Courts in digital transformation drive

By The Standard and Newsday | Jan. 17, 2022 | 2 Min read

“It is very important that all members of society, particularly those in key institutions such as the courts must be capacitated in terms of ICT skills,” Muswere said.

BY VANESSA GONYE

Zimbabwe has made strides to digitise the courts in line with international best practises, Information Communication Technology (ICT) minister Jenfan Muswere has said.

Muswere, who was officiating at the certification ceremony of Constitutional Court judges who had completed training, said the paperless court system, to be launched on May 1, would solve numerous challenges that have negatively affected court operations.

Currently, the courts are operating manually, which often result in several errors and prolonged finalisation of cases.

Training on operating the integrated electronic case management system for judicial officers and court staff is already underway.

“It is very important that all members of society, particularly those in key institutions such as the courts must be capacitated in terms of ICT skills,” Muswere said.

“This training is important as we build an army, a battalion of ICT enthusiasts and experts as we journey towards this digital economy.

“The coming in of the ICTs within the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) will ensure that there is efficiency and expeditious decision-making in terms of judicial decisions.

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“It will have the capability to track cases and the capability for lawyers to file their applications on time in a flexible, convenient and comfortable environment,” he said.

Muswere said the advent of technology in the JSC would guarantee the advancement of service delivery in the system.

“The coming in of ICTs is a welcome development, and the training sessions which we will continually have will ensure that there is ease of doing business in this country, and it will also ensure that the whole story about ‘justice delayed is justice denied’ becomes a thing of the past,” he said.

Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe director general Gift Machengete said: “What we have realised in the ICT sector is that criminals and those who would want to do things which are outside the law are ahead of those who try and limit those activities.

“At the press of a button, a lot of things can happen, and if you are not aware of how these technologies work, it will be difficult to even understand how to deal with crime,” he said.

Training of court officials was done by the ICT ministry in partnership with the JSC.