MUTARE - The administration of justice is still compromised in both service delivery and infrastructure, a judiciary expert has said.Officially opening a seminar on judicial system in Zimbabwe at a local hotel this week, a prominent human rights lawyer and the Mutare Legal Projects Centre board member, Tinoziva Bere, said more reforms were needed in the system to improve the welfare of the judicial officer.
The state of infrastructure, working and living conditions of the judicial officers is deplorable and requires urgent transformation if justice is to prevail in the country. I even took some pictures of desks and tables that are used by the judiciary officers in Mutare, I can tell you that the situation is devastating and just unmanageable. Reforms are needed urgently so that different players who want to assist the judicial sector may come on board, said Bere.
The main purpose of the seminar, according to Bere, was to apprise captains of the judicial profession as well as the police. Also highlighted were the demands of the court clauses, legal requirements and expectations in fair trial principles with emphasis on application for recusal, sentencing, confessions and statements by accused persons.
The prosecutors and magistrates have been urged to apply court clauses properly following instituted legal requirements. The police and prison officers were also urged to compliment the court requirements in order to make life easier for the magistrates and the prosecutors.
Presenting his paper on Confession and statements, the acting Regional Magistrate in Mutare, Livingston Chipadza, said there was need for the police to understand the operations of the judiciary.
The police as our major partners should be appraised on the modus operandi of the courts as this enhances quality of performance and execution of duty. The work of the police is in tandem with our own. So there is need for appraisal and awareness for the benefit of both the police and the judicial, said Chipadza.
Also present at the seminar was Justice Francis Bere who appraised the delegates about the sentencing and trial. He said that magistrates should work within the confines of the law and should be guided by the requirements of their profession.
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