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Herald Reporter
THE Government has updated the maximum fines for each level of offence ranging from $500 up to $500 000.

The new fines were gazetted by Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi and they are contained in Statutory Instrument 209 of 2021 (Chapter 9:23 Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) (Standard Scale of Fines) Notice, 2021.

Zimbabwe switched from having the maximum fine laid down for each offence in each Act that defines a criminal offence to instead laying down in these Acts the level of fine, and then having a separate list of the maximum fine at each level, which can be updated when necessary to reflect inflationary changes,

According to the schedule, offenders in level one, usually the fine for an admission of guilt deposit fine for lower level offences, can be charged a maximum of $500 while the highest fine that a court can impose is $500 000 for level 14 crimes.

The fines at each level are the maximum, since courts have the option, depending on circumstances, to levy a lower fine, but cannot levy a higher fine.