Magistrates' appointment system challenged

It notes if this argument - made by the SA National Council for the Blind and the League of Friends for the Blind, as friends of the court - is successful, it would have far-reaching implications for the way magistrates and judges are appointed in future. Acting Magistrate Parvathi Singh approached the Pretoria Equality Court, saying she had been unfairly discriminated against on the grounds of disability. She said she was overlooked because she had a visual impairment, making it impossible to get a driver's licence, a requirement for appointment. But Department of Justice officials said her non-appointment had nothing to do with her disability and was really about her experience. The report notes in heads of argument, counsel for the friends of the court, Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, said section 174(2) of the Constitution - which says the need for the judiciary to broadly reflect the SA population in terms of race and gender must be considered - had to be read purposively and together with section 9(2) of the Constitution. The latter requires steps to be taken to promote categories of people disadvantaged by unfair discrimination. Ngcukaitobi said, read together, when these two sections required a selection policy that explicitly referred to disability. Full Business Day report