Magistrates get pay hike, but judges miss out

Judges will not get salary increases this year, while long-suffering magistrates will receive increases of between 2.8% and 4.5%, depending on rank, notes Legalbrief. President Cyril Ramaphosa turned down a recommendation from the Independent Commission for the Remuneration of Public Office Bearers to increase the remuneration of judges by 3%, backdated to April 2019, says a TimesLIVE report. ‘Having considered the serious economic challenges the country is experiencing and the fact that the fiscus is currently constrained, I do not intend to increase the salaries of Constitutional Court judges and judges of other courts,’ said Ramaphosa in a letter to National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise. The commission recommended that the salaries of magistrates be increased by 4% with effect from 1 April 2019. Ramaphosa decided to increase the salaries of the special-grade chief magistrate, regional court president, regional magistrate, chief magistrate and senior magistrate by 2.8%, while magistrates will get 4.5% increases. Ramaphosa last month rejected a recommendation to increase salaries of Cabinet members and senior parliamentary officials but gave ordinary MPs a 2.8% increase.