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Fidelis Munyoro
Chief Court Reporter
OVER the past years, the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has been working to make all the courts of law in the country paperless in conventionality with world-class justice, while keeping an open, efficient and functioning justice delivery order.
To achieve this, the JSC introduced the Integrated Electronic Case Management System (IECMS), an online platform designed to manage case life cycles from filing to appeal.
As the efforts are edging closer to digitisation of all the judiciary institutions, the Parliamentary Legal Committee (PLC) has produced an adverse report on the system.
The PLC was concerned with lack of access, language barriers and unworkable transition deadlines.
Lack of computers, reliable internet access, or the skills to navigate the online platform could hinder many from accessing justice, the report found out.
The IECMS functions entirely in English and the PLC felt that creates further challenges for non-English speakers.
But some analysts believe the PLC’s report does not raise important points.
The JSC said the IECMS is aimed at improving efficiency in the justice delivery in the country and is part of efforts to digitise the courts system in line with global modern trends.
The commission also contend that contrary to what was raised in the PLC report, IECMS was actually fast-tracking access to justice for all.
JSC secretary, Mr Walter Chikwanha, said the debate on the IECMS was welcome, and they would address the concerns once they received the PLC report.
“We are yet to receive the adverse report, but as soon as that happens, we will look at it and comply with the resolutions made by our law makers,” he said. “We take all the comments and criticism with positivity.
“We continue to embrace all the comments made by stakeholders and take them on board to make IECMS more user friendly to all manner of people and to enhance access to justice.
“As the Judiciary, it is important to respect the doctrine of separation of powers, not only in talking about it but in doing as well. Parliament has a critical and Constitutional role in our democracy and we must respect that.”
The system was established under Statutory Instrument 153 of 2023 High Court (Amendment) Rules.
South African-based legal expert, Mr Tendai Toto, said the IECM would bring efficiency and expediency in the justice administration system, helping to quickly resolve civil cases and disputes.
“That said, I think about public access to justice, and equal protection by the law, also focusing on self-acting litigants and the less privileged,” said Mr Toto, a consultant at Legal Support Network SA.
“Much as it is desired to be progressive following world trends in the (Artificial Intelligence) AI era, the justice delivery system must be effective and accessible to everyone. Measures must be taken by the JSC to address many concerns created by the online judicial platform.”
He feels the JSC must make extra efforts to accommodate the indigent, self-acting litigants and the less privileged who cannot afford data, legal fees and people’s preference to interface directly with judges in an open court, presenting the opportunity for human interaction to assess the demeanour of litigants and witnesses, for example.
Mr Kudzai Rangarirai said the PLC failed to understand that when reviewing processes involving technology it must be considered that technology is never perfect and it will never be.
Since English is the official court language in Zimbabwe and court records are in English as well as court judgments are written in English, Mr Rangarirai said if people were to take the PLC’s logic on the language used on the IEMCS platform, then all court records and judgments must be translated into the languages mentioned in the Constitution.
“That will create anarchy and that was never the intention of the authors of the Constitution,” he said.
“The English used on the IECS platform is very basic, like the litigant’s name, address etc. It is, therefore, my view that the use of English language on the IECMS does not offend s.6 of the Constitution.”
Mr Rangarirai said there was no country with 100 percent internet penetration, therefore, this could not stop a noble innovation like the IECMS on the flimsy reasons that some areas in Zimbabwe have no internet access as there will always be some areas without internet connectivity even 10 years from today.
“Should the whole country therefore wait until such areas are connected to the internet before making use of IECMS?” he said.
In its report, the PLC has not stated the perfect internet percentage penetration at which it would be acceptable to have IECMS.
The PLC seem to suggest that a fair hearing is only achieved when the public is in the court gallery.
Mr Rangarirai said this was not the case, as the public in the court gallery adds nothing to the fairness of a hearing.
In his view, he does not see how the fair hearing provision of the Constitution would be breached by having virtual hearings.
“In fact, it is enhanced as the hearing can be conducted while you are at your home and under familiar surroundings unlike a courtroom which can be intimidating and confusing,” he said.
In his opinion, Mr Rangarirai further submitted that the PLC got it wrong when it held that section 68 of the Constitution will be offended.
The cited section guarantees the right to administrative justice as a fundamental constitutional right. It provides that everyone “has the right to administrative conduct that is lawful, prompt, efficient, reasonable, proportionate, impartial and both substantively and procedurally fair”.
“It is my view that the PLC got this horribly wrong,” says Mr Rangarirai. “The IECMs enhance access to justice because cases are filed instantly without waiting for the courts to open or traveling long distances to go to the courts.
“Further litigation costs will be slashed as lawyers and litigants don’t need to travel to the courts to attend hearings. All this means that more people will have access to justice.”
Another law expert, Ms Nunudzayi Masunda, said it appeared the IECMS system had elitist consequences on access to justice.
“It assumes that every litigant has access to the internet at the speed required by the system and access enabled gadgets at best and or a legal practitioner,” she said.
“The language barriers, in which the system operates only in one language, further makes it inaccessible. One must be computer literate and also have sufficient understanding of the English language to access and use the system.”
But for Mr Rangarirai, the SI is in compliance with the Constitution and PLC seems not fully conversant with the IECMS system.
They jumped the gun, he said.
“Some MPs travelled to COP28 and COP29 and we had hoped they had understood the concept of climate change and why everybody should play their part,” he said. “The IECMS is a way of reducing environmental footprint and a climate change mitigation strategy.”
From the PLC report, it is clear that the MPs seem not to understand the role of the Registrar.
The Registrar only checks compliance with the IECMS platform regulations and checks if a litigant filed his or her documents under the correct headings only.
The Registrar does not decide whether summons, pleadings, among others are defective or not.
The PLC further cited the unavailability of electricity as another issue which makes the SI unconstitutional.
Surely, the absence of electricity is not a permanent state of affairs.
The digitalisation of court management processes is more than just moving the workflow to a cloud.
It is about leveraging technologies like AI and data-driven automation to reduce waiting time in courts and allow users to manage their time more efficiently.
For instance, electronic submission of documents can save time and retire the queues in courthouses. This lessens court interruptions and increases the level of vigilance of court users.
Court users have been spending time and public resources because of procedures that require their appearance in the court rooms.
Now with remote hearings in court, self-service and digital document management can change this.
Online Reporter