State Attorney Amendment Bill [B52B-2013]: final mandates; Magistrates Commission Update; Committee's Legacy Report

NCOP Security and Justice

25 March 2014
Chairperson: Mr T Mofokeng (ANC, Free State)
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Meeting Summary

The Committee received an update from the Magistrates Commission on the lifting of the provisional suspension of Mr P S Hole, a magistrate in Kimberley.  It received five provincial mandates in favour of the State Attorney Amendment Bill [B52B-2013] and adopted it without further amendments.   The legacy report was adopted.  There was no representative from the Department of Defence present for the scheduled briefing on the Convention of Cluster Munitions, and so the matter was held in abeyance.
 
The Magistrates Commission gave the third update on the lifting of the provisional suspension of Mr Hole. In June 2013, the suspension had been lifted so that he could deal with part-heard matters.  Mr Hole had started attending to part-heard cases in September.  15 of the 26 part-heard matters had been finished at the time of compiling the report. There had been a number of postponements in the misconduct hearing, usually caused by Mr Hole appointing new legal representatives, who were then later abandoned, or because of applications for recusals. The presiding officer had to ensure he applied his mind properly in making a fully motivated ruling, otherwise it would lead to the matter being taken to the high court.  The most recent postponement had been because of a medical note from his medical practitioner.  At present, Mr Hole was unrepresented at the hearing and the matter had been postponed to May 12 to16. These later dates were because the witnesses in the case were magistrates who had work loads to complete.

Members felt Mr Hole’s situation would not get better, and asked what would happen with the hearing, as it appeared Mr Hole was playing for time.  Was there anything the Magistrates Commission could do?
 

Meeting report

Magistrates Commission Update
Mr Andre Louw, of the Magistrates Commission, gave the third update on the lifting of the provisional suspension of Mr P S Hole, a magistrate in Kimberley. This was to allow Mr Hole to deal with part-heard matters and to inform the Committee on progress in his misconduct hearing.

In June 2013, Mr Hole’s suspension had been lifted so that he could deal with part-heard matters. The suspension had conditions attached. He was assigned to deal only with part-heard matters, and the Magistrates Commission had to provide regular reports to the Committee on the progress made regarding the disciplinary hearings. Mr Hole started attending to part-heard cases in September.  15 of the 26 part-heard matters had been finished at the time of compiling the report, so at present even more should have been completed.

There had been a number of postponements in the misconduct hearing.   These had usually been caused by Mr Hole appointing new legal representatives, who were then later abandoned, or because of applications for recusals.  In all these instances, the presiding officer had to apply his mind. The presiding officer had to ensure he applied his mind properly in making a fully motivated ruling, otherwise it would lead to the matter being taken to the high court.  The most recent postponement had been because of a medical note from his medical practitioner. At present, Mr Hole was unrepresented at the hearing and the matter had been postponed to May 12 to16. These later dates were because the witnesses in the case were magistrates who had work loads to complete.

Discussion
Mr J Gunda (ID, Northern Cape) said he had heard that Mr Hole was suffering from stress.  He felt Mr Hole’s situation would not get better, so what would happen with the hearing, as it appeared Mr Hole was playing for time?  Was there anything the Magistrates Commission could do?

Mr Louw said there had been instances where a ruling had been given that cases could go ahead and witnesses had given evidence.  However, they had to be cross-examined, and the delaying process would be repeated once again.

State Attorney Amendment Bill [B52B-2013]: final mandates
The Committee received five mandates from the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, North West and Limpopo provinces for the State Attorney Amendment Bill [B52B-2013]. The Bill was adopted by the Committee without further amendments.
 
Legacy Report
The legacy report was adopted by the Committee.

Closing Remarks
This being the last meeting of the Committee for the current Parliament, the Chairperson took the opportunity to thank the Committee members and the staff for their work.

Mr Gunda thanked the Chairperson and Mr M Mokgobi (ANC, Limpopo) for their collective decision-making, which had always put South Africa first.  He felt privileged to have worked in this Committee.

Mr J Bekker (DA, Western Cape) thanked the Committee members and the staff for their work and wished the Chairperson the best of luck in his political future.

Ms D Rantho (ANC, Eastern Cape) thanked the Committee and staff.

Ms M Boroto (ANC, Mpumalanga) said her period in Parliament had been very fulfilling.

Mr M Mokgobi (ANC, Limpopo) said there had never been heated arguments over political issues -- it had always been on how to take issues forward.

Department of Defence Briefing: postponement
The Committee Secretary said that the Committee was supposed to have been briefed by the Department of Defence (DoD) on ratifying the Convention on Cluster Munitions. The DoD had delivered copies of the presentation, but there was no presenter, so the matter would have to be held in abeyance and could not be adopted.
 
The meeting was adjourned.
 

Present

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