Overview
- Chief Justice Mandisa Maya confirmed that Van den Heever died on 20 November at her Cape Town home.
- Appointed in 1969, she became the country’s first female judge and in 1991 the first woman permanently on the Appellate Division, now the Supreme Court of Appeal.
- Justice Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi praised her integrity, independence and fairness in a condolence statement.
- Her jurisprudence included an interdict protecting students from police harassment and firm correction of trial irregularities in magistrates’ courts to safeguard fair procedure.
- She also helped shape interpretation of the Divorce Act’s irretrievable breakdown standard and contributed to South African literary life, earning an honorary LLD.