Legislative watchdog, Veritas, has argued that bond notes should only be in circulation for 180 days, as they were issued under President Robert Mugabe’s “invalid and unconstitutional” Temporary Measures Act, which is only valid for six months.
The bond notes are set to come into circulation this month after Mugabe gazetted Statutory Instrument (SI) 133/2016.
Veritas, in a commentary, said the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) Act is unconstitutional, though the government continues to use it to gazette regulations covering a wide range of controversial issues,
As the title of the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) Act suggests, and as the text of the Act confirms, regulations made under the Act are temporary measures only. Unless confirmed by an Act of Parliament, they expire after 180 days. If, as must be the case, the government intends bond notes to be a feature of life in Zimbabwe for longer than 180 days, it will have to go to Parliament with an appropriately worded Bill.
Veritas said there was no need to resort to the Presidential Powers Act if the government did not have a sinister agenda.
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