{"id":78257,"date":"2023-05-25T07:18:06","date_gmt":"2023-05-25T05:18:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/respect-rule-of-law-govt-urged"},"modified":"2023-05-25T10:45:13","modified_gmt":"2023-05-25T08:45:13","slug":"respect-rule-of-law-govt-urged","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/respect-rule-of-law-govt-urged","title":{"rendered":"Respect rule of law, govt urged"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. <\/strong><\/span>LEGAL think-tank Veritas has accused the government of failure to respect the rule of law through unlawful suspension of standing statutes by Cabinet ministers.<\/p>\n

In its latest Bill Watch publication, Veritas said the country\u2019s Constitution did not give public officers inherent powers to suspend laws or to exempt people from complying with them.<\/p>\n

Veritas raised a red flag on three recent government announcements, which contradicted the law.<\/p>\n

These are the recent lifting of COVID-19 restrictions by Cabinet, an announcement by Finance minister Mthuli Ncube on suspension of import duty and restrictions on basic commodities for six months, and the declaration by Cabinet that all existing carbon credit agreements were null and void.<\/p>\n

Veritas said the COVID-19 restrictions were imposed by regulations and orders made under the Public Health Act, hence a Cabinet resolution alone could not exempt members of the public from adhering to the restrictions.<\/p>\n

The legal think-tank also said Ncube\u2018s suspension of duty on basic commodities was in violation of the law as the Open General Import Licence had not yet been amended.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth the (Finance) minister\u2019s announcement and the Permanent Secretary\u2019s statement show a complete disregard for the rule of law. Customs duties are imposed by regulations and notices under the Customs and Excise Act, and they cannot be lifted or altered except by formal amendments to those regulations and notices, and moreover the amendments have to be confirmed by an Act of Parliament within six months according to section 225 of the Act.\u201d<\/p>\n

Veritas said the ministers\u2019 pronouncements that were against the law would drive away investments as investors would not have confidence that their contracts would be respected by government and enforced by the courts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is remarkable about these three is the blithe disregard for the rule of law with which they were carried out, the implicit assumption that ministers can change the law by decree or public announcement. The secretary for Finance (George Guvamatanga), for example, called on the Ministry of Industry and Commerce to \u201ccomplement\u201d his minister\u2019s measures by amending the Open General Import Licence. He did not seem to understand that his minister\u2019s measures would have no legal effect until the Open General Import Licence was amended. Compliance with the law was an afterthought apparently, a tidying-up exercise to be done at some future time rather than an essential step that should have been completed before, or at the same time as the minister made his announcement.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Zimbabwe<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. LEGAL think-tank Veritas has accused the government of failure to respect the rule of law through unlawful suspension of standing statutes by Cabinet ministers. In its latest Bill Watch publication, Veritas said the country\u2019s Constitution did not give public officers inherent powers to suspend laws or to exempt people from complying with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":78256,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[1493,2189,19],"class_list":["post-78257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-zimbabwe-2","tag-zimbabwe"],"yoast_head":"\nRespect rule of law, govt urged - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"LEGAL think-tank Veritas has accused the government of failure to respect the rule of law through unlawful suspension of ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/respect-rule-of-law-govt-urged\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Respect rule of law, govt urged\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"LEGAL think-tank Veritas has accused the government of failure to respect the rule of law through unlawful suspension of ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/respect-rule-of-law-govt-urged\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-05-25T05:18:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-05-25T08:45:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/05\/sm_1684987945.855208.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/respect-rule-of-law-govt-urged#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/respect-rule-of-law-govt-urged\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Respect rule of law, govt urged\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-25T05:18:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-05-25T08:45:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/respect-rule-of-law-govt-urged\"},\"wordCount\":429,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/respect-rule-of-law-govt-urged#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/05\/sm_1684987945.855208.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Zimbabwe\",\"Zimbabwe\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/respect-rule-of-law-govt-urged#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/respect-rule-of-law-govt-urged\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/respect-rule-of-law-govt-urged\",\"name\":\"Respect rule of law, govt urged - 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