HIGH COURT TURNED INTO ‘DUMPSITE’

MBABANE – What a mess!

The High Court of Eswatini, which houses the Supreme Court and Industrial Court, is a sorry sight. It resembles a dumpsite. Court documents with crucial information for references have been kept in an unsecured makeshift storage. In any civilised legal system, the articulated grounds of past judicial decisions are, in many instances, binding precedent for currently litigated matters. They are viewed as persuasive authority. Lawyers who spoke about the issue on condition of anonymity said it was easy to steal a document, leaving them and judicial officers with no persuasive authority or local case studies. They said the clerks, who are mostly engaged on voluntary basis, could be tempted to dispose them off in return for financial favours. A large number of the clerks are not paid any allowance because they are not in the government payment system. Some of them depend on financial contributions from parents, spouses or the attorneys themselves. They are actually nursing hopes that government will employ them someday.

temptations

“We are exposing the clerks to temptations. What should you do if someone comes to you with E2 000 and demands that you destroy a file? I am not saying they do,” said a renowned attorney. It has been learnt that some crucial court documents are missing. “The judicial system is in shambles,” the source said. Lindiwe Mbingo, the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, said there was something positive that was being done with regard to electronic court case filing. She then asked that a questionnaire to detail the issue be sent to Nomfundo Dlamini, the Communications Officer, who had not responded at the time this report was compiled yesterday. However, the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs has requested for E17 million to undertake a new project styled electronic case management system.

manual filing

In the current financial year, the E17 million is required for application development and testing of working phototype of IECMS modules. The entire project is expected to cost E41.16 million. Charity Simelane, the Secretary General of the Law Society of Swaziland, said they had seen boxes of court documents along the passages. She said the electronic case management system was obviously a solution to manual filing. Simelane mentioned that this concept of the electronic case management system was introduced to lawyers during their annual general meeting (AGM). The secretary general said the AGM was in full support of it as it would also enable the public to monitor court proceedings from the police stage to the finality of the case. He said they would also know whether their lawyers filed their cases. “They will even track how and what led to the postponement of the case,” Simelane said. Through the electronic case management system, she said it would be easy to know the number of cases a certain judge has presided over and finalised. On Thursday, the Times SUNDAY news team went to the High Court to check the filing system. This is the computerisation or digitalisation age.

inspection

During the inspection, the team found that the Judiciary under the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs is yet to introduce the computerised filing system. Even then, the hardcopy filing management is apparently collapsing. That is obviously the reason the court documents are found along the corridors. Legal systems across the world derive benefits from computerising their document storage methods. They use imaging, wherein old documents are essentially photographed and stored in a computer system. It is said that the deluge of legal cases, which courts receive on a daily basis, has posed a great challenge to the Judiciary with respect to accurate information management. Consequent of the manual record keeping system, documents are missing or misplaced and files are not properly placed in their appropriate locations. World Bank has been supporting a project called court automation. According to the bank, a critical element affecting a judicial system’s performance is court automation.

automation

It defined court automation as technology that reduces or eliminates human activities associated with the processing of judicial cases. In fact, it must be said that these technologies are by no means limited to basic equipment such as computers. They can encompass a variety of features, including electronic filing, electronic calendaring, an online notification centre and many others. The World Bank states that these features can be distinct or integrated into an electronic case management system (ECMS), which can support different case flow management techniques. The key measurable e-features are as follows:
* Filing an initial complaint (e-filing);
* Serving the defendant with the initial complaint (e-service);
* Paying court fees (e-payment)
* Managing cases via ECSM by both judges and lawyers.

It is suggested that court automation, when properly implemented, can lead to a significant reduction in the length and cost of judicial proceedings. The South African Judiciary says it is in the process of developing and implementing what it defined as ‘court online’. Court online is an advanced cloud-based collaboration solution that is aimed at providing a platform for law firms/litigants to file documents to the courts electronically. This is called e-filing. The Judiciary explains that court online is an end-to-end e-filing, digital case management and evidence management system for the High Courts of South Africa.

documentation

It provides law practitioners with the opportunity to file documentation electronically online anywhere and anytime without being physically present at court. It also affords law practitioners the ease of managing their court appearance diaries and court evidence instantaneously online. The SA Judiciary says court online aims to:
* Minimise the physical movement of people within the court buildings and thus immensely reduce the general office section queues.
* Minimise paper court documents from parties to the court.
* Leverage the benefits of electronic storage that leads to faster document filing and retrieval, and in the process eradication of misplacement of court files.
* Concurrent easy access to view the same court file filed by different parties.

Within the courts, it is understood that court online enables electronic documents to be automatically routed to the appropriate registrar clerk for processing. This process is said to be fast, convenient and efficient, as it minimises paper flow to shorten case processing time. It provides an electronic platform for the exchange and sharing of documents.

electronic

The other benefits of the court online system include the speedy inspection of documents electronically and the ability to request for and receive electronic extracts of documents via the internet. Litigants obtain details of hearing fixtures via short messaging system (SMS) or email using their mobile phones. Within the court room and chambers, judges make use of the court online system to adjudicate disputes electronically.

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