Moffat Mungazi
Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
THE Judicial Services Commission (JSC) in Manicaland has been applauded for expeditiously dealing with cases that came before the civil and criminal courts in the preceding year to ensure a 100 percent clearance rate.
Speaking during the official opening of the 2025 Legal Year on Monday, guest of honour and Constitutional Court Judge, Justice Ben Hlathswayo, commended judicial officers in the province for being duty conscious.
“In 2023, the Mutare High Court had managed to achieve a 100 percent clearance rate for both the Criminal and Civil divisions. I am delighted to report that the divisions have done it again!
“It has continued to demonstrate exceptional performance by managing to maintain the 100 percent clearance rate for the Criminal and Civil divisions, and the newly established Family Division which I note was introduced in 2024.
“During the year under review, Mutare High Court Division had a workload of 2 919 cases. In the Civil Division, the court had received 338 cases which is an increase from the 278 that were recorded in the previous year. In the Family Division, the court received 212 cases. This is a testament to its exceptional efficiency and productivity,” he said.
Justice Hlathswayo also commended the Magistrate’s Division in Manicaland for attaining a similar feat.
“The Magistrates Courts Criminal Division for Manicaland Province started the year with a backlog of 492 cases. During the year, it received a total of 9 821 new cases, resulting in an overall workload of 10 313 cases.
“It managed to complete 10 000 cases. Therefore, it had a 97 percent clearance rate at the end of the review period. The Civil Division for Manicaland Province started the year with a backlog of 58 cases. During the year, it received 6 662 cases. Therefore, it had an overall workload of 6 720 cases.
“It managed to complete 6 687, achieving a 99 percent clearance rate. In the Regional Magistrate’s Court, the criminal division started the year with a backlog of 119 cases.
“It received 808 cases during the year. Therefore, it had an overall workload of 927 cases. It managed to complete 815 cases. It had an 88 percent clearance rate.
“The regional magistrate did not receive any civil cases over the course of the year. I extend my sincerest congratulations to all judicial officers and court staff for their outstanding efforts and dedication to delivering exceptional service.
“Clearance rates of 100, 99 and 88 percent are very high, indeed, and commendable. Based on that, I do not know what to predict for this highflying province, as statistics are notoriously tricky in this regard,” he said.
The theme of this year’s official opening of the legal year is: “Building public confidence in the Judiciary through stakeholder participation”.
The official opening of the legal year at Mutare High Court on Monday ran simultaneously with similar events hosted at different courts around the country, with the main event being held in Bulawayo where Chief Justice Luke Malaba was the guest of honour.
Justice Hlathswayo was, however, quick to point out that the impressive quantitative statistics must tally with the qualitative aspect of the judicial officers’ work.
“This good performance should also propel the province to focus on the qualitative aspects of justice delivery. During the drafting of the current constitution, there was a lot of debate on the quantitative and qualitative aspects of constitutional submissions and provisions, leading to the inclusion in the final draft of the aphorism, “justice delayed is justice denied”, copied directly from the Kenyan constitution.
“After 10 years of experience with their constitution, I was surprised to find the Kenyans now singing a different mantra: “Justice hurried is justice buried!” We need both the quantitative and qualitative aspects, speedy disposal after critical, careful assessment of cases,” he said.
