Magistrates to strike

for improved salaries.
In a statement yesterday, the Magistrates’ Association of Zimbabwe said the salary negotiations had reached a deadlock.
A strike will cripple justice delivery at a time when there is a huge case backlog at the courts.
The Magistrates’ Association said, “We exercised our elastic patience until it snapped and we are completely disappointed and disillusioned.
“The only choice that is left open to us is to withdraw our labour and there will be no magistrates court sitting throughout the country starting Monday until our demands are met.”
They said their employer – the Judicial Services Commission – agreed to review their salaries upwards in conformity with the budget they were given by the Finance Minister Tendai Biti.
“The same Minister of Finance has in his wisdom, or lack of it, adamantly refused to effect the reviews suggested by the employer.
“Let it be known to the public that the decision we have taken is not against the JSC, but against Mr Tendai Biti as Minister of Finance.”
The magistrates said they were sure Minister Biti wanted to wage a war against the judiciary.
“When he was a practising lawyer, he called for the independence of the judiciary, now he is in power, he wants to keep the judiciary under his armpits by underpaying the magistrates.”
Chief Magistrate Mrs Hlekani Mwayera, said she could not comment and referred all questions to Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku, who was not reachable.
In February magistrates threatened to down tools if salaries and working conditions did not improve.
Magistrates earn between US$206 and US$300 monthly and are demanding a minimum salary of US$600 for trainees.
When they first threatened to strike this year, they proposed a salary of US$1 000 for junior magistrates, US$ 1500 for senior magistrates, US$2 000 for senior provincial magistrates and US$2 500 for regional magistrates.
Senior regional magistrates and deputy chief magistrates want US$3 000 while the chief magistrate’s salary should be US$3 300.