Magistrates ‘living in fear’ as criminal attacks increase
Justice Department accused of not providing protection
THREATENED at gunpoint, stabbed, raped, robbed and intimidated by bomb and death threats.
These horrors are not limited to the court cases they hear, but have become the real-life experience of many magistrates in South Africa — and the incidents are on the rise.
This week, several magistrates told the Sunday Times they lived in constant fear for themselves and their families after being attacked by criminals linked to cases they were hearing.
This has led many of them to improve security at their homes to such an extent that they — like those they put behind bars — are living in fortresses.
Despite this, some said their desperate pleas had fallen on deaf ears and there was no, or an inadequate, response by the Justice Department, which is supposed to help them when they are threatened.
On Friday, the department confirmed an increase in the number of threats against judicial officers.
A June high court judgment referred to an earlier ruling by a Uitenhage magistrate in which he said that he and his colleagues feared for their lives. This was sparked by “many” bomb threats in the court building and a witness recalling, under oath, that he had attended a meeting where a plan to shoot the magistrate was discussed. The magistrate added that a number of his peers had been attacked or killed because of cases they were hearing.
In April, a Western Cape magistrate was told by his doctor he was “lucky to be alive” after being stabbed by an intruder in his home. In an earlier matter, a Cape magistrate recounted how her life and her daughter’s were put in danger while she was hearing a children’s court matter.
“I was woken up when my daughter entered my room with a gun to her head, accompanied by two armed robbers. I was shot at while attempting to flee for help and broke my foot in the process. At the time I was . . . dealing with a hugely acrimonious children’s court matter,” she said.
Magistrates appear to be especially at risk of gangs, because those they are trying have henchmen outside prison to do the gangs’ bidding. In April, a magistrate who testified in a gang trial fought off a burglar in her house. She was adamant that the attack was related to the trial, after she had received death threats and other witnesses were “taken out”.
Although she was later assigned bodyguards and transferred to another court, she initially struggled to get help.
“[The] initial threat was not regarded as a threat on a magistrate exercising her duties . . . The policy is in place, but it is not applied as intended. You stand alone and are unsupported and get no feedback,” she said.
Spokesman Solomon Mahlangu said the Justice Department was aware of five magistrates who had been attacked or threatened at their homes this year, although this was fewer than the number the Sunday Times is aware of.
“Most of the magistrates are entitled to be placed under protection as and when a threat has been reported, assessed and confirmed,” he said.
But the Sunday Times has seen correspondence from magistrates to the department that appears to have gone unanswered.
Mahlangu said security at courts had improved, but magistrates complained that this meant nothing the moment they walked out of the court building.
The latest incidents have taken place 13 years after Freda Theron lost her husband, Pietie, a Cape Town magistrate who was gunned down in his driveway.
Theron said she received “absolutely no support” from the department before and after his murder. “I felt that they should have taken more responsibility for protecting his life. They knew that he was doing a dangerous job.
“I feel so sorry for magistrates that have to work these cases. Things haven’t got any better since my husband’s death, and that is a really sad thing,” she said.
Nazeem Joemath, president of the Judicial Officers’ Association of South Africa, said: “The security of magistrates should be a priority, like all judicial officers. It’s unfortunate that this is not happening.”