The ManicaPost
Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
Manicaland’s Magistrates’ Courts significantly reduced the number of cases before them in 2023, while the High Court cleared all the cases in the province.
Constitutional Judge, Justice Paddington Garwe said this as he presented the 2023 statistical performance of the courts and delivered the keynote address at the official opening of the Legal Year in Mutare on Monday.
Justice Garwe also praised officers of the law for working tirelessly to expedite the clearance of cases before the courts.
“The Mutare High Court – Civil Division – commenced the Year 2023 with no backlog, and during the course of the year, they received 278 cases, giving a total workload of 278 cases.
“The 278 cases were completed. Thus, the division ended the year with no pending cases. The clearance rate for 2023 was 100 percent.
“The Mutare High Court – Criminal Division – commenced with zero pending cases and received 1 666 cases. That gave a total workload of 1 666 cases.
“The 1 666 cases were completed during the course of the year. As in the case of the Civil Division, the division had zero pending cases at the end of 2023.
“The clearance rate for 2023 in the Mutare High Court, for both the Civil and Criminal Division, was therefore 100 percent.
“I take this opportunity to commend both the judges and support staff at Mutare High Court for working hard. This is so because a 100 percent clearance of cases can only be achieved through hard work. The expedited delivery of justice remains the central goal of the judiciary,” he said.
“The Magistrates’ Courts Criminal Division for the Manicaland Province opened its year with 651 cases from the Year 2022. The courts received 9 909 cases, bringing the total number of cases to 10 560.
“The courts managed to complete 10 044 cases, and closed the year with a balance of 468 pending cases. Consequently, there was a reduction in the case backlog when compared to 2022.
“When the Year 2023 commenced, the Civil Division of all the Magistrates’ Courts in Manicaland Province had a backlog of 1 424 pending cases.
“During the year, the courts received 102 354 cases, making the total number of cases before the courts 103 778.
“The courts managed to complete 102 927 cases, and carried over 851 cases into the Year 2024. All the court staff and the judiciary are urged to continue working hard to ensure that cases brought before the courts are dealt with expeditiously,” said Justice Garwe.
Turning to the launch of the second and third phase of the integrated Electronic Case Management System (ECMS), Justice Garwe said the introduction of the system in the General Division of the High Court and the Office of the Sheriff in September came with some challenges.
“February 1, 2023 marked the commencement of the second phase of the programme when the Labour Court and the Administrative Court both went digital.
“The only courts that remained on the manual system were the General Division of the High Court and the Magistrates’ Courts, which are, coincidentally, the largest in terms of volume of work and inevitably the busiest.
“The third phase of the implementation matrix arrived with the introduction of the IECMS in the General Division of the High Court and the Office of the Sheriff on September 1, 2023.
“However, it came with more challenges than what had been experienced during phases one and two in the other courts. The problems encountered impacted on the smooth flow of cases and at some point hugely frustrated litigants and legal practitioners,” he said.
“The diagnostic assessment which the JSC’s technical department carried out revealed that the challenges encountered emanated from the large volumes of cases and the high number of litigants in that particular Division of the High Court.
“Members of staff in the Registry and ICT departments were clearly not ready for the simultaneous massive response. The internet connectivity, particularly at Harare and Bulawayo High Courts, was overwhelmed.
“The e-filing offices established at those courts became overcrowded because legal practitioners, who also appeared to have been caught off-guard, chose to visit the offices and use gadgets and internet facilities at the courts.
“At the same time, the virtual hearing platform became oversubscribed. Admittedly, more legal practitioners practice in the General Division of the High Court and the Magistrates’ Courts than any other courts.
“Those practitioners faced challenges manoeuvring through the system due to lack of knowledge on how the system operates. This led to the assumption that the system had problems.
“The situation was compounded by the fact that the JSC’s own members of staff in the registries had not completely grasped the essentials of the system. As a result, they failed to adequately and properly attend to litigants and system users’ requests,” he said.
The ceremony in Mutare occurred simultaneously with other opening ceremonies that took place across the country.
The main ceremony was presided over by Chief Justice Luke Malaba in Harare, while similar proceedings took place in Mutare, Bulawayo, Masvingo and Chinhoyi.
In his main address, Chief Justice Malaba spoke about the notable accomplishments of 2023, the challenges faced and what the judiciary intends to do in the next 12 months in order to deliver on their constitutional mandate.
The theme for the 2024 Legal Year is ‘The role of the judiciary in entrenching constitutionalism’.
