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Over the past few months there has been a significant streamlining within the whole criminal justice system involving better and more complete investigation and then bringing the accused to court sooner and running a more complete prosecution.

Central to the success is the new inter-agencies unit that brings together all involved in investigating and prosecuting criminal cases: the police, the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission, the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority, the President’s Department and the National Prosecuting Authority.

The theory has always been fine. The investigating agencies dig into suspected crime, find the evidence and build the cases. The National Prosecuting Authority takes the case to court, as the lawyer for the investigation agency although the NPA has always been independent and supposed to make up its own mind over whether a prosecution can succeed.

In practice, as Prosecutor-General Loice Matanda-Moyo admitted last week, there tended to be a degree of inter-agency rivalry and sometimes investigators were not cooperating and sometimes there was serious lack of coordination between investigation and prosecution.

Investigators complained cases were not properly prosecuted, while prosecutors complained that investigations were sloppy and incomplete.

The new unit was designed as one of the measures to convert the theory of criminal justice into sound practice, everyone pulling together to hunt down the criminals, and the range and sophistication of criminal activity has been growing over the decades, hence the number of specialised agencies now involved, and then the prosecutors going into court promptly with a good case.

We see no reason why prosecutors and investigators cannot communicate. In several democratic jurisdictions this is the standard practice.

In much of the European Union an investigating magistrate can even be assigned to oversee an investigation, usually done by the police, and in the United States most states have very close contact between the district attorneys who run the prosecution and the police and other law enforcement agencies who gather the evidence.

Decent communication means that holes in a prosecution case can be filled long before anyone goes to court, and sometimes this might well mean a realisation that the number one suspect could even be innocent and a victim of false information.

The new case management system has been adopted by all, that is the cases move to court in the order they enter the system, so we do not get cases sitting on the sidelines forever, waiting for more investigation or for other reasons.

This is important when it comes to the rights of the accused, as well as the need for a more streamlined system of justice. Everyone is entitled to a prompt trial, and when, for one of the listed reasons, bail is denied, it is especially important for the trial to be started as soon as possible.

A person in remand prison is not there because they have been convicted and sentenced to prison. They are there because a magistrate or judge has found there is a reasonable chance they will abscond before trial, interfere with witnesses, or continue committing offences while out on bail.

Many members of the public have complained about “catch and release”, but since an accused person is presumed innocent until proven guilty they have a right to be on bail unless there is so much distrust that a magistrate or judge cannot take the risk.

Generally speaking investigators and prosecutors tend to oppose bail in many cases, and when it is clear that bail will be granted, often want something fairly cast-iron in the way of guarantees that the accused will turn up on the day of their trial, will not be sneaking around destroying evidence and suborning witnesses, and will stay away from crime while they are out.

President Mnangagwa has also helped remove a lot of the inter-agency disputes by his astute appointments, making sure that those who are appointed at the highest level have a great deal of experience of other agencies and procedures.

One major example was appointing Justice Mutanda-Moyo as Prosecutor-General last year.

In a distinguished career she has seen it all. She was a senior prosecutor, a magistrate, a judge of the High Court, the chairperson of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission, and so had experience at high level of prosecutions, the judicial bench, and, thanks to ZACC, of overseeing investigations.

 This shifting has also meant those in charge of ZACC and the NPA knew exactly how the others were working, so co-operation was a lot easier.

The Judicial Service Commission has also helped a lot, by opening more magistrates courts and converting visits by judges to some centres to permanent resident judges, so trials at all levels take place sooner.

Justice Matanda-Moyo did put in what amounted to a plea for a permanent high Court presence in Midlands, the only province where criminal cases are still stacking up.

The point of the whole cooperation in the investigating and prosecuting arm of the criminal justice system is to end blame games, end rivalry and make sure everyone pulls together to hunt down the bad guys and bring them promptly to justice. Just who does what is less important than the work gets done and done properly.

The magistrates, regional magistrates and judges can then be presented with solid cases, which will be tested in open courts by the accused and their defence lawyers as is right and expected, and then if the case holds up there will be the conviction and suitable sentence.

But when people are acquitted we hope that this is not because the investigation and prosecution failed to make a case to start with.