Maputo, Mozambique — Mozambique's Supreme Court president, Mario Mangaze, on Thursday reiterated calls for a deep overhaul of the country's judicial system so that it will be seen to serve all strata of society.
Speaking in Maputo at the opening of the judicial year, Mangaze said "it's frustrating for all of us, judges, attorneys, and lawyers, to see that despite the wisdom that characterises us, we serve an insignificant slice of the nation".
The country's judicial system is complex, and beyond the reach of most of the population, thanks to colonialism, he charged.
"If we want to attain the true ideals of justice and equality, we have to implement deep reforms which take into account other concepts in the area of law and justice", he said.
That system has to be built on the basis of Mozambican realities, and involving those whom it wishes to serve, namely, the people in all their political, economic, social and cultural dimensions.
Currently, the judiciary is drafting a new penal code. Mangaze said that although law has a coercive nature, it should not be forgotten that "its efficacy depends essentially" on its being rooted in, and accepted and respected by society.
"Even if I run the risk of being badly interpreted, I dare say that the procedural law that exists in Mozambique today is not within the reach of a significant number of Mozambican jurists", said Mangaze.
"And the problem does not lie with the Mozambican jurists - what is wrong is the law as it currently exists in Mozambique".
In his view, the legal sector could produce procedural law based on practicality and simplicity, and experiences accumulated over two decades, as well as resorting to innovations that have proved successful internationally.
Mangaze said that the experience of other countries was that resistance to radical reform had forced judicial systems to adopt palliative and expensive solutions such as increasing the number of courts and recruiting more judges and staff.
"Mozambique has to avoid this risk, all the more so because of its economic weakness and the scarcity of resources", he warned.
Those who thought that simplifying law was a mere populist idea had better think again because, according to Mangaze, "access to justice by the mass of the people necessarily involves the simplification of justice. And that's an issue of justice".
On corruption, Mangaze said that a well-organised Attorney-General's Office would be a serious hindrance to corruption within the ranks of the police and the courts.
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Likewise, lawyers who were active champions of ethical principles would make it more difficult for corrupt magistrates and police to act.
And a "body of active and impartial judges plays a vital role in controlling the legality of the acts of other institutions who intervene in the judicial process", added Mangaze.
What was needed was a greater coordination between the institutions in order to close ranks against corruption.
"We have to ensure that any perverse act that is denounced against a member of one of our institutions will deserve immediate reaction from the relevant authorities", he said.
A measure to be considered in future was to investigate the source of the property of those magistrates suspected to have gained their wealth illicitly.
Corruption, he said, had reared its head as soon as the country opened its doors to a market economy.
"In the case of Mozambique, the rules of the market economy lack a solid material basis due to the scarcity of significant national wealth. This has generated a situation of acute and generalised corruption", Mangaze observed.
