SA Magistrate goes AWOL

A case where a magistrate continued to draw a salary while allegedly attending traditional classes to being a Sangoma will no doubt rekindle the debate about the extent to which the South African civil service can continue to accommodate public servants that want to honour their African traditions.

An article on the issue has just been published by the SA Times

Magistrate gets boot after 9-month Awol
Philani Nombembe	Published:Dec 09, 2007
Parliament has fired a magistrate who absconded from work for nine months and kept drawing a salary. Themba Mathyolo is the first magistrate to be sacked for failing to arrive for work at the New Law Court in Port Elizabeth. Colleagues presiding over civil cases at the court last saw him at his desk in February. Mathyolo made a brief reappearance in May to deliver a stack of medical certificates, from nine doctors, who treated him for a variety of ailments, including flu and headaches. He continued to draw his salary — R350 000 a year — between March and November. Court officials tried in vain to contact Mathyolo and eventually reported him to the Magistrates’ Commission. “He failed to report for duty since February 28. The Magistrates’ Commission recommended that he be removed from office on the basis of misconduct due to his failure to report for duty,” said Danie Schoeman, secretary for the commission. Lamla Makaba, a senior magistrate at the court said: “There are rumours that Matyholo went to train as a sangoma but he did not submit any leave forms for that.” Mathupa Mokoena, chairman of Parliament’s select committee on security and constitutional affairs confirmed that Mathyolo was fired last month. “The Magistrates’ Commission reported Mathyolo’s disappearance to the committee and requested that the minister [of Justice] should remove him from office. I wrote him a letter and sent it to his house. He was supposed to respond within 21 days but did not and as a committee we considered the request to remove him from office,” he said. “We were informed by the court that it had heard from family members that he had gone for a ritual to become a sangoma,” said Mokoena, adding that Mathyolo was entitled to appeal against his dismissal. Port Elizabeth attorney Francois Swanepoel said several cases which Mathyolo had been presiding over would have to go to trial again, entailing “ lengthy waiting periods and involves incurring of further unnecessary legal costs”. Efforts to get comment from Mathyolo proved fruitless. There's no doubt this is a developing story and more is yet to come.