Further Suspension of Court Cases to 24th August

Practice Direction 8 of 2021, Further Suspension of Court Operations to 24th August 2021

On the 18th of August 2021, the Chief Justice of Zimbabwe, Luke Malaba, issued a latest Practice Direction stating how courts are to operate during the extended lockdown period. The new practice direction which is an amendment to the Practice Direction number 7 of 2021 can be read below:

Practice Direction 8 of 2021

Court Operations During the Extended Level IV Covid-19 National Lockdown Period

Amendment to Practice Direction 7 of 2021

Practice Direction 7 of 2021 is amended in paragraphs 3, 10, 11, 12, 15 and 16 by the deletion of those paragraphs and substitution with the following:-

“Court Operations”

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

Dies induciae / Prescription

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 limit calculated from the 24th of August 2021.

Any act which would have been due within the remaining period of a dies induciae, shall be due to be done within the same remaining period of the dies induciae, calculated from the 24th of August 2021.

Civil Matters

All pending civil cases originally postponed or set down on the dates shown in Column ‘A’ of paragraph 15, shall be rolled over to the dates indicated in Column ‘B’ of paragraph 15.

Criminal matters

All pending criminal cases originally remanded to the dates shown in Column ‘A’ are rolled over to the dates indicated in Column ‘B’:-

Effective date

This Practice Direction takes effect from the 20th of August 2021 and shall remain in effect until the expiry of the extended lockdown period.”

Source: Veritas