Opinion / Columnist
Chamisa vehicle GoFundMe
05 Dec 2021 at 01:36hrs | Views
Circumstances under which Morgan Tsvangirai BMW was impounded were that the law was breached because a vehicle on Temporary Import Permit or with foreign plate can only be driven by an authorised foreigner as on the TIP.
For the vehicle to be released it has to either pay duty or a penalty. The penalty is calculated as a percentage of the duty which was to be levied if it was to be permanently imported.
Each day the BMW remains in Zimbabwe it incurs daily charges such that in a year what may be required to be paid may be more than value of 3 simmilar cars.
The vehicle on TIP can not be released to Tsvangirai or his estate but has to be driven back into SA only by the person who is the foreigner as per TIP.
After issuance of Receipt for Items Held (RIH) the South African should have paid penalty or fine plus some duty then take the vehicle into South Africa within 60 days.Thereafter the vehicle is seized.So after 60 days when people were being emotional it may have had no basis at law and rightly zimra could have rightly sold the vehicle on rummage sale.
This Chamisa vehicle doesn't have a similar issue but different so they must err on the side of caution because;
The political finances act prohibit Foreign funding And Solicitation of donations by foreigners.
This will be subject to varied interpretation by zimra or police etc.If this donation is for Chamisa as an individual it will be well but then if an individual donation it will be very hard to justify why he needs it bullet proof or armoured.If it is for him as a politician or a party president or for furthering a political agenda it may be impounded again.That political finances act will be the tool this time.It will be impossible to prove that only Zimbabweans donated on a global platform.
Another major factor is that Value for Duty purposes is now set at US$ 120 000,00 so they must budget duty at US$48 000,00 and VAT at US$17500,00.So that funding will be required.Even of they bring an invoice with less than US$120 000,00 the duty is likely to be based on duty using third valuation method not the invoice because this is public information.
Such vehicle they call bullet proof or armoured may require special import permits.
They must think through this carefully because it can be impounded at port of entry and it will be within the law.
For the vehicle to be released it has to either pay duty or a penalty. The penalty is calculated as a percentage of the duty which was to be levied if it was to be permanently imported.
Each day the BMW remains in Zimbabwe it incurs daily charges such that in a year what may be required to be paid may be more than value of 3 simmilar cars.
The vehicle on TIP can not be released to Tsvangirai or his estate but has to be driven back into SA only by the person who is the foreigner as per TIP.
After issuance of Receipt for Items Held (RIH) the South African should have paid penalty or fine plus some duty then take the vehicle into South Africa within 60 days.Thereafter the vehicle is seized.So after 60 days when people were being emotional it may have had no basis at law and rightly zimra could have rightly sold the vehicle on rummage sale.
This Chamisa vehicle doesn't have a similar issue but different so they must err on the side of caution because;
The political finances act prohibit Foreign funding And Solicitation of donations by foreigners.
This will be subject to varied interpretation by zimra or police etc.If this donation is for Chamisa as an individual it will be well but then if an individual donation it will be very hard to justify why he needs it bullet proof or armoured.If it is for him as a politician or a party president or for furthering a political agenda it may be impounded again.That political finances act will be the tool this time.It will be impossible to prove that only Zimbabweans donated on a global platform.
Another major factor is that Value for Duty purposes is now set at US$ 120 000,00 so they must budget duty at US$48 000,00 and VAT at US$17500,00.So that funding will be required.Even of they bring an invoice with less than US$120 000,00 the duty is likely to be based on duty using third valuation method not the invoice because this is public information.
Such vehicle they call bullet proof or armoured may require special import permits.
They must think through this carefully because it can be impounded at port of entry and it will be within the law.
Source - Brian Sedze
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