Mozambique: Nyusi pledges 31 district courts by 2022 – Watch

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Mozambique: Nyusi pledges 31 district courts by 2022 – Watch

8:21 CAT | 19 Apr 2022

Photo: Governo de Mocuba on Facebook

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Monday reaffirmed that under the Presidential Initiative “One District, One Decent Building for the Court”, launched in May 2021, 31 district courts will be delivered across the country during this year.

Nyusi reiterated this commitment in the district of Mocuba, in the central province of Zambezia, where he inaugurated a new court building, budgeted at over 130 million meticais (over two million US dollars, at the current exchange rate).

“Under the initiative, we have planned to build 61 court facilities by 2023. We confirm that six are already operational and 31 others will be delivered by the end of the year, amounting to 37 courts in all, which is 61 per cent of the planned goal,” Nyusi stressed.

The new courtrooms, Nyusi pointed out, are not intended to penalise the common citizen, but to ensure the economic development of Mocuba, which is prone to a wide range of conflicts such as land disputes, exploitation of natural resources, and trade or labour conflicts.

Nyusi said that the country’s development requires swift and accurate paperwork, which entails removing red tape.

But the barriers to this, he added, include the obsolescence of existing legislation which is largely inadequate for the real needs of the country’s formal and informal economy, as most of the laws were drafted in line with a market reality different from the current one.

Furthermore, the administration of justice remains sluggish despite the reforms over the last few years, initiated by the Supreme Court. Legal reforms, Nyusi said, must turn Mozambique into a country with a modern legal framework aligned with the foremost tools of international law, which must be available in every sector.

He also recommended the new courts take into account the possibility of the establishment of a judicial mediation service, which might contribute towards mitigating the challenges the administration of justice has been facing to improve the business milieu across the country.

“Mediation may alleviate the challenges caused by formal procedures, costs and other constraints hindering a timely access to justice,” Nyusi stressed, urging magistrates and law officers to give their best in order to ensure access to justice for the majority of common citizens.

Watch the TVM report.