THE Judiciary Services Commission (JSC) has deployed 10
senior magistrates to Bulawayo to help their counterparts deal with the high
number of public violence cases in the province emanating from last month’s
protests.
Hundreds of people were arrested countrywide following the
violent protests characterised by looting of shops and destruction of
infrastructure.
JSC acting secretary Mr Walter Chikwanha said Western
Commonage courts followed by the Bulawayo magistrates’ courts housed at
Tredgold Building have the highest number of public violence cases in the
country hence their decision to deploy 10 more magistrates.
“We’re simply supporting our magistrates in Bulawayo
because we have realised that according to statistics, the highest number of
people appearing in court for public violence in the country is in Bulawayo
particularly at Western Commonage Courts and magistrates’ there are
overwhelmed,” said Mr Chikwanha.
“We realised that if we are not careful we run the risk of
ignoring other cases as we concentrate on public violence cases hence we need
to strike a balance. We decided to bring 10 magistrates from other provinces
and they will be in Bulawayo for a month to help their colleagues so that
matters are dealt with expeditiously.”
He could not give the actual number of the cases. Mr
Chikwanha said the magistrates comprise provincial and regional magistrates and
will return to their stations after the cases are completed.
He said their deployment was agreed upon by an
all-stakeholders technical committee set-up recently.
“The idea came out of an instruction from Chief Justice
Luke Malaba in his response to a petition by lawyers where he directed that a
technical committee be set-up to look at how matters can be dealt with
expeditiously without compromise. The committee met and agreed on how the
matters can be addressed expeditiously,” he said.
High ranking officers from the JSC, police, Zimbabwe
Prisons and Correctional Services, Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary
Affairs and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) make up the committee.
The NPA also seconded officers to beef up staff in Bulawayo
specifically for the public violence cases.Mr Chikwanha said weekly assessments will be done to
monitor progress.
He said Bulawayo, Harare and Midlands were the only
provinces that still have a high number of public violence cases pending in the
courts. In Matabeleland South there is one pending case in Plumtree, Mr
Chikwanha added.
He said Manicaland, Masvingo, Matabeleland North,
Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland East and Mashonaland West provinces had
finalised public violence cases.
He said 114 accused persons were found not guilty and
acquitted while 180 were convicted countrywide according to last week’s
statistics.
Mr Chikwanha said he was happy with progress being made
adding that JSC was committed to delivering justice. Chronicle
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