News / Local
Zimbabwe to set up virtual courts by year-end
10 Oct 2021 at 06:36hrs | Views
THE Judicial Service Commission (JSC) and the Ministry of ICT, Postal and Courier Services are working together to set up virtual courts by year-end, to ensure that Covid-19 does not disrupt the justice delivery system.
Chief Justice Luke Malaba first announced the move during the opening of the 2021 legal year in January, saying the courts could not afford to lag behind in harnessing the potential of ICTs in ensuring that access to justice is not disrupted.
Officiating at the graduation of judges who had undergone ICT training at a local hotel on Friday, ICT, Postal and Courier Services Minister Jenfan Muswere said by year-end all the courts would have digitised, and sitting virtually to expedite justice delivery.
"As a Ministry, we are working with JSC to introduce virtual courts. The virtual court will be there before year-end, but if we delay it will be early next year. We will be having virtual courts. The digitisation will make sure that ‘justice delayed is justice denied' is a thing of the past," Minister Muswere said
He said the training that the judges received will expedite the courts digitisation process.
"This becomes the catalyst and we have started to digitise manual files into digitised files, and there will be no cases of files disappearing. We are focusing on making sure that there is secure technological use of ICTs," he said.
Chief Justice Luke Malaba first announced the move during the opening of the 2021 legal year in January, saying the courts could not afford to lag behind in harnessing the potential of ICTs in ensuring that access to justice is not disrupted.
Officiating at the graduation of judges who had undergone ICT training at a local hotel on Friday, ICT, Postal and Courier Services Minister Jenfan Muswere said by year-end all the courts would have digitised, and sitting virtually to expedite justice delivery.
He said the training that the judges received will expedite the courts digitisation process.
"This becomes the catalyst and we have started to digitise manual files into digitised files, and there will be no cases of files disappearing. We are focusing on making sure that there is secure technological use of ICTs," he said.
Source - The Sunday Mail
