15 new magistrates sworn in

Michael Mashiri
Zimbabwe now has a total of 229 magistrates following the swearing-in of 15 others yesterday, comprising 87 males and 142 females, a senior court official has said.

Chief Magistrate Faith Mushure while addressing journalists at the Harare Magistrates' Courts after the swearing-in ceremony said this was the first time in a while since they had sworn in more male magistrates.

She said the new magistrates hailed from various professions, a development that was advantageous to the team.

“We have sworn into office 15 magistrates, comprising of six males and nine females.

“The group that has been sworn in today was drawn from a cross section of professions made to strengthen the magisterial bench.

“We have five of the appointees coming from private practice, the legal practitioners and eight were drawn from the Judicial Service Commission, JSC, they were either court interpreters or researchers.

“One is coming from the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education and one is coming from the Zimbabwe Republic Police," she said.

She said they had already deployed these magistrates to their respective areas such as Bikita, Mberengwa, Chipinge, Nyanga and Karoi.

Mushure highlighted that the JSC was prepared to deal with politically-motivated violence cases as they had appointed magistrates to deal with that.

“The Chief Justice in terms of Section 133(3), of the Electoral Act designated 75 provincial magistrates to deal with cases of politically-motivated violence and intimidation.

“These magistrates are based at all 58 operational courts throughout Zimbabwe.

“This means that every district in Zimbabwe has a magistrate who is designated to deal with politically-motivated violence and intimidation cases,” she said.

The Chief Magistrate added that these magistrates were at provincial level because they had the expertise to deal with such matters.

She added that the regional court had dealt 4 339 cases from January and they were working to ensure that they clear the backlog they are facing.

“Our regional court has received 4 285 cases form January 1, to June 30, and has dealt with 4 339 meaning that our backlog has been going down.

“In terms of the provincial court, we started the year with 7 832 case. We received 47 381 cases and have, as of June 30, 2023, dealt with 47 847. Our backlog as of June 30, stood at 7 356.

“Our civil cases stood at 1 310 at the beginning of the year. We received 43 973 as of June 30, and we have dealt with 44 185 cases, leaving a backlog of 1 098 civil cases,” she added.

She said they were expecting that the new magistrates were going to assist in further clearing the backlog and to enhance access to justice.

One of the magistrates was deployed to Chikombedzi Magistrates’ Courts in Chiredzi. Chikombedzi and Dete were recently designed as resident courts and she highlighted their plan to open Chikombedzi soon.

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