A senior Zimbabwean judge has rapped local courts for inefficiency after he found 10 suspects languishing for up to nine years in jail while awaiting trial or sentencing, a state-run daily said on Monday.
”This is quite embarrassing and disturbing,” Justice Makarau was quoted as saying by the Herald, after visiting Harare Central Prison where the 10 inmates complained about their incarceration without either trial or sentencing.
”We have no excuse for this delay. Such a delay is clearly inordinate as this infringes upon the accused’s constitutional rights which we are supposed to uphold. We should take full blame for this ordeal.”
The prisoners include a man who was convicted of murder in May 2000 by a judge who retired in 2003 without passing sentence and another awaiting trial after being remanded in custody for murder in 1997.
Bryford Njovu, a Zambian citizen, has been stuck in jail since 2001 as he awaits trial for car theft.
George Mutimbanyoka, a chief superintendent at Harare’s second largest jail, meanwhile listed several problems including shortages of water, a lack of soap and detergents and lice-infested blankets.
Scores of prisoners are awaiting trial or sentencing in Zimbabwe’s jails due to a huge judicial backlog. Prisoners often suffer from water-borne diseases and skin infections in the overpopulated jails. Two weeks ago a leading soccer player died in a Harare prison where he was serving a jail term for rape.
In some cases prison authorities fail to transport inmates to court for trial because of fuel shortages that have gripped the country, where the economy is in a meltdown with four-digit inflation.
The justice ministry has also been hit by a staff exodus as magistrates and prosecutors have left for private jobs or gone overseas. – Sapa-AFP