Own Correspondent
South Africa’s first female Chief Justice, Mandisa Maya, takes office on 1 September, a massive milestone not only in her own illustrious judicial career, but also in the country’s move towards gender equality in all arms of the state.
Maya, who was also the first woman to be appointed as the president of the Supreme Court of Appeal, a post she held from 2017 until she became the Deputy Chief Justice in July 2022, takes over from Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.
She was appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa last month, after consultation with the Judicial Service Commission and the leaders of the political parties represented in the National Assembly.
In February the president first made public his intention to appoint Maya to replace Zondo – whom he appointed in 2022 despite the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) having named Maya as its preferred candidate to head the judiciary at that time. He made the formal announcement last month, ahead of Zondo’s retirement date of 1 September.
Maya, who began her career as a legal clerk in Mthatha in 1987 after studying law at the University of the Transkei, is a Duke University graduate who has served at all levels of the judiciary since she was first appointed as an acting judge of the Cape High Court and the Mthatha High Court in 1999.
She was appointed full-time to the Mthatha bench the following year, and spent time as a judge in the Eastern Cape divisions of the High Court before being appointed to the Supreme Court of Appeal in 2005.
Maya has also acted in the Supreme Court of Namibia and in the Lesotho Appeal Court. In 2011 she was appointed to South Africa’s Constitutional Court for the first time.
She was appointed as deputy president of the Supreme Court of Appeal in 2015, and acted as its president from 2016 until May 2017, when she took on the presidency of the court on a permanent basis.
Maya was appointed as deputy chief justice in 2022, the only female candidate among four who were interviewed, including Zondo. She ultimately got the job despite her being the JSC’s preferred candidate for the position of chief justice.
In her 2022 JSC interview, Maya made it clear that she believed she was in the position she occupied because of her skills and experience and not because of her gender.
In response to questions on whether South Africa was ready for a female chief justice, Maya said the country had “always been ready” and historically had no shortage of capable and committed women judges.
“I’m not here because I’m a woman. I’m a worthy judge. I’m just a good woman judge,” Maya said.
Throughout her career, Maya has been a champion of gender equity within the judiciary and the legal profession and has served on a number of organisations forwarding this agenda, including the South African chapter of the International Association of Women Judges.
On an international level, Maya was part of the Georgetown University’s Law and Gender Fellowship Programme in the 1990s and a Fulbright Scholar, and was also a member of the Commonwealth Association of Law Reform Commissions.
She also served on the South African Law Reform Commission and the South African Judicial Education Institute and is a patron of Lawyers Against Violence.
Commenting on Maya’s appointment, Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Thembi Simelane described Maya as a “trailblazer” and a “brilliant mind” who had served at all levels of the judiciary with distinction.
“We now have a female Chief Justice. The appointment signifies the deeper appreciation of how far we have come as a nation and how much our courts have transformed, both in terms of race and gender,” Simelane said on the significance of the appointment.
“It signifies the transformation agenda of what was previously a male dominated judiciary,” Simelane added.
Speaking at Zondo’s farewell dinner in Johannesburg, Maya praised the outgoing chief justice for his support for women in the judicial system during his tenure.
Maya said there had been several notable appointments of women during Zondo’s term, including two women judge presidents, a number of deputy judge presidents, a deputy chief justice – and her own appointment as chief justice.
In the 27 years preceding Zondo’s appointment as chief justice, only one woman had been appointed as a judge president.
“It is no random coincidence that these tremendous gains in the struggle to diversify the judiciary in terms of gender were achieved during your tenure. Your support added significantly to the impetus for the recognition of women in this arm of the state,” Maya said.
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