Online Reporter
Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, [email protected]
THE digital court system is expected to have a huge impact in fighting corruption, ensuring transparency and efficient justice delivery in the country, Judicial Service Commission (JSE) secretary, Mr Walter Chikwanha has said.
He was addressing an interactive meeting with court officials, lawyers, the police, ordinary citizens, border agencies, among other stakeholders at the Gwanda Magistrate’s Court on Friday last week.
He told the gathering that the digitised system was critical in enhancing public trust in the justice system.
As such, the JSE expects the Gwanda provincial magistrate and regional courts to go live by October 1 this year, and has set in motion plans to digitise 16 courts in Matabeleland South and Masvingo provinces as it extends the coverage of the Integrated Electronic Case Management System (IECMS) countrywide.
Already, magistrates’ courts in Mashonaland Central and Matabeleland North went live on the digital platform at the beginning of July this year.
The initiative is part of the fourth phase of IECMS implementation and, among other things, will ensure courts transition to a fully paperless environment, with electronic case filing and tracking now available to the public. The country’s supreme courts have now been digitised.
“IECMS is a digitised platform meant to enhance access to justice for the community. We have experienced various challenges as a result of this paper-based system that we are using,” said Mr Chikwanha.
“The most basic form of complaint that has come from the public as a result of the paper-based system is allegations of corruption.
“We have received reports of files that have gone missing from the courts. We also have documents from court files, which are part of the evidence, that go missing and there is no way of recovering them, which frustrates the ends of justice.
“Allegations have been made against our clerks of court by litigants, saying they backdate stamps that would have been filed by clients. IECMS will help to address these challenges.”
The JSC secretary said a digitised system will further help to deal with rogue elements in the sector, as documents that will be tampered with can be traced.
He said the electronic system will also help smooth the work of court officials, and urged various stakeholders and JSC employees to support the programme and play a crucial role in disseminating information about it. Mr Chikwanha said training and capacity building of court officials and line stakeholders about the new system will be carried out in Gwanda next month.
He said JSC employees are expected to embrace the digitised system as it is here to stay, and that workers were expected to assume a first-line role in the publicity campaign.
Mr Chikwanha said there will be intensive training of staff and preparation to ensure an effective roll-out of the process, and that all courts will be equipped to support the digitised system. Personnel have also been deployed to various courts to support this transition.
“We introduced the Integrated Electronic Case Management System (IECMS) in the superior courts, which include the Constitutional Court, Supreme Court, High Court and the commercial division of the High Court, Labour Court, Administrative Court and the office of the Sheriff between 1 May 2022 to December 2024,” said Mr Chikwanha.
“We have been introducing this system on a court-to-court basis. In January, we were directed by the Chief Justice to move the system into magistrates’ courts.
“Our magistrates’ courts are spread out throughout the country, and we have decided to deploy the system on a province-to-province basis. We deployed the system in Matabeleland North and Mashonaland Central and now we are moving to Matabeleland South and Masvingo Provinces,” he said.
Mr Chikwanha said e-filing help desks will be established at all participating district courts, while provincial courts will have internet hubs.
The stations will offer technical support and guidance to assist users unfamiliar with the digital interface, and those without the internet or electronic gadgets.
He said e-filing desks will also be established at various police stations across communities to reduce the distances walked by clients.
Mr Chikwanha said the JSE has also hired specialists in cybersecurity and ICT to ensure the system is protected from manipulation.
Going forward, he said they will also make use of Artificial Intelligence to improve service delivery in the IECMS system on issues to do with translation (to local languages) and transcription (automated).
The digital system has been warmly embraced by communities in areas where it is currently in use and the feedback from inception meetings, he added.
The project will be intensified as the target is to roll out the system to the remaining Magistrates’ Courts nationwide in the coming months.
Lawyer Ms Mitchel Chigova said the system has proven convenient for lawyers.
“The digitised system, which has so far been implemented in the superior courts, has made our work easier. For example, when it comes to filing our appeals, we had to take the papers from Gwanda to the High Court in Bulawayo, but now, within a matter of minutes, we can file papers electronically,” he said.
“We really need to embrace the system as stakeholders.”
