Towards a theory and practice of access to civil justice for the poor in Zimbabwe, law and dispute resolution in a pluralistic society

grantor: University of TorontoThis thesis examines the problem of lack of access to justice for poor people in Zimbabwe. The focus is on civil justice. This thesis departs from the predominant approach in the North American (and other Western) scholarship on access to justice which tends to focus on legal services and dispute resolution mechanisms. An approach suitable to the Zimbabwean context, particularly by taking into account the existence of an officially pluralistic legal system, and the social context in which legal pluralism operates, is adopted. Justice for the poor in Zimbabwe is conceptualized as more than access to legal services and dispute resolution mechanisms. Although these are important, and issues of the quality of both are pertinent to the Zimbabwean context, issues about the adequacy of substantive laws are equally important. Therefore justice is conceptualized as both substantive and procedural justice. The interaction between substantive and procedural justice is also examined. The implications of pluralism for access to justice are specifically addressed in this thesis. The examination of pluralism includes an analysis of customary family laws from an historical perspective. Family laws and family relationships, including extended family and kinship ties, formed the basis of indigenous social organization. The area of family laws is most illustrative of the problems of pluralism in the legal system and general cultural pluralism. In particular, it illustrates the problem of divergent legal concepts. This divergence is more acute in the area of gender relations within family laws. The subordinate position of women in customary family laws presents one of the problematic features of customary laws. It also renders pluralism's acceptance of divergence of legal norms problematic. This thesis proposes some possible means of resolving these problems. Finally, this thesis also addresses the more conventional barriers to access to justice for poor people in Zimbabwe (including poverty itself) such as lack of access to information, linguistic problems, procedural barriers within the court system, social distance between judicial officers and poor people and geographical barriers to access to courts. Possible solutions to these problems are provided.S.J.D