(Last Updated on December 2, 2020 by GERALD NCUBE)
HARARE – A High Court Judge has ordered the government to publish terms and conditions of all loans and guarantees it concluded with or in favour of African Export-Import Bank or any other third party financiers.
The Minister of Finance and Economic Development and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe were cited as the first and second respondents respectively in the case were Harare North member of parliament, Allan Markham and Community Water Alliance were the applicants.
In his ruling, High Court Judge Justice Zhou said this should be published in an Extraordinary Government Gazette by 30 January 2021 showing loans and guarantees borrowed or transacted between 2017 to November 2020.
Justice Zhou ruled that government’s failure to publish terms of loans and guarantees it concluded with Africa Export Import Bank or other financiers from 2017 to date within 60 days of their conclusion is a violation of Section 300(3) of Constitution and Section 18(2) of Public Debt Management Act.
Commenting on the ruling, Markham said, “we cannot continue ignoring parliament then asking them to approve borrowings retrospectively.”