Re-introduction of Zimbabwe dollar legally challenged

by MARCUS MUSHONGA 
HARARE, (CAJ News) – THE spiraling economic crisis in Zimbabwe has taken a legal twist after a human rights lawyer applied for a High Court order to nullify the decision by government to ban the multi-currency system.

Lawyer Godfrey Mupanga wants the court to set aside and declare the decision as grossly unreasonable and unconstitutional.

Government last week, without notice, published the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (Legal Tender) Regulations 142, which purportedly outlawed the basket of foreign as legal tender in any transactions.

It declared the Zimbabwe Dollar as sole legal tender.

Mupanga, in an application filed by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, argues the directive by government was contravening the Constitution.

He argued the RBZ Act, entrenches and still provides in sections the British Pound, Euro, United States Dollar, South Africa Rand and Botswana Pula as legal tender in Zimbabwe.

Mupanga, a lecturer at University of Zimbabwe, argued that Finance and Economic Development Minister, Mthuli Ncube, could not amend a principal legislation as this was a primary law-making power that could only be exercised by Parliament.

He argued that the sudden policies by government since the introduction of the bond notes and coins undermined the trust and confidence of the public as well as the international community.

“This in itself will undermine the value of the Zimbabwe Dollar in the market,” Mupanga stated.

Zimbabwe abolished the use of its currency after hyperinflation in 2009.

Its resuscitation is the latest in desperate moves by the government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa to revive the economy.

– CAJ News