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Elliot Ziwira
Senior Writer
THE Second Republic, under the stewardship of President Mnangagwa and through the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, has done a lot towards the realisation of the people of Zimbabwe’s aspirations.
The Ministry co-ordinates the Inter-Ministerial Task Force on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (IMC-HR&HL), the Justice, Law and Order Sector (JLOS), and Universal Periodic Review National Steering Committee.
In the quest to deliver justice to people’s doorsteps, an initiative enshrined in the National Development Strategy 1, the Government embarked on the construction of magistrates’ courts in the suburbs. Cognisant of that, in March this year, the President officially opened the Magistrates’ Court in Epworth. 
The new court, which will be handling criminal cases, houses two courtrooms, eight offices and a holding cell.
In the past four years, achievements have been made in victim support services, access to justice, Constitutional advocacy, and ease of doing business reforms as well as alignment of legislation to the Constitution, among other deliverables.
Victim support services
Victim support services, particularly the Justice, Law and Order Sector, have been instrumental in the establishment of emergency hotlines and call centres for reporting of gender-based violence.
Furthermore, JLOS members have been capacitated in Sign Language in order to facilitate access to justice for those with disabilities. The pillar has deepened the response to victims of sexual and gender-based violence through establishment of victim friendly institutions, and capacitation of their frontline workers.
As an advocate of gender equality and children’s rights, the ministry has promoted the mainstreaming of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), and the eradication of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV).
Survivors of SGBV have been assisted through the Legal Aid Directorate in partnership with UNICEF and Justice for Children, utilising the Spotlight Initiative programme.
The partnership has provided necessary legal assistance to vulnerable women and children under the Spotlight initiative.
Access to justice
Spurred on by the spirit of taking everyone on board, and ensuring equitable access to justice in both civil and criminal matters, the ministry has been providing free legal assistance and services to the people of Zimbabwe through its Legal Aid Directorate.
In this regard, the ministry has decentralised its legal aid services in all the country’s 10 provinces, and cascaded it to the districts to ensure efficiency in justice delivery at every court of law countrywide.
The ministry’s vision is to establish at least 30 Legal Aid district offices by 2030 at the rate of three per year. In 2021, it established two district offices in Chipinge and Gokwe, and in 2022, one each in Chivhu and Chiredzi.
IMC-HR&HL and UPR
The Universal Periodic Review National Steering Committee, through the Inter-Ministerial Task Force on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, has enabled the Government of Zimbabwe to submit its 5th to 11th Combined Periodic Report under the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).
In addition, in December 2021, the Government submitted its combined 2nd to 12th Report on the Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights. Furthermore, the country managed to submit the Third Universal Periodic Report cycle State Party Report in 2022.
A Real Estate Day was launched on October 15, 2021. The celebration was advocated for by the IMC-HR&HL in order to promote and protect the respect for property rights. The day will be commemorated annually.
Constitutional advocacy
As the administrator of the Constitution, the ministry has made tremendous strides in promoting public awareness of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
It has facilitated the translation of the Constitution into 14 officially recognised languages in Zimbabwe, namely Chewa, Chibarwe, Kalanga, Khoisan, Nambya, Ndau, Ndebele, Shangani, Shona, Sotho, Tonga, Tswana, Venda and Xhosa.
Because language is the carrier of people’s cultural norms and values, translation of the Constitution has ensured that all citizens are fully aware of their rights, freedoms and obligations in their mother tongue, whether in print, Sign or audio-visual media as well as Braille for the visually impaired.
The initiative was and/is in tandem with the Second Republic’s mantra of leaving no place and no one behind.
Dissemination of the Constitution has been conducted through outreach programmes that commenced in 2013 in all provinces of Zimbabwe and has spilled to districts. The outreach programmes facilitate Constitutional education to all citizens.
The subsequent printing and launching of translated versions of the Constitution, led to advocacy meetings in multi-language speaking areas, thereby promoting it further. It has also helped in conscientising citizens on the availability of the Constitution in all official languages.
The Constitution has also been distributed to various institutions, including organisations representing the visually impaired, like Jairos Jiri and Copota School for the Blind, and those for the hearing impaired, such as Zimbabwe Deaf Trust.
The outreach programmes on awareness conducted to date include advocacy meetings, presentations at learning institutions, and radio presentations. Distribution has been done at various organisations, at Zimbabwe International Trade Fair, Zimbabwe Agricultural Show and on social media platforms.
Expeditious alignment of legislation to the Constitution
On the instruction of the Cabinet, in 2015, the ministry established the Inter-Ministerial Taskforce on Alignment of legislation to the Constitution (IMT) aimed at facilitating the legislative alignment process.
The IMT, which has done noteworthy work to date in the alignment of statutes to the Constitution, is chaired by the Attorney-General, and consists of legal advisors, senior State counsels and representatives from all Government ministries. Its role is to oversee the implementation of the Constitution through the facilitation of expeditious alignment of legislation.
Of the 396 statutes in our statute books, 185 required alignment to the Constitution, and 19 new statutes needed to be enacted. Therefore, the total number of statutes that needed alignment and enactment was 204. Of these, 23 are still outstanding, meaning 181 have been aligned, inclusive of existing and new statutes.
Mileposts have been set in women’s rights through inheritance laws that considered their input in marriages (even though they may not have been registered), unlike in the past when they were left stranded upon death of spouses.
A key milestone for the ministry, therefore, was the alignment and promulgation of the Marriages Act and Guardians of Minors Act. The Marriages Act harmonies all marriage regimes existing in the country and outlaws child marriages. On the other hand, the Guardians of Minors Act reaffirms the principles of gender equality in relation to custody of children by both males and females.
Ease of doing business reforms
Through its Companies, Deeds and Intellectual Property department, the Ministry, in an effort to promote and protect the respect for proprietary rights and facilitate the Ease of Doing Business reforms, has managed, under the e- Government flagships, to adopt the following E-Resource Solutions:-
Financial Management and Controlling, which issues all revenue receipts electronically.
Companies Online Name Search, which has replaced the manual name search application and reservation process
Deeds Online Search that provides information on property ownership, property description, deed of transfer number and encumbrances.
In collaboration with the World Intellectual Property Organisation, the Ministry has adopted the Industrial Property Administration System (IPAS) that permits industrial property electronic searches and integration with other regional offices.
Moreover, under the Ease of Doing Business reforms, the ministry chaired the Technical Working Group on Registering Property and Starting a Business. It amended the Deeds Registries Act to establish an electronic registry, repeal the old Companies Act, and promulgated the Companies and Other Business Entities Act that is investor friendly, and also emphasizes on issues of corporate governance.
The new Companies Act is a great achievement for the country as it modernised the defunct colonial era system, which was in contradiction with the socio-economic needs of the Zimbabwean society.
Also, in order to enhance protection of proprietary interests in business, in 2018, the ministry promulgated a new Insolvency Act (Chapter 6:07). The Act has the effect of consolidating and harmonising all the insolvency laws in Zimbabwe.
It is also unique in that it introduced the concept and procedures for corporate rescue. Corporate rescue ensures life support and recovery of businesses as opposed to liquidation, thereby saving jobs and livelihoods.
The general and automatic moratorium the Act allows, provides distressed businesses with a fighting chance at survival. The Act provides for elaborate procedures for dealing with cross-border insolvencies, thus improving Zimbabwe’s ease of doing business.
Protection of innovations and inventions
In 2018, in order to deepen the respect, promotion and protection of proprietary rights, the Government launched the Zimbabwe National Intellectual Policy and Implementation Strategy (2018-2022).
The policy was designed for the creation of an enabling environment that respects and utilises intellectual property as one of the key enablers to promote and enhance economic growth and development of all sectors of the Zimbabwean economy.
The policy is in congruent with the nation’s thrust for creating a knowledge-based economy, in its pursuit to attain its Vision 2030 agenda.
In addition, the ministry has guided the country to adopt international best practices to deepen the protection and respect of property rights through ratification of the Madrid Protocol, The Beijing Protocol, The Swakopmund Protocol and the Marrakesh Treaty.
Rehabilitation of offenders
As has been alluded earlier on, the ministry is responsible for the incarceration and rehabilitation of offenders for their successful reintegration into the society through the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service (ZPCS).
To that end, ZPCS has capacitated inmates with life skills, such as farming, carpentry and mechanics as well as providing offenders with basic and tertiary education in order to rehabilitate them.
In order to improve the lives of inmates, on June 2, 2021, ZPCS established the first Female Open Prison in the SADC region with the support of the First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa.
The Marondera Female Open Prison seeks to cater for the special needs of women who sometimes are incarcerated along with their children. The reform also improves conditions of imprisonment for female inmates as they are now able to pursue their family and economic issues while serving prison sentences.
Alternatives to detention
Since the ministry’s mantra is that incarceration should be a last resort, it is responsible for providing alternatives to detention for minor offenses through its Community Service department. This is particularly true of juvenile offenders.
Through the Pre-Trial Diversion programme, the ministry has managed to provide counselling services to minors and their parents or guardians in order to prevent them from committing crimes.
It is important to note that the programme keeps children from acquiring criminal records before they are adults, and provides a second chance for them to live as law-abiding citizens.
The Second Republic, therefore, through the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, remains steadfast in upholding, developing and providing, accessible, efficient and effective justice delivery system.
Online Reporter