The Judiciary of Tanzania says its courts are now disposing of cases at a rate equivalent to 95 percent of new cases being filed, as it steps up efforts to speed up justice for businesses, investors and other court users.
The progress comes alongside measures to clear long-running disputes involving land, taxation, commerce, banking, labour and investment, areas whose timely resolution can affect business operations, access to funds and investor confidence.
However, the Judiciary has warned that emerging challenges, including the improper use of artificial intelligence (AI) by lawyers to prepare court documents, could undermine efforts to improve the quality and credibility of justice.
Registrar of the Judiciary Eva Nkya gave the update on Wednesday during a stakeholders' meeting in Dodoma involving participants in land, tax, commercial, banking, competition and investment cases.
She said the Judiciary had adopted 10 strategies to improve case management and the delivery of justice, with eight requiring joint implementation by the Judiciary and stakeholders and two focusing on stakeholders.
Ms Nkya said courts at different levels heard 101,879 cases out of 170,059 cases filed during the period under review.
The figure means the Judiciary's case-disposal capacity had reached 95 percent of the number of cases being filed, according to the report presented at the meeting.
Civil cases accounted for a large portion of the workload, with 69,911 cases heard out of 74,514 filed.
Despite the progress, 23,850 civil cases remained pending, including 1,913 classified as backlog.
The figures underline the continuing need to prevent delays, particularly in disputes involving property, contracts, money and commercial transactions.
For businesses, prolonged disputes can tie up assets and funds, while delays in land and investment cases can affect the implementation of projects.
The Judiciary is also seeking to reduce the time and cost associated with litigation by encouraging parties to settle disputes through mediation.
Ms Nkya said 151 cases underwent mediation at different levels of the Judiciary between June and August.
From January to August, the High Court resolved 181 cases through mediation, while the High Court Mediation Centre settled 283 cases.
Resident Magistrates' Courts resolved another 141 cases through mediation, while District Courts settled 200.
The approach allows parties to seek an agreement without taking every dispute through the full litigation process.The Judiciary has also introduced special sessions targeting strategic cases.
Ms Nkya said the Court of Appeal had scheduled 300 cases for its next session, while the Land Court began a special session on August 24 targeting 399 cases.
The Commercial Court has separately started a special session aimed at resolving 88 cases.
She called on lawyers and other stakeholders to cooperate with the courts to ensure the cases are concluded within the planned periods.
The Judiciary also facilitated the execution of decisions in 532 cases involving land, commercial, banking, social security, labour and civil disputes.
Between January and June this year, courts completed execution of 1,290 judgments, while 207 applications for execution were filed at different court levels between June and August.
While digital technology is increasingly being used to improve efficiency, Ms Nkya said the improper use of AI had emerged as a new challenge for the justice system.
She said some lawyers had used AI in preparing court documents, resulting in non-existent judgments being presented to courts as genuine decisions.
“Already, there have been several incidents where judgments that do not exist have been created using AI and presented to the court as genuine documents,” she said.
Ms Nkya said action had been taken against some of those involved, including issuing warnings.
She also identified other challenges, including the misuse of Rule 96(7), which allows parties to correct defects in appeal documents.
Other concerns include filing cases in courts before first taking them to jurisdictions where proceedings are required to begin, and lawyers filing separate applications on matters that could be addressed while a case is already being heard.
She cited applications seeking dismissal of pending cases as an example.
The Registrar also raised concerns about how some banks respond after receiving Garnishee Nisi orders for the attachment of funds.
The Judiciary has meanwhile expanded engagement with lawyers and other stakeholders through Bench-Bar meetings.
Ms Nkya said 17 meetings had been held at the High Court, 23 at Resident Magistrates' Courts and 115 at District Courts this year.
She said continued dialogue was necessary to identify bottlenecks in the justice chain and improve cooperation between courts, lawyers, businesses and other users of the justice system.
Ms Nkya linked efficient justice delivery directly to economic development, saying an effective justice system was important for implementing Tanzania's Development Vision 2050.
She urged all players in the justice chain to work together to address the remaining challenges and ensure disputes are resolved efficiently.
For businesses and investors, the Judiciary's performance in handling commercial and investment disputes matters beyond case statistics.
Timely decisions can determine how quickly companies recover money, enforce contracts, resolve ownership disputes and move ahead with projects, making efficient justice an important part of the country's broader business environment.