Mandisa Maya

The Honourable Mandisa Maya
Maya in chambers in Bloemfontein, 2015
6th Chief Justice of South Africa
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 September 2024
Appointed by	Cyril Ramaphosa
Preceded by	Raymond Zondo
4th Deputy Chief Justice of South Africa
In office 1 September 2022 – 31 August 2024
Appointed by	Cyril Ramaphosa
Chief Justice	Raymond Zondo
Preceded by	Raymond Zondo
3rd President of the Supreme Court of Appeal
In office 26 May 2017 – 31 August 2022
Appointed by	Jacob Zuma
Deputy	Xola Petse
Preceded by	Lex Mpati
Succeeded by	Mahube Molemela
4th Deputy President of the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa
In office 23 September 2015 – 1 September 2022
Appointed by	Jacob Zuma
President	Lex Mpati
Preceded by	Kenneth Mthiyane
Succeeded by	Xola Petse
Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal
In office June 2006 – 31 August 2022
Appointed by	Thabo Mbeki
Judge of the High Court
In office 1 May 2000 – June 2006
Appointed by	Thabo Mbeki
Division	Transkei
Chancellor of the University of Mpumalanga
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 July 2021
Vice-Chancellor	Thoko Mayekiso
Preceded by	Cyril Ramaphosa
Personal details
Born	Mandisa Muriel Lindelwa Maya (1964-03-20) 20 March 1964 (age 60) St Cuthbert's, Tsolo Cape Province, South Africa
Spouse	Dabulamnazi Mlokoti
Children	3
Alma mater	University of Transkei (BProc) University of Natal (LLB) Duke University (LLM)

Mandisa Muriel Lindelwa Maya (born 20 March 1964) is the Chief Justice of South Africa. She was formerly the President of the Supreme Court of Appeal from 2017 to 2022 before she was elevated to the position of Deputy Chief Justice of South Africa in September 2022. She joined the bench in May 2000 as a judge of the Transkei Division of the High Court of South Africa and was elevated to the Supreme Court of Appeal in 2006.

Born in the Eastern Cape, Maya began her legal career in the Transkei, working as a prosecutor and state law adviser until she was admitted as an advocate in 1994. President Thabo Mbeki appointed her to the Mthatha High Court in May 2000 and to the Supreme Court of Appeal in June 2006. In the appellate court, she was elevated to the deputy presidency in September 2015 and the presidency in May 2017, succeeding Lex Mpati in both positions. She was the first black woman to serve in the Supreme Court of Appeal, as well as the court's first woman deputy president and first woman president.

Maya was nominated unsuccessfully for elevation to the Constitutional Court in 2009 and 2012, and President Cyril Ramaphosa controversially declined to confirm her nomination as Chief Justice of South Africa in March 2022. In September 2022, however, Ramaphosa appointed her as the first woman Deputy Chief Justice, in which capacity she deputises Raymond Zondo. She was the president of the South African chapter of the International Association of Women Judges from 2018 to 2023, and she was appointed as the Chancellor of the University of Mpumalanga on 1 July 2021.

In July 2024, Ramaphosa appointed Maya as South Africa's first female Chief Justice, effective 1 September 2024.^[1]