Women Chief Justices

Maria de Fátima Coronel is a judge who currently serves as the President of the Supreme Court of Justice in Cape Verde since 2015. She was nominated by a group of judge-advisors, her fellow peers on the Supreme Court, to the President of Cape Verde who then nominated Fátima Coronel. In this role as President, Fátima Coronel is the first woman to be elected to lead the highest court within Cape Verde. In Cape Verde, the Supreme Court of Justice is the highest court within the country responsible for judicial, administrative, fiscal, and military decisions. Prior to being appointed President of the Supreme Court of Justice, Fátima Coronel served as a prosecutor on behalf of the Republic of Cape Verde and worked in the criminal courts located in Praia and Santa Catarina de Santiago. She has worked on the Supreme Court of Justice as an associate justice since 2000 until her appointment as President.

Nthomeng Majara is the first woman to become the Chief Justice of Lesotho. She was born on June 8, 1963 in Lesotho. She was educated at the National University of Lesotho from which she obtained a bachelor’s degree in law in 1992. She also holds a master’s degree in law (LLM) from King’s College London where she graduated in 1997. Following her graduation, she became a lecturer at the National University of Lesotho from 1995 until 2000. Following her leave from the National University of Lesotho, her alma mater, she worked as a research associate at the Women and Law in Southern Africa Research and Educational Trust until 2003. Her next role was to be the Head of Internal Affairs at the Lesotho Revenue Authority. She only held the title for 4 months in 2004 until she became a Judge of the High Court at the Court of Appeals in Lesotho in 2004. She was appointed Chief Justice for the Court of Appeals in 2014 and held the position until 2019. In addition to these positions, she chaired the Commission of Enquiry on the Adoption of Children in Lesotho and became a member of the council of state. She also briefly acted as a judge for the High Court of Namibia in 2010.

Justice Anastasia Msosa was born in a rural village in 1950 in Malawi. She went to Bunda College of Agriculture and from there applied to law school at Chancellor College after completing the admission requirement of two years of work experience at Chancellor. She earned a Bachelor of Law in 1975. From there, Msosa worked on behalf of the state in both civil and criminal cases as a government lawyer. Msosa served as a legal advocate, principle legal advocate, and eventually the chief legal advocate in a span of 13 years. She then began to represent those who could not afford a lawyer in the Department of Legal Aid until 1990. She became Register General in 1990 until she became a judge in 1992. After 1992, she was the first appointed female judge in the High Court. In 1997, she became the first female Justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals. Additionally, Msosa served as the chairperson of the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) from 1993 until 1997. During that time period, Malawi became a multiparty democracy. She was re-appointed to the MEC in 2005 and served another 2 terms until 2012. Following her MEC appointment, in a historical moment, Msosa became the first woman Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Malawi from 2013 until 2015.

Abdoulaye Ly Kadidiatou Diori was appointed head of the Constitutional Court of Niger in 2013, which serves as the highest court in Niger. She is the second female President of the Constitutional Court following Salifou Fatimata Bazeye. Diori was born in 1952 in Niamey, Niger. She was originally educated in midwifery before she decided to study at the University of Niamey and receive a baccalaureate through night school. She then received a doctorate in public law from the University of Paris-Sud in 2005. In 2013, President Mahamadou Issoufou appointed Diori for another term. Also in 2013, her peers on the Constitutional Court elected Diori President of the Constitutional Court. She is still currently serving as the President of the Constitutional Court.