JSC sends staff home

The Judicial service commission has set some guidelines for its employees to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. The JSC has since scaled down operations with most courts operating with only skeletal staff.

According to the JSC guidelines all trials and complex matters must be postponed for two months. All non essential proceedings will therefore have to be put on hold.

Urgent matters and bail matters are still being done on a daily basis but the general staff has been put on duty roasters. Furthermore, all proceedings are to be heard in open court even those that would have required to be heard in Chambers.

The JSC has mapped out these safety and precautionary measures to protect its employees as well as the public from spreading the virus. A survey at the high court in Harare shows empty corridors and a quiet environment. The organisation seems to have heeded to the call by the president for people to stay at home.

The virus has become a global epidemic, killing thousands of people worldwide. In Zimbabwe only one person has been officially proclaimed dead. Zororo Makamba had just come from New York and later succumbed to the deadly virus. Two other cases have been reported and the patients have been taken in at Wilkins hospital.

Of course justice delayed is indeed justice denied but in the face of this virus , people ought to stay at home and stay safe. The judiciary plays a major role in ensuring justice is served but the issue of the virus has brought operations to a standstill with only urgent issues being taken care of.

Other organisations such as the National Prosecuting Authority, food outlets and companies have also sent employees home.