DIRECTOR OF CUSTOMS AND EXCISE v ABSA BANK & ANOR 1998 (2) ZLR 71 (S)

Flynote

Customs and excise — Customs and Excise Act [Chapter 23:02] — imported goods — statutory lien to detain imported goods under control of Customs Department until duty paid — scope of such lien

Lien — what is — scope of — statutory lien to detain imported goods under control of Customs Department until duty paid — whether enforceable against all the world

Headnote

Certain goods were imported into Zimbabwe. Under the financing arrangements for the goods, a bank outside Zimbabwe was the owner of the goods and ownership was only to pass to the Zimbabwean company for which the goods were intended when the goods were delivered to the Zimbabwean company at named delivery points in Zimbabwe. Purporting to act in terms of s 201(1) of the Customs and Excise Act [Chapter 23:02], the Customs Department claimed that it had a right to retain some of these imported goods until the Zimbabwean company had paid duty still owed by it on goods that it had previously imported into Zimbabwe.

Held, that the lien provided for in s 201(1) of the Act is a statutory lien which is akin to a debtor and creditor lien. It is not a real lien that can be maintained not only against the owner of the goods but against the whole world. The Director could therefore only retain goods belonging to the person who owed the customs duties. He could not hold the goods of a third party as security for a totally unrelated debt owed by another.