ATC180828: Report of the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services on the provisional suspension from office of Ms LB Freeman, Senior Magistrate in Mossel Bay, tabled in terms of section 13(3)(b) of the Magistrates Act, 1993, dated 28 August 2018

Justice and Correctional Services

Report of the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services on the provisional suspension from office of Ms LB Freeman, Senior Magistrate in Mossel Bay, tabled in terms of section 13(3)(b) of the Magistrates Act, 1993, dated 28 August 2018

The Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services, having considered the Magistrates Commission’s report dated 27 March 2018 on the provisional suspension from office of Ms LB Freeman, Senior Magistrate at Mossel Bay, pending the outcome of an investigation into her fitness to hold office of magistrate, tabled by the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services in terms of section 13(3)(b) of the Magistrates Act, 1993, (Act No. 90 of 1993), reports as follows:

1. Ms Freeman is a Senior Magistrate and the Judicial Head of Office at the Mossel Bay District Court. Ms Freeman was appointed to the lower court bench on 24 October 2006 and was appointed a Senior Magistrate at Mossel Bay on 1 May 2017.

 

1. Having considered a preliminary investigation report of its Ethics Division, the Magistrates Commission (the Commission) resolved to charge Ms Freeman with misconduct. A charge sheet, containing 24 counts of misconduct, was served on Ms Freeman on 23 November 2017.

 

1. The misconduct charges against Ms Freeman relate to various acts of dishonesty in that she:

• During the period 2015 to 2017, made numerous false and/or incorrect statements, knowing them to be false and/or incorrect in that she submitted transport/travel claims to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (the Department) for payment in respect of kilometers travelled in excess of the actual distances she was entitled to claim for;
• On 10 August 2017, submitted a transport claim for payment, claiming that on 9 June 2017 she had conducted an inspection in loco whilst in truth and in fact, no such inspection in loco had taken place;
• Falsely and/or incorrectly claimed that she on 8 and 15 November 2016 travelled with her Audi A4 motor vehicle with an engine capacity of 2000cc, whilst she had travelled with an Uno, which motor vehicle has a lower engine capacity than the Audi A4;
• Failed to disclose, as requested when completing her application form for an appointment as Senior Magistrate, that she was registered as an active director and founding member of the Southern Cape Fish Co-operative Limited;
• In the same application form for appointment as a Senior Magistrate, stated that she had never been convicted of a criminal offence, when she was convicted of theft during 1993 and sentenced by a court of law.

 

1. Ms Freeman was invited to furnish the Commission with representations on why the Commission should not recommend that she be provisionally suspended from office and why the Commission should not determine to withhold her remuneration.

 

1. Ms Freeman provided representation on 24 October 2017. After considering the serious nature of the allegations, the information at hand and Ms Freeman’s representations, the Commission resolved to recommend that Ms Freeman be provisionally suspended from office in terms section 13(3)(a) of the Magistrates Act, 1993.

 

1. The Commission is of the view that the existing evidence against Ms Freeman is of such a serious nature as to make it inappropriate for her to perform the functions of a Magistrate while the allegations are being investigated. The Commission is of the view that the existing evidence against Ms Freeman is of such a serious nature that it would justify her removal from office should she be found guilty of the misconduct charges.

 

1. Section 13(3)(a) of the Magistrates Act, 1993, empowers the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, on the advice of the Magistrates Commission, to provisionally suspend a magistrate from office. In light of the above allegations, the Minister decided to provisionally suspend Ms Freeman from the office of Magistrate with immediate effect, pending the outcome of an investigation into her fitness to hold such office.

 

Recommendation

The Committee, having considered the Magistrates Commission’s report dated 27 March 2018 on the provisional suspension from office of Ms L B Freeman as tabled by the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services in terms of section 13(3)(b) of the Magistrates Act, 1993, recommends that the National Assembly confirm Ms LB Freeman’s provisional suspension from the office of Magistrate.

 

Report to be considered.