Supreme Court rules against Post in tax case

The Supreme Court has dismissed a stay of execution of judgment granted to the Post Newspapers by the Lusaka High Court preventing the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) from levying distress on the newspaper for tax default.

This follows the appeal to the Supreme Court by ZRA challenging High Court Judge Mwiinde Siavwapa’s ruling in which he granted the Post a stay on 10^th November2015.

In a judgment delivered on 13^th June,2016, the Supreme Court reserved and set aside the High Court ruling  of 10^th November,2016.

The Court agreed with ZRA that the learned trial Judge erred in law in granting the stay of execution after he had held that the Post’s pending appeal had no prospect of succeeding.

It notes that in effect, the trial Judge granted the stay purely for the convenience of the Post, stating that the court should not be swayed by sympathy into making moral judgments.

The Supreme Court further states that the High Court erred in law when it granted the stay for 90 days after its decision on the pending appeal, stating that the High Court went beyond its jurisdiction by trying to exercise the powers of appellant court.

The Court upheld ZRA’s appeal on the basis that the High Court ought not to have granted the stay as there was nothing to stay as the judgment in issues was not capable of being stayed.

The appeal was granted with costs to ZRA, to be taxed in default of agreement.