OFFICE
OF THE PRESIDENT
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- No. 1529.
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4 October 1995
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- NO. 85 OF 1995: JUDICIAL
MATTERS AMENDMENT ACT, 1995.
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- It is hereby notified that
the President has assented to the following Act which is hereby
published for general information:-
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- GENERAL EXPLANATORY NOTE:
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- << >> Words
between pointed brackets indicate insertions in existing
enactments.
-
ACT
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- To make the Magistrates
Act, 1993, applicable throughout the Republic; to validate certain
transfers of and the performance of certain functions by certain
magistrates;
and to amend the said Act so as to make provision for a
magistrate to be transferred to, and appointed to a post in, the
public
service; and to provide for matters in connection therewith.
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- (English text signed
by the President.) (Assented to 28 September 1995.)
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- BE IT ENACTED by the
Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, as follows:- Definitions
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1. In this Act, unless the
context otherwise indicates-
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(i) "fixed date"
means the date of the commencement of this Act; (iii) (ii) "former
state" means any area
which forms part of the national
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territory of the
Republic, and in respect of which, before the fixed
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date, the Magistrates Act,
did not apply; (iv)
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- (iii) "magistrate"
means any person appointed as a magistrate under a law
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of a former state, excluding
any person occupying that office in terms of such law in an acting
or temporary capacity and any
assistant magistrate; (i)
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(iv)
"Magistrates Act" means the Magistrates Act, 1993 (Act
No. 90 of
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1993); (v) and
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- (v) "Magistrates
Commission" means the Magistrates Commission established by
section 2 of the Magistrates Act. (ii)
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- Application of Magistrates
Act
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- 2. (1
) The Magistrates Act
shall from the fixed date apply throughout the-
Republic:
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- Provided that section
13(1) of that Act shall not be so applicable to a magistrate to
whom a different retirement age than 65 years was applicable on 1
October 1993, unless such magistrate consents to such application
by notice in writing to the Director-General:
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- Justice within one month
after the fixed date.
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- (2) Any magistrate shall
from the fixed date be deemed to have been duly appointed in
accordance with section 10 of the Magistrates Act, and the
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provisions of that Act shall,
subject to the provisions of this Act, be applicable in respect of
such magistrate.
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- (3) For the purpose of the
appointment of a magistrate in a former state
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after the fixed date, any
reference in the Magistrates Act to a provision of the Magistrates'
Courts Act, 1944 (Act No. 32 of 1944), shall be construed as a
reference to the corresponding
law in force in such former state at
the time of such appointment.
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- Transitional provisions
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- 3. (1) Any magistrate
transferred before the fixed date to perform magisterial functions
at any place in the Republic outside
the former state where such
magistrate was appointed as a magistrate, shall for all purposes be
deemed to have been validly so
transferred and to have performed
such functions validly.
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- (2) The conditions of
service contemplated in section I I of the Magistrates Act which
were applicable to a magistrate immediately before the fixed date,
shall continue to apply to such magistrate until amended by
a
determination under that section, made in order to establish
uniformity of the terms and conditions of service of magistrates
throughout the Republic.
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- (3) Notwithstanding the
provisions of section 2(2), and of section 18(5)(c) of the
Magistrates Act, any magistrate who, immediately before the fixed
date, was a member of any pension fund other than the Government
Service Pension
Fund referred to in section 3 of the Government
Service Pension Act, 1973 (Act No.
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57 of 1973), shall-
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- (a) remain a member of
such pension fund; and
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- (b) contribute to such
pension fund, until otherwise provided for under section 16(1)(b)
of the Magistrates Act.
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- (4)(a
) The
Director-General: Justice shall refer any investigation or procedure
in terms of a law of a former state in respect of--
- (i) alleged misconduct by;
or
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- (ii) any complaint by or
grievance of,
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- a magistrate, which has
not been finalised by the fixed date, to the Magistrates
Commission, which shall, subject to the Constitution,
treat the
matter as it deems appropriate.
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- (b) The Magistrates
Commission may in respect of any matter referred to it in terms of
paragraph (a)-
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- (i) exercise the powers
and the jurisdiction conferred upon it by the
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Magistrates Act and the
regulations made thereunder; and
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- (ii) have such regard to
the existing record of any proceedings in such matter as it deems
appropriate.
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- Amendment of section 13 of
Act 90 of 1993
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- 4. Section 13 of the
Magistrates Act, 1993, is hereby amended-
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- (a) by the deletion in
subsection (5) of "or" at the end of subparagraph
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(i) of paragraph (a);
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- (b) by the insertion after
subparagraph (i) of paragraph (a) of subsection
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(5) of the following
subparagraph:
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"<<(iA) in order
to effect a transfer and appointment as contemplated in section
15(1) of the Public Service Act,
1994 (Proclamation No. R.103 of
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1994); or>>"; and
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- (c) by the addition of the
following subsections:
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- "<<(6) For the
purpose of a transfer and appointment contemplated in section 15(1)
of the Public Service Act, 1994,
a magistrate shall be deemed to be
holding an appointment in an institution as contemplated in that
section.
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- (7) The period of service
as a magistrate of a magistrate transferred and appointed under
section 15(1) of the Public Service
Act, 1994, shall be reckoned as
part of and continuous with his or her service in the public
service for the purposes of leave,
pension and any other condition
of service.>> ".
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- Short title and
commencement
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- 5. This Act shall be
called the Judicial Matters Amendment Act, 1995, and shall come into
operation on a date fixed by the President by proclamation in the
Gazette.
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