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senior lawyers were also advising their clients how to corrupt the system to get favourable outcomes.”
He lamented the decline in the quality of legal services offered by most lawyers, urging the LSZ to quickly embark on its planned comprehensive skills training programmes.
Minister Chinamasa urged the stakeholders in the justice delivery system, including the accused persons, to shun corruption and collectively work towards weeding it out.
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“Everyone should play his or her part in creating a corrupt-free and respectable justice delivery system,” he said. “The system involves the police, prisons, prosecutors, the accused persons and the judiciary.”
Minister Chinamasa said the training programmes proposed by LSZ for its members were necessary considering that judges always complained of the poor quality of lawyers when they appeared before them.
“I receive reports from judges that the quality of the profession has gone down,” he said. “I am happy that you have embarked on a comprehensive skills training programme.
“Try to persuade even the most senior lawyers to undergo such training because some of them are the ones giving the court problems. If all goes well, the ministry can use you to train some of our lawyers.”
Minister Chinamasa hailed LSZ for donating the prison garb, saying lawyers had taken the right direction of working with the Government.
“I want to thank you for the donation. That has been a pleasant surprise from the law society,” he said.
“Things are going the way they should be. I am happy with the direction taken by the LSZ to re-establish its relations with the Government. That umbilical cord must not be cut.”
LSZ president Mr Tinoziva Bere pledged to ensure that the role of lawyers in corruption was minimised.
“We are determined to eliminate the role that lawyers play in corruption,” he said.
Mr Bere said the law society would soon start the comprehensive skills training programmes for both junior and senior lawyers to improve their service.
“We have since started training the trainers for those courses,” he said. “So far, 50 trainers are ready to train our lawyers so that even if a client is sent to jail, he goes there convinced that the lawyer tried his best.”
The LSZ also took the opportunity to hand over a US$1 764 cheque to cover 2012 fees for Josephine Chiname, one of the best law students from the University of Zimbabwe.
Online Reporter