South Africa made history by appointing its first female chief justice, Mandisa Maya, on Thursday. President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that Maya, the current deputy chief justice, will assume her new role on Sept. 1, succeeding Chief Justice Raymond Zondo who is retiring.
Prior to her appointment, Maya, 60, served as the judge president of the Supreme Court of Appeal, the country's second-highest court. She holds the distinction of being the first Black woman appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal and the first woman to serve as deputy president and president of that court.
Maya's nomination for chief justice was put forth by Ramaphosa in February and received the endorsement of the Judicial Services Commission following interviews in May. Ramaphosa described Maya's appointment as a significant milestone for South Africa.
Maya's journey to becoming chief justice is marked by her upbringing in a rural area of South Africa's Eastern Cape province. Despite the challenges of the apartheid era, Maya's academic excellence earned her a Fulbright Scholarship in 1989 to pursue a Master's in law at Duke University in the United States.
In a 2017 interview, Maya revealed that she initially planned to study medicine but switched to law on her first day at university after perusing a medical textbook. Her appointment as chief justice breaks a longstanding tradition of all-male chief justices in South Africa since the post was established in 1910 during the country's time as a British colony.
Maya's ascension to chief justice marks a significant milestone in South Africa's democratic history, as she becomes the eighth chief justice since the end of apartheid in 1994. Her appointment symbolizes a step forward in gender equality and diversity within the country's judiciary.
Source: AP Africa news
