Zim woman sues JSC over mandatory and exclusive use of IECMS in court processes

In the application, which was filed on 18 October 2023 at the Harare
High Court, the woman, who is represented by Shadreck Masike of Shomwe
and Partners Attorneys, in a matter supported by Zimbabwe Lawyers for
Human Rights, wants the High Court to declare that the mandatory and
exclusive use of the IECMS platform in all superior courts in Zimbabwe
for filing pleadings and conducting hearings, violates fundamental
rights enshrined in the Constitution, which include the right to a
fair hearing, the right to access to justice and the right to equal
benefit and protection of the law.

In September, JSC advised its stakeholders that all litigation in
superior courts will now be done on the IECMS platform and to use
this, litigants or users needed gadgets such as laptops, computers,
tablets smartphones, adequate and stable internet connectivity and
need to be registered on the IECMS platform and to be trained on how
to use the IECMS.

The woman, resorted to take legal action against JSC after she failed
to institute summons for a decree of divorce at Harare High Court in a
matter in which she was a self-actor meaning that she would
effectively be kept in a legal marriage which she has lost interest
in.

The aggrieved woman was advised by the Registrar of the High Court
that all superior courts in Zimbabwe including the High Court no
longer accept the physical filling of hardcopy pleadings and instead
all filings and hearings were now being done electronically on the
IECMS platform.

The woman was told that as a self-actor, she should cause the summons
to be issued out through logging onto the IECMS platform, which
requires not only a compatible electronic device but a steady access
to and connection of internet service as well.

To this end, the woman was directed to the IECMS hub to be assisted,
only to experience a crowd of people waiting to be assisted including
legal practitioners, whom she was told take precedence and this forced
her to leave the High Court without getting the opportunity to be
assisted.

Because of this experience at the High Court, the woman argues in her
application that she was hamstrung to institute her divorce summons
because she does not own a compatible device nor does she have funds
to secure a steady supply and connection of internet to pursue her
matter to its completion including not being conversant with
manoeuvring the IECMS platform.

She argued that her fundamental rights such as the right to a fair
hearing enshrined in section 69(2) of the Constitution, the right to
access to justice guaranteed in section 69(3) of the Constitution and
the right to equal protection and benefit of the law provided in
section 56(1) of the Constitution, will be violated if she is forced
to make use of a system that appears complicated, expensive and
onerous to use.

The woman contended that the exclusive use of the IECMS platform
discriminates on who accesses the court on the basis of class and
social or economic status, which means that the less privileged and
marginalised members of society will find it extremely difficult to
access the courts through the JSC’s new system.

She further argued that a virtual court session is not a public trial
or hearing and hence falls foul to the provisions of the Constitution.

The Harare woman wants Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs
Minister Hon. Ziyambi Ziyambi, who together with JSC are cited as
respondents in the court application, to be ordered to reinstate the
traditional physical filing of pleadings and physical hearings so that
it co-exists with the IECMS platform in a manner that will not
infringe fundamental human rights.

She also wants the High Court to declare the exclusive use of the
IECMS platform in all court processes in the country’s superior courts
as unconstitutional as it violates section 69 of the Constitution
which guarantees the right to a public trial and public hearing among
other fundamental rights.