By A Correspondent- Chief Justice Luke Malaba has directed all courts to postpone further pending criminal and civil matters.

Malaba said the courts would remain closed until next Tuesday in response to the extension of the Level four lockdown by President Mnangagwa to combat the spread of Covid-19.

Courts were set to resume full operations yesterday.

This would mean that inmates on remand will not be attending court hearings.

The filing of new cases, process, documents, pleading and papers was suspended on July 29 in line with the Covid-19 regulations.

President Mnangagwa last Monday extended level four of the lockdown by another two weeks.

In a statement issued on court operations yesterday, CJ Malaba said all cases that had been set down from today to August 24 will be rolled over to September.

“All court operations previously suspended from July 29 up to August 19 are further suspended to August 24 2021 on the same conditions stated in Practice Direction 7 of 2021.

“Any act required by the rules to have been done during the period of the lockdown within a specified period of time shall be done within the specified time limited calculated from August 24 2021.

“This practice direction takes effect from August 20 and shall remain in effect until the expiry of the extended lockdown period,” he said.

According to the latest Covid-19 update from the Ministry of Health and Child Care: “As at August 18 2021, Zimbabwe had 121 498 confirmed cases, including 101 837 recoveries and 4 181 deaths. To date, a total of 2 193 346 people has been vaccinated against Covid-19.”
-Chronicle