The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) on Thursday launched Phase Four of the Integrated Electronic Case Management System (IECMS) at Tredgold Magistrates’ Court in Bulawayo, in a move aimed at improving court administration and addressing corruption in the handling of cases.
IECMS is a digital platform that enables electronic filing, case tracking and management, automated case allocation, e-filing support services and virtual hearings, among other functions designed for litigants, legal practitioners, law enforcement agents, judicial officers and court administrators.
Speaking at the launch, JSC Secretary Dr Walter Chikwana said the system would address long-standing concerns over missing court files, the backdating of stamps and the forgery of signatures in court registries.
“For a long time, as the judiciary, we have received complaints about files and dockets going missing, of stamps being backdated and signatures being forged. All these are complaints we have been getting in our court registries,” he said.
On this topic
“I can assure you that all these anomalies are going to be a thing of the past. No one will be paying for someone to check the status of a particular case because now people will be able to access this information on the IECMS platform.”
Dr Chikwana said digitisation would also help curb corruption associated with the filing and hearing of cases by improving access to information and reducing opportunities for irregularities.
“There will no longer be any reports of corruption relating to filing and hearing of cases because all of this will be addressed by the digitisation process,” he said.
The IECMS programme began in May 2022 and has been rolled out in phases across the country’s provinces.
Dr Chikwana said Bulawayo and Harare were deliberately scheduled towards the end of the rollout because they had the highest number of employees and court cases.
“This is because these are the biggest provinces where we have the highest number of employees and the highest number of cases,” he said.
He added that completing the rollout in the two provinces would allow the judiciary to celebrate the national milestone of introducing the system across the country.
Dr Chikwana said the JSC would deploy personnel to train stakeholders, including members of the public, on how to use the platform.
“We shall be sending people from JSC to train all stakeholders, including members of the public, on how to interact with the portal,” he said.
Leave a Reply