Association of judges protests at new wage table

Maputo, 17 May (AIM) – The head of the Mozambican Association of Judges (AMJ), Esmeraldo Matavel, has protested that recently the judiciary has been given a subordinate status, particularly when it comes to wages.

“The degradation of the status of judges has been most marked by the approval of the Single Wages Table (TSU) in the public administration, in 2022″, Matavel told reporters, on Thursday, in Maputo.

“We are not here simply to defend judges, we are here because we understand that it is important for the community to understand that judges are not only public servants, but are office holders in a sovereign body which is the court”, he said.

According to Matavel, “right from the start, we saw the TSU establishing that there are courts that should be considered as sovereign bodies, which are the Supreme and other higher courts, while the lower, district and provincial courts, are not regarded as sovereign bodies. This is a legal aberration”.

He also revealed that with the TSU, judges, as well as prosecutors from the Attorney-General’s Office, have seen some very regrettable situations, as their careers have been strangled from the outset.

“The TSU has meant, for example, that when a judge joins the court, he’s in category D, then he progresses to C but when he goes to B, the time he has worked in D and C categories no longer counts. It’s as if he were starting from zero”.

The AMJ has submitted a list of demands to the Assembly of the Republic as well as to the government. It has given then a 30 day deadline to reply, and will comment on subsequent steps once that deadline has expired.

(AIM)

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