Some cases in Port Elizabeth’s Magistrate’s Court have been delayed by up to 10 years and others are being withdrawn because of absent magistrates, the Herald Online reported on Monday.
In the latest blow, 10 cases in which children were either raped or indecently assaulted were struck off the roll this week because the presiding officer had ”disappeared”.
Magistrate Meera Naik-Mestry was last at work at the beginning of 2005. Her cases, all partially heard matters dating back as far as 1997, have been repeatedly postponed since then.
It is believed that Naik-Mestry has resigned and taken up a new position in Gauteng.
A condition of employment for magistrates working at the justice department is that they finalise their cases before they leave for new jobs, the Herald reported.
When the cases were called again, prosecutor Phillip Nel requested another postponement pending the availability of Naik-Mestry.
But the magistrate standing in for her refused the application and the matters were all indefinitely removed from the roll.
Senior regional court prosecutor Delia Bosman said: ”It was left up to regional court president Nomatha-Manqa Beshe to find out when Naik-Mestry would make herself available. We were informed by Beshe’s office this week they were unable to get hold of Naik-Mestry and subsequently the court struck the cases from the roll.”
Bosman said the cases will be placed back on the roll soon, despite concerns that children will have to go through the ordeal of testifying again.
Meanwhile, a Port Elizabeth man facing an attempted-murder charge dating back almost 10 years was told his case had again been postponed because the presiding magistrate had ”left the Eastern Cape” and would only return in the ”near future”.
”This is very unprofessional,” said the frustrated accused, Sherwin Niekerk, of Gelvandale. ”The case has been dragging on for almost 10 years. I doubt if such delays happen anywhere else in the country.” — Sapa