New Deputy Chief Justice Mandisa Maya :A Beacon of Hope for Young Women

BY SINAZO QIQA MKOKO

From 1 September, the Republic of South Africa will have a new Deputy Chief Justice. This comes after His Excellency, President Cyril Ramaphosa, appointed Madam Justice Mandisa Muriel Lindelwa Maya, who currently holds the position of President of the Supreme Court of Appeal, as Deputy Chief Justice.

President Ramaphosa made the appointment in accordance with Section 174(3) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa.

He stated: “Justice Maya will contribute to the ongoing transformation process of the Judiciary. Her ascendancy to the apex court will serve as a beacon of hope for scores of young women and make them believe that South Africa is a country of possibilities regardless of gender, social or economic circumstances.”

Born in 1964, in the rural town of Tsolo in the Eastern Cape, Justice Maya is the first woman to hold the positions of Deputy President and President of the Supreme Court of Appeal and brings more than 20 years of experience in a distinguished career as a judicial officer. She was the only woman who was interviewed for the Chief Justice position earlier this year. Justice Maya is admired by many for her stance in ensuring justice for all, particularly the marginalised groups and here we’ve highlighted a few.

The use of indigenous languages in courts

During her interview for the position of Chief Justice, the public learnt that Justice Maya had made history by writing a superior court judgment in isiXhosa. When asked what inspired her to write the judgment in the Afriforum and UNISA case in both English and isiXhosa, she shared that it was a former Commissioner of the Judicial Services Commission who ignited her conscience around issues of cultural identity, and the languages we are losing. “Our children hardly speak our language. In fact, we do not speak our languages. We cannot even finish one sentence, in our mothertongue, without infusing English or some other language,” she said.

“I was inspired by a question he had put to me during one of my interviews about what we can do to save our dying cultures and I had always read Constitutional Court Judges’ written [sic], especially by Justice Froneman, who used to make a point of having dual language judgments, whenever the opportunity arose for him and I would envy that so much. And when this judgment came along, this matter came along, I thought it was a perfect opportunity to write in isiXhosa and I did, but we sat together in the matter and I had indicated at a conference that colleagues, I’m going to do something that has never been done before.” - Justice Maya.

Gender-Equality

When asked whether South Africa was ready for the appointment of a woman as Chief Justice, she told the committee that while she fully appreciated the sentiment behind the question and respected it, she didn’t think it was a proper question to ask because it implied “all sorts of negative things”.

“South Africa has always been ready to have a female Chief Justice, at inception, as you point out, we had strong capable women in the Constitutional Court.

“So, there’s never been a shortage of women who could take up leadership in any of the realms of this institution of ours. And, I tell you this, that question actually annoys a lot of women and I’ve had people ask, was it ever asked if South Africa is ready for a black Chief Justice and, if not, why? Why are we asking about it, about women [sic] as if we are this homogenous, this special group that needs to be done a favour just to keep checking if they are ready and then at some stage we think, oh, maybe, maybe now. No, that’s not who women are. We are as capable as men, I need not say that, I need not say that, JP” - Justice Maya

Gender-Based Violence

In her speech at the Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Summit in 2018, Justice Maya told gender-based violence survivors that she was ashamed that she was part of the society and the justice system that visited horrendous pain upon them. “I am tremendously proud of your courage and bravery,” she said.

“How have we been able to carry on as a functioning society after the horrific rape of 9-month-old baby Tshepang from Upington by a group of adult men in 2002? Just yesterday, the KwaZulu-Natal High Court imposed three life terms of imprisonment against a father who raped his young daughters. Many examples of these atrocious incidents abound and they continue unabated. And more frightening is the fact that many more of these acts occur behind closed doors and remain unreported and undocumented for a whole variety of reasons.” - Justice Maya

She stated that the responsibility of ensuring that those responsible for committing gender-based crimes are brought to account rests on the criminal justice system and relevant stakeholders such as the police, prosecutors, health-care providers and social services, who all need to combine their efforts in order to guarantee that justice prevails.

“The Courts must be constantly reminded that as the final arbiters in matters involving gender-based violence, they have the power to protect abused women and to effectively punish the offenders, and in so doing send a clear message to perpetrators that such conduct will not be condoned. That they have the inherent ability to ensure that courtroom policies and procedures are sensitive to the victims, and that the victims who go through the legal system are not subjected to secondary trauma in the form of harsh, humiliating and unnecessary cross-examination when they present themselves to testify,” she said.

Following her appointment as the Deputy Chief Justice, the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Honourable Nonhlanhla Ncube- Ndaba, stated that this was a massive and notable step in the fight for gender equality in South Africa. “Justice Maya will add new value to the transformation of the judiciary and she will be a symbol of hope to the South African women,” she said.

"The responsibility of ensuring that those responsible for committing gender-based crimes are brought to account rests on the criminal justice system."

Sources:

The Supreme Court of Appeal

The Presidency South Africa

Parliament of the Republic of South Africa

Judges Matter