Thandiwe Matthews is a Lecturer in Human Rights,  Law and Development Studies, and an admitted attorney of the High Court of South Africa. Prior to joining the Wits School of Governance, she was based in The Hague, Netherlands, pursuing her doctorate studies as part of a joint scholarship programme between the International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (under the Chair of International Law and Development) and the University of the Witwatersrand (under the South African Research Chair in Law, Equality and Social Justice), additionally funded by the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust. Through an intersectional lens, the doctoral research explores the role of constitutionalism, socio-economic rights and social policy to address systemic inequalities in South Africa. 

Matthews's interdisciplinary scholarship integrates theory and practice. Grounded in critical feminist theory, her work incorporates pluralist, intersectional and feminist methodologies to explore the transformative potential of the law, constitutionalism, (international) human rights and sustainable development frameworks to address systemic inequalities in society.

Formerly, Matthews was Senior Researcher: Civil and Political Rights and Senior Legal Officer at the SA Human Rights Commission, monitoring the human rights impact in society across various themes including socio-economic inclusion and non-discrimination; torture, gender-based violence and disability rights; racial and climate (in)justice; state corruption and corporate malpractice.  She completed her articles of clerkship at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr, Inc. in Johannesburg, whereafter she was appointed as an Associate in their Dispute Resolution department. She is an alumna of the US State Department’s prestigious Fulbright - Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Programme (2015/2016) based at the University of Minnesota’s Law School, where she focused on global human rights monitoring methods to reducing inequalities. 

In 2018, she co-authored and published a bilingual children’s book in English and Zulu, titled ‘Her Story: Daughters of Modjadji,’ focusing on 30 South African women centred on affirmation, identity, gender and mental health. She has also appeared on various public panels on the role of constitutionalism in democracy. She was selected as one of the Mail&Guardian’s Top 200 Young South Africans in 2014.

Peer-Reviewed Academic Publications 

Matthews, T. (2022) 'Interrogating the Debates Around Lawfare and Legal Mobilization: A Literature Review’, Journal of Human Rights Practice, 15(1), 24-45.  

Handmaker, J. & Matthews, T. (2019) “Analysing legal mobilisation’s potential to secure equal access to socio-economic justice in South Africa”, Development Southern Africa, 36, 889-904. 

Matthews, T. & Pakati, K. (2018) “Opportunities and challenges in the implementation of rights-based approaches to development: An overview of the right to development in Africa” in Perspectives on the Right to Development, Pretoria: Pretoria University Law Press. 

Manion, M., Matthews, T. et al (2017) “Budget Analysis as a Tool to Monitor Economic and Social Rights: Where the Rubber of International Commitment Meets the Road of Government Policy”, Journal of Human Rights Practice,9(1): 146-158. 

Research Reports and Opinion Pieces 

Matthews, T. (2021) “Are human rights expendable in the pursuit of economic development?”, commissioned by Welternaehrung (German) 

Matthews, T., Groeneweld, C. and Moolman, B. (2022) ‘It’s a lifeline but it’s not enough: The Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant, Basic Income Support, and Social Protection in South Africa’, a report commissioned by the Black Sash, Cape Town. 

Matthews, T. (2020) “Traversing the cracks: Social Protection toward the achievement of Social Justice, Equality and Dignity in South Africa”, a working paper commissioned by the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, University of the Witwatersrand. 

Matthews, T. (2019) “To be equal and free: The nexus between human rights and democracy”, a report commissioned by the Heinrich Boll Stiftung, Germany. 

Matthews, T. (2018) “The Legal Situation of Human Rights Defenders in South Africa” in Reflecting on the Closing of Civic Spaces and its Impact on Marginalised Groups in Southern Africa, a report commissioned by the Southern Africa Litigation Centre. 

Matthews, T. (2017) “‘Within its available resources’: An assessment of South African government spending on socio-economic rights from 2008/09 to 2017/18”, a working paper commissioned by the  Studies in Poverty and Inequality Institute. 

Matthews, T. et al (2016) “Using budget analysis to confront governments: What Practitioners need to know”, openGlobalRights. 

Matthews, T. (2016) “The names we forget: A tribute to the women leaders of 1956 and those who now lead the struggle for equality”, Daily Maverick. 

Academic Conferences and Workshops

Panelist (2023) ‘International Symposium: International Law, South Africa and the Question of Palestine’, Judge Navi Pillay UN COI on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel,  University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, January 2024.

Panelist (2022) ‘Reckoning with the Past, Constitutional Transformation and Ubuntu’, Conference in honor of Judge Margie Victor, University of Johannesburg,  South Africa, December 2022 (funder: New York Law School).

Panelist (2022) ‘Technological Innovation, the World of Work(ers) and Inequality’, paper presentation at Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, August 2022 (funder: SCIS).

Panelist (2022) 'Who gets left behind? Mobilising the right to social security and the judicialisation of politics in South Africa’, paper presentation at Law & Society Association Annual Meeting, Portugal, June 2022 (funder: LSA/ISS).

Panelist (2021) Roundtable on ‘Legal Mobilization in the Field of Law and Development’, 2021 Conference of the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), Netherlands, July 2021 (online).

Panelist (2021) ‘Interrogating ‘lawfare’ and ‘legal mobilisation’: a literature review’, paper presentation at Law & Society Association Annual Meeting, May 2021 (online).

Panelist (2021) ‘A socio-legal approach to exploring the transformative potential of the constitutional right to social security to address structural inequalities in South Africa’, paper presentation at Cardiff University Socio-Legal Studies Association Annual Meeting, Cardiff, March 2021 (online).

Discussant (2021) to paper presented by S. Dezalay ‘Africa’s lawyers: From imperial agents to legal brokers on global markets’, Flemish Dutch Association Annual Conference, Netherlands, January 2021 (online).

Organiser (2020) ‘Workshop: Law, Rights and Governance in Africa: A Look to the Future’, Leiden African Studies Centre, Leiden, Netherlands, January 2020 (funder: Leiden University).

Panelist (2014) ‘20 Years of Constitutionalism in South Africa’, paper presentation at New York Law School, New York, United States, November 2014 (funder: New York Law School).

Other media

Featured Presenter (2021) ‘Smaby Peacebuilding Symposium: Healing, Empowerment, Communication and Accountability’, University of Minnesota Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, Minnesota, United States. 

Panelist (2021) ‘The Constitution – Intention v Implementation’, in conversation with Justice Albie Sachs, Tambo Foundation. 

Featured Expert (2023) ‘Broken Promises’, Black Sash documentary on South Africa’s  social grant system, SABC, South Africa.

Featured Panelist (2023) ‘Podcast: A Global North-South Dialogue on Feminist Foreign Policy’, in conversation with Kavita Ramdas, Heinrich-Boll-Stiftung, Washington DC, United States.