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Herald Reporter

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is upgrading its strategies to ensure there are effective, professional and competent prosecutions this year.

The Prosecutor General Mr Kumbirai Hodzi says, they learnt from the successes and problems of last year, where co-operation with other agencies and solid evidence meant a lot of quick and successful trials.

Speaking on the sidelines of the opening of the 2022 Judicial Year yesterday, Mr Hodzi said the past year and other preceding years there was plenty of learning.

“We had lessons to be learnt and they gave us an opportunity and time to address the challenges that we identified.

“Now the strategies in place are addressing those challenges and you can see from the last quarter of 2021 there were plenty or very effective prosecutions, some of them, where we had ample evidence, taking as little as 48 hours,” he said.

Mr Hodzi said the prosecution ranging from corruption and traffic matters to armed robberies and all were dealt with within a short period of time.

“Thanks to a large extent to cooperation and coordination consultation with our sister agencies especially Judicial Service Commission and the police, a crack team of prosecutors was put into place. 

“They have been working above and beyond the ordinary call of duty in terms of ensuring that public order, the maintenance of the rule of law is enhanced and maintained. We have learnt and we are building on the lessons that we learnt during the previous year,” he said.

Mr Hodzi said: “Of course, there were disruptions, challenges in the form of Covid-19 which resulted in the closure of the judicial space courtrooms, the courts, for a period of time at one stage the courts were closed for a period of six months.

“Even then when they closed, the PG’s office never stopped working, constantly refining our strategies and we know very well where our weaknesses and strengths lie.”