In Khosolo, a village in Mzimba plagued by gender-based violence, women have to walk distances to get justice from courts. Justice far, like justice delayed, is justice denied.
But women here, under Khosolo Women Forum, have not sat on the laurels. Searching for justice on their doorsteps, in 2011, the women started a self-help initiative.
They contributed bricks and sand locally and constructed a court building with support from ActionAid International Malawi.
Though construction got finalised in 2011, women, here, are yet to feel the taste of justice. They are still waiting.
“Upon completion, government has been playing hide-and seek over opening of the courtroom. They told us to equip the hall with furniture. We bought chairs, bookshelves and benches. We are remaining with the magistrate’s chair and file cabinet; this is what is keeping the building from opening,” explains Khosolo Women Forum chairperson Margret Nyirenda.
Absence of a court at the trading centre has robbed its people of the very same justice they try to seek. Khosolo Trading Centre is surrounded by areas such as Chizeni, Kabuwa and Kanjuchi. All these depend on a court in Emfeni or Embangweni trading centres.
A visit to Khosolo last week showed that the transportation system in the area is not reliable due to hilly terrain. Vehicles plying their trade between the trading centres leave around 7am and return late in the afternoon. Locals spend a minimum of K6 000 to travel to Embangweni and back to Khosolo.
In the absence of vehicles, they depend on bicycle taxi to travel to Emfeni, 40 kilometres away from Khosolo which costs them twice the rate of minibuses.
“It is because of these challenges that we decided to have our own court in the area,” says Nyirenda.
The communities’ self-help initiative has partly paid off though with some challenges. Court sessions now take place in the area once in a month—although in a borrowed building— because the magistrate visits from Emfeni or Mzimba.
This, according to communities, has not solved their problems because they continue to lose more money in search of justice as court officials demand money from them to pay for the magistrate’s allowances and fuel.
One such woman unhappy with the judicial system, Lakelo Saka from Sanduma Village, coughed K3 710 (US$9) early this month for the magistrate to hear her story.
“There were 10 of us. We paid K1 710 (US$4) each for the magistrate’s fuel and allowance and K2 000 (US$5) for taking summons. But then, we wonder if we people in the village are supposed to be paying for the magistrate’s allowances and fuel. They need to consider us because we do not have alternative means of earning money apart from farming. I had to sell my 50kg bag of maize to raise that money,” she complains.
Acting clerk at Khosolo Magistrate Court Norwell Phiri while confirming that individuals do contribute money for the magistrate to travel to Khosolo said this is because government reduced funding for such trips.
“That money was used for the magistrate’s lunch and fuel because the programme to have a court hearing at Khosolo was not from government but the individuals,” he says.
However, Nyirenda says this has forced many people to abandon the judicial system when searching justice.
“A lot of people have stopped reporting abuse due to lack of justice in the judicial system. Our plea is that government should offer us a magistrate so that the courtroom lying idle here should be operational,” she says.
T/A Khosolo pleaded with government to speed up the process of posting a magistrate to his area so that his people are saved from further injustice.
“We need a magistrate, police unit posts and the T/A’s office if we are to combat gender-based violence. Lack of these is fostering violence because perpetrators escape the hand of the law easily,” he pleads.
He adds the chief needs his own office where he can report abuse comfortably. The chief currently works from his home.
Mzimba District first grade magistrate George Longwe, while offering a glimmer of hope that the magistrate might be posted to the area, said the courtroom will be operational when the locals equip it with all necessary furniture.
“They committed themselves to having a courtroom that’s why government is staying away from the project. But we may provide the personnel.
“Presently, we cannot post a magistrate there because we are understaffed. But there is a group of magistrates finalising their studies this year. So there might be a possibility of posting one to Khosolo,” he said.
Until the magistrate is posted to Khosolo, victims of injustice continue to be victimised by long distances in search of justice, and the exorbitant administrative costs for the Judiciary to operate.
