Digital justice delivery in Zimbabwe: Integrated electronic case management system adoption

South African Journal of Information Management

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Digital justice delivery in Zimbabwe: Integrated electronic case management system adoption
 
Creator Poshai, Leon Vyas-Doorgapersad, Shikha
 
Subject Public Management digital justice delivery; judiciary transparency; judiciary efficiency; virtual court; digitalisation.
Description Background: Judiciary institutions are transforming their operations from analogue to digital intending to expedite justice delivery globally. In Zimbabwe, the Judicial Service Commission (JCS) adopted the Integrated Electronic Case Management System (IECMS) in February 2022 as an online platform designed to digitalise the litigation process. However, the anticipated benefits, potential challenges and prospects of the IECMS as a digital justice delivery innovation in Zimbabwe are yet to be evaluated.Objectives: The purpose of this article is to evaluate Zimbabwe’s IECMS with the view to establishing its viability in bringing expediency in justice delivery by the country’s courts.Method: The study employs a qualitative desk research methodology to collect data from secondary sources such as research papers and newspaper articles focusing on the implementation of the IECMS in Zimbabwe. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis.Results: The findings of this study revealed that the IECMS has the potential to revamp the judiciary in Zimbabwe. However, its successful implementation in courts could be challenged by resistance to change, technological resource constraints, the lack of public awareness, technological illiteracy by users and poor Internet connectivity in Zimbabwe.Conclusion: The study concludes that while the IECMS seems to be a major transformation in the judicial sector in Zimbabwe, its successful adoption must be preceded by investments in technology to ensure uninterrupted Internet connectivity by litigants and their representatives.Contribution: This article provides a critical appraisal of the viability of adopting digitalisation in the judiciary in the context of developing countries.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor School of Public Management, Governance and Public Policy College of Business and Economics University of Johannesburg Johannesburg
Date 2023-09-26
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — —
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/sajim.v25i1.1695
 
Source South African Journal of Information Management; Vol 25, No 1 (2023); 11 pages 1560-683X 2078-1865
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://sajim.co.za/index.php/sajim/article/view/1695/2467 https://sajim.co.za/index.php/sajim/article/view/1695/2468 https://sajim.co.za/index.php/sajim/article/view/1695/2469 https://sajim.co.za/index.php/sajim/article/view/1695/2470
 
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Rights Copyright (c) 2023 Leon Poshai, Shikha Vyas-Doorgapersad https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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