Supreme Court of Appeal Judge, President Mandisa Maya, will be in the hot seat before the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) on Monday where she will be interviewed for the position of deputy chief justice.
The position became vacant earlier this year when President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed then deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo as the new chief justice of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of South Africa (RSA).
Maya, who was also competing for the position of chief justice, was nominated by Ramaphosa to be Zondo’s second in command. Maya is the only candidate who was nominated by the president for the position. According to the constitution, the president is the only one who can appoint the new chief justice. However, he still needs to go through the process of consulting with the JSC and the leaders of parties represented in the national assembly.
In a statement last month, the JSC confirmed that Judge Maya accepted the nomination. Mandisa Maya is a pioneer in the legal field and a woman of note. She was one of the first women judges in the Eastern Cape High Court. She is the first black woman in the Supreme Court of Appeal and the very first President.
Maya is now set to be the first woman Deputy Chief Justice of the country. While other women have acted in the position as recently as Justice Sisi Khampepe last year, Maya would be the first woman to officially occupy the seat.
Dali Mpofu won’t feature in the panel on Monday. His term as the representative for Advocates for Transformation came to an end last year, but he was allowed to stay on. His questioning raised eyebrows and left mixed views within the legal fraternity. The organisation announced that Advocate Khameshni Pillay would replace him.