Judges get ICT skills

Precious Manomano Herald Reporter

Modernisation of the courts through introduction of information technology will improve access to justice and enhance the efficiencies within the justice delivery system, Information Communication Technology Minister Dr Jenfan Muswere has said.

Speaking during the Judiciary Services Commission’s ICT training workshop in Harare recently, Dr Muswere said technology was critical in all sectors of the country, especially as Government has stepped up efforts to attain an upper middle income society by 2030.

ICTs were relevant to the judiciary’s quest to deliver world class justice to communities they serve and the focus on human capital development with emphasis on knowledge of ICT’s is, therefore, key in creating a knowledge driven economy for sustained growth and modernisation of Zimbabwe.

“The practicality of the relevance of ICTs to the judiciary has been seen during this Covid-19 pandemic era where the need to deliver justice while adhering to measures such as social distancing has become a matter of life and death,” said Dr Muswere.

High Court Judge Justice Pisirayi Kwenda said: “We would like to thank the Government for this wonderful initiative which is going to improve our work places and our work performance.

He said training of judges in the use of technology dovetailed with the aspirations of the Government in its quest to have a digitally literate population in the journey to become an upper middle income society by the year 2030.

The training of judges came at a time when Government was putting in place initiatives to ensure the majority of citizens were digitally literate as the country makes strides towards becoming a significant player in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Ten judges from the superior courts attended the five-day training workshop and got certificates of competency.

All judges across the country will be targeted by the programme.