CHIEF Justice Luke Malaba has directed all courts to further postpone pending criminal and civil matters to next Tuesday in response to the extension of the Level four lockdown by President Mnangagwa to combat the spread of Covid-19.

Courts were set to resume full operations yesterday. The filing of new cases, process, documents, pleading and papers was suspended on July 29 in line with the Covid-19 regulations.

President Mnangagwa last Monday extended level four of the lockdown by another two weeks.

In a statement issued on court operations yesterday, CJ Malaba said all cases that had been set down from today to August 24 will be rolled over to September.

“All court operations previously suspended from the 29th of July up to the 19th of August are further suspended to the 24th of August 2021 on the same conditions stated in Practice Direction 7 of 2021.

“Any act required by the rules to have been done during the period of the lockdown within a specified period of time shall be done within the specified time limited calculated from the 24th of August 2021.

“This practice direction takes effect from the 20th of August and shall remain in effect until the expiry of the extended lockdown period,” he said.

According to the latest Covid-19 update from the Ministry of Health and Child Care: “As at 18 August 2021, Zimbabwe had 121 498 confirmed cases, including 101 837 recoveries and 4 181 deaths. To date, a total of 2 193 346 people has been vaccinated against Covid-19.”

Government, which is pushing hard to attain herd immunity of 10 million people, has widened its mass vaccination programme to include the private sector. It has also deployed mobile teams in remote areas to ensure that all people have access to vaccines. — @DubeMatutu