TENDAI BHEBE IN BULAWAYO
At least 600 traditional leaders this week underwent training to equip them with legal skills in Bulawayo.
The training came at a time when many judgments by chiefs have been dismissed at magistrate courts.
Responding to chiefs’ concerns, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Virginia Mabiza said the constitution recognised traditional leaders as part of the judiciary system.
“Our courts are guided by the law. To address this problem, we think it is important for chiefs to get training on legal matters.
As I wrap up this issue relating to quashing of chiefs’ judgments, I want to make it clear that there are some magistrates who sometimes wrongly quash judgments made by the chiefs. This training does not cover chiefs only, but magistrates as well,” Mabiza said.
She said the Constitution recognises traditional chiefs as part of the judiciary system and the courts are hierarchical in nature starting with the highest Constitutional Court, Supreme Court, High Court, Administrative Court, Magistrate Court, and the Customary Law and Primary Court which is manned by traditional leaders.
Mabiza said there was a need to comply with the laws of the country to avoid conflicts between the two parties.
“So, this allows for checks and balances within the judiciary system where decisions that are made in one court can be taken to another court.
“To address this problem, we need to comply with the country’s laws. If a magistrate quashes a chief’s judgment, most of the time they will be saying there is something that would have gone wrong in that particular ruling by the chief,” Mabiza said.
Mabiza said there were some magistrates who had been punishing chiefs wrongly.
Speaking at the same event, National Chief’s Council president Fortune Charumbira said: “We have always had discussions on how courts are handling chiefs’ judgments. I have engaged previous chief magistrates on the matter, but it seems the magistrates do not seem to understand.”
