Dhaya Pillay
| The Honourable Dhaya Pillay |
|
|---|---|
| Judge of the KwaZulu-Natal High Court | |
| Assumed office 2010 |
|
| Nominated by | Judicial Service Commission |
| Appointed by | President Jacob Zuma |
| Judge of the Labour Court of South Africa | |
| Assumed office 2000 |
|
| Nominated by | Judicial Service Commission |
| Appointed by | President Thabo Mbeki |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 5 January 1958 Durban, South Africa |
| Alma mater | University of South Africa University of Natal |
Dhayanithie "Dhaya" Pillay (born 5 January 1958 in Durban) is a South African judge of the Labour Court and KwaZulu-Natal High Court.[1][2]
Early life
Pillay was born in Durban in 1958 and completed her B.Proc at UNISA in 1982.[1] Early in her career as an attorney, she joined the firm of noted activist lawyer Yunus Mohamed, a founding member of the UDF and the instructing attorney in the Delmas Treason Trial.[2] Pillay became heavily involved in important political cases and effectively led the firm when Mohamed was in detention.[2][3]
In the late 1980s, Pillay’s practice moved towards labour law, in which she later became an expert, acquiring an LLM in the subject from the University of Natal in 1993.[2] Pillay was a drafter of the Labour Relations Act and later became a senior CCMA commissioner. She also served as an advisor to the drafters of the South African Constitution.[1]
Judicial career
Pillay was made a judge of the Labour Court in 2000 and of the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in 2010.[1] She supported Judge President Chiman Patel – now ousted amid suspicions that he fell out with the KwaZulu-Natal political establishment[4] – in the racial spat over his appointment.[2][5]
In July 2015 she was interviewed and shortlisted by the Judicial Service Commission for appointment to the Constitutional Court of South Africa.[1] She was nominated by rights groups and former Constitutional Court judge Zak Yacoob[1] and was praised by commentators.[2]
Other positions and awards
Pillay is an extraordinary professor at the University of Pretoria and has been a visiting academic at the University of Seattle, New York University, the University of Oxford and the Open University.[1] She was recognised as a human rights defender by the Durban branch of Amnesty International in 2005.[2]
References
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