President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed Manisa Maya as South Africa’s new Chief Justice, effective 1 September, making her the first woman to lead the country’s judiciary.
The appointment followed extensive consultations Ramaphosa held over the past few months with the Judicial Service Commission and leaders of political parties represented in the South African parliament on Maya’s suitability for the top job.

Maya, 60, was a former Justice-President of the Supreme Court of Appeal, South Africa’s second highest court, before being promoted to the Constitutional Court. She was the first black woman to be appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal and the first woman to be appointed Deputy President and then President of the Supreme Court of Appeal.

Maya, who is currently Deputy Chief Justice, is expected to replace Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, who will retire on 31 August at the end of his 12-year term at the Constitutional Court.

Maya grew up in rural South Africa’s Eastern Cape. In 1989, she was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to pursue a Master of Laws at Duke University in the United States, an incredibly rare achievement for a young black woman in the era of apartheid and racial segregation in South Africa.

As a reminder, the Supreme and Constitutional Court of South Africa has been a member of the CCJA, since 2012, and as such hosted the 3rd CCJA Congress in Cape Town in June 2017.