Zim tackling corruption seriously, judge claims

Sibongile Dube

A Bulawayo High Court judge has said Zimbabwe is taking the fight against corruption seriously as evidenced by cases that have been recorded in the courts

Officiating at the opening of the first term circuit of the Hwange High Court yesterday, Justice Maxwell Takuva said failure to deal with allegations of corruption in the courts may result in the loss of confidence in the criminal justice system. 

Currently they are 147 corruption related pending cases in the courts. Of these 29 are either in progress or finalized, 16 cases have trial dates, 21 have been finalized while 52 trials have commenced. 

“These statistics show that Zimbabwe is taking the fight against corruption seriously. The catch and release narrative ascribed to the courts has no legal and factual basis. Admittedly, institutions in the criminal justice system need to ensure that cases of corruption are properly investigated prosecuted and adjudicated upon and speedily finalized in the courts,” he said.

Justice Takuva said the constitutional obligation in the justice delivery system must ensure that disputes brought for hearing and determination by the courts are resolved expeditiously. 

“Tardiness and delays in the handling of cases are contrary to the efficient and effectiveness demanded of a justice delivery system.

The public will for example have trust in the judicial processes where the registry and clerical staff attend to litigants with respect, where matters filed with courts are processed with speed and requisite skill, and were the staff shun corruption. 

Competence is the ability to do something well to the expected standard requisite skill and knowledge. As for judges the standard can be traced to section 187 (b) of the Constitution  which prescribes gross incompetence as one of the three grounds for removing judges from offices,” he said.

However, Zimbabwe scored 23 points out of 100 on the 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index reported by Transparency International. The Corruption Perceptions Index ranks countries and territories based on how corrupt their public sector is perceived to be. A country or territory’s score indicates the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).

Turning to drug abuse, Justice Takuva raised concern over the the growing problem.

” It is an understatement to say that drug abuse is a menace to our society. It is hurting to observe that our leaders insist on taking tough action and acknowledge how terrible drug abuse is. In a speech he gave at the National Youth Day celebrations at Lupane State University, His Excellency President E.D. Mnangagwa urged law enforcement agencies to take ruthless action against drug peddlers while noting that drug abuse is impeding economic development.

“Drug abuse cuts across all cultural, religious racial or economic divides. It affects everyone. Idle youths resort to drug abuse and other social ills due to ignorance and sometimes desperation. We need a properly structured multi-faceted approach which can look at why and how youths end up engaging in drug abuse,” he said.