Chronicle Editor
Mashudu Netsianda, Senior Court Reporter
The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has suspended all court business and scaled down other court activities in response to a spike in Covid-19 cases which has also affected its staff. In a speech to mark the official opening of the 2021 legal year on Monday, Justice Luke Malaba said the judiciary had not been spared the wrath of Covid-19, with one of its officers having succumbed to the pandemic last week.
A total of 31 JSC workers have contracted Covid-19 and two of them are reportedly in critical condition. Following the suspension of business at the courts, only initial criminal remands, bail applications and urgent applications are being attended to.
The move to suspend most court operations comes after Health and Child Care Minister Vice-President Dr Constantino Chiwenga recently announced that the country was moving from Level Two of the national lockdown back to Level Four for the next 30 days.
The surge in the number of new infections and deaths has prompted the Government to take swift action to contain the situation.
“Regrettably, we start the legal year against the backdrop of the ravages of a virulent pestilence, the scientific description of which is Covid-19. The pernicious plague has affected the lives of millions of people across the world and the Judicial Service Commission has not been spared by this virulent disease,” said CJ Malaba.
“Currently there is a total of 31 confirmed cases among the members of the organisation and two members are in critical condition while one died on 5 January.”
Chief Justice Malaba said the JSC would thrive to maintain efficiency at the court during the Covid-19 pandemic as the courts are mandated by the law to resolve disputes brought before them.
He said the pandemic has seriously affected court operations.
“The lockdown and other restrictive measures issued by Government from March to December 2020 intended to prevent and contain the spread of the disease resulted in either the partial operation of courts or the discontinuation of some of the court services,” he said.
CJ Malaba said plans to introduce virtual court sittings are at an advanced stage. The process involves presentation of submissions by litigants and parties to disputes without them being required to be physically present at court.
“To this end, plans to introduce virtual court sittings are at an advanced stage. The process involves presentation of submissions by litigants and parties to disputes without them being required to be physically present at court,” he said.
“This digitalisation of the courts and their processes has already been adopted and is in use in other jurisdictions in the region and beyond. We must, as an institution, see beyond the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.
In assessing the court’s performance, CJ Malaba said the backlog for the legal year 2020 decreased by 76 percent.
Constitutional Court’s workload decreased by 61 percent compared to the previous year.
The High Court received 6 259 less cases compared to the previous year.
Despite challenges faced during the Covid-19 period, backlog at the High Court went down by
2 212 cases with clearance rate pegged at 92 percent.
Cases received at Labour Court declined from 2 125 in 2019 to 1 469 in 2020 recording a 30,9 percent decline. Completed cases also declined by 34 percent.
In 2020, the Labour Court completed 88 percent of the total workload.
Administrative Court had 82 percent clearance rate carrying 16 cases into the year 2021.
CJ Malaba said in the Magistrates’ Courts, the lockdown measures affected both the number of cases received and those completed in the courts.
“Even after the lockdown was partially lifted, it remained very difficult for witnesses to attend court for trials. The majority of criminal cases are heard in this court and it led to the courts placing accused persons on remand, causing very few cases to be finalised since there were no trials,” he said.
“This caused the increases in the backlog of criminal cases at most of the courts. Processes in the civil court are litigant driven. Due to lockdown-induced travel restrictions, the court received
52 655 cases less than in 2019. It also completed
52 850 cases less than in 2019.”
The backlog went up by a marginal 41 cases. The Criminal Court had 4 939 cases as at 1 January 2020. It received 24 564 cases less and completed 25 141 cases less than in 2019. The backlog increased by 1 208. – @mashnets.
Bongani Ndlovu