On Thursday, July 25, South Africa named its first female chief justice, Mandisa Maya. President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed Maya, who is currently the deputy chief justice, to become the head of the country’s highest court, the Constitutional Court, starting September 1. She will succeed Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, who is retiring.
Maya, 60, previously served as the judge president of the Supreme Court of Appeal, the second-highest court in South Africa. She was the first Black woman to be appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal and the first woman to become its deputy president and then president.
President Ramaphosa nominated Maya for chief justice in February, and she was interviewed by the Judicial Services Commission in May. The commission endorsed her nomination, with Ramaphosa noting that her appointment “would be a significant milestone for the country.”
PRESIDENT RAMAPHOSA APPOINTS JUSTICE MANDISA MAYA AS CHIEF JUSTICE
President @CyrilRamaphosa has, in terms of Section 174(3) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, appointed current Deputy Chief Justice Mandisa Maya as Chief Justice of the Republic of South… pic.twitter.com/DscvsN3S5O
— The Presidency 🇿🇦 (@PresidencyZA) July 25, 2024Maya grew up in the rural Eastern Cape province and earned a Fulbright Scholarship in 1989 to pursue a Master’s in law at Duke University in the United States. This was a rare accomplishment for a young Black woman during South Africa’s apartheid era. Originally intending to study medicine, she switched to law on her first day at university after finding a medical textbook unappealing.
Since the creation of the chief justice post in 1910, South Africa has had all-male chief justices. Maya will be the eighth chief justice since the end of apartheid and the establishment of democracy in 1994.
