Justice is under siege - magistrates have vowed to dump their robes in pursuit of more money.
Members of the Judicial Officers' Association of SA have embarked on a two-day strike for improved salaries and benefits .
Parliament recently approved a 5.5% salary increase for magistrates.
In March, magistrates went on a national "go slow" that clogged court rolls. Magistrates also postponed the hearing of cases.
Yesterday, the association's president, Nazeem Joemath, said the protest had been strengthened and was now a stay-away.
"We want lower-court magistrates to be treated in the same way as high court judges," said Joemath.
"I am a public office-bearer, like a judge, but I am remunerated according to the public service [pay scale]. I have to pay for my own pension. Judges don't pay for their own pension; they get their salaries for life. I don't get a car; magistrates don't get that."
There are more than 2000 magistrates, 1300 of them members of the Judicial Officers' Association.
Joemath said magistrates would bring courts to a standstill by staying at home for two days.
He said the association would soon institute litigation over the salary dispute .
"In the [past] we went to court and just postponed matters, and we said: 'If nothing happens [this time] we are going to escalate it.'
"That is where we are now.
"South Africa is a reactive government - you must strike before you get any real action."
The Magistrates' Commission has charged Joemath and the association's national secretary, Annalene Larsen, with misconduct in respect of the previous protest.
Joemath dismissed the charges as a "smoke screen".
Mthunzi Mhaga, spokesman for Justice Minister Jeff Radebe, said the magistrates' strike was illegal.
"All magistrates who participate in the envisaged stay-away must realise that such action will have serious consequences [and magistrates] run the risk of action being taken against them," said Mhaga.
It is not known how many magistrates heeded the association's stay-away call yesterday.
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