Personal
Born : 28 August 1962
Husband : Josef Benjamin Steyn
Son & wife : Ruan and Michelle Steyn
Grandson : Jack Benjamin Steyn
Education
Matric : J J Du Preez High School (1980)
BIuris : University of South Africa (1983)
LLB : University of Western Cape (1994)
LLM : University of Cape Town (1999)
Professional History
District Court Magistrate and Senior Prosecutor, Department of Justice: (1987-1995)
Chair of Rape Forum and Juvenile Justice Forum: (1992-1995)
Convenor of the Criminal Offences Task Team, responsible for drafting the Criminal offences of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act 121 of 1998
Senior Lecturer at University of Cape Town and University of Western Cape: (1996-2007)
Acting Judge, Northern Cape: (October-December 2008)
Judge KwaZulu-Natal Division: (January 2009 to date)
Acting Judge of the Electoral Court: (01 May 2024 - 30 June 2026)
Acting Judge of Appeal: Supreme Court of Appeal (April 2025 – 30 September 2025; 1 December - 31 March 2026; and 1 April – 31 May 2026)
Acting Deputy Judge President KwaZulu-Natal Division: (24 February – 30 March 2025 & 13 October – 9 November 2025)
Honours and other activities
Vice-Chair of the National Council of Correctional Services (2015 – 2019)
Member of SAJEI Council (2023 till present)
Commissioner of Jali Commission (2002 – 2005)
Convenor of the Criminal Offences Task Team responsible for drafting the criminal offences contained in the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, 121 of 1998
Distinguished Teachers’ Award UCT (2001)
Recipient research grant from Aberdeen University Scotland for project ‘Constitutional Criminal Justice: A comparative study’.
Represented NCCS at APAI Conference March 2019, Baltimore USA.
Publications
D van Zyl Smit and E Steyn, chapter titled ‘The South African Prison System’, published by J P Cére et C Eduardo (eds) Le systéme pénitentiaire dans le Monde 2 ed (2011) (Dalloz publishers)
‘Plea Bargaining in SA: current concerns and future prospects’ (2007) 20 SACJ 206-219
‘Do victims of crime play any role at sentencing and do their rights impact on the prison population?’ Paper presented in Teheran, published by the Iran Prison Organisation.
Jali Commission Report Volumes 1-5, published November 2006, Co-author of the reports.
D van Zyl Smit and E Steyn ‘Prisons systems of the world’ in J P Cere and C E Japiassu (eds) Le systéme pénitentiaire en Afrique du Sud (Dalloz publishers).
‘Undue delay in criminal cases: The Scottish and South African courts response’ (2003) Acta Juridica, 139-159. Also published as a chapter in J Sarkin et al, The Administration of Justice: Current Themes in Comparative Perspective, 153-172 (Four Court Press: Dublin).
‘The Draft Anti-terrorism Bill of 2000: The Lobster Pot of the South African Criminal Justice System’ (2001) 14 SACJ 179-194.
‘An Evaluation of the SA Constitutional Court’s decision on bail’ – Sarkin, Steyn, Van Zyl Smit and Paschke in ‘Resolving the tension between Crime and Human Rights: An Evaluation of European and South African issues’ edited Sarkin et al, at 217 to 241.
D van Zyl Smit, E Steyn, J Sarkin and R Paschke ‘Individual liberty in crisis?’ Reflections on the decision of the Consitutional Court in S v Dlamini; S v Dladla and Others; S v Joubert; S v Schietekat (2000) 16 SAJHR 292-312.
CIJL Prosecuting authority in the new South Africa – D van Zyl Smit and E Steyn.
A call for the abolition of the ‘hue and cry’ rule’. Published in News and Reviews December edition
LLM Thesis – ‘Witnesses in South Africa, The Stepchildren of the Criminal Justice System’ (limited publication, libraries UCT only).
