By Own Correspondent| A High Court Judge, Justice Luke Malaba recently toured Bulawayo courts where he bemoaned the state of affairs at the courts calling for the modernisation of the judiciary.

Justice Malaba likened some of the court rooms to dumpsites emphasising the importance for court officials to upgrade and make use of modern technology in their line of work.

He also urged the provincial magistrate, Mr Elias Magate, to replace the furniture in most provincial courts at the Tredgold building.

Said Justice Malaba:

“Some of these chairs are fit to be used in farms and they do not qualify to be used in this modern working environment. Some of these rooms used at courts look like they are dump site areas.”

He emphasised the need for magistrates to be well versed with new information technologies for research purposes.

“Laptops are a modern necessity for everyone in any job. It will make perfect sense for magistrates to be given laptops so they are better equipped to read and research on their cases.

We do not want a situation where lawyers come to court with latest information around law and our magistrates cannot say no because they are not well read or in touch with technology,.

With laptops and Wi-Fi, magistrates can access the virtual libraries so they can read and research for knowledge.”

According to Justice Malaba, court interpreters also needed reorientation programmes to help them deal with their attitudes in dealing with people.-StateMedia