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SENATE HANSARD 17 November 2015 25-14
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Tuesday, 17th November, 2015
The Senate met at Half-past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE HON. PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE HON. PRESIDENT OF THE
SENATE
MEETING FOR PARLIAMENTARIANS FOR GLOBAL ACTION
ZIMBABWE CHAPTER MEETING
THE HON. PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: Hon. Members
of the Parliamentarians for Global Action Zimbabwe Chapter, a nonpartisan international network of legislators are invited to an annual meeting to be held on Thursday, 19th November, 2015 at 12 o’clock noon in the Government Caucus Room. New members are also welcome.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
HON. SEN. B. SIBANDA: I move that Order Number 1 be stood
over until the rest of the Orders of the Day have been disposed of.
HON. SEN. HLALO: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE EDUCATION SECTOR
Second Order read: Adjourned debate on great strides made by Government in raising literacy rates in the country.
Question again proposed.
*HON. SEN. CHIMBUDZI: Thank you Madam President. I would like to thank Hon. Sen. Goto who moved this important motion, seconded by Hon. Sen. Bhobho about raising literacy rates in the country. They gave their opinion on the position of our literacy in this country, that it is high as a result of our Government led by our President His Excellency, Comrade R. G. Mugabe. He has put across good policies so that we can increase our literacy rates here in Africa.
I would like as well to reiterate what His Excellency; Comrade R.
- Mugabe said when he officially opened the Third session of the Eighth Parliament, when he looked at educational issues. He said that there will be an education Bill to be brought in addition to the Education Act of 2006 which will look at our literacy in the country in line with our Constitution, which is good for the country. The curricular for the primary and secondary education is also being looked into. That is a way to try and raise our literacy rate in the country. We know that when a country has educated people, development is easy because people understand better what is happening in the country because of the literacy that they would have been given through education.
Madam President, may I read my notes about Mt. Darwin. I am requesting for authority to do that.
THE HON. PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: Normally, we
request that Hon. Members should inform us before they do that.
*HON. SEN. CHIMBUDZI: I am sorry about that. Let me say if we look at issues of schools in Mt. Darwin, before independence, we had
53 primary schools and two secondary schools which are
Mamvuradonha High School and Ruya Secondary School.
MT DARWIN DISRICT BEFORE 1980
| PRIMARY SCHOOLS | SECONDARY SCHOOLS |
| 53 | 2 |
These secondary schools are mission schools, Mamvuradonha is an Evangelical school and Ruya is an SDA School. Let me say it helped a lot but it was very difficult particularly for education in Mt. Darwin.
SCHOOLS IN 1980 AND AFTER
| PRIMARY SCHOOLS | SECONDARY SCHOOLS |
| 85 | 27 |
From 1980 up to now, the schools have increased by 32 primary schools and 25 secondary schools.
We now have nine ‘A’ level school and two boarding schools which are Mamvuradonha and Ruya, nothing changed there. We have five satellite schools at primary and 15 secondary schools. We have been granted authority to build an additional seven primary schools and four secondary schools.
We have 26 substantive male headmasters and four women and that gives us a total of 30. We have 25 substantive deputy headmasters and seven who are female. We have 18 substantive secondary school headmasters and there are no women. We have four substantive heads as deputy and there are no women. Substantive Heads - Primary
| MALE | FEMALE | TOTAL | |
| 26 | 4 | 30 | |
|
Substantive Deputy - Primary |
|||
| MALE | FEMALE | TOTAL | |
| 25 | 7 | 32 | |
|
Substantive Heads – Secondary |
|||
| MALE | FEMALE | TOTAL | |
| 18 | 0 | 18 | |
|
Substantive Deputy/Heads – Secondary |
|||
| MALE | FEMALE | TOTAL | |
| 4 | 0 | 4 | |
There are few female Heads as compared to their male counterparts at primary and secondary school level.
Current Enrolment
Primary
| MALE | FEMALE | TOTAL |
| 26 680 | 27 159 | 53 839 |
|
Secondary |
||
| MALE | FEMALE | TOTAL |
| 7 110 | 6 745 | 13 855 |
There are more boys at primary and secondary school than girls.
Staffing
Primary
| MALE | FEMALE | TOTAL |
| 915 | 779 | 1 691 |
Secondary
| MALE | FEMALE | TOTAL |
| 332 | 254 | 586 |
There are more male teachers both at primary and at secondary school than female teachers.
This motion is very important for us as representatives of the people. I think it is important to have more schools in our constituencies so that pupils do not walk long distances. We should encourage parents to work together with Councillors so that schools are built. Hon. Senators and Councillors are only involved in the development of the constituency; hence it is our business to approach the parents. When families are far from schools and they have school going children, the girl child will end up not going to school. The family will say we cannot allow the girl to walk 20km to and from school, so they will end up deciding that the girl child remains at home and that will lead to disparities.
However, I would like to thank Senator Goto for this motion, it has given us a lot of work so that we realise where we are lagging behind, where we are supposed to work hard and where we are supposed to work in conjunction with Councillors to improve the situation. Thank you Madam President.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF MEDIA, INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING SERVICES (HON. SEN. MATHUTHU): I
move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 18th November, 2015.
MOTION
PROMOTION OF SPORTS DEVELOPMENT
Third Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the need to promote sports development in Zimbabwe.
Question again proposed.
*HON. SEN. NCUBE: Thank you Madam President for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this motion which was brought in by Hon. Senator Chimbudzi. I cannot remember properly as to who seconded the mover but I would like to thank the Hon. Senator as well.
The issue of sports is something which we used to look down upon, but right now, it is so important and as a country, we should make sure that we make it important. Sports come in various ways in their various disciplines, people are gifted differently. When we grew up, we did not recognise that if a child is not academically gifted, he or she can do something like sporting. However, with the times that we have moved into, sports are now important because if a child is not gifted academically, that child may be gifted in the sporting arena. What I am trying to say is that, here in Zimbabwe, no matter how important a sport is, the country does not recognise its importance; that is not good at all.
If people are going to be engaged in sporting, they are doing so for money, they should be supported by the Government so that when they start at lower levels, they will reach higher levels. The country should be proud that we have children who can raise the flag of this country high. What saddens us most is that we as Hon. Senators have grounds at our constituencies where children play, whiling up time. They should play such that they benefit from that sport, be it football or any other sport.
My wish though is that when a motion of this nature has been brought to this House, the Government should look at these matters thoroughly. If children read in the newspapers and hear what has transpired in Parliament, when they are supposed to go and play elsewhere in other countries, they will feel that if they play, they will realise something and be able to sustain their lives. Every time when the Warriors, our big team are supposed to go and play, in most cases, they will not have enough resources to perform. Sometimes, they go at short notice and do not get enough time to practice. I feel that, that demotivates them.
Hon. President, as Senators we have an important responsibility but our problem is that we do not have the money to give them to go out to play. I feel that sport has a Ministry, it is important for children to play sport and get some money. I would like to condemn my country Zimbabwe. I am not going to condemn the Minister because he is also given resources. When resources are being disbursed we should value all Ministries. Let us give the Sports Department enough resources so that our children can play wholeheartedly and raise the flag of the country high.
In conclusion, our problem as a country – not all organisations are bad but members in those organisations are the ones who are evil. If an organisation is put in place, its purpose is to lead and give guidance so that those in need can be helped easily. I have observed that when it is time to choose the administrators of sport, many people are willing to lead but when they represent those players they do not represent them properly. As of now, we should support sport. There are no jobs, children spend most of their time playing football. At the end of the day they should realise some money out of that so that they can be able to sustain their lives.
In some countries, footballers are bought with a lot of money. Such people can make the country of Zimbabwe improve and improve their lives as well. That is not possible to be realised because some people have jeopardized that and those youngsters are no longer playing properly. With that Mr. President, I would like to say to the Minister, when they look for people to lead ZIFA, the person should be someone with the passion for football, not people who are after fattening their pockets at the expense of the players. I thank you.
HON. SENATOR MASUKU: Thank you Mr. President Sir for
giving me this opportunity. I would like to thank Hon. Senator Chimbudzi and her seconder who brought this important motion on improving our sports in Zimbabwe. Mr. President Sir, you would realise that when it comes to sports, it help us in different issues like body building and assist in improving one’s academics. It is also a way of creating employment and income generation.
Therefore, it is very important to prioritise sports in our country.
When we talk about sports, I realise that we give top priority to football and forget other sporting activities. We should not forget that there was a time when the flag of our country was lifted high by Kirsty Coventry through swimming. We need to prioritise every sporting activity not only football. I will also give an example of volleyball, golf and many others. We also need to prioritise such sporting activities. We need to urge our children to be involved in different sporting activities right from the tender age when they are still in high schools.
I also take into consideration that the mover of this motion highlighted that we should build different sporting fields in all the provinces as a country. This is a very important point; this will help us to identify a person’s talent at a tender age. Therefore, we need to support all these children in all the 10 provinces. We need to build different sporting fields where these children can engage in different sporting activities at a tender age. That is where we can identify the talents of various children and choose those who will represent our country. They will improve from district, provincial and up to national level. We can also have a team like one of the teams that we once had long back, which was called ‘dream team’. I do not know whether this team still exists.
We need to encourage all the youngsters to participate in all sporting activities and we should support them taking into consideration that this is one thing that is important in building one’s future. I have come to realise that in yester-years, as a country we never used to take into serious consideration any sporting activities that are done by women but we realise that women are also lifting our flag high, especially if you look at what the Mighty Warriors have done. Therefore Mr. President Sir, I would like all of us to congratulate our Mighty Warriors for they have done so well. They have represented the mother figure in our country.
Mr. President Sir, I would also want to highlight that when Zimbabwe was playing against Guinea, so many people from Bulawayo filled up the Barbourfields Stadium. The stadium was filled up, which surprised even the Minister of Sports who highlighted that he did not know that people from Bulawayo could fill up the stadium, especially to come and watch soccer. Yes he was expressing his happiness about what the people of Bulawayo had done. However, I would want to urge everyone not to look down upon Bulawayo for you realise that most of those who excelled well in all the sporting activities came from Bulawayo. Also if you look at the Chiedza boys and the Shaya boys, they all used to play in Bulawayo. Bulawayo is a very beautiful city when it comes to sporting activities for they will accept you as you are regardless of your religion - as long as you are supporting or participating in sports.
When it comes to all our sporting activities, in Bulawayo people would come together regardless of their religion, as long as they are playing for the country. Our wish is that such an idea should be carried out throughout the country and everyone adopts it because it is one thing that will improve the sporting activities in our country.
Mr. President Sir, I would want to urge everyone to support all the sporting activities. The Government should take it in a way that anyone who is involved in any of the sporting activities is playing for our country Zimbabwe and not for their team only. This is one thing that people should prioritise and therefore support all the sporting activities.
I also take into consideration that there is one sporting activity that is not prioritized, which is Paralympics. It is not taken seriously, especially in our country. Therefore, I am urging and I am inviting all the members of this august House to support the disabled and try by all means to fully support them as they are playing for our country and not for themselves. Mr. President Sir, when I was doing my research, I remember there is a time when the whole nation would come together to participate in different sporting activities and the participants would be drawn from different ages right from five years up to 90 year olds. They used to meet once per year and I remember we used to give them the names ‘isipatha kiyada.’ We used to have some people excelling well from such kind of groups. This was a way of trying to encourage everyone to participate in sports.
Mr. President Sir, we should therefore try to prioritise all our sporting activities. If it is a major game, it can take two or three days for people to showcase their talents in all different sporting activities and it is a way of improving our sports as a country. You realise that even a 90 year old can run. This will be a lovely sporting activity whereby the 90 year olds will run in a race and at the end we will be able to come up with one person who is the best in that sporting activity. We should therefore urge everyone in our constituencies that all the sporting activities are open to everyone.
I would like to congratulate you Mr. President that as Parliament we have realised that it is important to also participate in sports. As Parliament, we now have our soccer team, however, it should not be soccer only but all the sporting activities should be represented. People can look at us and say if Hon. Senator Masuku is able to play netball, the young ones will be encouraged to also play as well. We should have volleyball, netball teams and any other sporting activity as Parliament. This will encourage even those who are outside Parliament to participate in any of the sporting activities.
I would like to end Mr. President Sir by a point that was brought by a member who moved this motion, which is one thing that destroys our sporting activities. It is one animal that I do not even know how many legs it has but I know it has two legs for it is something that is done by a human being. I do not know whether it is being greedy or whatever but all that I know is, using our western language it is called corruption. This animal called corruption Mr. President Sir, is caused by the fact that in our sporting activities there are some people who think of themselves only and look at an opportunity of improving their lifestyle and not to work for the country. This is one thing that discourages the players who will be participating in whatever sporting activities they are involved in.
Someone who has sports at heart will not allow those who are involved in whatever sporting activities not to go for training because of not being satisfied by the welfare they are receiving. A person who has sports at heart will not rest until all things are in order. Therefore Mr.
President Sir, I am looking forward that the Government would encourage especially those who are put in positions of being Ministers of Sports to support our sporting activities so that our flag as a nation could be uplifted.
Mr. President Sir, it is a disgrace to the nation when we hear that our team was not allowed to play in world games because the subscriptions were not paid up. Therefore, if we choose someone who has sports at heart and who is fully committed to sports, this person will try by all means to push that our subscriptions as a nation are fully paid up. When this happens, it is not only the team that is punished and embarrassed but the country as a whole.
Amber light having been switched on.
Yes, Mr. President, I realise that the amber light has been switched on; I would like to wrap up my contribution by urging the Government and everyone in this House to take note that when we choose our leaders, it is very important to choose someone who has sports at heart to lead our Ministry.
+HON. SEN. MKWEBU: I want to thank Hon. Sen. Chimbudzi who brought in this motion and the seconder Hon. Sen. Mumvuri. What is there Mr. President with our sporting activities, we realise that we do not make checks and balances on what is being done by the Minister or whoever will be leading that Ministry. What we should realise is that when we look at our players especially those who are in the national team or whatever sporting activity is there, everyone should be involved and participate in that. What I mean by saying this is that those who have spoken before me have highlighted that there are shortages in finances especially when our national teams are supposed to go outside the country.
Mr. President, it is not the Minister’s fault but it is everyone’s fault, for when they highlight that there is a need to do with the national team going outside the country, everyone especially in this House, should participate in trying to fundraise so that our national team goes outside the country to represent us well. This is one thing that we should take into consideration. It is not the players who are ashamed but the country as a whole. If we come up with fundraising activities or we say a dollar per individual, you realise that almost everyone has a dollar in his or her pocket especially us who are leaders in our communities. It is a disgrace to us as leaders and as many as we are at Parliament, when you combine members of the National Assembly and the Senate, if we all contribute a dollar each, we are able to raise so much. Yes, we may not want to participate but it is a very important issue that we are discussing. There is a lot that has been said.
We realise that women football was something that was looked down upon but now, everyone is prioritising women football. When you look at them playing, you might think that it is our national team that is playing. One of the previous speakers highlighted that - yes, some of us might say we do not want to participate in any of the fundraising activities, but if we do these in advance and have money in our pockets as a nation, we will not be found wanting especially when it comes to the issues related to our national team travelling – [HON. SENATORS:
Inaudible interjections.]-
THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT (HON. TAWENGWA ):
Order, order, Hon. Sen. Mkwebu, please concentrate on addressing the Chair, do not be disrupted.
+HON. SEN. MKWEBU: Thank you Mr. President, I would like
to urge everyone in this House to also take into consideration that in our sporting disciplines, we also have soccer that is being coached by deaf people. I saw this on television whereby the coach was deaf but he was able to carry out his duty very well. As a country, we should also prioritise any of the games that are done at the Paralympics level so that even those who are disabled, they do not feel isolated because of their condition. As a nation, we should support such kind of people if they are involved in sports, more-so if they are part of the national team.
When you look at those who are in urban areas, they are the ones who benefit a lot whilst those who are in rural areas are the ones who are always fit for they walk long distances when they are going to schools. Those are the people that we should also involve in any of the sporting activities. It is not easy for them to get support, therefore, I urge the Government to look at this issue. I urge the Government to really take this seriously into consideration, to involve children from rural areas that they participate in any of the sporting activities. Those are the players who are fit because they walk long distances when going to school. A lot has been highlighted.
I will just add on to what had been said that we realise that this motion has been debated at length and everyone has been emphasising that the Government should support all the sporting activities that we have in this country, be it Warriors which is our national team, swimming or any other sporting activity that is there in this country. I am also emphasising that the Government should support members of all the teams; for anyone who is involved in the national team, we know that they are uplifting our Zimbabwean flag high. With these few words, I thank you Mr. President.
HON. SEN. CHIMBUDZI: I move that the debate be now adjourned.
HON. SEN. MARAVA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 17th November, 2015.
MOTION
PRESIDENTIAL SPEECH: DEBATE ON ADDRESS
Fourth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion in reply to the Presidential Speech.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. MAKORE: Thank you very much Hon. President,
for giving me this opportunity to highlight my few sentiments on the
Presidential Speech. Mr. President, the speeches that are presented in Parliament by the President are there to provide vision and to sort of assess the line of development that we do move and also to make serious contributions towards the seriousness of development that we are all entitled to.
First of all, I want to look at the alignment of laws that has ever been echoed by the President from the First Session of Parliament, the Second Session of Parliament and the Third Session of Parliament Mr. President. He echoed on the alignment of laws to the Constitution. To me, this is fundamental Mr. President. It is not only alignment of laws but also knowledge of the Constitution. –HON. SENATORS: Hear, hear.]- The President quoted Section 324 of the Constitution. If I may be allowed to read this section to sort of make emphasis.
Section 324 talks of the diligent performance of constitutional obligations, Mr. President. All constitutional obligations must be performed diligently and without delay. To me, this is very fundamental. We have Section 7 of the Constitution which also calls for the interpretation of these laws into vernacular languages. Mr. President, the misunderstanding or not knowing exactly of the constitutional dictates makes people not to realise their rights that are enshrined in the Constitution. There are obligations enshrined in the Constitution as well as their entitlements such as the dignity of a woman, man, girl and boy.
We have seen a lot of violence escalating Mr. President, on the basis that people think they are above the law. Sometimes, we wonder it is perhaps because of not knowing or not knowledgeable about their entitlements. It is alarming that the parties themselves have demonstrated extra-ordinary violence and again, dehumanising each other on a want to take just a position. -[HON. SENATORS: Hear, hear.]- This is alarming Mr. President.
The culture that is emanating is very bad and it is intolerable because we have to leave a legacy that people should also be known to respect each other. It is not one party that I can point but of recent, we have heard exactly that one could take an axe and chop somebody to death on a want of a position. Can I advise this nation that the positions that you are taking are not very important but what is important is humanity. -[HON. SENATORS: Hear, hear.]- If you take that position, where do you go with that position, what does that mean? A want to that position must be a normal thing. I want to sort of echo this sentiment which perhaps was pronounced by the President but I hasten to say that the speed with which we are moving in terms of aligning laws with this
Constitution are very slow.
On the education side, we are also requesting that an attention be given such that a budget be apportioned for the training and education of the society and again, jointly with private partners, they must also take it up to sort of educate people about this Constitution. People must know their freedoms their fundamental rights and that is of prime importance.
The next issue I think in terms of my contribution is the Land
Commission, starting from Land Board that existed before. The Land Commission in terms of Section 297 has got very important fundamentals in terms of the functions. It gives us this straight away that while it is very important that a person should own one farm, we have got people having multiple farms yet the Constitution says ‘one family one farm’. The question of auditing Mr. President, is very important. To audit land is to want to know who has land and what are you doing with that land? Land is an economic factor which we believe should not lie derelict without being utilized to the maximum. It is important that a country which was once a bread basket, we should drift quickly to be the bread basket, of Africa. [HON. SEATORS: Hear, hear.] This country is beautiful. We cannot allow the multiplicity of land, just to acquire that land for the purpose of just pointing that I have so many farms. That in itself in terms of this is not fair.
I want to thank the President so much on the pointer that will also look at the audit as very important. So, the Audit Commission if it is put in place, will do the auditing ensuring accountability, fairness and also transparency in the administration of the agricultural land. That statement that was pronounced by the President himself, to me is onerous because people are too greedy. We become poor because of individual greediness -[HON. SENATORS: Hear, hear.]- They want to take everything to themselves, we should not do this. Some of these people have natural talents that must be known and if you cannot farm do not take a farm. Why should you? If you are like Makore, just live in the urban area and allow those with competencies to do the job for the benefit of the whole society in Zimbabwe. –[HON. SENATORS: Hear, hear.]-
We do not want just to be challenged. Our skin can do, but sometimes we bemoan that we cannot because we fall short of planning that is supposed to take place first before we indulge ourselves into those issues. Let us plan first, have a short, medium and long term. We believe Mr. President that, that in itself is very important.
The other third point that I also looked at is that of flexing laws of indigenisation in which there is a room to sort of negotiate. To me it is onerous. We want to create employment, attract foreign direct investment and the flexibility that is called for by the President, to me is onerous. We are indigenising but indigenisation with meaningful production, absorption of employment opportunities. To me it is very important. If you say you are an indigenous person who cannot grow and thing outside the box, you are supposed to be a contributor. It is also about talents and abilities that people take such things. It is important Mr. President, that you put yourself on a scale first whether you can do it or not. If you are not an employer, you are an employee, get employed.
- [HON. SENATORS: Hear, hear.] – If you are an employer then
behave like one. Copying is not bad, in fact you must learn to copy. Some people used to say if you are a dunder-head, you may copy with a full stop. That is not it in reality, copy sensible. Copy other things that are better and implement them. That is very important. – [AN HON. SENATOR: Inaudible interjections.] – Thank you for your comment although I did not get it very clearly.
I only wanted to make these remarks, thanking the President on this particular contribution and calling the nation to be very serious in this particular direction that we did take. Thank you for raising this motion, I also read your analysis, to me it was very appeasing. I do not want to take much of your time, thank you.
HON. SEN. B. SIBANDA: Thank you Mr. President for giving
me this opportunity to make a contribution to the Presidential Speech. First and foremost, I want to pledge my total and unreserved loyalty to this nation. Therefore, my criticism and praises should be taken within that context.
The first point I want to make is, I have listened to Hon. Senators here debating this motion. To some extent, I have been disappointed by some Senators who have assumed that because Senators look neat, fat and over-fed – [HON. SENATORS: Inaudible interjections.] – Yes that has been said in this House, therefore, the people of Zimbabwe have nothing to complain about. I am absolutely certain Mr. President that that has happened. I regret, I also advise that…
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Please just address the
Chair, do not worry about those comments.
HON. SEN. B. SIBANDA: I would like to remind Senators that our constituency is the grass root therefore, our big concern here must be about the state of the nation in as much as it affects the grass roots, not in as much as it makes us look fat shiny, fat and well fed.
I want to move on and say the President has challenged us on a number of issues and it is incumbent on us as a senior House in this legislature to take a lot of the suggestions seriously. However, my concern is about the delays that have been associated with proposed legislation, Parliament on and Parliament on. For example, if you look at the Land Commission, the delay in setting it up, I think it is well over due. It should have been set up a long time ago. The land audit should have been set up a long time ago. I seriously believe that it would have changed the food situation in Zimbabwe if it had been taken seriously and implemented as expeditiously as possible.
Secondly, I would like to refer to Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs). I know that for a long time there has been debate about the direction of the economy. I also know that there has been a hard push that we relax our ideology in order to look in all directions. I am happy to say that when we were at Victoria Falls, one of the Ministers said that it is essential that we look in all directions. I think that is plausible because we cannot be fixated in one direction and hope to improve the fortunes of this land. In order to deal with our foreign direct investment needs, including local direct investments, it is essential as Hon. Sen.
Makore has said that we revisit our indigenisation laws. I believe that indigenisation is not a bad agenda but I also believe that it must be tailor-made to suit specific situations.
I also want to emphasize that when last time we raised the issue of violence here, it was felt as if it is an opposition song. It was indicated that we want to appear on the front pages of newspapers. I for one value the lives of each Zimbabwe, young, small political or apolitical. - [HON. SENATORS: Hear, hear.] – It is when we lose that humanity as a people that all the blessings that God can give us disappear.
Thirdly, I would like to say that corruption is now endemic in this land. It is essential that we do not treat the subject lowly. We treat the area with respect and give it the attention that it deserves. A lot has been said about it and it is not necessary for me to re-emphasize it.
The President also proposed that we need legislation regarding to our borders and infrastructure. The worst thing that can happen to you, particularly when you move through a border post like Beitbridge, is to have a visitor with you and you are a Zimbabwean. On average, it will take you 10 to 30 minutes to cross on the South African side and it will take you anything from two hours to eight hours to do the same process on our side with the same vehicle, goods and the same passport. You start wondering exactly where our problem is. I therefore, argue that it not the infrastructure that needs attention, it is the mind set, corruption element in this land that needs attention much more than the infrastructure. In fact, if you look at the South African infrastructure in Beitbridge, it is not much more civilized than the infrastructure that we have. It is the difference in our attention to the needs of the people, some of whom are tourists into this land. Their first interface is our border posts.
I then come to a very sensitive area that I want to talk about. Not trying to evoke sentiments, we went through the 1980s and the President came back to us and said we accept it was a moment of madness but we still think an apology was essential. Over the past 12 months, I have witnessed what I believe is an assault on the people of the southern region. The first was when we, as men felt insulted that we impregnate our women, abandon them and go to South Africa. It is only Zimbabweans that have to leave this country and go to South Africa and the reasons are the same. What boggles my mind is why that should be addressed to the people of the southern region. You will understand that I am not talking about people of a tribe, I am talking about regional people and this dilemma affects every Zimbabwean. I rightly place the responsibility in the hands of this Government; they have created an environment where people are forced to emigrate. They in-turn, turn around and insult us as men of the southern region.
The second is the jibe that was directed at the Kalanga people. It is my strong conviction that we are the children under this Government, all of us and we are equal – [HON. SENATORS: Inaudible interjections.]-
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Whilst we allow
interjections, Hon. Sen. Ncube, let us have order please.
HON. SEN B. SIBANDA: I believe that the President should protect all of us equally. Mr. President, I am not Kalanga myself but I get hurt if any Zimbabwean is treated in an unfair manner, particularly on the basis of the place of his origin and ethnicity. I object to that.
The last applies to what has been said about Dr. Nkomo. I believe that unless we learn to treat every Zimbabwean as a valuable citizen of this nation, we lose direction. I distinguish Dr. Joshua Nkomo as the only liberation organisation leader, whose house in 1979, was razed to the ground by the regime with the intention of killing him. He is the only leader, I know of - none other. I also know that in Zambia a lot of planes were brought down in one day and I remember General Walls wailing that these dirt terrorists with their…
HON. SEN. MOHADI: On a point of order! Mr. President, I beg that if we are debating in this House, let us leave out politics because the Hon. Senator is mentioning names of people. I do not think it is appropriate.
HON. SEN. B. SIBANDA: Thank you Mr. President. I am grateful to your ruling. I believe that Joshua Nkomo is not alive, those people from the southern region can defend their political space, but he cannot. I therefore, will attempt to defend it for him. I move on Mr.
President and say it is unfair for them to say that about a person of that integrity, a person who in my opinion had the greatest passion for the land redistribution, not only passion innate - [HON. SENATORS: Hear, hear.] - Well considered and executed. Determination for land distribution – to turn around and say Smith tells us he was a lackey of the white man.
I also believe that towards the end of the Lanchester House
Conference, Joshua Nkomo consulted no other person except the Patriotic Front, that is a fact and for us because he may not be in a position to answer for himself to say he was a lackey of the white man that is why he did not win the 1980 elections – I think is ill considered.
Mr. President, I invoke and I request the Presidency of this country to lead this nation towards a unity of purpose and I am certain that all the people of this land will follow the Presidency. They will not question them because they will be showing the direction but we cannot show that direction by being divisive among our own people. I thank you, Mr.
President – [HON. SENATORS: Hear, hear]-
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF MEDIA, INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING SERVICES (HON. SEN. MATHUTHU): I
move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 18th November, 2015.
On the motion of THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF MEDIA,
INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING SERVICES (HON. SEN.
MATHUTHU), the Senate adjourned at Thirteen Minutes to Four o’clock p.m.