CHAPTER 15:09

PUBLIC HEALTH ACT (Act No. 19 of 1924 as amended through Act No. 12 of 1997) (Chap. 15:09)

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

PART I: PRELIMINARY

Sections

1. Short title.

2. Interpretation.

PART II: ADMINISTRATION

3. Ministry responsible for public health.

4. Establishment of Advisory Board of Public Health.

5. Appointment of Chief Health Officer and others.

6. Local authorities in rural areas.

7. Local authorities to appoint medical officers of health.

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PART I: PRELIMINARY (sections 1-2)

1. Short title

This Act may be cited as the Public Health Act.

2. Interpretation

(1) In this Act-

'adult' means a person of sixteen years of age or over;

'appropriate Minister', in relation to a local authority or a body or authority referred to in paragraph (a) of subsection (2), means the Minister responsible for administering the Act by or under which that local authority, body or authority was established;

'approved veterinary surgeon' means a veterinary surgeon approved by the Director of Veterinary Services;

'assistant health officer' means a person appointed to be an assistant health officer in terms of section five;

'building' includes any structure whatsoever for whatever purpose used;

'burial' means burial in earth, interment or any other form of sepulture, or the cremation or any other mode of disposal of a dead body;

'carcass' includes any part of a carcass;

'Chief Health Officer' means the person referred to in subsection (1) of section five;

'child' means a person under sixteen years of age;

'cost' or 'expenditure', when used in connection with the removal, detention, accommodation, maintenance or treatment of persons, means cost calculated in accordance with the tariff of charges approved by the Minister and based as nearly as may be on average cost or, if there is no such tariff, means actual cost;

'district', in relation to-

(a) a municipal council, town council or local board, means the municipal area, town area or local government area, as the case may be;

(b) a rural district council, means the council area or, where the Minister has in terms of subsection (2) declared a greater or lesser area to be a district in relation to such rural district council, such greater or lesser area;

(c) in relation to any other body or authority declared to be local authority in terms of subsection (2), means the area declared in terms of subsection (2) to be a district in relation to such body or authority;

'dwelling' means any house, room, shed, hut, cave, tent, vehicle, vessel or boat or any other structure or place whatsoever, any portion whereof is used by any human being for sleeping or in which any human being dwells;

'food' or 'article of food', other than dairy produce as defined by the Dairy Act, means any animal product, fish, fruit, vegetables, condiments, confectionery, beverages and any other article or thing whatsoever, other than drugs or water, in any form, state or stage of preparation which is intended or ordinarily used for human consumption;

'guardian' means any person having, by reason of the death, illness, absence or inability of the parent or any other cause, the custody of a child;

'health inspector' means a person registered as a health inspector under any law relating to the registration of health inspectors;

'hospital or place of isolation' means any special hospital or any premises or portion thereof set apart and used solely for the admission and accommodation of persons suffering from infectious disease;

'infected', in relation to-

(a) an infectious disease, means suffering from, or in the incubation stage or contaminated with the infection of, that disease;

(b) a sexually transmitted disease, means any form or stage of infection referred to in paragraph (a), whether the disease was transmitted through sexual intercourse or not;

and 'infect' and 'infection' shall be construed accordingly;

'infectious disease' means any infectious or communicable disease specified in section seventeen or declared to be an infectious disease in terms of that subsection;

'International Sanitary Regulations' means the International Sanitary Regulations adopted by the Fourth World Health Assembly at Geneva on the 25th May, 1951, to which the State is a party and any amendment thereto to which the State becomes a party;

'isolated' means the segregation, and the separation from and interdiction of communication with others, of persons who are or are suspected of being infected;

'land' includes any right over or in respect of land;

'local authority' means-

(a) a municipal council or town council; or

(b) any-

(i) a local board; or

(ii) a rural district council; or

(iii) any other body or authority;

designated in terms of subsection (2) to be a local authority for the purposes of this Act;

'medical observation' means the segregation and detention of persons under medical supervision;

'medical officer of health' means any medical officer of health appointed by a local authority;

'medical practitioner' means a person who is registered as such under any law relating to the registration of medical practitioners;

'medical surveillance' means the keeping of a person under medical supervision. Persons under such surveillance may be required by the local authority or any other duly authorized officer to remain within a specified area or to attend for medical examination at specified places and times;

'Minister' means the Minister of Health and Child Welfare or any other Minister to whom the President may, from time to time, assign the administration of this Act;

'Ministry' means the Ministry for which the Minister is responsible;

'notifiable', in relation to any disease, means required to be notified to any person or authority in terms if this Act;

'occupier', in relation to any premises, means-

(a) any person in actual occupation of those premises; or

(b) any person legally entitled to occupy those premises; or

and includes the agent of any such person when he is absent from Zimbabwe or his whereabouts are unknown. In the case of premises used as a school, the expression 'occupier' includes the principal or person in charge of the school;

'owner', in relation to any premises, means-

(a) the person in whose name the title to those premises is registered, and includes the holder of the stand licence; or

(b) if such a person or holder is dead, insolvent, mentally disordered or defective or a minor or under any legal disability, the person in whom the administration of that person's or holder's estate is vested, whether as executor, guardian or in any other capacity whatsoever; or

(c) if the premises are under lease, the registration whereof is in law necessary for the validity of such lease, the lessee.

When an owner as herein defined is absent from Zimbabwe or his whereabouts are unknown, the expression 'owner' includes an agent of such owner or any person receiving or entitled to receive rent in respect of the premises;

'parent' means the father and mother of a child, whether legitimate or not;

'premises' means any building or tent, together with the land on which the same is situated and the adjoining land used in connection therewith, and includes any vehicle, conveyance, ship or boat;

'public building' means-

(a) any church, chapel, meeting-house or premises used for divine worship;

(b) any theatre, opera-house, hall, exhibition buildings or premises open to members of the public, whether with or without payment;

(c) any hotel or boarding-house, or lodging-house in which five persons or more, exclusive of members of the family or the servants of the owner or occupier, may obtain meals or sleeping accommodation for payment;

(d) any hospital, school or institution, in which five persons or more are or are intended to be gathered at one time;

'rateable property', in relation to a local authority, means property which under any enactment is liable to be assessed by the local authority for any general rate leviable by it;

'rural district', in relation to a rural local authority, means any area outside an urban district which is under the jurisdiction of that rural local authority, and 'rural area' has a corresponding meaning;

'sanitary convenience' means any-

(a) latrine, urinal, water-closet, aqua-privy, earth-closet, pit-closet, borehole-latrine or chemical-closet; or

(b) other device approved by a medical officer of health;

which is being, has been or is intended to be used for the disposal of human waste;

'Secretary' means the Secretary of the Ministry;

'sexually transmitted disease' means any infectious or communicable disease that is normally transmitted through sexual intercourse;

'school' means any public or private establishment for primary or secondary or higher education, and includes a hostel or boarding-house kept for housing the pupils at any such establishment, and includes a Sunday school;

'trade premises' means any premises used or intended to be used for carrying on any trade or business;

'urban district', in relation to an urban local authority, means the area under the jurisdiction of that urban local authority, and 'urban area' has a corresponding meaning;

(2) With the approval of the appropriate Minister, the Minister may by statutory instrument designate a rural district council or local board or any other body or authority to be a local authority for the purposes of this Act, and-

(a) may, in the case of a rural district council, declare a greater or lesser area than the council area to be a district in relation to such rural district council;

(b) shall, in relation to such other body or authority, specify the area which shall be a district in relation to such body or authority.

PART II: ADMINISTRATION (sections 3-16)

3. Ministry responsible for public health

(1) The Ministry shall be under the control of the Minister.

(2) The functions of the Ministry shall, subject to this Act, be-

(a) to prevent and guard against the introduction of disease from outside;

(b) to promote the public health, and the prevention, limitation or suppression of infectious and contagious diseases within Zimbabwe;

(d) to promote or carry out researches and investigations in connection with the prevention or treatment of human diseases;

(e) to prepare and publish reports and statistics or other information relative to the public health;

(f) generally to administer the provisions of this Act.

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PART III: NOTIFICATION OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES (sections 17-46)

17. Notifiable diseases

For the purposes of this Act, the term 'infectious disease' includes any of the following diseases-

(a) chicken-pox;

(b) diphtheria;

(d) pyaemia and septecaemia (puerperal);

(e) scarlatina (or scarlet fever);

(f) typhus fever;

(g) plague;

(h) Asiatic cholera;

(i) typhoid or enteric fever (including para-typhoid fever);

(j) undulant or Malta fever;

(k) epidemic cerebro-spinal meningitis (or cerebro-spinal fever or spotted fever);

(l) acute poliomyelitis (or infantile paralysis);

(m) leprosy;

(n) anthrax;

(o) glanders;

(p) rabies;

(q) trypanosomiasis (or sleeping sickness);

and all forms of tuberculosis, and such other infectious or communicable diseases, including sexually transmitted diseases, as the Minister may declare, by statutory instrument, to be infectious diseases either throughout Zimbabwe or in any part of Zimbabwe.

18. Notification of infectious disease

(1) Whenever any child attending any school, orphanage or other like institution, or any person residing in any hotel, boarding-house or other like institution, is known to be suffering from any infectious disease, whether such infectious disease is specified in this Part or not, the principal or person in charge of such school, orphanage or other like institution, or the manager or proprietor or person in charge of such hotel, boarding-house or other like institution shall forthwith send notice thereof to the local authority of the district, and shall furnish to the medical officer of health, on his request, a list of scholars or residents thereat, together with their addresses.

(2) Any person who fails to give any notice required by subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding two hundred dollars or, in default of payment, to imprisonment for a period not exceeding three months.

(3) In any prosecution under this section the onus of showing that he was unaware that the patient was suffering from a notifiable infectious disease shall be on the person charged.

19. Notification by medical practitioners

(1) If a patient suffering, to the knowledge of the medical practitioner attending him, from an infectious disease dies therefrom, such medical practitioner shall immediately furnish to the local authority of the district a written certificate containing the appropriate particulars mentioned in subsection (1).

(2) Any medical practitioner who fails to furnish a certificate of notification as required by this section shall be guilty of an offence, and in any prosecution under this section the onus shall be on the medical practitioner charged to show that he was unaware that the patient was suffering from or the deceased had died of an infectious disease.

20. Local authorities to transmit return of notifications

Any local authority may, and if required by the Minister after inquiry, at which the local authority shall have an opportunity of being heard, shall, provide and maintain either separately or jointly with another local authority or with a hospital authority or with the State-

(a) suitable hospitals or places of isolation for the accommodation and treatment of persons suffering from infectious diseases;

(b) mortuaries or places for the reception of dead bodies pending the carrying out of any post-mortem examination ordered by a lawful authority, or until removal for interment;

(c) disinfecting and cleansing stations, plant and equipment for the cleansing of persons and the disinfection of bedding, clothing or other articles which have been exposed to, or are believed to be contaminated with, the infection of any infectious disease, or which are dirty or verminous;

(d) vehicles for the conveyance of persons suffering from any infectious disease or for the removal of any infected bedding, clothing or other articles;

(e) any other accommodation, equipment or articles required for dealing with any outbreak of infectious disease.

24. Removal to hospital of infected persons

Where, in the opinion of the medical officer of health, any person certified by a medical practitioner to be suffering from an infectious disease is not accommodated or is not being treated or nursed in such manner as adequately to guard against the spread of the disease, such person may, on the order of the medical officer of health, be removed to a suitable hospital or place of isolation and there detained until such medical officer of health or any medical practitioner duly authorized thereto by the local authority or by the Minister is satisfied that he is free from infection or can be discharged without danger to the public health:

Provided that the cost of the removal of such patient and of his maintenance at the hospital may be recovered by the local authority from the said patient or his estate or, in the case of a minor, from his parent or guardian, if it can be shown that the said patient or his estate or, in the case of a minor, his parent or guardian is in a position to defray such cost.

25. Infected persons sent for treatment from other districts

In the case of any patient suffering from any infectious disease being sent into the district of any local authority for isolation and treatment in any hospital or place of isolation maintained by such local authority from any other district, whether urban or rural, the first-mentioned local authority may recover from the local authority of the district sending the patient the cost of maintenance, nursing and treatment of the patient, and the cost of burial in the event of the death of the patient.

26. Measures to be adopted by local authority in case of infectious disease

Where a person suffering from an infectious disease is within the district of a local authority, it shall be the duty of that authority to ensure that adequate measures are taken for preventing the spread of the disease, including, where necessary, provision for the accommodation, maintenance, nursing and medical treatment of the patient in a hospital or place of isolation until he has recovered or is no longer a danger to the public health or, in the event of the death of the patient, provision for the removal and burial of the body.

27. Power of local authority to order or carry out disinfection

(1) When it appears from the certificate of the medical officer of health or a health officer or any medical practitioner that the cleansing or disinfection of any premises or any article is necessary for preventing the spread or eradicating the infection of any infectious disease, or otherwise for preventing danger to health, the local authority may give written notice to the owner or occupier of such premises or to the owner or person in charge of such article requiring him to cleanse or disinfect such premises or article in such manner and within such time as may be specified by and to the satisfaction of the local authority giving such notice.

(2) If the person to whom such notice is given fails to comply therewith, the local authority shall cause such premises or articles to be cleansed or disinfected, and the costs thereby entailed shall be deemed to be a debt due to the local authority by the person in default.

(3) Where the owner or occupier of any such premises, or the owner or person in charge of any such article, is from poverty or otherwise unable, in the opinion of the local authority, to carry out properly the cleansing or disinfection of such premises or article, the local authority may itself carry out any necessary cleansing or disinfection free of charge.

(4) Where any article dealt with by a local authority under this section is of such a nature that it cannot be disinfected, the local authority may, on the order of a district administrator, district officer or justice of the peace, cause such article to be destroyed and no compensation shall be payable in respect of any article so destroyed.

(5) When any article is damaged during disinfection by the local authority, no compensation shall be payable by the local authority if suitable methods of disinfection have been employed and due care and all reasonable precautions have been taken to prevent unnecessary or avoidable damage.

(6) Compensation shall not be payable in respect of the deprivation of the occupation or use of any premises or the use of any article occasioned by disinfection if no undue delay has occurred.

28. Removal to cleansing stations of dirty and verminous persons

Where a cleansing station is provided within the district of a local authority or within a reasonable distance therefrom, any person within that district certified by a medical officer of health, school medical inspector or other medical practitioner, or by a certificated health inspector, to be dirty or verminous may, on order of the medical officer of health, be removed, together with his clothing and bedding, to such cleansing station and be cleansed therein.

29. Removal orders

An order made under section twenty-four or twenty-eight may be addressed to any duly authorized officer of a local authority or any police officer. Any person who wilfully obstructs the execution of, or fails or refuses to comply with, any such order shall be guilty of an offence.

30. Exposure of infected persons or things

Any person who-

(a) while knowingly suffering from any notifiable infectious disease, or such other infectious disease as the Minister may declare by statutory instrument to be a disease for the purposes of this section, wilfully or negligently exposes himself in such manner as to be likely or liable to spread such disease in any street, public place, public building, shop, inn, hotel, church or other place used, frequented or occupied in common by persons other than the members of the family or household to which such infected person belongs; or

(b) being in charge of any person, and knowing that such person is so suffering, so exposes such sufferer; or

(c) knowingly gives, lends, sells, pawns, transmits, removes or exposes, or sends to or permits to be washed or exposed in any public wash-house or washing-place, or in any laundry or other place at which articles are washed, cleansed or dyed, without previous effective disinfection to the satisfaction of the local authority and in accordance with any regulations in force in the district, any clothing, bedding, rags or other articles or things of any kind whatsoever which have been exposed to or are contaminated with the infection of any such disease; or

(d) while knowingly suffering from any such disease, handles, conveys or otherwise comes in contact with any food, dairy produce, aerated water or other articles intended for consumption by man, or carries on any trade or occupation in such manner as to be likely or liable to spread such disease;

shall be guilty of an offence:

Provided that nothing in this section contained shall apply to any person transmitting with proper precautions and in accordance with the instructions of the local authority any bedding, clothing or other articles or things for the purpose of having the same disinfected.

31. Conveyance of infected persons in public conveyances

(1) No person, knowing that he is suffering from any infectious disease which the Minister may declare by statutory instrument to be a disease for the purposes of this section, shall enter any public conveyance, and no person in charge of any person whom he knows to be so suffering, or of the body of any person who to his knowledge has died of any such disease, or in charge of anything which to his knowledge has been exposed to or is contaminated with the infection of any such disease, shall place in any such conveyance any such person, body, article or thing which to his knowledge has been so exposed or is so contaminated, except in the case of a hearse used for the removal of a dead body, without first informing the owner or driver or conductor of such conveyance of the fact of such infection and obtaining his consent. The owner, driver or conductor thereof shall, as soon as possible after such conveyance has been so used, and before permitting the use thereof by any other person, cause it to be efficiently disinfected to the satisfaction of the local authority and in accordance with any regulations in force in the district.

For the purposes of this section, 'public conveyance' includes any railway coach, tramcar, omnibus, cab, motor car or any vehicle whatsoever, or any boat or other vessel, or any aircraft if the conveyance plies for hire or is used by members of the public.

(2) Any person who contravenes subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, and may in addition be ordered by the court to pay the owner or driver of the conveyance concerned the amount of any loss or expense necessarily entailed by the disinfection of such vehicle.

32. Infected dwellings not to be evacuated or let without previous disinfection

No person shall cease to occupy or shall let any dwelling or premises or part thereof in which to his knowledge there is or has recently been any person suffering from any infectious disease without having the same, and all articles therein which are liable to retain infection, efficiently disinfected to the satisfaction of the local authority and in accordance with any regulations in force in the district. This section shall apply to any owner or keeper of a hotel or boarding-house who lets any room or part thereof to any person.

33. Removal of bodies of persons who have died of infectious disease

(1) In every case of death from an infectious disease it shall be the duty of the occupier of the premises in which the death has occurred immediately to make the best arrangements practicable, pending the removal of the body and the carrying out of thorough disinfection, for preventing the spread of such disease.

(2) It shall be an offence against this Act for the occupier of any premises to keep any dead body in any room in which any person lives, sleeps or works, or in which food is kept or prepared or eaten, or to keep the body of any person who is known to the occupier to have died of an infectious disease for more than twenty-four hours in any place other than a mortuary or other place set apart for the keeping of dead bodies, except with the sanction in writing of the local authority first obtained.

(3) Where any person dies of an infectious disease it shall be an offence against this Act to remove the body except for the purpose of immediate burial; and it shall be the duty of any person who removes the body to take it direct to the place of interment for burial.

(4) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to prevent the removal by due authority of any dead body from a hospital to a mortuary.

34. Removal and burial of bodies of persons who have died of infectious disease

(1) When-

(a) the body of a person who has died of an infectious disease is retained in a room in which any person lives, sleeps or works, or in which food is kept or prepared or eaten; or

(b) the body of a person who has died of an infectious disease is retained without the sanction of the local authority for more than twenty-four hours elsewhere than in a mortuary or other place reserved for the keeping of dead bodies; or

(c) any dead body is retained in any dwelling or place in circumstances which, in the opinion of the local authority, are likely to endanger health; or

(d) any dead body found within the district is unclaimed or no competent person undertakes to bury it;

any district administrator, district officer, justice of the peace, medical officer of health or police officer of or above the rank of assistant inspector may, on a certificate signed by a medical practitioner, direct that the body be removed to a mortuary and be buried within a time to be specified in such order, or if the body is that of a person certified to have died of an infectious disease, may order that the body be buried immediately without removal to a mortuary. Unless the friends or relatives of the deceased undertake to, and do, bury the body within the time so specified, the cost of so doing shall be defrayed by the local authority and may be recovered by it by action in any court of competent jurisdiction from any person legally liable to pay the expenses of interment.

(2) Any person who obstructs the execution of any order or direction given under subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence.

35. Regulations regarding infectious diseases

The Minister may make regulations applicable to all infectious diseases or only to such infectious diseases as may be specified therein regarding the following matters-

(a) the imposition and enforcement of quarantine or of medical observation and surveillance in respect of persons suffering or suspected to be suffering from infectious diseases who are not removed to a hospital or place of isolation, the premises in which such persons are accommodated, those in charge of or in attendance on such persons, and other persons living in or visiting such premises or who may otherwise have been exposed to the infection of any such disease;

(b) the duties, in respect of the prevention of infectious diseases and in respect of persons suffering or suspected to be suffering therefrom, of employers of labour, and of chiefs or headmen and others;

(c) the measures to be taken for preventing the spread of or eradicating cholera, typhoid fever, plague, acute poliomyelitis, tuberculosis or any other infectious disease requiring to be dealt with in a special manner;

(d) the conveyance by rail or otherwise of persons suffering from, or the bodies of persons who have died of, an infectious disease;

(e) the prevention of the spread from any animal, or the carcass or product of any animal, to man of rabies, glanders, anthrax, plague, tuberculosis, trichinosis or any other disease communicable by any animal, or the carcass or product of any animal, to man;

(f) the prevention of the spread and the eradication of malaria, the destruction of mosquitoes and the removal or improvement of conditions permitting or favouring the multiplication or prevalence of mosquitoes and the provision and proper upkeep of mosquito nets in the sleeping apartments of hotels, boarding-houses, lodging-houses and all public buildings where persons are accommodated for payment;

(g) the prevention of the spread of disease by flies or other insects and the destruction of and the removal or improvement of conditions permitting or favouring the prevalence or multiplication of such insects;

(h) the destruction of rodents and other vermin and the removal or improvement of conditions permitting or favouring the harbourage or multiplication thereof;

(i) the prevention of the spread of anchylostomiasis, bilharziasis or other disease in man caused by any animal or vegetable parasite;

(j) the prevention of the spread of any infectious, contagious or loathsome disease by the carrying on of any business, trade or occupation;

(k) the prevention of the spread of any infectious disease by persons who, though not at the time suffering from such disease, are 'carriers' of and liable to disseminate the infection thereof, and the keeping under medical surveillance and the restriction of the movements of such persons;

(l) the prohibition of spitting in public places or in public conveyances, except into receptacles provided for the purpose;

(m) the regulation and restriction of any trade or occupation entailing special danger to the health of those engaged therein, whether from infectious disease or otherwise, and the institution of measures for preventing or limiting such danger;

(n) cleansing stations and the cleansing of dirty or verminous persons, the disinfection or fumigation of premises, clothing or other articles which have been exposed to or are believed to be contaminated with the infection of any infectious disease, or which are dirty or verminous, and prohibiting the carrying out of any fumigation which involves the use of poisonous gas except under licence;

(o) rag flock manufacture and the trade in rags and in bones and in second-hand clothing, bedding or similar article, and requiring the disinfection of any such article before its importation, removal, sale or exposure for sale, or use in any manufacturing process;

(p) the disposal of any refuse, waste matters or other matter or thing which has been contaminated with or exposed to the infection of any infectious disease;

(q) the regulation or restriction and, where deemed necessary, the prohibition, of the keeping, transmission or use within, or the conveyance or transmission into or out of, Zimbabwe of cultures or preparations of pathogenic micro-organisms or other material capable of causing disease in man;

(r) the giving compulsorily of any information or the production compulsorily of any documentary or other evidence required for the purpose of tracing the source or preventing the spread of any infectious disease;

and generally for the better carrying out of the provisions and the attaining of the objects and purposes of this Part.

Special Provisions Regarding Formidable Epidemic Diseases

36. Formidable epidemic diseases

This Act, unless otherwise expressed, in so far as it concerns formidable epidemic diseases, shall be deemed to apply to plague, Asiatic cholera, epidemic influenza and any other disease which the Minister may, by statutory instrument, declare to be a formidable epidemic disease for the purposes of this Act.

37. Notification of suspected cases of formidable epidemic diseases

Medical practitioners, principals of schools, heads of families or householders, employers of labour, owners or occupiers of land or premises, chiefs, headmen and others shall report to the local authority or district administrator, as the case may be, the occurrence of any case of illness or death coming to their notice and suspected to be due to any formidable epidemic disease, or with a history or presenting symptoms or post-mortem appearances which might reasonably give grounds for such suspicion. Any person failing to make such report shall be guilty of an offence.

38. Notification of sickness or mortality in animals

Every person who becomes aware of any unusual sickness or mortality among rats, mice, cats, dogs or other animals susceptible to plague or other formidable epidemic disease, not due to poison or other obvious cause, shall immediately report the fact to the local authority. Any person who fails to make such report shall be guilty of an offence.

39. Local authorities to report notification of formidable epidemic diseases by telegraph

Every local authority shall immediately report to the Chief Health Officer, by telegraph or other expeditious means, particulars of every notification received by such authority of a case or suspected case of any formidable epidemic disease, or of any unusual sickness or mortality in animals, made under section thirty-eight.

40. Powers of Minister where local authority fails adequately to deal with any formidable epidemic disease

Whenever upon the report of the Chief Health Officer it appears to the Minister that an outbreak of a formidable epidemic disease or a disease suspected of being such has occurred or is threatened within the district of a local authority and is not being investigated or dealt with efficiently and so adequately to safeguard public health, the Minister, notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, may inform the local authority of the measures which he considers should be taken in connection therewith, and if the local authority fails or is for any reason unable forthwith to carry out such measures to his satisfaction, may authorize the Chief Health Officer or any other local authority to take all necessary steps for dealing with the outbreak, and thereupon such officer or local authority shall, for the said purpose, possess all rights and powers of the local authority in default, subject to the obligations attaching to the exercise thereof, and any portion of the expenditure so incurred which is payable by the local authority may be recovered from the local authority in the manner described in subsection (2) of section sixteen.

41. Powers of local authority to requisition buildings, equipment or other articles

(1) Where an outbreak of any formidable epidemic disease exists or is threatened, the Minister may authorize any local authority or district administrator to requisition from any person owning or having charge of any land or any building not occupied as dwellings, or any person owning or having charge of tents, transport, bedding, hospital equipment, drugs, food or other appliances, materials or articles urgently required in connection with the out-break, to hand over the use of any such land or building or to supply or make available any such article, subject to the payment of a reasonable amount as hire or purchase price.

(2) Any person who, without reasonable cause, fails or refuses to comply with any such requirement shall be guilty of an offence.

42. Regulations regarding formidable epidemic diseases

(1) In the case of the occurrence or threatened outbreak of any formidable epidemic disease, the Minister may make regulations as to all or any of the following matters, namely-

(a) the imposition and enforcement of quarantine and the regulation and restriction of public traffic and of the movements of persons;

(b) the closing of schools or the regulation and restriction of school attendance;

(c) the closing of churches and Sunday schools and restriction of gatherings or meetings for the purpose of public worship;

(d) the regulation or restriction or, where deemed necessary, the closing of any place or places of public entertainment, recreation or amusement, or where intoxicating liquor is sold by retail, and the regulation or restriction, or, where deemed necessary, the prohibition, of the convening, holding or attending of entertainments, assemblies, meetings or other public gatherings;

(e) the prevention and remedying of overcrowding or the keeping of any dwelling or other building or the contents thereof in a dirty or insanitary or verminous condition;

(f) the medical examination of persons who are suspected of being infected with, or who may have recently been exposed to the infection of, such disease, and of persons about to depart from any infected area, and the disinfection of their baggage and personal effects, and the detention of such persons until they have after such examination been certified to be free from any infectious disease and until their baggage and personal effects have been disinfected;

(g) the keeping under medical observation or surveillance, or the removal, detention and isolation of persons who may have recently been exposed to the infection of, and who may be in the incubation stage of, such disease; the detention and isolation of such persons until released by due authority, the use of guards and force for that purpose, and, in case of absolute necessity, the use of firearms or other weapons, and the arrest without warrant of any person who has escaped from such detention or isolation;

(h) the establishment of isolation hospitals and the removal and isolation of persons who are or are suspected to be suffering from any such disease, the accommodation, classification, care and control of such persons and their detention until discharged by due authority as recovered and free from infection, and the establishment, management and control of convalescent homes or similar institutions for the accommodation of persons who have recovered from any such disease;

(i) inquiries into the cause of death of any person, apart from any inquiry by a magistrate under any other enactment; the ordering, when deemed necessary, of post-mortem examinations or of exhumations; the prohibition in special circumstances of the burial of any dead body except on a certificate by a medical officer appointed to grant such certificates or after compliance with any other specified conditions, the regulation of the mode of disposal, the times and places of burial of dead bodies and the manner of conducting removals and burials thereof;

(j) the regulation and restriction and, if deemed necessary, the prohibition of the removal of merchandise or any article or thing into, out of or within any specified or defined area;

(k) the provision of disinfecting plant and equipment, and the disinfection or, where disinfection is impossible, the destruction of any article or thing, or the disinfection of any premises which are or are believed to be contaminated with the infection of such disease;

(l) the inspection of premises and articles and the discovery and remedying of sanitary or other defects likely to favour the spread or render difficult the eradication of such disease;

(m) the evacuation, closing, alteration or, if deemed necessary, the demolition or destruction of any premises the occupation or use of which is considered likely to favour the spread or render more difficult the eradication of such disease, and the definition of the circumstances under which compensation may be paid in respect of any premises so demolished or destroyed and the manner of fixing such compensation;

(n) in the case of plague, the destruction of rodents and the removal or improvement of conditions likely to favour the harbourage or multiplication of rodents, and the disposal of the carcasses of rodents or other animals believed or suspected to have died of plague;

and such other matters as the Minister may deem necessary for preventing the occurrence of such disease or limiting or preventing the spread thereof or for its eradication, and, generally, for the better carrying out and attaining the objects and purposes of this Part.

(2) Regulations made under subsection (1) shall not apply to persons about to depart from Zimbabwe or entering Zimbabwe in the course of a journey to another state or territory.

43. Penalties

Any person who contravenes any regulation made under section forty-two shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding fifty dollars for every day during which such contravention continues after the date fixed in any written notice in respect thereof from the local authority or the Minister or any duly authorized officer.

44. Appointment of epidemic committees

(1) Where it is deemed desirable for the purpose of co-ordinating effort or otherwise for more effectively dealing with or preventing an outbreak of any formidable epidemic disease, the Minister may, by statutory instrument, constitute a committee to be termed an 'epidemic committee' for a defined area to discharge such functions and carry out such duties in connection with such outbreaks, and to administer so much of this Act as may be prescribed in such notice, and may, in like manner, make regulations regarding the appointment of officers of such committee, the conduct of its proceedings, the manner in which accounts shall be kept or any other matter relative to such committee.

(2) Where the area so defined includes wholly or partly the district or districts of one or more local authorities, the composition of an epidemic committee and the manner of allocating and defraying expenditure incurred by it shall be such as may be mutually agreed in advance between the Minister and local authority or authorities concerned or, failing such agreement, as the Minister may, subject to this Act, fix and determine.

(3) In the event of the occurrence or threatened outbreak of any formidable epidemic disease in any district for which the district administrator is the local authority, the Minister may constitute an advisory committee of three or more persons resident in the district to advise and assist the district commissioner in connection therewith.

45. Advances of local authorities

(1) The Minister may authorize the making of advances, on such terms and conditions as he may fix, to any local authority or epidemic committee for the purpose of dealing with any out-break of any infectious disease, and in default of repayment any such advance may be recovered from such local authority in the manner described in subsection (2) of section sixteen.

(2) The Minister may also authorize the making of advances, on such terms and conditions as he may fix, to any local authority to enable it to pay any proportion of the capital expenditure incurred by it in providing suitable hospitals or places of isolation for persons suffering from any infectious disease, and may in like manner recover any advances so made.

46. Refunds to local authorities

The Minister may authorize-

(a) the refund of one-half of the approved net cost actually and necessarily incurred by a local authority, or by two or more local authorities acting jointly, in providing and equipping an isolation hospital or other isolation accommodation for persons suffering from any infectious disease, or detained under medical observation because of exposure to the infection of any formidable epidemic disease:

Provided that the scheme as a whole and the plans, specifications and estimates in connection therewith shall be approved by the Minister before the expenditure or any liability thereof is incurred;

(b) the refund of one-half of the approved net cost actually and necessarily incurred by a local authority, or by two or more local authorities acting jointly, in connection with the management and maintenance of an isolation hospital or other isolation accommodation and the maintenance and treatment therein or in any other hospital or place of isolation of persons suffering or suspected to be suffering from any infectious disease, or of persons detained therein under medical observation because of exposure to the infection of any formidable epidemic disease, such net costs being determined after deduction of any revenue;

(c) the refund of two-thirds of the approved net cost actually and necessarily incurred by a local authority, or by two or more local authorities acting jointly or by an epidemic committee, in preventing, investigating, dealing with or suppressing any outbreak of any formidable epidemic disease or any outbreak suspected on reasonable grounds to be of any such disease, including, where necessary, the provision of temporary isolation hospital accommodation.

PART IV: VENEREAL [sic] DISEASES (sections 46-58)

47. Application of Part IV

This Part shall apply to all sexually transmitted diseases except such diseases as the Minister may specify by statutory instrument.

48. Duties of medical practitioners

(1) Every medical practitioner who attends or advises any patient in respect of any sexually transmitted disease with which the patient is infected shall-

(a) direct the attention of the patient to the infectious nature of the disease and to the penalties prescribed by this Act for infecting any other person with such disease; and

(b) warn the patient against contracting marriage unless and until he has been cured of such disease or is free from such disease in a communicable form; and

(c) give to the patient such printed information relating to the treatment of sexually transmitted disease and to the duties and responsibilities of persons infected therewith as may be supplied to the medical practitioner by the Ministry.

(2) Every medical practitioner who knows or has reason to believe that any person is infected with a sexually transmitted disease in a communicable form and is not under treatment by a medical practitioner, or is not attending for medical treatment regularly and as prescribed by such medical practitioner, shall report the matter in writing to the medical officer of health of the local authority or to the Government medical officer.

49. Duties of medical officers of health and Government medical officers to report, and powers of district commissioners

(1) It shall be the duty of every medical officer of health and every Government medical officer in his official capacity who knows or has reason to believe that any person is infected with any sexually transmitted disease in a communicable form and is not under treatment by a medical practitioner, or is not attending for medical treatment regularly and as prescribed by such medical practitioner, to give written notice to such person of the requirements of this Act in regard to attendance for treatment of persons infected with sexually transmitted disease, and if thereafter such person does not comply with those requirements, to report the matter to the district administrator.

PART IV: VENEREAL [sic] DISEASES (sections 46-58)

47. Application of Part IV

This Part shall apply to all sexually transmitted diseases except such diseases as the Minister may specify by statutory instrument.

48. Duties of medical practitioners

(1) Every medical practitioner who attends or advises any patient in respect of any sexually transmitted disease with which the patient is infected shall-

(a) direct the attention of the patient to the infectious nature of the disease and to the penalties prescribed by this Act for infecting any other person with such disease; and

(b) warn the patient against contracting marriage unless and until he has been cured of such disease or is free from such disease in a communicable form; and

49. Duties of medical officers of health and Government medical officers to report, and powers of district commissioners

(2) Any person so detained in a hospital or other place of accommodation who escapes or attempts to escape therefrom shall be guilty of an offence.

52. Medical examination of inhabitants in areas where sexually transmitted disease believed to be prevalent

Where the Minister, on a report by the Chief Health Officer, has reason to believe that sexually transmitted disease is prevalent amongst the residents in any premises or locality, he may issue an order requiring the examination by a medical practitioner of any person or of persons of any specified class or description residing therein. Any person who refuses to comply with such order or with any lawful instructions given thereunder, or who obstructs any medical practitioner or other duly authorized officer in the carrying out of such order, shall be guilty of an offence.

53. Examination of females by women medical practitioners

Where any order is made under this Part requiring the medical examination of any female over the age of twelve years and such female desires to be examined by a woman medical practitioner, such examination shall be made by a woman medical practitioner if one is reasonably available.

54. Rights of persons detained in hospital

Any person detained in hospital under this Part shall be entitled to arrange, at his own expense, for his examination by any medical practitioner, and a report of such examination shall be furnished to the district administrator, who may thereupon cause to be made any further examination of such person which he may deem necessary. No person shall be detained in hospital under this Part who is not, or is no longer, infected with a sexually transmitted disease in a communicable form.

55. Proceedings to be in camera, and reports not to be published

Inquiries and proceedings before a district administrator or any court of law under this Part shall be secret and conducted in camera, and the records thereof shall be kept in the manner and form prescribed, anything to the contrary notwithstanding in any other law. Any person publishing or divulging the name of any person dealt with under this Part or the nature of the charge or evidence or the results of such inquiries or proceedings or the contents of any report, certificate, document or order in connection therewith or any other matter coming to his knowledge in connection with anything arising under this Part to any unauthorized person, and any person who, without lawful justification or excuse, falsely alleges that any person is infected with a sexually transmitted disease, shall be guilty of an offence.

56. Publication of advertisements of cures

(1) No person shall publish any advertisement or statement intended to promote the sale of any medicine, appliance or article for the alleviation or cure of any sexually transmitted disease or disease affecting the generative organs or functions, or of sexual impotence, or of any complaint or infirmity arising from or relating to sexual intercourse.

(2) Any person who publishes any such advertisement or statement by printing it in any newspaper or exhibiting it to public view in any place or delivering or offering or exhibiting it to any person in any street or public place or in any public conveyance, or who sells, offers or shows it or sends it by post to any person, shall be guilty of an offence. For the purposes of this section, 'advertisement' or 'statement' includes any paper, document or book containing any such advertisement or statement.

(3) This section shall not apply to publications by the Ministry or by any local authority, public hospital or other public body in the discharge of its lawful duties, or by any society or person acting with the authority of the Minister first obtained, or to any books, documents or papers published in good faith for the advancement of medical science.

57. Contributions and facilities for diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted disease

The Minister, subject to regulations which he is hereby authorized to make, and which may deal with the procedure to be followed, the conditions to be complied with and any other matters necessary for the proper carrying out of this section, may-

(a) provide in Government or other laboratories for the carrying out of bacteriological or other laboratory examinations for the purpose of ascertaining whether any person is infected with or is cured of any sexually transmitted disease, or is free from any such disease in a communicable form. Such examinations shall be free of charge;

(b) make provision for the free treatment and, where necessary, the accommodation and maintenance of persons infected with sexually transmitted disease. Such provision shall be made as far as practicable in connection with general or isolation hospitals or similar institutions by arrangement with the Minister or the hospital, local or other authority concerned;

(c) supply, free of charge, such remedies as may be specified from time to time in the Gazette for use in the treatment of persons infected with sexually transmitted disease who are treated as free patients at any public institution;

(d) refund to any local authority, or to two or more local authorities acting jointly, two-thirds of the net cost of any approved scheme for providing treatment, including maintenance and accommodation, where necessary, for persons who are infected with sexually transmitted disease;

(e) establish and maintain special accommodation for the maintenance and treatment of persons infected with sexually transmitted disease who are liable to detention;

57. Contributions and facilities for diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted disease

(e) establish and maintain special accommodation for the maintenance and treatment of persons infected with sexually transmitted disease who are liable to detention;

(2) Any person who contravenes any regulations made under subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence.

* * *

PART VII: INFANT NUTRITION (sections 73-74)

73. Interpretation in Part VII

In this Part-

'feeding article' means a bottle, teat, measuring device or other utensil or article designed to be used in preparing infant food or feeding infant food to infants;

'health worker' means a person who-

(a) is employed in a hospital, nursing-home, clinic, surgery, creche, nursery or other institution wherein health care, treatment or attention is provided for pregnant women, mothers or infants; or

(b) is a medical practitioner or is employed by a medical practitioner in connection with his practice as such; or

(c) performs any work, whether as a professional or non-professional and whether paid or not, in connection with the health of pregnant women, mothers or infants;

'infant' means a child under the age of seven years;

'infant food' means any food, including dairy produce as defined in the Dairy Act [Chapter 18:08] which is-

(a) sold for consumption by infants; or

(b) represented by its manufacturer or seller as being suitable for consumption by infants;

'label' means any brand, mark or written or pictorial or other descriptive matter that appears on or is attached to or packed with, and refers to, any infant food or feeding article or the package thereof;

'market', in relation to any product, includes to promote, distribute, advertise or sell such product or to provide public relations or informational services in connection with such product;

'package' means anything in or by which any infant food or feeding article is covered, enclosed, contained or packed;

'sell' includes-

(a) for the purposes of sale, to offer, keep, possess, expose, display, transmit, consign, convey or deliver;

(b) to authorize, direct or allow a sale;

74. Regulations in respect of infant nutrition

(1) The Minister may make regulations in respect of all or any of the following matters-

(a) encouraging and promoting the breast-feeding of infants;

(b) standards of composition, quality or other properties of any infant food or feeding article, which standards may be prescribed by reference to any publication or document, whether published inside or outside Zimbabwe;

(d) regulating or restricting the marketing and sale of infant food and feeding articles, and in that connection-

(i) regulating the packages in which or from which any infant food or feeding article may be sold;

(ii) regulating the labels that may be attached to or marked on packages of any infant food or feeding article, and prescribing the matter to be or not to be contained on such labels;

(iii) regulating, restricting or prohibiting the marketing of any infant food or feeding article to the public generally or any section of the public;

(iv) restricting or prohibiting any method of marketing any infant food or feeding article;

(v) regulating, restricting or prohibiting the giving or distribution of donations or samples of infant food or feeding articles;

(e) regulating, restricting or prohibiting the production, sale, distribution or display of informational or educational material relating to infant food, feeding articles or the feeding and nutrition of infants;

(f) regulating or restricting the promotion by health workers of the use of any infant food or feeding article;

(g) regulating, restricting or prohibiting-

(i) the offering or giving, directly or indirectly, by manufacturers or sellers of infant food or feeding articles, of salaries, wages, gifts or other benefits to health workers; and

(ii) the receipt by health workers of salaries, wages, gifts or benefits referred to in subparagraph (i);

(h) the establishment of one or more committees to approve labels, packages, informational, educational or promotional material and any other matter or thing that may be regulated or restricted in terms of this Part, and the prohibition of the marketing, sale or use of any such label, package, informational, educational or promotional material, matter or thing that has not been so approved;

(i) powers of entry, search, seizure, inspection and investigation for the purposes of preventing, detecting or investigating offences in terms of the regulations;

(j) the furnishing of returns, particulars and other information by persons who manufacture, market or sell infant food or feeding articles;

(k) generally, any matter which, in the opinion of the Minister, will encourage and promote the proper feeding and nutrition of infants.

(2) Regulations made in terms of subsection (1) may provide penalties for contraventions thereof:

Provided that no such penalty shall exceed a fine of two thousand dollars or imprisonment for a period of two years or both such fine and such imprisonment.

* * *

PART X: GENERAL (sections 95-113)

95. Contributions to cost of laboratories and voluntary associations concerned with public health

The Minister, subject to such conditions as he may in each case fix and determine, may-

(a) contribute towards the cost of construction, or maintenance of laboratories or other institutions engaged in carrying out researches or investigations regarding human diseases or towards the cost of any such researches or investigations;

(b) contribute towards the costs incurred by any local authority or educational institution or any public voluntary society or association in connection with maternity welfare or child welfare, the training of health inspectors or health visitors, instruction in first aid or home nursing or any other matter relating to public health.

96. Powers and duties of Chief Health Officer and assistant health officers

Every assistant health officer of the Ministry may, with the authority and on behalf of the Chief Health Officer, discharge any of the duties or functions of the Chief Health Officer, and any duties imposed or powers conferred by this Act on Government medical officers may be carried out or exercised by the Chief Health Officer or any assistant health officer of the Ministry.

97. Reciprocal notification and consultation between Ministry and Veterinary Department

(1) There shall be between the Ministry and the Department of Veterinary Services a system of reciprocal notification as to outbreaks or threatened outbreaks of diseases liable to affect both man and animals, and of consultation as to the making of regulations or the taking of measures in connection therewith.

(2) Whenever under this Act it is necessary to determine the presence or absence of disease in any live animal otherwise than by the bacteriological examination of secretions, discharges or other material, only the certificate of an approved veterinary surgeon shall be evidence.

98. Domicile of persons for purposes of this Act

Where any question arises as to the domicile of any person for the purposes of this Act, it shall be referred to the Minister, whose decision thereon shall be final and conclusive.

99. Contracts in respect of dwellings not to be affected

Except as specially provided in subsection (5) of section eighty-seven and subsection (4) of section ninety-two, nothing in this Act shall prejudice the remedies of any owner or occupier of a dwelling or premises for the breach, non-observance or non-performance of any contract entered into by an owner or occupier in respect of which dwelling or premises an order has been made by the court or a local authority under this Act.

100. Savings as to recovery of damage

Subject to section one hundred and one, nothing in this Act shall be construed as depriving any person of any right which he may possess to institute legal proceedings and to obtain damages in any court of law for loss or injury sustained through the neglect of any local authority or any person to perform any duty imposed by this Act or otherwise.

101. Protection of State and local authorities

Whenever, in the exercise of any power conferred or in the performance of any duties imposed upon the State or any officer thereof or a local authority or any officer thereof under this Act or any other law relating to public health, he or it is alleged to have caused injury to any person or damage to any property or otherwise to have detrimentally affected the rights of any person, whether in respect of property or otherwise, it shall be a defence in any legal proceedings founded on such an allegation and brought against the State or its officer or a local authority or its officer that the defendant or respondent has used the best known or the only or most practicable and available methods in the exercise of the power or the performance of the duties aforesaid. In the case of such proceedings against a local authority a certificate signed by the Chief Health Officer that the defendant or respondent has, when regard is had to all the circumstances, used the best known or the only or most practicable and available methods shall be accepted by the court as prima facie evidence of that fact.

102. Protection of officers

No report made or action taken or thing done by the Minister or by a Government health officer or medical officer of health or approved veterinary surgeon or health inspector or any generally or specially authorized officer of the State or of a local authority in the exercise of any power conferred or the performance of any duty imposed by this Act shall subject him in his personal capacity to any legal proceedings whatsoever, provided such report was made or action was taken or thing was done in good faith and without negligence.

103. Powers of entry and inspection of premises and penalties for obstruction

(1) Any health officer or medical or health inspector of the Ministry, or any district administrator or district officer, or any police officer or any other person generally or specially authorized by the Minister, and any medical officer of health or health inspector or other person generally or specially authorized by the local authority, may, at any hour reasonable for the proper performance of the duty, enter any land or premises to make any inspection or to perform any work or to do anything which he is required or authorized by this Act or any other law to do, if such inspection, work or thing is necessary for or incidental to the performance of his duties or the exercise of his powers.

(2) Any person who fails to give or refuses access to any officer, inspector or person mentioned in or authorized under subsection (1) if he requests entrance on any land or premises, or obstructs or hinders him in the execution of his duties under this Act, or who fails or refuses to give information that he may lawfully be required to give to such officer, inspector or person, or who gives to such officer, inspector or person false or misleading information knowing it to be false or misleading, or who prevents the owner or any of his servants or workmen from entering any land or dwelling or premises for the purpose of complying with any requirement under this Act, shall be guilty of an offence.

104. Penalties for fraudulent conduct in connection with certificates under this Act

Any person who-

(a) for the purpose of obtaining any certificate under this Act, makes any false statement or is a party to any false pretence or conduct, knowing it to be false; or

(b) forges or falsifies any certificate under this Act or utters any such forged or falsified certificate, knowing it to be forged or falsified; or

(c) uses or attempts to use any document as a certificate under this Act, knowing it to be a forged or falsified document or certificate;

shall be guilty of an offence and liable to the penalties prescribed by law for the crime of fraud.

105. Penalties where not expressly provided

Any person guilty of an offence against, or contravention of, or default in complying with, any provision of this Act shall, if no penalty is expressly provided for such offence, contravention or default, be liable to a fine not exceeding two hundred and fifty dollars.

106. Burden of proof as to knowledge of infection

In any legal proceedings, criminal or civil, under this Act relating to an infectious or communicable disease, or to any article or thing alleged to have been exposed to or contaminated with the infection thereof, whenever it is an issue in the proceedings that the accused or the defendant knew that he or any other person was infected with such disease, or that such article or thing had been so exposed or was so contaminated, he shall be deemed to have had such knowledge unless he satisfies the court to the contrary.

107. Defect in form not to invalidate

No defect in the form of any notice given or order made under this Act shall invalidate or render unlawful the administrative action, or be a ground for exception to any legal proceedings which may be taken in the matter to which such notice or order relates, provided the requirements thereof are substantially and intelligibly set forth.

108. Service of notices

Whenever under this Act any notice, order or other document is required to be given to any person, the same shall be deemed to be sufficiently served if sent by registered post addressed to him at his last known place of abode or left thereat with him personally or with some adult inmate thereof; and in the case of a notice, order or other document required to be given to an owner or occupier of land or premises whose abode, after inquiry, is unknown, the same shall be deemed to be sufficiently served if posted up in some conspicuous place on such land or premises. It shall not be necessary in any notice, order or other document given to an owner or occupier of land or premises to name him, but the notice, order or document shall describe him as the owner or occupier of the land or premises.

109. Powers of local authority outside its district.

Nothing in any law specially governing any local authority shall be construed as preventing such local authority from exercising any power or performing any duty under this Act by reason only that in exercising such power or performing such duty it must do some act or thing or incur expenditure outside its district.

110. Provisions of this Act in relation to other laws

Save as is specially provided in this Act, this Act shall be deemed to be in addition to and not in substitution for any provisions of any other law which are not in conflict or inconsistent with this Act. If any other law is in conflict or inconsistent with this Act, this Act shall prevail.

111. Scope and application of proclamations and regulations

(1) Any proclamation, regulation, notice or order issued under this Act may be expressed to be in addition to or in substitution for any like document issued by any local authority.

(2) Any proclamation, regulation, notice or order issued under this Act may be expressed to apply throughout Zimbabwe or any specified or defined part thereof.

(3) Any proclamation, regulation, notice or order issued under this Act may be amended or rescinded by the authority which issued it.

112. Application of Act to State

Nothing in this Act contained shall be construed as conferring any powers or imposing any duties upon a local authority in respect of any land or premises owned or occupied by the State for military purposes.

113. Penalties for non-payment of fines imposed

In default of payment of any penalty imposed for a contravention of this Act, the person convicted shall, in the absence of other provision in that behalf specially provided, be liable to imprisonment for periods not exceeding, respectively, the following-

(a) if the fine imposed does not exceed twenty dollars, one week;

(b) if the fine imposed does not exceed fifty dollars, three weeks;

(d) if the fine imposed does not exceed two hundred and fifty dollars, three months;

(e) if the fine imposed does not exceed five hundred dollars, six months; unless in every case the fine imposed is sooner paid.