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  STATEMENT ON THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE LEGAL YEAR BY THE HONOURABLE MRS JUSTICE MAKARAU AND MR JUSTICE MALABA IN HARARE AND BULAWAYO RESPECTIVELY

The Law Society of Zimbabwe (LSZ) would like to welcome and congratulate the Judge President and the Deputy Chief Justice on the delivery of their speeches and successful official opening of the 2010 Legal year.

The speeches usher a ray of hope for the legal profession and the whole justice delivery system particularly at a time when the relationship amongst stakeholders in the justice delivery system is improving as a result of the first ever joint Colloquium of the bench and the profession.

While  the LSZ welcomes efforts underway to deal with the backlog in the Criminal Division, the LSZ notes that the delays take away an individual‘s basic right of a criminal litigant to be tried within a reasonable period as enshrined in the Bill of Rights.  As such the LSZ urges all the stakeholders within the Criminal Division to immediately come up with sustainable strategies to mitigate this problem. 

In the Civil Division, the LSZ welcomes a significant reduction of the backlog of cases and efforts at hand to hand down judgments within a reasonable time.  The LSZ applauds these efforts and urges the judiciary to address the problem of backlogs in a more holistic and sustainable manner. 

The LSZ remains deeply concerned by the inadequate number of Judges particularly at Bulawayo High Court and their poor and appalling working conditions which affect adversely the efficiency of the whole justice delivery system. The LSZ therefore urges the Judicial Services Commission and Ministry of Justice Legal and Parliamentary Affairs to immediately and effectively address this problem. 

The independence of the judiciary is paramount.  The LSZ therefore calls on all stakeholders particularly those in the justice delivery sector to ensure that this independence is respected and court orders should be complied with.  The LSZ will continue to uphold and safeguard the independence, impartiality and integrity of the judiciary, the courts and the legal profession throughout 2010 Legal year

COMMITTED TO JUSTICE AND THE RULE OF LAW