Beverly Bizeki
Prospects for getting a third judge at Masvingo High Court might be a pipeline dream after Justice Rita Makarau said the high court was performing well despite being short staffed with only two judges manning the court instead of three.
Makarau shared the sentiments in her speech during the official opening of the legal year 2024 at the high court in Masvingo as she complemented the case clearance rate at the court which she said is at 95.5 percent for the civil division and 97.6 percent for the criminal division.
“The backlog is not alarming and the clearance rate of cases is astounding considering that the high court is still being manned by two instead of three judges.
“Such a clearance rate will make it difficult for authorities to accept my recommendation that a third judge be deployed to Masvingo as he or she may be under-employed. I will however continue to stress that it is highly desirable that a third judge be deployed to Masvingo for greater efficiency at the station,” said Makarau.
“The Masvingo High Court – Civil division commenced with 15 cases and received 623 cases to have a total workload of 638 cases. 609 cases were completed leaving 29 pending cases. The clearance rate for 2023 was an impressive 95.5 percent.
“The criminal division commenced with six cases and received 1 448 cases to have a total workload of 1 454 cases. 1 420 cases were completed leaving 34 pending cases,” she said.
Makarau also indicated that she had met the Masvingo community to hear their concerns before the official opening ceremony where stakeholders raised issues about the need for training of traditional leaders issues and the need for journalists to cover cases tried at the chief’s courts.
“The concerns raised by Chief Charumbira on the training of traditional leaders on legal issues need to be addressed. Equally so is the concern raised by the media that the fourth estate hardly covers cases that are tried at the chief’s courts yet these courts handle the larger volume of litigation than the general law courts,” she said.
Concerns on the use of the Integrated Electronic Case Management System (IECMS) introduced by the Judicial Service Commission, which was said to be shutting out members of the media as well as civilians from court proceedings.
The Masvingo high court is manned by Judge Justice Garainesu Mawadze and Judge Justice Sunsley Zisengwe.
