Communities to access justice services at Booysens Magistrate’s Court.

The Southern Courier received complaints from residents citing that Booysens Magistrate’s Court is no longer taking cases in some of the areas in the South.

These areas include cases from Mondeor SAPS. Residents are sent to Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court and they mentioned that it is further away compared to Booysens Magistrate’s Court.

The publication reached out to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development for clarity.

Chief director of communication management, Kgalalelo Masibi said on December 20, 2024, the department published Notice No. 5720 in Government Gazette No. 51801, to give effect to the creation of new magisterial districts and alignment thereof with the District Development Model (DDM), in respect of the Gauteng Province.

“Through this notice, a new Johannesburg Magisterial District was created for the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality with a new sub-district called Booysens.

“The two courts, Johannesburg and Booysens have separate defined areas of jurisdiction, which were depicted on geographic information system maps and point-to-point descriptions.

“It was later discovered that there was a discrepancy in that, the published point-to-point description excluded a portion of an area in Johannesburg South that is closer to the Booysens Magistrate’s Court as compared to the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court,” she said.

She also mentioned that the government notice to correct the discrepancy was approved by the minister and will be published in the Government Gazette by March 14.

This will ensure that the affected communities can access justice services at Booysens which is nearer to where they reside.