[2] After finishing high school, she attended the University of Cape Town, where she was the first black woman to serve as president of the student representative council.
[3] 15 years later, while working as a prosecutor, she resumed her education at the Harvard Kennedy School, where she obtained an MPA in 2010.
[3] In that capacity she worked under Willie Hofmeyr,[6] and her notable cases included the confiscation application in Schabir Shaik's criminal trial.
[12] The Sunday Times reported that her decision to leave was rumoured to stem from frustration at a skills shortage within the NPA that prevented the organisation from pursuing major state capture prosecutions,[13] while the Daily Maverick suggested that a lack of political will had presented a similar obstacle.
[16][17] The Sunday Times later published a leaked copy of Cronje's resignation letter, in which she referred to the toll of the job on her health and family.
[19] From 1 June that year, she worked part-time in the legal unit of Open Secrets, a non-profit organisation run by activist Hennie van Vuuren.