Funding for lower courts depend on their admin, says magistrate

FUNDING and the wellbeing of the lower courts are mostly determined by the type of administration they have at provincial and district levels, acting Chief Magistrate Nerrie Eliakim says.
She said support for law and justice service providers in the country depended on how proactive administrations were.
“You’ll find that each province is different. Some provinces you will find that they have a proactive administration,” she said.
“The provincial government is very proactive and even down to the districts where the district administrators are proactive.”
She pointed out that in some instances, the relationship between district administrators and magistrates were almost non-existent, leaving magistrates to fend for themselves.
She said funding for district courts was inclusive of the district services improvement programme (DSIP) funds but it was not enough to accommodate magistrates.
”In some provinces, the provincial administration is unfortunately not working with the senior provincial magistrate on the ground,” she said.
“When we talk about the DSIP and PSIP (provincial) funding, money for law and justice even for courts is parked in there.
“I only rely on the recurrent budget that’s given to me by the government. If I want to ask for money to assist a particular district, I would have to go through the district administrator or provincial administrator.”