Funding Civil Justice in the Age of Fiscal Austerity: The Case of Zimbabwe

Funding Civil Justice in the Age of Fiscal Austerity: The Case of Zimbabwe is a published article by Davis Nyangare of the Finance department.,This paper tackles the issue of civil court funding in Zimbabwe against a background of fiscal austerity. Having gone through a decade of economic meltdown and political transformation from 1999 to 2009, Zimbabwe has to fund a wide range of public services from a paltry public budget of less than 5 billion United States dollars each year. Fiscal constraints have meant that very few resources are available to fund critical public services such as defense and justice among others. This paper examines the pricing of civil court services in Zimbabwe with a view to determining the scope for improved user funding of the courts. Based on a survey of court accountants and magistrates, the study reveals that key court employees in Zimbabwe acknowledge, in principle, the need for enhanced measures to improve user funding of civil justice in Zimbabwe. It emerges that cost recovery rates of between 55% and 60% are attainable for Zimbabwe?s civil courts, without significantly compromising access to justice. The inclusion of key court employees in the survey is a significant departure from previous studies, which have focused unduly on the views of court users. The study recommends realignment of incentives within the civil justice system in order to improve the sharing of litigation risk between lawyers and consumers of civil justice services, and open more space for user funding of courts