Court hearings at the Grahamstown Magistrate’s Court ground to a halt yesterday after court interpreters joined the nationwide civil service strike.
Court hearings at the Grahamstown Magistrate’s Court ground to a halt yesterday after court interpreters joined the nationwide civil service strike.
A total of 89 court cases were adjourned because of a lack of interpreters and some other court rooms were locked. At the Grahamstown High Court, cases proceeded as normal.
The interpreters are members of the National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers (NUPSAW), which is affiliated to the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu).
Members of the Public Service Association (PSA) have also participated in the strike but did not pitch up for work yesterday morning.
The court interpreters picketed outside the Magistrate’s Court and complained that they deal with very sensitive cases like rape and murder but do not receive any counselling.
They added that their service is not deemed an essential service and therefore they could go on strike. They based their claim on a case in 2004 where Gauteng court employees were charged for embarking on a strike while performing an essential service.
In an email to members of NUPSAW, the union’s general secretary Success Mataitsane wrote: “In terms of essential service designation, court service has been designated as an essential service.
However no official/functionary has been designated. The essential service committee in the document designating court services made it clear that the decision to determine which functionaries are essential
was left with parties to negotiate in the bargaining council, which would have resulted in minimum sevice during stirkes.
The government has consinstently refused to conclude such an agreement.” This means that the services of the court remains a non-essential service until government says so which means that none of the members participating in the strike will be charged.
When Grocott’s Mail enquired from PSA whether court services are regarded as essential or not, association’s provincial senior clerk Claudia Sijila sent through a document stating that court proceedings are indeed designated as an essential service.
