COURTS’ WEEKEND OVERTIME SLASHED

Supreme Court Registrar Lungile Msimango. (Courtesy pic)

MBABANE – Offenders, especially drink-drivers whose cases are usually heard on weekends, will be caught in the ‘crossfire’.
This, as the Judiciary will no longer process overtime claims for magistrates and other judicial officers that exceed four hours. 
Magistrates and other judicial officers claim overtime for working during the weekend.

In essence, this means that the judicial officers will be at liberty to stop proceeding with matters that will go beyond the four hours on weekends.
The latest development was communicated to all judicial officers by Supreme Court Registrar Lungile Msimango, through a minute dated August 14, 2019.

Minute

The minute, which is titled ‘Re: Weekend Courts’ was circulated to all principal magistrates, senior magistrates, magistrates and clerks of court.
Msimango stated that the Budget Committee had raised concerns regarding over expenditure on item 01, being the item where salaries and overtime are paid.
“The said item reflects a negative balance which effectively means that the Judiciary will not be able to pay for overtime claims and salaries,” said the Supreme Court registrar, who is also the controlling officer of the Judiciary.

She stated that it was for that reason that the Judiciary had now resorted to curbing all overtime claims to a maximum of four hours per day.
In the minute, Msimango emphasised that: “Any claim in excess of four hours shall not be processed.”
Information gathered is that for overtime, a magistrate is paid at an hourly rate which depends on the amount she or he earns.

One of the judicial officers, who preferred anonymity, said: “I understand where the controlling officer is coming from as the previous system of overtime claims was open to abuse and corrupt tendencies, however, do not see most magistrates working on weekends now.”
Meanwhile, an independent lawyer said the decision by the Judiciary would be prejudicial to suspects who would be arrested on weekends in the event a magistrate decided not to proceed with matters beyond the stipulated four hours.

Registrar

The minute has also been forwarded to the registrar of the High Court of Eswatini, deputy registrar of the High Court, assistant registrars and the accounts department of the High Court.

It was previously reported that about 28 officers from the High Court were being paid overtime for moving files from the old archives to the new ones.
This was after the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Lorraine Hlophe, wrote a letter to the Ministry of Public Service requesting that the officers be engaged to claim overtime in the alterations of the High Court building.

In the memorandum, Hlophe disclosed that the 28 officers, who included the assistant registrar, clerks of court and personal secretaries had to work overtime since the Judiciary had hired more judges and there was currently not enough space to accommodate them all. She said as a result, the Judiciary had engaged the Ministry of Public Works and Transport to execute the alteration and minor renovations to the building in order to make more space.

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