Back to Index

List of 2011 Acts - Bill Watch 13/2012
Veritas
March 28, 2012

Last Two Acts of 2011 Gazetted

Of the eleven Acts of Parliament passed last year only nine were gazetted last year. Two – the Small Enterprises Development Corporation Act [6/2011] and the Deposit Protection Corporation Act [7/2011] – were only gazetted this month, although the former was signed by the President on 30th September and the latter on the 8th of December last year. These last two Acts of 2011 were finally gazetted in the Government Gazette of 16th March. [For summaries of these Acts see below]

Complete List of Acts of 2011

All Acts of 2011 have now been gazetted. The following complete list has been updated as at 26th March 2012.

1. Criminal Laws Amendment (Protection of Power, Communication and Water Infrastructure) Act, 2011

Gazetted: 24th June 2011

Commencement: 24th June 2011

2. Zimbabwe National Security Council Amendment Act, 2011

Gazetted: 20th May 2011

Commencement: 20th May 2011

3. Energy Regulatory Authority Act [Chapter 13:23]

Gazetted: 10th June 2011

Commencement: 22nd September 2011 [SI 111A/2011]

4. Attorney-General’s Office Act [Chapter 7:19]

Gazetted: 10th June 2011

Commencement: date still to be fixed by statutory instrument

5. General Laws Amendment Act, 2011

Gazetted: 16th May 2011

Commencement: 16th May 2011

6. Small Enterprises Development Corporation Amendment Act, 2011

Gazetted: 16th March 2012

Commencement: date still to be fixed by statutory instrument

7. Deposit Protection Corporation Act [Chapter 24:29]

Gazetted: 16th March 2012

Commencement: 16th March 2012

8. Finance Act, 2011

Gazetted: 16th September 2011

Commencement: 16th September 2011

9. Finance (No. 2) Act, 2011

Gazetted: 31st December 2011

Commencement: 31st December 2011

10. Appropriation (2012) Act, 2011

Gazetted: 31st December 2011

Commencement: 31st December 2011

11. Appropriation (2011) Amendment Act, 2011

Gazetted: 31st December 2011

Commencement: 31st December 2011.

Deposit Protection Corporation Act

[Date of commencement: 16th March 2012]

This Act establishes a new parastatal, the Deposit Protection Corporation [DPC], and a Deposit Protection Fund to provide for the compensation of depositors in failed financial institutions. The Act replaces Part XII of the Banking Act, under which the previous Deposit Protection Scheme operated from 2003 onwards. That scheme was run by a Deposit Protection Board, which consisted solely of persons appointed by the Governor of the Reserve Bank, and it controlled a Deposit Protection Fund to which all registered financial institutions had to contribute. Detailed provisions for the scheme were spelled out in regulations made under the Banking Act by the Minister of Finance.

Constitution of DPC Board

The Minister of Finance will appoint the members of the DPC Board of Directors. The Reserve Bank will have one representative on the Board but the majority of members will be representatives of the financial institutions that must contribute to the Deposit Protection Fund [see below].

Deposit Protection Fund

The principal source of income for the Fund will be contributions from registered banking institutions and building societies, all of which are obliged by the Act to contribute. Other institutions may be added to the list of “contributory institutions” by statutory instrument made by the DPC with the approval of the Minister of Finance.

DPC’s functions

Apart from its core responsibility for the Deposit Protection Fund and compensating depositors when a contributory institution fails, the DPC will have important related functions as a key player in the financial sector:

• monitoring contributory institutions
• being consulted by and advising the Reserve Bank and the Registrar of Banking Institutions on the exercise of their powers to register and discipline institutions or place them under curatorship
• generally co-operating with the Reserve Bank and the Registrar of Banking in supervising the financial sector
• acting as liquidator or judicial manager of any banking institution being wound up or under judicial management.

The Banking Act is amended in order to give effect to the DPC’s functions.

Transitional provisions

Detailed transitional provisions in section 66 of the Act provide for the takeover of the Deposit by the DPC. Provisions include that the board members of the Deposit Protection Scheme will temporarily act as the Board of the DPC. All assets, rights and liabilities of the former Fund vest automatically in the new Fund. Banking institutions and building societies that were contributors under the former scheme will automatically become “contributory institutions”. The regulations for the former scheme [SI 29/2003, as amended by SI 96/2003] will continue in force as if they were rules made by the DPC under the new Act.

Responsible Minister

The Minister of Finance is responsible for the administration of the Act.

[Note: The DPC Act as gazetted reflects the text actually passed by Parliament. But there was an amendment made to it in section 16 of the Finance (No. 2) Act, passed in December 2011. This unusual step was taken because it was discovered that mistakes had been made during its Committee Stage in the House of Assembly in mid-2011. Because the DPC Act and the Finance (No. 2) Act’s amendments to the DPA Act became effective simultaneously on 16th March, all users of the DPC Act need to acquaint themselves with both the Act and the amendments.]

Small Enterprises Development Corporation Amendment Act

[Date of commencement still to be fixed]

This Act will only come into force on a date to be fixed by the President by statutory instrument. It amends the Small Enterprises Development Corporation [SEDCO] Act. The amendments include changing the name of the corporation to the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Corporation and giving statutory force to its acronym SMEDCO in the definition section [the acronym will be used throughout the amended principal Act instead of the term “the Corporation”]. The title of the principal Act is changed to Small and Medium Enterprises Development Corporation Act.

There will now be an Advisory Council called the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises [MSMEs] Advisory Council, and a MSMEs Fund. SMEDCO will be empowered to establish different schemes to assist different classes of MSMEs from the Fund. Detailed provision is made in a new schedule for the classification of enterprises as either micro-, small or medium.

Security for advances

Under new provisions introduced by the amending Act, SMEDCO will be able to advance money for tools, implements, machinery or equipment and be authorised to register notarial bonds using these items as security. They will then become “designated articles” which the borrower cannot dispose of without SMEDCO’s consent – and which SMEDCO can repossess by court action if the borrower does not repay the advance.

Responsible Minister

The Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises and Cooperative Development is responsible for the administration of this Act.

Veritas makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take legal responsibility for information supplied

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP