Zimbabwe court scraps transaction tax

High Court Judge Happius Zhou has scrapped the 2% transaction tax which sparked an uproar from Zimbabweans after it was introduced by Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube last year. The ruling follows a successful challenge by a pro-democracy activist Mfundo Mlilo who was represented by lawyer and former Finance Minister Tendai Biti. New Zimbabwe reports that Ncube introduced the new tax as part of government's Transitional Stabilisation Programme, which resulted in price hikes of goods and services, as the market tried to conform to the new measures. The Finance (Rate and Incidence of Intermediated Money Transfer Tax) Regulations were published in SI205/2018. Biti welcomed the ruling, saying ‘we will study the judgement to see if we can go after the Act as well’. ‘The Finance Act is independent of the SI ... but the SI has not been repealed,’ he added.