Three former Labour Court judges have been sworn in as High Court judges in a move authorities say is meant to plug widening gaps in Zimbabwe’s overstretched judiciary, as concerns mount over staff shortages affecting justice delivery.
Custom Kachambwa, Doreen Hove and Lawrence Masimba Murasi took the oath of office this week, with the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) indicating they will be deployed to new court stations being established as part of an ongoing decentralisation drive.
JSC executive secretary Walter Chikwanha said the appointments were a measure to ease mounting pressure on the bench, warning that the judiciary remains critically understaffed.
“They are coming in to add some numbers. When the Chief Justice opened the legal year he mentioned that we are opening a division of the High Court in Kwekwe, so the Kwekwe High Court is going to be opened in the next two to three months and judges must be deployed to that court, and also Gwanda is going to be opened before the end of the year,” said Chikwanha.
“This recruitment is to make sure that judges are available.”
The three judges are expected to be stationed at the Kwekwe High Court, which is set to open soon, as the judiciary expands its footprint to improve access to justice across the country.
However, Chikwanha acknowledged that the latest appointments barely solve the staffing crisis.
“The numbers have not changed, we have about 80 judges. We had to take judges from the Labour Court so that they cover this urgent gap,” he said.
“Our numbers, both magistrates and judges, are very few. The population has grown phenomenally but we have not increased the bench, so there is need for us to increase our numbers.”
He added that for over a decade, the number of magistrates has remained stagnant at around 250, while judicial recruitment has largely been reactive.
“For the judges we have always been recruiting to replace those who have gone and also to attend to the expansion programme that we have been undertaking, but we are yet to add in numbers for us to lower the level of pressure that the current bench is facing, so they are really few,” he said.
The appointments come against a backdrop of repeated warnings from Chief Justice Luke Malaba, who earlier this year described the staffing situation as “untenable”.
Opening the 2026 legal year, Malaba said acute shortages of judges, magistrates and support staff were undermining efficiency and risking delays in the delivery of justice.
“Staff shortages invariably overwork the few members in post and may cause staff demotivation. If that happens, it will inevitably result in poor work output,” he said.
He noted that while the judiciary had made strides in decentralising courts including opening new magistrates’ courts and establishing specialised High Court divisions, staffing levels had failed to keep pace.
“The number of judges and magistrates in the country has barely increased despite the opening of new courts. Any recruitment that has taken place was intended mainly to cover gaps caused by staff attrition,” Malaba said.
Zimbabwe currently has about 80 judges and 250 magistrates handling both civil and criminal matters nationwide, a mismatch that judicial leaders say is fuelling case backlogs and increasing pressure on court officials.
Judicial authorities say increasing the number of judges remains critical to improving case clearance rates and ensuring timely resolution of disputes, as demand for court services continues to rise.
