Musina court to reopen‚ ending the hearing of cases 'under the trees'

The Public Servants Association (PSA) has welcomed a decision by the justice department to stop the hearing of cases “under the trees” outside the Musina magistrate's court and to hear them instead at the local police station.

The union said this would restore the dignity of the employees and people who use the court's services in Limpopo.

After the court was closed last week after a prohibition notice was issued by the department of employment and labour‚ one of the contingency measures adopted by the department to prevent disruptions to operations was that cases were to be heard outside the court building daily.

The union was not happy with this development and said the hearing of cases “under the trees” was inappropriate and demeaning to both clients and officials.

The union last week gave the department until August 3 to scrap the decision.

It visited the court again on Friday.

“The PSA is delighted that the hearing of court cases under the trees has stopped‚ and the local police station is now used to deal with the priority cases and postponement of other non-urgent matters‚” it said.

The union said the building was inspected on Friday by the departments of employment and labour‚ public works and justice and the labour inspectors gave the building the green light to open next Tuesday.

Six contractors have been appointed and are on site to deal with problems highlighted by the labour inspectors. These include leaking toilets‚ the leaking roof and unsafe electricity connections‚ said the union.

“The PSA will continue to fight tooth and nail to ensure that employees in Limpopo are working under conducive and safe conditions to promote the health and safety of employees.”