Pillay promotes women’s progress
JUDGE Kate Pillay, the first Indian woman to be appointed a judge in KZN, is vociferous about women progressing in the judiciary and has been instrumental in mentoring many into reaching the upper echelon of their careers.
Despite being the most senior woman on the Bench, Pillay, who is also the first judge in South Africa to be appointed directly from the ranks of magistrates, was not despondent after none of the shortlisted candidates for the deputy judge president post, including herself, met the Judicial Service Commission requirements during interviews.
Describing it as an “enlightening experience”, Pillay has decided to surge ahead and will consider re-applying when the post is re-advertised next year. She said she, too, was questioned on transformation of the judiciary, but spoke along the lines of gender advancement.
“I pointed out to the commissioners the history of the high court in the province, and that a woman was never appointed to a position of seniority. If they appointed a woman, it would have given others hope that they too could ascend the ranks within the judiciary.”
She continued: “Women may now believe there is no hope, so they may not take up challenges.
“They may continue to believe the judiciary is an old boys’ club or the preserve of males.”
Pillay said she was the person who sourced and introduced the first African female judge (Fikile Mokgohloa), from another province, to the Bench in KZN in 2008.
Asked about the verbal exchange between Judge Shyam Gyanda and EFF leader Julius Malema, and whether young Indian law hopefuls would be in two minds about progressing in the profession, she said: “I cannot say the doors are closed. I don’t see the isolated questioning as a closure of opportunity. I strongly believe there will always be an opportunity for those who prove to be committed to constitutional values.”
Pillay said that if one looked at statistics regarding Indians in senior positions, apart from the judge president of the Labour Appeal Court (Judge President B Waglay), no other position of seniority was held by an Indian. “This shows that Indians do not enjoy the level of seniority in the judiciary that was raised as a concern in the interview (with Gyanda).”
Pillay was president of the South African chapter of the International Association of Women Judges from 2008 to 2010 and a member of the KZN Selection Committee for the appointment of magistrates. She was the only applicant to have acted as a judge of appeal in the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein.