City magistrate axed

Stuurman fired on 17 counts of misconduct

THE axe has finally fallen on East London magistrate Xoliswa Stuurman. And the city’s chief magistrate Valerie Gqiba’s head is also on the block, possibly as a result of the Stuurman fallout.

Stuurman was dismissed by Justice Minister Michael Musuthu in a letter sent on January 24, following a process which started in 2012 and involved three investigations into her conduct on the bench and in office.

Gqiba was among the complainants against Stuurman who, in turn, accused Gqiba of having a vendetta against her. Gqiba faced her own disciplinary tribunal hearing last year arising from abuse of travel benefits and was recommended for dismissal. The complainant was Port Elizabeth magistrates’ cluster head Sibongile Raphahlelo.

Raphahlelo was also a defence witness in Stuurman’s disciplinary case.

Stuurman’s dismissal was confirmed by both houses of Parliament following a recommendation of the Magistrates’ Commission.

Gqiba’s dismissal proposal has not yet been to the National Assembly, although the National Council of Provinces has already voted to fire her.

Deputy Minister of Justice John Jeffery, who confirmed Stuurman’s firing, said he was not in a position to comment on Gqiba’s position because the Parliamentary process was still underway.

But no evidence had been brought to his attention which pointed to “anything untoward” in her disciplinary hearing. \

Gqiba has asked the North Gauteng high court on February 20 to suspend her dismissal pending review of the disciplinary tribunal’s findings.

Stuurman, 47, first came into the spotlight in 2014 when the Dispatch reported complaints from across the legal fraternity that she was racist, recalcitrant, unprofessional, worked at “her own snail’s pace” and flatly refused to do her job.

One of her earliest transgressions was her refusal in 2011 to accept legal service of a notice of motion for a high court review of a series of civil judgments she had handed down.

The Grahamstown High Court subsequently overruled what they hinted were her biased decisions in that matter.

She was described by senior magistrate in East London Fanie Stander, the current acting chief magistrate, as “a law unto yourself”. It took five years to finalise the disciplinary proceedings against Stuurman, but she was eventually convicted in December 2016 on 17 counts of misconduct.

Presiding officer of her disciplinary tribunal and Germiston magistrate, Mumtaz Dawray, said Stuurman’s actions lacked integrity, showed a “complete lack of respect” for and were “a mockery” of the country’s legal system and the Constitution.

She offended every section of the legal fraternity, including attorneys, her colleagues on the bench, and justice department administrative staff.

In a bid to protect its staff, the National Prosecuting Authority decided against prosecuting cases in her court.

Numerous attempts to contact Stuurman for comment were unsuccessful.