Mandisa Maya | |
|---|---|
 Maya in chambers inBloemfontein, 2015 | |
| 23rdChief Justice of South Africa | |
| Assumed office 1 September 2024 | |
| Appointed by | Cyril Ramaphosa |
| Deputy | Mbuyiseli Madlanga (Acting) Dunstan Mlambo |
| Preceded by | Raymond Zondo |
| 8thDeputy Chief Justice of South Africa | |
| In office 1 September 2022 – 31 August 2024 | |
| Appointed by | Cyril Ramaphosa |
| Chief Justice | Raymond Zondo |
| Preceded by | Raymond Zondo |
| Succeeded by | Dunstan Mlambo |
| 3rdPresident of the Supreme Court of Appeal | |
| In office 26 May 2017 – 31 August 2022 | |
| Appointed by | Jacob Zuma |
| Deputy | Xola Petse |
| Preceded by | Lex Mpati |
| Succeeded by | Mahube Molemela |
| 4thDeputy President of the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa | |
| In office 23 September 2015 – 1 September 2022 | |
| Appointed by | Jacob Zuma |
| President | Lex Mpati |
| Preceded by | Kenneth Mthiyane |
| Succeeded by | Xola Petse |
| Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal | |
| In office June 2006 – 31 August 2022 | |
| Appointed by | Thabo Mbeki |
| Judge of the High Court | |
| In office 1 May 2000 – June 2006 | |
| Appointed by | Thabo Mbeki |
| Division | Transkei |
| Chancellor of the University of Mpumalanga | |
| Assumed office 1 July 2021 | |
| Vice-Chancellor | Thoko Mayekiso |
| Preceded by | Cyril Ramaphosa |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Mandisa Muriel Lindelwa Maya (1964-03-20)20 March 1964 (age 61) |
| Spouse | Dabulamnazi Mlokoti |
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater | University of Transkei(BProc) University of Natal(LLB) Duke University(LLM) |
Mandisa Muriel Lindelwa Maya (born 20 March 1964) is theChief Justice of South Africa. She was formerly thePresident of the Supreme Court of Appeal from 2017 to 2022 before she was elevated to the position ofDeputy Chief Justice of South Africa in September 2022. She joined the bench in May 2000 as a judge of theTranskei Division of theHigh Court of South Africa and was elevated to theSupreme Court of Appeal in 2006.
Born in theEastern Cape, Maya began her legal career in theTranskei, working as a prosecutor and state law adviser until she was admitted as an advocate in 1994. PresidentThabo Mbeki appointed her to theMthatha High Court in May 2000 and to the Supreme Court of Appeal in June 2006. In the appellate court, she was elevated to thedeputy presidency in September 2015 and the presidency in May 2017, succeedingLex Mpati in both positions. She was the first black woman to serve in the Supreme Court of Appeal, as well as the court's first woman deputy president and first woman president.
Maya was nominated unsuccessfully for elevation to theConstitutional Court in 2009 and 2012, and PresidentCyril Ramaphosa controversially declined to confirm her nomination asChief Justice of South Africa in March 2022. In September 2022, however, Ramaphosa appointed her as the first woman Deputy Chief Justice, in which capacity she deputisedRaymond Zondo. She was the president of the South African chapter of theInternational Association of Women Judges from 2018 to 2023, and she was appointed as the Chancellor of theUniversity of Mpumalanga on 1 July 2021.
In July 2024, Ramaphosa appointed Maya as South Africa's first female Chief Justice, effective 1 September 2024.[1]
Maya was born on 20 March 1964 in St Cuthbert's, a rural area ofTsolo in theTranskei region of theEastern Cape.[2] She was the eldest of six children born to Sandile and Nombulelo Maya, who were both teachers.[3] Her home language wasXhosa.[4]
Her family moved toKing William's Town in 1966 after her father got a job with Radio Bantu, and she attended school there until 1977, when, due to the disruptive effects of theSoweto uprising, she was sent to attend school inMthatha.[5] She matriculated in 1981 at St John's College, Mthatha.[6]
When Maya enrolled in theUniversity of Transkei, she intended to register for a degree in medicine but was put off by aforensic medicine textbook that she happened to leaf through on registration day.[3] She studied towards a BProc instead, graduating in 1986.[2] Thereafter she attended theUniversity of Natal, completing an LLB in 1988.[2] She also clerked at the Mthatha firm of Dazana Mafungo Inc, between 1987 and 1988, and after graduation she took up work at themagistrate's court in Mthatha, where she was a court interpreter and then a public prosecutor.[2][3]
In 1989, Maya moved toDurham, North Carolina to attendDuke University School of Law on aFulbright Scholarship,[3] studyinglabour law,alternative dispute resolution, andconstitutional law.[7] She later said that it was "mind-blowing" to leaveapartheid-era South Africa for Duke.[5][8] After she graduated in 1990 with an LLM, she worked as policy counsel at theWomen's Legal Defense Fund inWashington, D. C. from 1990 to 1991.[6]
Upon her return to South Africa, Maya was an assistant state law adviser in Mthatha from 1991 to 1993,[2] during which time she was also a part-time lecturer in law at the University of Transkei.[6] In 1993, she moved toJohannesburg to serve herpupillage, though she returned to the Transkei to practice after she was admitted as anadvocate in 1994.[2][6] She practised at the Transkei Bar for five years. According to Maya, she struggled to get briefs during her early years as an advocate and her practice depended on referrals from friends, particularlyNambitha Dambuza.[9]
In 1999, she was appointed as an acting judge in theMthatha High Court, the seat of theTranskei Division of theHigh Court of South Africa.[2] She later said thatDumisa Ntsebeza had encouraged her to join the bench.[10]
On 1 May 2000, Maya joined the bench permanently as a judge of the Transkei Division.[6] She also served as an acting judge in theLabour Court, theBhisho High Court (Ciskei Division), and theGrahamstown andPort Elizabeth High Courts (Eastern Cape Division).[2] In February 2005, she was appointed as an acting judge in theSupreme Court of Appeal, and she remained at that court inBloemfontein for over a year, until she was elevated permanently the following year.[7]
On 12 May 2006, on the advice of theJudicial Service Commission, PresidentThabo Mbeki appointed Maya to a permanent seat in the Supreme Court of Appeal.[11] She took office in June 2006.[7] She was one of three women serving on the appellate bench at the time, the others being JudgesCarole Lewis andBelinda van Heerden,[12] and the firstblack woman ever to gain appointment as a judge of appeal.[13] She later remembered that she had been refused entrance to the courthouse on her first day, by a gardener who thought she was lost, and she said that, among her colleagues on the bench, "There are those who ignored me and showed in subtle and not so subtle ways I had no place in being here."[14]
By the end of her tenure in the Supreme Court, Maya had over 200reported judgments.[15] Her notable opinions included a dissent inMinister of Safety and Security v F: while the majority held that the state could not be heldvicariously liable for a minor'srape by an off-duty police officer, Maya found otherwise, and theConstitutional Court upheld her dissent in 2012 inF v Minister of Safety and Security.[16] She was also noted for writing the court's unanimous judgment inAfriForum v Chairperson of the Council of the University of South Africa, a dispute about thelanguage policy of theUniversity of South Africa; it was the first recorded judgment of a superior court written in Xhosa. She said that it had been inspired by JusticeJohan Froneman's judgments in his own home language,Afrikaans.[4][17] The judgment was upheld in the Constitutional Court inChairperson of the Council of the University of South Africa v AfriForum.
While serving in the Supreme Court of Appeal, Maya was an acting judge in theSupreme Court of Namibia in 2008 and in theLesotho Court of Appeal in 2015,[2] as well as in theConstitutional Court of South Africa from February to May 2012.[7] In the latter capacity, she wrote the Constitutional Court's majority judgment inCompetition Commission v Loungefoam and Others. She was also the chairperson of theSouth African Law Reform Commission from 2013 to 2016.[2]
During her first decade in the Supreme Court of Appeal, Maya was twice nominated unsuccessfully for appointment as apuisne judge of the Constitutional Court. She was first interviewed by the Judicial Service Commission in September 2009 as one of 24 candidates for four vacancies.[18] She was one of the seven candidates whom the Judicial Service Commission shortlisted after its hearings,[19] andPierre de Vos viewed her as a strong candidate with a demonstrated "sensitivity for gender issues".[20] However, PresidentJacob Zuma declined to appoint her, instead confirming the appointments ofJohan Froneman,Chris Jafta,Sisi Khampepe andMogoeng Mogoeng.[21]
In May 2012, Maya was one of four candidates – alongsideRaymond Zondo,Ronnie Bosielo, andRobert Nugent – nominated for the Constitutional Court seat vacated by Chief JusticeSandile Ngcobo's retirement.[22] Maya had recently been an acting judge in the Constitutional Court, and several prominent gender rights organisations lobbied in support of her candidacy.[23][24] However, during her interview in Johannesburg in June, she "appeared nervous" and was subjected to stern questioning aboutjudicial independence and the exercise ofjudicial restraint inreviewing executive action.[25][26] The Judicial Service Commission shortlisted all four candidates as suitable for appointment, but President Zuma elected to appoint Zondo.[27] When JusticeZak Yacoob's retirement was announced later in 2012, Maya declined a third nomination to stand for elevation to the Constitutional Court.[28]
In June 2015, Maya was President Zuma's sole nominee for appointment asDeputy President of the Supreme Court of Appeal, a position that had been vacated byKenneth Mthiyane upon his retirement in 2014.[29] Following an interview in Johannesburg in July, the Judicial Service Commission recommended her as suitable for appointment.[30] Zuma confirmed her appointment on 23 September 2015, and she became the first woman to serve as the court's Deputy President.[31] When Supreme Court PresidentLex Mpati retired the following year, she stood in as acting president.[2]
President Zuma announced in March 2017 that Maya was his sole nominee to succeed Mpati as Supreme Court President.[32] During and after her confirmation interview with the Judicial Service Commission in April, she was highly candid about what she described as the Supreme Court's "challenges", describing the court as "not the most collegial of courts" and its judges as afflicted with "superiority complexes and disrespect".[33] The Judicial Service Commission endorsed her appointment, which was confirmed by Zuma with immediate effect on 26 May 2017.[34][35]
During theCOVID-19 pandemic, Maya oversaw the Supreme Court's transition to virtual court hearings held throughMicrosoft Teams,[36][37] and she was generally viewed as a strong leader and capable administrator.[16][38] She later told the Judicial Service Commission that she had arranged for the appellate judges to attend adiversity seminar, over "vociferous opposition",[16] and judge of appealSteven Majiedt said that the court had become more collegial under her leadership.[39]
In October 2021, PresidentCyril Ramaphosa announced that Maya was included on a longlist of eight candidates to succeedMogoeng Mogoeng asChief Justice of South Africa,[40][41] and the following month, he announced that he had shortlisted Maya and three others: Raymond Zondo,Mbuyiseli Madlanga, andDunstan Mlambo.[42] The Judicial Service Commission considered Maya's candidacy during an interview on 2 February 2022,[15] which Maya opened with a lengthy address about the failure of judicial leadership to addresssexism inthe judiciary; among other things, she objected to the absence of formal policies onsexual harassment andmaternity, recalling that, when she became the first serving judge to fall pregnant, theDepartment of Justice "simply did not know what to do with me".[43] She was asked at length about her own gender, and she cried when commissionerSylvia Lucas congratulated her at length for "breaking theglass ceiling".[44]
The interview proceedings were controversial. Some commentators argued that Maya had been subjected to sexist treatment, with Rebecca Davis of theDaily Maverick pointing to commissionerDali Mpofu's joke about having "spent a night" with Maya.[45] Other commentators, however, believed that she had been given preferential treatment, especially by Supreme Court Deputy PresidentXola Petse; they argued that she faced far fewer substantive and jurisprudential questions than did the other candidates.[46][47] After all four candidates were interviewed, the Judicial Service Commission announced that it would recommend Maya for appointment.[48]
However, the commission's recommendation was not binding, and in March, President Ramaphosa announced that, contrary to the recommendation, he would appoint Zondo as Chief Justice. He said that he intended to nominate Maya to succeed Zondo asDeputy Chief Justice of South Africa.[49]
In July 2024, Ramaphosa appointed Maya as Chief Justice, effective September 2024.[1]
In May 2022, Maya accepted Ramaphosa's nomination to the position of Deputy Chief Justice.[50] After she was interviewed in June, the Judicial Service Commission endorsed the nomination,[9][51] and Ramaphosa announced on 25 July that she would be appointed to the position with effect from 1 September 2022.[52][53]
In February 2023, Zondo announced that Maya had been appointed to chair a new committee tasked with drafting a sexual harassment policy for the judiciary,[54] and in June 2023, she handed down judgment on behalf of a unanimous court inAshebo v Minister of Home Affairs and Others, which blocked the deportation of anasylum seeker.[55]
In August 2025, Maya introduced a new sexual harassment policy for the Judiciary .[56]
Maya was a founding member of the South African chapter of theInternational Association of Women Judges (IAWJ) in 2002. She served as the chapter's deputy president from 2008 to 2010 and as its president from 2018 to 2023.[2] She was later elected as IAWJ's regional director forWest andSouthern Africa in 2021,[57] and as its vice president in 2023.[2]
Maya was awarded honorary LLDs byNelson Mandela University in 2018,Walter Sisulu University in 2019, and theUniversity of Fort Hare in 2020.[2] In July 2021, she was appointed as the Chancellor of theUniversity of Mpumalanga.[58]
Maya is married to Dabulamanzi Mlokoti, a businessman from Johannesburg,[2] and has three children.[2] Her daughter, Wela Mlokoti, clerked on theConstitutional Court in Chris Jafta's chambers and rose to public prominence for lodging a disciplinary complaint against JudgeFayeeza Kathree-Setiloane, who was acting in the Constitutional Court at the time.[59][60]
