| Honorific-Prefix: | The Honourable |
| Leonora van den Heever | |
| Office2: | Judge of the High Court of South Africa |
| Term Start2: | 1969 |
| Term End2: | 1990 |
| Term Start1: | 1991 |
| Term End1: | 1996 |
| Birth Date: | 9 July 1926 |
| Birth Place: | Windhoek, South West Africa |
| Nationality: | South African |
| Spouse: | Christo Neethling |
| Relations: | Toon van den Heever |
| Alma Mater: | University of Pretoria University of the Free State |
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.[1] [2] [3]
Van den Heever was born in Windhoek, the daughter of Toon van den Heever and Margaretha van den Heever (née Rautenbach). She attended the C&N Sekondêre Meisieskool Oranje in Bloemfontein, after which she completed her tertiary studies at the University of Pretoria, where she obtained, cum laude, her BA degree in English and Latin followed by a MA degree, cum laude, in English.[4] She then taught at the Normaalkollege in Bloemfontein but, persuaded by her father, she temporarily started working as a judges registrar and also began her LLB part-time through the University of the Orange Free State, graduating in 1951.[5]
Van den Heever started practicing as an advocate at the Bloemfontein Bar in 1952 and in 1968 she became a senior advocate. In 1969 she was appointed a judge in the Northern Cape Division, thus becoming the first female judge in South Africa. In 1979 she began to serve on the Bench of the Cape Provincial Division and from time to time during 1982 to 1985, she was part of the Bophuthatswana Court of Appeal.
In 1991 she became the first female judge to be appointed permanently to the appellate division of the South African Supreme Court in Bloemfontein where she served until she retired. After retiring at age 70, she agreed to some work in the Cape Provincial Division and served for a number of years on the Appeal Benches of Lesotho and Swaziland.
Van den Heever continued her love of literature, by writing two published children's books, as well as writing short stories under a pseudonym, for Sarie Magazine. She also acted as a trustee of the Ballet Benevolent Fund for CAPAB and as a board member of the SA Youth Orchestra and was also chairperson of the SA Library board.
Van den Heever received the Chancellor's Medal from the University of Pretoria in 1996, an honorary LLD from the University of Stellenbosch in 1997 and in 1987 the Women's Bureau Achievement Award.