CIVIL EVIDENCE ACT [Chapter 8:01] as at 1st May 2007 transcript or other document which, if the report, transcript or document had been prepared in connection with legal proceedings in Zimbabwe, could be cited as an authority in legal proceedings in Zimbabwe. PART VII ADMISSIBILITY OF CERTAIN EVIDENCE 26 Irrelevant evidence inadmissible Evidence that is irrelevant or immaterial and cannot lead to the proving or disproving of any point or fact in issue shall not be admissible. 27 First-hand hearsay evidence (1) Subject to this section, evidence of a statement made by any person, whether orally or in writing or otherwise, shall be admissible in civil proceedings as evidence of any fact mentioned or disclosed in the statement, if direct oral evidence by that person of that fact would be admissible in those proceedings. (2) Evidence of a statement referred to in subsection (1) shall be admissible even where the person who made the statement is called as a witness in the proceedings concerned. (3) If a statement referred to in subsection (1)— (a) is not contained in a document, no evidence of the statement shall be admissible unless it is given by a person who saw, heard or otherwise perceived the statement being made; (b) is contained in a document, no evidence of the statement shall be admissible except the document itself, or a copy of the document if such copy is admissible in terms of this Act or any other law. (4) In estimating the weight, if any, to be given to evidence of a statement that has been admitted in terms of subsection (1), the court shall have regard to all the circumstances affecting its accuracy or otherwise and, in particular, to— (a) whether or not the statement was made at a time when the facts contained in it were or may reasonably be supposed to have been fresh in the mind of the person who made the statement; and (b) whether or not the person who made the statement had any incentive, or might have been affected by the circumstances, to conceal or misrepresent any fact. (5) This section shall not be construed as limiting any provision of this Act or any other law providing for the admissibility of statements made by persons who are not called as witnesses to testify to such statements. 28 Evidence in previous legal proceedings (1) Where a person has previously— (a) given evidence; or (b) made an affidavit that was produced in evidence; in any legal proceedings, whether civil or criminal, and he has died or cannot be found or compelled to give evidence or for some other good and sufficient cause cannot reasonably be — 18 —