News / National
Perence Shiri to be taken to court?
15 Aug 2019 at 18:03hrs | Views
A section of farmers and grain dealers have made moves to seek legal recourse against Minister Perence Shiri over Statutory Instrument 145 of 2019.
A Harare lawyer who is representing the farmers said her clients were challenging the exclusive piece of law that give exclusive rights of buying maize to the Grain Marketing Board.
She said her clients complain that it is against the spirit of competition and the takes away the power from the market to regulate itself.
She added that she would not add much detail because of attorney-client privilege.
The Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement Retired Air Marshall Perence Shiri enacted Statutory Instrument 145 of 2019 (Grain Marketing Control of Sale of Maize Regulations, 2019) which bans the buying and selling of maize among unauthorized persons in Zimbabwe.
The SI says, "No person or statutory body or company or entity shall buy or otherwise acquire any maize from any farmer or producer otherwise than through the Grain Marketing Board."
The piece of law further prohibits GMB from purchasing maize from individuals or companies who are not contractors.
"No person who is not a producer of maize or who is not a contractor shall sell maize to the Grain Marketing Board. The Grain Marketing Board is hereby empowered to reject any maize delivered by a person other than a producer or a contractor."
However, the Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe has distanced itself from court action against the Minister of Agriculture Perence Shiri.
In a statement the Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe National Chairman Tafadzwa Musarara said "The milling industry will not be participating in the ongoing litigation against Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement minister, Honorable Perrence Shiri seeking to set aside Statutory Instrument 145 of 2019 (SI 145) in its entirety," he said.
Musarara said limitations in the statutory instrument can be cured by engagement with the Minister.
"In as much as we appreciate, recognize and respect the litigants' constitutional rights to vindicate their position in the courts of law, we believe that the so called ‘limitations' in the Statutory Instrument can be cured through engagement with the Minister of Agriculture."
"GMAZ has got an excellent working relationship with the Government and indeed with Hon Minister Shiri .
Minister Shiri is a listening minister and we are forever indebted to him for the various and numerous dispensations he has granted us," he said.
Minister Shiri could not be reached for comment on the litigation regarding the Statutory Instrument.
A Harare lawyer who is representing the farmers said her clients were challenging the exclusive piece of law that give exclusive rights of buying maize to the Grain Marketing Board.
She said her clients complain that it is against the spirit of competition and the takes away the power from the market to regulate itself.
She added that she would not add much detail because of attorney-client privilege.
The Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement Retired Air Marshall Perence Shiri enacted Statutory Instrument 145 of 2019 (Grain Marketing Control of Sale of Maize Regulations, 2019) which bans the buying and selling of maize among unauthorized persons in Zimbabwe.
The SI says, "No person or statutory body or company or entity shall buy or otherwise acquire any maize from any farmer or producer otherwise than through the Grain Marketing Board."
The piece of law further prohibits GMB from purchasing maize from individuals or companies who are not contractors.
"No person who is not a producer of maize or who is not a contractor shall sell maize to the Grain Marketing Board. The Grain Marketing Board is hereby empowered to reject any maize delivered by a person other than a producer or a contractor."
However, the Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe has distanced itself from court action against the Minister of Agriculture Perence Shiri.
In a statement the Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe National Chairman Tafadzwa Musarara said "The milling industry will not be participating in the ongoing litigation against Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement minister, Honorable Perrence Shiri seeking to set aside Statutory Instrument 145 of 2019 (SI 145) in its entirety," he said.
Musarara said limitations in the statutory instrument can be cured by engagement with the Minister.
"In as much as we appreciate, recognize and respect the litigants' constitutional rights to vindicate their position in the courts of law, we believe that the so called ‘limitations' in the Statutory Instrument can be cured through engagement with the Minister of Agriculture."
"GMAZ has got an excellent working relationship with the Government and indeed with Hon Minister Shiri .
Minister Shiri is a listening minister and we are forever indebted to him for the various and numerous dispensations he has granted us," he said.
Minister Shiri could not be reached for comment on the litigation regarding the Statutory Instrument.
Source - Byo24News
