From: 	"R Patel" <patel@lantic.net>
To:	<vramaano@parliament.gov.za>
Date: 	2010/08/30 09:43 AM

Dear Sir
In regard to the amendment bill regarding the appointment of Magistrates, consider the following:‑

1. It is of great concern to us that Prosecutors are appointed Magistrates easily. The difficulty from our experience is that prosecutors tend to be still aligned to their prosecutorial practices when dealing with cases and they lean in favour of the State to the point that at times, becomes evident to practitioners and also if their Judgments are recorded. Rights of an accused are mentioned as a mantra without real meaning being attached. A solution to this problem should be that, these persons ought to act for a while not only on the criminal court bench but also on the civil court bench, even if it is on a acting basis for a while. The duration and time could be determined‑say at least six months or a year before being considered for permanent appointment.

2. A further issue of grave concern is the fact that persons are being appointed for the civil regional court bench. This new and innovative increase in jurisdiction, whilst it is a noble and necessary decision, must be done with great circumspection. Theoretical training is not enough. Many Magistrates or practitioners have never apepared or argued matters in a High court, or understood the way in which the High court deals with matters. This experience is crucial. The solution would be to allow for acting appointments from practitioners in the private sector to appear as presiding officers for a duration and gradually introduce permanent appointments from the applications received. The purpose of this is that, the High jurisdiction especially in civil matters will create difficulties for the present Magistrates in some instances because:‑

1. They are all excellent in adjudicating criminal cases because of their extensive experience in criminal courts.

2. Although many do civil cases, in the smaller towns, they lack experience and understanding in regard to the matters which generally were reserved for the High court. We need o understand that, save for a few exceptions, many Magistrates are drawn from the Prosecutors or existing Magistrates from Criminal courts. The civil court magistrates rarely, in smaller towns have to hear complex matters, predominantly do domestic violence and debt collection matters, simple contractual, lease and accident cases. A further way to develop the expertise is to you Advocates and Attorneys who undertake High Court Civil work to train Magistrates.

3. It is also of concern to us that in the smaller towns, White private practitioners are given acting and permanent appointments without these being advertised. If you are to transform the department (although much has been done in this regard by Government), more caution should be applied in this regard.

4. The increased jurisdiction will include sensitive matters for instance divorce and child care (custody and access) matters, the degree for future lawyers ought to also be visited to give effect to the development of the law on these aspects. You need to increase your workshops and training as a compulsory attendance for all Magistrates and points be allocated for such attendance.  Simply sending them information of developments on the law and material is not enough. They need to attend regular sessions to ensure that they maintain the knowledge on aspects of the changes in the law, judgements . Retired Judges could also be used to convene workshops. 
Generally, we are impressed with the decision to increase the jurisdiction of the regional courts.

Yours afithfully
rashid patel
cel: 0827483434