Yana van Leeve is an Executive at ENS in the Public Law practice.

Yana specialises in public finance, procurement, public corporate governance, administrative and constitutional law. Her focus is in dealing with the interaction between corporate and commercial law and public law.

Her experience includes advising on the Public Finance Management Act, the Municipal Finance Management Act and the associated regulatory framework (including procurement and supply chain management issues), advising in relation to the Municipal Systems Act, the Municipal Structures Act and the associated regulatory framework, advising government departments, municipalities and public entities on corporate governance, commercial transactions, income generating contracts, private sector participation frameworks, contractual relationships with service providers and advising private entities on interactions and relations with government departments and public entities, including operating within highly regulated industries. She has also advised on South Africa’s expropriation regime, local government land use schemes, access to information disputes under the Promotion of Access to Information Act, corporate restructures and governance for public entities, public procurement, state asset management, land rights under the Electronic Communications Act and the Electricity Regulation Act, as well as human settlement development in the mining sector and bulk water and electricity infrastructure development projects.

In addition, Yana is experienced in investigative and reporting work, including conducting investigations on behalf of and compiling reports for, municipalities and State-owned companies and banking institutions in relation to procurement, administrative and internal procedures. She also has experience in drafting primary and subordinate legislation, preparing submissions on new legislation, advising and drafting exemption applications under the PFMA, and extensive superior court and appellate court litigation concerning decisions by organs of state.

Yana has advised clients in the following industries: banking and finance, basic education, electronic communications, early childhood development, energy, logistics and transport, mining, municipal service delivery, private higher education, rail, strategic oil reserves, human settlements, real estate and pharmaceuticals.

Yana also publishes on constitutional law, with a special focus in education and the role of the State in delivering services.

• Bryer, M. R., & van Leeve, Y. (2022). Early childhood development and decent jobs for women: Planting two trees from one seed? South African Journal on Human Rights, 38(3–4), 261–284.
• Collection on Education Rights Brickhill and van Leeve Litigating Education Rights in South Africa 2018 Policy Press Oxford.
• Constitutional Court Review VI van Leeve “Executive heavy handedness and the right to basic education: A reply to Sandra Fredman” Juta (2016) Johannesburg.
• Acta Juridica: A Transformative Justice – Essays in Honour of Pius Langa Brickhill and van Leeve “Transformative Constitutionalism: Guiding Light or Empty Slogan?” in Acta Juridica (2015) Cape Town.
• New York Law Review: Celebrating twenty years of South African Constitutionalism, New York, USA Authored and presented a paper entitled “Mobilising the right to basic education in South Africa, what has the law achieved so far?” (2014).

• Private sector participation in service delivery: Legal and ethical challenges

  By Yana van Leeve |February 2025

• Private sector participation in service delivery: Legal and ethical challenges

  By Yana van Leeve |February 2025

• Decoding "specific goals": An analysis of the new preferential procurement regulations, 2022

  By Yana van Leeve, Sibongile Sibeko |March 2023