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Ivan Zhakata-Herald Correspondent

A teams of senior judges from Malawi is in the country to tap into the Integrated Electronic Case Management System (IECMS) being used by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) so that they can introduce the same system in Malawi.

The six member delegation led by Malawi Supreme Court Judge Justice Frank Kapanda yesterday met the Chief Justice of Zimbabwe Luke Malaba to discuss how Malawi can learn about IECMS and how they can tap into the system. 

 Speaking after the meeting Justice Kapanda said the purpose of their visit was to learn about the JSC new system.

“We are in the process of introducing a system similar to what there is in the judiciary here so we thought that the best way to learn is not to go to a classroom but to come and learn where they are doing the very same thing that we want to introduce in our country and that is our main purpose of the visit here.  This fosters the unity of purpose between the two judiciaries. There is a lot that we share in terms of history. Yes, we might differ in the court system that we follow, you follow the Roman Dutch law here and we follow the Common Law system but we fuse somewhere there because whatever you do here has a bearing on us in terms of justice delivery,” he said.

Justice Kapanda said Zimbabwe and Malawi’s Constitutions speak the same language of accountability and independence on the part of serving citizens. “You can only serve better if there is a system out there which helps you to measure what you are doing and from the discussion that we had, this has been seen through the system that cannot be manipulated,” he said.

“It is a system that assesses whether you are doing things right or not. We are sure that we will learn a lot on how to better serve our people through the reforms that we can introduce, the reforms that the judiciary here is undertaking.”

Secretary for Judicial Service Commission Mr Walter Chikwana said the delegation came into the country to learn about the IECMS which Zimbabwe launched in May last year.

“Our delegates from Malawi have come at an opportune time when we are going into the third phase which is quite important. On September 1 we are launching the third phase of the IECMS when the general division of the High Court and the Office of the Sherriff are going live. From September 1, we will not be accepting any paper filing of documents in the High Court whether they are criminal or family law matters, suing someone for defamation or a divorce. You are required to register into the system and you can only litigate through the electronic system. So our counterparts from Malawi are here to witness this launch and also to understand the journey that we travelled as the Judicial Service Commission up to where we are at the moment,” he said. 

Mr Chikwana said the electronic system started with the Constitutional Court, Supreme Court and the Commercial Division of the High Court.

After the upper courts, Mr Chikwana said the JSC went live on their digitisation programme on the Labour Court and the Administrative Court.