Revision of magistrates' selection criteria ordered

A report in The Times notes that Parvathi Singh, who is partially blind, took the commission to court after her application to become a magistrate had been turned down several times. Singh said she was overlooked because she had a visual impairment, making it impossible for her to get a driver's licence, a requirement for appointment. The High Court found that the commission's criteria for short-listing candidates for positions as entry-level magistrates were unfairly discriminatory because they did not consider disabled people. Judge Aubrey Ledwaba ordered that the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development reconsider Singh's applications 'fairly, having regard to her gender and disability, within 30 days' and that it revise the method of short-listing candidates for magistrates' positions. He said Singh's disability had not been appropriately considered. Full report in The Times

A full judgment, setting out his reasoning, is still to be handed down, notes a Business Day report. Friends of the court, the South African National Council for the Blind and the League of Friends for the Blind, argued that the appointment policy for magistrates was unconstitutional. Their counsel, Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, said a proper interpretation of the Constitution required the policy to specifically mention disability as a consideration. Jabu Motepe, counsel for the government and the Magistrates' Commission, had argued the commission did consider disability, even if its criteria did not specify this. But, notes the report, Ledwaba ordered that the application form should 'clearly' ask an applicant to clearly disclose a disability. He was concerned about the effect the court case - which had put on hold appointments for all 77 courts at which posts had been advertised - was having on the other applicants and the administration of justice. Ledwaba said the government could 'immediately' appoint magistrates in the 51 courts Singh had not applied for. But with the 11 courts where Singh had applied, the commission had to reconsider those short-listed, and Singh's application. Full Business Day report