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A broken mirror: Community Participation and the Justice System

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The documentary, titled Strengthening Community Participation in the Justice System, highlighted lived realities of citizens in accessing justice on electoral litigation and politically-motivated violence.

THE Alliance for Community Based Organisations (ACBOS) today presented their documentary which exposed justice at the margins and delved into the systemic barriers that marginalised communities face in seeking justice.

The documentary, titled Strengthening Community Participation in the Justice System, highlighted lived realities of citizens in accessing justice on electoral litigation and politically-motivated violence.

The documentary brought to life a stark reality, a justice system that, despite its patronising ideals, often felt distant and inaccessible to the very people it designed to serve.

The documentary opened with an emotional scene, a woman, her eyes filled with both fear and determination, recounted her ordeal of electoral violence. She described the harrowing experience of seeking help from the police, only to be met with indifference and even hostility. Her story was a microcosm of a larger issue, the disconnect between the justice system and those it meant to protect.

In an interview, ACBOS national co-ordinator Kudakwashe Munemo said the film exposed not just the inaccessible justice system but the level of ignorance by some community members in approaching justice sector institutions.

“With the view to strengthen transparency and accountability mechanisms of the justice system, as well as citizen participation, we are raising awareness on public interest electoral litigation and politically motivated violence cases,” Munemo said.

The documentary featured justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi who acknowledged that there was a need to improve the standards of the judiciary system. He added that since 2018, the government has been working to ensure citizens get easy access to the courts.  

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