Zim: Peter’s Penny, Isaiah’s ‘Herb’

Sharon Hofisi Legal Letters
The Zimbabwean citizen feels the 2 cents tax after a certain bracket is some unfair “Denarii Sancti Petri”. Yes the “alms of St Peter”. Similarly, the quest to find a cure for HIV has resulted in the arrest of a man of the cloth.

But the citizen’s tax concern is pitched on how all governmental power must depend on the social contract between the governors and the governed. This is appropriately captured by the phrase, “the consent of the governed”.

Whether the breach of the people’s contract arises from John Locke’s need for leaders to shun arbitrariness; Rousseau’s focus on liberty, freedom and fraternity or Hobbes’ resort to the battle between collectivism and individualism, the State must actively engage the rural and urban citizen to show how the tax can contribute to economic growth and how the tax will then be abandoned after that.

Even the citizens who challenge the 2 cents tax in courts must also move to enable the citizen and the State to do everything in a manner which promotes constitutionalism or limited government. Using divine law, Jesus, that deific figure, was once asked some serious question about tax payment.

But he was quick to show the askers that he understood the governmental style of the figurehead on the “coin for tax” during his time. In Jesus’ time, Caesar’s decisions were incontestable. He was the complainant, prosecutor, witness and judge of his cases.

Fortunately or unfortunately for Zimbabwe, constitutional democracy is the sure way which Government must use when with working law-based organisations such as the Law Society of Zimbabwe to find the best way to implement tax laws in line with Zimbabwe’s ordinary laws such as the Finance Act and the Constitution of Zimbabwe, 2013.

In medieval England, an annual tax of a penny was necessary, but had to be abandoned at a certain period. Here, the Government and law-related institutions must be transparent as to when the 2 cents will end, bearing in mind the need for social justice on the one hand and the need to respect the sanctity of the social contract on another.

While Jesus had to instruct those who had asked him about the appropriateness of tax payment to render to Caesar what belonged to him, it mustn’t be forgotten that he did so simply because the positive laws at that time allowed Caesar to trump people’s rights willy-nilly.

To deal with allegations of encouraging tax avoidance or some vindictive response from Caesar on tax evasion, Jesus had to quickly perform a miracle and then command one of his disciples to go catch a fish with a coin in its mouth, all for Caesar’s tax.

Admittedly, it is understood that governments generally raise money through taxation, borrowing and printing money. Zimbabwe still owes some multilateral clubs and should it have extended the begging bowl to prevent the tax burden on the citizen? Shouldn’t it have amended the Finance Act before imposing the tax?

In a depressed economy, the other pertinent question to be asked before we overgeneralise or engage in emotional arguments about the justness or unjustness of the 2 cents tax is simply that: “which method of raising government’s revenue can be considered (im)moral or (ir)responsible?”

The answer must be based on the fact that although a government is not a business or a corporate, it also needs revenue to promote economic growth, curb inflation and stabilise the economy.

Two cents aside, what then do we say about the prophet’s HIV “cure”? Isaiah once did the unusual when the sun’s shadow retreated 10 steps as a sign that Hezekiah would be healed. Isn’t it that a lump of figs was used to heal Hezekiah’s infected skin? For our prophet, it’s too early though to conclude whether or not he violated rules on human subject experimentation as contemplated by Zimbabwe’s laws.

While others may offer the way of arresting and prosecuting him; others still feel there’s need to critically look at the guidelines on medical or herbal research in object ways. As we are confronted with various social ills, we sometimes cry out, “How can we help those who are sick and searching to find answers about life-threatening illnesses?”

While we must allow professions and associations in the health fraternity to uphold the medical ethics on human experimentation in science-based medicine, we must urge them to publicise the guidelines and ethics on medical research and drug trials, including to faith-based organisations. Many Zimbabweans have been affected by human subject research in many ways.

The link between medicine and the law is largely neglected in Zimbabwe. Who calls himself a Zimbabwean and doesn’t have some identification or medical mark on their shoulder? Is our prophet another Galileo whose findings about the earth orbiting around the sun were thrown in a dustbin for a century?

Yet the Galileo convicted of heresy is today credited with the discovery of four moons of Jupiter. These are all just signs of a deeper problem which our society must be willing to handle objectively.

It is so much easier to whip or point fingers at Government, society, perceived enemies, prophets, herbalists, medical or clinical researchers and other catchalls than it is to see things as they are.

Sharon Hofisi is a lawyer. [email protected].