Supreme Court On 1 February 1978, van Heerden joined the bench as a judge of the
Free State Provincial Division of the
Supreme Court of South Africa. He served as an acting judge in the
Appellate Division from June 1980 onwards,
Deputy Chief Justice After the
end of apartheid, the
1996 Constitution reformed the Supreme Court, turning the Appellate Division into the new
Supreme Court of Appeal. Van Heerden, who by then was the most senior member of the appellate bench, was a popular candidate to succeed
Michael Corbett as
Chief Justice and head of the new court; indeed, a large number of senior judges objected publicly when President
Nelson Mandela announced that
Ismail Mahomed was his own preferred candidate. When the
National Association of Democratic Lawyers called for van Heerden to withdraw from the contest, Judge of Appeal
Joos Hefer vociferously defended him, arguing in
Beeld that Mahomed should withdraw instead. The
Mail & Guardian compared the saga to the similar controversy that had followed
L. C. Steyn's elevation ahead of
Oliver Schreiner in 1959. After the
Judicial Service Commission interviewed Mahomed and van Heerden in
Cape Town in late 1996, Mahomed was appointed as Chief Justice and van Heerden as his deputy. When Mahomed fell ill in February 2000, van Heerden was appointed as acting Chief Justice, and he returned to that position when Mohamed died, acting as Chief Justice from 17 June 2000 until his retirement at the end of that year. == Personal life ==