In order to get a search warrant, the police officer must give evidence
on oath that he has reasonable grounds to believe that there is some
object or objects on the property which should be seized in connection
with some crime.
If the officer finds other items not named in the warrant, but which he
believes to be related to a serious crime being investigated, he can
also seize them  but only if he believes they will be hidden, lost or
destroyed if he does not.
A search made with a search warrant must be made during the day, unless
the magistrate or justice of the peace issuing it specifically allows
it to be made at night.
The police officer must give the person whose property is being
searched a copy of the search warrant if he asks for it, but only after
the search has been carried out.
Without a search warrant
A police officer can enter, search and seize goods without a warrant in certain circumstances:
•   If he believes that a magistrate would give him a search warrant if he applied for one;
•   If he believes that the suspected criminal would hide or destroy
the evidence or the goods he was looking for while he is obtaining the
warrant.
Remember: Whenever a police officer acts without a warrant, he must be
very sure that he has good evidence to suggest that the wanted goods
are in the building he is searching. Otherwise, he can be sued,
especially if he does any damage during the entry.
Biti to reform central bank with SA assistance
Finance Minister Tendai Biti plans to reform the central bank
HARARE – Tendai Biti, Zimbabwe’s newly appointed finance minister told
journalists that he intended to reform the central bank and stated that
assistance from South Africa was crucial.
The Reserve Bank has totally discredited itself," said Biti. We must
accept that the Reserve Bank is at the core of this economic decay.
The Reserve Bank was responsible for printing money and giving
trillions of dollars to State companies, a move that has meant
Zimbabwe's inflation is currently the highest in the world.
Biti intends to present a new budget to parliament and focus on the
issue of inflation that is currently crippling the country. He wants to
appeal to Western donors for their help to rebuild the economy and
hopes to operate the bank independently from the government.
Biti is meeting with Gideon Gono soon.
"South Africa is going to be key in the support it will give to
Zimbabwe either as budgetary support or lines of credit," said Biti.
South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel has told journalists that
South Africa is prepared to assist its neighbour and President Kgalema
Motlanthe has said that Zimbabwe can peg their currency to the South
African rand.
"Using the rand on its own without addressing fundamentals that have
led to the decline of our economy, will not work because it doesn’t
benefit Zimbabwe or South Africa," said Biti.
Churches declare continuing solidarity
HARARE – Catholic bishops marked yesterday as a special ‘Zimbabwe
Sunday’ to encourage prayer and solidarity for the beleaguered people
of the Southern African nation, as its new unity government emerges.
Promoting the Catholic initiative this weekend were the Bishops of
South Africa, Botswana, and Swaziland who at Sunday services encouraged
the people to collect food and medicine to be distributed to those in
need through the network of Caritas Internationalis, the global
catholic development network.
Caritas Internationalis Secretary General Lesley-Anne Knight also sent
a message of solidarity to the people and Church of Zimbabwe, on behalf
of all 162 national Caritas members.
"Half of Zimbabweans rely on food aid to survive, a cholera epidemic
has killed 3,500 so far out of 71,000 cases, and the country’s
economic, health, educational infrastructure has collapsed," said
Knight.
ZBC accept payment in kind
BULAWAYO – The cash strapped Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC),
which appears to have run out of income generating ideas, has resorted
to accepting payment in kind for advertising on both radio and
television.
A worker at the Bulawayo Montrose Studios said that the state owned
broadcaster is accepting mostly bond paper, detergents, fuel and toilet
paper as payment.
"If you want to hire a camera you are required to pay five boxes of
bond paper and three additional boxes if the production is to be edited
at our station," said the worker who can not be identified for fear of
victimisation. He said some clients were paying in cartons of toilet
paper for advertisements on both radio and television.
Those who want their activities to be covered during the news segment
are requested to provide transport or fuel to enable the new crews to
travel to the venue.
Since 2000, the ZBC has been receiving fuel allocations from the
government but with supplies running low, the corporation was struck
off the priority list – resulting in the organisation occasionally
going for more than a month without a fuel allocation.
COSATU warns MDC
JOHANNESBURG – The Congress of South Africa Trade Unions (COSATU) has
warned members of the MDC party, who have been appointed into cabinet
in a national unity government, to guard against being used by
President Robert Mugabe's Zanu (PF).
The MDC, which defeated both Mugabe and his party in the
widely-recognised March 29, 2008 harmonized elections agreed to form a
unity government with Mugabe, in a power-sharing deal that was brokered
by the regional Southern African Development Community (SADC) bloc.
The much-vaunted all-inclusive government has been praised in most
quarters as the only way by which the country's decade-long political
and economic crises, both blamed on Mugabe, can be addressed.
With Mugabe refusing to release incarcerated MDC officials and other
human rights defenders, and the latest arrest of MDC deputy
minister-designate, Roy Bennett, COSATU Secretary General, Zwelinzima
Vavi warned last week that if not careful, MDC ministers would be
relegated into mere Zombies by Mugabe's party.
This power-sharing deal has been flawed from the start and the MDC, as
the most popular party and winner of the only elections held in
Zimbabwe (March 29), should be careful, said Vavi in Johannesburg last
week.
I understand that Mugabe has already nominated people that will
formulate policy in each ministry and the MDC members will not be
listened to. This means that Mugabe regards these MDC ministers as
nothing but Zombies in that government, said Vavi.
He also suggested that the MDC should insist that the national unity
government should just be a transitional authority that will oversee
constitutional reforms and the holding of free and fair elections in
the earliest possible time.
Only elections can solve the Zimbabwean crisis and the MDC, as the
more popular party in this government, should push that they are held
sooner rather than later, said Vavi.
The workers' representative body – COSATU is a key component of the
African National Congress (ANC), a tripartite formation that rules in
South Africa, where there are an estimated 3 million Zimbabweans.
Zimbabwean exiles still fear returning home
JOHANNESBURG – Zimbabwean exiles living in neighbouring South Africa
have expressed fear in returning home, where they are afraid that they
might be subjected to torture by President Robert Mugabe's supporters
and state security agents.
This comes after news filtered into South Africa about the arrest of
Roy Bennett, MDC nominee for deputy minister of Agriculture.
Bennett was supposed to be sworn-in as a deputy minister in the new
government of national unity after his name was included in a list
submitted by mainstream MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai last week.
However, members of the police's notorious Law and Order section
arrested Bennett last week, a few hours before Mugabe swore in
Ministers to form the new government, and have since charged him with
terrorism and banditry.
This has now sent shockwaves through the political exiles that were preparing to return home.
I was planning to go home at the end of the month, but after what has
now happened to Bennett, I am no longer considering it, said Marshal
Ndlovu, an MDC member who fled Zanu (PF) violence in Tsholotsho in 2002.
If they can still arrest Bennett, a well-known MDC official and detain him, who knows what they will do to people like me?
Even some economic refugees who had hoped that the new government would usher in a new era in Zimbabwe have lost hope.
With the new farm invasions that are being reported, there is nothing
new that this government will bring in. We must just re-focus our
efforts on fighting Mugabe. With him and his army and police still in
charge, there will be more hunger, disease and violence in Zimbabwe,
said Joyce Shoko.