The Livingstone High Court has reprimanded magistrate courts in Southern Province for overloading it with unnecessary appeals by slapping harsh sentences on first-time offenders with minor crimes. The warning was made on Thursday during a case in which Joe Himanga, 24, of Monze is charged with theft.

On December 25, 2017 in Monze, Himanga stole a 40-kilogramme bag of maize worth K100 from a man only identified as Matimba of Monze.
Himanga was sentenced to four and half years imprisonment with hard labour but he appealed the verdict to the High Court for review of the sentence.

In his ruling on the appeal, Judge Charles Zulu said most of the appeals the High Court has handled in the December 2018 session have come from the magistrate court in Monze.
“I have noted that all the appeals the High Court has handled were found to be on harsh sentences and were from the Monze Magistrate’s Court,” he said.

Judge Zulu said the sentence on Himanga “in his considered view was oppressive and harsh”. He said the lower court should have taken into account that Himanga was a first offender. Judge Zulu said the court should also have considered the value of the property stolen which was K100, and that there were no factors aggravating in this case.

“Four and half years imprisonment is not appropriate, it is harsh. Such sentences waste the High Court’s time and overload it.
“This magistrate court has adopted the style of harsh sentences in burglary and theft cases. This approach does not show a balance in sentencing, the court should not be swayed,” he said.

Judge Zulu said the court should not prejudice an accused person. “The court should not be used for personal glory because doing so is overloading the High Court with appeals. Fair sentences will help the High Court not to be overloaded,” he said. Judge Zulu said the four and half years sentence was taken to his court with a deep sense of shock and described it as oppressive. “I hereby set aside the four years and six months [sentence] and instead impose a 12 months simple imprisonment,” he said.

Judge Zulu said the sentence should take into account the period Himanga has already been in incarceration