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High Court judge Justice Charles Hungwe made the suggestion while officially opening the Masvingo High Court Circuit in Masvingo on Monday.
Justice Hungwe argued that the proposed system would substantially cut the costs of holding criminal trials thereby saving public funds.
The judge is spot on and we urge the Government to explore the possibilities of using video link evidence in the cases where this can help speed up criminal trials.
Justice Hungwe’s proposal has come at an opportune time.This is because a day after he made the suggestion, we were told that at least 2 000 convicted criminal suspects, some of them hardcore, are roaming the streets of Zimbabwe scot-free as their appeals could not be dealt with timeously owing to a shortage of transcribers and poor recording equipment.
This state of affairs is compromising the delivery of justice in our country.
There is clearly a need for our justice system to embrace information communication technologies and do away with archaic recorders and equipment.
According to Justice Hungwe, the proposal presents an opportunity to interrogate the role information communication technologies can play in evidence capture, preservation and its eventual presentation during trial.
The High Court judge bemoaned the slow pace at which the High Court was clearing cases such as murder in Masvingo.
A total of 110 cases were committed for trial at Masvingo High Court but only 23 cases were completed leaving 87 pending cases.
There is no doubt that the backlog figures are the same or even worse for other parts of the country. These protracted delays, according to the Judicial Service Commission, have resulted in suspects among them rapists, carjackers, housebreakers, armed robbers, fraudsters, continuing with their criminal activities.
The suspects take advantage of being granted bail pending appeal. The appeals take long to take off because of the lack of adequate resources and personnel at the courts.
Judicial Service Commission deputy secretary Mr Rex Shana says the High Court has a total of 2 000 pending appeal cases and the Supreme Court has 122 appeals.
These are disturbing statistics calling for an urgent re-look of our justice delivery system. Justice Hungwe rightly pointed out that a combination of factors have led to the current situation. He said there are financial, human resource and equipment constraints that go into crime reportage, investigation and subsequent fair hearing.
The use of information communication technologies (ICTs) in the criminal justice system is long overdue.
In some countries in the Sadc region, the courts have been fully computerised.
Where there is a will, there is a way. President Mugabe has successfully embarked on a massive computerisation of educational institutions in the country from primary schools, secondary schools right up to tertiary institutions.We urge the relevant Government departments charged with the delivery of justice to emulate the President’s initiative.
Mr Shana decried the shortage of transcribers saying currently there were 16 vacancies and there was nothing the JSC could do because there was a Government freeze on recruitment of staff. A holistic approach is therefore needed because it will not help to provide the ICTs without the personnel to use the equipment.
Online Reporter