POLOKWANE – Something which makes these women even more special is when they come from Limpopo and are making a name for themselves, and one such woman is South African high court judge, Mokgadi Lucy Mailula.
Born in 1958, Mailula matriculated from Hwiti High School in Mankweng in 1974.
She attended the University of Limpopo, where she obtained her BProc and LLB degrees, the latter cum laude. Mailula’s journey took her to Bophutatswana (Mmabatho in North West), where she was employed as a state advocate, and in 1987, she became an advocate at the Johannesburg Bar, where she still practices today.
Her achievements extend further than her academic successes, as she was the first woman to be nominated by the Judicial Service Commission for permanent appointment to the Supreme Court bench. This at a time when it was unheard for black people, let alone black women to be awarded such high positions.
Mailula was the first black woman to be appointed as a high court judge, something she is proud of. She is currently the judge of the South Gauteng high court and has been involved in many cases, most notably the Oscar Pistorius case, where she was the chair of the parole review board which denied Pistorius’ appeal for early release.
Mailula’s skills extend beyond law as she is an author, having contributed a chapter titled: Gender, Culture and the Law: the South African Experience, to a book compiled by the United Nation’s Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.
She is also a linguist and apart from her home language of Northern Sotho, Mailula can speak eight of the eleven official languages including English, Afrikaans, Setswana, South Sotho, Ndebele, Zulu, Seswati and Tshivenda.
