Hilary Muza 
WHEN litigants go to court seeking orders sounding in money, it is with the intention of securing maximum value. So, when the question of whether to claim for foreign currency as opposed to local currency arises, it goes without saying in which direction clients tend to lean.
As legal practitioners, it has grown ever more important to advise clients on not only when it is prudent to litigate, but also on what currency is claimable through litigation. This aspect of legal practice is made even more difficult by the plethora of statutory instruments one has to navigate to make sense of it all.
In this article, I will clarify what the law says about the currency regime in Zimbabwe and highlight instances where one ought to claim either foreign currency or local currency.
Historically, the courts have always contemplated that court orders can be granted in foreign currency. The Supreme Court in Makwindi Oil Procurement (Pvt) Ltd v National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (Pvt) Ltd said, “Our courts are at liberty to give judgments in foreign currency”. The reasoning for this was that it is lawful for parties to enter into a contract sounding in foreign currency even if it was not legal tender in Zimbabwe.
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