Judge condemns lawyers over judicial management applications

Midlands Bureau Chief
BULAWAYO High Court Judge, Justice Martin Makonese, has condemned legal practitioners and their clients who abuse the courts by applying for judicial management in a bid to evade paying amounts due and owing to creditors.
Officially opening the 2016 legal year for the Gweru High Court Circuit last week, Justice Makonese said there was a steady increase in the number of applications at the high court for judicial management and provisional liquidation.
“The concern that I’ve is that to some extent there’s an abuse of court process in that the majority of these applications are filed for the purposes of evading payment of amounts due and owing to creditors,” he said.
Justice Makonese accused legal practitioners of taking instructions from clients and then proceeding to frustrate execution of judgments by filing applications for judicial management. He urged the legal practitioners to desist from such practices.
“Most of the applications for judicial management are filed and never pursued to the end once creditors have been frustrated and left to cling to Writs of Execution which they can’t enforce,” he said.
Justice Makonese said the High Court had put in place various strategies to reduce the backlog of cases that have dogged the courts in recent times. He said there had been a remarkable improvement in the disposal of cases. Justice Makonese said there was an audit of all files at the High Court to determine those cases that have been lying dormant for several years thereby creating a backlog.
“I urge all stakeholders, more particularly legal practitioners, to ensure that cases they file with the courts on behalf of clients are executed to finality. It’s no secret that in most criminal cases, most appeals against conviction and sentence are lodged for the sole purpose of securing bail on behalf of the convicted persons,” he said.
Justice Makonese said once the accused is released on bail pending appeal; the legal practitioner does nothing to prosecute the appeal.
He said most appeals are ultimately dismissed for want of prosecution.
“Cases that aren’t prosecuted clog the system and result in endless applications for condonation, for late noting of appeal and leave to appeal out of time. This creates unnecessary pressure on the courts,” he said.
He said there was a need for the decentralisation of the High Court in Bulawayo and Harare which he said were extremely loaded with cases. Justice Makonese said the two weeks allocated to High Court Circuits like the Gweru one were not enough to clear the work load.