The recent death of MDC-T Senator Tichaona Mudzingwa, Deputy Minister of Transport, brings the number of vacant Senate seats to 14 out of a total of 99. It does not, however, add to the number of pending by-elections because Mudzingwa was an appointed Senator, nominated by MDC-T in terms of Schedule 8 to the Constitution. All that is required to fill the vacancy is the nomination of a replacement by MDC-T, followed by the nominee’s formal appointment by the President.
No duty for Chinese
The passage of Customs regulations SI 70/2012 grants a two-year suspension of duty to China-Zimbabwe Sunrise Mining (Pvt) Ltd in respect of a specified mining location SG 4591. SI 69/2012 provides for a 2012 once-off duty rebate for certain items for the National Railways of Zimbabwe.
Rhino compensation
Where a person is convicted of unlawful hunting or trapping of animals or catching of fish, the court must, in addition to any fine or prison sentence, order the payment of compensation to the appropriate authority for the land concerned [e.g. the Director of Parks and Wild Life, the landowner or lessee, the State] according to tariffs fixed by the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Management. SIs 56 and 57/2012 set out new tariffs fixed by the Minister in terms of the Parks and Wild Life Act and the Trapping of Animals (Control) Act; the amounts, most of them fairly substantial, range from $5 per kilogram of fish to $120,000 for a rhinoceros.