She was formerly the President of the Supreme Court of Appeal from 2017 to 2022 before she was elevated to the position of Deputy Chief Justice of South Africa in September 2022.

Born in the Eastern Cape, Maya began her legal career in the Transkei, working as a prosecutor and state law adviser until she was admitted as an advocate in 1994.

In September 2022, however, Ramaphosa appointed her as the first woman Deputy Chief Justice, in which capacity she deputises Raymond Zondo.

She was the president of the South African chapter of the International Association of Women Judges from 2018 to 2023, and she was appointed as the Chancellor of the University of Mpumalanga on 1 July 2021.

In July 2024, Ramaphosa appointed Maya as South Africa's first female Chief Justice, effective 1 September 2024.

[1] Maya was born on 20 March 1964 in St Cuthbert's, a rural area of Tsolo in the Transkei region of the Eastern Cape.

According to Maya, she struggled to get briefs during her early years as an advocate and her practice depended on referrals from friends, particularly Nambitha Dambuza.

[7] On 12 May 2006, on the advice of the Judicial Service Commission, President Thabo Mbeki appointed Maya to a permanent seat in the Supreme Court of Appeal.

[15] Her notable opinions included a dissent in Minister of Safety and Security v F: while the majority held that the state could not be held vicariously liable for a minor's rape by an off-duty police officer, Maya found otherwise, and the Constitutional Court upheld her dissent in 2012 in F v Minister of Safety and Security.

[21] In May 2012, Maya was one of four candidates – alongside Raymond Zondo, Ronnie Bosielo, and Robert Nugent – nominated for the Constitutional Court seat vacated by Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo's retirement.

[22] Maya had recently been an acting judge in the Constitutional Court, and several prominent gender rights organisations lobbied in support of her candidacy.

[27] When Justice Zak Yacoob's retirement was announced later in 2012, Maya declined a third nomination to stand for elevation to the Constitutional Court.

[42] The Judicial Service Commission considered Maya's candidacy during an interview on 2 February 2022,[15] which Maya opened with a lengthy address about the failure of judicial leadership to address sexism in the judiciary; among other things, she objected to the absence of formal policies on sexual harassment and maternity, recalling that, when she became the first serving judge to fall pregnant, the Department of Justice "simply did not know what to do with me".

[45] Other commentators, however, believed that she had been given preferential treatment, especially by Supreme Court Deputy President Xola Petse; they argued that she faced far fewer substantive and jurisprudential questions than did the other candidates.

[50] After she was interviewed in June, the Judicial Service Commission endorsed the nomination,[9][51] and Ramaphosa announced on 25 July that she would be appointed to the position with effect from 1 September 2022.

[52][53] In February 2023, Zondo announced that Maya had been appointed to chair a new committee tasked with drafting a sexual harassment policy for the judiciary,[54] and in June 2023, she handed down judgment on behalf of a unanimous court in Ashebo v Minister of Home Affairs and Others, which blocked the deportation of an asylum seeker.