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| Relinquishment of mining area |
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I have a prospecting licence on a certain mining area in Tanzania. I believe 100% that there is plenty of gold in the said area. The initial term for the prospecting license expired and I went to renew it. They asked me to indicate an area to relinquish and I replied that I do not want to relinquish any part and want the whole of it. The officer understood my point and it seemed everything was in order. To my utmost surprise, upon renewal, the Ministry relinquished 50% of the said area and gave me only the remaining 50%. They just grabbed my land and I believe that they want to sell it to someone else so as to take away the gold. I want to sue them because they are robbing me of my right. I want to sue the Ministry. What should I do? |
| JL, Arusha |
These days everyone wants to sue everyone else without understanding the law. Before you spend your hard earned money with your lawyers, please read the below carefully.
The Mining Act of Tanzania, Act No. 14 of 2010, states that when a holder of a prospecting licence wishes to renew it for another term, they must indicate the area which they wish to relinquish. In other words, you cannot re-new the prospecting licence for another term unless you relinquish 50% of the said area. The Ministry official who gave you some hope was perhaps just making you happy, inappropriately so. The Ministry was right to require you to indicate the area which you want to relinquish as the law is very specific, and the fact that 50% was relinquished is as per the law.
The reason behind relinquishment is to allow others to prospect in areas where you have failed. There are hundreds of persons with prospecting licences in Tanzania sharing the same beliefs as yours- some have never started prospecting waiting for a white knight to come and invest with them. Others don’t even know where their |
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| sites are. Such prospecting licence holders add no value to the economy and hence this law. You should get second advice from your lawyers- unfortunately we do not see anywhere how your rights have been robbed. |
| Procedures at Court of Appeal |
| A Judgment in my 2002 High Court suit has recently come out against me. I am aggrieved by the findings of the Court and intend to appeal to the Court of Appeal of Tanzania. I am not quite sure with the procedures. How does the appeals procedure work? Are there any time frames? Please advise me. |
| KJ, Dar |
You have not told us exactly when the judgment was delivered. All in all, any appeal to the Court of Appeal of Tanzania is preceded by a notice of appeal to be filed within 30 days from the date of the judgment. After filing the notice, the Court of Appeal Rules require the appellant, within 60 days thereafter, to lodge his or her Memorandum of Appeal. The appellant will need certified copies of the judgment, decree and the Court proceedings amongst others for preparation of the memorandum of appeal. The greatest challenge is getting copies of the proceedings on time, due to backlogs at the High Court. So as not to get caught out by the 60 days deadline, you should officially request the Registrar for copies of the proceedings within 30 days from the date of judgment. This then allows you, in the event that you have not managed to get your proceedings within 60 days and hence failed to file your memorandum of appeal, to be able to get a certificate of delay that will enable you continue with your appeal process without being out of time. If you do not write a letter to the registrar for the proceedings, you will not be entitled to a certificate of delay and may end up in a precarious position.
When Memorandum of Appeal and the record of appeal are lodged, the appellant is required to file written submissions in support of his or her |
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appeal within 60 days from the date of lodging the record of appeal, and serve to the other parties within 14 days from the date of filing the same. At this stage the appeal will be ready for hearing.
Another point that your attorneys can guide you on is the possibility that you may require a stay of execution pending the appeal. Merely by filing a notice of appeal or a memorandum of appeal does not mean that the victorious party cannot execute the decree against you- the law wants the decreeholder to enjoy the fruits of victory. A stay of execution is not automatic and with the new Court of Appeal rules has become a lot more difficult. |
| Residence permits for employees |
| I have a big company in Tanzania and want to bring in many foreign employees as the work is technical. I have so far employed 4 expatriates and need about 10 more. I heard rumours that I cannot exceed 5 expatriates. Is that true? What should I do? This is a very unfair rule if the rumours are true. |
| MM, Arusha |
These are not rumours but the law. Our immigration law limits the maximum number of foreign employees in one company to five persons only. This is to protect the employment of Tanzanians. It is true that Tanzania has been lagging behind in producing good quality personal but that is fast changing. Today there are dozens of institutions of higher learning compared to a few a decade ago and the 5 limit is quite fair. In fact there are calls to reduce the number of foreign employees to 3 per company.
Should the work be technical in nature as you claim, the law allows you to make a special application to the immigration department explaining the reasons for additional numbers that you require. The immigration department has powers to increase the number of expatriates that you are allowed to employ but you must adduce convincing reasons. Do not despair- make the application and it may be considered. |
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This column is intended to give you a general over view of
the Law. It is not a substitute
to the role of your legal advisor. If you
have legal issues, you are strongly recommended
to contact your Attorney. |
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