Zim magistrates to go on strike

Service delivery in the country's justice system looks set to be in limbo as magistrates threaten to go slow from Monday following a salary deadlock with government.

The magistrates are set to hold a make-or-break meeting with the Judicial Service Commission Monday to resolve the salary dispute which has failed to bear any fruit since the beginning of the year.

The magistrates said their salaries and allowances had not been reviewed since last October when the government scrapped their retention allowances.

They are demanding $1 500 in monthly salaries for junior magistrates from the current $400 and $2 000 for the regional magistrates from the present $500.

They were further demanding a salary increment to $2 500 for provincial magistrates who are currently earning $800 monthly.

The magistrates have also queried the grading system that they say was in ‘shambles' as some magistrates with over 10 years  experience had not been promoted.

They are also demanding salaries and allowances that match their counterparts in the region and that they be given the same treatment as  High Court judges.

"According to the new constitution, we are now judicial officers, but only judges at the High and Supreme Courts are called by that name, we are being segregated," said a magistrate who declined to be named.

The Zimbabwe Mail has established that the Magistrates Association of Zimbabwe  (MAZ) yesterday held an extra-ordinary meeting which comprised of all executive members ahead of today's make-or-break meeting.

A magistrate present at the meeting told this newspaper that they decided to hold an extra ordinary meeting after the government ignored their letter dated January 31 where they were pressing for a salary review.

Yesterday's meeting also deliberated on actions to be taken if today's meeting fails to bear any fruit.

"The meeting we had as an association was to demand that unless government reviewed our salaries and allowances backdated to October 2013, we would from February 11 to 26 be on a go-slow before embarking on full industrial action on February 27," said the magistrate.

A member of MAZ who declined to be named confirmed that they would be meeting with the government today.

"It's true that we will be meeting with government, but please do not reveal my identity as the matter is sensitive," said the member.

Judicial Service Commission secretary, Rex Shana, confirmed that salary negotiations with magistrates were ongoing.

"It's not a strange process to have salary negotiations. Just like the salary negotiations done by the Public Service Commission on the onset of the year, we are also engaging in negotiations with the magistrates," said Shana.

When officially opening the legal year last month, Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku warned of a possible go-slow if government did not lift the suspension of retention allowances.

"The suspension of the retention allowances will reverse the gains achieved in reducing the backlog in the magistrate's courts, and we in the Judicial Service Commission are currently engaging all stakeholders to ensure that this development will not have the effect of reversing the backlog in the magistrate's court," he said.