Date of Birth

7 November 1966

University

BA (1987) (University of Natal — now University of KwaZulu-Natal), LLB (1989) (University of Natal — now University of KwaZulu-Natal), LLM (1990) (Georgetown University Law Center, as a Fulbright Scholar)

History at the Court:

Acted: February – May 2015. Appointed: 1 July 2017.

Brief biography

Justice Theron was born in Wentworth, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. After completing her BA and LLB degrees at the University of Natal, she obtained an LLM from Georgetown University in the United States as a Fulbright Scholar in 1990. She was admitted as an advocate and joined the KwaZulu-Natal Bar, where she practised until 1999.

In 1999, Theron was appointed to the KwaZulu-Natal Division of the High Court, initially in an acting capacity from April 1999 and then permanently on 15 October 1999. At the age of 32, she was the youngest judge in South Africa and the first black female judge on the KwaZulu-Natal bench.

In 2008, while still serving on the KwaZulu-Natal High Court, Theron delivered the seminal judgment in Gumede (born Shange) v President of the Republic of South Africa and Others, in which she found that customary marriage property provisions were discriminatory on grounds of race and gender and were inconsistent with the Constitution. The judgment was upheld by the Constitutional Court.

Theron acted at the Supreme Court of Appeal from 2006 (serving from May 2006 to June 2007 and again from December 2009 to March 2010), and was permanently appointed to the SCA on 1 December 2010. In 2015, she acted on the Constitutional Court for two terms from February to May, hearing 21 cases and authoring two unanimous leading judgments and two dissents. Following a JSC interview in April 2017, she was appointed as a permanent justice of the Constitutional Court with effect from 1 July 2017.

JSC interviews

December 2008 – Constitutional Court vacancy (not appointed)
September 2009 – Constitutional Court vacancy (not appointed)
October 2010 – Supreme Court of Appeal (appointed)
July 2015 – Constitutional Court vacancy (not appointed)
April 2017 – Constitutional Court (appointed)

Selection of Judgments written

To be populated.