Judiciary advocates for court proceedings to be streamed live.

The Chief Justice of the superior courts of Zimbabwe Luke Malaba recently called for live streaming of court proceedings especially in cases if national interest. He uttered the sentiments at the official opening of the superior courts on Monday. The CJ said doing so will increase transparency and also confidence in the Justice system. Transparency is one of the core values of the JSC. The CJ said live streaming court proceedings will bridge the information gap with very few people willing to attend court or being unable to. Some people might not have easy access to courts such as the issue of the Constitutional court only sitting in Harare and yet people from all corners of the country would be interested in knowing what happens in the court.

The CJ however noted that there should be strict regulation of the broadcasting process to protect the dignity of proceedings. It is quite odd that court proceedings are not broadcast live in the country. In other countries such as South Africa, the media is allowed inside courtrooms to broadcast proceedings. The famous Oscar Pistorius case attracted so much media attention. In Zimbabwe, the landmark constitutional court case by the MDC A wherein they were challenging the election results was the only case to be broadcast live on television. Most people have hailed the statement by the CJ and called for arrangements to be made for cases of national interest before the courts to be streamed live. Others cited the cases of Marry Mubaiwa, Prisca Mupfumira and Ignatius Chombo. It is however still a contentious issue on the criteria that will be used to label a case as that being of national interest.