The Harare High Court dismissed a case in which a businessman sued the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks) for $193,784 in damages for taking his fishing rigs away.
The businessman Taurai Marava had sued Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks) to get his fishing equipment and related expenses reimbursed. Marava was ordered to pay the fees and have the case removed from the record after the court decided against him.
Since the “Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority” is the legally recognized organisation, High Court Judge Justice Christopher Dube-Banda underlined that ZimParks was wrongly identified as the defendant.
“The addition of the word ‘Zimbabwe’ changed the defendant’s legal identity. As a result, Justice Dube-Banda decided that the defendant could only be sued under the corporate name that section 3 of the Act had established.
ALSO READ: Harare Police Investigate Vehicle Pile-Up Connected to Kombi Incident
“There is no legal entity known as the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority,” he stated further. Thus, the plaintiff filed a lawsuit against an imaginary defendant. The summons is not enforceable.
Marava filed a summons against the Parks Authority on March 7, 2019, according to court records, requesting damages for the money he lost as a result of having his fishing rigs seized.
Nonetheless, the defendant entered a special plea, claiming that Marava lacked a legitimate fishing license and that there is no such organisation as ZimParks. Furthermore, had Marava possessed a permit, it would have been immediately canceled upon learning that he was fishing in restricted seas.
Using earlier correspondence about the impoundment of the defendant’s fishing rigs, Marava’s legal team argued that the defendant had been correctly cited.
