A High Court Justice has dismissed the application by prominent lawyer and businessman Tawanda Nyambirai to have the court hear his matter on an urgent basis and block Statutory Instrument (SI) 142 of 2019.
High Court Justice Musakwa in his ruling removed the application from the urgent roll as it could not jump the queue and be heard on an urgent basis.
“Considering when the Statutory instrument was published, this application cannot jump the queue and be heard on an urgent basis,” the judgement reads.
“It is also noted that the applicant does not explain why no action was taken at the earliest opportunity. There is no canvassing of the irreparable harm that is feared and whether there are no satisfactory ordinary remedies at the disposal of the applicant.
“Can the application be removed from the urgent roll.”
Nyambirai was seeking a court order to stop Finance minister Mthuli Ncube and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya from introducing any policies, regulations or decisions that may affect the value of the foreign currencies held by banks before June 24.
He argued that he was representing his own interests and account holders who held foreign currency when Statutory Instrument (SI) 142 of 2019 was gazetted.
Nyambirai accused Ncube and Mangudya of ‘churning out half-baked statutory instruments’ and impromptuly making themselves the executive, Parliament and the public in all matters financial.
“As holders of RTGS balances that were converted to RTGS dollars, we are the public, we are being deprived!,” he said.
“We are aggrieved by the deprivation. In a democracy, such far-reaching laws are supposed to be taken to Parliament at least, or be subjected to a referendum,” he said in his founding affidavit.
“The rate at which the first and second respondents (Ncube and Mangudya) are churning out half-baked statutory instruments gives me the feeling that the first and second respondents are now ruling us by decree.They have themselves become the executive, Parliament and the public in these matters.
“Although it may be said to be in the public interest to reduce the domestic debt that was going to result from the payment of compensation on the conversion of RTGS balances and bond notes and coins to RTGS dollar, it is undemocratic and unfair to simply avoid domestic debt by impoverishing the very public that first and second respondents are supposed to serve.”
Nyambirai is also challenging section 44C of the RBZ Act, which he said violated the constitution.
“I also contend that the following restrictions imposed by the second respondent’s Exchange Control Directive RU102/2019 dated June 25, 2019 constitute a compulsory deprivation of property in contravention of section 71(3) of the constitution of Zimbabwe and must therefore be nullified,” he said.
