The Honourable
Belinda van Heerden
Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal
In office
1 August 2004 – September 2013
Appointed byThabo Mbeki
Judge of the High Court
In office
1 January 2000 – 31 July 2004
Appointed byThabo Mbeki
DivisionWestern Cape
Personal details
Born
Belinda Jane van Heerden

1953 or 1954 (age 69–70)
Alma materStellenbosch University
University of Oxford

Belinda Jane van Heerden (born 1953 or 1954) is a retired South African judge who served on the Supreme Court of Appeal between 2004 and 2013. Before that, she was a judge of the Western Cape High Court between 2000 and 2004. She also acted on the Constitutional Court in 2006.

Van Heerden began her legal career as an academic with research interests in child law and family law. She worked as a professor of law at the University of Cape Town before she gained appointment to the bench.

Early life and academic career

Van Heerden was born in 1953 or 1954[1] and grew up in Somerset West in the Western Cape.[2] She attended Stellenbosch University from 1977 to 1981, completing a BA in 1979 and an LLB in 1981. After that, she attended Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship, completing a BA in jurisprudence in 1984.[2] She spent the next five years as a lecturer in private law at Stellenbosch University and the University of Cape Town, until in 1989 she returned to Oxford to complete an MA.[3]

After two years' practice as an attorney in a Cape Town law firm between 1992 and 1994, van Heerden rejoined the law faculty of the University of Cape Town in January 1995. She was promoted to associate professor in 1996 and to full professor in 1999.[3] Her academic interests were in child law and family law, especially children's rights and gender equality issues, as well as contract law. Between 1997 and 1999, she was also the project leader of the South African Law Commission committee that reviewed the Child Care Act of 1983.[3]

Cape High Court: 2000–2004

While still in academia, van Heerden was appointed as an acting judge in the Cape High Court. After a single term in an acting capacity, she joined the bench permanently in January 2000.[2]

Supreme Court of Appeal: 2004–2013

Van Heerden was an acting judge in the Supreme Court of Appeal between 1 June 2003 and 1 August 2004.[2] During that time, in July 2004, the Judicial Service Commission interviewed van Heerden as a candidate for permanent appointment to the Supreme Court of Appeal. The only other shortlisted candidate was John Motata,[4] and she was recommended for appointment. President Thabo Mbeki confirmed her appointment later the same month.[5] She was expected to bolster the court's progressive wing.[6]

In 2006, van Heerden served a term as an acting judge on the Constitutional Court.[7] Of the 17 judges who acted in the court between 1995 and 2011, she was the only woman.[8] During her time as an acting justice, van Heerden wrote the Constitutional Court's unanimous judgment in Gory v Kolver, which ruled that the Intestate Succession Act of 1987 was unconstitutional to the extent that it did not grant same-sex partners the same rights of intestate succession that it conferred on heterosexual spouses.[9]

When four vacancies emerged at the Constitutional Court in mid-2009, van Heerden was considered to be a frontrunner for permanent appointment to the court.[1] Although she was shortlisted for the position by the Judicial Service Commission, she announced shortly afterwards that she had withdrawn her nomination, without providing her reasons for doing so.[10][11] She retired from the bench in September 2013.

Other positions

While on the bench, van Heerden was appointed as an honorary professor at the University of Cape Town in 2004, at the University of Stellenbosch in 2007, and at the University of Pretoria and University of the Free State in 2008.[3] She was also the primary South African liaison to the International Hague Network of Judges from 2008 to 2014.[12] She is a member of the International Society of Family Law, the International Association of Youth and Family Judges and Magistrates and the International Association of Women Judges.[12]

Personal life

She is married to William McMurray, who is an electrical engineer.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 Alcock, Sello S. (21 June 2009). "Race for Concourt judges". The Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Public sector: Judges". The Mail & Guardian. 1 August 2007. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Judge of Appeal Belinda (B.J.) van Heerden (PDF). University of the Free State. 2009. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  4. ↑ "Judge on golf course instead of on the job". IOL. 10 July 2004. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  5. ↑ "Mbeki appoints nine judges". IOL. 15 July 2004. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  6. ↑ "White men can judge". The Mail & Guardian. 23 July 2004. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  7. ↑ "Book of SA Women: Judges". The Mail & Guardian. 4 August 2009. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  8. ↑ "Top court's lack of woman judges reflects gender bias". Business Day. 4 October 2016. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  9. ↑ "Gay partners can now inherit". News24. 23 November 2006. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  10. ↑ "Leading judge turns down top posting". IOL. 12 August 2009. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  11. ↑ "Another judge withdraws from JSC Concourt interviews". The Mail & Guardian. 17 September 2009. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  12. 1 2 "Belinda van Heerden". International Bar Association. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
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