Judiciary strike: Over 4 000 cases fail to be heard

The ongoing strike by Judiciary support staff continues to deny many Malawians access to justice as at least 4 000 cases have failed to be heard in the past four days.

The Judiciary support staff downed tools on Monday to push government to start paying them housing allowances just like Judiciary officers. The workers also want their conditions of service be harmonised with those of judicial officers.

Speaking in an interview on Wednesday, Judiciary spokesperson Mlenga Mvula said nationwide, the country’s courts handle at least 1 000 cases a day.

“This means the cases that have been affected by this strike will have to be given new dates for hearing after the strike. That will definitely lead to delay in concluding the cases,” he said.

Among the notable cases that failed to appear in court this week includes the one involving People’s Land Organisation leader Vincent Wandale which was supposed to enter defence on Monday.

Venezuelan woman Andreina Del Valle Mendez Torres is still on remand at Chichiri Prison in Blantyre waiting to appear in court for allegedly trafficking cocaine. She was arrested at Chileka International Airport on May 7.

And a Cashgate case involving three Ministry of Education, Science and Technology officials suspected to have misappropriated funds amounting to K35 million also failed to appear in court this week.

However, pressure continues to mount for government to act swiftly and resolve the impasse which has forced the wheels of justice to grind to a halt.

Meanwhile, the Malawi Law Society (MLS) has lamented the shutdown of the courts, saying as lawyers, they are also on standstill as they cannot represent their clients, a thing which is affecting them professionally and morally.

In a press statement issued on Monday and signed by honorary secretary Michael Goba Chipeta and chairperson Khumbo Soko, MLS says in any well-functioning democracy, courts, by the very nature of the business they undertake, are never supposed to be shut down and rendered inaccessible to all those who might wish to call them to their aid from time to time.

According to the statement, under Section 26 of the Legal Practitioners and Legal Education Act, MLS has a public duty to protect the public on all matters touching on the law.

“As you all know that when courts are closed like this, the public suffers. MLS has the right to take measures in order to protect the public if nothing is being done and no solution is being found. We are waiting for authorities to act in this matter and, if nothing happens, we will sit down and map the way forward,” reads the statement, adding that should the issues go to court, they will definitely jump in.

In a separate interview, Chipeta admitted meeting the support staff and their lawyer Lusungu Gondwe to hear their side of the story.

Meanwhile, the Malawi Police Service (MPS) has also been affected by the strike as suspected criminals continue to be kept in police cells.

According to National Police spokesperson James Kadadzera, as a remedy to avoid congestion in cells, police are releasing on bail those said to have committed minor offences to create space while still keeping those who committed serious crimes.

The Judiciary strike follows another industrial action by prison warders last month who were demanding that their conditions be harmonised with those of MPS and Immigration Department.

The prison strike also led to congestion in police cells following the sealing of the prisons. n