KNYSNA NEWS - If you’ve been to the Knysna Magistrate's Court you might’ve been in the presence of the gruff, no-nonsense, stern and very stylish magistrate Zukiswa Hans.
The first black magistrate in Knysna, Hans has earned a reputation for being a disciplinarian who won’t take any nonsense in her court, but most might not know some of the facts behind this unwavering dispenser of justice and the woman behind the robe.
Born on 7 November 1974 in Aliwal North, Eastern Cape where she attended primary and high school before obtaining a law degree through Vista University (now Nelson Mandela University), Hans is one of three sisters born to Mamsie Rina and John Tutu Hans.
She admits to having always been argumentative, opinionated and talkative but maintains she inherited her strong will from her parents. Her love of history also made law an easy career choice. “Our choices back then were informed by the practicality of getting a job and servicing the family and law went in line with my character,” Hans says. But she admits to falling in love with what came with her career – that of assisting the community and ensuring that justice is served.
Time to move on
In 2003 she became a prosecutor at district level but left prosecuting in 2015 because she felt she was stagnating. “I needed to practise law in a different perspective, preside over cases, make a difference and make decisions,” she explains. In that same year Hans became a magistrate and moved to Knysna with her husband and four children Sandanathi (17), Zuzole (14) and twins Ukuma and Uvuko aged six.
Hans describes civil eviction cases as a highlight of her job because it affords her an opportunity to help people, especially people from impoverished backgrounds. She cites a case still close to her heart of a mother and her nine-year-old child with a mental deficiency who were evicted from their home because the father had died and the municipality allowed his sister to take the house. The saddest part was when she called an official from the municipality to the stand and questioned him about their decision making.
She was told that the parents were not married and therefore they couldn’t give the mother the house. Hans said she then asked him about what was in the best interest of the child and made a decision to restore them back to the house and tasked the municipality to register the house under the child’s name.
“Those cases make me sleep well at night, making decisions in favour of the people.”
In the same breath she says it is important to always be alert as people sometimes abuse the system. One of her biggest challenges, she says, is the frustration when a person no longer wants to proceed with a case. “You know it is wrong but the limitation of not being able to go beyond parameters and help a person help themselves is torture."
On being a mom…
Hans deals with criminal, civil, harassment and family matters that often require intense research, but she still manages to maintain a healthy relationship with her children – by "never taking work home". “It wouldn’t be fair to my children… When I get home I want to be a mom. Sometimes I make exceptions but I always try to condense everything within my workspace.”
In the future, Hans aspires to be a high court judge one day and contribute to the jurisprudence of the legal system in developing the law to include more of our South African languages and speak more to the situation as South Africans in the main, as enjoined by the Constitution in this democratic dispensation.
But she also hopes to inspire aspiring lawyers and magistrates to unlearn the philosophy of being limited and stifled by their current unfavourable backgrounds, to break through the barriers and rise above their circumstances, "Being the first black magistrate in town is a further motivation, that with the will and a positive attitude we can do it. Being the first black woman magistrate from my hometown in the patriarchal society that constantly tells us we can't, humbles me and fills me with a greater sense of pride," she says.
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