Presidente do Tribunal Supremo, Adelino Muchanga na conferência de Imprensa depois de exercer o voto na Cidade de Maputo, Escola Secundária da Polana. Foto de Carlos Júnior
Nampula (Mozambique), 10 Jan (AIM) – The Mozambican justice system must divert resources from other areas to rebuild the courtrooms destroyed in last year’s rioting, the President of the Supreme Court, Adelino Muchanga, has warned.
Speaking at a ceremony in the northern city of Nampula, at which a Higher Appeals Court was inaugurated, he said that 17 courts in four provinces were damaged or destroyed. These were the courts in the KaMaxaquene urban district in Maputo city; in Infulene and Manhica (Maputo province); in Chibuto and Macia (Gaza); in Ile, Inhassunge, Lugela, Morrumbala, Mocubela, Mulevala, Namacurra and Pebane (Zambezia); and Lalaua, Larde, Liupo and Namapa (Nampula).
Muchanga did not say how much it will cost to rebuild these courts.
“Unfortunately, we will have to divert resources that should have been used for other jobs and investments to rebuild and rehabilitate the buildings that were destroyed or damaged, and to acquire furniture and other equipment”, he said.
“This was a colossal investment”, added Muchanga. “Unfortunately, because of the demonstrations, we will have to restart everything from scratch. In some districts we shall have to reconstitute case files that were destroyed, and for this we shall rely on the collaboration of all those involved”.
Muchanga stressed the virtues of the initiative by President Filipe Nyusi to build at least one court per district. In his view, this had improved access to justice.
“With this initiative, we have improved our response capacity, expressed in a significant increase in the number of cases concluded, and reducing the time which cases take”, he said.
In the country as a whole, Muchanga said, 196,173 cases were concluded in 2021, rising to 207,511 in 2022, and to 232,179 in 2023.
“The numbers for the past three years are historical maximums for court performance in Mozambique”, he stressed, “which is why we can say that the presidential initiative brought tangible effects in access to justice”.
(AIM)
RI/mz/pf (325)
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