Access to Justice Centre

Graduate Teaching Assistants

These work hand in hand with the lawyers, director to tutor students in clinical skills. They are recruited from Masters level classes. Emphasis is placed on those with clinical expertise.

Consultants

All Law Faculty Clinics are the Consultants and are in charge of clinics of their specialty.

Law Clinic	Consultant/s
Labour, Employment & ADR,	Mr. R. Matsikidze/ Mr. M. Gwisai, Madhuku
Women, Children, Family Law	Dr R. Katsande/ Dr E. Rutsate, Stewart
Property, and Natural Resources Law	Mr. M. Nkomo, Dr Garufu, Chetsanga
Human Rights, Constitutional and Administrative Law	Dr. J. Tsobora/ Dr T. Mutangi, Madhuku
General Civil and Contract Law	Sinyoro, Muchinguri, Dr Maja
Marginalized and Disability Law	Dr. E. Rutsate, Mugota, Chetsanga
Customary law and Small Claims	Stewart and M.Gwisai, Mushowe.
Criminal and Death Penalty Clinic	Dr I. Maja, Musarurwa, Mutangi
Outreach and Street Law	Matsikidze and Maunganidze

 

THE CENTRE UNITS

The Center has four critical units namely the law clinic, the clinical legal education teaching unit, access to justice research and publications unit and industrial attachment office. It operates in accordance with standard operating procedure and University regulations and ordinances.

1. The Access to Justice Law Clinic

The University of Zimbabwe Access to Justice Centre Clinic is a non-profit making unit in the Faculty of Law. It was registered as a Welfare Organization on 6^th November 1980, registration No W.O. 06/74 in terms of Section 9 (5) of the Welfare Organization Act (Chapter 93). The vision of the faculty through the Centre is to meet the legal needs of the poor, marginalized and the forgotten empowering them to claim their rights through litigation and advocacy training. Access to Justice Clinic is a non-profit public interest law firm of the University of Zimbabwe. The law clinic is a platform for clinical legal education for students and assists all indigent litigants without any form of discrimination whatsoever. The law clinic has clinics specializing in various specialty of law. The Clinics in operation are:

• Labour, Employment and ADR Law Clinic

This clinic focuses on Labour, arbitration, mediation and conciliation and contract law cases.

• Women, Children and Family Law Practice Law Clinic

This clinic focuses on women, gender, sexual harassment, children’s cases, divorces, sharing of property, maintenance, custody, guardianship, among other cases.

• Human Rights, Constitutional and Administrative Law Clinic

This clinic focuses on constitutional cases, rights violations, administrative justice cases, among other cases.

• Property and Natural Resources Law Clinic

This clinic focuses on land issues, resource issues, water and shelter issues.

• Criminal and Death Penalty Law Clinic

All criminal and death penalty matters are covered under this clinic including visits to prisons and remand prisons.

• General Civil and Contract Law

This clinic deals with all civil, contracts and delictual matters assisting indigents.

• Customary and Small Claims Law Clinic

This clinic covers all customary matters, appeals, and instituting of claims in the small claims court. Students during vacation volunteers to sit in these courts and assisting chiefs.

• Marginalized and Disability Law

This clinic deals with matters of the marginalised groups and disabled persons.

• Outreach and Street Law Clinic

Every semester there will be one outreach programme for a two-days that is from Friday and Saturday. Level 3 and 4 students, consultants and the instructors together with available supervisors will participate in the outreach programmes.

2. Industrial Attachment Unit

This unit is responsible to attach students in-house and externally and is managed by a Centre Administrator, under the supervision  of the Director. There are two forms of attachment to be offered. These are in house and external attachment. For examination purposes a student is required to attend 8 weeks in house and  8 weeks external industrial attachment.

The law clinic offers in-house training for students.  Students are mandated to be attached to the civil and criminal law clinic and at least any two clinics of their choice during the four years they will be at the law school.  There are clinical instructors working as legal practitioners and Graduate Teaching Assistants working as tutors. These will be working closely administratively and for purposes of litigation under the direct supervision of the Consultant and the Director. For external industrial attachment, evaluation tools which meet the University training needs for the clinical course are used for assessment of students.

3. Clinical Legal Education Teaching Unit

Students work on live cases on all the courses on offer. Their marks and exams as per regulations would be awarded based on the clinicals completed and examined. The Instructors, GTA, will from time-to-time conduct tutorials while lecturers will be responsible for entire practical teaching. The Director is the head of department and will convene board of examiners and any other meetings as required from time to time.

4. Access to Justice Research and Publication Unit

This unit will be headed by a research coordinator. The unit is responsible to carry out research work on access to justice issues. It will also bid for consultancy work on access to justice issues. The lead researchers will be experts in the fields. The following are some of the focus areas:

1. Enhancing access to formal justice to the poor
2. Enhancing access to justice to the marginalized
3. Enhancing access to justice to farmers, peasants and arts and craft persons.
4. Enhancing access to justice in customary law courts
5. Enhancing access to justice in ADR systems
6. Enhancing access to justice in urban and rural settlements
7. Justice and death penalty
8. Children and women justice initiatives.
9. Justice and natural resources.
10. Equitable resource distribution and mineral resources.

The unit will endeavor to have its research published in leading international journals.

 THE FUTURE

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