Category: Legislation
Video: EcoCash to be integrated to Zimswitch. What does it mean?
RBZ announced that Zimswitch is now Zimbabwe’s national payment switch and that all monetary service providers are directed to integrate with it. What does this mean to me the customer? Quick NetOne, Econet, And Telecel Airtime Recharge Number to recharge: Airtime amount ($): EcoCash or OneMoney number: Buy Please dial our USSD code *405# on […]
Here’s where this week’s public consultations on the Cyber Security Bill are being held
The parliament recently issued a notice to the effect that the next public consultations and hearings on the Cyber Security and Data Protection Bill are being held. The hearings will be held between 6-10 July, virtually and physically (venues below) by 3 parliament teams. The teams will cover various places in Zimbabwe as follows: TEAM 1 Date Place Venue Time ofHearing Monday, 6 July 2020 […]
Kenya to introduce digital tax for online sales and services
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has approved the 2020 Financial Bill, this bill consists of proposed amendments to the: The Income Tax Act The Value Added Tax Act, 2013 The Excise Duty Act, 2015 The Tax Procedures Act, 2015. The most notable part of this piece of legislation is the Digital Services Tax. The Kenyan government […]
Police stations to use POS machines to discourage bribery
Police stations across the country will now make use of POS machines that will be used for admission of guilt fines – a move that the ZRP believes will reduced cases of bribery. The Judicial Services Commission (JSC) is said to have distributed 333 POS machines to 319 stations across the country. The number of […]
Thoughts On The Cyber Security And Data Protection Bill
On the 15th of May The Cyber Security and Data Protection Bill was gazetted. The public was asked to comment on the bill in a process that ends on the 26th of June. The digital age has brought with it a unique set of concerns. Security was something that was assured by physical or geographical […]
Parliament Invites Public Commentary On Cyber Security & Data Protection Bill
On the 15th of May, the Cyber Security and Data Protection Bill was gazetted by government and before it is effected into law the bill should go through a phase of public consultation where ordinary Zimbabweans like you and me go through it and share comments with Parliament. This being the case the Parliament of […]
High Court Commercial Division Sets Deadline To Go Fully Digital
The High Court’s Commercial Division aka the Commercial Court recently got a deadline to go fully paperless by the 1st of June 2021. This is part of the court’s digital migration which has been underway for over a year now. The deadline was outlined in Statutory Instrument 123 of 2020 titled High Court (Commercial Division) […]
Full Breakdown Of The High Court’s Ruling On EcoCash Application For RBZ To Reverse Directive
3 weeks ago, the Reserve Bank issued a directive ordering mobile money operators to ban agents that were transacting above a threshold of ZW$100 000. After effecting the ban EcoCash would have to register once again to meet certain KYC demands. EcoCash responded by filing an urgent chamber application to the high court seeking the […]
Media Institute Says Cyber Security Bill Encourages Surveillance
The recently gazetted Cyber Security and Data Protection Bill has raised concerns – especially the plan for POTRAZ to house the National Cyber Security Centre. I raised concerns regarding the organisation and whether they will be able to carry out their mandate freely. Media Institute of Souther Africa (MISA) Zimbabwe has also published an analysis […]
POTRAZ To HouseNational Cyber Security Centre If Cyber Security And Data Protection Bill Is Passed Into Law
The draft of the Cybersecurity bill was finally gazetted – it’s one step closer to coming into law or (if parliamentarians aren’t happy with it) being rejected. One of the more topical issues outlined in the bill is the fact that POTRAZ will become the “National Cyber Security Centre” if the bill is effected into […]
NetOne Board Chairperson Investigated For Appointing Associate To Reside Over Muchenje’s Hearing
The axing of Lazarus Muchenje continues to produce twists and turns akin to a Hollywood blockbuster with latest reports alleging abuse of office by the board chairperson who axed Muchenje for… ABUSE OF OFFICE! Ms Susan Mutangadura who is the acting board chairperson is alleged to have appointed a “suspected business acquaintance” and retired judge […]
Man Behind Fake Lockdown Claims To Appear Before Courts
Last week, President Mnangagwa spoke to ZBC about fake news and the consequences of sharing misinformation during the COVID-19 lockdown. In the interview, the President made it clear that one individual who circulated a fake document – which made it seem as if the President had extended the lockdown- was being looked for by local […]
LawBasket Offering Free Legal Assessment To African Startups
LawBasket – the online legal marketplace where lawyers meet clients (people with cases) to deliver legal services on customer-driven terms – has announced StartAP Legal Maturity Assessment Program to help startups The initiative will see LawBasket providing free legal maturity assessment for African startups. In our communication with LawBasket’s Co-founder and Head of Marketing Nyasha […]
8 South Africans Have Been Arrested For Spreading Fake News
South Africa’s Police Commissioner Bheki Cele informed citizens of the country that 8 people had been arrested for disseminating misinformation regarding the Novel Coronavirus. The most popular of these arrests is a 55-year-old Western Cape resident who was arrested for posting a video urging South Africans to resist testing as the testing kits being used […]
Kenyans Will Soon Receive Court Summons Via WhatsApp
Kenya’s Parliament is considering passing into law an act that will allow the sending of summons via messaging applications. Summons may be sent by mobile-enabled messaging applications to the defendants’ last known and used telephone number Recommendation The chair of the Kenyan Law Society said that this was a positive development: For a start, the […]
MPs Ask For Lessons To Use Tablets
The issue of tablets in parliament has been a topical ever since the announcement was made that members of parliament would be getting the devices last year. Actually, MPs were originally set to receive tablets from the World Bank back in 2017, and that didn’t materialise and even if it didn’t it wouldn’t have caused […]
Judicial Service Commission To Introduce Electronic Case Management System
When covering the opening of the Legal Year last week, we talked about live streaming of court cases deemed of national interest. We missed one other tech-related development from the opening of the Legal Year, which is the introduction of the Integrated Electronic Case Management System. Stand out features from the ECMS will include the […]
Interview With Legal Startup LawBasket: “As A New Concept The Biggest Challenge Was Shifting Mindsets”
[Image Source: LawBasket – From left to right: Simba Mubvuma & Nyasha Makamba] Earlier this year we were part of the publications that covered LawBasket after their launch. The ‘online legal services marketplace’ has a presence in a number of African countries including Zimbabwe. LawBasket reached out to us and we had an interesting conversation […]
Local Start-up Receives $32K Seed Funding After Coming Second At Innovating Justice Challenge Finals
In October, we talked about Lexware, a local start-up that was representing Zimbabwe at the Southern Africa Innovating Justice Challenge Finals in South Africa. The finals took place last week on the 7th of November and Lexware came out second behind Chat2bo. And the winner of #JustInnovate19 is @Chat2Bo ! Well done Joanne and Nanda! […]
Cyber Crime Bill Finally Gets Cabinet Approval
The Cyber Crime, Security and Data Protection Bill which was drafted back in 2016 has finally been approved by the Cabinet. The bill will now be tabled in parliament for debate but no timelines were shared for when we can expect this to be done. The bill seeks to combat cyber crime and increase cyber […]
Is It Legal For Econet To Reveal The Identity Of Whoever Threatened Dr Magombeyi?
Recent revelations that Dr Peter Magombeyi received threats before being abducted have set the internet ablaze with certain people calling on Econet to reveal the identity of who sent these threatening texts to the missing Doctor. The message sent read: Usazoti I did not warn u. Ramba uchiita nharo. Uchatorwa nechamupupuri. We are getting close […]
South Korea Is Taking One Out Of China’s Book & Increasing Internet Censorship
South Korea scores high marks on most aspects relating to democracy but unfortunately, internet censorship isn’t one of those. Over the last few years, the country has been tightening its grip on what citizens can and cannot do on the internet. Why censor the internet? So what’s the reason behind South Korea’s censorship? Well, North […]
Nyambirai Of TN Holdings Sues Mthuli Ncube Over Currency Change
Prominent lawyer/businessman Tawanda Nyambirai is suing the Finance Minister Prof Mthuli Ncube for his conversion of bond coins/notes and RTGS balances into a currency (RTGS Dollars which have been deemed equal to the incoming Zim Dollar, by the same man). Nyambirai’s issue stems from the fact that when bond coins/notes were introduced we were told […]
Econet Refutes Claims That They Are Violating Labour Laws
Last week, Zim Morning Post broke the news that Econet and Steward Bank were violating labour laws in a pretty lengthy post. We broke down that post here. Whilst our efforts to obtain a comment regarding this post were not fruitful, Econet did respond to the Herald and addressed the claims for the first time […]
Steward Bank & Econet Accused Of Violating Labour Laws
Local news publication Zim Morning Post has alleged that Steward Bank is “violating local labour laws” and abusing the rights of their workforce. Zim Morning claims they conducted an investigation after coming across a report that ranked Zimbabwe among the 10 worst countries to work in globally. This publication discovered that two of the group’s […]
What Can Be Done About Cyberbullying & Cyber Harassment?
I was approached by a fellow executive on how he could legally pursue and remove malicious information that is online. For years, Zimbabwean high profile individuals, executives and business owners have fallen victim to cyberbullying, Cyber Harassment and revenge p*rn. The internet has had a massive impact on many areas of personal and professional life, […]
Zim Courts Undergoing Digital Migration
Zimbabwe’s courts have been mandated to be paperless by the end of this year and their digitalisation seems to have some pretty lofty goals that will definitely make our court system pretty interesting. Chief Justice Malaba has reportedly already appointed a committee that will over see the digitisation process which is supposed to cut costs […]
Supa Mandiwanzira Seeks Constitutional Court Reprieve Says Robert Mugabe Approved All The Actions He’s Being Accused Of
Former Minister of ICT, Supa Mandiwanzira who is facing criminal abuse of office charges has decided to approach the Constitutional Court to have the case against him nullified. He is arguing that the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act under which he is being charged is not constitutional. His lawyer, Thembinkosi Magwaliba says: The section does not […]
New Company Law Will Require All Companies In Zimbabwe To Re-register, Will Finally Permit Use Of Most Local Languages For Official Records
The Parliament of Zimbabwe is in the process of establishing a new law for the registration and operation of companies in Zimbabwe. This law will replace the current Companies Act. It will be called the Companies and Other Entities Act (right now it is still a bill). The bill states that all companies that are […]
China Is More Aggresive Than African Countries When It Comes To Blocking Internet Services
January was pretty eventful for Zimbabweans, the Government took away our beloved internet access and for a few days many of us who had no knowledge about how VPNs worked had to learn on the job as that became the normal way to access many popular sites such as Twitter, Facebook and even our main […]