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Justice Mandisa Maya

Capacity: Deputy Chief Justice
First appointed as judge: 2000 (Eastern Cape High Court)
Further appointments:
2006 – Judge, Supreme Court of Appeal
2016 – Deputy President, Supreme Court of Appeal
2017 – President, Supreme Court of Appeal
2022 – Deputy Chief Justice

Gender: Female
Ethnicity: African
Date of Birth: March 1964
Qualifications: BProc (WSU) LLB (UKZN) LLM (Duke, USA)

Key judgments:

Candidate Bio:

Justice Mandisa Maya is one of South Africa’s most senior judges, having first been appointed to the High Court in 2000 and now serving as Deputy Judge President since 2022 – the first woman to do so. She is seen by many as the frontrunner to be chief justice.

Born in 1964 in Tsolo in the rural Eastern Cape, Maya holds a B.Proc from the then-University of Transkei (Unitra, now Walter Sisulu University), an LLB from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and an LLM in labour law from Duke University in the United States.

In the ‘80s, she worked as a court interpreter and prosecutor before joining the Women’s Legal Defense Fund in Washington DC. In the early ‘90s Maya spent stints as a law advisor at the Department of Justice and a lecturer at Unitra.

In 1994, as the country headed to its first democratic elections, Maya worked as an investigator for the Independent Electoral Commission, looking into allegations of white farmers in the Eastern Cape who were destroying the election material of so-called “black political parties” and preventing their black workers from organising or attending political events.

Maya spent the second half of the ‘90s practising as an advocate before acting as a high court judge from July 1999 until April 2000. She was permanently appointed to the high court in Mthatha in 2000 and served there until her appointment to the SCA in 2005, where she became the first black woman on that court.

Maya became deputy president of the Supreme Court of Appeal in 2015, before assuming the role of President of the SCA in 2017.

In 2022, the JSC recommended Maya for chief justice, over three other candidates who were also vying for the post. Ultimately, President Ramaphosa appointed then Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo as chief justice. Ramaphosa however nominated Maya as Deputy Chief Justice to serve alongside Zondo. Her term began on 1 September 2022.

Maya has a solid track record as leader in the judiciary. When she was head of the SCA, she had to contend with what were reported to be serious tensions between judges across racial and gender lines, coupled with allegations of bullying. Several of her colleagues have spoken in glowing terms about how, in dealing with these problems, Maya was able to fundamentally changed the SCA’s institutional culture, fostering collegiality and demolishing stifling hierarchies. Seven women judges were appointed in Maya’s five years as head of the SCA, compared to the nine appointed in the 100 or so years prior. The racial demographics of the SCA now more closely match that of the country.

Maya has served as a member of key institutions in the judiciary such as the Judicial Service Commission and the SA Judicial Education Institute since 2017.

Maya has previously acted as a judge of the Constitutional Court in 2012, but took a decade’s hiatus until her return as Deputy Chief Justice in 2022. But the Constitutional Court had changed dramatically in the decade that she was out of the apex court. The Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution in 2013 exponentially increased the workload of the court, which has led to serious delays in how quickly the court is able to deliver judgment. The delays in the court will be one of the key issues she will have to tackle as chief justice.

Maya has been commended as a diligent and hardworking jurist with an excellent grasp of the law and the progressive values of the Constitution by the advocates who have appeared before her, and in the wider legal fraternity. The General Council of the Bar in its review before Maya’s 2024 interview for chief justice, notes that she sat in 28 hearings, penned three unanimous judgments and concurred in five majority judgments since 2022. This, the GCB says, proves that she commands the respect of her peers and is able to obtain consensus and foster collegiality. These are the key qualities of chief justice, who is described as “the first among equals”.

As Deputy Chief Justice, she has presided over some of the cases at the Constitutional Court, including the Independent Electoral Commission v Mkhonto Wesizwe, which concerned former President Jacob Zuma’s disqualification from running for parliament in terms of section 47(1) of the Constitution.

While the hearing itself seemed to have been amiable and rigorous, Maya came for some criticism. RISE Mzansi political party leader Songezo Zibi criticised Maya’s handling of the IEC v uMkhonto Wesizwe hearing, where she allowed advocate Dali Mpofu SC to exceed his allocated time in violation of the ConCourt’s directives (and the loud court buzzer).

“By not reining Mpofu in, Justice Maya participated in the denigration of an institution that is supposed to be where all of us conform to the principles and norms that make us a democratic country,” Zibi said.

Maya has been described as a judge who is sensitive to the contradictions in a society wracked by gender-based violence and socio-economic inequalities and is most independent-minded too. Maya has given numerous speeches decrying the scourge of GBV in society.

In an address titled “Judicial and Legal Responses to Gender Based Violence and Femicide” delivered at the Presidential Summit on Gender Based Violence and Femicide on 1 November 2018, Maya said:

“while there has been a marked ideological shift in the ways Judges adjudicate matters relating to gender-based violence and femicide in recent times … the fate of these victims should not be left to the off-chance that the individual Judges hearing their cases will be attuned to the sensitivities. There should be a formalization and standardization of these norms so that it is incumbent on the Courts to pay particular attention to the treatment of victims in these cases.”

Her sensitivity to GBV might best demonstrated in her 2011 dissenting Supreme Court of Appeal judgment in Minister of Safety and Security v F.

A policeman, Mr van Wyk, was convicted of rape – while her colleagues found that the state was not vicariously liable for his actions, Maya differed.

Noting that there was “no question” that Van Wyk’s actions had nothing to do with his duties as a police officer, Maya felt the judicial enquiry should go further to establish whether there was a “sufficiently close link between his acts for his own personal gratification and the State’s business.” Maya found it “quite pertinent” that the rape survivor had known her assailant was a police officer when she accepted his “second bogus offer to take her home” and that this knowledge had “influenced her decision and quelled her earlier misgivings”.

“[B]y offering to rescue and take home in a police vehicle alone, a vulnerable child stranded on a dark, deserted riverside in the dead of night in those circumstances, Van Wyk subjectively placed himself on duty and acted in his capacity as a police officer. … In my opinion, he placed himself on duty as he was empowered to do by law. And once he did, he assumed the status and obligations of an on-duty police officer. For that reason, I would find the Minister vicariously liable.”

Her ruling was vindicated when, on appeal, the Constitutional Court reversed the SCA’s majority decision.

Her judgments and sentencing in criminal matters had caused the GCB at the time to note that, Maya; “has a finely developed sense of the need to deal with social issues that disproportionately affect women and children, such as rape and sexual assault. Her judgments at the same time indicate that she is acutely aware of the need to balance all interests involved, including those who are found guilty of such crimes.”

In the Department of Correctional Services v Popcru judgment, she found the dismissal of correctional services officers for refusing to cut their dreadlocks to be unfair.

In AfriForum v Chairperson of the Council of the University of South Africa, Maya made history by writing the first recorded judgment of a superior court in South Africa in isiXhosa.

Since her appointment as DCJ in 2022, Maya has led the process of writing a formal anti-sexual harassment policy for the judiciary, which was an undertaking Zondo gave at his 2022 interview and which he had tasked Maya to lead. The policy is in consultation towards finalisation.

Zondo has also delegated the role of enforcing the Judicial Code of Conduct to Maya.  As acting chairperson of the Judicial Conduct Committee, Maya has led efforts to speed up the process of adjudicating misconduct complaints against judges.

The explosive complaint of sexual harassment against Eastern Cape Judge Selby Mbenenge came four months into Maya’s tenure at the JCC, and,12 months later, was due to start tribunal hearings, which is relatively swift. Maya is also working on compiling a report on the Judicial Conduct Committee’s work, which will be a first — even though the JSC Act has required this report for well over a decade.

Maya is also active outside the judiciary.

In December 2021 she took over from President Ramaphosa as the second chancellor of the University of Mpumalanga.

Also in late 2021 she was elected as the Regional Director for West and South Africa with the International Association of Women Judges, an organisation which she has been long-time chairperson of the local chapter.

Maya has delivered several papers at international law conferences and was a USAid Fullbright scholar, a fellow of the Georgetown University Gender and Law Policy Programme and a Commonwealth Foundation Fellow.

Asked what she regards as her most significant contribution to the law and the pursuit of justice, Maya, in her nomination form submitted to the JSC says that:

“I believe that my experiences as a black woman from a rural background have provided the judiciary with a critical diversity of thought and valuable insights into a complex, vulnerable and huge component of our society.

I have over the years encouraged a number of women to make themselves available for judicial appointment and simultaneously nagged various heads of court to give women acting judicial appointments. I have also offered support to those colleagues once appointed as I believe mentorship of new judges is crucial in strengthening the judicial institution.

I have a deep respect for the rule of law, and I am committed to the values enshrined in our constitution. For this reason and a love for my country, I allowed myself to be persuaded to become a judge at a relatively young age of 35 years…I (and only a tiny handful of other judges) will have served as a judge for thirty-five years and dedicated most of my adult life to serving my country when I retire.”

Maya would bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the role of Chief Justice. As a judge of 20 odd years and a judicial leader in recent years, she is knowledgeable of the judiciary. She also has the intellectual clout to restore the gravitas of South Africa’s apex court. These qualities far eclipse the fact that she is also a woman.

Chief Justice Interview | May 2024

In May 2024 Justice Maya was interviewed by the JSC for the position of Chief Justice. After deliberations the Judicial Service Commission will advise the President that Justice Mandisa Maya is suitable for appointment as Chief Justice.

Watch the interview here:

June 2022 Deputy Chief Justice interview

February 2022 Chief Justice interview

Read the full Chief Justice Interview synopses here
Read the full Chief Justice Interview transcript here

April 2017 JSC interview

April 2017 JSC Interview Synopsis: 

The racial and seniority divisions at the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) were laid bare during acting president Mandisa Maya’s interview for permanent appointment to the position.

The Judicial Service Commission will confirm Maya’s suitability to become president of the SCA — the first woman to do so — with President Jacob Zuma after an interview which lasted just over two hours.

In that time Maya told the commission that it was an “open secret that we are not the most collegial of courts”. She went on to describe a workplace where black and white colleagues did not mix in shared spaces like the tearoom and where senior judges appeared to intimidate their less experienced colleagues and those who were acting, into surrendering judgment writing to them.

While describing her vision for turning the court around Maya talked of how, while acting as head of the appellate division for six months last year, she found herself “begging” colleagues to attend a diversity seminar to which there had been “vociferous opposition”.

Consensus was finally reached and the seminar was held in mid-February, on the weekend before the first term of this year started: “That experience was precious,” said Maya, “it was cathartic… We were all able to just say what it is that is bothering us.”

She said she was “shocked” when she reported for work the following Monday and found that “for the first time” in over a decade at the SCA, she found “judges sitting and mixing” with each other.

“It opened the door to the possibility of us to get along with each other… and to relate to the people who came to our court,” she observed.

The monopolisation of judgment writing by senior judges was also being addressed, Maya said. Pointing to the final term of 2016 as an example, she told the commission that judgments had been spread across the Bench with each judge average two judgments.

The appellate court, the second highest in South Africa, is renowned for its “robust”, sometimes brusque, treatment of counsel appearing there. Maya, described her division as extremely hardworking but having gained a certain “notoriety” in that regard, said that while she did not want to tamper with judge’s rigour, some of her “targets” included improving the “collegiality and softening the face of the courts” so that lawyers left satisfied that they had ventilated their arguments.

A star in the domestic judicial firmament, Maya was appointed to the Bench when she was 35 years-old. When asked about the challenges facing gender transformation in the judiciary, Maya expressed exasperation that, having been asked that question every time since her first interview in 2000, she saw very little change in the legal fraternity. She said very little had changed, from briefing patterns for female lawyers and the cases that female judges were allocated, which affected the experience, especially in niche legal fields, one could gain.

One keeps “chipping away” at the edifice of patriarchy, Maya told the commission.

 

Read the full interview transcript: JSC interview transcript – Judge Mandisa Maya