Magistrates still waiting on Ramaphosa for pay rise – MP

Magistrates are still waiting for President Cyril Ramaphosa to decide on their cost-of-living adjustment, and they are flooding MPs with calls.

EFF MP Virgill Gericke raised the matter at the end of the NCOP Select Committee on Security and Justice meeting on Wednesday, 28 October.

"There's this matter of the cost-of-living adjustment for magistrates in South Africa. Remember that item has not been dealt with. We are waiting on the President to come back.

"In the meantime, we are inundated with calls from the magistrates as to when this item will be finalised. Give us direction. Can we put this on the agenda as a formal item? Or will you interact with the office of the President from the committee side? How do we go about this?" Gericke said.

Committee chairperson Jane Seboletswe Mananiso said the committee would write a letter.

"What we would do, noting this with the team, is write a letter to the department to follow through. Then we will come back to the members on their response," Mananiso said.

Gericke said the committee had already done its part.

"But if necessary, there's no need to bring it before the committee again. We have dealt with it already. We're just waiting on the President. So we want to hear what he says in this regard," he said.

Mananiso replied: "Yes, as I'm saying, we'll do exactly what you are requesting through a letter. We will write a letter to the department."

Magistrates' pay is set by the President after recommendations from the Independent Commission for the Remuneration of Public Office-Bearers.

In January, Ramaphosa approved a 4.1% increase for judges, magistrates, traditional leaders and members of independent constitutional institutions.

In 2025, the Association of Regional Magistrates of Southern Africa (ARMSA) went to court to force Ramaphosa to implement the commission's recommendation of a 34% increase for magistrates.

The association argued that magistrates' workloads and responsibilities had grown since 2008 while their pay lagged behind.

In 2023, ARMSA also went to court over delays in approving a 3.8% increase. Ramaphosa then approved salary increases.