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SENATE HANSARD 4 MAY 2022 VOL 31 NO 37
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Wednesday, 4th May, 2022
The Senate met at Half-past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE PRESIDENT OF SENATE in the Chair)
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
HON. SEN. MUZENDA: Madam President, I move that Orders of the Day, Numbers 1 to 6 be stood over until the rest of the Orders of the Day on today’s Order Paper have been disposed of.
HON. SEN. MATHUTHU: I second Madam President.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE 50TH PLENARY ASSEMBLY OF THE SADC PARLIAMENTARY FORUM HOSTED VIRTUALLY BY THE KINGDOM OF LESOTHO
HON. SEN. MOHADI: Thank you Madam President. I move the motion standing in my name that this House takes note of the Report of the 50th Plenary Assembly of the SADC Parliamentary Forum hosted virtually by the Kingdom of Lesotho from 10th to 12th December 2021.
HON. SEN. CHIEF MAKUMBE: I second.
HON. SEN. MOHADI: Thank you once again.
- Introduction
The 50th Plenary Assembly Session of the SADC Parliamentary Forum was hosted virtually from the 10th to 12th December 2021 under the theme, ‘Celebrating a new era of democracy towards consolidating the vibrant voices of SADC Parliamentarians’. The theme of the 50th Plenary Assembly, which resonated with commemorations of the Golden Jubilee of Plenary Assembly sessions, was aimed at celebrating the achievements of the SADC PF since its inception, including, but not limited to the landmark decision of the 41st SADC Summit meeting held in Lilongwe, Malawi, from the 17th-18th August 2021, which approved the Transformation of the Forum into a SADC Regional Parliament, with the accomplishment of other formalities such as the amendment to the SADC Treaty and the incorporation of the Protocol to establish the SADC Parliament commencing immediately.
Hon. Advocate Jacob Francis Nzwidamilimo Mudenda, Speaker of the Parliament of Zimbabwe, led the delegation which comprised the following Members of Parliament:
- Tambudzani Mohadi, Member of the Standing Committee on Food, Agriculture, Natural Resources and Infrastructure;
- Goodlucky Kwaramba, Member of the Standing Committee on Gender Equality, Women Advancement and Youth Development and Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Women’s Parliamentary Caucus (ZWPC);
- Dought Ndiweni, Executive Committee Member and Member of the Standing Committee on Democratization, Governance and Human Rights;
- Anele Ndebele, Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Trade, Industry, Finance and Investment; and
- Paurina Mpariwa, Member of the Standing Committee on Human and Social Development and Special Programmes.
2.0 Official Opening Ceremony
In delivering the keynote address, the Guest of Honour, Rt Hon. Dr. Moeketsi Majoro, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Lesotho, recognised SADC PF as a key cog of SADC and paid tribute to the Strategic Lobby Team of Hon. Speakers for its unwavering commitment to the Transformation Agenda. The Premier acknowledged that as a late convert to the Transformation Agenda, he had since become a fervent advocate for the speedy amendment of the Treaty to ensure that the Regional Parliament becomes a reality in accordance with the laid down roadmap.
In their congratulatory remarks, the East Africa Legislative Assembly (EALA), applauded the model law-making initiatives at the SADC PF and indicated that they stand ready to share their experiences and also assist the institution in the Transformation process agenda.
The Regional Women’s Parliamentary Caucus (RWPC), called for the active consultations of women in all decision–making processes.
Hon. Christophe MBOSO N’KODIA PWANGA, President of the SADC PF and Speaker of the National Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Congo, profiled the achievements made by the Forum since its inception and applauded Member Parliaments for their resilience in the endeavour to see the birth of a SADC Regional Parliament.
In proposing a vote of thanks, the Speaker of the Parliament of Malawi, Rt. Hon. Catherine Gotani Hara, graciously thanked the Kingdom of Lesotho for unpacking a well-choreographed 50th Anniversary Plenary Assembly and reminded the meeting of the significant socio-economic contributions of the Kingdom of Lesotho to the region.
- Statement by the Speaker of the National Assembly of Zimbabwe, Hon. Advocate Jacob Francis Nzwidamilimo Mudenda on the Symposium and the Key Deliverables
Hon. Advocate Jacob Francis Nzwidamilimo Mudenda was part of the team that reflected on the Symposium topic, “The Windhoek Initiative and the Birth of the SADC Parliamentary Forum: Celebrating the Emergence of the Voice of Parliaments in SADC Regional Integration”. In his delivery, the Hon. Speaker urged the Region to activate an enduring consultative framework between the Executives and the Legislatures within SADC to keep the momentum going on the Transformation Agenda.
He indicated that this could only be achieved by ensuring that key structures such as the Joint Task Team led by the Secretary-General and the SADC Executive Secretary working under the stewardship of the Strategic Lobby Team of Hon. Speakers continue to collaborate as guardians and custodians of the Transformation Agenda. The Strategic Lobby Team has to guide the Technical Working Group at the political level in order to keep the Transformative Agenda within the SADC Summit decision radar.
The Symposium Statement recommended that all SADC PF Members should studiously read the Proposed Protocol on the Transformation Process once it is submitted by their respective Ministers of Foreign Affairs so as to make incisive input that will accelerate the transformation process to take place before 2023.
The Symposium noted the persistent impediments to regional integration due to the prevailing visa regimes and artificial barriers in the mould of borders which continue to act contrary to the spirit of total regional hegemony. To this end, the spirit and letter envisaged in regional integration and cooperation by SADC Founding Fathers should be foisted to achieve total regional harmony.
The 50th Plenary Assembly Meeting also took time to celebrate the life of Dr. Kenneth Kaunda, a luminary and founding patriarch of African independence who died on 17 June 2021. The glowing tributes acknowledged the work of the illustrious son of Africa who contributed immensely to the liberation of many African countries in the region including Zimbabwe. The participants acknowledged that the life of Dr. Kaunda ably demonstrates the sacrificial servant leadership principle of putting others first before considering one’s own situation.
It is important to note that the Speaker of the Parliament of Zimbabwe spearheaded the publication of a Condolence Booklet commemorating the life of the late President of Zambia which has been shared with the Zambian Embassy in Zimbabwe for distribution to the National Assembly of Zambia and Dr. Kenneth Kaunda’s family, among others.
- Adoption of the Report of the Executive Committee and the Treasurer’s Report
The Executive Committee tabled its report for consideration and adoption during the 50th Plenary Assembly meeting.
The Report acknowledged the work of the Strategic Lobby Team of Hon. Speakers and the consequential approval of the Transformation of the SADC PF into a Regional Parliament and pledged to chart the way forward in terms of amendments to the SADC Treaty and the finalisation of the Protocol establishing the SADC Parliament.
The Plenary Assembly adopted the proposed salary reviews for SADC Secretariat Staff and the recommendations for Member Parliaments to second staff as a stop-gap measure to mitigate the prevailing manpower shortage.
The Plenary Assembly deliberated on and adopted the SADC Model Law on Gender-Based Violence. The Model Law was interrogated clause by clause after undergoing the same processes in the Joint Standing Committee Meetings.
The 50th Plenary Assembly meeting adopted the Trust Deed and urged the host Speaker, Hon. Professor Peter Katjavivi, to finalize the process of registration and the deposit of the first pledge. The meeting was advised that a number of donors were waiting in the wings to see this initiative through, which will naturally improve the finances of the Forum.
The 50th Plenary Assembly expressed profound appreciation to the Parliament of Lesotho through Hon. Speaker Sephiri Motanyane, for hosting the 50th Plenary Assembly Session. Though Speaker after Speaker yearned for the alternate in-person Plenary Assembly, the region appreciated the demonstrated heightened magnitude of preparations by the Basotho which reverberated throughout the Plenary Assembly.
- MOTIONS ADOPTED DURING THE 50th PLENARY ASSEMBLY MEETINGS
5.1 Consideration of the Report of the Standing Committee on Trade, Industry, Finance and Investment.
The Plenary Assembly Session adopted a motion on the establishment of one-stop investment shops to provide both local and foreign investors with fast, efficient and business-friendly services. In this regard, the work of the Zimbabwe Investment Development Agency (ZIDA) needs to be enhanced in view of the Second Republic’s operative mantra. “Zimbabwe is open for business.”
The Report also stressed the need to promulgate comprehensive laws to fend off the ills of illicit financial flows.
5.2 Report of the Standing Committee on Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources
The Report encouraged Member Parliaments to push for the implementation of policies that encourage water harvesting in their countries and legislate for deliberate transboundary water sharing measures. This will help mitigate the effects of climate change and the prevalent droughts in the region.
The Report also urged Parliaments in the region to leverage on the power of the purse to increase budgetary allocations towards the water sector to promote investments that can guarantee a water-secure region.
5.3 Report of the Standing Committee on Democratisation, Governance and Human Rights.
The motion adopted encouraged virtual election observation missions as an alternate yet effective substitute to in-person missions.
The report applauded SADC for deploying its Standby Force – the SADC Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) – to quell the terrorism threats in Cabo Delgado and for deploying the Force Intervention Brigade (FIB), in support of the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission (MONUSCO), to counter the negative forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In that regard, the Plenary Assembly commended SADC for implementing various initiatives aimed at ensuring that the region continued to enjoy sustained peace and security and that Member States remain politically stable.
- Recommendations and Way Forward
Parliament of Zimbabwe to hold an All-Stakeholder Workshop spearheaded by the Zimbabwe Women’s Parliamentary Caucus (ZWPC), Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, and the Portfolio Committee on Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development and other relevant stakeholders to provide a common platform to deliberate on the domestication of the Model Law on Gender-Based Violence. This initiative to commence by 15 March 2022.
The Plenary Assembly noted the inequalities emerging in the education sector due to Covid -19 related school closures which saw over 1.6 billion learners in more than 190 countries out of school. In this regard, deliberate efforts should be made by the relevant Portfolio Committees to assess the impact of the pandemic on school-going pupils and the effectiveness of policies implemented to rectify the situation, especially in Zimbabwe. The Portfolio Committees on Health and Child Care and the Portfolio Committee on Primary and Secondary Education to initiate Fact-finding Missions and virtual submissions on the impact of COVID -19 on the education sector. This should enhance the already tabled reports on the matter and should consider the transmutative nature of the pandemic. The initiatives are to commence on 15 March 2022.
Urgent action is needed to streamline visa and immigration procedures to ensure the smooth movement of goods and people in the region. There is need for Member States to formulate policies that open up borders for the movement of people and even animals inter-territorially. This should be the beginning of the collapse of artificial borders created by colonialists in their endeavour to divide and rule. The Portfolio Committee on Defence Home Affairs and Security Services to call for submissions from its stakeholders on the need to streamline inter-regional cooperation through removal of stringent border controls. This initiative to commence by 01April 2022.
Member Parliaments were encouraged to continue making efforts to domesticate the Model Laws developed thus far to enable the general populace to benefit through sound policies envisaged at the regional level. In this regard, the SADC PF Secretariat will be engaged to present the modalities for the implementation of the scorecard on Model Laws as an appropriate tool to measure the domestication of Model Laws into the national legislative agenda. Parliament of Zimbabwe to engage Secretariat to give a briefing to SADC PF delegates on the proposed scorecard by 31 March 2022.
There is need for Parliaments across the region to continue raising concern on the negative effects of destabilizing forces such as the insurgency in Cabo Delgado Province of Mozambique. Parliament of Zimbabwe to monitor closely developments at the SADC Summitry to ensure that it pitches appropriately its contributions during the forthcoming Plenary Assembly and related meetings.
- Conclusion
The Plenary Assembly concluded by calling Member Parliaments to continue programming towards the celebrations of the 50th Golden Jubilee celebrations aware that the decision of the Summit is only but the beginning of a long and arduous process inclusive of the adoption of the protocol and the consequential amendment of the SADC Treaty.
Parliament of Zimbabwe continues to play a highly effective leading role in the Transformation Agenda in its role as the holders of the Chairpersonship of the Strategic Lobby Team of Hon. Speakers on the Transformation of the Forum into a SADC Regional Parliament. This role, naturally mutates into a Strategic imprimatur apparatus for the Transformation Agenda.
Parliament of Zimbabwe commits itself to the full implementation of the resolutions of the Plenary Assembly which have been shared among all Members of Parliament to facilitate action by different Portfolio Committees of Member Parliaments.
Parliament of Zimbabwe also stands ready to ensure that all mechanisms towards the operationalisation of the SADC PF Trust are fulfilled.
The 51st Plenary Assembly of the SADC PF will be hosted by the Republic of Malawi in a format to be agreed upon in view of the exigencies of the highly mutative COVID 19 pandemic.
Notably, the Speaker of the Parliament of Zimbabwe, Hon. Advocate Jacob Francis Nzwidamilimo Mudenda, was unanimously elected Chair of the 50th Plenary Assembly Session with Hon. Dought Ndiweni presenting the Executive Committee Report. Members of Parliament from Zimbabwe were also incisive and pointed in their contributions to the Plenary Assembly. I thank you.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. MOHADI: Madam President, I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. A. DUBE: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 5th May, 2022.
MOTION
MEASURES TO RESUSCITATE THE ECONOMY
Eighth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the need to come up with measures to resuscitate the economy.
Question again proposed.
+HON. SEN. CHIEF MTSHANE: Thank you Madam President for giving me this opportunity. I am sorry; I thought that I was connected. Firstly, I will start by thanking the Hon. Senator who tabled this motion which seeks to resuscitate the economy of Zimbabwe.
Madam President, Zimbabwe is one of the countries which is found in the United Nations with the aim to eliminate hunger and poverty by 2030. Zimbabwe has been endeavouring to eliminate poverty and hunger in the past two years. The report says that instead of eliminating hunger, the poor people are now poorer than before. This is because Zimbabwean people are earning RTGs. There is not even a single store which sells products in local currency but they sell in USD. It is obvious that someone who is earning local currency will always be poor.
When you go to seek medical assistance, you will find that all doctors charge in USD. They do not charge in local currency and it is obvious that most people do not seek medical attention because they do not have the USD to be treated by doctors in foreign currency. It is important that we look especially at the rural populace which is bearing the brunt of poverty. There should be social safety nets which should cater for our people because if they are not protected, then they are going to die of poverty and hunger. Leaders of political parties should come together so that the electorate is catered for. With these few words, I thank you Madam President.
*HON. SEN. TONGOGARA: Thank you Madam President for affording me this opportunity to add a few words on the motion raised by Hon. Sen. Dube. This is an important motion which touches on the livelihood of the people of Zimbabwe. When Hon. Dube raised this motion, she had done thorough research on it. She had observed that our economy has gone down and measures need to be taken. We should put our heads together and come up with solutions to improve our economy.
My observation from the debates by Hon. Members who spoke yesterday, I would want to reiterate that the people of this country are the ones that are shooting ourselves in the foot because all of us are greedy. Whenever there is anything that is meant to benefit the people, some people come up with ways of defrauding the people so that they enrich themselves. We are blessed with a lot of wealth. We have natural resources, minerals, farms and there are a lot of things that we can do.
You find that those that would have been employed to oversee the extraction of our natural resources so that our country can be developed are the biggest problem in that whoever is employed in that position will be busy filling their pockets, looting State coffers, hence our economy cannot develop. Even the Government through His Excellency the President, hardworking as he is in putting measures to ensure that our things are okay, it is all for naught.
I brought a motion in here Madam President that dealt with corruption. Corruption is a cancerous issue that has bothered the people of Zimbabwe in that everyone in Zimbabwe requires a bribe to ensure that they perform their duties. Madam President, I believe that because of the motion that I raised on corruption and ways to end corruption, people will put their heads together and work with the authorities and all the people. Corruption cannot be eradicated by a single person. We need to collaborate with one another to eradicate corruption so that we can develop our country.
There is the issue of ZWL$. I implore our Minister of Finance and the Reserve Bank to do something to ensure that our Zimbabwean dollar strengthens. We need to remove the use of the USD and use our local currency. If you go to other countries, you do have foreign currency but when you get to that country, you go to a Bureau d’Change or bank and get local currency which you then use in that particular country. We are failing to do that in this country because we are in a multi-currency situation. The use of the United States dollar (USD) should be completely eradicated in this country. That will help us to develop our economy.
We have small to medium enterprises, they started a long time ago but there is nothing to write home about in terms of development of such business, there is nothing that is visible. The reason being that everyone is at their work place whenever there is mention of trying to ensure that small to medium enterprise can be developed through the use of a bank – the funds are looted. This is because of corruption and greediness. Once we are in that position, it therefore means that we will be unable to develop our country. People will never get the benefits they are supposed to get from the development of this country because of the few people who are misguided and are out there to disrupt developmental programmes. In the process, they enrich themselves and this results in the general populace suffering. This is viewed in the form of the black market. The exchange rate on the black market varies on a daily basis. That is why I said the USD should be removed from being one of the currencies that we use in this country so that those that would want to do black market will not have a platform to operate on. Once we do that, our economy will develop. We will be able to attain vision 2030 with flying colours because we would have put our house in order. We know that we will be using our own local currency and there is no local currency that will be misleading people who when they get ZWL, they want to change their money to USD.
In terms of mining and minerals, there are small scale miners who mine and get something out of it. I request that if possible, people should be able to reclaim the land after mining so that livestock and lives are not lost as a result of these open pits that are left behind. Once we do that, we should be able to cover the pit that is left after a mining exercise.
On cutting down of trees, wherever you walk, you find a man carrying an axe on their shoulder. That is already embedded in the brain that whenever they find some trees, they should cut them willy-nilly. These trees that are being cut down will have been left to grow for a long time. The majority give reasons that they would want to cut down the trees so that they can treat their tobacco. There should be alternative ways that can be used by tobacco farmers so that they will not be able to destroy our forests. The people who cut down trees say there is no problem because they will pay a fine or bribe to EMA. That shows lack of environmental knowledge. We need to put our heads together. We should also involve traditional leaders because everyone who is in a jurisdiction that is run by the chiefs is afraid of committing offences because they know they will be fined by the chiefs. If we exclude chiefs, we will not get anywhere. It is my plea that we involve all the people who are responsible in order to educate people so that they know that they should desist from bribery and that they should not cut trees willy-nilly because it is a cancer that is bedevilling our country. Thank you Madam President, for giving me this opportunity to support this important motion which was raised by Hon. Sen. Dube.
*HON. SEN. DENGA: Thank you Madam President for affording me this opportunity to air my views on the motion that was raised in this august House by Hon. Sen. Dube.
It is true that our economy has gone down the drain. We are no longer able to make a living out of it. The main problem according to me is lack of social contract between the political parties and the people of Zimbabwe. We observed that during the inclusive Government, the Government and the people acted in consent and we had multiple currencies in use in this country. The economy recovered, the industry improved and started producing. At the moment, for us to pin-point where exactly our economy is and how we are living, is not very clear. If we look back to 2017, when the USD was re-introduced, the captains of industry in Zimbabwe did not adopt or did not readily accept the return of the Zimbabwean dollar. There was a cat and mouse game between the Government and the captains of industry.
At the moment, if you request Ecocash – you will observe that the amount is in RTGs but we have left the RTGS era. We are now in the Zimbabwean dollar era. This means that there are some people who are not accepting that we are using the Zimbabwe dollar because they are thinking we are still using the RTGS or Bond. This means that we are not using our real money.
Madam President, the Ministry of Finance is not researching properly to come up with solutions to stabilise the country’s economy. We do have a lot of minerals in this country. Way back when we were school children, we were told that Zimbabwe was an agro based economy – meaning that farming was our mainstay. We were mining gold, chrome and other metals. We do have a lot of diamond and platinum. We have got about 40 or more minerals in Zimbabwe, including uranium and oil that are still to be exploited but we still observe that that economy is going down. This means that those that are responsible for finance, industry and commerce are not doing their duty so that we can restore confidence in our economy.
Our Reserve Bank should be full of gold bars, meaning that the Zimbabwean dollar is weighed on the gold bars. A lot of mountains have been destroyed. In Lion’s Den they have gone deep down 400m from that mountain, meaning that we have such minerals but why are we failing to have gold bars in our Reserve Bank so that we will be able to go and borrow against the gold bars as collateral? Orderly people and companies are coming up with innovations, ,coming up with Inn Bucks but the Ministry of Finance is failing to come up with innovations that will lead people into depositing their funds so that Government can raise money out of that. Inactivity on the part of Ministry of Finance laments the lack of it.
If you look at the farmers, 75 thousand is the amount for the tonne while $420 is the black market rate for a US$1. If one were to sell a tonne, it means they will be selling a tonne at $120. From a tonne of maize, they have only been able to buy two bags of urea. It then forces people to look at some unscrupulous manners to avert this problem. Some have become millers so that they will be able to sell mealie-meal instead of supporting the GMB by delivering the maize to the Grain Marketing Board. People are coming up with their small enterprises in a bid to survive. There are too many leakages Madam President in our economy.
Hon. Sen. Mbohwa once said that our water is leaking like a sieve and it is leaking from all angles. If you look at the houses that people have built, the motor vehicles that they drive and the type of food that they eat show that we have a more than $100 billion economy but there is no evidence to show the storage of that. There is no value stored there. I used to believe that when we were growing up and eating from the same dish, we were being groomed into knowing that we are one people, but on reflection maybe it was a way of teaching you to eat very fast. If you fail to compete you will sleep on an empty tummy. This is typical of what Zimbabweans are doing. Whoever has found something, they are no longer taking to the fiscus. They keep it for themselves using the saying, ‘you must eat before the lights go out’.
Madam President, it is my considered view that we should have people going to China to learn how such a big economy with a billion inhabitants - how they are managing their economy and attending to corrupt tendencies. We would also want to go to Canada, one of the stabilised economies and learn how they are stabilising and dealing with corruption. The President, Hon. Mnangagwa is always calling upon everyone to eradicate corruption but nothing is happening. Parliament is the problematic area because we are not coming up with laws that would give deterrent sentences such as life sentence to anyone convicted of corruption. This will act as deterrent to would-be minded offenders. People are now talking of the catch and release syndrome or practice.
Madam President, we should come up with robust laws that are implemented once they have been passed by this House. The statutes and the instruments should be in place. With those few words Madam President, I thank you.
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE HON. PRESIDENT OF SENATE
VISITORS IN THE PRESIDENT OF SENATE’S GALLERY
THE HON. PRESIDENT OF SENATE: I wish to recognise the presence in the President of the Senate’s Gallery, of the delegation of the Business of the House Committee from the Parliament of Malawi. The delegation is led by the Hon. Speaker, the Right Hon. Cathrine Gotani Hara and is comprised of the following: Hon. Minister Richard Chimwendo, MP, Leader of the House; Hon. Roderick Khumbanyiwa, MP from the UDF Party, he is the Party Whip; Mr. Jeffrey Mwenyeheli, the Deputy Clerk of Parliament and Parliamentary Services; Mr. MacDonald Kabondo, Controller of Human Resources and Development; Mr. Moffat Makande, Acting Chief Clerk Assistant and Table Office; Ms. Grace Nyirenda, Special Assistant to the Speaker of Parliament; and Ms. Vanessa Manda, Protocol Officer. The delegation is here on a benchmarking visit. You are most welcome Hon. Madam Speaker and your delegation – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] –
HON. SEN. KAMBIZI: Thank you Mr. President for affording me the opportunity to say a few words pertaining to this very important motion that was raised by Hon. Sen. Alice Dube. It is indeed a motion that deals with the lives of the people of Zimbabwe. It also talks to the ways of revamping the economy for the wellbeing of all the citizens.
Mr. President Sir, the economic situation that is prevailing in this country is both funny and unique. All things being equal, the people of Zimbabwe and their economy should be showing a trajectory that is going up but instead the opposite is happening and I am not too sure why. Zimbabwe has all the resources in abundance, be it minerals or agriculture. Why then are citizens of this country suffering? Why then is the economy on a downward trajectory? That is the biggest question this House must focus on. In fact, Hon. President Sir, the people of Zimbabwe should be reasonably enjoying their life because of the abundance of resources that are in this country. I will be both practical and academic in my debate. Yesterday, another fellow Senator spoke highly about the behaviour of Zimbabweans and he ended up saying Zimbabweans are the biggest enemies of their economy. I will elaborate on that. First and foremost, we have a very funny group of citizens in this country who have the audacity to fly to western countries to ask or beg that sanctions be placed on this country. What does that entail? We will have limited trade and we cannot access lines of credit to revamp our industries. Secondly, there is the issue of political power. We have some citizens in this country who are obsessed by power to an extent that they wish citizens of this country to suffer so that by the end of the day, they think using their stomachs. Come election day, they will vote using their stomachs with the fake hope that the same people who are starving will then opt for change.
The greatest enemy is corruption, corruption, corruption, corruption. Many a times, we have had investors who have shown interest to come and invest in this country but they come in and get out, running away from corruption. I will give an example; one comes in and he is told if you want to invest $5 billion you will have to give me 10% under the table. Then you begin to wonder what is 10% of $5 billion? How much is that? What we are saying is that we need to come up with legislation that ensures that all those involved in corruption and scaring away our investors must be dealt with seriously. Corruption undermines and continues to undermine development in this country to an extent that our development is stunted.
Mr. President, we do not have a shortage of legislation but we have succeeded paradoxically to create an environment that allows thieving and thievery to blossom and thrive. There is need to suffocate all those who are involved in corruption. We must not give them enough oxygen to breathe. They must fail to breathe and die. If they do not die, they must be incarcerated for lengthy periods.
Mr. President, patriotism is a word found in all countries world over. Are we patriotic to our own country? We seem not interested in what is happening to our country as long as we have USD in our pockets. Zimbabweans have stacks and stacks of USD in their bedrooms if we were to search. Unfortunately, we will not do that but that is exactly what is happening. Our own currency is in a sorry state of economic affairs. There is virtually no country that can develop using borrowed currency because we do not have power over it. We need to have our own currency and have confidence in our own currency and that is a fact. We need to soldier on using our own currency until it gains to the level that we want. In military terms they say – and I know Mr. President you are well versed with that; ‘more blood in training, less blood in the battle’. We need to work on that and ooze blood in order to ensure that our currency gains. I have travelled to one or two countries in the western world and I have never seen anywhere where cash is sold on the streets. Just in December, I was in Swaziland. I arrived a bit late, got into the hotel when all banks had closed. I then went to the manager and asked where I could buy some Swazi dollars and he said you want to buy cash this time? This was because mentally I knew in Zimbabwe even at 12 midnight, you could buy money on the streets. He said you have to wait for the banks to open tomorrow. I felt very ashamed because I had just showed him what we do in Zimbabwe which is very shameful.
I want to stress that we need our currency and we must have confidence in it. We need to embark on economic reconstruction. I am happy that the new dispensation is already on that course. We need to bust the illegal sanctions but how can we do that when some other people are saying tozvidira jecha or ndirikusunga one ndirikusunga dozen then where do we go. Is that person a patriotic son of the soil or a citizen of this country? We seriously need to shift a gear up in terms of fighting corruption. Fortunately or unfortunately, corruption is a motion that is coming immediately after this one and I will be standing up to debate very strongly over that so I will reserve some bit of energy. We need to attract our sons of the soil who are in the diaspora but again I am quite pleased with His Excellency because wherever he goes, I have seen it and I have been following on television, he addresses the children of Zimbabwe who are in the diaspora. I am glad they have all shown interest to come back and work with the rest of the people of Zimbabwe to develop our own economy. Mr. President, we completely need to put a stop to these money changers that are roaming around the streets. Probably we as legislators need to come up with a legislation, not today but yesterday, which means we are late. We need to use legislation to wipe out everyone who is selling, be it United States dollar, Rands or Zimbabwean dollars on the streets. There is need to do that Mr. President. The RBZ must tighten the screws and control all other banks so that today, if Hon. Kambizi wants to access United States dollars, I should be able to walk into a bank and access United States dollars, but what is very funny is if I go to the RBZ, there is no United States dollar, if I go to CABS, there is no United States dollar, but get to the streets you find someone with a bunch of United States dollars. Even if we are to look at our own currency, the banks allow somebody a limited withdrawal, but go to Julius Nyerere, you find someone with a heap of brand new notes.
Fellow Hon. Members, this economy is ours; this country is ours. We need to work for it and improve it so that even the generations that are to come must be able to say our fathers and mothers did this for us. Mr. President, I advise that we embark on what I call macro-economic stability. For us to attain macro-economic stability, we need to do away with the following:- We should do away with high inflation, high budget deficit, unstable debt levels and distorted exchange rates.
Today the dollar is worth Z$400 tomorrow, it is Z$450. Nobody controls that. Who is doing that, who controls that and where are those figures coming from? We need to interrogate that and find out where these percentages are coming from. Instead Mr. President, we need to ensure our capital and financial markets are working properly. We also need to ensure that our regulatory frameworks are sound.
Mr. President, competitiveness and ease of doing business must be addressed. We need to avoid delaying tactics at all costs. I will tell you what is happening. These corrupt people will employ delaying tactics. Just to get to the counter and you want to have your paper signed, he will say the manager is not here, the deputy manager is not here so that it sounds a very long process and you become uneasy. The only reason is, he is trying to attract a bribe to say why can you not hide this and I will give you $2. The moment we expedite the ease of doing business, then we are home and dry.
Mr. President, lastly, of course I have not exhausted all, we need to embark on job intensive economic growth. By that, I merely mean and I am quite happy that the Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development is talking about Education 5.0 where we are not just talking about putting on a tie and a watch, but we are saying our children must go to school and do things so they become employers themselves. We are saying we need to embark on economic growth that brings jobs to the generations that come because unemployment is a major source of instability and social friction. Mr. President, lack of economic opportunities institute a fertile recruitment ground for violent groups, a thing that I would not want to see happening in my very important country Zimbabwe. Mr. President, I want to thank you for the time that you have allocated to me.
HON. SEN. KOMICHI: Thank you so much Hon. President. Let me also take this opportunity to thank Hon. Alice Dube for raising such a vital motion.
I am equally concerned just like all other speakers that have spoken before me and I totally agree with them that the Zimbabwean economy is collapsing. Life is unbearable in Zimbabwe at the moment. Our currency is losing value like a falling airplane, nose diving into an ocean and it appears as if there is no solution in the very near future. It reminds us of what we went through in 2007 and 2008 when Zimbabwean people were earning more than three million dollars on their pay slips. We are actually going towards that situation once more.
I agree that the Government is trying its best and I agree that Zimbabwe has got one of the best ministers in terms of education, experience and international links (Hon. Mthuli) but things are not getting any better. Being a country that has gone through very difficult economic challenges before, we should at least by this time, have a way to resolve our issues, but still nothing is coming forthwith. Three years ago, we sat in this Parliament over a budget which was $5.4 billion. The following year we then passed a budget of $64 billion and this previous year we went through a budget that was almost $1 trillion. The rate at which our budget is going up has no relationship to the economic growth and development. This only signifies that we are in a conflictual state. We are in a war which is not physical as such, but there is a serious conflict taking place in Zimbabwe, a conflict that requires our attention as Zimbabweans.
If you look at the exchange rate at the moment, it is now increasing on a daily basis. Yesterday it was at 1: 400, today it is on 1:420 at the black market which is the real money which affects the ordinary person. The $155 which is manned by the RBZ does not help us, we do not benefit out of that. Only business people could at least claim some benefit but us, as ordinary Zimbabwean people do not benefit from the $155 Zimbabwean dollars to United States dollar bank exchange rate. The one that affects us on a daily basis, that affects the cost of living, that prices our goods on a daily basis is the $450 that is currently running on the black market.
At the moment, you cannot buy bread, you cannot buy fuel to put in your car. It is very difficult to get cooking oil at the moment, it is very expensive. To make things worse, the salaries that we all earn here, what the civil servants earn here, any other person it is rated according to the $450 exchange rate. If you quote salaries that we are getting today, it is around $30 000. The majority of our people in Zimbabwe are getting $30 000 and $30 000 vis-a-vis the $450 rate; is nothing.
The cost of goods in the shops, bread is almost $400, cooking oil almost $1800 and the Poverty Datum Line (PDL) has gone very high. At the moment, the PDL is around $75 000 to $90 000. How many people in Zimbabwe are earning $90 000? School fees have gone up. The schools that were charging $3000 last term are now charging $10 000. Schools that were charging $6 000 last year are now charging $90 000 today. Boarding schools are now completely out of range but we know most of our children do go to boarding schools.
These are the basic requirements of any human being and this is the responsibility of the Government to make sure that people live comfortably, but the economic challenge or crisis in Zimbabwe at the moment is sliding out of control. The Government has lost control over the economy of this country because the Government cannot take the pace or set the agenda. The agenda is being set by external people, external forces, the people in the street, the people in the diaspora, people that are in other countries that I will mention in future. They decide on our fate and this is quite terrible.
It is true I was just reading an article today that the country is about to face serious instability. The country is about to face uprisings, demonstrations because of hunger. The moment the people of any country suffer, they tend to go into the street. I read somewhere in an article last week when the Malawian people were actually marching on the street to go and present a petition somewhere at a Government office. Why is that happening? You can see; the question is, what is the problem? The problem is not all what we are talking about from my point of view. The problem is us as Zimbabweans and as Africans.
I bleed when I look at the geographical economic strength of the world. Africa is the richest continent on earth but we are the poorest. Zimbabwe is one of the richest countries in the world but today we are crying about our economy and our currency, our Reserve Bank and we are fighting amongst ourselves. We are pointing fingers at each other, the question is why? Why is it that Africa is what it is today?
The challenge is that Africans have failed to be innovative. Africans have gone to school; it has professors and doctors, only to parrot the education that they have gone to school to get. No African has been revolutionary in approach to the system of governance. There is a man whom we will celebrate after some years, the late R. G. Mugabe. He was determined to take the bull by its horns and waged a revolution on our land. We are the only country which has repossessed its own land in Africa and the world-over. That was revolutionary, whatever happened is something else but on the issue of land, we own our land – [HON. SENATORS: Hear, hear.] – We are rich in that aspect and we hope other African countries can also do the same.
My plea to Cde. Emmerson Mnangagwa is to lead a new revolution of setting up an African Government system that is different from what we are having. My argument is we are failing to run our economies because we are using a borrowed governance system – [HON. SENATORS: Hear, hear.] – Today we are in this Parliament using whose system? Next year we are going to elections, using whose system? Do we know it? Africa needs to develop a governance system that has an African culture, African identity and African history. At the moment, we are not using that.
The Western governance system makes us like school children – [HON. SENATORS: Hear, hear.] – There are people outside this continent who will say you have gone to elections in 2023, have you passed; you are marked and given marks. I know the marks that we will get next year, it will be three out of ten - failed. Why is it that their economies are surviving using the same governance system? It is because the governance system they are using is cultured according to their Western world; they know it, because they developed it on their own. For instance, the Eastern world as well, they have their own governance system which they developed and they understand; look at their economies, they are developing. Zimbabweans or Africans are using a borrowed governance system yet we are failing.
Elections alone are not a solution, it actually divides our system – [HON. SENATORS: Hear, hear.] – Hon. President, the moment we go for elections, a certain Western power would take one side and the other Eastern power will take another side and a friction is created in Africa or in Zimbabwe. Throughout the next coming five years, people are not going to develop their economy but they will be fighting over power agenda. Should we always fight for power or be on each other’s neck at the expense of the people’s lives? We cannot do that. We have to think outside the box, be innovative, revolutionary and introduce a new system for African governance so that no one will mark you like a school kid and no one will follow you to say you failed there. We must manage ourselves as Africans. The moment we develop our own system that is not going to be marked by the East or Western world, we will be able to focus on post-election agenda and it must be an economic agenda, not a perpetual fight for power.
I want to call upon Zimbabweans to consider a simple solution, which is to dialogue among themselves. Let us call for an all stakeholders’ conference and invite every key person in the country, invite the ruling party, ZANU PF, all opposition political parties, church leaders, traditional leaders, business leaders and labour unions. Let us prescribe a new system of governance, which should not be related to the West or East but related to the African culture and the system of governance that has got a Zimbabwean identity, culture and history of living together and co-existing. Let us go to elections and elect a President, after that the President must invite the competitors who would have reached a threshold and form a Government of national unity. If we do that, the West will not be able to grab and abuse you and the East will not be able to do that too.
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Order, I hear you Hon. Sen. Komichi, but there is a requirement for you to stick to the motion which we are debating. There is now a tendency for speakers to broaden it and turn it into politics. I think Hon. Sen. Dube’s motion was very clear.
HON. SEN. KOMICHI: Thank you Hon. President. I had actually reached a point where I was proffering a solution. What I thought the solution is, is what I am talking about now. Hon. President, I strongly believe that Zimbabweans must unite.
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: I agree with you.
HON. SEN. KOMICHI: If we unite, all these things will not be there. If we unite and agree on the way forward as Zimbabweans, we will be able to deal with all issues that are affecting us. One of the issues that is affecting our economy at the moment, which has put the economy to nose-dive into this motion is the sanctions. Sanctions need to be dealt with and they cannot be dealt with by one person. We have tried that and it has not worked.
Through national dialogue, the people will be able to put that item of sanctions as an agenda and agree on the way forward. People will be able to go and reach out to countries that have imposed sanctions on us and ask them to remove them collectively. One person cannot achieve that, we have tried that. The solution I am prescribing here is that we should be able to use, it is a very plausible solution. We must unite in every political party that we have, there must be unity in the ruling party and in the opposition parties so that we put together our heads and resolve this matter. The issue of corruption, I agree with you but it is the result of an economic decay. At the moment, everyone is so poor and everyone is so corrupt. It is like asking a fish that is in a dam not to drink water. It will have to drink water because it is there, so corruption levels are so high because everyone is corrupt. There are very few people in Zimbabwe now who are not corrupt. Corruption is as a result of an economic decay, and corruption is as a result of the sanctions that have been imposed on us. It is very difficult to deal with corruption because the person that you send to go and arrest will also be corrupted.
So we need a holistic solution, and holistic approach to this, and it needs brave men and brave women to take up the revolution to make sure that we introduce a new African governance system, a Zimbabwean African governance system. I plead with the country President to take that bull by the horns and push forward, and call all of us to agree on the way forward to save our own country. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. SHUMBA: Thank you Mr. President for giving me this opportunity to add my voice to this motion. I also want to give my perspective on the issue of the economy. When you listen to Hon. Members debating, you will observe that the problem has been with us for a while. I was asking myself, when did all these things start? What is the root cause? We should always look at the root cause whenever we have a problem and we uproot the problem from the root, and see if it persists.
I have heard a lot of Hon. Members speaking and they are also of a similar mind that viewed the sanctions being the causative agent of our problems, and that others also are greedy in terms of power. There is also the spirit of ensuring that no one gets anything done – scorched earth policy or the tonnes of sand being poured into an issue. African countries are united in that the sanctions should be removed. Why are they still in place? We will then find that those who are in good books with the whites are the ones who are killing this country, and even today, they are saying that as Africans, they are the ones who are killing this country.
As I was reading the news, I observed that people go to the streets to demonstrate against a Government because the Government has failed to pay its workers and such other things. We agreed in this august House that our economy is adversely affected by foreign currency. Is there anyone who has demonstrated that we no longer want the United States Dollars? Are we not paying lip service in here but once we go outside, no one speaks against the United States Dollars? ZINASU wants colleges closed because fees have been increased. Why have they not gone onto the streets to demonstrate because the United States Dollar value has gone up? Why are we this blind? If we observe this in this august House, what should we do about it?
When you go to the street, you will find sackfuls of United States Dollars as well as local currency but when you go to the banks, there is nothing. Are we incapable of speaking against such things? Is it not possible to question the person who heads the Reserve Bank? What is he like? Why should we not call him since he is responsible for the Zimbabwean currency, and the one who is causing hunger for us? We are suffering from hunger. What does it mean when a loaf of bread costs ZWL$400.00?
We have the amarula fruit being processed in our area but if you want to buy Amarula wine, a small bottle will cost USD$10.00. Why would the amarula fruit processed in Zimbabwe, being sold at USD$10.00? This is what is bothering us. I just had to add my voice by saying that we may spend the whole day debating until the cows come home mooing. There is rampant corruption. I was also recently involved in corruption.
When you get to the tollgates during peak hours, you will find a huge flow of motor vehicles, and there will only be two tellers processing the motor vehicles. Other people would then use the exempted route, and a lot of people pass through that exempt route. I saw a woman carrying a sack full of money – that is corruption. I also produced my money but did not get a receipt. So where is this money going? This is what has killed us. Even those who work for ZIMRA are hungry. We are not seeing where this hunger is coming from because we have a lot of mines in this country yet there is nothing to show for it.
I came from Chiadzwa and a lot of money is being made by the Chinese but the roads are so poor. They are in a sorry state. Where is the money going to? They are simply coming in and taking our money, and we are remaining poorer. Let us as black people do something about it. We are now oppressing ourselves. We used to be oppressed by the British but that era has gone. We are now oppressing ourselves, and as legislators, we must come up with good laws because the country has gone to the dogs. Fuel now costs a lot of money even in the USD terms, let us arise and shine like the Bible says. Let us wake up, stand up and be counted as black people. We must show our displeasure at the poor economy that our country has or maybe this is caused by those who are friendly to the whites because we hear them saying, whites will be flooding in this country after five days when they get into power.
What do we need whites for? After all, they are the ones who have flooded the USD in this country. When we say, let us be united, and when you speak like what Hon. Sen. Dr. Mavetera said, you are stigmatised as having been bought or bribed by ZANU PF. What we need in Zimbabwe is unity. If we are not united, this animal called corruption will never come to an end because there are those saying that such things should be imposed so that we die of hunger.
Like what His Excellency the President has previously stated, I would also want to say that this country can be built by its own people. Zimbabwe can be built by Zimbabweans. Let us build Zimbabwe so that we do not encounter the famine that we are experiencing at the moment. Let us not be self-centered. If there is a leakage, we should demonstrate against those leakages. The Reserve Bank Governor should come and tell us. Why should we be afraid of him? Anyone who is convicted of corruption should spend life in prison or if they are to be beheaded, let it be so. I thank you.
HON. SEN. A. DUBE: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. TONGOGARA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 5th May, 2022.
MOTION
EFFORTS TO CURB CORRUPTION
Ninth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion to introduce deterrent services for those engaging in corrupt activities.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. KAMBIZI: I would like to make a brief contribution to the motion raised by Hon. Sen. Tongogara, a motion that was extensively debated by many Honourable Members. The subject of corruption is a subject that is ever green in Zimbabwe. Like I said earlier on, it has undermined and continues to undermine development in this country. Corruption continues to be pervasive and pernicious to the detriment of the country.
Mr. President, corruption is defined in the First Schedule of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission Act as follows; ‘an act of soliciting, accepting, giving, obtaining, promising or offering of a gratification by way of a bribe or other personal temptation of inducement’. In other words, corruption refers to misuse and abuse of public office for private gain. It is also a form of dishonest or criminal offence undertaken by an individual or a firm that has authority in order to acquire illicit benefits.
Allow me Mr. President to go through the types of corruption that are taking place in Zimbabwe. The types are quite numerous but allow me to go through the most common ones. The first one is bribery which is a criminal and corrupt practice where an entity offers something of value to a corporate or a public figure to solicit for cooperation or influencing of a decision making process. We have seen this happening in most companies. You get to somebody who is in authority; he is given maybe $100 so that the person influences a quick decision to the benefit of the person who is seeking such a service that is bribery. Instead of taking the normal channel and allow the actual process to take place, people are not patient and bribe to quicken the process.
Secondly, I talk of extortion. This is very rampant in this country. Extortion refers to demand for a bribe for a service before it is given, ah ndipe $10 ndiite ichi - that is extortion. You want to apply for a piece of land, can I have $200 so that process goes quickly, and that is extortion. You are getting the money by cohesion. I did not want to pay you because this is Government land and you are asking me for $200 so that you give me the land, this is extortion.
We also have what we call cronyism. This is a practice of partiality in awarding of employment and other benefits to friends and relatives. Who is my relative? There is a vacancy at a certain company; I cannot give Mrs. Muzenda the post because I need a friend or relative. That is cronyism. We also have nepotism which is very common. People are working at a company and a vacancy arises in the company, I cannot give to someone who deserves. I would rather opt to give my friend or relative who does not have the proper qualifications that are required. That is corruption and it is happening everywhere even at the teacher training colleges, nursing schools or boarding schools. Mwana ane four units cannot get a place but somebody comes in with 14, 15 or 16 units, you find them at that school.
Then we have graft which is the unscrupulous use of a politician’s power for personal gain. This usually happens by misdirecting public projects to gain benefits. Mr. President, I am happy when I am talking to legislators who are supposed to be involved in the fight against corruption. I am sorry to liken this to you so that it becomes very clear. We have CDF and I am not shy to say this. Please I beg that you do not ask for examples, I am just saying this in passing. There are certain projects that are supposed to be performed by CDF but many times we go to the constituencies and you hear people saying we do not even know what CDF is. We do not even see where it is used and that is corruption because that fund has been diverted for somebody’s personal benefit.
We go on to embezzlement, which is an element of fraud and normally involves white collar jobs, vaye vanoba nepenzura but it is also a form of corruption. I just decided to talk of these so that we sail on the same frequency because when we talk of corruption, it is not one activity. There are many activities that constitute what we call corruption. Corruption is one of the unholy trinity of dirty money together with criminal and illegal commercial activities.
Allow me Mr. President to talk of the economic impact of corruption so that we see how bad corruption is. Corruption causes people to stay poor and suffer from high infant and child mortality. It deteriorates the country’s public infrastructure. Corruption reduces productivity, hinders investments, reduces economic growth, restricts trade, and distorts the size and composition of Government expenditure. When there is corruption, we are saying we are coming up with a $5 billion budget but that budget in most times is distorted because probably 10% of that budget is lost through pilferage or through the various methods of corruption that I talked about.
So our budget is distorted because of corruption. Corruption also weakens the country’s financial system by strengthening underground economy. There are a lot of activities that are happening underground that involve large sums of money and money that is supposed to be circulating in this country or in banks which is not in the banks but underground. So, there is another economic activity that is taking place underground. That is the effect of corruption.
Madam President, the reason why corruption thrives is because we tend to treat corrupt people as sacred people. Like I said earlier, the problem is not the shortage of legislation. The legislation is there and people are arrested day in day out, but what happens? Five years pass and no sentence was given to anybody; other people will then follow suit and say ndinongoitawo five years ndichienda kucourt ndichidzoka. We must not celebrate ill gotten wealth. We should suffocate corrupt people and create a hostile environment for them.
I will also look into the effects of corruption on nation building. Corruption leads to diversion of development resource for private gain. It leads to miscalculation of talent and loss of tax revenue, the money that is embezzled by the people in the offices is State revenue. That money is going elsewhere instead of benefiting the people. It has a negative impact on quality of infrastructure and public services, thereby slowing developmental growth.
There are quite a number of recommendations that we can try and implement and these include:-
Social Transformation: There is need for formation and reformation of the minds and hearts of Zimbabweans so that they know that corruption is the enemy of development in this country.
Enforcement of Anti-Corruption Law: This should be implemented fully without fear or favour. I encourage that the Anti-Corruption Commissioners be well remunerated so that they do not feel the desire to receive a bribe. The moment someone is hungry and is dealing with large volumes of money stolen from the State, chances are that he will say let me take this US$50.
Improve Socio-Economic Life of our people: This is the biggest weapon and it will reduce the tendency by public servants to demand and take bribes. We need to re-direct all the wealth of the country to develop the welfare of our people.
Adopting Mahatma Gandi’s lessons: The lessons are instructive and applicable to what is happening in this country today. He warned against seven social sins.
These are: avoid politics without principles. We are politicians yes and want to be in leadership positions, some aspire to be President but if you are not principled, you rush to ask for sanctions so that the people in your country suffer.
Avoid wealth without work: I cannot just wake up and be a billionaire and people start celebrating that Kambizi is a billionaire. The source of wealth must be divulged to the State. Today people are building mansions and nobody knows where the money is coming from.
Avoid commerce without morality.
Avoid pleasure without conscience.
Avoid education without character; Zimbabweans are very educated. There are a lot of professors but is the type of education conducive to the development of this country? Everyone wants to put on a tie because he is a professor. Our sons and daughters are professors around the globe but what is happening to this country - that is education without character. I am quite happy that Zimbabwe has shifted towards the correct path – Education 5.0.
Creating an Anti-Corruption Culture among our people: We need to do checks and balances within Government to fight corruption.
There is need for stiffer and prohibitive sentences to those found guilty of even a petty corrupt activity.
Cases of corruption must be dealt with within the shortest possible time and civil servants found guilty of corruption should be incarcerated for lengthy periods and dismissed from work. I thank you.
HON. SEN. TONGOGARA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. MATHUTHU: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 5th May, 2022.
MOTION
FIRST REPORT OF THE THEMATIC COMMITTEE ON HIV AND AIDS ON THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC LOCKDOWN RESTRICTIONS ON HIV AND AIDS SERVICE DELIVERY SYSTEM IN ZIMBABWE
Tenth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the impact of COVID-19 on motion on the impact of Covid-19 pandemic lockdown restrictions on HIV and AIDS service delivery system.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. A. DUBE: Mr. President, I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. TONGOGARA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 5th May, 2022.
MOTION
SECOND REPORT OF THE THEMATIC ON HIV AND AIDS ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ANTIRETROVIRAL THERAPY (ART) ROLL-OUT PROGRAMME
Eleventh Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Implementation of the Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) Roll-Out Programme.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. KAMBIZI: Mr. President, I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. TONGOGARA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 5th May, 2022.
On the motion of HON. SEN. MUZENDA, seconded by HON. SEN. MATHUTHU, the House adjourned at Twenty-Four minutes to Five o’clock p.m.