Amend Village Court Act

The National Letters

I REFER to the article in The National on Monday, June 22, in which the Justice and Attorney-General secretary announced to stand down village court officials, especially peace officers and clerks.
With due respect to the secretary’s office, village court officials are appointed through a process and procedure outlined in the Village Courts Act, 2014 (amended).
There are very clear grounds for which a village court official’s appointment can be revoked.
The reason behind the secretary’s announcement was qualification. According to the Village Courts Act, qualification should not be a reason to remove village court officials.
Officials can only be revoked on the following grounds:

  • MISCONDUCT in office;
  • NOT attending three consecutive court sittings; and,
  • INCAPACITY

Furthermore, village court officials are appointed after consultation with communities and recommendations from the provincial governments.
The revocation process should follow that same process.
Nobody should revoke the appointment of officials without consulting the province and the communities they serve.
I suggest the secretary consider these:

  • AMEND current Village Courts Act to make qualification a requirement for village court officials;
  • CARRY out audit as there are many paper village court areas and officials; and,
  • PAY out overdue entitlements. Many officials have been working without pay the past seven years.

The department may face problems in recruiting people to join village courts as youths may not want to work for a month without being paid.

Village Court officials,
Morata