11 Request for evidence, etc., by foreign country (1) Where a request is made by the appropriate authority of a foreign country for— (a) evidence to be taken in Zimbabwe; or (b) documents or other articles in Zimbabwe to be produced; for the purposes of proceedings in relation to a criminal matter in the foreign country, the Attorney-General may, subject to such terms and conditions as he may determine, authorize the taking of the evidence or the production of the documents or other articles, and the transmission of the evidence, documents or other articles to the foreign country. (2) Where the Attorney-General authorizes the taking of evidence or the production of documents or other articles in terms of subsection (1)— (a) in the case of the taking of evidence, a magistrate may take the evidence on oath of each witness appea ring before him to give evidence in relation to the matter, and shall— (i) cause the evidence to be put in writing and certify that the evidence was taken by him; and (ii) cause the evidence so certified to be sent to the Attorney-General; or (b) in the case of the production of documents or other articles, a magistrate may, subject to subsection (6), require the production of the documents or other articles and shall send the documents, or copies of the documents certified by him to be true copies, or the other articles, to the Attorney-General. (3) The evidence of any witness may be taken in the presence or absence of the person to whom the proceedings in the foreign country relate or in the presence of his legal representative, if any. (4) The magistrate conducting proceedings in terms of subsection (2) may permit— (a) any other person giving evidence or producing documents or other articles at the proceedings before him; and (b) the appropriate authority of the foreign country; to be legally represented at the proceedings. (5) The certificate by the magistrate made in terms of subsection (2) shall state whether, when the evidence was taken or the documents or other articles were produced— (a) the person to whom the proceedings in the foreign country relate or his legal representative; or (b) any person other than the person giving evidence or producing documents or other articles or his legal representative; was present. (6) Subject to subsection (7), the laws of Zimbabwe with respect to the compelling of persons to attend before a magistrate, and to give evidence, answer questions and produce documents or other articles, upon the hearing of a charge against a person for any offence shall apply, mutatis mutandis, with respect to the compelling of persons to attend before a magistrate, and to giving evidence, answering questions and the production of doc uments or other articles, for the purposes of this section. (7) For the purposes of this section, the person to whom the proceedings in the foreign country relate shall be competent but not compellable to give evidence. PART III ASSISTANCE IN R ELATION TO SEARCH A ND S EIZURE 12 Requests by Zimbabwe for search and seizure (1) This section applies to proceedings or investigations relating to a serious offence against the law of Zimbabwe if there are reasonable grounds to believe that a thing relevant to the proceedings or investigations may be located in a foreign country to which this Act applies. (2) Subject to subsection (1), the Attorney-General may request an appropriate authority of a foreign country to obtain a warrant or other instrument authorizing the search for a thing relevant to the proceedings or investigation and. if such a thing, or any other thing that is or may be relevant to the proceedings or investigation, as the case may be, is found pursuant to such a search, authorizing the seizure of that thing. (3) A request shall be accompanied by an affidavit by a person verifying the grounds on which the request is made. 13 Requests by foreign countries for search and seizure (1) Where— (a) proceedings have, or an investigation relating to a criminal matter involving a serious offence has, commenced in a foreign country; and (b) there are reasonable grounds to believe that a thing relevant to the proceedings or investigation is located in Zimbabwe; and (c) the appropriate authority of the foreign country requests the Attorney-General to arrange for the issue of a search warrant in terms of this section in relation to that thing;