Give time frames for court process resolution: Pub...

Give time frames for court process resolution: Public demands of Malaba

Zim Now Reporter

Affected Zimbabweans including accused persons and complainants have welcomed the directive by Chief Justice Luke Malaba for the judiciary to effectively resolve outstanding cases, but say that without specific time frames this is meaningless.

Several lawyers and other people told Zim Now that without set times for cases to be cleared, Malaba’s directive is an empty one and not worth celebrating.

“He has noted the delays. He must investigate the outstanding cases and set a reasonable time frame for cases to be cleared. Where there is delay, the magistrate and prosecutor must be called to explain themselves to none other than the Chief Justice himself,” said one lawyer who declined to be named.

This was in response to Malaba’s call for case clearance during his luncheon with JSC Manicaland staffers.

“We need all of us to appreciate the significance of being an employee of the Judicial Service Commission. It has a specific mandate as enshrined in the constitution. We are all bound to the provision of efficient services to the people. The Office of the Chief Justice is to ensure that there is coherence on the justice delivery system. There is need for shared commitment to delivery on your mandate. Magistrates and judges must focus more on disposing cases. The job is not to postpone cases but to dispose cases and to terminate disputes,” said Malaba.

A prominent businessman, who has a pending case before the Harare Magistrates' Court, said that the delays are being deliberately created to allow judiciary system players to milk both complainants and the accused.

“I have been to court several times and there is no progress. In one instance were told that the magistrate had gone for some march. What a joke! So does that mean that the people in the system are not aware of their own calendar?”

The businessman said that it has come to his attention that some people are languishing in custody because they cannot pay bribes to be released on bail.

He cited a case before the courts where four accused persons were arrested over allegations of fraud.

“The alleged kingpin was released on bail while the co-accused remain incarcerated. That tells you that money changed hands,” alleged the businessman.

This comes as there is a pending case in which Gwanda magistrate Talent Phiri has appeared in court accused of demanding a US$3000 bribe from an accused person.

A Kuwadzana woman said that Zimbabwe’s judiciary has become rotten to the core and is now a case of justice delayed being justice denied.

“My young daughter was raped. I reported the matter and the person was arrested. He was detained in custody pending trial. To my surprise the man was out a few weeks later and every time we went to court the matter was just postponed. I gave up and did not attend the last date we were given. I am told he was acquitted on that day because the witnesses, myself and my daughter had not shown up. But all the details including the medical report and our statements were there in the docket,” she said.

The woman said if the magistrates were ordered to close rape cases within a given period and a set number of court appearances, this would not have happened.

A journalist who has been on the court reporting bench for more than 10 years said the trend of postponing cases has gone to alarming levels in the magistrate courts.

“It looks like they just put cases on the calendar to tick boxes and show that they are active. Because in a court you can have 6 or 7 cases all being postponed for no good reason and the magistrate trying just one.

“Perhaps if there are too many cases, they need to have one office for routine remands while the magistrates effectively deal with all the cases brought before them,” the journalist said.

The journalist alleged that the rot is not just with JSC but also with lawyers and police officers who are part of the bribe extortion syndicate. He said police officers will often ask for continuance by stating that they are still investigating when the information needed can be found with a phone call or an e-mail.