ZHRC observed that most accused persons had legal representation in courts. Upon further following up on the issue of legal representation, ZHRC learnt that ZLHR was representing most accused persons in most courts visited, although there were of course, some who had privately engaged their own legal practitioners. A few accused persons were reported to be without legal representation. 7.4. Access to justice/ Due process being followed 7.4.1. Court Officials and Legal Practitioners raised concerns in regards to how the matters were being handled. The court officials at some stations stated that they were under “strict instructions” to prioritize cases of public violence (through what they termed Command Programme) and give constant feedback on the progress made to the “superiors” (the identity of these “superiors” was not being mentioned). Court officials added that they had resorted to further remanding the cases that they already had, or that they would redistribute previous cases amongst themselves or even rushing through cases- in order to pay attention to and move the pubic violence cases. Court officials also reported that they were required to set aside their weekend rotational duty roaster and were supposed to be all present during weekends in order to attend to public violence cases. They also stated that they had some amongst themselves who are not able to come to work on either Saturday or Sunday for religious reasons. However, due to the “Command Programme”, failure to be present at work on any weekend day, resulted in one being issued with a warrant of arrest. Officials also stated that they had been under pressure to try and balance the work load versus their numbers and the reporting timeframes. Nevertheless, Court Officials assured ZHRC that they had adapted to the pressure and were coping. Page 58 of 68