Judgment No. CCZ 5/15 2
Const. Application No. CCZ 23/14
statutory body responsible for the regulation of insurance and pension business in
Zimbabwe. The Attorney-General is cited as an interested party who might wish to
intervene in these proceedings.
It is common cause that foreign vehicles are required by law to have a temporary
import permit coupled with valid insurance cover for the duration of the permit.
According to TOBAZ, its members were previously entitled to arrange temporary
insurance cover and did in fact do so until February 2010, when the MIP and ZIMRA
concluded an agency agreement, with the tacit concurrence of the I&PC, the purpose of
which was to confine the issuance of such cover to the MIP and ZIMRA. The latter then
published a notice to that effect and proceeded to issue insurance cover on behalf of the
former.
TOBAZ avers that the MIP, as an association of insurers, cannot itself issue
insurance cover or authorise ZIMRA to do so as its agent. This is because they do not
qualify as licensed insurers under the Insurance Act [Chapter 24:07] or approved insurers
under the Road Traffic Act [Chapter 13:11]. Their agency agreement is not only ultra
vires those statutes but also creates a monopoly in breach of the Competition Act
[Chapter 14:28]. In the constitutional context, the agreement operates to infringe its
members’ freedom of profession, trade or occupation as well as their right to equal
protection of the law. It also violates the freedom of contract implicit in the freedom of
association by imposing a contracting party on foreign motorists.