The First Woman To Serve As Chief Justice Of South Africa

On Thursday, July 25, South Africa appointed its first female chief justice.

The current deputy chief justice, Mandisa Maya, was appointed as the nation’s most senior judge by President Cyril Ramaphosa. Her tenure is scheduled to begin on September 1st, when she will take Chief Justice Raymond Zondo’s place as the highest court’s head. Zondo is about to retire.

Prior to being promoted to the Constitutional Court, Maya, 60, held the position of judge president at the Supreme Court of Appeal, which is the second-highest court in South Africa. She was the first Black woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court of Appeal as a judge, and the first to hold the position of deputy president before rising to the position of president.

In February, Ramaphosa put Maya forward for chief justice, and in May, the Judicial Services Commission conducted an interview with her. In a statement, Ramaphosa stated that the commission had nominated her and that her appointment “would be a significant milestone for the country.”

Maya was raised in a remote area of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Her Fulbright Scholarship to study law at Duke University in the United States in 1989 was an extraordinarily uncommon accomplishment for a young Black lady growing up in South Africa during the apartheid era of racial segregation.