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Judge raps government over judiciary funding
By
Staff
Reporter
ZIMBABWE'S High Court judge president Rita Makarau on Monday spoke out
for increased funding of the judiciary, warning that lack of resources
was breeding corruption.
Opening the High Court legal year for 2007, Makarau told an audience that included Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, Attorney General Sobusa Gula-Ndebele, judges and diplomats that “the judiciary in this country is under-appreciated”.
Makarau also revealed that for the first time, the High Court failed to go on circuit in Masvingo in the third quarter to solve 104 murder cases due to lack of funds.
She said: “We have managed to avoid what is perceived as shortcomings in the local educational system by sending our children to schools and universities in South Africa, Australia, United States and United Kingdom.
“When we need complex medical procedures and attention that the local hospitals cannot provide, we fly mainly to South Africa but sometimes to the United Kingdom and the United States.
“Yet when we have to sue for wrongs done to us, we cannot do so in Australia or South Africa and we have to contend with the inadequately funded justice system in this country.
“When someone breaks into our houses and steals our hard earned assets, we cannot call the well resourced police force of a neighbouring country to come and investigate the offence.
“Worse still, when we are suspected of having committed an offence either rightly or wrongly, we are to be held at a local police station cell where due to under funding, some conditions have fallen to inhuman and degrading levels.
“If placed on remand, we are to be held in the local prison where conditions are no better. Innovative as we are, we are yet to find a away to be held in a prison in Pretoria or Cape Town to avoid the conditions in the inadequately funded cells at home.
“For justice delivery, we cannot escape the local system no matter how rich or influential we are. We cannot escape the inefficiencies created by lack of adequate funding.
"It is not in the tradition of the judiciary to publicly speak on any issue including calling attention to needs.
"I am breaking that tradition briefly and for today only, agitate for better funding to the justice delivery system as a whole, generally and in particular, to the judiciary.
"It is wrong by any measure to make the judiciary beg for its sustenance. It is wrong to make the judiciary beg for resources from central Government.
"For us to pay a witness $5 per day brings the administration of justice into disrepute.
"It is also a downright insult to the witnesses, most of whom are simple rural folk from around Zimbabwe who will be justified in thinking that their testimony was worthless if they were paid only $5 for it.
"Judging from the paltry funds that are allocated, it is my view that the place and role of the judiciary in this country is under-appreciated.
"Phrases that it is the third pillar of state or that it is an integral part of a democratic state are often used at appropriate fora by politicians and social scientists and have become cliches whose real meaning is not sought after or given effect to.
"I wonder how
many of us here present have really given thought to the importance
of an efficient and impartial justice delivery system, to us as individuals
generally and as Zimbabweans in particular, and on a practical as opposed
to a conceptual basis."
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