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NATIONAL ASSEMBLY HANSARD 22 SEPTEMBER 2020 VOL 46 NO 65

PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE

Tuesday, 22^nd September, 2020

The National Assembly met at a Quarter-past Two o’clock p.m.

PRAYERS

(THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER in the Chair)

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER

TABLING OF A REPORT

THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER:  I wish to bring to the

attention of the House that Section 12 of the Audit Office Act Chapter

22:18 states as follows:  any report transmitted in terms of Section 10 or 11 (a) to the Minister or (b) to the appropriate Minister shall be laid by the Minister or appropriate Minister as the case maybe, before the National Assembly on one of the seven days on which the National Assembly sits next after he or she received such report.

Where the Minister or appropriate Minister fails to lay any report before the National Assembly, in terms of Subsection 1 within the period specified therein, the Auditor General shall transmit a copy of such report to the Speaker of the National Assembly for the Speaker to lay it before the National Assembly.

On Monday, 7^th September 2020, the Auditor-General submitted the following value for money audit reports:  In terms of Section 12 (1) (b), Monitoring Quality of Goods being Imported into the Country by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Support of Micro, Small and

Medium Enterprises by the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises

Development Corporation; Management of Occupational Health and

Safety in Mining Operations by the Ministry of Mines and Mining

Development; Management of Sewerage Systems by Urban Local

Authorities under the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing.  In view of the fact that the relevant Ministers have not tabled the said reports within the specified time frame, I therefore lay upon the table the aforesaid reports in terms of Section 12 (2) of the

Audit Office Act [Chapter 22:18].

MOTION

BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE

HON. TOGAREPI: Madam Speaker, I move that Orders of the Day, Numbers 1 to 5 be stood over until Order of the Day Number 6 has been disposed of.

HON. K. PARARADZA:  I second.

Motion put and agreed to.

MOTION

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL PEACE AND

RECONCILIATION COMMISSION FOR THE YEAR 2018

Sixth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Annual Report of the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission for the year 2018.

Question again proposed.

HON. TOGAREPI: I move that the debate do now adjourn.

HON. MPARIWA:  I second.

Motion put and agreed to.

        Debate to resume: Wednesday 23^rd September, 2020.

MOTION

BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE

HON. TOGAREPI: I move that the rest of the Orders of the Day be stood over until Order of the Day No. 28 has been disposed of.

HON. MPARIWA:  I second.

Motion put and agreed to.

MOTION

CONDOLENCES ON THE DEATH OF HON. MASANGO

MATAMBANADZO

HON. T. MLISWA: I move the motion standing in my name that this House expresses its profound sorrow on the sudden and untimely death on Tuesday, 28^th July 2020 of the Hon. Member of Parliament for

Kwekwe Central Constituency, Hon. Masango Matambanadzo;

PLACE on record its appreciation of the service which the late

Hon. Member rendered to Parliament and the nation;

RESOLVES that its deepest sympathy be conveyed to Mrs. Matambanadzo and family as well as Kwekwe Central Constituency members.

HON. MPARIWA: I second.

HON. T. MLISWA: Madam Speaker, Hon. Members, we are aware of the passing on of Hon. Matambanadzo Masango who was a rare individual in many aspects. He always wanted to give you the impression that he did not know what he was doing until he spoke, that showed humility and that he certainly wanted to give way to a lot of people.

Hon. Matambanadzo Madam Speaker will be greatly missed for his contributions in this House which was based on facts. He was fearless in his discharge of duty. He was somebody who ...

THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon. Mliswa, where is your gadget?

HON. T. MLISWA: Thank you Madam Speaker. Hon.

Matambanadzo, like I said, contributed immensely to national interests in particular. Hon. Matambanadzo was a people’s person who was a member of the ruling party and left the ruling party but still managed to win his constituency, Kwekwe Central which is really a constituency that is well-known for a lot of dirty politics. This is the home of artisanal mining which is backed by a number of politicians for their survival, but being the person that he was Madam Speaker, he managed to prevail over what most people would not do.

As we know that Kwekwe is in the Midlands Province and the

Midlands Province is a stronghold for the politics of this country. Kwekwe being a stronghold for the politics of ZANU PF. A rare attribute of Hon. Matambanadzo was to be able to win that election under the National People’s Party (NPP). The NPP was a party which was formed out of members of the ruling party who had been expelled, expelled out of mere personal issues more than party issues. This was a tendency which had been created in just point out somebody whom you did not like and because of the powers that be, one would then be expelled from the party.

This Madam Speaker certainly exposes what we stand for as Members of Parliament when it comes to national interest. It exposes that the political parties in this country are not worried about the development of this country but them being power brokers in their parties. Power brokers who are building their little empires to be able to control people whom you cannot control and control resources. Hon. Matambanadzo was seen as those people whom they lied about. In all my time of knowing him having been in Kwekwe myself buying a lot of cattle and property at the time he was the District Chairman for ZANU PF. He was loyal to the President, Cde. E.D Mnangagwa. He was loyal to his party but there are people within the party who feared his closeness to the President and gave him a label which is not befitting of Hon. Matambanadzo.

He worked hard relentlessly for the artisanal mining sector in this country. I was the Chairperson for the Mines and Energy Committee as well as the Mining Development Committee. I must say that it was a pleasure to Chair a Committee which had Hon. Matambanadzo because at any given time he would say the right things and the things that most people would not say. Unfortunately, most people do not say the right things; they say things that please people. Hon. Matambanadzo was very clear in educating us on the artisanal mining sector, how important it was. He was one of those practical artisanal miners who also ran his own mine successful.

Hon. Matambanadzo is known as a person who presented a position paper to the Governor of the Reserve Bank, Dr. Mangudya in how this country must carry out artisanal mining where it would benefit the country, it would benefit the people. His proposal was taken on board, most people do not know but the success of the artisanal miners was a result of the proposal that was accepted.

Hon. Matambanadzo was a person who had an extremely intelligent mind. These are some of the examples of men who might not have gotten the full education but full of wisdom and full of the necessary requisites for one to be a leader. This I talk about humility. I talk about participation at full throttle and presenting issues which are detailed where somebody would get through research - but through his experience in whatever he did, he would always come up with the right way of dealing with things.

Hon. Matambanadzo was a kind man. He was once kind to me. For that reason he came from Hurungwe West, Masanga area where I was once a Member of Parliament and equally DCC Chairman, Provincial Chairman and Central Committee Member, he approached me to assist me in acquiring a mine. He said to me I do not want you to even give me money. I will use my money for you to get a claim. Hon. Mliswa the moment you start gold mining you will   live nhaka nehupfumi hwevana venyu. That was the man that I am talking about. He was selfless and somebody who was willing to share his wealth.

Honourable colleagues here will attest to the fact that when we went on trips, he was more than happy to pay for everyone himself.

When you were in Kwekwe, you knew you were at home because Hon.

Matambanadzo would be there. This could be said equally of the likes of Hon. Matangira, when you are in Bindura you know that you are at home. Hon. Matambanadzo made us feel at home. He made sure that we travelled well. He made sure he was present and it would be very difficult Madam Speaker to embark on a trip in Kwekwe Central without Hon. Matambanadzo,  the difficulty being who would receive you graciously?  Who will be able to make sure that you have eaten?  Who will be able to make sure that you have gone back and arrived safely?

This is the rare attribute that Hon. Matambanadzo had.  Hon. Matambanadzo being a member of the NPP and myself being an independent Member of Parliament shared a lot in common.  We had our own ways of communicating.  We had our own ways of caucusing in terms of how we would debate issues, how we would tackle issues of national interests.  Hon. Matambanadzo would always approach the Speaker for him to be given a chance to talk and at no point would he dare go to the Speaker without passing by and say Hon. Mliswa, can I also add your name to the Speaker’s list for you to ask a question.  That is the sort of brother that we are talking about today.

Hon. Matambanadzo Madam Speaker...

THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER:  Hon. Members who are not

in the House, please may you mute your gadgets?  Hon. Mliswa, you can unmute your gadget?

HON. T. MLISWA: Yes unmuted now, ready to go.

THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER:  You may go ahead Hon.

Mliswa.

HON. T. MLISWA:  Hon. Matambanadzo, you will all agree had a certain style of dressing.  He was a cowboy.  He had a flamboyant life.  He liked his tight jeans.  He liked boots and he liked his hat.  You cannot dress in that manner if you do not have what it takes.  If I can just share with Members of Parliament that cowboy boot is about US$500, the jeans equally as much and the hat is about a thousand.  So at any given time, he was worth US$2 thousand with what he was putting on.  He had the means through his transparent acquisition of wealth through the gold projects that he ran.  Hon. Matambanadzo when he was late for a meeting, he would have delivered his gold at Fidelity and would come and say Chairman, I am sorry I am late but I was playing my part in ensuring that the economy grows.  I have just delivered 10kgs, 15kgs of gold.  This is the sort of person that he was.  I recall many times when we would try and finish the meeting on time but he would not be happy until he said what was in his heart.  He spoke his mind and we learnt

with time to give him the space to be able to speak to us on issues that he had which were of a developmental nature.  Hon. Matambanadzo, unfortunately is one of those people who as I have said before loved his party ZANU PF, the current President but the politics of the Midlands and Kwekwe would not tolerate such a person.

It also teaches us that there are people who would like to be close to the President and the powers that be yet they mislead the leaders.  Hon. Matambanadzo was not one who would bootlick.  There are people who are in power because they patronise and lie.  Hon. Matambanadzo was not that sort of person.  He was somebody who was honest in his approach, who did a lot.

In Hurungwe West where he hailed from, he would always talk to me when he left Hurungwe West on what was on the ground.  He would say Hon. Mliswa, you need to go to Masanga School.  The bridge is not looking good, can you go and assist. Not only would he just ask me to go and assist, but he would also give his assistance to that area.  He was somebody who Hurungwe West today though he came from Kwekwe, will never forget their son of the soil who was very much in sync with what was going on.

We saw Hon. Matambanadzo ailing and we all saw that here.  He was a fighter. Not many people would be able to be given so much time in the state that he was in.  At some point we all looked at him when he walked in and we said, waal is this Hon. Matambanadzo?  As people who have a heart you could not say much; you just watched but still he never at all put that as a focus to anything he wanted to do.  It was never an impediment.  He still came in Parliament.  He still wanted to speak in Parliament to represent national interest.  He still would go and approach the Speaker so that he is given an opportunity to speak.  Today, I see other Members of Parliament who are well to do health-wise but have never said a thing.  This is the man who had national interest at heart.

Hon. Matambanadzo told me that, ‘Hon. Mliswa, I am going to China.  I do not know, I might be back and I might not be back but extend and convey that message to the Speaker’.  I conveyed the message to the Speaker and the Speaker being a man of compassion said, ‘why did he not come and tell me so that I also see him and also wish him all the best?’.  He would not go without the necessary protocols of ensuring that the Leader of the House, the Speaker know where he is.  The Speaker asked me, ‘do you have his contact details so that I can also get hold of him and wish him the best”.  He would be with his wife whenever we went away and still in high spirit despite the challenges health wise he was facing.  What worries and concerns me is - shall we always go to China for treatment when we are sick?  If anything had happened to him in China, the State had the resources to fly him back but the resources of flying him back and expenses of an out of the country funeral is more expensive than the money that had been set aside for him to be taken care of by a good institution.  When is our health sector going to be meaningful to a point that we do not have to go to China?  For those who cannot afford to go to China who are not like Hon. Matambanadzo who had his own means and who was a well known gold producer, what do they do?

Madam Speaker, Hon. colleagues of Parliament here, lessons must be learnt and when lessons are learnt, we must be in the forefront of pushing things which will not affect one of us tomorrow.   I am hoping that in unison and in the good memory of Hon. Matambanadzo, we push for a good health sector in our country.  I want to say that Hon. Matambanandzo used to talk to me about how party politics was not developmental.  He was the only Member in Parliament of NPP and a lot of politics had been happening and lamented the fact that he belonged to a political party because nothing ever gets done; it is a smear campaign.  My Hon. Brother here Hon. Ziyambi Ziyambi recently has been smear - campaigned and these are people within his party who do not like him yet it is false.  That is how bad party politics is...

THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER:  Order Hon. Mliswa, is your gadget on?

HON. T. MLISWA: Yes, I think it is fixed now.  We want to remember Hon. Matambanadzo as a good man. A man who was always smart, he dressed his own style, he did things his way and you would appreciate that.  It is not many people who live their lives the way they want to live it, they always live for others.  He lived his life to the fullest, we must also be able to talk about the good that somebody does.  We seem to be in the habit of talking about the bad that people do, even the former late President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, R.G. Mugabe.  On his first anniversary, nothing was said about him yet if you look at his history and the good he did, we did not say that.  It talks a lot about us as a people but tomorrow you are next. Would you want people to also talk about the good things you did.  We seem to want to focus on the bad.

I want us to attribute this debate to the good things that Hon. Matambanadzo did that we remember him for.  Hon. Matambanadzo was a family man, a man who gave his family what he wanted, and a man who amongst other man, will stand tall. Madam Speaker, there is a difference between a man, a father and a husband, I want to say this.  There are other people who are men but not fathers.  They are other people who are fathers but not men, they are other people who are men, father but not husband.  Hon. Matambanadzo was a man, a father and a husband, the three things that mark ubuntu for a man, he was that.

We must get lessons from him that he was proud to be with his wife.  Most of us here; for me, I am still single, I can be with anybody.

Most people here never travel with their wives – [Laughter.] – may they learn to travel with their wives.  He was not shy to be with his wife and introduce her. I am watching you gentlemen, husbands and fathers.  I am looking for an opportunity when you introduce us to your wives vana maiguru vanamainini, we are looking forward to that.

Madam Speaker, he certainly was proud of his wife, he was proud of this family and he is a man who fended for his family in all aspects.  Hon. Matambanadzo, Madam Speaker, without wasting much time because a lot of members want to contribute, was somebody who left vacuum in the politics of Midlands, Kwekwe.  Never will there be another Hon. Masango Matambanadzo. He was a unique character - [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] – Kwekwe is a difficult constituency to win and I remember in one of his campaigns, he was put on the shoulders by the supporters.  He was speaking and they had him on their shoulders for hours while he addressed.  The question that I have for the colleague Members of Parliament is how many people can do that for you in your constituency? It was because he stood for the people.  He represented the people effectively, he was always there for the people of Kwekwe, the people of Kwekwe Central will never be the same again without the Late Hon. Matambanadzo.  These are the sort of Hon. Members and people of this nation who deserve a street to be named after them even in the high density.  How do we remember him for what he did? You could not talk about artisanal mining without talking about the Late Hon. Matambanadzo.  You could not talk about politics in its entirety without mentioning him.  The Late Hon. Mambanadzo will be missed solemnly in Hurungwe West where he comes from and one of the things which I really lament is that I moved this motion because I felt in my heart that if I do not do it, no one would.  May I implore all of us that when somebody dies, may we be humane and forget about which party he belongs to.  May we all come here and contribute to what the Hon. Member did.  May I challenge the parties to say even if I am not a member of your party, when I am no more, when God decides to take me, may you just allow me to be debated on as a member who served in this House for national interest.

The task that we have is a mammoth task and one of us is no longer with us. We know the burdens that we have when you are a Member of Parliament, the resources that you spend which you never get back, the remuneration which you get here is not in-tandem with what is going on today but we are still here.  That alone is good enough for us to debate on any member who has represented this country in this august House.  This august House must be above politics, it must show ubuntu first because we are an example of the people, and we are the face of the nation. So, I implore colleague Members to debate on the good of the late Hon. Matambanadzo, what he did in regards to his role of being a Member of Parliament.

Madam Speaker, I really want to convey my condolences to his wife, family and the Matambanadzo clan for they have lost not only a Member of Parliament who represented national interest but he was the father, the provider.  It is very difficult for us to even imagine what will happen to them.

Madam Speaker, let met also end by saying Members of Parliament die in this House without even getting a car but when they are dead, they do not get a car.  I do not understand that thinking. May we give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. They say wafa wanaka. When one passes on, we do not give the family the car which was due to them – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] – which would have been one of the packages for the conditions of service.  One might have had debts and loans for the car.  I say this so that if there was something you owed the late Hon. Matambanadzo, if he had not been given his car, let it be released.  May it start with him.  There is a start because the debt becomes a burden for the family and they are unable to pay back.  In future, you find the family in the streets and people talk about the family of a former Member of Parliament being on the streets.

Out there, people think we have a lot of money as we sit in here but we do not have anything.  Coming to this House is because of our patriotism and loving our work with the intention of furthering the interests of the nation.  Our salaries are between US$170 to US$212 per month and we have to use that to pay school fees, buy fuel and take care of the family.  That is why I am saying how much pension is owing to Hon. Matambanadzo and is it going to be helpful?  We will see the family struggling to make follow-ups on pension and it is a mere $5, how is it helpful?  May I propose that with the existing package, if there is any amount owing to the late Hon. Member; give the family according to the prevailing auction rate so that they have something to take care of the family.

I thank you Madam Speaker for giving me this opportunity to move this motion.  He was my son-in-law though he is no longer with us.  We were good friends because we were both in the ZANU PF party and we both had our characters smeared by others – [Laughter.] -  We also both won against ZANU PF – I thought you were going to clap hands – [Laughter.] – So I am thankful that Hon. Matambanadzo remained loyal to the statutes of the ZANU PF party but those who were not loyal sold him out.  He was loyal to the party and you cannot do anything to remove ZANU PF loyalty from him, he remains a hero.  I expected him to be declared a Provincial Hero because of the work that he did.

Moving forward, why do we not automatically make any Member of Parliament a Provincial Hero, not because you will get anything but to show that you worked for the nation.  We do not qualify for the honour of national hero – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] – I thank you Madam Speaker and I hope all will contribute well to the motion on the passing on of Hon. Matambanadzo.  We know that the Kwekwe Central Constituency will not be the same without him, there will be war.  He was the peacemaker for Kwekwe Central Constituency and many people knew that he was a responsible Member who acted like the bull of the community.  Bull of the community, may you rest in peace, may you go well.  The work that you left us to fulfill as Members of Parliament, we will continue to do with artisanal mining so that your desires will be carried forward.  Thank you very much.

*HON. MPARIWA: Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am for

giving me this opportunity to speak on the hero to Parliament.  Let me thank Hon. Mliswa for the motion to appreciate and remember those who have departed from among us.  Without this opportunity, we as

Parliament will not be able to know anything about our departed fellow Hon. Members like Hon. Masango Matambanadzo.  We used to call him by the nickname, ‘blackman’. That is how we knew him.  He was a Member of Parliament for Kwekwe Central.  If he debated, no one would desire to add to his content.  There is no one who stands up and make it known to people that they attained Grade 2. Such humility Madam Speaker makes us to see maturity and ubuntu in a person.  In terms of empowerment, I heard it from Hon. Blackman as he related to the activities he used to carry out with the community in his Constituency.  He used to employ some people so that they would be empowered so that they desist from engaging in criminal activities.  This can only be done by someone who is humble before men.

He was a very honest person even when talking about issues to do with his Constituency.  To be a representative of people is not a small task but the late Hon. Member of the Korekore tribe taught us a lot of things.  Even if one comes from a faraway place like Hurungwe, it is possible to go and be a leader in Kwekwe where the Hon. Member stood for two years.  We hope that Kwekwe will be able to find a representative who is of the nature of the late Hon. Matambanadzo.  We grieve for Hon. Matambanadzo because as Parliamentarians, friends and relatives who used to work with him, he related very well with us as colleagues.  It is not easy to sit in this august House and someone just comes to sit by your side because they are happy to do so despite the current social distancing.  When I received the news of his passing on, I felt empty.  Yes, we knew that he was not feeling well but when we get sick we expect God’s blessing of healing and life but that was not so because his time was due.  Madam Speaker, we say to the family of Hon. Matambanadzo, they should not look at this as their own loss. Even those from his party, NPP –

THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon. Mliswa, can you mute

your gadget.

HON. MPARIWA: Thank you Madam Speaker.  I was saying,

the NPP Party should not look at their own loss because the loss is for the whole of Zimbabwe as a nation, Parliament and Hon.

Matambanadzo’s family.  The Kwekwe Constituents should be able to embrace their loss in the sense that the time was due.  However, we pray that the family that was left will be able to move on with their lives the same way it was when Hon. Matambanadzo was still with us.  The Kwekwe Constituency should be developed the same way it would have been developed in the presence of Hon. Matambanadzo.  Madam

Speaker, I remember Hon. Matambanadzo saying, ‘my colleagues, I could have gone back to seek medical attention but there is no financial support.  That was the last time I spoke to him at length and I heard that he would not come to Parliament.

I would like to thank some Hon. Members in this Parliament.  No one segregated him because he was sick.  God gives us time to survive and do our work.  He gives us time to remember and to forgive.  During his time, Hon. Matambanadzo had a chance to mix and mingle with friends and relatives whilst he was sick, but he still continued representing people. A few people do that whilst they are sick.

Madam Speaker, allow me to sing a short gospel song before I sit down.

Hon. Mpariwa sang a song - Vagoni zvavo vanogona basa, vachariona denga rababa; vachariona denga rababa. Thank you Madam Speaker. May the black man’s soul rest in peace.

Baba Matambanadzo-Masango, Mukorekore aive akakwana akadadisa seProvince – akanomira kuvatorwa asi haana kunyadzisa. 

He did not go there to defame his own.  May his soul rest in peace.

*HON. TOGAREPI: I would like to thank Hon. Mliswa who brought this motion on Hon. Matambanadzo who passed on.

Hon. Matambanadzo was a free man who would speak his mind all the time.  He respected all the people that he spoke with.  If he had something in mind, he would come and say out his idea patiently.  I remember he once came to me and said that most of our gold in this country is being stolen.  He said he had some ideas on how to stop this.

He said he would want to have a meeting with Fidelity and Reserve Bank, but they did not want to meet with him.  I had no idea about gold mining, I just listened to what he was saying. He came back and asked me to accompany him to meet Reserve Bank and Fidelity officials and I

did.

I did not know that he was very knowledgeable about gold mining. I just accompanied him as a Member who had brought an idea that is affecting our country.  Our President is always opposing people who steal and he had a noble idea that people should not steal the country’s resources.  When we went to the meeting, I saw how knowledgeable he was concerning mining. He had faith that gold would improve economic growth.  He wished that this gold would be mined and sold for the economic growth of this country.

Hon. Matambanadzo showed me a very good example of opposition politics.  He was not like some of these errant Members of the Opposition who only see bad things in their country.  He strived that his country would develop. He always said he would not sell his gold on the black market but he would sell it to Reserve Bank.  When given little money, I would tell them to give them the appropriate amount.  Some just take the gold and go and sell it on the black market and this is detrimental to the development of our country.  Hon. Matambanadzo was important to miners and he worked hard to ensure that this country would develop.

I applaud my party ZANU PF because it did a good job.  It raised Hon. Matambanadzo and Hon. Mliswa.  We are a party that raises people to be good people.  We should be saluted.

HON. T. MLISWA:  On a point of order, the Hon. Chief Whip – Hon. Togarepi is correct but my political background is that my father was ZAPU then I went into ZANU PF.  They are different.  Yes, I ended up in ZANU because of the unitary code but I was ZAPU.

*HON. TOGAREPI:  Hon. Mliswa was one of the leaders in ZANU PF who knows that there is no longer ZANU or ZAPU.  We now have ZANU PF.  He learnt all the good qualities in ZANU PF.

Even when Hon. Matambanadzo was ailing, he would strive to be in this House and he would debate meaningfully.  He was dear to this House and to the Kwekwe constituents. Members of the Opposition should copy what Hon. Matambanadzo did; when he was in Parliament, he respected this country’s leadership, Parliament leadership and the Constitution of this country.  He would consult in whatever he did or said.  He was determined to develop his country.  I thank you.

THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER:  Hon. Members, I am

reminding you to observe social distancing.

HON. TOFFA:  Thank you Madam Speaker.  I would like to first of all thank Hon. Mliswa for bringing this debate to the table.  Hon. Matambanadzo surely deserves the honour.  He was definitely a great black man.  Hon. Matambanadzo and I met in Kwekwe where I was born.  So, when I spoke to Hon. Matambanadzo I used to say my brother.  I would like to attest to what Hon. Mliswa said that whenever you passed through Kwekwe and you had a problem and you phoned Hon. Matambanadzo, which I used to do whenever I drove through Kwekwe, it was just a habit and I would say my brother I am passing through Kwekwe.

I remember the one day, but I cannot remember which Hon. Members were in my car but it was the time of fuel shortages and I only had 10 litres which would not take me to Bulawayo.  I phoned Hon. Matambanadzo and he said Hon. sister I am at my mine and I said I do not know how I will get to Bulawayo.  He actually left where he was and he said come to my house.  I drove to Amaveni where Hon.

Matambanadzo’s shop is and we went into his shop through the back.  He had a beautiful little garden which was green and he took me to a room where he gave me some fuel.  I told him I only needed 20 litres and he said no let us fill up the car and I said it was fine.  We filled the car and I asked Hon. Matambanadzo how much I should pay and he said no you are not paying anything, you are my sister.

THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER:  Hon. Toffa, please may you

put on your mask.

HON. TOFFA:  Thank you Madam Speaker.  Hon.

Matambanadzo refused to take payment from me and he gave me that fuel which I was very grateful for.  Hon. Matambanandzo, was a person who always reminded Members of Parliament when he stood up to debate that he was a grade two drop out.  Actually, he inspired me as a Member of Parliament – sorry I get very emotional when I think about him.  He would speak and in most instances I always remember he would say handitika, murikunzwaka, handitika.  That would be Hon.

Matambanadzo.

I remember before the 2018 elections when Hon. Matambanadzo came to me and he said my sister, I want to show you that I will take Kwekwe.  Kwekwe people believe in me because I work with the people and he surely did show me.  I actually did not believe that he would win against ZANU-PF, but he did.  He would also come to me and say I believe in your leader, I believe in Chamisa and he would give us tips on what to do.  Hon. Matambanadzo was very confident in himself and in what the people would tell him.  He was a leader that listened to the people.  He was a listening leader.

Hon. Matambanadzo also had community projects.  He once told me of a project that he had where members of the community were contributing and he had groups of women that he gave the opportunity to go to China to order stuff.  He also encouraged a lot of people to go into mining and the women to engage in mining.  There was also a time when I tried my hand in mining and Hon. Matambanadzo told me if I needed anything he would help me get mining equipment and so forth.

He encouraged and loved the youths.

I remember the day that he passed away.  I did not know that he had passed on.  I parked at OK to buy some water and because I knew most people in Kwekwe knew who he was and I knew he was sick.  I

asked how Hon. black man was feeling and these guys looked at me and said he just passed away this morning.  I was shaken and devastated on the passing on of Hon.  Matambanadzo.  I would like to take this opportunity to pass my condolences to the Matambanadzo family, the  Kwekwe community who gave him a hero’s send off for they acknowledged the work that he did in that community.  We have indeed lost an Hon. Member who took his duties at Parliament very seriously and actually believed in Zimbabwe and the brotherhood of Zimbabwe and Zimbabweans.  May his dear soul rest in peace.  Thank you Madam Speaker maam.

*HON. MATANGIRA:  I want to thank you Madam Speaker for

giving me a chance to also say something about the life of Hon.

Matambanandzo.

THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER:  Hon. Matangira please put on your mask properly.  You may go ahead.

*HON. MATANGIRA:  Alright, my nose is big Madam Speaker.  I want to thank the mover of this motion Hon. Mliswa.  You are not different from Hon. Matambanadzo.  Love is God, Love is the real person

HON. MADZIMURE:  Madam Speaker, the regulations are very

clear.  You cover your mouth and nose.  If Hon. Matangira cannot do that then he must sit down.  He is exposing us.  You must cover both the nose and the mouth.

*HON. MATANGIRA:  He just wants me to look like a baboon.  Thank you Madam Speaker.  |Hon. Matambanadzo was a person who was loving and caring.  I knew Hon. Matambanadzo way back when we were both miners.  His hand is imprinted in the founding of the Zimbabwe Mining Federation where we were together in Masvingo during the time when Hon. Zvobgo was the Minister of Mining.  He never changed ever since I knew him. The foundation that was dug by

Hon. Matambanadzo in his life was strong. This foundation, what is it? In this House if there was no ZAPU, ZANU, ZIPRA and ZANLA, even the opportunity to form the opposition would not be there because there was no democracy. This man was a man among other men.

We used to joke together to say, ‘why did they call you Blackman when I am darker than you?. We should both be nicknamed Blackman.’ But truthfully, let us acknowledge the good works that were done by

Hon. Matambanadzo and let us thank the party that put the foundation that made him to be a person who was transparent and said, ‘I will not disown my mother because she is old.’ We know such things do happen that after growing together, Hon. Ndebele and I can disagree.

Those of the Shava totem also have sub-divisions; Mufakose, Mutemasanwa, Shava-Museyamwa, Sekemutema and Vhuramai. They all come from the same root, hence they are all Shavas. That is why

Hon. Matambanadzo was known as Hon. Matambanadzo in the Second Republic of NPF but because of his nobility and transparency, it was because of the mentorship and grooming that he got from ZANU PF. Hon. Mliswa said all of us were there. You do not disown the midwife because the children have come of age.

As it was said by the Hon. Chief Whip, he never at any one time belittled the Government. A race that is won by 22 people only has one wager. What is important is that we should acknowledge and accept who has won and allow those in the majority to rule. We agreed that in

Kwekwe Central, Hon. Matambanadzo of the NPF won the

constituency. He never fought with anyone. He is a man who believed in democracy...

THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon. Matangira, can you use one language?

HON. MATANGIRA: The difference is that Hon. Matambanadzo was a Grade Two drop-out. I only did Grade Two and dropped out of school as well. I am also not educated but Hon. Matambanadzo was more knowledgeable than those with degrees who say if I have not won no one else wins. He never said that if he lost he would cause any havoc. If the devil is to give you an opportunity some day for you to be the ruling party and those whom you used to oppose now become the opposition, what will you do? We have learnt this from Blackman.

Blackman was a contributor in the Mines Portfolio Committee. From his experience and his knowledge in mining, I remember he used to debate in this House that the issue of diamonds that is a bone of contention in Chiadzwa, why do we not take artisanal miners there and give them six months to demonstrate and see how much yield we will get that will get to the nation. He said this in comparison to the big mines. His anthem was, ‘give us a chance because the country is mining diamonds.’ The Chief Whip went to RBZ with Hon. Matambanadzo. We should be bringing the diamonds that the artisanal miners are getting.

My colleagues, it is only God who can allow someone to die and as Members, let us work together. Let us not take an opportunity such as this to say all the negativity we want. When we look at English

Literature, the day Julius Ceasar died, Mark Anthony said ‘I have come to bury Julius Ceasar, I did not come for anything else.’ Honestly, Hon. Matambanadzo, when he was in the opposition, we used to support him and his ideas.

So the opposition needs to support the ruling party for the development of our country. If there is something that you know can deter development you should come and we discuss. Are you going to laugh when you see me fall? Let us come together and support our

Government. Let us support our President, Cde. Mnangagwa. When things are bad in the country, they will not only affect me but will affect both of us.

Madam Speaker, in conclusion, I want to say may the soul of Hon. Matambanadzo rest in eternal peace. If there is a heaven, we hope that we will meet on resurrection and that one day we will be able to reunite with him. I thank you.

HON. MATEWU:  Thank you very much Madam Speaker.  I am

going to be very brief and I am not going to waffle a lot.  Firstly, I want to proffer my deepest condolences to Hon. Matambanadzo’s family for the passing on of such a good man.  With the two years that I have got to know him personally in this Parliament, Hon. Matambanadzo was a very eloquent man...

THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER:  Hon. Matewu, are you connected?

HON. MATEWU:  Yes I am connected, I can see it.

THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER:  Can you unmute your

gadget?

HON. MATEWU: Thank you.  Hon. Matambanadzo was a very eloquent man who respected the decorum of this House.  He was a man who always like what Hon. Mliswa said always wore appropriately unlike other Hon. Members who we see here.  Hon. Matambanadzo never at all spoke about petty political party politics like what I have been hearing from those who were now using this platform to try and misdirect where he came from.  Let me say Hon. Matambanadzo stood firm for what he believed in.  He often more than once spoke in his vernacular language.  He was very passionate about miners.  I know that during his time he was once the Vice President of the Zimbabwe Miners Federation.  He was someone so concerned about the welfare of artisanal miners.  He was also concerned about how we can deregulate the mining sector and wanted to influence so much the Mining Act to come back to Parliament.  Hon. Matambanadzo did not just stand up and speak but when he stood up, you could hear him speaking a lot of sense in everything that he said.

Today, as we remember him, let us remember that we can all follow suit and be the kind of man that he was to both political parties.  I remember when he came back from China, he said in this House that the day he got sick, his body turned yellow.  He said this as a point of order.  He was very grateful to Members of Parliament who had been calling him during his time of illness and he was so gracious that he spoke to everyone and respected everyone regardless of political party.

I want to remind Hon. Members opposite who have cited ZANU PF party as the one that brought him up and everything else but he left that party because what he saw.  I do not know what he saw but he left and went to do something else, such a man of principle because he had people at heart.  With that Madam Speaker, may his soul rest in peace and may we always remember the efficacy that he had.  Can we in the future and now, respect each other as Members of Parliament?  Thank you very much.

*HON. CHIKUKWA:  Thank you very much Madam Speaker for

giving me the opportunity to add my voice to the debate on the motion.

Most people say when one is dead, he is gone but what we are debating in this august House is heart rending.  We should all know that there is a time when we will not be on this earth.  If we are leaders, we should know that such a day will also come and what will people say about us.  I know we are going to have a lot of motions like this one because we have lost many of our Members.  Every week we are losing a Member and we should know that God is communicating something to us.  Let us love each other and criticise each other less.  Let us work towards developing our nation.  Everyone who is in this House needs to be of service.  We all need school fees for our children and their up keep.  Let us know that we shall all leave this earth when the day comes.  I thank you.

HON. MUSAKWA:  Thank you Madam Speaker.  I want to add my voice to the debate following the death of Hon. Matambanadzo.  We worked with him in the Mines Committee.  He had a passion for the development of small scale miners.  He also had a passion for the reduction in side marketing of minerals, gold included.  All this is in line with the Vision 2030 enunciated by His Excellency, our President Mnangagwa.  I hope from him we can learn how together as a Parliament we can move forward and propagate national goals as a common purpose for a united House, trying to improve the lives of our people together.  I thank you Madam Speaker.

HON. T. MLISWA:  Thank you Madam Speaker.  Let me take this opportunity to thank Members of Parliament who debated on this motion.  I want to thank Hon. Mpariwa who seconded the motion and who was able to sum it up with a song.  We tend to sing political songs but this was fitting for a man of Hon. Matambanadzo’s stature.  I want to also thank Hon. Togarepi the Chief Whip who spoke about background politically.  The impediments of various qualities which he had as a leader attributing a lot to the ruling party being a Chief Whip of the ruling party. I cannot say anything else but to make sure that his party has a stake in everything; we will not argue that today, he certainly did that.  I also want to thank Hon. Toffa who chronicled how she was stuck in Kwekwe and he was there to help her with the fuel challenges without even asking for money.  He left his mine to assist, that talks a lot about the kindness of the man.

Madam Speaker, Hon. Chikukwa contributed as well as a woman of faith and gives a great send off to a man we never knew his faith but I have always known that if the presents of God is there, then you certainly do God’s work.  God’s work is not just about going to church. It is about your deeds.  I also want to thank Hon. Matangira who also spoke about the experience in the mining sector during the days of the former Late Eddison Zvobgo and Hon. Musakwa who knows him very well, when he was in the Committee he contributed a lot and knew what he used to do.  He pays attention to detail so he would not just stand up to contribute without really having picked one or two things from the Late Hon. Matambanandzo.  May I thank all Hon. Members for their contributions and Madam Speaker may I merely thank you for giving us the opportunity to debate on Hon. Matambanadzo’s death.  May his soul rest in peace and we convey our sympathy to Mrs. Matambanadzo, the

Matambanadzo family, Kwekwe Central, Midlands Province, the mining sector especially gold and the country at large.  He is indeed a hero in many ways. It is just that we always believe that heroes are those who are at the heroes acre but they are also those who are not there who are heroes.  Everybody is a hero where they come from.  I thank you

Madam Speaker.  I move that the motion be adopted.

HON. MPARIWA: I second.

        Motion with leave, adopted.

MOTION

BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE

HON. TOGAREPI: Madam Speaker, I move that the rest of the Orders of the Day be stood over until Order No. 29 has been disposed

of.

HON. MPARIWA: I second.

Motion put and agreed to.

MOTION

CONDOLENCES ON THE DEATH OF HON. SEN. RTD. AIR CHIEF MARSHALL PERRANCE SHIRI

HON. T. MLISWA: Madam Speaker, I move the motion standing

in my name that this House expresses its profound sorrow on the sudden and untimely death on Wednesday 29^th July, 2020, of the Hon. Sen. Member of Parliament for Mashonaland Central, Air Chief Marshal (RTD) Perrance Shiri:

Places on record its appreciation of the services which the late

Member of Parliament rendered to Parliament and the nation; and       Resolves that its deepest sympathy be conveyed to the Shiri family and Mashonaland Central Province.

HON. TOGAREPI: I second.

HON. T. MLISWA: Madam Speaker, it is with profound sorrow to learn the sudden and untimely death of the Hon. Sen. Member of

Parliament for Mashonaland Central, Rtd. Air Chief Marshal Perrance

Shiri known as ‘Gudoguru’ during the liberation struggle. Mr. Speaker Sir, never will this country experience a leader who was humble, a leader who was magnanimous, a leader who was people oriented, a leader who was down to earth. A commander, soldier, patriot, nationalist, people minister, a giant, an assuming voice par excellence, who was a father, a brother, an uncle and a people’s person.

The Late Rtd. Air Chief Marshall Shiri was a man who would talk to anybody and would get along with anyone.  I recall a meeting with him in 2000 when I was on holiday and had just returned from England.  I went to the ZANU PF Headquarters to listen to the former Late Vice President, Joseph Msika talk about the land reform.  It was a time when a decision had to be made whether to go ahead or to abandon the land reform.  The Service Chiefs and leaders of the party where all there, the repossession of our land had started and the Air Chief Marshall walked towards me and said are you Temba Mliswa and I said yes and he said I have been following you.  At that point in time I was the Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Alliance in the United Kingdom which was responsible for supporting this country from a propaganda point of view.  My secretary was Bright Matonga.  We had been defending the land reform and the country in the United Kingdom.

I was at Luton University doing my degree in Sport and we had a number of lectures on the land reform including the likes of Brian Kagoro, the lawyer whom we invited to talk about it.  We invited the likes of Mutumwa Mawere and Edwin Manikai to come and talk to the people in the UK on the Land Reform and what was happening.

The late Rtd, Air Chief Marshal Perrance Shiri then said to me, ‘Ooh, so you are the one whom I have been reading about defending the land reform?’  I said, yes, indeed.  He said to me, ‘come with me.’  He took me to where all the Service Chiefs were and introduced me saying,

‘do you know this young man?’  Some who have read about me through sport – I was not a politician then, I was a sports man, they said, ‘yes we do, he is into sport and all that.’  He said ‘no, he is the young man who is defending us on the land reform in England and we must support him.’  He said to me, ‘whatever you need, come and see me, here is my number, my office is open for you, in fact, come to my office for lunch tomorrow.’  He took a liking of me and became my brother.  He even entrusted me with his son, the late Tito, who passed away of cancer.  He signed an affidavit that I should travel with him around the world to get treatment.  If my signature was there on the surgery, it would go ahead.

He said to me, ‘it is difficult for me to see my son whom I have a lot of hope in, in this situation, he had cancer.’  He said to me, Temba, with all the power I have, I realise that I do not have power over this disease. I will break down if I am to see my son in this state. May you please go with him.’  I went around to Malaysia, South Africa with his son, Tito Shiri.  One day he called me and said, ‘where are you?  I said, I am in town and he said, ‘do you have a passport?’  I said, yes, he said, ‘can we meet at my office, I want us to go to Zambia.’  I arrived and the two of us drove.  He taught me a lot and shared a lot of things with me as a young man.

One of the questions he asked me was, ‘do you know who tried to kill me,’ when he was nearly assassinated. I said, I do not know.  He said, ‘do you think I do not know being a military person, I have the Airforce intelligence which briefs me and so on.’  He said, ‘but what are people saying out there about this?’  I said, no, they just think it is politics within.  He said, ‘but within, with who?’  On that day that he was nearly assassinated, he called me and said, ‘let us meet at the hospital but I can tell you I am at this place and we meet.’  He had his comrade friend who was a ‘nobody’ called Comrade Sato.  He said ‘make sure you get hold of Sato so that he can come.

He asked me, ‘do you really think I was responsible for killing people in Matebeleland?’  I said, but you were the commander.  He said, ‘but would I command without taking instructions?’  I listened to him speak.  He said, ‘I was never a General, there were commanders in the army and we worked through instructions.’  He said, ‘I have never had an opportunity to defend my position to the public because I am a military person. I am very disciplined Temba, but I work under instructions.’ He said, ‘unfortunately, those whom I work under and whose instructions I take are not prepared to stand by me and say, we give him instructions.  We had an airforce commander and an army commander and a Ministry of Defence and all that.’  I said to him, but for as long as you do not give that side of the story, it would be difficult.

He said, ‘unlike you, you are a civilian, I am a military person, discipline

is critical.’

He did not say he was not involved in what happened in Matebeleland, but he was a soldier who takes instructions.  How many people have been killed out there by soldiers on duty?  Mr. Speaker Sir, if we have to go after the number of people who were killed and those who killed them whilst on duty, why today would we want to point out to one man.  I would be emotional about this because he is not here to say and it would be unfair for me not to say what I know about this.  So, why are we also not bringing all the other soldiers who killed people and say, why did you kill?  We choose to say, because he was a commander in Matebeleland and he had other commanders above him, he is responsible.

There is no amount of blame that you can give to a police officer for being given the order to shoot or an army person.  We have Generals here, General Mayihlome is here, he went to the struggle and is a

General.  I do not want to ask him how many did he kill because that is not important.  I want to ask how many other people were discharging their duties according to the Constitution and leadership?  Hon. Nguluvhe is here, he was part of the struggle.  I do not want to ask him how many people did he kill and the areas that he killed the people but it was the time of the struggle.  I am trying to pinpoint other war veterans and Generals who are here, I cannot see them.  I want to emphasise that Hon. Mhona is here and I am hoping that he will be one of the people to contribute to this debate because he knows the man, he was the Member of Parliament for him. He would bring you together as young people and say you must work together.

Agriculture was being turned around in no time.  He learned from people.  He learned from Hon. Mudarikwa, the cowpeas he produced, he would tell him as well as General Zimondi.  As a young man Hon. Speaker Sir and Hon. Colleagues, I am proud to say that I am one of the few young men who ever enjoyed a lunch with three ZANLA

Commanders, Mabhengi who was at Gaza, Shiri who was in Tete

Province and Zimondi at Manica.  They said to me, you are the only young man who had ever had lunch with three living commanders of the struggle.  I remember once, Cde Patrick Zhuwawo coming to me saying,

‘what do these commanders find in you for them to have lunch with you?’  Cde Musariri, the late DDG would all sit down at the Great Hall and I will be with them having lunch.

One day I was in a car with Generals, the late General Chimombe, Cde Shiri and Cde Zimondi, I was listening as they spoke of the struggle.  I must say that, because of the values and association, I started understanding the role of the struggle, what patriotism was and what being a nationalist was.  Being a nationalist does not require you to be ZANU, MDC or any other party, it requires you to be a Zimbabwean first.  The Americans have their country to protect.  First is yourself to protect your country under the morals and values that you have leant.  Firstly, you shall defend your country, protect, love your country and love thy neighbour.  Unfortunately, when we talk about patriotism and nationalism, we now become political, yet there are people who loved Joshua Nkomo and were not ZAPU.  There are people who loved the late Mugabe who were not ZANU.  The majority of them are such people.  That love for the country can only happen when you understand the role that the late Rtd Air Chief Marshal Shiri played in the struggle.  When you talk about the founding principles of the struggles and those who have been disciplined, he had what we call meekness.  The word meekness for those who do not understand is when you have so much power but you never use your power.  In Marondera, when you visited his farm, he would say, ‘my things are being stolen here and it is people who are send so that I am frustrated, but I know who is stealing from me, what must I do?’  I said, why do you not report to the police?  He said no Temba, if I report to the police with the position I have as the commander of the Air Force, people will be overzealous.  They will go and arrest and beat up people for no reason because they want to impress me as a commander.  I have the air force security which can do it.  I asked him what he was going to do because people were stealing from him – he said he had decided to transfer to Mashonaland Central. He asked for all my trucks to load his belongings and go to Mashonaland

Central.

Here is a man who was an Air Force Commander for twenty-five years. He was a ZANLA Commander; he was a member of the national Joint Operations Command (JOC). He was a farmer – he loved farming but would never want his position to be felt.  Instead of getting people arrested, he decided to move away.  How many of us would want to move away when you have your things being stolen and you have so much power?  You would use that power to descend on the people but he decided to leave and he left.

When he went to Mashonaland Central, they did not like him.  He would say they do not like me because I do not come from here but I understand that they are young and immature.  I liberated this country and I can be anywhere where I want to be.  Even if I go to Matabeleland today, no one will question.  The same way that we have got generals who were in the struggle who are Ndebele and were in the struggle who are in Mashonaland West like General P.V. Sibanda and Retired Lt Gen.

Nick Dube in Hurungwe.

I am talking about us being Zimbabweans and being where we want to be not because of your tribe.  When they were in the struggle, they never thought to say we are liberating this zone; no. If it was the attitude of these men – and the reason why I am giving an example is those who fought for the struggle and led the struggle do not show that they went to the struggle.  The ones who did not go to the struggle make more noise.  If we are to say Hurungwe was liberated by ZIPRA, let all the ZIPRA Commanders be there.  ZANLA liberated this area – let them be there; where would we be as a country?  I am trying to say that if we are to respect the likes of the late Retired Air Marshal Perrence Shiri, we must be one.  We must respect the values and principles of this struggle.

The moral of this struggle was to liberate this country.

He survived an assassination just as he was passing the bridge, they hit him.  They hit him on the left and he had to drive with his right to get to a compound where he called to say let us meet at this hospital.  Up to today, thankfully, no one has ever been arrested for wanting to assassinate the late Chief Air Marshal.  Where was the system?  A man who liberated this country and up to this day, no one has been caught, but we have got the army to deploy on the streets.  We do not have an army to investigate what happened to the Commander.  He had access of the Air Force where he would deploy people but he did not.  That is one of the most painful things that he said.  He survived the struggle.  He liberated Zimbabwe but people wanted to assassinate him and you still keep quiet.  There is no report and nobody has been taken to court.  He is no more and today we say he is national hero.  Why are we being hypocritical? What is his family saying today?

These are the issues which he went to the grave with in his heart.  Those who knew him will attest to this.  He could not talk to anyone because of the discipline that was inculcated in him.  He worked hard and was totally incorruptible.  Today if you hear people in the Air Force they say to you; he said we would budget according to what we had.  One of the commanders in the Air Force said we do not like to be like the army, we want to be different.  If the army is doing things their way, let them do their way but we have our way of doing things.  He wanted everything to be accounted for.

There is nothing that you can throw at him that can stick for saying he was corrupt but he had everything. He was never involved in a tender in the Air Force yet he controlled the budget of the Air Force.  He lead a simple life.  He was humble even at his house.  He believed in being on a farm building something new which he would work hard for.  When I gave him my trucks to move his equipment from Mashonaland East to Mashonaland Central, unbeknown to me, he put 25 herd of cattle and 200 goats to say thank you.  That is the man that he was.  I said no I had done it out of my own will – I do not need anything but on return, these were escorted and arrived.  He instructed my driver and said give these to Temba and say I said thank you.

Neither would he abuse you for the good you did.  He would always want to settle with you.  The vision that he had for farming was practical because he practised farming.  He understood farming.  He would talk to everyone to get ideas so that this county is what it is.  In his wisdom, the President saw it fit to appoint him as the Minister of Agriculture and Lands, which is the heart of the nation.  Finance is not the heart of the nation.  You cannot control finance and there are no resources coming through.  Agriculture and the mining sector are critical but agriculture is what we are known for.  The President put him at the core of the country’s development.  When there were too many issues on the land in terms of illegal settlers, most of them by ZANU-PF members - but because of the late Ret Chief Air Marshal, you could not go to him and say I am ZANU-PF, because he would tell you I am ZANU-PF.  The President made sure that all these issues would be dealt with once and for all.

Who today will deal with these disputes on the farms?  Whereas politicians when we are excited, we think we must allocate land yet we do not have the right to allocate land in the name of the party.  The party which clearly is very clear about how the land is allocated through the district lands identification committee and provincial lands identification community then the Minister.  It does not talk about Hon. Mliswa parcelling land or a chief parcelling agricultural land.  The chiefs have their area but there is chaos in terms of that and the only person who could bring order to it was him because you could not go to him and say I am the chairman of this district in ZANU-PF and as a result I am untouchable.  It did not matter with him and it was never going to work.

Who will solve those problems?

He was a man who when in uniform he was in uniform and when he wore civilian clothing he was a civilian.  The war veterans have lost a commander who they could go to and talk to freely without fear.  A commander who would listen to them.  When there were problems in the war veterans of this country – the Mutare conference saw Jabulani Sibanda elected as chairperson.  He presided over because the war veterans we want Shiri and no one else.  Yes, there were  other commanders who were there why did they not name any other commander but Shiri, it was because they knew he was fair.  Indeed that was the last successful election the war veterans ever had.  After that there has never been an election because with him you had to be calm.

He was somebody who respected humankind.  He is somebody who believed in listening and responding and giving you a chance to talk.

When S.I. 162 of 2020 was brought up and talked about us giving back the land to the whites Madam Speaker, he was not here but read in the Hansard and called me to his office and said you brought it up.  He had his legal team there and I said yes, but this Statutory Instrument constitutionally is great but politically it is not good and you are a commander and already there is a complaint in Mazowe that you are taking war veterans’ farms though it is Government policy, it does not do you any good.  He was listening and he asked what I thought he should do.  I said bring Mwonzora, Mangwana, Madhuku and Biti here to talk to you about this constitutional matter. He said are you sure that it will not be politics because I do not like - and I said no Mwonzora and Mangwana were part of the constitution making process, it is critical.

I am not a lawyer.  Madhuku is a professor in law and Biti is a brilliant constitutional lawyer.  They spoke and he asked where he was getting it wrong.  This is a man who was a ZANLA commander who is ZANU-PF 200% but when it came to national issues he humbled himself and picked up the phone to understand what the law says and to ascertain whether he was right or wrong.  How many of us are able to do this yet today even when there are issues of unison, you do not come because you fear your party.  However, because he was a commander and knew his country was first, he wanted to make sure that the right decision is made pertaining to this.

He would learn.  A man with two or three masters if not mistaken.  Brilliant scholar.  After the struggle he became a commander but started educating himself.  You would see people who would say he is in class and he participates.  He could have had a PHD.  When you spoke to him there was content.  There was attention to detail and he would listen.  With his deep voice which we shall forever miss because that resembled the peoples ‘s commander’s presence.  I remember Mr Speaker when I was dating this girl and I took her laptop.  I was young and I had introduced to the late Rtd Chief Airmarshal Shiri and she remembered him saying if he gives you problems I am the one who can deal with him.   She called him and he asked her to come to the office at the airforce.  Unbeknown to me he called and asked where I was and I said I was in town and in his deep hoarse voice he asked me to drop everything and get to his office as soon as I could.

I got there and I see this girl there. He told me to go and get the girl’s laptop and bring it back with 30 minutes.  You never take a girl’s computer.  I went, took the computer and came back.  He told the girl that she should not break up with me and told us to kiss and go and have lunch.  That was the man.  One day he said to me you cannot handle women like that Temba.  Be a gentleman, why did you take her computer, are you the one who bought it and even if you did buy it – he taught me that.  He taught me when I saw him opening a door for any woman or lady, and he said this is how you treat a woman Temba.  This is a man who is a guerrilla but this is the man who is a gentleman.  I am trying to talk about two sides of a man who was in the struggle and you would think that he knows nothing but when he came he was a gentleman and he taught us that.

He loved his son Tito.  Whatever he did was for Tito but sadly Tito passed on.  He had not looked at his will and in his will he had left everything to Tito.  When Tito passed on I saw a man who with all the power that he had he just did not know what to do.  He had pinned his hopes on his son.  He took him to Watershed to do agriculture so that he could run all the operations on the farm.  Tito could drive a tractor and he could do anything.  Tito was his hope. When Tito passed on, I saw a man who with all the power that he had just did not know what to do. He had pinned his hopes on his son. He took him to Watershed to do agriculture so that he could run all the operations on the farm. Tito could drive a tractor and do anything. Tito was his hope, a son that he had taught how to do things.

When I was persecuted, he told me not to go to anybody’s office or to a politician. He asked how much money I needed for a lawyer. What you need is a lawyer, you do not need politicians. He told my sisters whenever they needed money to do law to come to him. He would say,

‘do not go to any politician and do not see anybody’. His son was a man of high security alertness, but was on crutches. Tito went to him and said, ‘I want to go and see uncle Temba in prison.’ He said, ‘you cannot go since I have not gone.’ Tito went back to him and said, ‘but it is me I want to go and see him.

He instructed his drivers not to drive Tito to Central Prison and Tito got out of crutches and was heading towards Central Prison to come and see me. The father ordered the drivers to put him in a car and to bring him. Tito came to see me, a young man and he said ‘uncle Temba, I have come to see you. How are you? Do you have any message for dad’? I said no. I got out of prison, he called me and said, I did not at all want Tito to come and see you Temba because I like you so much and everybody knows in the security that I like you. Whatever you do they blame me and I wanted to protect my son’.

I stood as an independent candidate and I met him one day at great war for the first time. He said, ‘I do not want to talk to you. Get away from me, I do not want to talk to an independent’. I did not understand. I went and I said to my sisters, I saw the Air Marshall and I called him but he did not want to greet me. He said, ‘get away you are an independent’. Time went by and I was distraught. Then the G40 thing started and we started talking. He said one day I will explain to you why I did not greet you.

We went to Insiza for the livestock programme with the Vice

President, Rtd Gen. Chiwenga and he said, ‘Temba come and sit here’. He said, today let me tell you why I did not want to be associated with you. My colleagues said that I was sponsoring you as an independent.

Today I want to ask my colleagues a question – ‘who is better? You also used to hang around with Kasukuwere, Zhuwao and Jonathan Moyo. Who is better today, Temba or Jonathan Moyo? Ha-a, he said I wanted to clear myself so that you know?

You were associated with the G40 people, Temba was not. Can I equally say this is who you are? He said Temba, I wanted you to understand this because it was in my heart. The Vice President was there and he called him Shefu, ndanga ndichida kuti Temba azive nekuti aisa zviunderstanda nekuti zvese zvaita Temba maiti ndini ndinomutuma.

Temba ane pfungwa dzake. He is independent. I understood him and I said I understand and we continued.

The last supper, that month we met we had dinner at Smicks’ Place. When Smicks was having dinner, he said please invite Temba to the dinner he would be very happy. I went there, I was a bit late but he was there. As usual, him joking - haumise vanhu vakuru, hamuna discipline imimi. He had his fiancé and said she is young Temba, I will be attacked but you know how to defend. I can be sick anytime and who will look after her. I have decided to marry this girl. Smicks asked ‘you have decided? He said ‘yes, have I ever come to you with anyone that I have said I want to marry?’ He said no, you are right and this is the first.

We had dinner, zumbani and everything. We were sitting down;

Smicks’ wife and her husband said have a whisky and he said no today I am not drinking. Two weeks later he said, Smicks can you do a dinner with Temba’s two sisters; Mary and Nobuhle and Temba. He wanted to confirm with Smicks again and sent a message to Smicks to say, is

Temba and his two sisters coming because he was so fond of my two sisters. All he said was ‘Mary, you can send Temba to do anything you are the Shefu and if he refuses you can come to me’. Whenever he saw

Mary was there, he would say ‘carry Shefu’s drink, she is your Shefu’. 

We had dinner all of us at a table and were introduced. He said to my Mary, come and see me tomorrow at the office, I need to give you an offer letter. Mary, you are working so hard. Mary went with the schedules for him to sign and he said, no I want to sign for you. From what we hear, that is the last offer letter he signed. He said ndakupa munda Mary chienda unorima. Seven days later we heard his driver was involved in that situation. We all went to get tested and we were okay.

The next thing is, he is not feeling well. Aah okay, he is a commander. He was supposed to have been admitted in a hospital but he decided no, he could deal with it. He was at home, called his security to come and get him to the hospital. He got a call to say Smicks could not,

Temba could not but, ‘I have blood pressure and sugar, may you come.’ In no time, I received a phone call to the effect that he is no more. The Air Marshall had energy to get to the car, sat in the back of the car and was breathing the last gasp of breath - that was it.

No one ever thought that we could lose a man in such a way. He was a man who could have gotten help because he was a friend of the Chinese. The Chinese liked him and could have done anything for him but he decided to still remain humble and pass away in such a manner.  He was....

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  Hon. Mliswa, may you wrap

up your debate please.  Thank you.

HON. T. MLISWA:  I thought the person who moved has no time.  I thought those were the rules.  Sorry Mr. Speaker, but when I speak about this, it is emotional and it has a lot.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  I understand.

HON. MLISWA:  He is not one man we can finish in one day.  His Excellency the President in introducing everybody at the funeral said, I want the three to stand up.  Vice President Chiwenga, stand up.

General Zimondi, stand up.  He said there is one person missing here, thus Perence Shiri.  These were my boys in the struggle.  What I want to kill is a notion that the President and the Vice President do not get along.  You are mistaken and let me warn you.  You are playing the wrong politics.  He then said, I appointed him the Minister of Agriculture because I wanted him to work with his friend.  They know each other, they were together and I wanted him to work with his friend because they are close historically.

He worked tirelessly in Mashonaland Central.  Mashonaland was the powerhouse of G40.  Kasukuwere is no easy boy from political point of view.  It took the likes of Hon. Musanhi with resources and strategy, combined with the late Rtg. Chief Air Marshal Shiri to win that province.  Without the two working together, Mashonaland Central was gone.  The G40 had resources and Hon. Musanhi gnashed the resources.  The Commander had strategy.  He used to sleep in the car, working for the party, working for the President.  He was absolutely loyal to the

President.  If there is anything the President is missing Mr. Speaker Sir,

is a man who is loyal to him, who will tell him the truth, who harbours no ambition, who once called me to his office to say, ‘I really did not want to be a politician, I do not want kutukwa.  I am a military person but I have been called to serve the country; who reminded me that I am not after power.  I have been Air Force Commander for 25 years.  At your age Themba, I had done it all.  I was a ZNLA Commander when I was young, so what power do I need; but I am here to serve the country.’

He reminded me when he was young when he was at the Zimbabwe

Military Academy in Gweru and said, ‘you are not naughty,’ I was naughty.  He narrated how he ordered a tanker out of the barracks to go and have a personal fight -that is how naughty I was.  He said, ‘how would shoot tyres with a gun, you are not naughty Themba and I used to drink.’

So there is nothing that he never went through in life but he constantly was disciplined in knowing and respecting people.  He meant well at any given time.  I remember him calling me to the office and saying, you know Themba how do you do your social media?  I would like all the MPs in Mashonaland Central.  You are always educating your constituents, how do you do it?’  He said, ‘you, Nguluvhe and Chinotimba seem to be doing well, how do you interact?  I want to invite you but I want you to also put a programme for me where I want Hon.

Musanhi to go around, do the programme together in Mashonaland Central constituency by constituency.  By nature I am a political strategist, I am sure you know that.’  He would tap into my brain and say, ‘how did you use to run your province as chairman?’  He would sit down and would be writing.  I said to him every constituency, go and visit with Hon. Musanhi because there are some other people who think you are not getting along. He said ‘that is a good idea and Hon. Musanhi will lead the programme constituency by constituency.’  Unfortunately, COVID hit it.  I had done a programme for him.  He said, ‘I want you to come and talk to them about social media, how best they can be writing reports and so forth on the events that people are doing because a lot of things are being done and no one is covering that.’

I am trying to demonstrate that no matter the power he had, he still was humble enough.  He had humility to still consult and he consulted the best.  How did you win Norton?  I would tell him.  ‘How did you get the war veterans on your side’ - I would tell him and he would pick notes.  He called war veterans together and asked them if they knew me and would talk to me.  He would be there to pick your brains for the betterment of this country.  A commander par excellence, a guerilla, gudoguru but still he was able to talk to everybody and anybody at any

level.

Today, the commanders and the generals we know want to be felt.

They want you to salute them.  Now you cannot.  The ZNLA Commander of the Air Force and he does not want you to salute him; you are caught on the wrong side.  Nyembe must be felt.  The late was not about that Mr. Speaker Sir.  He never wanted.  I remember in this House when he remarked that do not behave like baboons.  I went to him and said you were misunderstood. He said what should I do?  I said, come to Parliament and apologise.  Mr. Speaker Sir, indeed he came and apologised that ‘I am sorry, I withdraw those remarks.’  How many Ministers here who have never been to the struggle who have no liberation credentials are arrogant?  Who are they going to learn from?

In Mashonaland Central where Hon. Musanhi is as a politburo member, he would always say that people do not know.  They do not understand my relationship with Hon. Musanhi but these are young children in politics.  They do not understand how we work.  It would be good for me to also say that he had a lot of respect for Hon. Musanhi.

Politics will always have people who are good at lying, bootlicking.  The commander did not like that.  If you wanted to talk about somebody else, bring them there, let us talk.  He was security conscious.  If you want to go anti-Government or anti the President, he would leave quietly.  He allows you to continue but he totally disconnects himself from what is going on and he leaves.  The next time he calls you and say, usandiunzire vanhu vakadaro kuti ndisangane navo, handizvifarire.  You must know.  From there, you would know what he would have ordered. The Air Force of Zimbabwe where all barracks have been named, I would wish for a barrack to be named after the Rtd Air Marshall Perrance Shiri.  Now that they have all been named, there must be a Perrance Shiri School of Ideology where people are taught tolerance which lacks in our people.  As a farmer, he was on the verge of building chalets which he was proud of on his farm. It is a programme that he had which talks about farming and it enables you to see what he will be doing.  You would see his work from ground to top.

Some of the people, you will only see it on the top, there is no ground work, where is the ground work?  This means that you are stealing and you are corrupt.  Any structure which is solid, people must see it.  My father always told me that you must create wealth so that people can account for it.  My father told me that if you cannot account for anything, do not do it, anything you do you must account for it.  Everything left behind must be accounted for.  He is a role model for any young person. He is a role model for any generation and he understood business.  He always said to me can you invite Shingai

Mutasa to come and talk because I like his business thinking.  He is out of politics, he likes to just think about business and I was able to do that.  He talked about the resuscitation of the fertiliser industry and agriculture through pfumvudza which is there, which is his brain and he lived it for us to be able to take care of.

Mr. Speaker Sir, may this be an opportunity for my colleagues Hon. Members of Parliament to talk about the good that this man did.  It will be totally inhuman to talk about what a man did when he cannot defend himself when he is no more. I hasten to say do not associate him with gukurahundi, he was just a commander when they were other commanders.  If we decide to talk about people being killed let us bring every soldier who has been to war before the courts and ask them why they killed.  He was never the Commander of the Army and he was never part of the Commander of the Air Force. Even if he was Commander of the Army, there is a Commander-in-Chief who they take instructions from.  So, he must never be tainted with something which other people gave orders to. Unfortunately the true story of gukurahundi will never come out because the Commander-in-Chief at the time was the former Late President R. G. Mugabe.  He was there and nobody had the chance to ask him and when you are in that position, no one else can speak for you but yourself.

Parliament could have exercised its role on oversight by inviting him to come just like we did with the diamonds. He talked about the US$15b that went missing.  We invited him to come because we wanted to understand.  The various Committees had an opportunity to invite him to also find out about gukurahundi since he was the Commander-inChief and he was the President at the time. For us to talk about who was in charge of gukurahundi when the principal is no more, I think you are opening old wounds; may the souls of those people who passed away rest in peace.  May we never again have such an experience as a people?  May we have a leadership which forgives and ask for forgiveness. In that spirit, we are able to move as one nation and we are able to safeguard the pain, joy and interest of the people who sacrificed for this country, the late Joshua Nkomo, the late Josia Tongogara, the late Nikita Mangena, the late Herbert Chitepo, the late Ziyapapa, all those that we know about can only be happy when we are in unity and we are tolerant of each other. They could tolerate the white man at the time when the white man had an agenda to totally kill people but today why can we not be tolerant to each other?  May we learn the tolerance of Gudoguru the late Rtd Air Chief Marshall Shiri in that he could talk to anyone because he was Zimbabwean and he put Zimbabwe first?

Mr. Speaker Sir, in closing, I want to say let us not celebrate our heroes when they are no more.  Who today will talk about the history of Shiri when he is no more?  Hon. Mudarikwa will say a bit and the rest will say a bit but who will tell the true story of Perrance Shiri, what he went through, we have lost.  The sad part about the former late President R. G. Mugabe is that no one can tell us the history about him yet he was an icon.  So, it is important for those who write to use their talents to go to these people because one chapter of history is gone.  At the end of the day, the history that we are told is no history because the real people who experience what we are supposed to relate as history are no more.  So, I really want to take this opportunity Mr. Speaker Sir, with your patients, colleague Members of Parliament, for giving me this opportunity to really talk about a man who in my life, I am really alone; a man who I could listen to, a man who could come and talk to me, a man who could give me direction.  I am not an easy person to talk to, and I am not easy to take instructions from anybody but this is a man who would drive to my house and say what are you doing? What you are doing is wrong.  I no longer have that person in my life. He was a great man and may his soul rest in peace.  May he meet his beloved son Tito and may they protect the interest of this country and what he fought for.

I thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.

HON. TOGAREPI: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I want to thank

Hon. T. Mliswa for his contribution towards our hero Rtd Air Mashall Perrance Shiri.   He was one of our greatest leaders and he fought for the freedom of this country. He gave his life for all of us to be free.  He was a man who loved his country, who gave his life to the freedom of our people and continued to love his country even after independence.  He defended the freedom that we got from the protracted liberation struggle.

He was a commander during the war, in 1977; he was part of the High Command, the highest body in the struggle which would make decisions that would give direction to the struggle.

Hon. Shiri was also known to me personally, he is one of the leaders I spoke to freely, the person I would talk to as if I was talking to a person of my level.  I could argue with him, sit across the table with Hon. Mliswa here and Major General Zimondi at the Chinese there where we used to eat.  At one point in my political life, I faced challenges.  You know when you face challenges, many people come to you and give you advice to behave and speak in a certain way, but he was one person who would give you the correct advice. He would never mislead you or advise you to go against principles, he was a principled man, a man of few words but the words which would give you proper

direction.

At one point, he found us with a friend of us, some know him as he is now leading the Apostolic Faith Section, his name is Jamaya.  He came to us and found us talking about things and how they were happening in our country, obviously with challenges in our mind, thinking that things had gone haywire, were not going to be recovered.

However, he came to me and said, ‘Cde. Togarepi, this country was fought for and this is one country where people died to see freedom and it is one country that you should never think not even a minute that young boys, people of shallow political background can take it from the people of Zimbabwe.’  He gave us confidence, that one day as a people, we will be free, the revolution will never die.  He is one person who could easily read when there is a challenge and he if felt there is one person who would have been affected by what would have happened;  he would quickly call you and I think what he would be feeling was, because of what would have happened, he would figure out this boy might get lost.  He would call you and ask if you are well, how you would be feeling and if you are very angry.  He will then tell you that, that is what happens in the struggle and you can only survive by being patient because the revolution will never betray you if you are straight forward.

Hon. Shiri was an intellectual.  When people look at people in uniform, they think they cannot be articulate on issues but Hon.

Members here in Parliament will tell you and agree with me that Hon.

Shiri was one of the best Ministers we have ever seen in this country –

[HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] – he was punctual, patient with Members of Parliament when they asked questions and he would be well researched on any issue that you would want to know about concerning his Ministry.  He was very articulate and passionate about his Ministry.  Some ministers are such that you would ask yourself if they actually come from that Ministry but with Hon. Shiri, you would not doubt the confidence and the love and passion that he had in the Ministry of

Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement.  He was a special Minister in my view.  I could tell even from the body language between him and the President, the President was proud of Hon. Shiri when he was heading the Ministry.  He was so happy.  Hon. Shiri was just a rare breed of ministers, a person who was very loyal to the duties that he was given by His Excellency, the President.

Hon. Shiri was a well decorated officer but when he interact with anyone, you would not see that, he would simplify everything and reduce himself to every level.  When he came as a Minister to provinces, I will talk about my province in Masvingo, you would interact with him and share anything.  He would listen to anyone and look for answers there and then, that is very rare.  When some people get to the top there, they believe they are no longer touchable but with Hon. Shiri, our great guerilla, gudo guru as people knew him, he was a humble man but very firm in what he did, a very principled man.

Hon .Shiri played a very important role during the land reform programme.  Some people did not believe that land could be transferred from the white minority to the black majority but he was one of our military people and leaders who fought for the freedom of this country who assured every Zimbabwean that, this was the right time for us to take what belongs to us, our land.  He played his role and he was there to mobilise the people of Zimbabwe to stand their ground and have their land.  He was there when the commanders of our security forces coined the straight jacket statement, that this country has its path already defined.  This is the country for the people of Zimbabwe and the foundation given by the liberation struggle, the foundation that was laid by the blood of the people who fought for the freedom of this country cannot be changed.  Zimbabwe cannot be sold or taken away from the people of Zimbabwe.  Our land belongs to us and we belong to our land. He stood firm.  He remained with everyone who believed in the virtues of our liberation struggle.  This is a man that we should all salute.

As people of Zimbabwe, our Constitution has it that we must respect the veterans of the liberation struggle – the guerrillas, those who were arrested for fighting for our freedom; the Chimbwidos and the Mujibhas.  These people must be saluted today.  The Constitution says so but we still have people among us who do not respect these people who gave us freedom.  Comrade Shiri was a dedicated loyal son of the soil.  We must be proud of him.  Books must be written to salute this great son of the soil.  He was a commander par excellence.  I really pray that as people of Zimbabwe and Members of Parliament, we lead by example in whatever we do when we meet and associate with generals;

Cde Maihlome who is here and many other generals that are here;

Chimbwidos and ex-detainees who are here, let us give them respect.

Without these people, it was going to be difficult for us to have a

National Assembly with 99% of black people determining their future.  These people need our respect.  If we do not respect our own history or where we have come from, the future of this country will be doomed because if we do not know our history or what we have sacrificed as a people, the danger is; some say even in the Bible – those who do not know their history will be colonised again. The best salute we can give to Cde Gudoguru Perrence Shiri – an illustrious son of the soil is to be loyal to Zimbabwe; to give it all our effort to respect the founding principles of our country, to be united as a people.  He respected everybody.  He would interact and answer questions from every one even from the opposition but he remained firm and guided by the founding principles of our revolution.

I hope as we interact with the people of Zimbabwe, we remind them of gallant sons like him that in whatever they do in their lives, they follow his footsteps.  As a people, we were lucky to have lived during the same time and interacted with our heroes, our commanders.  We want to thank the leadership of this country led by His Excellence, our President Cde E.D. Mnangagwa for having recognised this great son of the soil and given him the responsibility to defend the land which was the main grievance that led us to fight the colonial regime to liberate Zimbabwe.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER (HON. MUTOMBA):  Hon.

Chief Whip.  You have five minutes left.

HON. TOGAREPI: Thank you.  When the news came of the

passing on of our leader, Cde Perrence Shiri, it was devastating.  Sometimes when you look around on a Wednesday, you see ministers here and some absent.  When you looked around during his time, he would always be present. He would not miss a session when we asked questions as Members of Parliament – he respected Parliament.

Parliament should insist that other Hon. Ministers do the same.

Our President has lost a friend, a colleague – who was their commander during the armed struggle.  I was lucky to be in some of the meetings that our President chaired.  When he gave instructions to Cde Shiri, you could tell the brotherly-comradely relationship they had. He was so confident about giving him instructions and they would be executed.  That is why he was coming to Parliament without absenting himself.  The President has implored all Ministers to be in Parliament on

Wednesday – those who were ‘cooked’ in the pot of the revolution respect their leader, but some decided to absent themselves. To Comrade Shiri, I will say go well son of the soil; our commander, our leader; our friend, our teacher and a man who was principled.  I implore every one of us Members of Parliament – let us be like this man.  Protect the interest of our people and our country; love our country, whatever differences that we may have politically - but we are all Zimbabweans.  Let us be like him who sacrificed everything until his last day. He gave

it all to the people of Zimbabwe to his land, to his brothers and sisters.

We have to respect and try by all means to follow the example of Cde Shiri.  I thank you.

HON. DR. MASHAKADA:  Thank you Hon. Chair for this

opportunity.  I also rise to pay my tribute to the gallant son of Zimbabwe the late Air Chief Marshall Perrance Shiri who passed on quite unexpectedly and almost suddenly.

Mr. Speaker Sir, we all know that the world over, veterans of struggles or of wars are celebrated and are respected by their citizens across the board, irrespective of political affiliation or ideological differences.  The Americans will unite when they remember their fallen heroes in the Vietnam War. Whether republican or democrat, they unite to honour their generals.  The Japanese will unite to honour their fallen heroes at Hiroshima and Nagasaki despite political differences because they are Japanese.  The Belgians will unite to commemorate fallen heroes at Waterloo.  The French will unite to commemorate their fallen heroes at Dunkirk.  I can go on and on to demonstrate how nations respect their veterans and generals who brought independence or defended their country from enemy attacks.

I rise here to affirm that we as the MDC-T salute and recognise our fallen heroes and our veterans of the liberation struggle.  This is the way in which I also want to salute and remember this great icon of

Zimbabwe, the late Perrance Shiri.  He fought a bitter war to liberate all of us.  At a very tender age, he left school – at Mt St Marys in Wedza.  He went to Mugagao training centre, went back to Mozambique and was assigned to the front as a commander in the Tete province.  I am sure there were so many ZANLA guerillas that had been trained in China, Russia and some in Cuba, but here was a young man who the ZANLA High Command saw fit to deploy to the front at such a tender age.  Surely, it really talks a lot about his qualities as a leader and a guerilla fighter.  He liberated this country, he liberated all of us and that is one important point I want to state.

Liberation fighters did not go to war to liberate one inch of the country or to liberate one political party or its supporters.  They belong to all of us.  They are our national liberators, not MDC or ZANU-PF.  That is the honour that we should all give them.  That is why we supported the War Veterans Bill because we realised that these are the men and women who sacrificed their lives for all of us.  Perrance Shiri was one of those towering figures in that struggle and I want to salute him.  I agree that he was a humble man; very unassuming, but looking at all his credentials, he was a decorated fighter but one would not discern that when you looked at him.  He was indeed very humble and this country has lost a great man in the form of Perrance Shiri.

We, in the opposition support war veterans and respect them as I have already said.  The other misconception is that the opposition does not support the land reform programme.  Perrance Shiri went to the war because of the land question and as the MDC-T, we affirm our support for the land reform programme.  Having said that, I still believe that what Perrance Shiri fought for and others is still unfinished business because liberating a country as Perrance Shiri did and building a nation is a very difficult proposition.  We have seen many revolutions that failed to transition to good governance and democracy in Africa because liberation is not an end in itself but a means to an end.

In the journey of this nation getting the land is one of the victories that war veterans fought for, but there are so many other victories that we must achieve.  We need to see economic development in this country.  This country is rich and blessed with all mineral resources.  The legacy of Cde. Shiri would not be fulfilled if we do not develop this economy, grow this economy, and do not give people jobs or give livelihoods to our people, farmers, the poor and artisanal miners.  Let the people have livelihoods.  Let us look after this economy and let us not destroy this economy.

Corruption destroys this economy.  It is a cancer and Hon. Perrance Shiri would turn in his grave if we do not deal with corruption because he was one person who did not want to see a corrupt country.  He was forthright as all the speakers before me have alluded to.  So, we need to put our heads together to make sure that we build a strong and united Zimbabwe.  It has often been said Hon. Speaker that the late Perrance Shiri was in the forefront of Gukurahundi.  I really understand why there is bitterness because if you lost your relative in Gukurahundi, you cannot help but hate the commander of the Fifth Brigade during that time.

However, hating alone is not the solution in this country.  We need national healing and reconciliation as well as transitional justice.  For this Gukurahundi issue to be laid to rest, let us be open about it and initiate a process of transitional justice where the victims are able to talk.  I am happy that the President has already begun that process, going to Matebeleland, listening to the victims and getting them to speak, which is an important step.  However, I want to suggest that we want a memorialisation of the victims of Gukurahundi.  Let us be open about it, let us build a monument in remembrance of the victims of Gukurahundi and honour and respect the families/relatives of the victims.  That will be a big achievement to move beyond this sad chapter of our history.

I will tell you what they did in Rwanda.  After the genocide by the

Hutu against the Tutsi which sparked a vicious war in which the Rwanda Patriotic Front finally took over Kigali and liberated the country of genocide forces.   After that they sat down and said what has happened has happened.  Let us build a memorial museum, do the exhumations, talk freely about it and have transitional justice.  To this day, Rwanda has been able to move on.  Let us correct the mistakes that our forebears have made and move the country forward rather than just continue to be tied by such unfortunate incidents.  Let us come out in the open, do a  memorial museum and do a decent burial of all the victims who were not properly buried. If we can compensate whites to the tune of US$3,5 million for the developments made on the farms, it is because we want to respect constitutionalism. It is in our Constitution because we want to respect the rule of law. Why can we not compensate relatives of our own people who died during this unfortunate period of our history?

This Parliament must debate a Bill to compensate victims of Gukurahundi, a Bill to set up a memorial museum and we promote national healing, peace, reconciliation and transitional justice. I think if we do that, Hon. Shiri would rest in eternal peace. I do not think he really wanted to be associated with such alleged brutality, not because he fought a good war for his country and he served his country as Commander of the Air Force and Minister of Agriculture. He was somebody whom I do not think if he was seated there and I was saying these proposals he would be shaking his head. I think he would agree with me that we need to close this chapter but it cannot be closed until we accept and do something about this sad picture.

Mr. Speaker Sir, I want to again pass my sincere condolences to the Shiri family and to ZANU PF who have lost a colleague over the sad loss of Perence Shiri. May his dear soul rest in peace. I thank you.

*HON. RUNGANI: I also want to add my voice thanking Hon.

Mliswa for raising the motion to pay tribute to Hon. Sen. Shiri. I knew Senator Perence Shiri in 1983 in Gweru. He was in good books with my uncle at Guinea Fowl First Brigade. It was three years after independence and as children we enjoyed looking at the liberation of the struggle and to see how they would interact with others. They would come and enjoy a meal after my aunt had cooked. So we would come, watch and listen to them as they spoke displaying their patriotism.

Hon. Shiri loved his people. In Rhodesia, I remember at one time at Fairmile Motel the whitemen could not sit together with blackmen, so they would chase away the blacks. At Fairmile, there is a swimming pool and some white people came and found the black people enjoying themselves. They started dipping their fingers in the blackmen’s drinks. When Hon. Shiri came there was chaos and he fought to ensure that the blackmen were recognised. That is what made us admire him because he fought for the black majority.

When we came here to Parliament and he saw me, I reminded him of the teachings that he had given us and I told him that we were still holding on to that form of patriotism. Hon. Shiri was a person who wanted food security in this nation. We heard the first speaker saying he was a Minister who was hardworking. Hon. Shiri left a legacy of the Pfumvudza project and if we are to get adequate rains we will have food security in Zimbabwe.

I can safely say as a Minister, Hon. Shiri was approachable. I can say he was simple and he had a very high rank but he was approachable. It did not matter your level in terms of social status but he was approachable. I told him I was going to visit him at his office but he passed on before I managed to go there. Hon. Shiri was full of love. I am sure we all witnessed it when he came to Parliament. I actually admired and enjoyed his deep voice. We always used to mimic his deep voice.

What I also liked about Hon. Shiri is that he had endurance. You would see him in Kanyemba, promoting Pfumvunda and the next day he would be in Masvingo on the same issue. I urge all Ministers to emulate what Hon. Shiri used to do for the development of our country. With these few words, I want to say Hon. Shiri, what you initiated we will carry it forward and we will continue with Pfumvudza. Hon. Shiri, may your soul rest in peace. I thank you.

*HON. MUSANHI: Thank you for giving me this opportunity to debate on a person that I worked with closely until his untimely death. I want to thank the independent Member of Parliament, Hon. Mliswa for raising this motion which is very important. I had written a few points on what I know about this man. I am deeply saddened that the way I used to view this man is the same view that everyone saw in him. So many things that I wrote about him have already been said by my fellow colleagues. I will dwell on the few issues that have not been mentioned.

Mr. Speaker Sir, I first met Hon. Perrance Shiri in 1978 when I was still a small boy and I was coming from school. He was coming to Rushinga and he was the Commander for the whole wing that covers Rushinga stretching to Mashonaland East going down to Nyanga. That was his area which he commanded. When I first met him in 1978, I realised that he was a man of wisdom. I left school because I was inspired to go and fight in the liberation struggle and two of my brothers had already joined the struggle.

When I met Hon. P. Shiri, he asked me what I wanted to do. I said to him I had dropped out of school to go and fight in the liberation struggle but he said no because already two of my brothers were in the struggle. He asked me what I expected them to eat and wear if all of us were to join the struggle. Mr. Speaker, at first I thought this person was discriminating against me but I later realised that what he said made a lot of sense, that people also needed support in terms of food, clothes and everything that they needed.  So, I understood and accepted what he had suggested.  I took his advice.  I told him that we did not have anything to protect us, Rhodesian Army can come and murder us but he said that everyone is protected by God.  I had a feeling of fear when I knew that Hon. Shiri feared God yet he was one of the liberation fighters.  I respected him.  In our family we are Christians but when I realised that he respected God even though he had joined the liberation struggle, my respect for him increased.

Mr. Speaker Sir, for the time that I worked with Hon. Shiri, in Mashonaland Central Province, he was my Commander.  When we engaged in conflict with G40 – Tyson was a tough man but through

Hon. Shiri’s wisdom, he would advise me on what to do.  He would say, go and tell your people this and that and do likewise.  Those commands that he gave us were strategies that made us to overthrow G40 in Mashonaland Central and for sure in Mashonaland Central, we defeated them.

Mr. Speaker Sir, we then progressed and worked with Hon. Shiri.  As I was working with him I realised that Hon. Shiri was a man who was very honest.  You could not talk to him about taking shortcuts, he would say no, we do not work like that.  He was a servant leader.  He is one person within the party who respected even the opposition.  I want to give evidence that he could respect people of the opposition whenever they said whatever they said if it had sense. If it was of value, he would take it up.

Hon. Shiri was a loyal cadre, he respected the President and his deputies.  Even as you travel together, if the President phoned him, he would stop, speak to him paying attention as if he was actually facing him.  If a call came from the Vice President, he would also stop and speak whilst on attention and that would show us that he was speaking to his superiors.  The issue of loyalty and respect was a virtue for Hon.

Shiri.  He was full of love, he loved his colleagues.  If you spend days without talking to him, he would follow up. If two or three days went by without seeing each other, he would phone me and say, ‘son-in-law do you want me to take my daughter, if you do not phone me I will come and get my daughter’. I would apologise and said I have been busy.

Hon. Shiri was a hardworking person.  He was committed to his work.  He made sure he did his work perfectly.  Hon. Shiri was very productive especially on the farms.  In my constituency in Mashonaland Central, they know that I would mimic his voice that if there is land that is being under-utilised we would come and withdraw the farm.  For people to know that those who are lazy would lose their farms, so by mimicking his voice it actually meant that he was a hardworking man.  So, Hon. Shiri will be greatly missed. Personally Mr. Speaker Sir, I am deeply pained.  Hon. Shiri is gone before I learnt as much as I would have wanted to learn from him.

Mr. Speaker Sir, I want to say may his departed soul rest in eternal peace and may God be with him.  It was God’s will and by God’s will we will meet again.  Go well Hon. Shiri! Thank you Mr. Speaker.          *HON. SVUURE: Thank you Hon. Speaker for giving me this opportunity I want to say a few words and support the Members of

Parliament who have spoken on tribute to Rtd Air Marshall Perence Shiri.  I got to know this man when I was growing up.  We heard a lot about him when he was growing up and that he was one of the brave cadres who stood firm for the development of the nation.  From the time that I knew him, his bravery and mastery in terms of leading the Air

Force, he was very knowledgeable in terms of the Air Force.  As the Commander of the Air Force, I read a lot about him and how he worked hard for the liberation of Zimbabwe.

He is one of the comrades that I respect a lot who showed bravery in the fight for the struggle. In this new dispensation since 2017, he was elevated by the President to be the Minister of Agriculture.  I became close to him and I became a Member of Parliament for Zaka Central, I saw him as a Minister who was straight forward and transparent in his dealings as evidenced by his speech.

The questions that we asked him, he would respond with eloquence and had the details at his finger tips.  That can only be done by someone who has mastery in his field.  I want to support the other Member of Parliament who debated that he was approachable.  Yes, he was approachable despite which area you came from, you could talk to him and he was very patient and tried to listen to everyone. He also gave convincing responses; he was not a person who would just respond to you so you could be happy and go away.  He was genuine and he would advice on the strategies to take on the matter you will have brought before him.

He was principled and straight forward and hence not a challenge to work with.  So, when I heard about is passing away, I was pained.  As an individual, I was also looking forward that his appointment to the Minister of Agriculture would lead to production.  My prayer is for us to have more ministers like Hon. Sen. Rtd Air Marshal Shiri and I believe that the Government has chosen an equally good Minister to lead the

Ministry of Agriculture.  I hope that we still have such kind of leadership.  We pray that God has mercy on him and that his soul may rest in internal peace.  I thank you.

*HON. MHONA: I want to thank you Mr. Speaker Sir for the opportunity that you have given me on this important motion raised by the Norton legislator Hon. T. Mliswa.  Mr. Speaker Sir, I have shown my desire to contribute a number of times reflecting the importance of the issue that is before us.  A motion has been raised that touches the hearts of many which shows that the man that we are talking about was is a hero.  Mr. Speaker, I stood up to enlighten this House that Hon. Sen. Rtd Air Marshal Shiri and myself came from the same community, same Chief and same Headman.

What I want to say is that this man was of a different caliber.  He was an honest man and did not take short cuts in all his work.  Most Members of Parliament have said that he was humble and straight forward.  As I stand here, if I give you his full background, we will go throughout the whole night.  We worked well together and I was the

Member of Parliament for his home areas where he was born.  What I stood up to inform this House is that as Parliament, we have lost quite a number of Members of Parliament which teaches us that life is not ours and also teaches us that we spend a lot of time in conflict not knowing that someday we will not be here on this earth.

What I want to say is that we need the spirit of love.  Sometimes, it is not even there because if there is love we would want all of us to prosper.  Hon. Sen. Rtd Air Marshal was very punctual and he was very humble.  I remember you heard from the media in 2018, I went to him and I said that Hon. Senator, it is being said that you want to take the constituency where I come.  I indicated to him that I would not want us to contest for the same constituency, so, I advised him to have the constituency.  He said no, you are going to stand for Chikomba Central, what the media is saying is something else; I will go to the Senate. I thanked him for his transparency.  As we proceeded his young brother also came and wanted to contest the 2018 elections.  I approached him and he said we will go to the people and the people will determine who they want.  He was a person of integrity and his words were not about nepotism in Chikomba Central, he was transparent.  What pains me most is that we have met a lot of deaths in this House but some of the funerals that we attend are an embarrassment.  As Members of Parliament we do not go and bury our colleagues, my request is that it will be good that as Members of this august House, we should value funerals.  It does not matter whether a person holds leadership positions or not.

When there is a funeral, we must stand as a family in this august

House.  I hope and pray that that kind of love will be exhibited in this House.  So, I want to believe that if that kind of spirit would be found in each and every one of us even the words of hate that we speak in this House will not exist.  It means that they have left a legacy that we need to take up.  Mr. Speaker, even if you are to go to war, at one time you have to sit down and negotiate, reach a consensus and resolve conflict.

So, I want to thank all the people who paid tribute to Hon.

Matambanadzo and Hon. Shiri.  As a family, if we are to unite Hon. Members, our nation can develop.  I want to thank you for the opportunity that you have given me.  I want to say to the Shiri family and the whole nation of Zimbabwe, it has been a great loss.  I was asked in Chikomba Central when the late Hon. Shiri’s remains were going to come home for the people to pay their last respects and at that time, he was already laid to rest.  People were waiting to witness his burial as a hero but this was not done because of the pandemic.  This was painful to a number of people in Njanja.  I want to thank you Hon. Speaker for giving me this opportunity.  I want to implore Hon. Members to take up the spirit of love and call for unity.  I thank you Hon. Speaker.

*HON. DUTIRO: Hon. Perrance Shiri is a man whom I knew during the liberation struggle.  He was operating in Mashonaland

Central.  I knew him as the leader of the war veterans.  We knew Hon. Shiri as a person who forgave people who did wrong.  We knew him as someone who was patient and humble.  He explained to people the aims and objectives of the liberation struggle.  He was an understanding person, a farmer who educated people and encouraged them to work hard.  Hon. Shiri came to Guruve South ten times and used to visit different constituencies, especially the A1 and A2 farmers and promoting the Pfumvudza project.

Hon. Shiri’s aim was to ensure that each household would have food security.  What he wanted to see was the development and empowerment of all households.  He was not someone who just talked but was a hands-on person.  He would even visit a household whose hut that was falling in and assist. He would eat whatever was provided as he was not selective.  The late Hon. Minister was a man of the people and a servant leader.

I would like to thank him because he knew that the young people needed to be groomed in order to be future leaders of the nation.  He believed that the country would develop when these young people were empowered.  I want to thank him for the education and enlightenment that he gave us.  Even now, people no longer wear suits but are wearing work-suits to show that they are hands-on.  I thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.

HON. MUNETSI: Thank you very much Hon. Speaker for giving me this time to speak about the late Hon. Perrance Shiri.  I am one person who has a very strong heart, I do not easily get shaken by unfolding events.  However, one person who shook me and made my heart to bleed is Hon. Shiri.  He is one person I respected so much in this House, not because he was a Chimurenga guru, liberator or war veteran but because of his stature, the way he presented himself.  He was just marvelous and meticulous. We will miss this man in this House.

I am looking at and talking about a person – I have read history before, I have read about General Tongogara and I want to liken Hon. Shiri to him, strong, courageous, educative, trustworthy, directional and purposeful.  I want to say to Hon. Shiri, rest in peace.  Thank you.

HON. R. R. NYATHI: Hon. Speaker Sir, I thank you for the opportunity you have given me to pay my tribute to Hon. Shiri.  I will say a few words not repeating what has already been said by other Hon.

Members.  I have seen it fit for me to talk about this man.  I joined the Airforce in 1980 and the Air Marshal at that time was not Hon. Shiri.

However, when Hon. Shiri came to the Airforce, that is when I retired.

What I want you to understand is that, he was a flying officer.  If one is a flying officer at the Airforce, it is different from a pilot for commercial flights who fly to Dubai and other destinations.  There is need for that person to be an extremely intelligent person who can easily calculate the speed of wind and the speed of fired bullets and also the skill to calculate timely when to release bombs so that they land on the expected place at the right place and at the right time.  This requires a person to be disciplined for one to be a leader of the Airforce. I have great respect for Hon. Shiri.  I learnt some things concerning his burial that I want to share with you this evening.  This man performed ordinary things in an extraordinary way.  He was committed and had mastery of his work.  Those are some of the things that make one to get an act of gallantly to show that this person is brave and has the capacity to do the extraordinary.  That is what differentiates the soldiers and comrades of the army.  That is why we then have people who deserve to be at the Heroes Acre or Provincial Heroes Acre because we look at the life and legacy that a person has lived because they would have looked not only at themselves but the country at large.

I also want to say that Cde Shiri’s death was so sudden such that we have learnt something, that we need to live one day at a time.  We also learn that life is very short.  We need to do whatever we can do or the good things that we can, do in good time, knowing that we are living on borrowed time. I want to support my debate by quoting a verse in the Bible – Ecclesiastes 9:10, which says if there is something that you need to do, do it wholeheartedly because there is no thought, wisdom, knowledge in the world of the dead.  Hon. Shiri left us a lot of work. He worked hard and did his part but it is time for us to take the baton and ensure that we develop our nation in every way that we can for it to develop and also to ensure that our economy improves.

I come from Midlands Province and I am a Member of Parliament for Shurugwi North Constituency.  Each time I met Hon. Shiri, I saw him humble himself to my level and also to the lowest level – at grassroots.  He was humble and would communicate with everyone.  He was worth respecting.  I would want to say to the Parliament of

Zimbabwe and the nation of Zimbabwe, we are deeply saddened.  My deepest condolences for this loss and may his soul rest in peace.  I thank you.

*HON. P. ZHOU:  Thank you for giving me this opportunity to debate and contribute to this motion and pass my message of condolence on the passing on of Hon. Shiri.  We are very thankful to His Excellency for giving us an Hon. Minister.

Hon. Shiri was my husband’s best friend and I knew him before he was a Minister.  He was a very good farmer.  He always told us that we should be seen to be doing tangible things visible to the people.  Of all things that we learnt from him, nothing negative has been said about him with regards to corruption.  We feel the pain because of this great loss.

It was God’s time and there was nothing that we could do.   We heard that the Minister fell ill and in no time, he left us.

When I was diagnosed COVID 19 positive, I felt the pain and I understand the situation very well.  I am very grateful to the late.  I am now here and no longer feeling ill.  We are very thankful for being given Comrade Shiri as a Minister to us.  Everyone is going to carry on with the hard work that he taught us.  We all feel the pain and we are aggrieved, but we are thankful for his life.  We understand that God gives and takes away from us.  I thank you.

HON. TOGAREPI:  I move that the debate do now adjourn.

HON. MHONA: I second.

Motion put and agreed to.

Debate to resume:  Wednesday, 23^rd September, 2020.

MOTION

BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE

HON. TOGAREPI:  I move that the rest of the Orders of the Day be stood over until Order No 18 has been disposed of.

HON. TEKESHE:  I second.

Motion put and agreed to.

MOTION

REPORT OF THE 46^TH PLENARY ASSEMBLY SESSION OF SADC

PARLIAMENTARY FORUM

    HON. NDIWENI: I move the motion standing in my name that this House takes note of the Report of the 46^th Plenary Assembly Session of SADC Parliamentary Forum held from 10^th to 17^th December, 2019 at

Swakopmund, Namibia.

HON. TOGAREPI: I second.

HON. NDIWENI:  Mr Speaker Sir, this is a report of the 46^th  Plenary Assembly Session of the SADC Parliamentary Forum which was convened in Swakopmund Entertainment Centre in Namibia, from

10 to 17 December 2019 under the theme: “The Role of SADC

Parliaments in ensuring Universal Health Coverage by the year 2030”.

Thirteen (13) Member Parliaments were represented at the Plenary

Assembly, namely, Angola; Botswana; Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC); The Kingdom of Eswatini; Malawi; Mozambique; Lesotho;

Namibia; Seychelles; Tanzania; South Africa; Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The Speaker’s delegation from Zimbabwe was led by Hon.

Advocate Jacob Francis Mudenda, Speaker of the National Assembly, and it comprised the following Members and Officers of Parliament: - o Hon. Tambudzani Mohadi, Member of the Standing

Committee on Food, Agriculture, Natural Resources and

Infrastructure; o Hon. Goodlucky Kwaramba, Member of the Standing

Committee on Gender Equality, Women Advancement and

Youth Development and Chairperson of the Zimbabwe

Women’s Parliamentary Caucus; o Hon. Dought Ndiweni, incoming Member of the Standing

Committee on Democratization, Governance and Human

Rights; o Hon. Anele Ndebele, Member of the Standing Committee on

Trade, Industry, Finance and Investment; and o Hon. Bacillia Majaya, Member of the Standing Committee on Human and Social Development and Special Programmes.

The following attended the Plenary Assembly as support staff: - o Mr Kennedy Mugove Chokuda, Clerk of Parliament;

o Mr. Ndamuka Marimo, Director in the Clerk’s Office; o Mr. Frank Mike Nyamahowa, Director in the Hon. Speaker’s

Office; o Mr. Cleophas Gwakwara, Principal External Relations

Officer and Secretary to the Delegation;  o Ms. Martha Mushandinga, Principal Executive Assistant; and  o Mr. Clive Zvimekria Mukushwa, Security – Aide to the

Speaker.

1. Official Opening Ceremony
2. The 46^th Plenary Assembly was officially opened on Friday 13
3. December 2019 at the Swakopmund Entertainment Centre, with the 4. Vice-President of the Republic of Namibia, His Excellency, Nangolo
4. Mbumba, as Guest of Honour.

    Hon. Vice-President Mbumba, welcomed delegates to Namibia,  affectionately and popularly known as the “Land of the brave’. The  Vice–President explained that Namibia is the driest country in the  whole of the SADC Region. He further pointed out that Namibia was the  last country to fight two colonial Governments, namely, the German  Government, and the old South African Government with unmatched

fortitude.

Hon. Vice- President Mbumba appreciated the role SADC played  in Namibia’s fight for independence and pointed out that the country  was delighted to host those who supported her quest for freedom  and independence. It was an imperative for Namibia to actively support  the transformation of the SADC Parliamentary Forum into a SADC  regional Parliament.

The President of SADC PF and Speaker of the National Assembly  of Mozambique, Hon. Veronica Nataniel Macamo Dlhovo, thanked the  Hon. Vice- President for officially opening the Plenary Assembly and  welcomed the delegates by firstly, congratulating Namibia for  holding peaceful elections and acceding to host the Plenary Assembly  shortly thereafter. Hon. Dlhovo emphasised the need to upscale the  lobbying process for the transformation of the SADC PF into a

Regional Parliament.

 

  SYMPOSIUM: THE ROLE OF SADC PARLIAMENTS IN

ENSURING UNIVERSAL HEALTH COVERAGE (UHC), BY

2030

The Speaker of the National Assembly of Namibia, Hon Professor

Peter Katjavivi, chaired the Symposium. The broad definition of  Universal Health Coverage is a deliberate endeavour to ensure that all  people have access to health care and have no financial risk or hardship  in doing so. It was noted that measures to eliminate Malaria,

Tuberculosis and HIV and AIDS can only succeed within the context of Universal Health Coverage. Thus, UHC must be viewed in its broadest context as a developmental agenda, a driver of socio-economic development. UHC is indeed a worthwhile investment.

The Symposium was also addressed by Mrs Katjivena, Deputy

Executive Director, Department on Policy Development and Resources Management in Namibia, outlining that since independence, the country’s mission has been to promote integrated, affordable, accessible, quality, equitable health and social services that are responsive to the needs of the population.  The country continued to work towards achieving Universal Health Coverage through this mission. Namibia has adopted the Primary Health Care approach as a cost-effective method of delivering health services and bringing health care closer and costeffectively to the people.

It was noted that there are an infinite range of ways of delivering services in health, but no country in the world has reached the apex in UHC. The idea is to come up with new technologies and cost effective means of delivering health services. In this regard, most of the countries that have started making progress have started looking at what is currently available in the health delivery system and trying to define explicitly a set of services that will give the most favourable results on health services.  

    The Symposium was informed that since independence in 1980, Zimbabwe has facilitated the drafting of strategies, policies and laws to promote UHC. Amongst these, the Legislature came up with a Patients’ Charter in 1996, which provides information on the rights and responsibilities of patients and health providers.

6. The Parliament of Zimbabwe has passed multiple legislation that govern various components of health financing functions and the delivery of health care. The main legislation for health being the

Constitution, which guarantees health as a right for all citizens. The

Constitution of Zimbabwe, in Section 76, clearly states that: “(a) every citizen and permanent resident of Zimbabwe has the right to access basic health care services including health service; (b) every person living with a chronic illness has the right to have access to basic health care services for the illness; (c) No person can be refused medical treatment in any health care institution; (d) the State must take responsible legislative and other measures within limits of the resources available to it to achieve the progressive realisation of the rights set out in the

Constitution.”

Zimbabwe also takes pride in having a sustained policy of directing resources to prevention of diseases and maintenance of primary health care. The country also boasts of having a flagship programme, the AIDS levy and National Aids Trust Fund that were established in 1999.

Naturally, the programme may have contributed to the tax burden the country’s citizens, but the value of its fruits far outweigh the negatives. The trickle down effects of the programme have so far resulted in reduction in incidences of HIV/AIDS cases.

The Symposium concluded that, whilst UHC is difficult to achieve, most countries are looking at new technologies and interventions which are aimed at achieving the most favourable results using a cost-effective approach.

         THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REPORT

7. The Executive Committee (EXCO) of the SADC Parliamentary Forum

(SADC PF) submitted its report for consideration and adoption. The

Executive Committee met on 6^th and 7^th November 2019, at 54 Bath,

Rosebank, Johannesburg, South Africa and again on 11^th and 12^th

December 2019, at the Swakopmund Hotel and Entertainment Centre.

As a result of the report, the Plenary Assembly expressed profound gratitude to the National Assembly of Namibia for hosting the Plenary

Assembly less than a month after holding their general elections. The Plenary Assembly noted that this noble gesture demonstrated the steadfast and exemplary commitment by the Republic of Namibia to the promotion of inter-parliamentary cooperation. In the same vein, the

Plenary Assembly adopted a Hosting Calendar, with the pledge by the

Democratic Republic of Congo to host the 47^th  Plenary Assembly in

June 2020.

         APPRECIATION OF THE THEME

EXCO expressed its gratitude that the theme for the Plenary Assembly resonated with the contemporary global developmental discourse as evidenced by the adoption of the Political Declaration on Universal Health Coverage by the United Nations General Assembly at the seventy fourth (74^th) Session of the United Nations General

Assembly High Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage held on

23^rd September 2019 as well as the adoption of a similar theme by the

International Parliamentary Union (IPU) at its 141^st Assembly held in Belgrade, Serbia in October 2019.

The proposed theme thus confirmed that the Forum remained attuned to the global development agenda. Additionally, it was opportune to adopt the theme during the Plenary, given the impending official commencement of the SRHR, HIV and AIDS Governance Project (2019-2022) which has a dedicated focus area on universal health coverage.

         ELECTION OBSERVATION MISSIONS (EOMS)

The Plenary Assembly noted with concern that the Forum is failing to sponsor election observation missions to Member Parliaments’ elections. The Assembly urged the Secretariat and Member Parliaments to do everything possible to ensure that the region tells its own story on elections than to be rated by outsiders such as the European Union and

Commonwealth observers.

Furthermore, the Plenary Assembly urged the Secretariat to produce an analytical report, drawn from reports of the various observer missions that details the experiences of the different SADC countries in conducting elections and the recommended best practices drawn from these experiences in the context of the SADC Model Law on Elections. In that way, the Forum would create a niche for itself as a leading voice for democratic elections in the region despite the budgetary constraints which continue to hamper the fielding of EOMs.

 

  Implementation of Phase II of the SRHR, HIV and AIDS

Governance Project

The EXCO reported with gratitude the renewed funding of the project by Sweden for a further three years commencing on 1st July 2019 to 30th June 2022. Pursuant to this, the Secretariat had officially written to national Parliaments on 02 August 2019, inviting each

Parliament to participate in the Project by signing Project

Implementation Agreements and appointing SRHR Researchers.

However, the EXCO reported with concern that to date, Project

Implementation Agreements had been signed by only eight (8) national

Parliaments, namely, the DRC, the Kingdom of Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, Mauritius, Seychelles, Zambia and Zimbabwe as confirmation of their commitment to implement the Project. Tanzania opted not to participate in the current project, electing to join the programme in its third phase.

  Admission of the Parliament of Madagascar as SADC PF

Member

The Plenary Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution for the admission of Madagascar into the SADC PF. The Plenary Assembly made a grandiose and highly-publicised welcome debate on the return of Madagascar to the Forum with the Hon. Speaker, Advocate Jacob Francis Mudenda, making a leading and impassioned speech to welcome

Madagascar as a fully-fledged Member of SADC PF.

       Update on Transformation of the Forum into a SADC

Regional Parliament

Pursuant to the negative perceptions in some countries on the

Transformation Agenda, the Plenary Assembly resolved that all Member

Parliaments should play their part in ensuring that the Heads of State and Government as well as Ministers of Foreign Affairs do support the transformation of the Forum into a SADC Regional Parliament. To this end, the Plenary adopted the following strategies:

1. A Committee of Speakers, comprising the Hon. Speakers of Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, be reconstituted without delay to spearhead lobbying efforts to targeted Heads of State and Government;
2. The SADC PF Secretariat in liaison with Hon. Speaker

Professor Peter Katjavivi (Namibia) and Hon. Speaker Advocate Jacob Francis Mudenda (Zimbabwe) must expeditiously produce an advocacy strategy detailing how the Committee is going to operate and the revised approach to the transformation which addresses all the concerns of the Heads of State and Government and Council of Ministers; and iii.     The Parliamentary Model and Roadmap for Transformation would be discarded since an expensive similar exercise had already been undertaken. The report was submitted to the SADC Secretariat. The Plenary Assembly believed that no positive purpose would be served by repeating the Roadmap. What needs to be done is to produce a script roadmap accompanied by a draft Constitutive Protocol and a revised SADC Treaty which incorporates the transformation protocol as the Parliamentary Model and Roadmap.  

         Adoption of the Resolution to set up a Trust Fund

Plenary Assembly noted with concern the over-reliance of the

Forum on Members’ annual contributions, some of which were not paid timeously thus adversely affecting the Forum’s balance sheet.         To this end, the Plenary Assembly adopted the recommendation by the EXCO to explore innovative financing strategies to fund the activities of the Forum such as the creation of a Trust Fund for Parliamentary Capacity Development where donors, who uphold the values of Parliaments and inter-parliamentary cooperation, have an avenue to donate funds to be used for this purpose. The Plenary Assembly noted that this was the prevailing practice worldwide as international organisations develop Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) in the mode of a Trust. The Plenary Assembly tasked the EXCO in liaison with the Secretariat to work on the legal modalities to establish the

Trust.

4.7    Motivation for a Model Law on Public Financial

        Management

The Plenary Assembly received a report on the dire need to enhance the management of public finances in the SADC region by developing a Model Law on Public Financial Management that seeks to reinforce the powers of Parliament with regards to its sacrosanct budgetary function and ensure that SADC Parliaments can properly exercise their oversight function over the use of public funds.

Accordingly, the Plenary Assembly requested the Secretariat to explore appropriate donor agencies and international financial institutions that could assist in the development of this Model Law.

        Increasing the Visibility of the Forum

8. The Plenary Assembly expressed grave concern over the absence of a dedicated communication strategy to make the work of the Forum visible at a time when efforts to transform SADC PF into a SADC Regional Parliament were gaining momentum. The Plenary Assembly acknowledged that lately, a lot of important programmes and activities were being conducted under the auspices of the Forum without being adequately publicised. Accordingly, the Plenary Assembly adopted a resolution that the Forum considers enhancing its visibility through engaging a communication specialist, working closely with mainstream media in Member States as well as through other approaches such as the production of a regular e-newsletter which would be circulated to Member Parliaments, regional and international Parliamentary organisations and interested stakeholders.
9. The Plenary Assembly also requested the Secretariat to utilise the social media, the Forum’s website and any other means of information dissemination that would enhance the visibility of the Forum.  

        TREASURER’S REPORT

The Plenary Assembly noted that Zimbabwe, among other

Member Parliaments, had fully paid her subscriptions up to 2020. This payment has assisted in raising Zimbabwe’s standing in the regional body since the country is a critical player in most of the initiatives at the Forum. It was noted, with appreciation, that there was no country that was in arrears for more than 12 months. Member Parliaments still in arrears were urged to pay up.

                   MOTIONS ADOPTED DURING PLENARY ASSEMBLY

In tandem with its constitutive mandate, as the policy making and deliberative body of   SADC PF, the 45^th Plenary Assembly discussed

and resolved on various issues raised in the motions.

     Motion for the adoption of the Report of the Regional

Parliamentary Model Laws Oversight Committee

The Plenary Assembly adopted the motion’s resolution in order to enhance accountability in the legislative processes of the SADC Forum’s Parliamentary practices.

The Plenary Assembly further stressed the need for a reporting mechanism to ensure the monitoring and evaluation of the progress being made in respective Parliaments when model laws come into force.

    Motion and debate on the Report of the Joint Session of SADC

PF Standing Committees in the SADC Region

10. The Plenary Session adopted the theme of the 46^th Plenary Assembly which resonated with the Sustainable Development Goals as well as the Political Declaration on Universal Health Coverage issued by the United Nations General Assembly on 23^rd September 2019.
11. Plenary Assembly endorsed the need to do everything possible in the region to lead advocacy at the regional and international level for the national budgets to finance key health issues, especially those targeted at young women.

    Motion and debate for the adoption of the Report of the

Standing Committee on Gender Equality, Women

Advancement and Youth Development

The Plenary Assembly commended the progress made towards the implementation of the youth programmes by Member Parliaments. However, it was noted that some SADC-PF Member Parliaments are still hesitant to include young Members in their delegations to the SADC-PF. A deliberate amendment to the Constitution would be made in this regard to provide for a youth quota in SADC PF delegations.

    Motion and debate for the adoption of the Report of the

Standing Committee on Democratisation, Governance and

Human Rights

The Plenary Assembly resolved as follows: -

SADC PF and national Parliaments should not lose momentum on the commendable work done since 1999, when election observation missions were commenced in the region. While elections do not equate to democracy, they remain a critical pillar for the enhancement of democracy. The Model Law is, therefore, a critical tool in democracy building as it covers the entire election cycle.

The region must focus its efforts towards the incorporation of progressive initiatives such as the Model Law on Elections into the national legal and policy frameworks to ensure that the region is in sync with best practices. The Plenary Assembly resolved to task Presiding Officers to champion the adoption of the model law in their respective Parliaments.

Adoption of the Report of the Standing Committee on Human and Social Development and Special Programmes

        The Plenary Assembly resolved that:

-       Universal Health Coverage be is intricately intertwined with the SRHR Agenda in order to promote holistic health service delivery with adequate financial resources and human capital.

    Motion and debate for the adoption of the Report of the

Standing Committee on Trade, Industry, Finance and

Infrastructure (TIFI)

    The TIFI Standing Committee reported on the African Free Trade Area issues with regard to the digital economy, sovereign debt, illicit financial flaws, mining sector, renewable energy, access to medicine and public health. The Plenary Assembly urged the national Portfolio

Committees in each Parliament to drive the TIFI agenda.

Motion and Debate for the Adoption of the Report of the Regional

Women’s Parliamentary Caucus

         The Plenary Assembly resolved as follows: - 

 That the Model Law on Gender Based Violence (GBV) be adopted by SADC Member States and domesticated into municipal laws to combat the scourge of gender-based violence.

   Motion and Debate for the Adoption of the Report of the Food,

Agriculture Committee (FANR)

12. The Plenary Assembly adopted the call on developed countries to deliver on their commitments to provide adequate and additional climate finance in order to maintain the sustainability of the

Green Climate Fund.

13. The Plenary Assembly further resolved that there is a need for SADC Governments to ensure the facilitation of the participation of the affected communities in the design, implementation and monitoring of all climate change interventions in the region.
14. DEBATES ON MOTIONS BY MEMBER PARLIAMENTS

    Developing Cross-border Agricultural Value Chains in SADC as a Catalyst for Successful Implementation of the African

Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AFCFTA)

15. SADC-PF Member Parliaments were encouraged to robustly

interrogate and debate the merits and modalities of regional agricultural value chains as a priority area for SADC’s integration   as an enabler towards the successful implementation of the AFCFTA.

 Motion on the Lifting of Economic Sanctions Imposed against the Republic of Zimbabwe   

In a motion moved by Angola and seconded by Malawi, the Plenary Assembly debated a motion condemning, in the strongest possible terms, the illegal and unjustified economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the United States of America, the European Union, and their western allies, and called for their immediate and unconditional removal.

The SADC region spoke with one voice in condemning the unjust and illegal sanctions which violate international law and have caused untold suffering to the people of Zimbabwe.  

The Plenary Assembly opined that the illegal sanctions undermined

Zimbabwe’s efforts to attract investment and realise its national development goals. Furthermore, the lifting of sanctions imposed against Zimbabwe and the evident regional and continental solidarity has the potential to return the country to its former glory of being ‘the breadbasket’ of the SADC Region.

After the robust debate on the motion, it was resolved that:

1. The SADC Parliamentary Forum issues a statement condemning the illegal sanctions

imposed on the   people of Zimbabwe.

2. SADC PF Member countries should embark on a sustained move to champion debate in their respective Parliaments on the removal of illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.
3. The SADC Parliamentary Forum must draft an emergency item calling for the unconditional removal of sanctions to be placed on agenda for the 142^nd Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly and Related Meetings.
4. The region must buttress Zimbabwe’s Parliamentary Diplomacy efforts by engaging in missions in their own jurisdictions championing the need to remove sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.

The SADC Parliamentary Forum should affirm its intentions and collective voice clear that the unwarranted, unjust and illegal sanctions imposed on the people of Zimbabwe are stunting economic growth in the region and should be removed immediately and unconditionally.

 

8.0       RECOMMENDATIONS

	Recommendation	Action	Timeline
8.1	Debate on lifting of Sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe	-The Hon. Speaker to write and remind SADC PF President Members on the need to debate the matter in their Assemblies. -Parliament to institute a deliberate communication strategy that speaks to the effects of the sanctions on the country. - A Deliberate study by the Portfolio Committee on Justice,	April  2020

 

		Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and the Thematic Committee on Human Rights on the effects of the present sanctions regime against Zimbabwe which started in December 2001, when the United States Congress passed the Zimbabwe Democracy and Recovery Act (ZIDERA). Deliberate study on the provisions of the Act which opposes extension of loans or debt cancellations from Multilateral Financial Institutions (IMF, World Bank and AfDB) to Zimbabwe in the context of reengament.
8.2	Portfolio Committee on Health and Child Welfare to debate on action plan to assist the country achieve Universal Health Care (UHC)	-Line Ministry to meet with Portfolio Committee on Health and Child Welfare to discuss resolutions adopted on Universal Health Coverage. - Parliament of Zimbabwe, through the Portfolio Committee on Health and Child Care, to play its oversight role by assessing the factors mitigating against the achievement of UHC and making recommendations that will propel the attainment of UHC	March 2020
8.3	Transformation of the SADC PF into a Regional Parliament	. SADC PF Secretariat in liaison with Hon. Speaker Professor Peter Katjavivi (Namibia) and Hon. Advocate Jacob Francis Mudenda, Speaker of the National Assembly (Zimbabwe) to expeditiously produce an advocacy strategy detailing how the Committee is going to operate and the revised approach to the transformation which addresses all the concerns and misconceptions of the Heads of State and Government and Council of Ministers.	March 2020

 

8.4	SADC Member States to develop comprehensive domestic laws to combat the scourge of gender-based violence which reflect international and regional human rights standards.	. -Members of Parliament in the SADC PF delegation to discuss   key points on the model law and propagate them to other Members of Parliament through a motion.	March 2020
8.5	The need to deliver on commitments to provide adequate and additional climate finance in order to maintain the sustainability of the Green Climate Fund.	-Sustained debate led by Members of Parliament in all Portfolio Committees including those who participate in COP Meetings. A deliberate effort should be made to ensure that all Members are party to debate on the effects of Climate Change - Oversight on the implementation of the National Climate Change Response Strategy by the Portfolio Committee on Environment.	March 2020
8.6	Domestication of the Model Law on Elections	Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs to engage the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs to make action plans on the necessary steps to domesticate the model law through a motion sponsored by a member of the SADC PF delegation.	March 2020
8.7	Mobilisation effort on Election Observation Missions	-Parliament of Zimbabwe, liaise with donors, stakeholders on the need to mobilise resources for election observation missions	February 2020
8.8	Motivation for a Model Law on Public Financial Management	.  The Public Accounts Committee in liaison with the Portfolio Committee on Justice Legal and Parliamentary Affairs to research on important aspects of developing a Model Law on Public Financial Management that seeks to reinforce the powers of Parliament with regards to its sacrosanct budgetary function and ensure that Parliament can properly exercise its oversight	April 2020
		function over the use of public finance.

 

 

            CONCLUSION

The Plenary Assembly appreciated the excellent hosting arrangements made by the National Assembly of Namibia, and rendered its gratitude to host Speaker, Professor Katjavivi.

Parliament of Zimbabwe stands to benefit by adopting resolutions of the 46^th Plenary Assembly as they summarise the collective concerns of citizens in the region.

Once again, the delegation from Zimbabwe was able to fly the national flag high as they made many pointed and evidence-based contributions on various issues of regional concern. I thank you.

 

HON. TOGAREPI:  Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.  I am here to support and second my colleague Hon. Ndiweni on this special report.  I support the views that were raised during the discussions especially where you find that as Africans we now want to champion our own destiny.  You realise that as a country, Zimbabwe is leading in ratifying protocols that come to strengthen Africa and African unity.  I am very excited with your delegation that was led by our Speaker.  The efforts that were put forward culminated into the discussion on various areas.

I want to note the area where you discussed about illegal sanctions that were imposed on the people of Zimbabwe in an effort to destroy us, to dampen our spirits and to abandon the land reform programme.  Our brothers and sisters across SADC, across Africa have come to work with us in demanding the unconditional removal of the unjust sanctions.  That was an important achievement.   As a delegation, you then get favour from our friends, brothers and nations in Southern Africa that these sanctions must go and must go now.  It is critical that as Members of Parliament in the august House, Zimbabwean Parliament should also take a stance in support of this important motion that was raised and debated.  You can tell that people out there see the unfairness of these sanctions but you find sometimes some of our people failing to realise the logic and the intention of these sanctions which is purely to destroy the people of Zimbabwe economically and politically in any other spheres of life.  As long as we are sanctioned they are going to destroy us as a people.  We expect t he people of Zimbabwe especially the representatives of the people of Zimbabwe, the Members of Parliament to take a lead in following this example.  It is my proposal that as we proceed to debate this motion we take note and actively show the world, SADC and the people of Zimbabwe that as representatives of our people we do not want to see these sanctions.  These sanctions must go and our voices must be heard.

I also want to support the efforts by the people of Africa especially SADC for their conscience, for respecting the development of women and youths.  These are the majority of our people.  If we do not put resources, if we do not concentrate in uplifting this section of our democracy, we will destroy all the impetus to move forward.  This was a critical motion.

I want us to look at this as Parliament of Zimbabwe where there is desire to come up with SADC Parliament.  It is a critical area and a stepping stone towards uniting Africa.  If you look at ECOWAZ and Central Africa, they have made efforts that have to unite those blocks.  We can also take the same effort to end up with a regional currency, regional Parliament and base our laws on model laws that can be developed by the SADC Parliament.  This will help cement our people because the fear from most politicians and nationalities today to unite countries is to lose ground or political influence.  If we are united as

Southern Africa we become stronger as a market and as a political voice.  This is a critical motion which Zimbabwe already participates fully and it is encouraging.  I am happy that we were included in the committee that is going to stir this into fruition.  It is important that we look and participate in a strong way that this is achieved.  Mr. Speaker, this was an important mission.

In conclusion, I would like to say we need to have a communication strategy to deal with the sanctions issue.  As Parliament and Members of Parliament of Zimbabwe, let us be at the forefront.

SADC Parliament has already given us the foundation to deal with this.

They are with us and it is critical that we start acting with speed and deal with those.  Sanctions must go and leave the people of Zimbabwe developing their country.  That can only happen if Members of Parliament here who purport to represent the people of Zimbabwe are united against the illegal sanctions imposed on our people.  I thank you.

HON. MUNETSI:  Thank you Mr. Speaker for giving me time to discourse on the motion.  We are Africans and will remain Africans.  The world out there must know that an African is an African and will remain African.  The issue of sanctions does not change us from being Africans. They can put more and more sanctions but that does not change us from being Africans.  We will stand resolute and condemn them to the fullest.  We do not like sanctions, they must go.  I want to applaud the Committee which went out together with the Speaker and I have seen that when Zimbabweans go out there, they raise high the emblem of Zimbabwe and that is very good.  We do not like people just go out there and sit, relax and get allowances for nothing.  When you come back with reports of this nature, it gives us vigour to know that we are represented when we go out there.

Thanks for SADC in recognizing the support for youth and women empowerment.  I want to believe that if that is done collectively as countries in the SADC, we will climb Mount Everest tirelessly.  Thank you.

HON. A. MPOFU:  Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.  Firstly, I would like to thank the Hon. Member, Hon. Ndiweni for his report.  This report is indeed very important.  When you have a home and you see your neighbours supporting the kind of actions that you are doing in order to build and sustain your home, then you know that what you are doing is in the right direction.  So, it is very important indeed that when our neighbours do take the front line seat to support our fight against unjust and illegal sanction, it only emphasises that we as Zimbabweans should be prepared to take a stand.

As has already been alluded by the hon. speaker, we are the representatives of the people of Zimbabwe who are actually suffering from illegal sanctions.  We represent the very people who are suffering from illegal sanctions and it is only fair to them that we should all be prepared to stand up and add our voice to that.  Again, it is very heartening indeed that the Hon. Members who went to represent our country and this august House were able to fly the flag high.  A very critical and sensitive issue today is for each country or jurisdiction is the reputation and the image which is given by the citizens of a country as they go out.  Therefore, when you get representatives going out and raising the flag high, speaking positively about their own country that indeed is commendable.  I would like this august House to really congratulate and pat on the back the Members who actually went out there.  We do hope that this kind of action which came up of the SADC Parliamentary Forum should be reflected, particularly in this House going forward by us doing what has been done in other jurisdictions where Members of Parliament representing their people have stood up.  All of us, whenever we are out there should stand up and positively about our country rather than denigrate its reputation. I would like to say thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.

HON. R.R. NYATHI:  Mr. Speaker Sir, I just want to add my voice in brief about the SADC Plenary Forum that was carried out in Namibia from 10^th to 17^th December, 2019.  What is more exciting in what the other Hon. Members have already spoken about is the care and concern of all other SADC heads of State stating that sanctions must be unconditionally lifted on Zimbabwe.  Furthermore, when they state that these sanctions are also affecting their own countries, it therefore means that those people that are having a song to say sanctions are targeted are misled because if they were targeted, they were not going to affect the neighbouring countries and Africa at large.  So, I am very glad and I am very thankful for a good job that was done in that Plenary Session that occurred in Namibia.  I thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.

HON. TOGAREPI:  Hon. Speaker, I move that the debate do now adjourn.

HON. MUTAMBISI:  I second.

Motion put and agreed to.

Debate to resume:  Wednesday, 23^rd September, 2020.

On the motion of HON. TOGAREPI seconded by HON.

MUTAMBISI, the House adjourned at Six Minutes to Seven o’clock p.m.