Pretoria – The Magistrates Commission is set to interview 1 000 candidates for 250 magistrate posts across South Africa.
For three weeks starting on Tuesday, 17 October to 3 November 2023, the Magistrates Commission said it will interview a whopping 190 candidates for more than 70 district magistrate vacancies in the Northern Cape, North West, and Western Cape provinces.
“This will be the first of five sessions where the Magistrates Commission will interview over 1000 candidates for 256 district magistrate posts across the country,” the Magistrates Commission said on Thursday.
“For this session, running from 17 October to 3 November, the Magistrates Commission will be hoping to find suitable candidates to become judicial officers in district courts from Cape Town to Kuruman, Vredendal to Ventersdorp and several other areas.”
Candidates are drawn from experienced attorneys, advocates, and prosecutors, and will be tested on their knowledge of criminal law, family law, civil law court procedures, ethics, and integrity.
“Due to the sheer volume of applicants, the 9-member Appointments Committee of the Magistrates Commission will be sitting for over five sessions of three weeks each to make crucial appointments at various district courts,” said the Magistrates Commission.
“In the first three sessions (17 October – 15 December 2023) they will cover Northern Cape, North West, Western Cape, Limpopo, Free State, and Gauteng.
“In the remaining two sessions until February 2024, they will cover Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and Mpumalanga.
“The high number of vacancies is due to promotions, retirements, and transfers to new posts created in the last two years at the over 1000 district magistrates courts across the country.”
The Magistrates Commission said the Appointments Committee comprises of a regional court president, two chief magistrates, a regional magistrate, an attorney, an advocate, a law professor, a member of parliament, and an expert in public administration nominated by the Minister of Justice.
“Magistrates Courts are the coalface of justice in our country. Most South Africans will only ever experience the courts through the magistrates court,” says Zikhona Ndlebe, a researcher at Judges Matter, a civil society watchdog that monitors the judiciary in South Africa.
“Whether they are victims of crime seeking justice, mothers seeking maintenance for their children, small business owners needing to get back monies owed, they all need to be served by competent and caring judicial officers.
“It’s vitally important that only the best people get appointed as magistrates.”
Interviews for magistrates take place near the Magistrates Commission’s Pretoria headquarters and are open to the public and the media, although no live broadcast is allowed.
