News / National
300 additional prosecutors recruited
16 Feb 2021 at 06:22hrs | Views
The withdrawal of police and military lawyers seconded to the National Prosecution Authority (NPA) in line with the Supreme Court ruling has not affected the authority's operations, Prosecutor General Mr Kumbirai Hodzi has said.
The authority has already recruited 300 new prosecutors as replacement.
The recruitment was also to cover the gap left by other prosecutors who have left Government service after a Supreme Court ruling two years ago directed that the police and military prosecutors vacate civilian courts by February 20 this year.
The ruling was in response to an application by the Zimbabwe Law Officers Association to stop the authority from using the seconded staff as public prosecutors.
Since independence, prosecutors seconded from the police and military have played a pivotal role in the justice delivery system, as the then Attorney-General's Office, and now NPA, were understaffed.
Several decades ago it used to be routine for police officers to prosecute minor crimes, which changed once the University of Zimbabwe started producing graduates to man a separate prosecution service.
In an interview over the weekend, Mr Hodzi said his office had adequate contingencies in place to ensure that all prosecutions will be done in a manner that was timeous, efficient and effective.
"The Prosecutor General is grateful to a number of retired prosecutors and former prosecutors, some of them in practice, who have all offered to be on standby to train the new batch of prosecutors and also to fill any gaps. But let the public be assured that there will be no gaps in the proper administration of the national prosecutorial services. The proper administration of criminal justice and the rule of law is not going to be affected."
The PG said the NPA had made adequate preparations over the last two years for the withdrawal of seconded staff to ameliorate any negative effect of such a withdrawal.
"Prosecutors deployed to courts that deal with more serious and complex cases such as the Regional Courts and the High Courts have more experience, training and qualifications."
Mr Hodzi acknowledged that the withdrawn prosecutors had accumulated a lot of experience, expertise in effective and efficient prosecutorial and trial and courtroom strategies. It generally takes three to five years of continuous training and experience to develop a reasonably proficient prosecuting counsel.
The authority has already recruited 300 new prosecutors as replacement.
The recruitment was also to cover the gap left by other prosecutors who have left Government service after a Supreme Court ruling two years ago directed that the police and military prosecutors vacate civilian courts by February 20 this year.
The ruling was in response to an application by the Zimbabwe Law Officers Association to stop the authority from using the seconded staff as public prosecutors.
Since independence, prosecutors seconded from the police and military have played a pivotal role in the justice delivery system, as the then Attorney-General's Office, and now NPA, were understaffed.
In an interview over the weekend, Mr Hodzi said his office had adequate contingencies in place to ensure that all prosecutions will be done in a manner that was timeous, efficient and effective.
"The Prosecutor General is grateful to a number of retired prosecutors and former prosecutors, some of them in practice, who have all offered to be on standby to train the new batch of prosecutors and also to fill any gaps. But let the public be assured that there will be no gaps in the proper administration of the national prosecutorial services. The proper administration of criminal justice and the rule of law is not going to be affected."
The PG said the NPA had made adequate preparations over the last two years for the withdrawal of seconded staff to ameliorate any negative effect of such a withdrawal.
"Prosecutors deployed to courts that deal with more serious and complex cases such as the Regional Courts and the High Courts have more experience, training and qualifications."
Mr Hodzi acknowledged that the withdrawn prosecutors had accumulated a lot of experience, expertise in effective and efficient prosecutorial and trial and courtroom strategies. It generally takes three to five years of continuous training and experience to develop a reasonably proficient prosecuting counsel.
Source - the herald
