Mandisa Maya makes History as South Africa's First Female Chief Justice

In a historic Judiciary progress for South Africa Mandisa Maya has been appointed as a Chief Justice of the nation. The decision is to come into force from September 1 and has been declared by the South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. Maya who is the current Deputy Chief Justice shall be taking up the position from the outgoing Chief Justice Raymond Zondo who will be retiring gracefully.

Maya’s rise to this significant position is a chronicle of a career characterized by historical feats. She was the first black woman that assumed the position of a judge in Supreme Court of Appeal and became the Deputy President and later the President of the court. Before taking this position she was the Judge President of the Supreme Court of Appeal this being the second highest court in South Africa.

The appointment of Maya is of special importance and is underlined by President Ramaphosa’s nomination in February and the recommendation of the Judicial Services Commission in May of the current year. “She is the first woman ever to be appointed by the government of South Africa for such post, and this is a momentous achievement”, Ramaphosa said. Maya represents uplifting story of a young lady from Eastern Cape’s rural areas; she has defied odds to succeed. Her educational background includes Fulbright scholarship to study at Duke University in 1989; her struggles have been named by her as apartheid interrupted the potential of young black women to pursue their education during that period.

Restricting the leadership to male chief justices since 1910 when South Africa came under the British colonial rule, the post of Chief Justice was created. Maya will be the eighth person to occupy this position since the dawn of the democratic dispensation in 1994. Her appointment has been embraced as a beacon of change for women in the corridors of the judiciary.

But the journey from a humble background to the highest judiciary post was not without a few transitional phases in the life of Maya. At first, she had planned on being a doctor but after a defining incident on her first day at university, she changed her mind and decided to become a lawyer instead. From a humble background in a village to the top echelon of the judiciary in South Africa is a dream come through. Maya, who is set to ascend to the Supreme Court, is expected to chart a progressive and diversive judiciary by virtue of her leadership.