Judiciary reduced to begging – Judge President

c crisis – that has seen the government struggle for resources – had virtually crippled justice delivery, Makarau for example said the High Court last year failed to travel to Masvingo province to hear hundreds of criminal cases simply because there was no money.
The High Court, which Makarau heads, permanently sits in Harare and the second largest city of Bulawayo while it periodically visits the other major centres across the country to preside over cases.
“It is my view that the place and role of (the) judiciary in this country is under-appreciated,” said Makarau in a speech to mark the opening of the first term of the High Court this year.
“It is wrong by nature to make the judiciary beg for its sustenance. It is wrong to make the judiciary beg for resources from central government. It is wrong to make the judiciary beg from any other source,” Zimbabwe’s first woman head of the High Court said.
Court libraries were barely functional, while judges and magistrates had to make do without adequate computers or basic stationery but more frightening, according to Makarau, was the way corruption was beginning to take root among judicial support staff chiefly because of the poor salaries they are paid.
She said: “Reports have reached my office . . . that support staff in the courts are engaging in corrupt practices. While these reports are alarming, one can understand without excusing such conduct. Salaries of support staff are not commensurate with their place in the administration of justice.”
The Judge President said constant appeals to the Ministry of Justice that handles the budget for the judiciary had been fruitless with the ministry maintaining it did not have cash.
Contacted for comment Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said he was still on leave and busy at his farm and unable to discuss work-related matters. “I am on leave until February 8, 2007. Call me then I might be able to comment,” said Chinamasa.
But Makarau criticised the way in which the well-heeled both in the government and the private sector are always able to find enough of the scarce hard cash to import groceries, including expensive cars from neighbouring countries or to send their children to schools in foreign countries while key national institutions such as the judiciary were crumbling because of lack of resources.- ZimOnline