adminThe Herald, 14 September 1985
THE Government has embarked on a nationwide court building programme to bring courts as close to people as possible and help to deal with the current backlog of cases.
The Secretary for Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Cde David Zamchiya, said in an interview yesterday.
He said his ministry had not built enough courts over the past five years and there was a need to create more facilities to cope with the increased workload.
It was the Ministry’s intention to have at least one court in every district, he said.
Under the programme, a court had been opened in Southerton on September 2 for traffic offences only.
Cde Zamchiya said the opening of the Southerton court, which was operating from Southerton Police Station, was aimed at reducing pressure off the Rotten Row and Mbare Magistrates courts in Harare.
Another court will be opened in Chitungwiza on Monday, and would temporarily operate from Chitungwiza Police Station.
“The idea is to make sure that the people of Chitungwiza, Seke and St Mary’s are all covered by a court in their area rather than coming to Rotten Row or Mbare. Sometimes there are delays and people spent the whole day waiting before traveling back again without having their cases heard.”
The Chitungwiza court could try any case. A proper court complex would be built early next year. Cde Zamchiya said a huge court complex was being constructed at Bulawayo’s Western Commonage Police Station and another would be soon be built in Chipinge.
The Rusape facilities would soon be extended and there were plans to build a new complex at a Growth Point in Gokwe.
“The building of courts will be an on-going exercise aimed at bringing the courts to the people instead of them travelling long distance to towns,” he said.
LESSONS FOR TODAY
Public access to the courts is a keystone of the justice system in Zimbabwe.
The Constitution provides for the right to a fair trial and the judiciary rigorously enforces this right.
Every district in the country has a regional Magistrate district court, which comes at the fourth level of hierarchy in the Zimbabwe court hierarchy.
Regional magistrates have jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases.
Separate African courts were set up before independence of the country to handle cases with traditional and customary law related issues.
In June 2017, the Zimbabwean Government put in place a legal framework for the establishment of specialised courts to deal with commercial disputes, in line with efforts to improve the ease of doing business.
Commercial courts are a must-have for emerging markets vying for foreign direct investment since they facilitate faster resolution of disputes.
Other specialised courts such as the Constitutional Court, Labour Court and the Anti-Corruption Court are a great milestones by the Government to create an efficient legal framework, for justice delayed is justice denied.
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