Compensation for soya beans wrongly seized

8. (1) Where soya beans have been wrongly seized, the person to whom the soya beans belong may make an application to the High Court for the payment of compensation.
(2) The application must be made within the period of three months from the date of seizure of such soya beans.
(3) The court may order compensation to be paid to the applicant only if satisfied that—
(a) the applicant has suffered loss as a result of the seizure;
(b) there has been a serious default on the part of the authorised agency or person or police officer that made
the seizure;
(c) the seizure would not have been made had the default not occurred.
(4) Where the court orders the payment of compensation—
(a) the compensation is payable by the authorised agency that made the seizure;
(b) the amount of compensation to be paid is the amount that the court thinks reasonable, having regard to the
loss suffered and any relevant circumstances.

Powers of police officers and authorised persons

9. (1) Subject to section 38 of the Act, a police officer or a person generally or specifically authorised thereto by the Minister may upon giving not less than 24 hours verbal or written notice to the contract farmer, enter and inspect the land or premises of the contract farmer for the purposes of ensuring that the contract produce is being produced in compliance with standards specified in or under the scheme contract.
(2) A police officer, authorised person or inspector must produce on demand a certificate of identification and authority as such before entering any contract farmer’s land:
Provided that, if any soya beans seized under these regulations is of such a nature that it cannot reasonably be removed by the person seizing it, he or she shall declare it as having been secured in the place where he or she found it and the provisions of subsection (4) in so far as they apply to the return of the seized soya beans to persons from
whose custody they were taken shall apply, mutatis mutandis.(3) A police officer or an authorised person in terms of subsection (1) may obtain a warrant to enter or search any dwelling or house he or she believes on reasonable grounds that evidence relating to a contravention of these regulations is to be found in that dwelling or house.

Unlawful, sale, purchase and possession of soya beans

10. Any person, whether or not a party to a scheme contract who deals in or possess soya beans in contravention of these regulations; that is to say purchases, receives, stores, sells, obtains, possesses, exports, transports or otherwise disposes of such soya beans, in contravention of these regulations, shall in terms of section 40(2) of the Act be guilty
of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding three times the value of such controlled product, calculated on the current selling price of the Grain Marketing Board within Zimbabwe of the highest grade or class of that controlled product or eight hundred dollars, whichever is greater, or in default of payment, to imprisonment for a period not
exceeding two years.

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