Story by Yolanda Moyo
THE Judicial Service Commission (JSC) met with legal practitioners and labor personnel in Bulawayo this Tuesday to conscientise the profession on the digitisation of the Labour and Administrative courts set to be introduced on the 1st of next month.
With a few weeks left before the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) launches the second phase of the Integrated Electronic Case Management System (IECMS) in the Labour and Administrative Courts, the Commission’s Secretary Mr Walter Chikwana briefed law practitioners in Bulawayo on how the digital system will work.
Mr Walter Chikwana noted, “We have done that to conscientise the profession because these are the people who frequent the courts. Under phase two in which we have targeted the labor court and in phase three, we are going to the general division. We were briefing them on how they can familiarise themselves with the system.
“We also met the trade unions and labor officers so that they can also know how the court is becoming paperless. The system is also set to get rid of bogus lawyers. From the engagement, we are also going to add more features so that we enhance the system and alleviate the challenges.”
Law practitioners welcomed the engagement with the digitisation of the courts, saying it was long overdue.
Law practitioners said,” We are grateful for the engagement by the JSC and we are seeing that there is room for improvement in the justice system. From time to time these engagements have yielded better results. We have noted our concerns as law practitioners and we believe that the system will be enhanced. Currently, we are facing challenges with the system in terms of uploading and delays in compliance issues.”
The digital system will be open to the public in all provinces across the country and is expected to reduce case backlog in the Labour and Administrative Courts.
Last year, the JSC introduced the Integrated Electronic Case Management System which digitised the Constitutional Court, Supreme Court, and Commercial Court.