Harare senior Regional magistrate Hosea Mujaya has dismissed the defense presented by the Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministries (PHD) led by Walter Magaya in its bid to disown financial statements on Tuesday.
The state alleges that the church failed to declare tax for more than $28 million in revenue accumulated from 2013 to 2018. The church has been denying above allegations saying the money alluded to was not raised from running a business but was congregants’ offering and tithes.
The church later disowned the financial statements and accused Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) officials of crafting the documents. Resultantly, the court had to put the main trial on hold as it wanted to establish the authenticity of the claims by the church.
However, the magistrate ruling said:
The submissions by the defence lacks merit.
Mujaya said Mujaya that reasons which led to that conclusion will be made available. The statements in question are reported to have been retrieved from the church’s computers following a raid into the church premises by ZIMRA and the ZRP. Zimra official, Tinashe Madakadze claimed that he printed the financial statements from the seized computers and in the presence of the church’s accounting officials Winnie Matimati and Chinguwo.
However, Matimati is reported to have refused to stamp the documents arguing that the church’s financial director, Nelson Marimo had authority to do so.
More: NewZimbabwe
Church and Ministry are constitutionally deemed non profit institutions operating as they basically do from tithes and offering and kind and PHD Ministries fully under this category and are as such non at any time a tax evasion institution as no tax is demanded from them. The practice is constitutionally consistent the world over. However it is a different thing when a Man of God has his own personal businesses registered in own name and not in the name of the church. The Taxman has to make a very sober qualification between these scenarios otherwise this sounds more a targetted and victimization operation by ZIMRA. Even the unfathomable figure of 28mlnUS$ cited by ZIMRA is highly suspicious if at all, for an ailing economy of Zimbabwe to be prejudiced of. ZIMRA claim is certainly far from sober and sounds grossly subjective in all terms of a logical taxman’s calculation of what is due to him and the business owner. More essential is an understanding of the magnitude of the despondency it generates in public and the immensity of doors that close to the government and even its reputation considering the disruptive manner it which it is itself running the country’s economy. ZIMRA must be careful by all measures not to strike mercilessly the hen that graciously lays it eggs simultaneously. God bless.