Namaacha — Mozambican Justice Minister Esperanca Machavela has promised that by 2009, as part of the efforts to bring justice closer to all citizens, there will be a functioning law court in all 128 of the country's districts.

So far only 40 districts are endowed with courts. Machavela said that the expansion will depend on the training of more magistrates.

Speaking on Thursday, at the opening of a meeting of the Consultative council of her Ministry, held in the southern town of Namaacha, Machavela said that last year 65 magistrates were trained, and in future years she expected this number to increase.

"Our greatest challenge is to continue to train so that we can have a sufficient number of magistrates", she declared.

Machavela recognized the common complaint at the lethargic procedures in the justice system, but argued that significant improvements were now being made. Perhaps the most dramatic change was in scrapping most of the red tape once required in order to register a company.

"Business people used to complain that it took 120 days to register their commercial activity", she said, "but it can now be done in just 24 hours".

The two day meeting will discuss in particular the activities of the Legal and Judicial Training Centre (CFJJ) and the state of the country's registry and notarial offices. Other items on the agenda are the government printing house, the Imprensa Nacional (which is usually months behind in printing the official gazette, the "Boletim da Republica"), legal reform, and the current situation of the prison system.