Maya Mandisa, a former Fulbright scholar at Duke University during the apartheid era, is to become South Africa’s next chief justice, the first female to lead the country’s judiciary.

Mandisa, who currently holds the deputy chief justice position, takes over the role from retiring Justice Raymond Zondo on September 1. She will preside over the Constitutional Court, the nation’s highest court, and have the final say on jurisprudence in all other courts.