Nyore Madzianike-Senior Reporter
THE High Court has ordered the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) to release a trailer seized from local transport company, Bluelight Logistics, during an anti-smuggling operation, ruling that while the company was negligent, it had not intentionally transported smuggled goods.
High Court judge Justice Sunsley Zisengwe set aside the forfeiture order and directed Zimra to release the trailer, subject to the company paying a reasonable and appropriate monetary penalty.
The dispute arose after Zimra’s anti-smuggling unit seized the trailer during routine operations along the Harare-Beitbridge Road.
According to court papers, the trailer was found abandoned near Harare carrying various goods, including groceries, suitcases and chicken cuts imported from South Africa.
Suspecting that the consignment had entered the country without payment of the requisite customs duty, Zimra seized both the goods and the trailer.
Bluelight Logistics told the court that the trailer had been detached from one of its buses travelling from Beitbridge to Harare after developing a mechanical fault.
The company said the trailer had been disconnected to facilitate repairs and that its crew was unaware that the goods being transported had allegedly been smuggled.
It argued that the trailer had been loaded at a designated bus terminus in Beitbridge in the ordinary course of its passenger transport business and on the assumption that passengers had complied with customs requirements.
Efforts by the owners of the goods to recover their property from Zimra were unsuccessful after they failed to produce documentation proving that customs duty had been paid.
Zimra subsequently concluded that the goods had been smuggled in contravention of the Customs and Excise Act.
Bluelight Logistics also failed to secure the release of its trailer after writing to Zimra’s Harare Regional Manager on February 27, 2026, explaining the circumstances surrounding the trailer’s detachment and seeking its release.
However, on March 4, 2026, the Regional Manager rejected the request, arguing that the trailer had been used to transport smuggled goods and was therefore liable to forfeiture.
The company then appealed to the Commissioner of Customs, but the appeal was dismissed.
In rejecting the appeal, the Commissioner acknowledged that there was no evidence that Bluelight Logistics had intentionally transported smuggled goods.
Aggrieved by the decision, the company approached the High Court, arguing that the Commissioner’s determination was irrational, unlawful and procedurally irregular, making it reviewable under the Administrative Justice Act.
In her ruling, Justice Zisengwe found that there was no evidence of deliberate wrongdoing by the company, particularly as the passengers had been picked up at a designated bus terminus in the normal course of business.
“In my view, there is no proof that the applicant acted with intent when it transported the smuggled goods, particularly having regard to the uncontroverted fact that it picked up the passengers at an ordinary designated bus terminus in the ordinary course of its business as a public transporter,” she said.
The judge, however, found that the company had been negligent in failing to establish whether the goods had been properly cleared through customs.
“The applicant was not entirely blameless given the place (Beitbridge) where the passengers had been picked up and the nature of the goods they had in their possession,” she said.
Justice Zisengwe also ruled that the fact that another bus crew from the company had previously breached similar provisions of the law did not, without further evidence, demonstrate criminal intent by the crew involved in the current matter.
She consequently granted the application for review and set aside the forfeiture contained in Zimra’s final determination letter dated July 29, 2026.
The matter was remitted to Zimra to determine a reasonable and appropriate monetary penalty, with the authority directed to comply with the order within 14 days.
Source: High Court orders Zimra to release seized trailer – herald
COMMENTS