Special land courts can be set up quickly once the decision
is taken, the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) said
yesterday.
The commission said it had staff suitable for the courts,
while the resources needed were available.
JSC secretary Mr Walter Chikwana said no additional
requirements were needed to set up the special courts as they will be modelled
in the same manner as the Anti-Corruption and Administrative courts that are
being rolled out countrywide.
In its recommendations after presenting its findings to
President Mnangagwa on Tuesday, the Commission of Inquiry into the sale of
State land in and around Urban Settlements since 2005, said: “The JSC should
introduce specialised courts to deal with land disputes, sale of urban State
land, allocations among other issues quite distinct from the Administrative
Court. It should ensure that judicial officers are trained on handling land
disputes as well as that courts expeditiously deal with cases involving sale of
State land.
“The judicial system should be tightened to prevent the
production of fake court orders.”
Commission chair, Justice Tendai Uchena, said some land
beneficiaries’ cases were dismissed by the courts as being civil, yet land
seekers were prejudiced of their money.
“We have a case in Caledonia where one complainant lost the
property after building it to window level. The land baron sold the same piece
of land to another person who built the house to roof level and occupied it,”
Justice Uchena said.
Mr Chikwana said JSC had adequate human and material
resources needed to set up specialised land courts.
“The most important elements in the setting up of these
special courts are the human and material resources. If the powers that be see
it fit for us to set up these special courts, as JSC we are ready to roll them
out.
“We are also ready to train our staff members. What is
needed is to identify the necessary training institutions where everyone,
including the supporting staff will be trained,” he said.
Mr Chikwana said they had adequately dealt with the
issuance of fake court orders by serialising and securitising them.
“We have moved to the electronic case management system to
ensure that no fake orders are issued. We have also adopted an internal
tracking system for cases where everything is captured electronically, especially
High, Supreme and Constitutional court records,” he said.
The commission urged the Ministry of Justice, Legal and
Parliamentary Affairs to audit all urban State land transfer records in the
Deeds Registry offices (Harare and Bulawayo) with a view to identifying
unprocedurally transferred urban State land.
This is to be done by the Auditor-General’s Office. Herald
0 comments:
Post a Comment