Suretta Snyders (18 August 1959 – 29 August 2014) was a South African

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

who served in the Supreme Court of Appeal from December 2008 until her death in August 2014. Formerly an advocate and Senior Counsel in Johannesburg, she was appointed to the bench in February 1997 as a judge of the

Transvaal Provincial Division The Gauteng Division of the High Court of South Africa is a superior court of law which has general jurisdiction over the South African province of Gauteng and the eastern part of North West province. The main seat of the division is at Pretoria, w ...

of the High Court (later the

Gauteng High Court The Gauteng Division of the High Court of South Africa is a superior court of law which has general jurisdiction over the South African province of Gauteng and the eastern part of North West province. The main seat of the division is at Pret ...

Early life and education

Snyders was born on 18 August 1959 in

Prieska Prieska is a town on the south bank of the Orange River, in the province of the Northern Cape, in western South Africa. It is located on the southern bank of the Orange River, 130 km north-west of Britstown and 75 km south-east of Mary ...

in the present-day

Northern Cape The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi T ...

. Her adolescent interest in law was inspired by the career of

Leonora van den Heever Leonora van den Heever (born 9 July 1926) is a former judge of the High Court of South Africa. She is South Africa's first female judge and the first woman to be appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa. Early life an ...

, who was a judge in nearby

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a ...

. She matriculated at Prieska High School in 1977 and attended Stellenbosch University, where she completed a BCom in law in 1980 and an LLB in 1982.

Legal career

From 1982 to 1984, Snyders worked in the legal department of the Department of Transport, which had funded her education with a bursary. After completing her pupillage, she was admitted as an

advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. Different countries' legal systems use the term with somewhat differing meanings. The broad equivalent in many English law–based jurisdictions could be a barrister or a solicitor. However, ...

of the Johannesburg Bar in late 1984 and she took silk in November 1996. Also in 1996, she was an acting judge in the

Johannesburg High Court The Gauteng Division of the High Court of South Africa is a superior court of law which has general jurisdiction over the South African province of Gauteng and the eastern part of North West province. The main seat of the division is at Pretoria, ...

High Court: 1997–2008

On 1 February 1997, Snyders joined the bench of the High Court of South Africa as a judge of the

(later the Gauteng Division). She sat in the Johannesburg High Court until 2008, and she was also an acting judge in the Supreme Court of Appeal for six months in 2007 and 2008. During that time, she heard a prominent dispute between the '' Mail & Guardian'' and MTN managing director Maanda Manyatshe, who sought to interdict the newspaper from publishing allegations that he had participated in fraud and corruption during his time at the head of the

South African Post Office South African Post Office (SA Post Office) is the national postal service of South Africa and as a state owned enterprise, its only shareholder is the South African government. In terms of South African law, the Post Office is the only entity ...

. Snyders dismissed Manyatshe's application.

Supreme Court of Appeal: 2008–2014

In August 2008, Snyders was one of several candidates whom the Judicial Service Commission shortlisted for possible appointment to two vacancies in the Supreme Court of Appeal. After interviews were held in Cape Town in October, she was appointed to one of the vacancies with effect from 1 December 2008. She died in office on 29 August 2014.

Personal life

She had one son with Robert Blake, to whom she was married until his death in 2001. At the time of her death, her partner was Carolyn Dempster.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Snyders, Suretta 1959 births 2014 deaths 20th-century South African lawyers 20th-century South African women lawyers 20th-century South African judges 21st-century South African judges 20th-century women judges 21st-century women judges Judges of the Gauteng High Court Judges of the Supreme Court of Appeal (South Africa) South African Senior Counsel Stellenbosch University alumni People from Siyathemba Local Municipality