded a German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) scholarship to further his studies in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1989 and he completed a coursework LLM in German labour law at the Ruprecht-Karls Universitaet in Heidelberg, Germany. Upon his return to a South Africa that by 1991 did not resemble the country he had left in 1989, he joined the Department of Mercantile Law at the University of South Africa (UNISA) in 1992, lecturing labour law and contract law until returning to Johannesburg in 1999. During this time he completed, under the supervision of Prof PAK le Roux (UNISA) and Prof Derek van der Merwe (UJ), his Doctor of Laws (LLD) degree, writing a thesis using strategies and techniques of literary theory on the text of labour court decisions in South Africa, Germany and the United Kingdom.

He then joined the Resolve Group, a human resources and labour relations consulting company in Johannesburg, working with Halton Cheadle, David Storey and Peter Harris on some small, larger and medium projects. In 2003 Carl went into practice on his own, providing high-level strategic consulting services to national and provincial government departments, multi-national companies, drafting policies, conducting arbitrations and disciplinary enquiries for Tokiso Dispute Settlement and serving part-time as a Senior Commissioner of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration in Johannesburg. He is also still actively engaged in regularly updating the training material used for training CCMA commissioners across the country.

During this time he continued to present ad hoc lectures at the University of the Witwatersrand, UNISA and the University of Johannesburg and maintained a stream of publications in labour law, ranging from textbooks (Essential Labour Law, now in its 5th edition), Labour Dispute Resolution (1st ed 1997) and a wide range of articles and notes on labour law. Carl is a contributing editor for the monthly Contemporary Labour Law (published by Gavin Brown & Associates) and the consulting editor for LexisNexis’ IRNetwork – an online labour law resource site. He is a former member of the National Committee of the South African Society for Labour Law (SASLAW) and the Gauteng Committee of SASLAW.

He joined the Department of Mercantile Law at the University of Johannesburg in January 2013 and he lectures Labour Law to LLM students.

Read About the Case http://oblogdeeoblogda.me/2013/04/18/gay-professor-ninth-victim-of-south-african-serial-murders-of-gay-men/

UPDATE:  A 29 year old man was arrested in Kempton park, wearing clothes taken from the home of Carl Mischke – see report

UPDATE 4/21/2013.  A second man has been arrested in this case”  Second man arrested in connection with UJ Prof’s murder – A second man accused of killing University of Johannesburg lecturer Carl Mischke has been arrested, Gauteng police said on Sunday. See report

UPDATED Feb 12, 2015: Johannesburg Gay Murder Trial Accused Expresses Backhanded Remorse

Melanie Nathan, [email protected]

Related articles

• Gay Professor Ninth Victim of South African Serial Murders of Gay Men (oblogdeeoblogda.me)
• Trial date set for 3 Accused in Murder of South African Gay Man (oblogdeeoblogda.me)
• Breaking ground in South Africa with a traditional Zulu gay wedding (oblogdeeoblogda.me)
• Johannesburg Gay Pride Cancelled as Board Dissolves (oblogdeeoblogda.me)