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SENATE HANSARD 14 June 2017 26-61
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Wednesday 14th June, 2017
The Senate met at Half-past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE in the Chair)
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
HON. SEN. TAWENGWA: Thank you Madam President. I
move that Order of the Day, Number 1 be deferred to Tuesday, 20th June. 2017.
HON. SEN. MASUKU: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
MEASURES TO CURB VIOLENCE PERPETRATED BY
POLITICAL PARTIES
Second Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on violence that had become a socio-political way of life among the people of Zimbabwe.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. B. SIBANDA: Thank you Madam President for this opportunity. As indicated, I would like to wind down debate on my motion. As I do that I would like to thank Hon. Sen. Ncube who seconded the motion and all the Senators who debated the motion. I am very grateful to their input. I want to register my appreciation for their contributions in both sections, the social and political segments. Your contributions are well appreciated.
In rounding up, I would like to restate the following points – first, we must remember that we are a Zimbabwean family with one
Zimbabwe, one country to whose stability we should all contribute. Secondly, I do not know of any positive contribution that violence can give to this country, society and to its people. I know that as we debate, some of us may have suffered violence in our lives but as indicated by other contributors, it is critical that we learn to forgive each other as
Zimbabweans and move forward. As a generation, we have a legacy of delivering liberation to this country. We need to add to that legacy and leave a legacy where we are remembered as a nation that corrected its errors and contributed to a second legacy which is a society that is fearless, violence free and respected by itself and future generations.
With those words, Mr. President, I move the motion that;
NOTING that violence has become an integral part of our socio- political way of life;
CONCERNED that we cannot build a progressive developmental nation within a violent environment;
CONCERNED about the violence oriented and negative legacy we are developing as a nation;
NOW THEREFORE calls upon this House:
- to denounce all forms of violence being perpetrated upon and among the people of Zimbabwe;
- to call upon the law enforcement arms of Government to enforce law and order without fear or favour;
- to admonish political parties so that they desist from the use of violence in order to impose their will on the people of Zimbabwe;
- to challenge the Executive to fulfill its constitutional obligation by respecting human rights in terms of Sections
48-78 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, be adopted.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
FIRST REPORT OF THE THEMATIC COMMITTEE ON
INDIGENISATION AND EMPOWERMENT ON THE
CIRCUMSTANCES SURROUNDING THE NON-ESTABLISHMENT
OF THE COMMUNITY SHARE OWNERSHIP TRUSTS
Third Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the First Report of the Thematic Committee on Indigenisation and Empowerment on the Circumstances Surrounding the Non-Establishment of the Community Share Ownership Trusts in Mudzi and Mutoko districts.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. MUTSVANGWA: Thank you Mr. President. I
would like to commend the mover of this motion and the Thematic Committee on Indigenisation and Empowerment on their report. I
listened carefully to the report and the contributions which came from Hon. Senators. In my mind, questions that kept coming are - was this statutory framework properly thought out in the beginning? Are we not getting unintended results from these statutes? Is it not time for us as legislators to look at these statutes?
I speak as a Senator from Manicaland, I come from Zimunya Marange. We have actually seen a situation which is untenable, a situation which has brought in so much conflict. When the Community Ownership Trust was launched, a big occasion. The Head of State and
Government came and a dummy cheque was presented. With all the
Committees in this Parliament that have tried to investigate what exactly happened, no cent was received from the pledges that were made. What it actually means is that these regulations are conflicting. Why did we come up with statutes which make Ministries fight? We heard the
Minister of Mines and Mining Development saying one thing and the Minister of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment saying the other and yet they all sit in one Cabinet and report to one President of the country.
In all statutes of Government, there should be one Ministry which implements the regulations and administration. The international companies that come to mine in this country are left to run from this Ministry to that Ministry and there is no coordination. We do not need statutes that create competing centres of control and administration. It is time that we come up with statutes which make sure that if it is mining let the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development take control of regulations and administration. The companies are left to do what they want and yet when they first come into the country to invest they deal with Government. When they go to mine in different areas they are left to deal with district and provincial officials.
Whilst the intended results were that we want to enrich and empower those districts, we have not benefited from these Community Share Ownership Trusts. When these multinational companies come into this country, they should deal with the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development because the Ministry of Mines has got researchers who keep updates of what is happening globally. As such, they can pin down companies which come into this country to pay the monies which they would have been asked to pay.
There is confusion of authority and this has been coming from a lot of international companies which have come into this country. There are inconsistencies and confusion of taxation. EMA charges its own taxes and other arms of Government charge their own taxes and these international companies will then go to where they benefit better. If they can corrupt one or two officers they will do that. There should be central control to make sure that these companies pay what they are supposed to pay. We have a situation where EMA is fighting against indigenisation laws, fighting with the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development. Why can the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development not follow through to make sure that the intended results are achieved? The world-over Central Government is the centre of authority but we have a situation where the Community Share Ownership Trust is given to a district official who does not even have a car to run around or at times it is given to a chief like what has happened. Chiefs have just been taken advantage of because they have not been empowered to run the Trusts because information does not come to them so easily. Companies have taken advantage of that. We need uniformity and that can come from Central Government. We do not want companies to pay on benevolence basis - no! There should be an enforcement mechanism which should be put in place.
Mr. President, if the intention was to create value of these statutes – it is very clear even here in Parliament that we have not been able to establish what happened to the Community Share Ownership Trust in Marange. It is very clear that it created conflict among Ministries. It also created conflict among various levels of Government such as provincial and districts. As legislators, we need to harmonise these statutes. It is critical that there is coordination among all levels of Government to make sure that we get the intended consequence; otherwise that is what is called law of unintended consequences. This is what we are getting from Community Share Ownership Trusts statutes. It is important for this House to take this report seriously. I want to thank the Committee and say this is not just happening in Mutoko but all over the country. I thank you.
+HON. SEN. NDLOVU: I thank you Mr. President for giving me this opportunity to debate. Since I am a Member of the Thematic Committee on Indigenisation and Empowerment, I have a few words to say. We went to Mutoko and Mudzi to see what was obtaining on the ground in terms of the mining activities and we sat down with people from the surrounding areas to understand how the Community Share Ownership Trust works in those districts. We found that quite a lot of people are not working. Some of the pledges that were made to Government did not materialise. There was only one company which pledged a certain amount to help the community.
All over Zimbabwe, there are various minerals which can help our people in their communities. People need minerals in their districts and communities in order to sustain themselves. The local people have not been benefiting anything. In Mudzi, the roads are deplorable. There are no schools. Sometimes when miners are ferrying these huge stones they leave them by the road-side thereby posing a danger to humans and traffic. Some miners just extract these big stones and leave big holes. Workers are not being paid and yet these stones are exported outside the country. What does the law say on such matters?
As a Senate, we should look into it and carefully look at this report which has just been presented. We should look at the report thoroughly so that we come up with resolutions which should be presented to the
President so that the communities can realise the true value of
Community Share Ownership Trusts. People are doing as they want.
From where I come from in Matabeleland South, the Community Share Ownership Trust of Gwanda is better managed because it has built schools, clinics and there are some schools that have been rehabilitated.
EMA should do its work. I do not know whether the responsible Ministry - the artisanal miners are being chased around by EMA and they leave their mines uncovered. Some artisanal miners are being charged and fined. There should be a law that enforces the closing of tunnels so that beasts do not get injured. Another danger is that these mines are full of water and beasts may fall into these tunnels which are full of water.
I think we should come up with a solution to this matter because Zimbabweans have to benefit from their minerals. Our country is rich and it cannot have poor people because we have minerals. Each province has its own mineral which can sustain its community and we should not always cry to Government when our areas have abundant riches. Each of us should look at our provinces. We have chiefs and traditional leaders but most of these traditional leaders do not know anything. They are deprived of information. If there is something happening in their area of jurisdiction and you ask them what is going on, they will tell you that they do not know. The Ministry of Mines should let them know what is happening in their areas in liaison with the chiefs because they know all the minerals in their area. May I request all of us to put our heads together and not just look at Mutoko roads only but all over, where there is gold, diamonds and other resources. It is worthless if people do not benefit. There is no employment so people rely on those minerals for sustenance. Mr. President, we need to assist our people on that matter. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. MAWIRE: I want to thank you Mr. President for giving me the opportunity to make my contribution on this motion which is very essential. It is a painful exercise and I am very grateful to the
Committee on Indigenisation and Empowerment, which went to Mutoko and Mudzi to check on the community ownership trusts. I am very grateful for what you did Hon. Members because you brought back very valuable information. To say the truth, if you had not visited those areas, we would be in the dark, not knowing what is happening in some parts of Zimbabwe. However, because of your dedication, we now know what is happening on the ground and we are not relying on hearsay but on concrete proof. Thank you Hon. Sen. Tavengwa and your committee for that sterling job.
Listening to what you were saying, I was very touched and emotional. These articulated trucks that you were talking about also move around in areas in Mutare. They are used to transport imports and exports. As they move, they destroy the roads. When these boulders are taken from Mutoko, they are exported to Beira or Maputo in
Mozambique. What surprises us is that while all these things are being exported, the people in the areas where the mining of granite is taking place are living in poverty. So, we need to relook at our Indigenisation and Empowerment policy so that it helps improve the people’s lives. I know for sure that if we had properly implemented the ownership share trust scheme, the people in Mutoko and Mudzi would be living lavish lives. However, these miners are shortchanging us and we have a feeling that the miners should be working with district teams, provincial teams and local traditional leaders. They should be talking about the programme and the progress in that area. As you already know, the traditional structure of administration, the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Local Government are both aiming to improve the livelihood of the people. When we were talking during the war of liberation, we thought we were going to come back to Zimbabwe and murder all the whites because of their cruelty. Nevertheless, we were told that we were fighting to regain our properties which had been taken away from us forcefully by the whites.
We need to know that Zimbabwe is very wealthy because of its natural resources. You then start asking yourself why we should be talking about poverty in Zimbabwe when we have so many mines and natural resources such as platinum, diamonds and gold. When we look at what is happening in other countries, they are progressing and developing using their natural resources. So, why is Zimbabwe poor? I am appealing to you Mr. President to invite the Ministers responsible for these Ministries to come and listen to these debates. We come from our constituencies to speak about the development of our country. People need to live lavish lives and healthy lives. We may talk about Mutoko and Mudzi but they are not the only ones. In the areas that we come from, a lot of dust is raised during the mining of diamonds which at times are referred to as blood diamonds because they finance wars as they generate huge amounts of money. In the case of Zimbabwe, you wonder why – what is the curse on Zimbabwe, we have the diamonds but we are not progressing or developing. There is nothing which you can point to as having come out of the community ownership share trusts. The youths should be employed but we have so many who are unemployed, hence the question what is happening? The only thing we hear about is when the artisanal miners are fighting, people dying and killing each other.
As this Eighth Parliament, we need to work on resolving these problems so that we leave a legacy where people will be saying that the Eighth Parliament led to the improvement of lives. I have heard the Speaker of the National Assembly saying that Parliament has a lot of tasks to perform and yet we are failing to achieve whatever is expected of us. So I am pleading with you Hon Members that we are on the final stretch of our term in office and we should work hard to create some last minute miracles. I have spoken to some people during my research and spoke to people who come from China. They were telling me of a board which brings together Government and the political parties. This board is neutral; it is not partisan. It helps in researching and vetting the progress in the country. As a Zimbabwean, I think we need to create that kind of a board like the one in China, which will bring accountability to the responsible Ministries. Where there are some shortcomings, they should be rectified.
When you look at what is happening in the country, you really wonder and say, what do people think when they read the debates in the Hansard. We say what do they think about us. I was at a retreat in Ethiopia and one of the topics which was very hot was the generation gap. We were being asked whether we are preparing for the future of our countries, the future of coming generations and we are now here preparing for the future generation.
Zimbabwe has been known to be very good at drafting policies which are progressive but the implementation of these proposals is nil. If we look at things like gender development and youth development, some countries have benefited from the plans generated by Zimbabwe, yet we are still behind. When you look at our President, he even wishes to have people who would work with him in bringing prosperity to the country. As the august Senate, let us work with our President and bring prosperity to the country.
Mr. President I am not going any further because as they say, too many cooks spoil the broth and I am saying too much talking may spoil the broth. I am sure you heard the contributions put forward by Hon.
Senators yesterday. I thank you.
HON. SEN. B. SIBANDA: Thank you Mr. President. First and foremost, I would like to thank the entire committee and its leadership for what I would call an eye opener. Secondly, I want to submit that the report focused on Mudzi and Mutoko but it is a summation of what is transpiring in all the corners of this country. We have set up the community trusts and just about given up on them in terms of making sure that they are a success.
Mr. President, I would want to empasise that mineral wealth is a finite resource; we cannot regenerate it. If we let it go and do not put it to good use at one stage, we cannot hope to recover anything in future from that lost mineral. For me, it is therefore imperative that mineral wealth should be guarded with the greatest of jealousy; the amount of jealousy equivalent to the jealousy you have for your own wife. - [HON. SEN. A. SIBANDA: or husband.] – Or husband as Sen. Sibanda says here. I was not aware Mr. President that they are also jealous.
Mr. President, I have a proposal here that we need to create an instrument that functionalises a Community Share Ownership Trust. What I seem to see is a board that was set up and as I have said left to the wolves. We have chiefs sitting on Community Share Ownership
Trusts. What is the point in asking a chief to sit on the final product? The chief does not know what has happened. I therefore propose that various chiefs in their localities be co-opted into the boards of management of each company from which – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear.] – I am saying that Mr. President very proudly.
The Ministry of Mines and Mining Development has a submission from me where I have suggested that certain chiefs in an area in which there is potential mining be part of the board. Why have I said that? It is my belief that chiefs in this country are not corrupt. It is my belief that the only person who can look after the wealth of his subjects is the chief. It is also my belief that where there is conflict, the chief is the most capable in terms of ameliorating that conflict. Therefore, anything that transpires within an area managed by a chief, from which the chief is excluded smells a rat Mr. President. My view is that people are not keen to see chiefs on those boards because they know that the chiefs will not tolerate some of the nonsense that goes on in the mining area. Chiefs can bear me out. I am not politicking here; I have done that and I will continue to insist on that position.
The next area I would like to deal with is the area that the Committee raised, the area of forfeiture. My belief is where you apply for something in writing, you must later receive the response of a regret in writing. Our people are generally not that sophisticated from a business point of view but they have applied for a mining opportunity.
They have been given a mining opportunity and sometimes they do not realise that because they have not paid their taxes, they are going to forfeit. So, I am proposing that before the forfeiture, there must be written communication to the individual who has a claim and he is advised.
Part of my contribution says, I have been to mines and asked about one of my claims and said, when is it due to expire. I have been told well, in three or four years. I have said, hey is it three years or four years because they simply said in three or four years. I am sure that when I go there after four years and somebody tells me that they have forfeited my mining rights, there will be a small war because they did not seem to know the period of forfeiture.
Mr. President, I want to thank the Committee for talking about beneficiation. If you go to places like Thailand, there are very few factories in towns. The factories are there in Mudzi, Mutoko, rural Gwanda and Tsholotsho – simple psychology that I think we should adopt. The idea is you generate your raw materials or your stone in
Mutoko and process it there. Firstly, you are creating massive employment for those people. Secondly, you are preventing rural to urban migration which results in huge housing backlogs.
Often times I hear us announcing we have a backlog of 1.2 million as if we are proud of it. It is not right that we have that kind of backlog. It is testimony to our inability to work on economies of scale where we are saying products are produced and processed here and move into the consumption area after processing. The cost of the final product would be much lower than if you were to move stones from Mutoko to Harare and then process them. This creates all the attendant problems of housing, water and all services as a result of failure to plan.
Mr. President, I endorse the proposal that the Minister should be made aware or should be here to listen to some of the debate. I am not sure of the parliamentary procedures but I assume that the Minister can be written to and given our Hansard copies for this process so that he is offay of what we have discussed. For me, it is very serious, that is what we call Zimbabwe – the mineral wealth. The land we can renew but the minerals we cannot renew.
My last worry Mr. President is that it will be very difficult to functionalise suggestions about mineral wealth as long as we have got parallel corruption in this country. So it is necessary to have a multifaceted approach to the preservation of this mineral and that multifaceted approach says that we should take all steps to minimise leakages, starting with the process of applying for mining rights to the process of processing that mineral right ending up with the benefit to the community. A measure of the development is the extent to which your rural areas are developed, if your rural areas are under-developed, the 25% of the population that lives in urban areas does not matter from an economic and statistical point of view. Therefore your index as a developed country remains low and if we use our mineral wealth to improve Zimbabwe’s standing in the global world, we are doing ourselves a farvour. We are doing our own people a farvour.
I heard something when some of the Hon. Senators, who are from the affected regions, constantly saying they do not want the wealth to end up in one or two hands. We had that song if we all listened and that says that they actually know where the wealth is going to or they suspect they understand who is the one or the two people who are taking the wealth. It is high time we take a stance if we know and say, aah, aah this cannot go on, the Community Share Ownership Trusts need to benefit from the exploitation of the minerals in the local area. Mr. President, I do not know whether those are few or many words. I thank you.
+HON. SEN. KHUMALO: Thank you Mr. President, I would like to add a few words to this motion on Community Share Ownership Trusts and its benefits to the communities. We can see its wealth from the minerals being mined but the wealth is not cascading to the lower community levels. This wealth is finite and we should preserve it. All wealth is finite and should be preserved. In order for this place to remain in place, people within the communities should have a share in that wealth.
Many of my colleagues have debated here. Honestly speaking, we will never develop if chiefs or traditional leaders are not part of the scheme. I have heard elsewhere and today that the United Nations has taken over. I worked with traditional leaders looking at food issues. In Matabeleland, I would not go into the communities without first approaching the traditional leadership. I was working with the chiefs and because I was working with the chiefs, you can verify with the United Nations and they will tell you to go and emulate the work of the people of Matabeleland North. There should be an integrated approach between the traditional leaders and the miners. Surely, if at all it is done that way, they will remove all the wealth and the owner will only get there after everything has been finished and you are given a pittance of your wealth.
I would like to request Government to allow chiefs to be involved. In my opinion, the Government is at fault when they advise these miners to approach the District Administrators (DA) and not the chiefs. Does a DA have authority over the chief and you report to the DA and not the chief? This is why things are not moving well for us. I observed this also when we were working at COPAC. The land was badly dilapidated and in some places, beasts died after falling into the open mine shafts. Had there been a chief, he would have ordered the miners to fill up those holes. The local communities who were not beneficiaries were the ones left with the task of filling up the holes. We therefore request that chiefs be part of these Community Share Ownership Trusts right from the onset.
When someone has been given a claim, there should be a written payment advice of how much they should pay. Similar to when you borrow from a bank, your interest rate does not rise just because you made a profit. No, they simply state the installments. We should do the same with these miners. They should pay their contributions to the Community Share Ownership Trusts and they should work in order to realise profits and community benefits.
Another thing that worries me is we have people who are involved in furniture manufacturing. When they enter the communities, they haphazardly cut down trees without prior discussion with the chiefs and go and make their furniture. They do not even pay anyone from the communities and locals are not employed but they engage people from other communities. They take all the timber and no chief nor the community in Tsholotsho benefits.
In Lupane, secondary schools are still 15kms away and you hear that the people of Lupane are still illiterate. How can they be educated when schools are so far away and people come and take their timber? School children do not have desks to write on as the timber was used elsewhere. The traditional leaders should be involved from the onset and there should only be one minister so that we know who to approach for better enforcement of laws and there should be no Government infighting by ministries. Whoever is awarded a claim to cut down timber will give the tender to the respective Minister of Industry and Commerce so much or you want to give the Local Government, Public Works and National Housing so much. We request that these people should sit down and ensure community members or chiefs benefit. We request that we should be understood. Everything should be done in an integrated approach to ensure that we work together. We also request that you help so that they understand our request. There is no chief who will allow his people to be poor but he would want his people to live well and develop, enjoy their wealth and access it. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. GOTO: Thank you Mr. President. I stand to add my voice on this motion which was moved by Hon. Sen. Tawengwa of the Indigenisation, Thematic Committee, seconded by Hon. Sen. Chief Dandawa. I am one of the Committee Members and I am happy because many people have supported us. It is really a challenge on this issue.
Firstly, I want to say that if this had been investigated long back, I think something would have been done by now. I want to thank Hon. Sen. Tawengwa for standing firm so that we compiled this report. We have only travelled once in terms of Community Share Ownership Trusts because we are told that there is no funding. So, I think this should be looked into. All the 10 provinces have this Community Share Ownership Trust. So, I think we should visit all these areas to see what is happening so that we can come up with an exchange programme for these people to visit each other.
It was very difficult when we visited Mudzi and Mutoko, even the way we were welcomed by the people. I think you have heard from the report that things are not well there. The people there are not registered, hence they are not contributing to the board so that our chiefs will get funding.
Meetings cannot be held because people have not registered. We were accompanied by the Chief for that area. Even if the chief was there, we could see that they do not relate well with their local leaders. The people should work well with their local leadership so that things go well. Whatever business that they are engaged in, it comes to a point where you face difficulties and you need the local leadership of that area so that they do their traditional rituals in order for them to carry on with their work. We have seen that our chiefs were being left out and were not happy about it.
They told us that they are building schools. They are just building one block and one borehole, how much have they contributed? Are they going to build a block every year because they have just built one block which they share to showcase to people? That will not make our economy grow? We only saw one school, one borehole and a kitchen from where the children eat. The roads are full of potholes. They are not looking after the place well. Stands are scattered all over.
We also visited the area where they work. We saw that they have reduced the workforce because they are saying that they do not have money. You can see that because they are not adding any value to our economy and our children are not getting employment. The area is very dangerous. It is a health hazard because there is no safety. So, I am encouraging you and I am saying thank you for helping us. For sure, we want the Ministry to be present so that they get to hear what is going on. They should make a follow up of their Ministries, for example, the Ministry of Agriculture is happy because of the Command Agriculture but this Ministry responsible for mining, I think it is like they are not working. They should make a follow up to see results in their ministries. You cannot just say you are heading a Ministry yet nothing is coming out of that ministry.
We want to thank you Senators for supporting this motion. I think you should recommend that we should visit other places to see what is happening so that we share information because after seeing what others are doing, we end up copying and not to just wait to hear. I want to thank you, even our chiefs we want work together with them when it comes to this. We should not put our chiefs aside but we should work with them because we really want to uplift our culture. For us to be where we are today, it is because of our culture. There are certain things that you cannot do but these days you find that people are doing anything.
Our chiefs, we are with you, we support you, and you should get involved in these things. The Chief that we travelled with at one point left us alone because he was really upset. I think we should not repeat it. Next time when we visit these places, we want to see the involvement of chiefs because they are the custodians of our land. I thank you.
HON. SEN. BHOBO: Thank you Mr. President for giving me this opportunity to make my contribution on the motion raised by Hon. Sen.
Tawengwa supported by Hon. Sen. Chief Dandawa on the Thematic Committee report. I am also a member of that Committee. I stand up to show my gratitude to the research done so that we compile this report. People had to go and make investigations and it took us some time to bring all this to the open so that the country and the people are aware of what is going on in the country.
The people of Zimbabwe and this august House have heard that report which was tabled here and I am very grateful to all the people who have made the contributions on the mining projects which are being undertaken throughout the country. I am also grateful for what the Hon. Members have advised that as a Committee, we should move around the country, around the mining projects and see how far they are taking this assignment of mining. We are very grateful to the war veterans who have paved the way for us to liberate the country and we are now owners of our natural resources because in the past, it was unheard of for Hon. Senator Bhobho to own a mine but because we are a liberated country, we have freedom, we are now owning our wealth. In the past, first priority was given to the whites and then on the second world, it was the coloureds and others, but the African was right at the bottom. We are now proud to have our own productive mines. As a country, we are now moving along the ZIM ASSET programme which helps us in conserving and developing our country. We can only do that if we make a thorough inspection, research, look at places where there are any short comings and rectify them.
We also need to inculcate the values of patriotism on the future generation so that we know where the country is coming from and where we are going. We should be fighting these foreign miners and other producers who are extracting this wealth and exporting it. We are so grateful for the powers being given to the Committee that it should move around the country seeing the mines and the productive areas and then bring any anomalies or short-comings to the House.
We are the ears and eyes of the people of Zimbabwe. I support Hon. Members who brought this report and also the people who supported this country. It is the first time that such a Committee has produced an intelligent report which talks about what has to be added and what has to be removed from the report regarding the progress in our natural resources and the extraction of them. We carried our task as empowered by the Committee and the Constitution of Zimbabwe. We should be aware that Zimbabwe is a land that is full of natural resources. We are now using this wealth in carrying out the fact finding visits and researches for the development of the future of our country. I thank you.
+HON. SEN. A. SIBANDA: Thank you Mr. President for giving
me this opportunity to also add my voice to what has already been said by others. Firstly, I would like to thank Hon. Sen. Tawengwa and his seconder for bringing up such an important motion here in Zimbabwe. This motion will lead this country to take action and make sure that this is an important motion. I see our country developing just like what has happened with command agriculture. If this motion is going to be received by the Minister of Mines, I think we will develop our country.
Thank you Mr. President. I am happy that people were quite happy to debate on this motion and I would also like to thank the Government for having taken action in everything. The was a cheque of large sums of money that was made out but thereafter, there were quarrels and fights here and there over what happened to that cheque. I wish this country was led by women. If the country was led by women, this country would be very rich.
I have noticed that when we talk about what we want or what we require, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs quickly comes and explains everything about what we wanted to know. We have noticed what has been happening in other countries. There is a Ndebele song that goes,
‘All these other nations are now developing because of us’. Now, it touches all other tribes. If we look at when people started mining, we will be shocked when we look at what has come out.
We were once in COPAC and we were moving around the country. We were asking people about the mines that were sprouting all over the country. People were complaining. Firstly, they were saying we just see people coming to mine without the knowledge of the chiefs especially in Mashonaland. People were complaining that locals should benefit from whatever is found in that area. I am very disappointed Mr. President when I hear that people come from abroad to mine here and they leave only a dollar; that is an insult to the country.
We have educated Ministers Mr. President. I am not insulting anyone, but when I look at it from a woman’s point of view, they notice everything. If only some of these Ministries were led by women, I wish I could have access to the President so that I could tell him that he should let women lead. When we go to some areas, you find that most of the chiefs are men, but when you come to my area in Filabusi, there is a place with gold.
A lot of people want to come and mine. We have small scale miners who want to mine and we also have the Chinese. These Chinese have brought very big machinery but people from that area also wanted to mine. When the chief arrived there, they found that the Chinese had already installed their big machinery. He asked them who had given them permission to start mining there. They called the DA who they call DA Mafu and they were told that before the end of the week, all the machinery would be removed. They were told that it is not that there were no people in Zimbabwe who could do mining. He was not happy that people from China were the ones who had come to start mining there but those are people who do not put any infrastructure anywhere. They did not build even a small bridge for primary school children to pass but when they come they destroy everything and just leave. They do not even bid farewell when they leave. So, people have been enriching themselves because of us. People from all over the world were coming to get wealth from here in Zimbabwe. If we look at those who came and took our furniture, gold and diamonds; they owe us a lot. That is why I am saying this is a very important motion and let us handle it seriously so that it can extricate us from all our poverty.
This is a very rich country and God loves this country. He loves it very much. We do not realise that God really loves this country because we have everything that is required in a country but we are the poorest of them all. Our children are trying to do artisanal mining but the
Chinese are coming in to do the mining and they give them peanuts and disappear. When the Minister of Mines and Mining Development took over that portfolio, he promised us that corruption was not going to take place. We want the Minister to come and tell us how far he has gone and what he has done in as far as our minerals are concerned because US$15 billion went missing. If this US$15 billion was not taken by the Chinese we would have been more developed than New York itself.
People should handle these issues carefully. Because of corruption, it is only a few who are benefiting. I wish our people could start following up on this cheque that went missing. If we really look into the issue of this cheque, most of these things would just fall away. I do not know how much we owe other countries but some countries have come to loot our wealth. We are lucky because they did not loot everything. Had it been that they looted everything, then we would be having nothing.
I have been to Dubai. Dubai had nothing but oil. They have used their oil in a very good way. I have been reading an article in the paper about Marange diamonds. The article was saying that if these Marange diamonds were in Dubai, the whole world would be bowing to Dubai. If you look at what they have with the little oil that they have you find that they have turned that desert into a greenbelt but with us who have diamonds we have let foreigners come and take our diamonds giving us peanuts. It is an insult Mr. President.
I do not know if it is allowed that you ask the Minister of Mines and Mining Development to come here so that we can tell him all that we wish. In fact he has to report to us what he has done. He has to tell us what he has done about the issue of corruption especially when we are talking about this black granite that is used for tombstones. If you surf that stone on the internet, you find that it is not found anywhere else but here in Zimbabwe. Everyone is now rushing to Mutoko and they are now calling it Tokyo. You can go all over the world but that is our stone. If you go to other countries you will find how they have been using our stone. I am hurting Mr. President.
I would like to thank the Thematic Committee which presented this report. They should not just go to Mutoko but they should go all over the country so that they can tell us where things are not moving in the right direction. They should also go back to Mutoko to see if things have been rectified through the Minister. If it is possible, we would ask a delegation to go to the President maybe he is not being told the truth. I would propose that we come up with a delegation to see the President and find out from him why we are so poor yet we have such minerals in our country especially diamonds. You will find that the President may be shocked because I do not think that he is being told the truth by Ministers.
The Committee should move forward and we will ask the delegation to go and tell the President that they have not been given the money. The chiefs must also speak up because they should drive stateof-the-art vehicles and not ramshackle. If I were a chief’s wife, I would also voice up. You are the chiefs because you are the owners of this country. You must not just accept anything. I thank you.
HON. SEN. MASUKU: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. MOHADI: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 15th June, 2017.
MOTION
ALIGNMENT OF CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS BY
ZIMBABWE ELECTORAL COMMISSION (ZEC)
Fourth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the alignment of the Electoral Act to the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. MASUKU: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. MOHADI: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 15th June, 2017.
MOTION
ALIGNMENT OF THE EDUCATION ACT TO THE
CONSTITUTION
Fifth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on funds controlled by School Development Committees (SDCs) and School Development Associations (SDAs).
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. KHUMALO: I move that the debate do now
adjourn.
HON. SEN. MAWIRE: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to Resume: Thursday 15th June, 2017.
MOTION
FIRST REPORT OF THE THEMATIC COMMITTEE ON
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS ON SDG NO. 3
Sixth Order read: Adjourned debate on the First Report of the Thematic Committee on Sustainable Development Goals on SDG No 3. Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. CHIEF MTSHANE: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. A. SIBANDA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to Resume: Thursday 15th June, 2017.
MOTION
ADOPTION OF A DRAFT PROTOCOL ON THE AFRICAN
CHARTER ON HUMAN AND PEOPLE’S RIGHTS ON THE RIGHT
TO NATIONALITY AND THE ERADICATION OF STATELESSNESS
IN AFRICA
Seventh Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on resolving situations of statelessness in our country.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. MASUKU: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. KHUMALO: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to Resume: Thursday, 15th June, 2017.
MOTION
FIRST REPORT OF THE THEMATIC COMMITTEE ON HIV
AND AIDS ON HIV AND AIDS IN INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER
LEARNING IN ZIMBABWE
Eighth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the First Report of the Thematic Committee on HIV and AIDS on HIV and AIDS in institutions of Higher Learning in Zimbabwe.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. MASUKU: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. GOTO: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to Resume: Thursday, 15th June, 2017.
On the Motion of HON. SEN. MASUKU, seconded by HON.
SEN MAWIRE, the Senate adjourned at Five Minutes to Four o’clock p.m.