Suspended magistrate fails in bid to get paid

Was found guilty of serious misconduct

A Northern Cape magistrate has failed in his bid to force the state to continue paying his salary seven years after his suspension.

Judge Nomsa Khumalo has ruled at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria that Pumelele Hole, a magistrate from Kimberley, “failed to make a proper case against the withholding of his salary”.

Hole was suspended in 2011 on charges of serious misconduct, but continued to be paid until December last year.

Justice Minister Michael Masutha implemented a recommendation by the Magistrate’s Commission that Hole’s pay should be withheld.

This was effected six months after Hole was finally found guilty on 10 charges of serious misconduct in June last year.

Parliament is now determining whether to implement the recommendation that Hole should be removed as a magistrate.

Hole argued it was irrational of the state to withhold his salary because parliament’s final decision was still pending.

He told Khumalo the suspension of his salary was unlawful as there was still a standing employment contract between himself and the state.

Furthermore, he submitted he faced financial ruin and will suffer irreparable harm if his salary was not reinstated.

Had a ruling gone in his favour, payment of his salary would have been dated to December 1 2016.

But Khumalo ruled that the state is within realms of legislation to withhold his salary.

This was because he has already been found guilty, she said in her ruling.

“Hole has been found guilty of very serious misconduct and that he is not fit to occupy the office of the magistrate.

“The determination to withhold his salary is based on such findings and to that extent justified,” said Khumalo.

Hole also failed to prove the irreparable harm he would suffer without his salary.

“The onus being upon him to do so, he has failed bleakly to discharge such onus,” she said.

In 2011, Hole was charged for insulting Northern Cape regional court president Khandilizwe Nqadala in court.

He subpoenaed Nqadala over a rape case and, among other things, called him a “disgrace to the profession” and questioned his qualifications during a heated argument.