Committee decries long delays in hearing cases against magistrates
The Magistrate’s Commission says it is overwhelmed by complaints against errant magistrates, citing capacity issues as one of the reasons disciplinary cases took too long to finalise.
The commission appeared before the justice portfolio committee on Wednesday where MPs expressed disgust at the lengthy processes in disciplining magistrates accused of misdemeanours.
In some cases, matters took years before being resolved, much like those against high court judges.
The commission is a statutory body that regulates magistrates who preside in the lower courts — the first port of call for most citizens who encounter the justice system.
It is similar to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), except the JSC focuses on judges in higher courts, including the high courts and the Constitutional Court.
From alleged Ponzi schemes to rape allegations, cases against magistrates are taking too long to process before coming to the justice portfolio committee as part of the magistrates disciplinary process.
Members of the portfolio committee on Wednesday said it felt as if there was “no sense of urgency ” in resolving matters like these and the commission’s procedures required “serious cleaning ”.
On Wednesday, the committee heard cases of magistrates who had been provisionally sentenced by the justice minister. The justice portfolio committee was being requested to make the provisional suspensions into full suspensions, so that disciplinary proceedings could start.
The MPs bemoaned the cumbersome process it took to discipline errant magistrates. Many steps have to be taken before a magistrate can be removed for misconduct.
Upon receipt of a misconduct complaint against a magistrate, the commission deals with the merits of the complaint and decides whether to recommend a provisional suspension to the justice minister. Once the magistrate is provisionally suspended by the minister, the commission requests parliament ’ s justice portfolio committee to recommend a finalisation of the suspension.
The committee then makes its recommendation to parliament. If parliament votes for a full suspension, a full hearing and disciplinary proceedings by the commission take place. These often result in further parliamentary steps. After its deliberations, the portfolio committee will send its report to parliament for a vote.
Members of the portfolio committee expressed concern at how long some cases had taken to come before them. ANC MP Richard Dyanti noted one matter had come before the current committee when it first started years ago and was “coming back to us now”. In that matter, a chief magistrate was accused of rape and the commission had recommended his removal.
DA MP Glynnis Breyetenbach said the delay was “outrageous ”. EFF MP Busisiwe Mkhwebane said the matter was “so wrong in so many ways”, with ANC MP Nomathemba Maseko-Jele saying the delay was “embarrassing ”, considering the importance of combating gender-based violence.
In another case, the process against a magistrate had started in 2021. In that matter, the magistrate had allegedly misled the high court when her case was reviewed by two high court judges. She claimed a hearing had taken place, when, according to the commission, no such hearing had occurred. She was only provisionally suspended in 2023. Dyanti said the details were “all fuzzy” and this was a pattern in all the cases.
He pointed to another case where a magistrate in Caledon had a stroke two weeks after taking up office, in 2020. This left him unable to work. The commission informed him about a pending investigation into his fitness, but, in the letter informing him, it got his appointment dates wrong. He rejected the letter and the commission only sent a revised letter in 2023. “What was so difficult?” Dyanti asked.
Advocate Naome Manaka, the newly installed chairperson of the commission’s ethics committee, which manages complaints, told MPs it gets “overwhelmed ” with complaints. She cited a “capacity problem” as one of the reasons the disciplinary process was clogged.