Parliament, executive must respect the judiciary – Chidyausiku
By Reagan Mashavave
Monday, 10 January 2011 15:20
HARARE – Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku on Monday called on the executive
and parliament to desist from hearing or commenting on matters that are
before the courts saying the two arms of government should respect the
judiciary’s constitutional role.
Officially opening the 2011 legal year, Justice Chidyausiku said the three
arms of government, the judiciary, executive and the legislature must
respect each other’s constitutional sovereignty.
Debate has been raging in the country whether or not the legislature and the
executive have the right and mandate to hear and comment on matters that are
before the courts.
Parliament last year said it had the right to hear matters before the courts
in their parliamentary portfolio committee hearings as it is entitled to do
so.
This was after Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Patrick
Chinamasa had refused to appear before a parliamentary portfolio committee
of Mines and Energy over the Shabanie Mashava Mines (SMM) saga saying the
matter is before the courts.
Justice Chidyausiku, however, said it is inappropriate for parliament or the
executive to deliberate on matters that are pending before the courts.
“It is equally inappropriate for Parliament, in plenary or committee, to
deliberate on matters that are pending before the courts and are yet to be
determined,” Justice Chidyausiku said.
“It is inappropriate for members of the Executive to communicate to the
Judiciary their legal opinions on matters that are pending before the
courts.”
Home Affairs co-minister Theresa Makone last year wrote a letter to the
Attorney General, Johannes Tomana asking the top government lawyer to act on
fake offer letters that are being used to evict the remaining white farmers
off their land.
The letter was copied to Chinamasa and Justice Chidyausiku.
Justice Chidyausiku lamented the low remuneration of the judicial officers
who are now under the Judicial Services Commission established last year.
He said serious consideration must be made to source money from the
corporate world to contribute in improving the salaries of judicial officers
as well as equipping and resourcing the courts as “judicial officers cannot
deliver when and if they are not well equipped to do so.”
“The fact that the national purse cannot fund the Judiciary to acceptable
levels admits of debate. Consequently serious consideration should be given
to enlist assistance from the corporate world and other well-wishers to
contribute, through a trust fund, towards the funding of the Judicial
Service,” Justice Chidyausiku said.
“The contributions, through a trust fund will ensure the insulation of the
Judiciary from the benefactors.”
The Law Society of Zimbabwe vice president, Tinoziva Bere said the creation
of the trust fund must only be a stop gap measure but said it is the
responsibility of government to ensure that the judiciary is well resourced.
“The danger of not remunerating judicial officers properly is two-fold. One,
you make them susceptible to bribery and other corrupt practices and two,
you run the risk of constantly losing competent judicial officers who will
be seeking greener pastures and that tends to reduce the quality of judicial
officers,” Bere said.
“The country must take full responsibility for the proper resourcing and
payment of the needs of the judiciary and it must never be left to
benefactors donating to the judiciary.”
Bere said the LSZ welcomes the establishment of the Judicial Services
Commission (JSC) saying the organization will continue to lobby the
legislature and the government for the judiciary to be truly independent.
On the debate on the issue of commenting on matters that are before the
courts, Bere said there were cases that attract people’s attention and when
the people need to be informed,uch cases must be treated in a manner that
allows people to be informed and for the right of the people to debate
freely as enshrined in the constitution.
“We have observed that the most topical issues that affect members of the
public always generate a lot of debate and that concern must always be
balanced by the right of the people to be informed and the right of the
people to debate issues openly and to express their opinions freely which is
guaranteed by the constitution,” Bere said.
Chidyausiku Bemoans Judges Poor Salaries And Rise In Crime
10/01/2011 18:37:00
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Harare, January 10, 2011 – Zimbabwe’s Chief Justice has lamented the poor
working conditions for the judges and bemoaned the high levels of
criminality in the country.
Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku on Monday described the working conditions
for Zimbabwe judges as embarrassing.
“It is not a secret that the conditions of service of judges and other
judicial officers are embarrassingly low,” Chidyausiku said during the
official opening of the 2011 legal year at the High Court which was attended
by army, police and prison chiefs and other senior government officials.
The Chief Justice bemoaned the poor working conditions for magistrates and
other judicial staffers who despite being transferred to the newly created
Judicial Service Commission from the Public Service Commission have not
realised a simultaneous improvement in their conditions of service.
“The members remained on the low levels of remuneration that treasury had
budgeted for them as employment costs for that year,” said Chidyausiku.
The Chief Justice lamented the high number of criminal cases presided over
by the High Court.
“The increase in the number of criminal trials comings to the High Court is
a cause for concern as it tends to indicate that the levels of criminality
in the country is rising instead of decreasing,” said Chidyausiku.
Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa has made public his
concern for the Judges poor salaries. In 2009 Chinamasa together with
Finance Minister Tendai Biti held a meeting with the country’s Judges where
he undertook to improve the services of the country’s judiciary.
“The High Court was busy, with more cases having been filed during 2010 as
compared to 2009. For example, 186 criminal trials were set down during 2010
as compared to 115 during 2009,” Chidyausiku said.
“The increase in the number of criminal trials coming to the High Court is a
cause of concern as it tends to indicate that the levels of criminality in
the country are rising instead of decreasing.”
Last year the Supreme Court received a total of 31 constitutional
applications with 25 of the cases not ready for hearing while five were
heard and one was withdrawn, Justice Chidyausiku said.
“About fifty percent of the constitutional applications filed in the Supreme
Court, were referrals from the magistrates’ courts across the country
wherein white farmers mainly are resisting their eviction from gazetted farm
land,” Justice Chidyausiku said.