Supreme Court of Appeal President, Justice Mandisa Maya, will take the stand on Wednesday when the Judicial Service Commission continues with the second day of interviews in the search for a new Chief Justice of South Africa.
Maya will be the second candidate to be interviewed.
Constitutional Court Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga was the first nominee who took the stand on Tuesday.
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 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.
Mbuyiseli Madlanga
During Madlanga’s interview on Tuesday, he rejected any suggestion that he does not have the leadership experience required to take over as Chief Justice.
Amongst his achievements, Madlanga has told the Judicial Services Commission, is his record as the Chairperson of the Exchange Control Amnesty Unit.
Madlanga was responding to a question by African National Congress Judicial Services Commissioner Thamsanqa Dodovu who expressed concern that Madlanga seemed to lack experience in leadership.
The unit did not only grant amnesty to people who had contravened Exchange Control Regulations in expatriating their assets but also facilitated the disclosure of assets worth R68.6 billion and raised R2.9 billion in levies.
The disclosure of offshore assets resulted in an estimated R1.4 billion increase in the tax base.
He says, “To those who seek to emphasise the idea that I lack leadership, I don’t, and having started an entity like this in an area that was completely foreign to me and I led it to success, how much more will I be able to perform in an area that I have grown up.”
Part 1 of Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga’s Judicial Services Commission interview:
Part 2 of Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga’s Judicial Services Commission interview:
