Zimbabwe has been under level 4 restrictions since July 2021 and has impacted the functioning of only private business but public sector with the Judiciary not being spared. The implementation was just another provision put in place by the Government as early as March 2020 in a bid to mitigate and prevent the spread of Covid -19 within the country. As a result of level 4 restrictions the Judicial services Commission through practice directives suspended the issuing of new cases and filling of non-urgent proceedings and processes. Other functionaries of our judiciary also suspended operations such as The Master of the High Court also in terms of the directive closed and only attend to urgent matters. This article shall provide insight on the impact of the covid-19 regulations on the access of person to justice and judicial bodies and the further impact on commercial transactions.
From the period of the implementation of practice directive 6 of 2021 on the 29th of July 2021 by Judicial Services commission, person have not been able to prosecute any of their cases before the court or institute any new cases to date. What this means in practice is that courts have become in accessed to persons in general and most of their affairs are left suspended and unresolved in a manner which impact commercial activities of persons and companies. To put it into perspective debt collection was effectively placed on hold and errant tenants provided a leeway from evictions and claims for arrear rentals. The registration of mortgage bonds and forms of notarial security has been hampered by covid- 19 regulations which have resulted in shorter working hours of the Deeds Registry both in Harare and Bulawayo a move which affects the turnaround time of the disbursement of loans by Financial Intuitions, loans which could be intended for growth or capital finance.
In the same period due to Covid-19 regulations the Master of the High Court has not been accepting registration of new deceased estates or convening edict meetings which are crucial for the appointment of executors which is a crucial step in the administration of deceased estates and securing the assets of the same. This measure means that for the past month beneficiaries of deceased estates have been left vulnerable and unable to have deceased estates registered and claims for against the same being placed. This becomes problematic considering that assets of a deceased estate require safeguarding, and this is inherently urgent ought to be treated as such and the current failure to give value to this effect. The sheriff of the High Court is also not affecting any of its mandates expect the service of urgent chamber Applications and Set down with the Magistrates court equivalent, the Messenger of court also does the same.
The Judicial services Commission has however provided an expectation to mitigate the hardships caused by the covid-19 regulations which is allowing all of the courts to attend to urgent matters and all persons need to show is the urgency of their matters which will dealt with on a case by case basis. Person are encouraged were matters are urgent to approach the respective courts and officers to seek the right to access the courts in terms of the different rules of court. It unclear when the judiciary will reopen given it is subject to the lifting of level 4 lockdown regulation by the Government.
While it is clear that these provisions impact the access to courts of law provided by the law parties are encouraged to fully utilize out of court remedies available to them.
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