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State of Judiciary 2011-2012
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of the Supreme Court, High Court, Industrial Court, Environment
and Land Court, the Magistrates and the Legal Researchers,
were launched during the year. In addition, specialised training
has been carried out for magistrates in the areas of refugee law,
sexual offences, gender-based violence and the Children Act.
Finally, the Judiciary Training Institute has, together with local
partners, trained senior 24 judges from South Sudan, a collaborative
model that will be expanded in the Eastern and South African
region. In future, the Institute will have a regular training calendar,
and is currently developing curricula and other materials for this
purpose. Going forward, the Institute will ensure that the training
programmes cater for all cadres of Judiciary staff.
5.3.10 Human Resource Management and Development – Pay
and Benefits
Recognising that low pay and benefit levels are a disincentive
to performance in the Judiciary, several initiatives have been
pursued in the 2011/12 year. A comprehensive remuneration
review for all judicial officers and staff was completed, fully costed
and approved for fairness and affordability by the Judicial Service
Commission in early 2012.
This proposal has been submitted to the Salaries and Remuneration
Commission for approval as required by the Constitution. A
comprehensive, subsidised mortgage scheme is now in place for
all judicial officers and staff, while a staff car loan scheme will be
introduced in early 2013.
5.3.11 Human Resource Management and Development –
Discipline
To support the JSC in its oversight of human resource management
and development in the Judiciary, especially with regard to the
fast-tracking of promotion, discipline, welfare, grievance and
other staff matters, an internal Human Resources Staff Advisory
Committee has been established. During the year, this committee
handled a total of 424 staff matters relating to promotions,
upgrading, complaints and staff deployments.
The committee also finalised 63 cases during the year, as tabulated
in the summary.