Justice Malaba wrong: ZLHR

Justice Luke Malaba has been blasted by legal practitioners from the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) over a directive that he issued recently, which gave judges powers to decide on court matters without hearing the litigants, saying his decision was unconstitutional.

In a recent practice directive in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chief Justice Malaba allowed judges to decide on court matters without hearing the litigants’ side, a move which ZLHR executive director, Roslyn Hanzi says was meant to ensure that the judges continued to work without getting into contact with lawyers and other court officials.

“A practice directive was issued by the Chief Justice, saying that you can just file your papers and then a judge can decide on the matter. That obviously violates the Constitution of Zimbabwe and the international rights instruments which say that you have a right to be heard,” Hanzi told NewsDay in an interview.

“There are small steps that can be taken by the Judiciary, like coming up with a virtual platform for hearings so that at least the litigants are satisfied, and they present their cases — whether they are going to be doing so from different parts of the country, they will do so virtually in a safe environment. We are very cognisant that COVID-19 is real,” she said.

Hanzi said while the ZLHR was well aware of the COVID-19 dangers, and that many people in the country were succumbing to the respiratory pandemic, the courts could have created virtual platforms to allow people to be heard by the judges.

Several other political analysts have expressed concern over issues of lack of judicial independence in the country.

Opposition political leaders have also claimed that the rulings during the COVID-19 pandemic were being made as a political weapon to silence critics.

Hanzi said it was because of challenges such as lack of judicial independence, which had forced lawyers to demonstrate against alleged abuse of the bench, adding that there was need for reforms in the country’s Judiciary.

“We want to see the reforms that guarantee and safeguard the Judiciary independence of individual judicial officers, not just institutions like the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), the magistrates court, and the High Court, so that they are free from influence from any source internally and externally,” she said.

The ZLHR has also called for capacity building of the Judiciary to ensure it is in the line with changing trends.

“We need continuous education of the judges. If you were following the interviews that were done for the Supreme Court and Constitutional Court judges, you would have noticed that some of the judges were saying that they cannot use computers. They were probably born before these technological advances,” Hanzi said. lFollow Blessed on Twitter @bbmhlanga

BINGA residents have accused the local authority of vandalising water meters and cutting supplies even for paidup consumers.

On Saturday, the Binga Rural District Council began water disconnections to defaulting residents.

Last week, the residents appealed to the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) to take over the responsibility of supplying water to the town which owes Zinwa $1,5 million.

One of the affected residents, who refused to be named, said council was shutting down the water taps even for paid-up residents.

“Water was disconnected on Saturday, but people are crying that the money they paid is not showing in their current bills. Our money was never receipted, but we paid the full amount. What surprises us is that we are experiencing water cuts even after paying the full amount,” she said.

“Instead of sending revenue collectors, council sent Campfire employees to do the disconnections. Why send the wrong people at the wrong places? They had no idea of the water issues. When asked why they came, the Campfire employees indicated that they were just forced to go and perform the duties.”

Emasotsheni (Soldiers) section deputy chairperson, Richard Muleya said threequarters of the 156 houses had water disconnected on Saturday.

“They are closing water even for the people who have receipts to show that they have paid water bills. Some of the residents paid part of the credit, but the amount has not yet reflected on council statements,” Muleya said.

Acting council chief executive Million Muntanga said since Friday, he had not been in the office and could not comment on the issue.

Residents went for four months without water after Zinwa disconnected supplies to council on September 23 last year over a $1,5 million debt.

IT is a worrying trend that every year when Grade Seven results are released, a significant number of schools in Matabeleland record a 0% or poor pass rate. Even the Ordinary and Advanced Level results in the region have not been impressive at all. Questions are being raised on who is to blame for this and all the answers point to the government which critics say is not committed to uplifting the standard of education in the region that suffered a serious setback during the government-sponsored Gukurahundi killings of the 1980s, to equate it with other regions.

Grade Seven results for 2020 examinations released by the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (Zimsec) last week are an embarrassment not only to Matabeleland but to the government which has the responsibility of shaping the future of children through education.

A ranking of schools that circulated in the media showed that at least 88 schools countrywide recorded a 0% pass rate. According to the ranking, nine of the top-ranked schools were in Harare while Bulawayo did not have even one school in the top 40.

Most of the worst performing schools, with a 0% pass rate, were said to be in Matabeleland.

The national pass rate was 37,11%, which is lower than the 46,9% of 2019, translating to a decrease of 9,79%.

It is obvious that the government and its proponents would blame the poor performance on the outbreak of COVID-19, but what about in previous years where COVID-19 was not in the picture? Why did some schools record a 0% or poor pass rate then?

It is a shame for Matabeleland to have such a number of schools recording a 0% pass rate when Primary and Secondary Education minister Cain Mathema hails from that region.

He must hang his head in shame to be a minister who fails his region of origin, disadvantaguing his own kinsman in terms of access to education.

The State of infrastructure in most rural Matabeleland schools, particularly in Tsholotsho where Mathema comes from, Binga, Lupane and Nkayi in Matabeleland North speaks volumes about the results which come from the region.

Most schools lack furniture, qualified teachers and books among other necessities. One wonders if there is a government or ministry to cater for the nation’s education sector, given such poor state of schools.

During the government of national unity between 2008 and 2013, then Primary and Secondary Education minister David Coltart (MDC) almost revived the education sector through the sourcing of books and capacitation of ministry officials with vehicles to go around schools to assess the situation for the purpose of rehabilitating and capacitating them where necessary.

Even today Coltart is revered by many for his role in transforming the education sector at the time.

It is high time government assists Matabeleland schools to improve quality of education in that region.

This means more resources must be channelled towards the schools to upgrade the infrastructure, source learning material and deploy qualified teachers to Matabeleland.

Also teachers must be well-resourced to be able to produce good results.

Food for thought comrade Mathema, the region is crying out for your urgent intervention.