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Justice Maya attributes her rise into the Judiciary to Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza

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Chief Justice nominee, Mandisa Maya, has attributed her rise into the Judiciary to the likes of former colleague Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza who recognised her potential.

She says her hard work and honesty and integrity also led to her achievements.

 Maya’s interview started just after 9am.  She is the President of the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).

Maya was asked by her Deputy at the SCA Xola Petse who is presiding over the Judicial Service Committee proceedings how her potential was identified.

She says, “The person who got me started  in this path is Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza who at the time had moved from Transkei to Cape Town, but he would still come and do cases in the Transkei Division.”

“So, I met him in motion court and I think he saw how I performed there and he kept saying we are looking for women Acting Judges in that division, please, please let me submit your name to the powers that be. That were JP Edwin King and his Deputy, the now  JP Hlophe,” she adds.

JSC Interview | Justice Mandisa Maya

Background

Maya is the only female Chief Justice nominee among the four candidates. Born on March 20, 1964, in the rural Eastern Cape, 57-year-old Maya’s legal career dates back to the 1980s in Mthatha.

She is a former court interpreter and prosecutor, a former assistant state law adviser and a former law lecturer at the then the University of Transkei.

The former Acting Labour Court Judge was one of the first female judges in the Eastern Cape High Court.

She became the first female to be appointed as President of the Supreme Court of Appeal and if she is the successful candidate for the top job in the Constitutional Court, Maya will also become the first female Chief Justice of South Africa.

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