Words: Zora Hollie / GroundUp
About 30 magistrates protested outside Parliament at lunch time on Wednesday. They were demanding salary increases and better working conditions. A Parliamentary representative accepted their petition on behalf of the presidency.
The magistrates came from across the country, including KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and the Western Cape. Dressed in their robes, they held signs that read: ‘Magistrates Matter’ and ‘Justice for Justice Workers’.
Magistrate Mondli Nhlangulela said magistrates are the ‘forgotten child of the judiciary’, and their salaries have not kept pace with inflation.
‘We can’t afford school fees for children,’ Nhlangulela said. ‘It is a dire situation … Sometimes you can’t even make it to work because you can’t put fuel in your car.’
Magistrates currently earn around R1.1-million a year, but Magistrate Neelan Karikan, president of the Judicial Officers Association of South Africa, said much of this goes in tax.
Magistrates we spoke to said they want similar benefits to judges, such as a car and housing allowances and medical aid. They also want lifelong salaries, as is the case with judges, instead of the pensions from the government pension fund.
Magistrate Rohan Roopnarian said magistrates lack resources. Several magistrates expressed safety concerns about having to share bathrooms with the public.
‘We are the coal face of the judiciary,’ Roopnarian said. ‘95% of the work in the court is done by us, but we don’t get the recognition and the status we deserve.’
Magistrate Denni Leppan, 35 years on the bench, said she hopes their remuneration package is completely restructured and their demands are addressed in a major review, which she said is 17 years overdue.
In 2008 in its first major review, the Independent Remuneration Commission acknowledged that the remuneration gap between the lowest-paid judge and highest-paid magistrate was ‘too wide and unjustifiable’.
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Earlier this year, after being taken to court, the President referred the latest review (2024) back to the commission with questions. The Minister of Justice is expected to address the matter in the National Council of Provinces on Thursday.
‘The IRC seems to have not been doing their job, inclusive of our president,’ said Karikan, ‘because he had the major review about a year ago, and he didn’t sign off on it and implement it in Parliament.’
Earlier this month, magistrates picketed outside the court in Durban with similar demands.
Magistrates’ Commission Secretary Maritshane Finger had not responded at the time of publication.
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Picture: Zora Hollie / GroundUp
Compiled by GroundUp
