The young man aspiring to promotion in the Internal Affairs department had to qualify in several examinations, namely Lower Law parts I and II, African Customs (either Shona or Ndebele), Administration, which was a paper based on the various acts of Parliament which came within the duties of a District Commissioner, and African Language both oral and written (either Shona or Ndebele). I remember the euphoric sense of achievement as each exam was passed and I knew that now, depending on my own ability, I could procede straight to the top. The biggest immediate advantage was passing the magic salary barrier of £484 per annum, and having started at the princely sum of 9/= per day, this was quite a difference.
Having passed my lower law part II whilst stationed at Belingwe where the District Commissioner was the assistant magistrate, I was eligible to sit on the bench, and having listened in on several occasions at the back of the court, I felt that, with my experience as Clerk of the Court, I was able to commence my magisterial duties. The Native Commissioner accordingly made application on my behalf to the Ministry of Justice, and a few weeks later, before I turned 21 years of age, and thus still a minor, I was appointed additional acting assistant magistrate, Belingwe, and commenced hearing those minor cases which the Native Commissioner (acting magistrate) and the Acting Native Commissioner (acting assistant magistrate) cared to pass my way. The very first case was one of an alleged theft from an eccentric old smallworker named Caspar Williamson who was nearly 90 years old and had originally come from some Slav Country. With his totally unpronounceable name he assumed the name Williamson and lost his previous identity. The thief got 3 months imprisonment with hard labour and my magisterial career was on its way.
From one of my Native Commissioners I picked up the idea of typing on the bench and found this to be much quicker and neater than handwriting. Even with only using my two index fingers (I never learned to use any more than this) I attained 45 words per minute, and with the pauses for interpretation, was able to record the evidence as fast as it came over. Typing was especially useful in the case of preparatory examinations which had to have several copies made, and obviated my having to type the carbon copies later, which was the job of the Clerk of the Court. As I was my own Clerk of the Court, this helped.
Some of the old Native Commissioners had the most extraordinary quirks of dress, for example, one used to sit on the Magisterial bench wearing, of all things, a double terrai hat, with an open necked shirt, while another presented an impeccable appearance with neat shirt, collar, tie and jacket. Only when he left the bench could one notice he was wearing shorts. Actually, the "uniform" of shirt, tie and shorts was very common, but appears most odd these days. The question of a uniform for District Commissioners was raised now and then, some feeling that it would add dignity to appear on formal occasions resplendent in white with plumed topee, sword and medals, as did our colleagues in the Colonial Office territories. But this was always vetoed, much to my relief, and it was not until the days of the war that a uniform was approved for the Department.
At some stations the pressure of criminal court work was very high and prejudiced the other important aspect of the District Commissioner's development programme and working with the people. At the smaller rural stations most of us welcomed the court work as it was felt that the administration through its implementation of the force of law could be seen as the principle arm of government, with punitive power against law breakers. Thus, with certain interruptions whilst I was stationed at centres where ther e was also a resident magistate, I had twelve years on the bench in criminal court. Even at Gwanda, which had a resident magistrate, I was called upon to act on several occasions as assistant magistrate at Tuli police station periodical court. This was the remotest part of the district and the magistrate felt that it would be more appropriate for the District Commissioner who had other interests down there, to take court.
Tuli police station was a wood and iron building on stilts, which had been refurbished by the police Pioneers (the building and maintenance section). It stood empty for years until it was decided to re-open it to provide a police presence in that lonely area. The police station stood on the north bank of the Shashi river, directly opposite the old pioneer Fort Tuli where the 1890 Pioneer Column had grouped prior to its final push to Salisbury. When the borders of Southern Rhodesia were demarcated, the unique feature of the ten mile radius circle from Fort Tuli intruding into Botswana was included, and is today incorporated as a game reserve. Part of the duties of the police at Tuli was to care for the Pioneer cemetery at Fort Tuli. It was fascinating to wander over the ruins of the settlement and examine headstones in the cemetery, redolent of history. Many were the horse-shoes, Martini Henri cartridge case and portions of gin bottles that we found there. I also found similar remains on the summit of a small hill overlooking the Shashi river, about 4 kilometres downstream from Tuli on the north bank, but have not seen this site mentioned in any of the books describing the period.
The majority of cases I dealt with at Tuli were concerned with contraventions of hunting laws and brewing of illicit liquor plus the usual assaults. The illicit liquor was usually "tototo" distilled from the sap of the malala palm. Unfortunately, the tapping of this sap killed the tree and even in those days there were very few trees left. The species however survived in the form of malala scrub which coppiced from the ruins of the once stately palm. Having completed the court roll I then used to take all the convicted prisoners back to Gwanda in the back of my trusty 1953 Morris Oxford station wagon and deliver them at the prison.
Civil cases unlike criminal cases, were dealt with by all District Commissioners, both rural and urban. In the larger urban centres, the pressure of civil cases was so great that one, or even two, Assistant District Commissioners had to be delegated to work almost full time on them, and in the larger rural districts especially in Mashonaland, up to three days a week had to be set aside for civil court. It was a fact that there was a far greater proportionate amount of civil litigation amongst the Shona than amongst the Ndebele. I could not pin this down on anything specific except possibly that the Ndebele seemd to accept the arbitrations and judgement of the lower courts (chiefs and headmen) more than the Shona.
Jurisdiction was limited to a certain level of cash of value, which was raised periodically until it was finally $1000.00 and above that the claimant had to proceed to the magistrate's court or the High Court. District Commissioner's courts were, however, empowered to grant divorces and award custody of children in the case of marriages registered in term of the African Marriages Act. This is not a legal treatise so I do not propose to delve too deeply into the type of cases dealt with, but they were many and varied, some deadly dull, and some very interesting in that they revealed facets of customary law seldom discussed in the ordinary course of events. Cases of disputed inheritance were particularly difficult, and could involve the sifting of eveidence arising from events which occured as long as twenty years previously. Judgments were subject to appeal and a very useful compendium of case law was compiled from the published extracts of appeal cases. For instance, in one old case, it was implied that no matter what the status of the parties, the maximum award for seduction should not exceed $20.
In complicated cases involving the interpretation of custom (which could vary from district to district) we were encouraged to record the expert evidence of chiefs or headmen.
Tempers, even in the dignified atmosphere of a court room, tended to become frayed at times and on one memorable occasion in Harare, a large and powerful woman, not being able to stand the lies of her complainant husband any longer, lost control and before she could be restrained, ran over to the unsuspecting man and made a successful grab for his testicles and squeezed hard. He yelled in agony and the resourceful interpreter took up a broom that happened to be handy and beat the yelling woman on the arm with it until she released her unfortunate husband who was then doubled up with pain!
This same interpreter once told me that he overheard the conversation of two young men. One said to the other, "We have nothing to do, let us go to the District Commissioner's court and I will pretend that you owe me ten shillings. You can deny it and we will have a case to pass the time away."
Also, on the civil administration side, District Commissioners were ex officio appointed executors of African deceased estates over a given value, and these were sometimes exceedingly complicated, especially where immovable property was concerned. At Gutu, which had a very large number of small scale commercial farms, (then called the African Purchase Area) there were at least six deceased estates in the process of being wound up at any one time. This was a classic case of discrimination in reverse, because the District Commissioner had to give all his time completely free of charge whereas the relatives of a white deceased had to go to a professional executor who charged the normal fees. Other cases of this discrimination in reverse that spring to mind were the heavily subsidized dipping service, free rabies injections, and of course the big one - free allocation of land in the communal areas for arable and grazing purposes.