While the Judicial Services Commission (JSC)’s recommendation of deputy chief justice Mandisa Maya to become the country’s chief justice was a foregone conclusion, it is too significant a moment in our judicial history not to note.
When President Cyril Ramaphosa officially makes the appointment, Maya will become the first woman in our history to occupy the highest position in the country’s apex court. Of all the oppressed classes in South Africa, black African women were the most oppressed under apartheid and colonialism. That Maya has cleared the many obstacles — especially in the legal field dominated by men — is phenomenal.
But if she had to work three times harder than everyone to get to the pinnacle of our judiciary, she will need to work even harder to make a success of her tenure as chief justice. The point, after all, is not merely to attain the position, however crucial that is, but to make a success of it. As former president Nelson Mandela put it “what counts in life is not the mere fact that we lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.”
Maya’s success, for us, means a transformed judiciary, a judiciary whose future female judges won’t have to overcome similar challenges that Maya, or even before her Yvonne Mokgoro, Sisi Khampepe and many others, overcame.
But more importantly, success means Maya’s leadership of the judiciary must conspire to ensure that even the poor and voiceless have access to justice. This means she and her colleagues, not just in the constitutional court, must work to eliminate whatever encumbrances that exist in the judicial system so that the law does not pander to those with access to resources, leaving the poor to exclaim as Mr Bumble did in Charles Dickens' novel Oliver Twist that “the law is an ass!”
During her appearance before the JSC this week, Maya spoke about a number of challenges faced by the judiciary, including the apex court’s increased caseload. “I have never worked as hard in my entire life than I have worked in the last 20 months,” she said. “That court is extremely, extremely busy.”
To obviate the challenge, she suggested that the highest court could work in teams of three or five to reduce the workload and make justice accessible quicker. It is great to see that Maya is already applying her mind to potential solutions. It is great that she is, unlike the characters in Oliver Twist, not throwing her hands up in despair. We'd disagree with her about reducing the number of judges applying their minds to cases brought to the constitutional court. There is wisdom in getting as many great minds on a matter. It reduces the possibility of erroneous judgments. Teams of three and five is what the Supreme Court of Appeal does and it still gets its judgments overturned by the Constitutional Court.
Thankfully, Maya did express caution, saying hers were raw thoughts. “Our word is the last in all matters we determine, so we prepare and pay particular attention to every matter that comes before us before we issue a decision,” she notes. And if it’s unappealable, we would want to know that more learned minds applied themselves to it than just a handful.
That said, much of what she said this week about streamlining operations, ensuring the safety of judges and adjudicating matters relating to judicial misconduct expeditiously, we agree with.
While her rise to the top is historic, what will be even more significant is how she transforms the way the majority of South Africans relate and view processes of justice. When the justness of justice is no longer a debate — or when the law is no longer viewed as serving those with resources — then we shall say our constitution is a living text. It infuses life into our everyday life.
Indeed, the mission before Maya is great. But, to revert to Mandela, “after climbing a great hill one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.” We feel more confident as we approach the hills ahead of us with her at the helm. We hope she sets the bar higher for her successors.
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