The Constitution of the Association of Regional Magistrates set out a number of objectives, inter alia the promotion judicial standards to their highest possible level and to create a human rights culture.

To achieve this objective the Judicial Education Committee came into being as a result of a decision at the Annual General Congress of ARMSA  held during November 2003.

For the first time in South African Legal History a branch of the Judiciary conducted training of its own members outside the control or auspices of the Department of Justice & Constitutional Development on the basis of peer-to-peer training.

2004

• CHILD LAW CONFERENCE

2005

• LIMPOPO MOOD COURTS

• SEXUAL OFFENCES WORKSHOP - LIMPOPO/MPUMALANGA REGIONS

• SEXUAL OFFENCES WORKSHOP -EASTERN CAPE REGION

• SOCIAL CONTEXT TRAINING WORKSHOP FREE STATE/NORTHERN CAPE REGION

• Since November 2005 as a joint effort between the Projects and Education Committees ARMSA have published a Recourse Guide on Useful Cases for presiding officers. This guide was created to assist Regional Magistrates with a guide to all the niggling issues that may arise in court. (a copy of this guide is available in the library section of this website.

2006

• From June/July 2006 ARMSA as part of its commitment to further Judicial Education also electronically published a electronic law journal called "Primus".  This is also another first for any branch of the South African Judiciary - for more information regarding "Primus" please see the Library section of this website.

• LEADERSHIP WORKSHOP MEMBERS OF DIFFERENT ARMSA REGIONS

• SEXUAL OFFENCES WORKSHOPS ON CONSENT AS A DEFENCE IN SEXUAL OFFENCES  IN THE FOLLOWING REGIONS:

  • FREE STATE/NORTHERN CAPE

  • LIMPOPO/MPUMALANGA

  • GAUTENG

  • NORTH WEST

  • KWAZULU NATAL

  • WESTERN CAPE

  • EASTERN CAPE

• Workshop on The Proper Approach to Juveniles in the Regional Court were conducted in the following regions:

  • FREE STATE/NORTHERN CAPE

  • LIMPOPO/MPUMALANGA

  • GAUTENG

  • NORTH WEST

  • KWAZULU NATAL

  • WESTERN CAPE

  • EASTERN CAPE

  In addition a Recourse Guide to a Proper Approach to Juveniles in the Regional Court were compiled and supplied to all participants. (a digital copy of this guide is available in the library section of the website)

• A Framework for Sentencing was electronically published and supplied to all ARMSA members.  The purpose of this framework is to enable the Regional Magistrate to use this as a template within which he/she can consider all relevant  aspects of sentencing. (a digital copy of this guide is available in the library section of the website)

• Commercial Crimes workshop on a capita selectae  of topic dealing inter alia with  new legislation on electronic transactions and computer related crimes was conducted in conjunction with Justice College in the following region:

   

  • LIMPOPO/MPUMALANGA

• COMMERCIAL CRIME WORKSHOPS (7), in conjunction with Justice College ARMSA co-hosted these workshops. I would like tothank Hein Louw and Kemi Behari who co-facilitated with these workshops, and Logan Naidoo who assisted with the Kwazulu Natal Workshop.

During  2008 the Judicial Education Committee was involved in the following activities:

•  LECTURES:

   Sexual Offences lecture for prosecutors, magistrates, social workers, interpreters on

·        3 December 2007 at Pretoria

·        29 May 2008 at Cullinan (incl. SAPS)

•  CIVIL JURISDICTION BILL:

  The Committee submitted ARMSA submissions on Civil Jurisdiction for Regional Courts Bill and attended 2 of the Portfolio Committee sessions. During the first session we made a joint submission with the Regional Court Presidents Forum (RCPF) to the Portfolio Committee.  

We also assisted the RCPF with compiling an implementation proposal for the civil jurisdiction.

ARMSA members further assisted the Lower Court Management [LCM] with a further four (4) Judicial Leadership workshops (sponsored by CJSP).

• CASE FLOW MANAGEMENT WORKSHOPS:

  ARMSA members also assisted with the development of Case Flow Management workshops and assisted with facilitation of these workshops (Region Court). A total of six workshops have been conducted country-wide in different regions.

   

•  USEFUL CASES RESOURCE GUIDE:

  The Useful Cases Resource Guide had been updated by Dewald Allers & Jakkie Wessels and distributed to all members.

   

•  FACILITATION JUDICIAL SKILLS WORKSHOPS:

  ARMSA members are further involved with the development and the facilitation of 4 courses hosted by the Law Society for attorneys – advanced Judicial Skills course, focusing on criminal court work, in order to assist to create a pool of candidates for acting in the Regional Courts. These workshops was held during July and August 2008.

   

• US EMBASSY ALUMI PROJECTS:

  ARMSA also assisted the US Embassy IVP Alumni project with 4 more Female Judicial Leadership workshops.

   

•  ASSESSOR TRAINING:

  ARMSA members attended the SASSETA Assessors training hosted by the Law Society, and on completion of their portfolios will be registered as accredited assessors with SASSETA.

   

• TRAINING JUSTICE COLLEGE

  A number of ARMSA members have been involved in the training of the Aspirant Regional Magistrates at Justice College. These lectures, by all accounts, have been well received. ARMSA Training Manuals & Resource Guides were utilized and the aspirant magistrates have expressed their gratitude and appreciation for the quality of the training and the resource guides.  As a result 11 of the 13 aspirant regional magistrates also became ARMSA members during the duration of the course.

PLEASE PERUSE ARMSA REPORTS ON ACTIVITIES FOR THE PERIOD 2005 - 2010 FOR A COMPLETE OVERVIEW