Judges push for financial independence of courts

Mozambique’s judiciary and the Public Prosecutor’s Office are pushing for a law that makes courts financially independent, reports the Club of Mozambique. According to Esmeraldo Matavele, president of the Mozambican Association of Judges, a committee is working on the matter and is finalising the preliminary proposal, to be submitted to the executive, which has the power to forward a proposal to Parliament. He emphasised that there was hope that the future law would solve 90% of the judiciary’s problems, from wages, security to medical and drug assistance, transportation and housing. The judges are also hoping that the government will resolve specific issues related to salary classifications. This emerged last week on the sidelines of the National Conference of Mozambican Judges. On the matter of corruption in the judiciary, he stated that the practice is decreasing. He said that until 2022 there was an annual average of two to three judges expelled, but since 2023 no one has been removed for corruption, and there is no disciplinary process underway that indicates such a sanction. ‘Judges are aware of not getting involved in acts of corruption and not using funds from the coffers illegally,’ he stressed, clarifying that most of the previous cases were related to judges who used funds from the court coffers for personal purposes.

Full report on the Club of Mozambique site