PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Wednesday, 26th June, 2024
The National Assembly met at a Quarter-past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE HON. SPEAKER in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE HON. SPEAKER
APOLOGIES RECEIVED FROM MINISTERS
THE HON. SPEAKER: I have received apologies from the following Hon. Ministers; Hon. Prof M. Ncube, Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion; Hon. K. Coventry, Minister of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture; Hon. M. Mutsvangwa, Minister of Women’s Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development; Hon. Z. Ziyambi, Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs; Hon. T. Mavetera, Minister of Information, Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services; Hon. Prof. A. Murwira, Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development; Hon. E. Moyo, Minister of Energy and Power Development; Hon. Dr. Mombeshora, Minister of Health and Child Care; Hon. K. Kazembe, Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage, Hon. C. Sanyatwe, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage; Hon. M. Ndlovu, Minister of Industry and Commerce; Hon. W. Chitando, Minister of Mines and Mining Development; Hon. P. Kambamura, Deputy Minister of Mines and Mining Development; Hon. S. Chikomo, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade; Hon. B. Kabikira, Deputy Minister of Local Government and Public Works and Hon. D. Marapira, Deputy Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement.
HON. HWENDE: On a point of privilege Mr. Speaker Sir!
THE HON. SPEAKER: There is no point of privilege today.
HON. HWENDE: It is on Minister Kirsty Coventry, you ruled three weeks ago.
THE HON. SPEAKER: I beg your pardon?
HON. HWENDE: I said it is on Minister Kirsty Coventry. You made a ruling three weeks ago and asked the Leader of Government Business to look into her situation because we have not seen her.
THE HON. SPEAKER: She did come on that particular day. She came late but she was there.
HON. HWENDE: She only came once.
THE HON. SPEAKER: She was there last week.
HON. HWENDE: And today?
THE HON. SPEAKER: Anyway, you cannot discuss an individual Minister, right?
HON. HWENDE: Are you allowing me to proceed on the point of privilege?
THE HON. SPEAKER: No.
HON. HWENDE: Okay, it is fine if you are not allowing me. Thank you Hon. Speaker.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Thank you.
HON. KARIMATSENGA-NYAMUPINGA: Hon. Speaker, I know on Wednesday we are not supposed to stand up on points of national interest. I am standing up today because this day is a very important day…
THE HON. SPEAKER: No, please, let us not break the rules.
HON. KARIMATSENGA- NYAMUPINGA: Mr. Speaker, it is the International Day of Drug Abuse and we must make a statement.
THE HON. SPEAKER: No, His Excellency the President has already made a national statement.
HON. KARIMATSENGA-NYAMUPINGA: And we can buttress his statement.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Thank you. You do not buttress His Excellency the President. Thank you.
ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
HON. JERE: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. My question is directed to the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion. I wanted to check with the Minister on the Government’s plan with the renovation of the National Sports Stadium. The country is under serious embarrassment that we are playing our matches outside the country.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF FINANCE, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT PROMOTION (HON. D. K. MNANGANGWA): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I would also like to thank the Hon. Member for raising such a contentious issue on the National Sports Stadium. Hon. Speaker, in addition to the budgetary allocation that was set aside for the National Sports Stadium, we have realised that there is need to think outside the box when it comes to capitalising or recapitalising for the construction and refurbishment of our National Sports Stadium.
What we have done and what I am given as premature information, it is important for this House to realise that the Ministry and the Government is doing something for the National Sports Stadium. We are currently in talks with some private sector players to see how best we can create a vehicle that can be listed as a right on the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange. What that will enable is to allow pension funds, private players and Zimbabweans in general, to crowdfund for the refurbishment of the National Sports Stadium.
These instruments Hon. Speaker, have been very successful, our rights have seen the construction of your Highlands Park, a few shopping malls and we have seen this to be an expedient way to raise the capital needed to holistically sort the issue that we are facing with the National Sports Stadium. It is indeed a priority but we have realised that if we join hands with the private sector, we can get closer to running the stadium commercially but also getting private sectors involved in what could be a lucrative investment. These are some of the measures that we are making in addition to the budgetary allocations. I thank you.
HON. JERE: Our concern is, we went through the amount of money that is required to refurbish the National Sports Stadium, 12 million USD is what is required to complete the job but 5 million USD can make it usable. Are we saying as a Government, we really appreciate what the Government is doing, the roads and other infrastructure which is cropping up?
However, are we saying we cannot sacrifice 5 million USD as a Government to save the embarrassment which the President, Dr. E.D Mnangagwa is going through if you go on social media that your Government is failing to refurbish the National Sports Stadium…
THE HON. SPEAKER: Hon. Member, ask your question.
HON. JERE: Yeah
THE HON. SPEAKER: Do not say yeah, withdraw.
HON. JERE: The question is, are we saying as a country, we cannot raise 5 million USD whilst we are waiting for other investors to join hands to make sure that at least we play our next match here at home?
HON. D. K. MNANGAGWA: I can assure the Hon. Member that the 5 million USD would not be a sacrifice. There is indeed money that had already been budgeted for the National Sports Stadium and these disbursements are happening according to the schedule of contracts that are in place.
What I was speaking to Hon. Speaker, is a holistic solution to get the National Sports Stadium to a world class facility and not just usable. Plans for the interim are actually underway and their process is currently in play. I stand guided by the Minister of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture. I thank you.
HON. BAJILA: Two weeks back, I asked a similar question and the Acting Leader of Government Business on that day, Hon. Mhona, suggested that I should ask it to the Minister and it comes in fit. My question is that we have seen news about procurement of bucket seats for the National Sports Stadium outside the country when local companies such as Tregers Plastics in Bulawayo have got capacity that they have demonstrated to manufacture these bucket seats. However, the Government has decided to partner with private sector companies that actually import from China as has been reported. Is it Government policy to neglect local manufacturers and they prioritise importation instead of import substitution in the reconstruction of the National Sports Stadium?
HON. D. K. MNANGAGWA: Our Government policy in terms of procurement is guided by the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Act which would call for bids and from those bids to go through the process, that is overseen by the procurement regulator, PRAZ. I would think that all processes are within their domain, whether the one who ends up winning is purchasing locally or internationally, but it is through the guidance of the Act.
Hon. Speaker, I am not sure if the discussion is around empowerment of our local business which we would fully support but in terms of procurement, I think we are guided by law. I thank you.
HON. MADZIVANYIKA: Thank you Mr. Speaker. Can we not take advantage of the Public-Private-Partnership arrangements that we have seen in many countries adopting as a way of financing the construction of our stadia so that the companies which construct those stadiums will benefit from entry ticket charges for a period of 10 years and so forth but we will be having our infrastructure as a country?
Could the Minister take advantage of the PPP arrangement project to help revitalise our stadiums? I thank you.
HON. D. K. MNANGAGWA: I think what the Hon. Member is referring to is what I alluded to in my initial submission where we are engaging private sector players. The PPP stands for Public-Private-Partnerships in pursuing a right, instead of having one private sector player. We are opening it up to the general public of private sector players to subscribe to the stadia. So indeed this would be a PPP but with more innovation around it taking advantage of capital markets.
*HON. KARIMATSENGA-NYAMUPINGA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. We appreciate the responses but I need guidance on timelines on when the monies will be availed for the National Sports Stadium’s bucket seats, toilets and the other developments. So we want timelines from the Hon. Ministers so that there is clarity in that area because our young people are indulging in drugs because they do not have any leisure activities. We need a response today so that we know when the money will be given to the Minister of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture.
*THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF FINANCE, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT PROMOTION (HON. D. K. MNANGAGWA): Thank you and I appreciate that question Mr. Speaker Sir. I need assistance in that regard by the Ministry of Spots, Recreation, Arts and Culture but as a Ministry, for the things that we requested for, we have the funding. The contracts are being paid. As to when the project will be completed, the responsible Ministry can respond to that but as the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, we make sure that we avail funding for different projects but if it is not enough, we then look for more. I thank you.
HON. P. ZHOU: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. My question is directed to the Minister of Health and Child Care. Statistics show that an estimated one third of HIV infections in Zimbabwe are within young people in the 15 to 24 years age group. What policies and intervention have been put in place to address these concerning statistics I thank you?
THE HON. DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON. KWIDINI): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. It is very true but as we all know that whenever we talk about numbers or statistics, it means there should be evidence which is properly given.
As she said, a third of the youth which is from 15 to 24 are being infected. We all know that in Zimbabwe, the reproductive age group is from 15 to 49 then there is a gap in that where we say the recommended age group for child bearing in Zimbabwe is from 18 and above but as we can see now, there is also that gap which is included in the age group which she has mentioned. With your indulgence maybe if she can put the question in writing so that we come with specific interventions and statics which will cover and give proper evidence on what is being done by the Ministry to curb that challenge. I thank you Mr. Speaker.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Hon. Zhou, if you can put your question in writing for next week so that the statistics can be given.
HON. P. ZHOU: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. Can I add what I wanted to ask as a supplementary so that he can include it there?
THE HON. SPEAKER: No, that is a contradiction.
HON. P. ZHOU: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
+HON. O. SIBANDA: Thank you for affording me this opportunity, Mr. Speaker Sir. My question is directed to the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education. What is Government doing to those pupils who are taking their lessons outside classrooms because of a shortage of classrooms?
THE MINISTER OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION (HON. T. MOYO): Government policy, Hon. Speaker, is that no learner should attend classes under trees or outside of their classrooms. The Government is seized with that matter in as far as the provision of adequate classrooms and schools is concerned. The Government has deliberately allocated funds towards the construction of new schools and also the increase of classroom blocks.
The Government cannot do it alone, Hon. Speaker. As a Ministry, we have invited players in the form of development partners to assist in the construction and provision of classrooms. I am aware that we have a shortage of schools, but we are making efforts to ensure that we provide a conducive atmosphere in as far as the provision of quality inclusive and equitable education is concerned. Thank you Hon. Speaker.
HON. MANGONDO: Thank you Hon. Speaker Sir. My question goes to the Hon. Minister of Local Government and Public Works. In view of the critical importance of local authorities in terms of service delivery. Being the second tier of Government which has direct impact on people and in view of the fact that we have experienced a lot of deterioration in terms of service delivery as well as management systems in local authorities, my question to the Hon. Minister is; what policy initiatives as well as the strategies does the Ministry have to try and retool these local authorities so that they can be dynamised as well as make sure that they are operating in the 21st century in order to enhance the competitiveness of the country as they are the ones who interact directly and affect any would be investors in the country. I thank you Hon. Speaker?
THE MINISTER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS (HON. GARWE): Mr. Speaker Sir, the question asked refers to several work stations. The first station was in November 2023. His Excellency launched a policy on call to action, no compromise to service delivery and then directed that the Ministry must champion the production of a master plan by all local authorities, the evaluation reports as well as enterprising resource plan. We are meeting on Thursday with all the local authorities to assess the progress made to date by the local authorities in terms of producing particularly the masterplans. The deadline for submission to Government is 30th of June. The second tier of the question is, service delivery had deteriorated and according to Hon. Mangondo, this is because the local authorities seem not to have the adequate resources.
We are well aware of the two elephants in the House. The first elephant is the impact of sanctions. Zimbabwe has been under sanctions for a period of more than two years. Yes, it is a fact, we are under sanctions. What sanctions mean to a simple mind is that we cannot access affordable finance from international financiers and incompetence being demonstrated by urban local authorities. [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.]-
There is no substitute for incompetence. We cannot continue to plough resources to local authorities that are being run by incompetent, inefficient and ineffective councillors.
HON. HAMAUSWA: Mr. Speaker Sir, I appreciate the response by the Minister. I have checked that whenever the Minister is asked on a question relating to local authorities, he raises the issue of sanctions. Can we then close the nation until we have the issues of sanctions resolved? This is because he is always saying sanctions and no solutions from the Government.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Thank you Hon. Hamauswa. I thought it would be part of the solutions to keep out these sanctions.
HON. GARWE: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir for your intervention. We cannot come here and sit and try to wash away the sanctions that are on us, we cannot do that. As a way of dealing with these two elephants – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.]-
THE HON. SPEAKER: Hon. Members, if you have got a supplementary question, please rest your case until you can ask.
HON. GARWE: As a stop gap measure Mr. Speaker Sir, Government has put in place devolution funds to assist local authorities in ensuring that they can buy equipment to service roads and for refuse collection. As we speak, every local authority has been provided with fire tenders by Government. We have bought ambulances and tractors for our local authorities. Harare has been given 24 tractors to assist them with the carrying of solid waste but be that as it may, the Ministry of Local Government, three weeks ago, started Operation Chenesa Harare Phase 2 to assist Harare which has collapsed entirely with the collection of waste in the city. We are doing the same programme next week with Chitungwiza which is also in a sorry state in terms of service delivery. I thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
THE HON. SPEAKER: In terms of our Standing Orders, you allow the original questioner to ask a supplementary question. If the original questioner has no supplementary question, then you can rise to take the floor.
HON. MANGONDO: Thank you Hon. Speaker Sir. I would like to thank the Hon. Minister for the comprehensive reply. My supplementary question to the Hon. Minister has to do with what we have seen in terms of the management and competencies of most of these local authorities, especially as it relates to the management of resources as well as the handling of urban renewal programmes. My question is; what carrot and stick measures is the Ministry putting in place to ensure that those local authorities that perform are rewarded and those that do not perform are treated accordingly?
HON. GARWE: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I would like to thank Hon. Mangondo for the supplementary question. Let me start with the capital city Harare. Last month, His Excellency appointed a Commission of Inquiry which now as we speak, is conducting interviews with residents in Harare and their work is overwhelming to want to understand what is happening with Harare from 2017 to date, because Harare as a capital city has collapsed. We will go to other cities which are in a similar situation ensuring that we root out all those people that are corrupt, incompetent, causing inefficiency and are stealing land from council. So, we are doing that.
In terms of wanting to reward, you are employed to deliver for the nation and the reward that you must get is the satisfaction that you have done what you have been employed to do. Thank you.
HON. MATEWU: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. The Hon. Member for Murehwa South asked a very pertinent question as to urban renewal and my supplementary question to the Hon. Minister is that urban renewal in the regeneration of our towns is absolutely important as we go into this technological era. What is your Ministry doing to ensure that you assist all these councils which are basically out of money?
THE HON. SPEAKER: Address yourself to the Chair!
HON. MATEWU: Yes Mr. Speaker. My question to the Hon. Minister is; what is his Ministry doing to capacitate our urban and rural authorities to enable them to regenerate and develop as we go into a new era? If someone who died in 1975 were to wake up today, they would find some of these towns the same. What is the Government doing to ensure, like what other countries do, to capacitate our councils to enable them to grow into cities? Thank you.
HON. GARWE: Let me thank Hon. Matewu for his supplementary question. Urban regeneration and urban renewal are a reality. There are several steps that Government is taking to ensure that we start retrofitting our infrastructure in the urban areas. The first one is to invite investors both local, domestic and international to join hands with us in urban renewal. As we speak, we are seized with discussions with various investors from outside Zimbabwe and within Zimbabwe on urban renewal in Harare and other cities. Harare more importantly, because we want Harare as a city. You may not be aware that Mbare is the biggest income generator for Harare and it needs urban renewal.
These areas in Harare include Mbare Market, Siyaso as well as Matapi Hostels. They have seen their better days. We are now working on that. So, within a month or so from today, we will have investors on the ground working on urban renewal. We are working on the Mukuvisi dungeon from the dam to Manyame River. We need to relook into our urban cities. Rural areas are not so much of urban renewal. Rural RDCs never had any infrastructure to talk about. We are now looking in terms of the masterplans that are being developed. Once the plans are approved, we will look at how best we can develop all our eight rural provinces. We look at the RDCs that are there to ensure that the infrastructure in those areas speak to Vision 2030. That is what we are doing. We are working together with Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Ministry of Lands and the Rural Industrialisation on programmes that we are working on, so it is work in progress.
HON. ENG. MHANGWA: The Hon. Minister has generalised that there is incompetence in the Local Government and local authorities. I want the Minister to help us decipher where the incompetence is. The local authorities, both urban and rural areas are independent of each other and in all these, there are three common players. The CEO of the local authority is the Town Clerk and his directors. We are independent in each of the local authorities. There are councillors that are independent in each of the local authorities, be it urban or rural but there is one common factor. If it is general, then the problem is within the common factor which is the Minister of Local Government because he superintends all independent organisations. If there is incompetence, we need to differentiate and realise…
THE HON. SPEAKER: What is your question?
HON. ENG. MHANGWA: The question is, is it a problem with the local authorities or with the Minister and the Ministry?
HON. GARWE: We have a serious problem with the performance of the local authorities, Harare in particular - that is why we have got a Commission of Inquiry to deal with the issues of Harare. If a local authority as huge as Harare fails to collect garbage or decides to throw rubbish everywhere else, that is part of the incompetence. If a council like Harare fails to produce a budget and up to now, they have not produced the budget. If a local authority like Harare fails to produce a masterplan, I can go on and on. I am not generalising Mr. Speaker Sir. If the local authorities are incompetent, they need regeneration…
HON. HWENDE: The Minister is misleading the House. It is not correct that Harare City Council has not produced a budget. They produced a budget, presented it to the Minister and he has refused to approve it. So, he must not come and mislead the House. Thank you.
THE HON. SPEAKER: You have not asked a supplementary question. Please understand the processes. If the budget of the local authorities is not approved, then it does not measure up to the principles of budgetary requirements – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] – Order, please order! Can I explain? I have been in Local Government and I know what I am talking about. If you hand over a budget to the Minister and he does not approve, that means something has to be done to improve it.
HON. HWENDE: The reason we are….
THE HON. SPEAKER: Hon. Hwende, please do not argue with the Chair. Do not argue with the Chair, I repeat. Can you take your seat please?
HON. KARENYI: I was listening to the Hon. Minister. I was trying to cast my mind back to when I was a Councillor in 2003. We had the Executive Mayors – my question to the Minister is: is it not better for the Ministry to revisit so that they can give the Mayors executive authority so that there will not be an issue between the Ministry, mayors and councillors and council officials? Can he please help us, is it not fair or prudent to revisit that because it is more like today the councillors are wrong, tomorrow the managers – why do we not give the local authorities, especially councillors and the Mayor, the executive power so that when we blame the local authorities, we will face the councillors rather than blaming them without the executive authority?
HON. GARWE: The issue is not to do with where authority is resident; it is incompetence – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] - We have councils, you cannot employ a hyena to look after your goats. That is the situation that we have – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] – It is not about people but it is about people who are not competent to deliver for the people – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] -
*HON. NHARI: My question is directed to the Minister of Local Government. It is now common knowledge that drug abusers are visiting dumpsites to pick pampers to use them to make drugs. What is Government’s plan to end this plight?
*THE MINISTER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS (HON. GARWE): During the past three weeks, we embarked on a project called ‘Chenesa Harare Phase 2’. This programme aims to collect all garbage that has been improperly dumped and dumping it at the appropriate dumping sites. We are looking forward to having no council that will dump garbage and undesignated sites. We will assist these councils accordingly. The City of Harare wrote to us seeking assistance with regards to the same issue and we have been doing so for three months and so forth. This will enable us to have a clean city as per the resident’s expectations, hence we will not have drug and substance abuse from these dumpsites.
HON. BONDA: My supplementary point revolves around the point that we are only talking about the urban dumpsites. What does the Ministry have in place to do or to establish some kind of dumping areas in the RDCs? I thank you.
THE MINISTER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS (HON. GARWE); Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. Let me thank the Hon. Member for a very good question. Vision 2030 speaks to an upper middle-income economy status by that year 2030. Vision 2030 compels all of us to ensure that all our eight rural provinces are developed to the standards that we expect in the urban areas. As we speak, all the RDCs are working on master plans and majority of them have actually finished. Those master plans will speak to urbanisation. The Ministry of Lands, Agriculture Fisheries, Climate and Rural Development is working on programmes on small business units in the rural areas as part of the industrialisation programme. Ministry of Housing and Social Amenities is working on a waste management programme for rural areas where pit latrines and blair toilets will not see the light of the day going towards Vision 2030. We have the eight rural provinces on our desk in terms of development. Thank you.
HON. NYEVERA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. My question goes to the Minister of Home Affairs. The discussion by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage to open a Zimbabwean passport office in the Republic of South Africa is both plausible and commendable as it resonates with the Second Republic’s digital economy and desire to take service to the people. However, what measures are in place to ensure only bonafide Zimbabwean citizens access and benefit from a facility based on foreign land?
THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir and let me thank my brother Hon. Nyevera for that very important question alluding to the issues in terms of transparency, accountability and also issues to do with bonafide beneficiaries of this noble development. I want to assure the august House that yes, in a foreign land, we have got our embassy under the Ambassador of that respective country, where they do due diligence before issuance. So whatever they will be doing in the foreign land, they will be actually corresponding with the parent country and in this particular case, our Head Quarters here in Harare. I want to assure the Hon. Member that in terms of transparency and accountability, yes, they need to uphold that and in terms of due diligence they also need to uphold that. Thank you.
HON. NYEVERA: How do you ensure the enabling passport infrastructure is reliable and accessible?
THE HON. SPEAKER: Do you mean at our Embassies or here in Zimbabwe?
HON. NYEVERA: There in South Africa Sir.
HON. MHONA: Thank you Hon. Speaker Sir and let me also thank Hon. Nyevera. If there is a particular case maybe which is worrying the Hon. Member, I am sure you will be at liberty to table. In terms of our systems, the authentication of those systems, like I indicated that the Embassy will actually not be operating in isolation, they will be operating with the parent country. If there are any incidences of malpractices that the Hon. Member has heard of, I think we will be delighted to have such. Thank you.
HON. MAVHUDZI: Good afternoon Mr. Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister of Finance. In 2022, the Government of Zimbabwe made commitments to the IMF as part of its debt clearance and debt restricting agenda. These commitments included governance reforms, the commitment to restructure the B parts, the Global compensation agreement and land tenure reforms. My question is, how far has the Government gone as far as addressing these commitments?
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF FINANCE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT PROMOTION (HON. K. D. MNANGAGWA): Thank you Hon. Speaker. The Hon. Member is referring to what constitutes our structure debt platform where we are dialoguing with the partners, the IMF, World Bank and indeed, we have been making significant strides towards achieving some of these goals. I will talk about the beepers, for example, there was a statement that was issued calling for the validation of those. We had claims within the national budget. There was $55 million that was set aside with 20 million of that being for the affected farms as a sign that indeed we respect international agreements in as far as the land tenure is concerned. I understand the Ministry of Justice is going through the technical legal process to make sure that we have land tenure that is suitable for us as Zimbabweans and not necessary for the populace, but what is fit for purpose for us a country in as far as the economic reforms are concerned. All that we have been going through fit for purpose for the Zimbabwean people as part of the programme. If there are any particular instances where the Hon. Member might feel that we are lagging behind, we need to speed up, you can feel free to point them out but as far as the Zimbabwean side is concerned, I would like to say Hon. Speaker, we are moving at the pace that is good for Zimbabwe that is fit for our context and that suits our national budget. I thank you.
HON. MADZIVANYIKA: Thank you Mr. Speaker, my supplementary question to the Minister relates to a sad situation in that in the process of various clearance debt relief and re-engagement , one of the key partners which is the United States of America has withdrawn from the dialogue process. Is it not because of the fact the Government is not negotiating in good faith, particularly in areas of governance looking at the governance pillar where the issue of human rights and respect for rule of law is concerned? Why I am saying this Mr. Speaker, recently about 80 CCC members were arrested and detained without trial. So my question is, does this not worsen the situation because the Minister of Finance is the one who is in charge of this guiding process.
HON. KARIKOGA: On a point of order. Thank you Mr. Speaker, I wanted to mention that the Hon. Member’s question is not related to the initial question.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF FINANCE, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT PROMOTION (HON. D. K. MNANGAGWA): Thank you Hon. Speaker. In as far as the United States of America withdrawal from the structured dialogue programme, I cannot answer for them Mr. Speaker. I think the Hon. Member will have to ask the Americans why they withdrew – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.]-
In terms of progress on the governance pillar, Mr. Speaker Sir, the dialogue platform is structured with three pillars, the economic pillar, land tenure pillar and governance pillar. The governance pillar Mr. Speaker Sir, encompasses not just governance but political issues. As a country and as a sovereign one, when negotiating in such circumstances Hon. Speaker, it is important that all stakeholders are included and that the end game for both Zimbabwe and the people sitting on the other side is clearly defined. One cannot go into issues on the periphery and have Zimbabwe continuously have predetermined and defined requirements that they need to subscribe to without necessarily knowing what is at the end of the journey or what is on the finish line. This is a technical process that we need to go through Hon. Speaker.
In all these processes we go through, patriotism and sovereignty is key to us, so we make sure that we do not abscond to these principles for the sake of expediency. I thank you Hon. Speaker. – [AN HON. MEMBER: On a point of Order Hon. Speaker.]-
THE HON. SPEAKER: There is nothing that has happened.
HON. JAMES: Thank you Mr. Speaker. Can I ask the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, he mentioned the Government Compensation Deed (GCD), what does the policy provide regarding this agreement as Government reneged on their commitment in 2021, it was extended for a year and Government reneged a second time and there has been negotiations with various other people not fully representing the majority of title deeds holders which I do not think have an understanding within the farming community? Can the Hon. Minister give us a policy on what the GCD situation is? I thank you.
HON. D. K. MNANGAGWA: Thank you Hon. Speaker Sir. Thank you to the Member who rightly explained what is going on. The Government of Zimbabwe has not reneged, but rather as the Hon. Member of Parliament subscribed, we have extended and we are to raise as part of issues arising from budgetary constraints and some renegotiations but there has been no reneging of any contracts or agreements that we signed as Government. No process will be completely flawless Hon. Speaker, but the intention is to clear this issue as was promised. So, as we stand, as Government and as the Ministry, we are still committed to clearing these claims but rightly making sure that all peripheral issues are sorted and cleared. I thank you Hon. Speaker.
HON. G. K. HLATYWAYO: Supplementary! Thank you Hon. Speaker. Hon. Speaker, under the structured dialogue platform, there are five indicators in the governance cluster. These are enhancing justice delivery, corruption, electoral reforms, national peace and reconciliation as well as human rights. Can the Hon. Minister give us progress in terms of these five indicators? Thank you. – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.]–
HON. D. K. MNANGAGWA: Thank you Hon. Speaker Sir, maybe let me highlight a few issues around the structured dialogue platform to help Hon. Members understand what this platform is. There is a misconception that the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion is leading, but we are merely a partner.
There are three pillars to this platform. There is the command pillar which is being championed by the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion. There is the one on land tenure that is jointly being championed by the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement and the governance pillar that has multiple stakeholders Hon. Speaker. With that said Hon. Speaker, the Hon. Member’s question is misdirected and maybe if she can put it in writing, the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, I am sure will be able to address some of these concerns. Thank you Hon. Speaker.
HON. MADZIVANYIKA: On a point of order Mr. Speaker!
THE HON. SPEAKER: What is the point of order?
HON. MADZIVANYIKA: Thank you Mr. Speaker. I think the Hon. Minister is misleading the House in the sense that the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion…
THE HON. SPEAKER: The Minister is what?
HON. MADZIVANYIKA: Is misleading the House on the basis that it is the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion that has superior authority on all these things. It is the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion that goes to IMF and other bilateral institutions to request for these SMPs…
THE HON. SPEAKER: Order, order! The Hon. Minister has indicated the Government, the collegiate approach and defined the respective responsibilities of those ministries that are working in the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion. There is no contradiction there.
*HON. S. TSHUMA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. Good afternoon.
*THE HON. SPEAKER: Good afternoon.
*HON. S. TSHUMA: My question is directed to the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement. What measures does the Ministry have in place to ensure that cotton farmers are paid on time bearing in mind that COTTCO still owes farmers for the cotton they delivered a few seasons ago?
THE MINISTER OF LANDS, AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES, WATER AND RURAL RESETTLEMENT (HON. DR. MASUKA): Thank you Hon. Speaker. I would like to thank Hon. Tshuma for such a pertinent question. Before I answer the question, let me clarify that Government is not in the business of paying for cotton. We now have eight independent players or companies that are now dealing with the cotton sector. One of the major players is COTTCO, Government has 37% ownership through shareholding.
The other seven players came on board in 2020, when we came up with a new policy on how we were going to have players operating within the cotton industry. We agreed that the private companies and the farmers will enter into agreements where they will be provided with seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, et cetera. After the cotton harvest, the contracting companies will have a chance to buy the farmer’s produce. We roped in the Agricultural Marketing Authority so that they could come up with regulations to govern the growing of cotton.
In coming up with policies that govern the growing of cotton, they ensured that the contracts between the growers and the farmers, there would be a minimum input package for the farmer. So, for you to have access to my cotton, you need to provide me with fertilisers, pesticides, seeds and knowledge and not just to come and provide the last part of the requirements, with a view to then harvest the cotton where one would not have put in any meaningful input. This is what we came up with.
Thereafter, we then saw the advent of a common buying point being created to alleviate that problem. This year, we have 647 common buying points and out of these, 164 are permanent buying points. So, what we do to ensure that farmers are paid in time is that all those that are giving inputs to the farmers should be present with their bankers so that when a farmer, for instance, this year we have the Agricultural Marketing Authority, it will now purchase for grade A and D. From grade D, everyone will be paid 32 cents and once it becomes better, it is now grade A, the difference is 40 cents per kg.
When these prices were agreed to, the representatives of the farmers' units in the form of farmers' union, the Government represented by the Agricultural Marketing Authority and our department called for the meeting so that they could agree. This is what is happening, all the cotton that amounts to 7, 9 million which has been purchased until yesterday has been paid for using 32 cents per grade. Later on they will have to regrade the cotton to see if it is grade A, B, or C. In terms of Government principles, they should be in a position to pay the difference for the cotton.
There is a company that I referred to as COTTCO where Government has a 37% shareholding in that company. They were behind last year in terms of making payments. They have a balance of 2, 6 million USD which they owe to the farmers. They had promised us that by May, they would have completed payments and we are now towards the end of June. As a Government Minister, I called them yesterday to explain that the deadline has lapsed and we are now getting to the end of the month of June. I called them together with the Agricultural Marketing Authority to come to my office tomorrow so that we get a proper appreciation of how they are going to pay the balance. For this year, I understand that they have been able to pay the farmers.
*HON. J. TSHUMA: Thank you, Mr. Speaker Sir. I am grateful for the detailed response that the Hon. Minister has given but when we look closely at what is happening on the ground and what the Hon. Minister is saying, it is different.
For the past two seasons, we have not paid farmers their RTGS amounts which is now ZiG and this is the money that we are talking about. We were concerned about the rates that those amounts have not yet been paid.
My question to the Minister is would it not be better since other companies are paying farmers there and then in USD; when Cottco is giving 24 cents USD per kg per grade D, then 8 cents they say they will pay in ZiG, this is why there is side marketing. Why not give the ZiG component at the same time as USD so that there will not be an issue of side marketing? I thank you.
*HON. DR. MASUKA: I am happy for such detailed information in terms of how they are paying. May you please submit to us such names so that tomorrow when we have a discussion we will be in a better position to get an appreciation of why they are paying contrary to the instructions that we gave. I thank you.
*HON. NYABANI: For some of us here, if there was no cotton we could not have gone to school. It was the first time to heard that farmers were paying for the cotton, he used to say that the Ministry of Finance money that you are going to be used to pay for the farmers. It has come as a surprise that you are now saying these companies are now paying, you are no longer paying using the Ministry of Finance’s funds.
*HON. DR. MASUKA: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. Let us start with COTTCO. The production of cotton had gone down from 2015 to 2016, Government then realised that it was very important for our communal farmers so that the cotton would be used for developing farmers in areas where there are sufficient rains. It was observed that 500,000 farmers could be assisted if the Government were to intervene.
The government started giving implements such as fertilizers, seeds, herbicides, and containers. The Government bought the same cotton because COTTCO had fallen on hard times. In 2020 we then started coming up with independent players also going to cotton farming so that they could cause contract farming which they would be able to buy. COTTCO was handheld by the Government by giving them fertiliser, seeds, and chemicals or pesticides until 2021. As Government we started whining them off in 2022, we whined them off in 2023.
Let me reiterate that the Government is just to come up with a policy so that cotton can be grown, and independent players can come and ensure that cotton is grown. The Government is in the interim assisting the COTTCO by providing fertilizers, seeds, pesticides, and even equipment for spraying.
*HON. MATINENGA: Thank you, Mr. Speaker Sir. I would also want to thank the Hon. Minister for the responses that he has given, it is always good to have this knowledge. What measures has the Government put in place to ensure that - you have said a lot of things that require that they be given a lot of options as to whether they can grow cotton or not since there may be laws. What is the Government going to do to inform the people by conducting awareness programmes? I thank you.
*THE MINISTER OF LANDS, AGICULTURE, FISHERIES, WATER AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON.DR. MASUKA) Thank you Hon. Speaker. We have 6012 agronomists that are in the communal lands where cotton is grown. What I learnt from the question is that this information has not been disseminated timely, so we are going to assist them to timeously disseminate this information. Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
*HON. SAMAMBWA: Thank you Hon. Speaker. I am Hon. Samambwa. We have heard the Minister saying that they are paying seeds and they pay for the cotton as a grade D and there will be regrading to classify whether it is C, B or D. When the regrading is done, how do we know that they have authentically regraded the cotton to be grade A when infact, they are failing to pay for the grade D? Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
* HON. DR. MASUKA It shows that the Hon. Member wants assistance on how cotton is bought. When we talk of a common buying point, it means that the eight I have talked about, the Agriculture Marketing Authority is a Government department so the bills are brought in COTTCO Shawasha Agri has nine and Southern Cotton has a 100. They then cause this to be recorded by Agricultural Marketing Authority (AMA). The AMA then grades for D, then they are paid.
So these cotton farmers can go back home, so that they would not spend two or three days waiting for the cotton to be graded. The Government representative from AMA remains at the common buying point so he supervises the regrading. In seven days they would have done the regrading. If there are any additions that they would want to come up with so that the farmers could see how the regrading is done, we would be most grateful if they would write to us that they are unhappy with these processes and they would be happier if things were done in a particular manner so that we serve them all. I thank you Hon. Speaker Sir.
*HON. MUCHEMWA: Supplementary question Mr. Speaker Sir. Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I believe we may treat this issue of cotton farming lightly in this august House, but we have a lot of children who are no longer going to school because of the delay in the payment of cotton. The issue of the payment of cotton farmers has been outstanding for a long time. Can the Minister please come up with a time line when farmers who have not been paid in the previous years are going to be paid? When are they going to be paid? I thank you.
HON. DR. MASUKA: I am concerned just like them and I feel hurt that farmers sold their cotton, but have not yet been paid. Those that we know who have not been paid are under the purview of COTTCO and they are owed 2.6 million because he is talking about several years. So I need his assistance so that other farmers that are involved are assisted by the Government as the Government will want people to be paid there and then. So if it is possible, he should give us more detail and more facts and figures so that we know how these were not paid. We would want them to be paid accordingly. I thank you.
*HON. MATANGIRA: On a point of order. My point of order is cotton being a crop that is drought resistant and what is being said here is, it possible that the farmers can go and plough and grow cotton. Why do you not do as in the past that we pay the little that we have timely? I thank you.
HON. KUKA: Thank you Mr. Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister of Energy and Power Development. In recent times we have seen an increase in load shedding. What are the current ZESA energy requirements versus the current output production in light of the incessant and exacerbated load shedding being experienced in the country? I thank you.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER DEVELOPMENT (HON. SIMBANEGAVI): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. Before I respond to that, I would like to give a brief background of our current electricity situation Mr. Speaker Sir.
Mr. Speaker Sir, as everyone might know, most of our electricity is generated through hydropower and currently, the water levels of the Kariba Dam are very low, which is affecting the capacity of generation that we can do as a country. We are also in the winter season where the use of electricity is very high, especially in domestic set ups. This is also during the season of winter cropping where the demand for electricity to our farmers is also high. In this regard Mr. Speaker Sir, this has seen us facing a challenge of trying to make sure that the distribution of electricity to all these sectors is maintained equally. This has resulted in a bit of dynamism in the way our electricity has been circulating.
In terms of generation in Hwange, sometimes we can have one unit up and then sometimes we have another unit down. This has also been affecting the amount of electricity that has been distributed around so far. Despite all these challenges, we have been trying to make sure that our nation is not affected very much that we still manage to make sure that our farmers manage to have electricity to ensure that they irrigate their winter crops, that our people still manage to cook and eat in their households and that our industry remains up and running.
So in terms of requirements, as the Hon. Member has asked, what we have done as Government is we have now supplemented the amount of generated electricity that we have. In that regard Mr. Speaker Sir, our generation capacity on a day is mostly between 1 600 or 1 800 megawatts against a demand of almost over 2 000 sometimes. That gives us a deficit on a daily basis of around 300 and sometimes 400 megawatts. This is the deficit that then sometimes leads to load shedding and we have tried to make sure that we cover this gap by the imports that we do as a nation, but we all know that as a nation, we are also facing a bit of financial constraints because we are facing a drought and the Government is trying to mitigate that.
We try to manage the amount of electricity imports that we do as a country, but that comes in to try and balance the 300 megawatts that is a shortfall and sometimes we can manage to import more, sometimes we import less and that results in a bit of load-shedding, but what we have done as Government is, we try to make sure that the whole country is not set on black-out. So, we have schedules that we do and those in the industries, farms and government departments understand these schedules and they know that on certain times, there is going to be load-shedding in this area and at certain times, they are switched on and it goes to other areas to ensure that we continue to function as an economy.
HON. SAGANDIRA: Thank you for that comprehensive report. We have a lot of dams in Zimbabwe where we can direct our power generation, the likes of Tugwi Mukorsi, Lake Rusape and Osborne. What is the Ministry doing to make sure they do not rely on Kariba Dam alone?
HON. SIMBANEGAVI: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir and I would like to thank the Hon. Member for the supplementary question. As Government, we are not only relying on the Kariba Dam. We also have independent power producers that mainly deal with renewable energy. We have now realised that we cannot only rely on hydro-energy and that is why we are now looking into renewable sources of energy. These independent power producers are mostly into the production of portal tight energy, which is what we call solar energy.
We have encouraged these and are now coming up with incentives to try to encourage people to come up and also be producing and generating electricity which they can also put into the grid system or which they can also just use for themselves. In order to try and encourage independent power producers, the Government has said if they can produce energy in their own mini-grids, we can allow them to be selling this electricity to the consumers directly so that they are able to recoup their investment and not make any losses. This is aimed at making sure that we also supplement the electricity that we can generate currently as a nation.
On the issue of the other dams, I also hope that the Hon. Members understand the aspect of engineering and other aspects that come with electricity generation units. You cannot put a generating unit in shallow water. Currently, through the Ministry of Science and Technology, they are now looking into innovations that can use shallow water as long as it is perennial and as long as the water is constantly there. Even though it is shallow, we can be able to generate it.
These are things that our young people are still looking into in terms of research and the type of machines that can be used for that cannot be very big. These are things that can be used by our farmers using the small dams that they have, but in terms of national generation, we cannot use small dams for that.
HON. MATANGIRA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. My supplementary is, because of the climate change that everyone else is talking about, they may not be helpful in the following year. We are talking about hydro-power generation. My question to the Hon. Minister is, have we done any research as to the thermal power that they are generating our electricity could also be complemented by uranium that we have in the country to build some hectares that will give us power because there may not be any rainfall at all? I thank you.
HON. SIMBANEGAVI: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir and thank you Hon. Matangira. Of course, research has been going on and it is still going to continue as we look into other ways of ensuring that our electricity supply continues to grow. If Hon. Matangira recalls, recently our President was in Russia. When he came back, he indicated that when he was there, he managed to find some investors who are willing to come into our country. As a nation, we have some MOUs that we have with other nations such as South Korea and China, where we are looking into how we can harness the uranium that we have to ensure that these can also be used in electricity generation.
However, as we all know, the use of nuclear energy is highly regulated and these are the things that we cannot just use without proper consideration. We are also taking into notice that our people are not very highly trained in the use of uranium products and nuclear reactors. From the discussions that were held in Russia by His Excellency, there was indication that research into nuclear reactors that are small is being considered.
We are looking forward to having people that are willing to invest in our nation in terms of initiating nuclear power plants at a small scale initially, and then we continue to progress after we have mastered those kinds of requirements, and have our people also being trained before we develop these plants into huge factory plants.
Moreover, Hon. Matangira, you may also realise that our uranium reserves are not very high. As a nation, our major resource is the sun that we have throughout the year except during the winter season. Our most important asset in terms of electricity generation as a nation is the sun which we are now saying we need to improve in terms of the use of green energy in our factories and when given in domestic use. About thermal energy, our coal reserves in Hwange have been facing some issues in terms of how much coal we can access.
There has also been research about availability of coal in Masvingo Province and some areas which we are also looking into to see if that coal is of the quality that we can use as a nation to improve our electricity generation. Thank you.
HON. MAPFUMO: My supplementary question to the Minister is with regards to the power supply that she mentioned for the farmers. In Manicaland, the previous week we had 30% of power for winter cropping. The Government through the Ministry of Energy had previously assured farmers of Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS). It was even in ‘The Herald’ yesterday. My question is, what plans do they have in place to meet the assurance that they gave the winter farmers, considering that we do have a drought and we need to avert hunger and agriculture is the backbone of our economy; with the little they have and the challenges that they are facing – what plans do they have to meet the assurance that they gave to the farmers?
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER DEVELOPMENT (HON. SIMBANEGAVI): Before I respond to the Hon. Member, I would like the House to recognise the huge efforts that the Second Republic has done through our President Dr. E. D. Mnangagwa in terms of agriculture through the Ministry of Agriculture. In previous seasons, the wheat farming demand was at 120 megawatts. This season, the winter crops, especially in terms of wheat, have increased by huge margins which has now seen the demand of electricity rise from 120 to 260 megawatts. I understand that there are also other winter crops that are grown in this season. Now, the distribution of energy that used to happen to our farmers previously has now been affected by the demand for electricity due to the high number of farmers that we now have in this current season.
In terms of assurance, I would like to appeal to our nation on the sustainable use of energy because as an economy, we are trying to make sure that everybody manages to have access to electricity for them to be adequate enough to produce whatever needs to be produced. We want our people to use electricity sparingly even our farmers. If they manage to get the electricity, they should be able to use it wisely to ensure that it is adequate. Even in domestic setups, as the Ministry of Energy, we are requesting our people to use electricity sparingly so that as a nation we are also not put into a situation where the use of electricity becomes so unsustainable for Government to be able to deal with it. I can assure the Hon. Members that all measures will be put in place. If it means that we need to increase our imports levels, we will do that.
Actually, Zimbabwe is also a member of the SADC block. As Ministry of Energy, we are now looking into the interconnectedness of our nation to other members states to see that whenever they have extra energy, we can be able to get it from them and be able to also distribute to our people. This is done to ensure that our nation never goes national blackout or drastically reduced amount of energy. I thank you.
HON. MANGONDO: I confirm that last Sunday, I went to the Kariba Dam Wall. I was informed that we had lost 800 megawatts of generating capacity due to the low water levels. This means that due to climate change, we may not make much progress in terms of reliance on hydro-electric as a country. My question to the Hon. Minister is, we had a mega project the Gokwe-Sengwa Project which had the capacity to generate 2000 megawatts. These megawatts would certainly ameliorate the current power shortages. What has happened to that mega project which has so much potential to address some of the problems that we have in terms of power supply?
HON. SIMBANEGAVI: Hon. Speaker Sir, with your indulgence, since the Hon. Member has asked a specific question with regards to the Gokwe project, may I be allowed to go and look into the specifics of that project and respond at a later date.
THE HON. SPEAKER: That is a fair comment and Hon. Minister if you can come back next week and give us a short Ministerial Statement to update the House.
HON. SIMBANEGAVI: Noted Mr. Speaker Sir.
HON. MUTIMBANYOKA: My question is directed to the Minister responsible for ICT. Unfortunately, she is not in the House. I am not so sure if the deputy is around. I am mainly worried about the network connectivity around this magnificent building. We seem to have a serious problem and I am not so sure if the Minister is fully enlightened at the challenges that we have but something ought to be done urgently. What is the Minister doing about the situation?
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY, POSTAL AND COURIER SERVICES (HON. PHUTI): The question is on the concern of access to network around this building. Let me hasten to say that whilst something is being done by one mobile network operator to try and raise antennas to the level of accessibility; generally, where the base stations are to the west and where we are is lower. Naturally, it would be very difficult for network to be accessible. It is not a very highly technical issue but something is being done and I think we will be done in the next few weeks.
HON. MALINGANISO: My supplementary question is, what is the Ministry’s position in trying to avail network in remote areas? We have seen areas that have not been with connectivity since the dawn of ICT and people are lagging behind?
HON. PHUTI: Thank you Hon. Speaker Sir, indeed this is a new question and very pertinent, and so I would like to thank the Member for asking the question. The issue of network coverage in the country is of high concern in the priorities of Government. His Excellency the President Dr. E. D. Mnangagwa launched in 2022, a programme called National Mobile Broadband Phase 3 which seeks and aims at capacitating the country with more than 250 base stations. The mobile network operator charged with that responsibility has so far rolled out a lot of such base stations.
I rise with confidence to say that every Member who is here is aware and can attest to reality of the fact that some base stations have been built in their constituencies. I can even do it off cuff by way of mentioning where this programme has been rolled out. Also coupled with that, the Postal and Telecommunication Regulation Authority of Zimbabwe has got an arm that looks at the universal access issue which is a fund called Universal Service Fund. This fund is for purposes of accessing areas that otherwise will be summed mobile network operators who look at the issue of commerce as opposed to the issue of access and need.
As such, USF is used to fund the construction of base stations in areas that are like that. To date, we have also embraced a policy called infrastructure sharing. It sees us doing what we call de-rigging from call located areas that is to do away with a base station that is in a place where there is another base station by another operator deployed elsewhere and then invite mobile network players to come and join together to put their active equipment for purposes of consumer satisfaction. With this project, just last term alone, POTRAZ has managed through USF, to deploy 12 of them. The pace is encouraging and with the mandate that the Ministry is charged with, we are happy to say we envisage access and total coverage in the next few years. We have also debated in this House on the issue of satellite operators and answers have been provided to this august House about a satellite network operator who has applied eventually who has been licensed and who is willing to deploy services. That is another area of bridging the digital divide that the Hon. Member has raised the question on.
∞HON. GWANGAVA: Thank you Hon. Speaker. My question is, I want to find out what is the Ministry doing in areas where we have some network tours that have been constructed but not yet connected?
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Minister, did you get that?
^DEPUTY MINISTER OF INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY, POSTAL AND COURIER SERVICES (HON. PHUTI): Hon. Speaker, I want to thank the Hon. Member for his question. I think I have got it. On the distance between the two tours, the tour is supposed to go to a certain distance to assist those people. What we are now looking forward is that we can have some repeater stations like those we had for the PTC so that they can have that connection between the two towers. I thank you.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: The question was basically to do with the signal of strength between two towers. When the strength is that weak, then there is no communication between the two, hence the Hon. Minister was saying they are planning to install repeaters. A repeater is simply a station that boosts a signal when it has gone to a weak level and then it boasts it so that it can be transmitted to the next tower.
HON. NGULUVHE: My question is directed to the Minister of Skills, Audit and Development, in his absence to the Leader of the House. My question is on the quarter systems used on selection of Presidential Scholarship. What policy does the Government have on allocation of quarter systems on Presidential scholarships?
THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA): Thank you Hon. Speaker Sir, let me thank Hon. Nguluvhe for that very important question. Hon. Speaker Sir, first and foremost in terms of equity as alluded to by the Hon. Member, where there is no one and no place to be left behind as His Excellency explains. In terms of scholarships, there is the element of regional balance, gender balance that is also factored in. So, if the Hon. Member has got a particular query regarding that allocation, I am sure he will be in a better position to put it in writing. In terms of the policy, it caters for gender, it caters for regional balance. I thank you.
HON. NGULUVHE: Thank you, while I agree with the Hon. Minister that there is a policy, do they have any measures put in place in the various provinces to ensure that not everyone is left behind. Why am I saying so? I have been in this House for the past five years. I cannot even count more than five children from my district who have benefited from this Presidential scholarship. So, what measures have they put in place to ensure that each district is covered in each province?
THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA): Hon. Speaker, I thank Hon. Nguluvhe for that very important follow up question. Like I indicated earlier on, since he has got a particular case relating to his constituency. I was giving the Government policy in terms of affording the scholarship to say there is no discrimination in that regard but however, since he has raised a very important question pertaining to his constituency, I am sure he is at liberty again to put it in writing then the Hon. Minister will take it up. I thank you.
*HON. MARASHE: Thank you Mr. Speaker. Good afternoon.
*THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Good afternoon. How are you?
*HON. MARASHE: My question is directed to the Ministry of Youth Empowerment and Vocational Training. What measures has the Ministry taken to ensure that the money that is given to the youths in the form of Youth Development Fund helps those that would have been allocated those funds in developing themselves and also to ensure that the Government can have taxes after the youths come up with these companies? I thank you.
*THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF YOUTH EMPOWERMENT AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING (HON. MUPAMHANGA): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. The measures that we have taken are that the youth are free to use our bank that deals with the youth, that is, the Empower Bank. The youths are allowed to get a loan of USD500.00 without collateral security.
As a Ministry, we are urging the youth to come up in groups so that they can come up with bigger projects with more members. In terms of beneficiation for the Government, we have put in place measures through the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, through the Government Venture Capital Agency. The youth are encouraged to approach them with their projects and they will not be asked for collateral but Government takes up a percentage of their business. I thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
Questions Without Notice were interrupted by THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER in terms of Standing Order No. 68.
ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS WITH NOTICE
OPERATIONS OF THE TONGOGARA REFUGEE CAMP
- HON BAJILA asked the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare to apprise the House on operations of the Tongogara Refugee Camp including its holding capacity, current population and the nationalities of its occupants.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF PUBLIC SERVICE, LABOUR AND SOCIAL WELFARE (HON. DINHA): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. The Tongogara refugee settlement has 870 hectares designated for refugee settlement. The settlement has got capacity to accommodate about 500 refugees and asylum seekers.
However, currently the settlement has population of plus or minus 15 000. The majority of refugees in the country are from the great lakes region, mainly from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi, Rwanda and some are from East Africa. We also have more than 1500 Mozambican asylum seekers who fled Mozambique as a result of RENAMO incidences in 2016.
The settlement offers all facilities that are assessed by the host community and these include education, health and other livelihood options. Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
HON. BAJILA: Thank you Mr. Speaker and thank you to the Hon. Minister for the response. The Hon. Minister said the centre has capacity for 500 refugees and if I heard her well, it currently has 15 000 refugees. If that was not a misread of what has been said, my supplementary question is, does Government have plans to prevent this overpopulation and congestion at the centre? If there are such plans, what are they? I thank you.
HON. DINHA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. As I said, the settlement has the capacity to accommodate 500 000 refugees. I thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Thank you Hon. Minister for that clarification.
POLICY REGARDING PENSIONERS WHO DID NOT CLAIM
THEIR PENSIONS
- HON. BAJILA asked the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare to inform the House the Ministry’s policy regarding pensioners who did not claim their pension prior to the multi-currency system and are only claiming it during the current multicurrency regime.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF PUBLIC SERVICE, LABOUR AND SOCIAL WELFARE (HON. DINHA): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. The Hon. Member is informed that our pension scheme is a final salary scheme. This means the final salary is the one used to compute pension benefits payable to members. This situation is a replica of what happened in 2009 when the economy was dollarised and regression method was used to process and pay benefits for affected pensioners.
Regression method means that pensionable emoluments as at 1st March, 2024 are regressed by 3% backwards for the purpose of determining pensionable emoluments as at date of termination of a member.
Currently, with effect from 1st March, 2024, all salaries are paid in United States Dollars, part being paid in United States Dollar currency and the other part paid in United States Dollar convertible to ZiG using exchange rate on the month of payment. The Public Service Commission approved the use of regression method stated above to pay all benefits prior to 1st March, 2024. Treasury concurrence is being sought to pay all outstanding benefits prior to 1st April, 2024. I thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
DATABASE AND CATEGORISATION OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
- HON. KARIMATSENGA-NYAMUPINGA asked the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare to inform the House whether the Ministry has any database for persons with disabilities that categorises them in terms of their forms of disability.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF PUBLIC SERVICE, LABOUR AND SOCIAL WELFARE (HON. DINHA): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. The Ministry has District Social Welfare offices all over Zimbabwe. Each district has names of all persons who have disabilities in the area, types of disabilities and their contacts. It then literally means that the Ministry has a database for all persons with disabilities in Zimbabwe.
It is important to know that the Ministry is currently in the process of coming up with a consolidated database which will be more accurate and reliable. The Ministry has also reached out to ZIMSTAT for support to roll-out a nationwide comprehensive survey on persons with disabilities. Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
DATABASE AND CATEGORISATION OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES.
- HON. KARIMATSENGA-NYAMUPINGA asked the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare to inform the House whether the Ministry has any database for persons with disabilities that categorise them in terms of their forms of disability.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF PUBLIC SERVICE, LABOUR AND SOCIAL WELFARE (HON. DINHA): The Ministry’s district Social Welfare offices are all over Zimbabwe and each district has names of all person with disabilities in the areas, types of disabilities and their contacts. It then literally means that the Ministry has a database for all persons with disabilities in Zimbabwe.
It is important to note that the Ministry is currently in the process of coming up with a consolidated database that will be more accurate and reliable. The Ministry has also reached out to ZIMSTATS for support to roll out a nationwide comprehensive survey on persons with disabilities. I thank you.
HON. KARIMATSENGA-NYAMUPINGA: Thank you, Hon. Speaker. Thank you very much Hon. Minister for your response but you did not give us timelines as to when these things are going to happen. The question already was asking about the statistics of how many of these people are blind, deaf et cetera. However, in your response Hon. Minister, you did not give us those details. So, my question has not been answered fully, although I appreciate what the Minister has told this House. We still need those statistics because we need to have questions about those statistics. I do not know whether the Minister will be able to bring us the statistics of how many are blind, deaf, or autistic in this country. Sometimes these people are stigmatised in society. The statistics are very important for us as Members of Parliament so that we can ask for whatever social services we need from various ministries concerning those people. If the person is disabled and cannot walk, we want to find out where the borehole is and if there is someone who has been seconded by the Government to assist this person to access water every day or if they are just left to the family. I thank you.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order! Hon. Nyamupinga what you are asking from the Minister is not in your original question. I urge you to put it in writing and request the numbers from the Hon. Minister. With your indulgence Hon. Bimha and the Minister of Local Government and Public Works, may we stand over your question until we dispose of questions 14 and 15 to enable Hon. Minister Rwodzi to go and attend to her mother who is not feeling well.
PROMOTION OF TOURISM IN THE HIGHFIELD CONSTITUENCY
- HON. MAVHUDZI asked the Minister of Tourism and Hospitality to inform the House of the measures being taken by the Government to promote tourism in the Highfield Constituency.
THE MINISTER OF TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY (HON. RWODZI): Hon. Speaker Sir, as a way of strategy we have clustered our tourism to give every sector of tourism the attention it deserves. Highfield falls under township tourism. We have different clusters like sports tourism, business tourism, culture, and heritage tourism that speak to our food, dressing, music, and other things. So Highfield falls under township tourism.
We benchmarked tourism about three years ago with Soweto in South Africa which speaks to our heritage and our history as Zimbabwe. We have houses of the liberation struggle in Highfield that we are focusing on developing together with the Ministry of Home Affairs under Museums and monuments.
We are somewhere Hon. Member where we think by the end of this year, houses of people like Enos Nkala, Leopold Takawira and even R. G. Mugabe are going to be our monuments in Highfield. This will promote township tourism as many tourists will be coming from various places domestically in the country and internationally. Come and learn about our history while visiting Highfield and get to know about Zimbabwe whilst in Highfield. We want to build infrastructure that supports these homes like restaurants or to promote what is existing already. If we get in partnership with existing businesses, those who are willing for restaurants even for nightclubs and other activities can support these homes as museums and monuments.
So we can have interaction Hon. Speaker because it is on our books and we can share the information further until we achieve the goal. I thank you.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Rwodzi, you may leave. Let us revert to question number six.
OPERATIONS OF ENTEMBENI OLD PEOPLE’S HOME IN LUVEVE
- HON. BAJILA asked the Minister of Public Service, Labor, and Social Welfare to apprise the House on the operations of Entembeni Old People's Home in Luveve particularly, its corporate governance and audit system including qualifications of the staff.
THE HON. DEPUTY MINISTER OF PUBLIC SERVICE, LABOUR, AND SOCIAL WELFARE (HON. DINHA): The Hon. Member is advised that…
HON. BAJILA: In the interest of time, I was not in the House last week on Wednesday but I saw the Minister’s response in the Hansard. The first words that she has already read, read exactly as appeared on the Hansard of last week. I am sure that she is going to repeat that response.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: What exactly are you saying? You are saying you got an answer already.
HON. BAJILA: Yes.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Thank you. Minister, it is said you gave a response last week on this one so it means it was an omission on the part of those reporting.
APPROVAL FOR RATIFICATION OF THE SADC PROTOCOL ON RIGHTS OF PEOPLE LIVING WITH DISABILTIES
- HON. MABVUDZI asked the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare to inform the House the Government position regarding the ratification of the SADC Protocol on Rights of People Living with Disabilities.
THE DEPUTY MINISER OF PUBLIC SERVICE, LABOUR AND SOCIAL WELFARE (HON. DINHA): The Hon. Member is advised that there is no such protocol. Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
HON. MABVUDZI: Supplementary question Mr. Speaker Sir. Mr. Speaker Sir, there is actually a protocol that speaks to the rights of people living with disabilities. Probably I would advise the Minister to go and research on that and then come back to the House with the answer. I thank you.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Member, can you use another word instead of research?
HON. MABVUDZI: Hon. Speaker, what is wrong with the word research? It is very parliamentary.
*HON. NYABANI: On a point of order. Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. We are kindly asking for the Hon. Member not to continue asking questions to the Speaker of Parliament and abide by the laws. I thank you.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Use another word.
HON. MABVUDZI: Thank you Hon. Speaker. I would urge the Minister to look into the protocol.
RELOCATION OF MATEBELELAND NORTH PROVINCIAL OFFICES TO THE WELSHMAN MABHENA COMPLEX IN LUPANE
- HON. NDEBELE asked the Minister of Local Government and Public Works to inform the House on;
(a) Why Matabeleland North Provincial Offices are still housed at Mhlahlandlela Government Complex in Bulawayo when there have been reports that there is the Welshman Mabhena Government Complex in Lupane, the provincial capital for Matabeleland North which was completed in 2018.
(b) To further inform when these offices will relocate to Lupane Matabeleland North.
THE MINISTER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND PUBLLIC WORKS (HON. GARWE): Mr. Speaker Sir, the completion of the Welshman Mabhena Government Complex in Lupane has been a moving target since August 2012 to date. The 2024 projected completion date and a subsequent commission was set for 30 June 2024. However due to competing financial commitments, all the planned completion targets have been missed including the 2018 one.
It is clear that with the three weeks to go before 30 June target, 2024 – Mr. Speaker Sir, these answers were prepared three weeks ago – will have to be shifted to a later date which if financial support is not received, it might spill into the year 2025. The remaining works are as follows however;
Perimeter fencing, landscaping and construction of the main gate. Outstanding payments as well as outstanding works require US$957510.
Mr. Speaker Sir, relocation can only be done when the building has only been 100% completed. Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
MEASURES TO STOP DEMOLITIONS IN KINGSDALE, NORTON
- HON. TSVANGIRAI asked the Minister of Local Government and Public Works to appraise the House on why there are demolitions in Kingsdale in Norton and to elaborate on measures that have been put in place to stop them.
THE MINISTER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS (HON. GARWE): Mr. Speaker Sir, Kingsdale is a private development which is being overseen by the developer Mupane Properties. There are litigation properties between the developer and the beneficiaries, therefore the Ministry cannot intervene when there are cases before the courts. Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
UPDATE ON THE HANDING OVER OF KNOWE PHASES 1 AND 2 TO NORTON TOWN COUNCIL AND MEASURES TO REHABILITATE OLIVER MTUKUDZI ROAD
- HON. TSVANGIRAI asked the Minister of Local Government and Public Works to inform the House on;
(a) Whether Knowe phase 1 and 2 were handed over to Norton Town Council.
(b) The measures that have been put in place to rehabilitate Oliver Mtukudzi Drive.
THE MINISTER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS (HON. GARWE): Mr. Speaker Sir, Norton Town Council assessed that Knowe Phase 1 and 2 were not given compliance certificates by council due to incomplete works still pending. Therefore, Knowe Phase 1 and 2 are still in the hands of the developers and Pfugari Properties until works have been completed and a compliance certificate has been issued. Than you Mr. Speaker.
Currently Oliver Mtukudzi road is still under the responsibility of the developer Pfugari Properties. Hence, neither Government nor Council can attend to the road. Thank you Mr. Speaker.
HON. TSVANGIRAI: Supplementary question Mr. Speaker Sir. Hon. Speaker, as we speak right now, we have residents in Knowe Phase 1 and Phase 2 who have title deeds. I do not know what comes first between title deeds and a certificate of compliance. Maybe the Minister may tell this House what comes first because as we speak right now, we have residents who have title deeds. Thank you.
HON. GARWE: Mr. Speaker Sir, put simply, a certificate of compliance is issued prior to processing of title deeds. However, if there are any residents who have got title deeds, it would be prudent that the Hon. Member writes to us again giving us details of those so that we can interrogate further. Thank you.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE KINGSDALE AND MASHLANDS NEIGHBOURHOODS IN NORTON
- HON. TSVANGIRAI asked the Minister of Local Government and Public Works to inform the House on the Ministry’s plans regarding the development of the Kingsdale and Mashlands neighbourhoods located in Norton.
THE MINISTER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS (HON. GARWE): Mr. Speaker, Mashlands is a private development and their development permit was approved by council in May 2024. Kingsdale has its own challenges which are coming before the courts, issues which council cannot comment on. However, the conditions in the development permit ensures protection of the beneficiaries through the provisions of the necessary services. The Ministry can only ensure that Norton Town Council enforces the conditions in the development permit with regards to infrastructure provision. Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
STRATEGIES TO SOLVE WATER SHORTAGES IN BULAWAYO
- HON. MGUNI asked the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement to explain the mandate of the technical team delegated to oversee the water crisis in Bulawayo is, and to outline the strategies formulated to resolve water shortages in Bulawayo and the timelines when they will be implemented.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF LANDS, AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES, WATER AND RURAL RESETTLEMENT (HON. HARITATOS): Thank you for the question from Hon. Mguni which is regarding the technical team to deal with the water crisis. The question is in two parts, and I will begin to answer the first part. The establishment of the Bulawayo Technical Committee on water supply and sanitation is premised on specific terms of reference circumscribing its operations.
The Committee’s terms of reference include rehabilitating Umzingwane Dam Booster Pump Station including transformer upgrade to increase delivery of water from the current 135 mega litres per day to 175 mega litres per day.
- Secondly, to upgrade the 2.8 km, 110 millimetre PVC pipeline, Cowdry Park water main line to 315 millimetre PVC pipeline so that all 25 000 households in Cowdry Park have water and at the right pressure.
- Thirdly, ensure the sustainable operation of the Nyamandlovu Aquifer Water supply system to consistently supply 16 mega litres per day.
- Ensure improved portable water supply coverage in the city from the current target 125 mega litres per day to a minimum 175 mega litres per day,
- Improve sanitation in the areas of sewer leakages, an increased treatment of waste water generated in the city to above 50 mega litres per day,
- Ensure consistent and adequate supply of water treatment chemicals,
- Recommend institutional strengthening required to improving water and sanitation services delivery, and
- Produce a short-medium and long-term plan for sustainable improvement of water and sanitation services in the City of Bulawayo.
The second part of that question is asking to outline strategies formulated to solve the water shortages in Bulawayo. The Bulawayo Technical Committee on water supply and sanitation has developed a number of strategies to solve the water crisis in the City of Bulawayo. The key strategies are tabulated below:
Name of Project |
Timeframe |
Mtshabezi In-line Boosters |
March 2024 to September 2024 |
Refurbishment of Insiza pipeline |
March 2024 to September, 2024 |
Ncema treatment works filters rehabilitation |
March 2024 to September, 2024 |
Criterion by-pass |
March 2024 to September, 2024 |
Water Quality Monitoring Equipment |
March 2024 to June 2024 |
Cowdry Park Water mainline upgrade |
September 2024 to February 2025 |
Sulzer clear water pumps rehabilitation at Ncema and Fernhill pump station |
March 2025 to September 2025 |
Gwayi Shangani Dam |
December 2026 |
Cowdry Park Water Workshop Depot Construction |
December 2024 |
Water mains renewal |
December 2024 |
Tuli Criterion link and Upgrade of Tuli reservoir |
December 2026 |
Furthermore, my Ministry has accelerated the borehole drilling programme in the City of Bulawayo to mitigate the water shortages that are being experienced. In addition to Nyamandlovu aquifer boreholes, other boreholes are being drilled to alleviate current water shortages within the city.
- 64 boreholes out of targeted 83 have been sited.
- 44 out of the sited 64 have been drilled (22 wet, 21 dry and 1 collapsed).
- 18 out of 22 wet boreholes equipped.
- 3 sites equipped with bush pumps.
- 15 sites to be equipped with solar systems (materials in place).
- Priority being given to medical institutions, Mpilo, Ingutsheni, UBH.
HON. L. NCUBE: Good afternoon Mr. Speaker Sir. Owing to the comprehensive report that we are getting from the Hon. Minister, I hereby submit that listening to his speech is all long term much up to September but water is life and it is a right to everyone. Why not exploit the aquifer in Matopo to save the crisis in Bulawayo?
HON. HARITATOS: Thank you Hon. Speaker Sir. Hon. Member, yes, I understand your concern but I can assure you that our Ministry is taking this probably number one if not number two importance. Water is indeed life and it is enshrined in the Constitution and we respect that. I do promise you and I give you my word that it is of utmost importance to us. With regards to the aquifer that you mentioned, I am not too sure of the capacity and capability of it but it is very possible that it could work but it needs us to also explore and do a proper diligence.
We would not want to also throw the tax payers’ money around and also have what you have said and you were saying ‘a bit long term.’ I understand that most of these issues are short term and this is why we actually put this technical committee together so that we can identify. I hope that you understand Mr. Speaker that because of the importance of this water issue, we do not want to come up with solutions that are very short term and do not yield anything.
We are looking at viability and sustainability because we are tired even ourselves of this and we are hearing of water shortages for Bulawayo. So, I know and understand Hon. Member that you are a little bit frustrated but from our side, we want everlasting solutions for the City of Bulawayo. Thank you.
HON. C. MOYO: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. My question is, have you been there Hon. Minister physically to ascertain if there is any progress from the technical team? If you have been there, when because there is a dull situation in Bulawayo? Thank you.
HON. HARITATOS: Thank you Hon. Speaker Sir. To the Hon. Member, thank you very much. Unfortunately, our offices do not allow us to sit in these offices, you can see that even now I am fidgeting because I am not used to wearing a suit. We are in the field daily and I cannot even tell you how many times I have been there, Gwayi, Shangani Dam even before it was within my portfolio. I was visiting yearly because I have a keen interest to ensure that the City of Bulawayo residents have an everlasting solution.
We are on the ground and this is part and parcel of why we use the technical team because as you know, our Ministry is quite big, so our time is only 24 hours in a day that we have. So, we need experts in different fields to advise us and from time to time we go. You will recall that there is three of us, the two Deputy Ministers and a Minister. Among the three of us, we do share time a lot and unfortunately sometimes on Wednesdays we are in the field and it looks like we do not want to come to Parliament.
The point is that there is so much to do and there is not enough time. Even at weekends, we travel around and you will see even on TV, you will see the Minister on Sunday somewhere and you will see us during the week somewhere but I just want you to be reassured that it is of utmost importance to us. Thank you.
*HON. NYABANI: I would like to thank the Minister for the good job that he is doing, considering the fact that we used to have water crisis and boreholes are being sunk. I would like to highlight to the Minister that you are sinking very nice boreholes in urban areas and making it tapped water. My question concerns those boreholes that are being sunk at the growth points. You are simply drilling boreholes without taps at growth points.
*THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER (HON. MACHINGURA): Hon. Nyabani, I do not accept that question. It is not in relation to the question that was asked to the Bulawayo one. I thank you.
HON. J. TSHUMA: My supplementary question is a follow up on the issue of water crisis in Bulawayo. I want to find out from the Hon. Deputy Minister - you have done a good thing by coming up with a technical team that is working on those issues. I am reliably informed that the City Council of Bulawayo wants to prioritise building a new dam instead of looking at a the Mtshabezi Dam pipeline being constructed which is going to be short term solution to bring water immediately. What is your Ministry doing in guiding your local authority from diverting money to building a new dam instead of bringing a pipeline from Mtshabezi to Bulawayo that will bring solutions of water immediately?
HON. HARITATOS: I will try and answer that in two parts. We unfortunately do not oversee City of Bulawayo. This is an issue of Local Government. I have no authority to tell the City, the Mayor or whoever that is decided to take hard earned tax payer’s money and rate payer’s money to a project that may not be visible or demean immediate use to the people of the City of Bulawayo. What I can tell you is that we have a lot of potential in terms of our water resources. Yes, we want to build more strategic dams but right now we have 10 000 dams. We really need to utilise those dams. Even when we preach of irrigation development, we are talking of utilising the water bodies that are there. What we have done as a Ministry is, we are implementing strategies that will alleviate water shortages in the medium to long term.
Yes, of course there are a few things that we are doing and we have done including the drilling of boreholes to supplement for example the Nyamandlovu Aquifer. These are short-term plans but have immediate returns. So I cannot answer on behalf of the city of Bulawayo why they believe that they need to spend this money on a new dam, but certainly with resources being limited, I would definitely have tried to supplement what we are doing as Ministry to put the resources to solving the immediate problem. A dam is a very long-term solution and like I said, I cannot answer on behalf of the City. Thank you.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Minister, you said there is a crisis in Bulawayo. Is that so? Now, the information that Hon. Tshuma has given us in this House does it not permit you to co-ordinate your efforts and the efforts of the Council to solve the problem for the people of Bulawayo that do not have water.
HON. HARITATOS: Thank you Hon. Speaker. I can assure you that the City of Bulawayo are part of the technical team, that is why I am a little bit surprised to hear that in this august House because everyone is part of it. It is not only the Ministry of Lands. We have the Ministry of Local Government and that is part of it. We have the City, that is also part of it. Councillors are there and we also have the Technical Committee Structure. You know that the solution is for us all to work together regardless of gender, race, religious affiliation or even political affiliation. So this one we are trying to do. It is not a political thing. The people of City of Bulawayo deserve this Hon. Speaker Sir. We must do and co-ordinate and we feel that we are coordinating well. It is unfortunate to hear this but nonetheless, we do not mind engaging. There is no a secret. We can engage the City of Bulawayo to understand what exactly their ideas are and we can consult further. Thank you.
HON. MGUNI: I would like to thank the Minister for this comprehensive response to my question. What I would like to know from the Minister is, is this project well-funded considering the urgency of the matter?
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Minister, although I have a feeling that you answered that question before but I can just indulge you.
HON. HARITATOS: It is a fundamental question because everything needs financing and I think I owe you Hon. Member. Yes, it is funded but as you know very well from being a Member of Parliament yourself, a lot of what we do might be planned and this week we want to do this but if the funding does not come that particular week and is delayed, it delays certain things. That is why we have gone a little bit; we have stretched few of the dates. Our expectation is that we will deliver before but we also do not want to get your hopes up and the people of Zimbabwe’s hopes up when we are not in control of the releases. The releases are from the different ministries. It comes from the Ministry of Finance but projects like Gwayi-Shangani for example the dam, it is 80% complete.
We are looking forward to the other 20% from our budgets. It is budgeted for. It is not a new project to say that it is not on our books. The pipeline is also budgeted for. When the money is released, then we go ahead. I just use it as an example. You know everything that we do relies on Finance. Yes, it is in our budgets and these are not new things. We have had good support Hon. Speaker Sir. We have had from Ministry of Finance in the past some releases that have helped us in the purification. Of course, our mandate is not to purify the water but because we are team effort, we are working closely with the Ministry of Local Government, Town Councils and sometimes City Councils. For example, the City of Bulawayo or Harare we have had releases of the tune over about USD$13 million. Part of that money was not for us it was supposed to actually just to go direct to go and buy the chemicals that are required for the purification.
This is a very holistic approach that we are taking and we are using all facets of society where all Government departments were coming together but it is a pertinent issue Hon. Speaker Sir. I cannot fault the Hon. Member but what I can guarantee is that whatever funding is coming specific for these programmes, it is going to those programmes because there are urgent and we want to solve these problems.
CONSTRUCTION OF A DAM ALONG SAVE RIVER IN
CHIPINGE SOUTH
- HON. C. HLATYWAYO asked the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development to inform the House what plans the Ministry is putting in place to construct a dam along Save River in Chipinge South given that the area is dry and considered region 4-5 with high temperatures but good soils.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF LANDS, AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES, WATER AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. HARITATOS): Along Save River there are plans to construct a bigger dam twice the size of Tokwe-Mukosi Dam called Kondo-Chitohwe Dam which is set to benefit Zimbabwe and Mozambique in the short run and South Africa in the long run. It was not targeted for intervention this year but we are working towards finding a private partner to fund the project and once we do that, we will commence with the construction. The dam will impound close to 3.6 billion cubic meters of water and could irrigate approximately 60 000 hectares. I thank you.
HON. C. HLATYWAYO: Thank you. I just want to know if consultations were done with the residents of the areas where we have said you have got plans to build that big dam. Are they aware of this project and what are the plans obviously to relocate the affected residents?
HON. HARITATOS: Thank you Hon. Speaker Sir, how we work in Ministry is that we come up with all sorts of interventions, but we do not go and do anything tangible until we can operate within what is required. We are engaging investors and if an investor might have different requirements, we also have certain requirements so this can only be done once two parties come together and we agree the height, length, uses of the dam and that will now impact obviously because the higher the dam stretches, the water will stretch back. So it is only once we kind of do, let us say, a draft master plan that we can actually identify what areas will be affected. So I can tell you that there is a lot of preliminary work, but we really need this to be solid and then we engage the community because the community must also be part of what we do. They are the biggest beneficiaries and sadly some people will also have to be moved, so this is that natural. We have to be sensitive to everyone. We also have to be sensitive to our traditional leadership on the ground. These are all the players even yourself Hon. Member, you will be part and parcel of that initiative. You have to be, you are leading the people who chose you to represent them. So you also have to be part of that as well as Local Government, the Ministry of Environment and many other ministries. This is all of Government approach, but I think it is still too early for us to say yes, we need to identify the right partner where we have maximum benefit for the area, and the country at large. Thank you.
*HON. ZIKI: Thank you Hon. Speaker Sir, my question is on the dam’s construction. I would like to applaud on the programme of construction of dams but my question, is there any programme whereby we have to scoop the sand from the dams which were affected by siltation? Do we have any programme whereby we need those dams to be scooped of the sand?
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Ziki, that is a new question, anyway let me ask the Minister to attend to it.
*THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF LANDS, AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES, WATER AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. HARITATOS): Yes, we are building new dams like Semwa, Gwai Shangai, Bindura, Thuli, Manyange, Mbada, Dande, Ziminya and Vhungu. We have a lot of dams which are in the process of being built. With regards to siltation which was said by the Hon. Member, we are working together with other organisations whereby we are working in cooperation. On those dams, they are not only dams, others are called wears. If we say a water body is either eight meters below, it is not in our Ministry as such, but the oversight is to us as well. It is under the ZIDA, but those within the ZINWA are the people who are responsible for those dams which are eight meters and above. So, now I think Hon. Member, if you have specific dams that you have in your constituency, you can simply identify them so that we can work with RIDA and we do assessments and know what is it that need to be done, how they want us to do it. I cannot over-emphasise that us as Parliamentarians, our duty is to go and sensitise people on how to safekeep those dams. Some of the things are being done by people who have limited information or sometimes they do not know the importance of those dams; others are simply sending their cattle to damage that infrastructure. So, I think all those things, we need team effort so that we say yes, we have our Ministry. We a Members of Parliament may have to work together and work together with ZINWA and RIDA so that we can safe keep our dams, for example other people do leave trees growing within the infrastructure, thereby damaging the dam walls. So, I think going forward, we can work together in all the programmes and we initiate RIDA. We would love to say in future we have some budget that works hand in glove with the system needed. I thank you.
EXCLUSION OF SESAME SEEDS (UNINGA) FROM THE
PRODUCER PRICE LIST
- HON. C. HLATYWAYO asked the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Development to explain to the House why Sesame seeds (Uninga) have been excluded from the producer price lists when it is among the biggest cash crops for Chipinge South and other Lowveld area.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF LANDS, AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES, WATER AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. HARITATOS): Thank you Hon. Speaker Sir, Government often play a role in regulating an agricultural market, including setting minimum support prices or determining producer prices for national strategic crops, predominately cereals which have a direct bearing on food security. Currently, Cabinet standardised the approved producer prices covering food commodities which include the following, maize, wheat, soya beans, traditional grains, sunflower and outside of that cotton. In crafting the 2023, 2024 producer prices, least priority was given to strategic commodities given the importance to human and life consumption in ensuring food, feed fibre and oil security. Thank you.
HON. CHIDUWA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I wanted to find out from the Hon. Minister, why we continue to set producer prices when we have got ZIMEX where we think the producer prices or any such prices are supposed to be determined in the market operation of market forces?
HON. HARITATOS: Thank you Hon. Speaker Sir. I smile before you because the colleague on my left who just asked the question, in his previous life in the previous Parliament, was in a position where we had this discussion and we used to fight. I am very happy that he has brought it up again, but this is how we build our country. We bring in different views and we come up with the best solution so that we can do what is best for our people.
What is important from our side is that when we announce prices, we announce like a guiding price. It is not a price that is dictated in any law that provides for some form of prices as ceiling in anyway or form. We are not about setting price controls or anything to that effect. What we do essentially, we announce a price for whatever is contracted to Government. So when we talk of Presidential Input Programme (PIP) or when we talk of National Agricultural Programme, these are programmes that are related to Government and of course there is ARDA, Joint ventures this is also contracted to Government.
These are the prices essentially that the Grain Marketing Board will buy from those kinds of programmes and for the private sector, it is up to them to determine whatever prices fits them in terms of supply and demand and equilibrium. For us we feel it is right to announce pre-planting prices as well as producer prices so that at least our farmers understand before they even go into that crop. Is that crop going to be viable for me according to what the Government has calculated? During that calculation, we call in all players of the sector, we bring in the farmers, input suppliers, and ourselves. Even the contractors themselves are involved. It is an inclusive kind of approach that we do at the beginning of the season, then we do it again towards the end of the season. That is why you hear often that the GMB will announce a price. Because we are buyers of grain, we need to announce our prices and the hopes are consumers and the public takes that as a guiding price so that our farmers can get a similar price. I am not saying the exact, but at least a similar so that our farmers can also be viable. What we do not want is to have a situation where our farmers are taken advantage of because farming as a business needs to be profitable for one to go back to the farm. So this is why we continue with this although in a little bit of different kind of format, we believe what we are doing is just complementing and not suppressing any form of market forces. Thank you.
WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS TO QUESTIONS WITH NOTICE
DISBURSEMENT OF BEAM FUNDS IN HIGHFIELD,
BUDIRIRO, GLEN NORAH AND GLEN VIEW
- HON. CHIDZIVA asked the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare to inform the House on:-
a) When the Ministry plans to disburse money dedicated for the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) to schools in Highfield, Budiriro, Glen Norah and Glen View?
b) To explain the selection criteria applied for beneficiaries of BEAM; when the Ministry plans to review this selection criteria and what plans have been put in place to ensure that the intended beneficiaries benefit from the scheme.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF PUBLIC SERVICE, LABOUR AND SOCIAL WELFARE (HON. DINHA): I wish to inform the House that Government prioritises education assistance to children in difficult circumstances and is committed to settle all school fees arrears under BEAM. Further, the Ministry acknowledges school fees arrears owed to mainstream primary and secondary schools across the country. The arrears for primary schools amount to ZIG 380 480 247 (USD28 369 146) while secondary schools are owed ZIG 379 174 554 (USD28 350 101) giving a sum total of ZIG 760 605 102 (USD56 719 247).
In light of the foregoing, the Ministry engaged Ministry of Finance and Economic Development to clear the aforementioned arrears. ZWL50 000 000 000 was therefore allocated for the first quarter of 2024 while actual release was ZWL31 000 000 000. This disbursement was against a budget of ZWL 805 087 608 000 leaving a balance of ZWL774 087 608 000. The disbursed amount settled 2022 arrears for both primary and secondary schools in the country including schools in Highfield, Budiriro, Glen Norah and Glen View constituencies. The Ministry is continuously following up with the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion on outstanding school fees arrears as it awaits further release of funds by Treasury to settle the same. As funding improves, my Ministry will ensure that timely, religious and predictable payments are made to schools in accordance with the BEAM cycle.
- b) The Hon. Member is informed that selection of BEAM beneficiaries is done using a community-based targeting approach at community level through Community Selection Committees (CSCs). Each primary school community has a CSC which has a term of office of two years, that is preside over two BEAM cycles.
The CSC shall have 12 members made up as follows: six elected community representatives (three men and three women) with a good knowledge of all households, no record of abusing children and with a sound appreciation of children’s rights issues. The selected members shall be evenly distributed across the school catchment area; two children (one boy and one girl) from the child led Child Protection Committee and; four ex-officio members made up of two School Development Committee (SDC) members one each from the primary school and the local secondary school, the primary school head and the primary school guidance and counselling teacher.
The Committee receives nominations of children to benefit from BEAM from members of the community. Nomination of potential beneficiaries is done by anyone in the community, including children themselves to ensure all deserving children are not excluded during selection processes.
The BEAM programme targets vulnerable school going children from Early Childhood Learning (ECL) classes, primary, secondary and special needs schools identified by their CSCs as vulnerable and deserving assistance. BEAM selection and targeting criteria is as follows:
- Children in child headed households;
- Children in labour constrained households;
iii. Orphaned children;
- Children who are out of school due to financial constraints;
- Children living and working on the streets and
- Children left behind under the care of an incapacitated guardian.
Currently, the Ministry is in the process of reviewing the BEAM Operational Manual through stakeholder consultative processes to ensure the programme remains relevant and effective. The policy review will also include strategies to enhance the targeting modality, transparency and effectiveness among other key parameters.
To ensure adherence to policy guidelines, monitoring visits are conduced by Joint Monitoring Teams (JMTs) from the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education and the Ministry of Local Governance and Public Works at national to community level. The monitoring process follows the BEAM cycle which comprises of the pre-selection, selection and post selection stages. JMTs can conduct focus group discussions, surveys site visits, perusal of records and other appropriate methods to ascertain proper constitution of CSCs, client satisfaction with beneficiary selection, including grievances regarding selection of children (inclusion/exclusion errors) that is the extent to which selected children are deserving by local participatory poverty or wealth ranking standards for beneficiary and non-beneficiary households within the selected communities.
Additionally, a grievance handling mechanism is in place to ensure that those aggrieved with the processes can air out their views and heard. This is done through Grievance Handling Committees (GHC) which are constituted in each community to handle complaints by parents/guardians and stakeholders aggrieved on any aspect of BEAM delivery. The GHC consists of the Ward Councilor (Chair), one Village Head, a Religious Leader of repute, two children’s representatives (other than the ones in the CSC) and a Community Child Care Worker providing secretariat services to the Committee. The Village Head and the Religious Leader shall be selected by the community and the tenure of the Committee shall be conterminous with that of the CSC (2 years). The GHC also sits as a help desk when the community meets to validate the priotised BEAM list and when the community reconvenes to validate the final BEAM beneficiary lists. Furthermore, grievances can be forwarded to the Social Development Offices at District, Provincial and National level.
ASSISTANCE TO CHILDREN OF VICTIMS OF DRUG AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE IN HIGHFIELD, BUDIRIRO, GLEN NORAH AND GLENVIEW
- HON CHIDZIVA asked the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare to inform the House the plans being put in place to assist children of victims of drug and substance abuse living in Highfield, Budiriro, Glen Norah and Glen View.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF PUBLIC SERVICE, LABOUR AND SOCIAL WELFARE (HON. DINHA): Children of Victims of drug and substance abuse are negatively affected by parental incapacitation which compromises their care environment. As such, they are at risk of dropping out of school, subjected all forms of violence an deprivations including ill treatment and neglect in the face of parental incapacitation due to abuse of drugs. As such, my ministry is mandated to provide care and protection to all children including those whose parents are abusing drugs.
Additionally, in instances where the child’s family is incapacitated and failing to provide appropriate care to a child, alternative care options can be explored which include extended family, supported community care, foster care and institutional care, which is a measure of last resort. The ministry’s position is to promote family-based care for all children and support families through positive parenting sessions to inculcate responsive and nurturing caregiving.
I wish to inform this august House that we also have Community Cadres know as Community Child Care Workers (CCWs) who were trained on early identification and referral of children in need of care for specialist child protection services. Upon receiving cases of such children, my Ministry through the Drug and Substance Abuse Unit (Community Reintegration Pillar) and the Child Protection Section provide them with Psycho-Social Support services and counselling services to survivors.
Online counselling services are also provided using the Ministry’s toll-free number (0714 647 002). These psycho-social support services help build survivor’s coping skills and restore human worth and dignity. The services are available to the survivor, family members the community and service providers at large.
The ministry is also in the process of establishing Outpatient Psycho-Social Support Centers. Currently, our pilot projects are in Harare at Makombe Building and Bulawayo Fort Street Social Development Offices. The centers are free for everyone especially children who are at risk and exposed to Drug and Substance Abuse. To build resilience of survivors the ministry links them to Social Protection Services for example vocational training for youths and adults, educational assistance, food assistance, social cash transfers etc. In addition, the Ministry also provides health assistance to indigent survivors facing challenges in meeting medical costs.
There are interventions to prevent relapse by survivors pose rehabilitation which includes follow up visits and supervision, formation of support groups, creation and strengthening of income generating projects and Internal Savings And Lending (ISAL) schemes , strengthening parenting initiatives to encourage social networking through peer to peer support.
Other interventions include the following;
- Coordinating drug and substance abuse activities at district, province and national level. Child protection and safeguarding - statutory mandate.
- Conduct Spot Check visits to Public places of entertainment policing.
- Information Dissemination through awareness campaigns.
- Assisting the courts through the provision of Child Protection Officer’s reports in response to child protection issues.
- Providing Psycho-Social Support to the survivors and families.
- Provision of places of safety for child survivors in need of care.
- Provision of social protection services to improve individual and household resilience.
- My ministry is also secretariat to the Child Protection Committee from National to Sub-National levels. These committees oversee the protection of all children in the country. Children also actively participate in these committees.
INCORPORATION OF CONCESSION AREAS INTO THE HWANGE LOCAL BOARD
- HON. MOLOKELE asked the Minister of Local Government and Public Works to update the House on the progress made by the Special Committee appointed the enquire into the process of incorporation of Concession areas into the Hwange Local Board.
THE MINISTER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS (HON. GARWE): Mr. Speaker Sir, I would like to thank the Hon. Member for asking the above question and I wish to advise that no such special Committee was appointed to specifically enquire into the process of incorporation of Concession areas into the Hwange Local Board.
PLANS TO COMPENSATE PEOPLE FROM LUBIMBI COMMUNITY AFTER RELOCATION
- HON. C. SIBANDA asked the Minister of Agriculture, Lands, Water, Fisheries and Rural Resettlement to inform the House the plans that the Ministry has put in place to compensate people from Lubimbi Community who will be relocated soon after the completion of the Gwayi/Shangani Dam Project.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, LANDS, WATER, FISHERIES AND RURAL RESETTLEMENT (HON. HARITATOS): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
- The Construction of Gwayi/Shangani Dam will result in the displacement of A2 farmers, A1 farmers and 387 homesteads in Lubimbi communal area under Binga district.
- These communities will be affected either by the dam construction or proposed irrigation blocks thereafter.
- A total of 3067 hectares will be required for relocation of the 387 Lubimbi farmers (Nakanono).
- The affected farmers from Lubimbi area choose Nakanono site as their area of preference asserting that the place was originally occupied by their ancestors who were forcibly evicted and relocated to Lubimbi area by the colonial Government in the 1950s.
- Subsequent to the evictions, was the creation of large-scale commercial farms comprising nine blocks, named Karna Block (Nakanono area).
- The affected Lubimbi farmers will be relocated to the Nakanono area which covers R/E of Karna Block.
- Immergroen Estate has also been identified as potential land for the relocation of the Lubimbi community.
The following models have been put in place for the relocation:
- OPTION 1 (A1 Villagised model)
- R/E of Karna block (Nakanono area) measuring 3067 hectares will accommodate 57 households under A1 model with each household obtaining 53.5 hectares broken down as follows; 3 hectares – arable land, 0.5 hectares for homestead and 50 hectares for common grazing.
- This will leave 330 households without land.
- OPTION 2 (V30 Accelerator Model)
- This model accommodates all the 387 affected households at R/E of Karna Block (Nakanono).
- The total areas to be considered for resettlement in this model is 3067 hectares.
- Each household will be allocated 1 hectare (Residential and Cropping).
- The remaining 268 hectares will be set aside for communal grazing.
- Villages will be incorporated into clusters on planned irrigation blocks offered.
- OPTION 3 (Peri-urban plots)
- The model will accommodate all the 387 Lubimbi households at R/E of Karna Block (Nakanono).
- Each household will be allocated an 8-hectare self-contained unit which is synonymous to a peri urban set up.
- Under the model, farmers can embark on small stock livestock production among other options that could be availed to them.
- There will be no communal grazing land.
- The source of livelihood of the Lubimbi community can be complimented from grouped irrigation schemes within the blocks.
- OPTION 4 (Self-contained plots)
- Adjacent to Nakanono area is Immergroen farm where a potato investor was offered 5 000 hectares but the project has not yet started.
- Provincial recommendations under this model are the issue of maximum farm size to be taken into consideration. This then implies that the investor will be allocated 1 500 hectares and unlock 3 500 hectares.
- The 3 500 hectares from Immergroen if added to the 3067 hectares from R/E of Karna block, will result in a total of 6 567 hectares that will be available for relocation of the Lubimbi community.
- Each household would then have access to 17 hectares self-contained unit plot.
- Each household would then have access to 17 hectares self -contained unit plot.
- This model will enable each household to embark on small stock livestock production with an option of intensive fodder production and cattle pen feeding projects.
Compensation of infrastructure
- Valuers from both the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works and Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement conducted valuation of improvements for the affected Lubimbi community.
- The valuation was to determine monetary value of immovable property.
- Affected households will be compensated both in cash and kind (construction of houses).
- Land will be cleared for the elderly and the needy.
- Social Welfare will assist with food provisions during the relocation period.
- There are two proposed housing models by National Housing:
Model 1 – Three bedrooms and kitchen.
Model 2 – Two bedrooms, dining and kitchen.
- Polygamous families requested that the cost of constructing either any of the above two housing models be used to construct a cluster of one roomed huts for each wife and a bedroom.
Summary
- All beneficiaries to be affected by the development of the dam irrigation schemes, irrespective of their models, need to be incorporated into some planned irrigation schemes and other various basket projects that will be availed to them, depending on the severity of their displacements.
- Above all, it should be ensured that the Lubimbi people are under homogenous chieftainship to preserve their common cultural norms and values as a group within their ancestral land.
DISTRIBUTION OF PESTICIDES AND PREVENTION
STRATEGIES OF THE ARMY WORM OUTBREAK IN
HURUNGWE
- HON. KANGAUSARU asked the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement to explain to the House the following in light of the reports of widespread armyworm outbreak in Hurungwe:
- What the Ministry’s plans are to distribute pesticides and
other control measures as well as financial assistance to farmers who have suffered crop losses in Hurungwe?
- What long term strategies are there to prevent and manage
any future outbreaks of armyworm and the other crop pests in Hurungwe?
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF LANDS, AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES, WATER AND RURAL RESETTLEMENT (HON. HARITATOS): Hon. Member, there are two types of army worms that my Ministry is dealing with, which are African armyworm and fall armyworm. Both pests attack maize, sorghum and millet with African armyworm extending damage to pastures. During the 2023/24 summer cropping season, African armyworm total outbreaks recorded were 25 from five provinces (Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West, Mashonaland Central, Midlands and Masvingo) in a total of 11 districts.
On a yearly basis, my Ministry uses an early warning system for the purposes of predicting the likelihood of an occurrence of an outbreak. In the past season, Government provided chemicals (Carbaryl 85WP) to all affected farmers for the control of the African armyworm. It is worth noting that the African armyworm can also be killed by chemicals that control caterpillars/lepidopterans that can be accessed from distributors across the nation and farmers can make use of these chemicals as an alternative.
In respect of fall armyworm, since its first outbreak in 2016, the pest has been causing damage throughout the year. The Ministry has provided pests trainings and advisory services to both extension staff and farmers on pest identification, scouting and control. In cases of serious fall armyworm infestations, my Ministry has been providing chemicals to the most vulnerable farmers through the Pfumvudza input package. As a Ministry, we also have extension officers that do scouting and give updates for quick response and control.
Furthermore, the Ministry is utilising pest command centres and media platforms to alert the farmers of the pests. My Ministry in partnership with other stakeholders, have been promoting other fall armyworm management strategies that include but not limited to push-pull strategies, early planting use of plant extracts, for example, Nimee, use of ash and farmers are encouraged to scout and do early control among other strategies. Government will be distributing grain in all rural areas including households that incurred losses due to armyworms outbreak.
Hon. Member, there are numerous long-term strategies in place to prevent and manage any future outbreaks of armyworm and other pests that include:-
-Early warning, early action system;
-Capacity building, training and awareness campaigns through the existing extension delivery systems;
-Promoting effective strategies for armyworm control;
-Use of chemicals for control;
-Early planting; and
-Use of media platforms which include air, television and print.
OUTSTANDING PAYMENTS FOR COTTON FARMERS IN CHISUMBANJE, CHINYAMUKWAKWA, CHECHECHE
- HON C. HLATYAWYO asked the Minister of Lands and Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development to explain why cotton farmers in Chisumbanje, Chinyamukwakwa and Checheche areas were not paid for their deliveries in 2023, in light of assurance made in November, 2023 for their payments.
DEPUTY MINISTER OF LANDS, AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES, WATER AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. HARITATOES): Hon. Member, a total of USD1.3 million representing 73% of the USD component has been paid to farmers under the business unit (Mutare Business Unit). In terms of progress payments since November 2023, USD 188 thousand was allocated to the area in March 2024 and a further USD85 000 in April 2024. More payments were made in May 2024, which further reduced the outstanding amount owed for the entire country. COTTCO received cotton worth ZiG 42 million and have so far paid USD209 million and ZiG1.4 million, leaving a balance of USD2.6 million plus ZiG 3.8 million yet to be paid. COTTCO is making frantic efforts to ensure that farmers are paid their outstanding amounts as soon as possible.
Questions With Notice were interrupted by the TEMPORARY SPEAKER, in terms of Standing Order Number 68.
Hon. Kambuzuma having wanted to move for the adjournment of the House.
HON. KARENYI: On a point of order Mr. Speaker Sir. I understand that we have got other Ministers still in the House. Some have got their written submissions and some of the questions have been on the Order Paper for quite some time. I do not know if you could help us, if they have written submissions so that you may allow them to submit rather than going back with them. May be next week they are not going to have enough time to respond.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: The Hon. Member is seeking to extend the time for Questions With Notice. Are there any objections.
HON. CHIKWINYA: I object.
On the motion of HON. KAMBUZUMA, seconded by HON. S. SITHOLE, the House adjourned at Twenty Minutes past Five o’clock p.m.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Wednesday, 26th June, 2024
The Senate met at Half–past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE
SWITCHING OFF OF CELLPHONES
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: I would like to remind all Senators to put their phones on silent mode or better still switch them off.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
HON. SEN. GOTORA: I move that Orders of the Day, Numbers 1 to 3 on today’s Order Paper be stood over until the rest of the Orders of the Day have been disposed of.
HON. SEN. MAKAMBA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE JUDICIAL SERVICE COMMISSION FOR THE YEAR 2023
Fourth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the Judicial Service Commission for the Year 2023.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. GOTORA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. MAKAMBA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 27th June, 2024.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE ZIMBABWE ELECTORAL COMMISSION FOR THE YEAR 2023
Fifth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission for the Year 2023.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. GOTORA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. MAKAMBA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 27th June, 2024.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE ZIMBABWE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION FOR THE YEAR 2023
Sixth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission for the Year 2023.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. GOTORA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. MAKAMBA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 27th June, 2024.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
HON. SEN. GOTORA: Mr. President Sir, I move that Order of the Day Number 7 be stood over until the rest of the Orders of the Day have been disposed of.
HON. SEN. ZVIDZAI: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
REHABILITATION OF OPEN MINES BY ARTISANAL MINERS
Eighth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the need for artisanal miners to rehabilitate open mines.
Question again proposed.
There having been no Senators standing to debate.
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Hon. Senators, you are paid to debate. Hon. Senator Moyo moved a motion.
HON. SEN. ZVIDZAI: Thank you Mr. President. I wish to rise to contribute to this important motion that Hon. Senator Solani Moyo moved in this august House. Mr. President Sir, it is a fact that Zimbabwe is endowed with so many minerals. In our study of geology years back, we were told that Zimbabwe is home to not less than 63 minerals, ranging from minerals of passion such as gems and diamonds and many more, they are awash in this country. In fact, we are so gifted that in some areas, you go out to weed in your field and come out with a 100 carat diamond. We are so gifted that if you dig even here where we are, as long as you have got sufficient energy, you will come across something valuable down there. Zimbabwe is so well gifted with these minerals.
I was speaking to some gentlemen when I went to Paris sometime. I saw one of the townhalls, the pillars decorated with gold beautifully and this person was not shy to tell me that this gold was from Kwekwe. I am just emphasing the gift and the natural endowment that this country has in the manner of minerals. Today, we are home to the largest deposits in the world of iron ore at Manhize. I believe 30 billion tonnes of ore sitting in the belly of our land at Manhize. We are gifted. We have got the energy minerals, your coal, the uranium, we have got lithium, platinum, rhodium, chromium and all sorts of minerals compared to other nations where you perhaps have got just one mineral. By reason of the structure of how that mineral should benefit the country, the benefits are tangible now and also into the future for our children and grandchildren.
Indeed, Zimbabwe is well gifted with a quantity of minerals which could be a pedestal for the development of the country for building beautiful and lasting infrastructure for our progeny and all sorts of things anchoring sustainable development into the future. The Midlands where I come from and indeed, this part of the world as well, lies on the Great Dyke which is a backbone which is full of minerals. One of the minerals we are talking of is chrome. We have got chrome dug up in the Mberengwa area, all the way through to Zvishavane and up here all the way to Mashonaland West.
The saddest thing that we see and this is what Hon. Senator Moyo emphasises; is that the people who come down here to invest in our minerals do not care about the footprint they leave. They open up the belly of the earth in Zvishavane and Shurugwi and they do not sow it back after taking up all the chrome. It is so sad that you see destruction of the environment without any responsibility at all. It is important that as people come through to invest in these gifts that we got from the Almighty which are resident in our country, that they stick to issues of responsible mining. They mine yes, but they must return. They must take care of the environment for the future. It is not just the chrome, there is also gold, black granite; what remains after extraction of these precious minerals is Zimbabwe injured without any care. They take the resources and depart. I think as a House and as a nation, we must begin to think about enforcing or putting together rules that, yes, we agree people can come in and invest, but they must do that with responsibility.
Let us look at job creation. I had the opportunity to visit Manhize. Out there behind the hills, there is a sprawling new village that is anchored on our iron ore. Thousands of people employed there in a very sorry state. Indeed, very sad that they do not seem to care about those lowly employees. You just need to pay a visit there and see. Yes, it is fine, our resources will eventually benefit us, but I think there is need for the investors to stick to good practice regarding taking care of employees.
We also talked about the diamonds, gold, the exploitation of these and value addition should create abundant employment for the nation. If you look at ZISCO in Redcliff and ZIMASCO in Mbizo, these places are like 15 km apart. The iron that was made at ZISCO and chrome that was made 20 km away are raw materials for a precious product called stainless steel. You combine steel and ferro chrome, you make stainless steel which when you mix these dyes, it is like 20 times/30 times the value of the two separate components, which are made here exported to maybe Germany and Japan. They mix those two and send them back here at 20/30 times the value of the two separate minerals.
These investors should be encouraged, in fact obliged to make sure that they do the value addition locally so that people can benefit good jobs and that we can create employment. We would not have a problem of unemployment in this country. Employment creation through value addition and beneficiation should be a thrust that we must support and push for so that people can benefit.
The other side of the benefit is infrastructure development. I think there has to be a portion from the returns of exploitation of these endowment towards defined infrastructure development, perhaps roads, dams, housing, power plants, et cetera so that there is a future as these resources are not there ad infinitum. They are exhausted, we should be able to see them through the infrastructure built, based on the resources obtained from here. So value addition and infrastructure development are very key issues around how people can benefit from the resources that were God-given to us.
Mr. President, I notice that in this debate, Senator Moyo talked strongly about direct benefits, direct ownership of the resources and direct participation in the companies that exploit our resources. I may ask, in the billion-dollar investment at Manhize, how many shares are owned by locals? What benefits are locals getting aside from the menial employment? What benefits are the quid proquo of the ugly scene that we will see, the holes and dongas that we will eventually see as remnants of the activities of the exploiters of this mineral resource? Where is our pride? Is our pride in just letting the foreigners come here, exploit everything, run away with the soup and cause us to remain with the residues that are not important?
I think this is the spirit of the motion that people that exploit resources should do that responsibly. They must take care of the environment. They must make sure that people locally are benefiting directly. Of course, they will pay tax but we all know about issues of taxes and how accounting packages depress the profits and eventually diminish the dividends that come to the people. Mr. President, we are endowed with these resources and it is up to us to put together rules that make sure that our environment benefit and that make sure that the people of Zimbabwe benefit the most. Let us not listen and be intimidated by big capital. If they need lithium, they will come to Zimbabwe. If they need pollucite which you find only in Zimbabwe and perhaps in Canada, they will eventually come. Let us not be cowed down by the loud voices and the dictatorship of capital. We own these things and they must benefit us. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. GOTORA: Thank you Hon. President Sir. I would like to add my voice on this motion moved by Hon. Senator Moyo. I do not want to speak with a bias towards artisanal miners. I would like to talk in general about mining of resources in this country, artisanal or no artisanal. In this country, we have laws that we were supposed to be using so that the problem raised by Hon. Senator Moyo may not persist. South Africa copied from Zimbabwe the laws of rehabilitating land in Kimberley, Johannesburg. When diamond and gold were mined in South Africa, they just left open pits. Like when you go to Chivhu there is a pit Dhorongo, where there is a huge pit where some of the freedom fighters were being thrown. Mining started a long time ago, but we have laws. The first law is the Mines and Minerals Act which I think must be strengthened but at the same time, if you look at the Mines and Minerals Act, there are engineers and mining inspectors. I do not know what they are inspecting because that is the job they are paid for, inspecting wherever there is mining, be it a big company or artisanal mining. There are mining engineers that are supposed to be inspecting every mine. They are supposed to be inspecting; the first thing is to demarcate the boundaries of the mine and secondly, the mining process itself, how it is going on.
Mr. President, I cannot talk about the minerals that are found in this country, there are so many of them, we all know them. I flew on a plane to Lubumbashi when I was going to Rwanda with a certain person who told me that the only place to invest in terms of mining is Zimbabwe because you find all the minerals. What I am talking about is the Mines and Minerals Act itself, we must amend that law or do away with it altogether. The second law is on the Environment Management Act which combines 32 separate pieces of laws which were thrown all over various ministries, but those 32 pieces of legislation now constitute one law which we now call EMA. EMA is supposed to be inspecting the environment before mining actually commences and asks you what you are going to do in terms of land reclamation after mining. I do not know what is happening?
The problem with EMA is that according to its structure, there are only two people per district, one officer and one office orderly. There is nothing they can do. Most of the EMA people are here in Harare, they do not even know where Guruve is yet there are two people in Guruve. They may not know where Tsholotsho is. Those are the people that I say must use the law. The other thing is, our local authorities have power, the rural district councils have 64 powers, and the urban councils have 54 powers that they have. I do not know where they are using them so that this problem of mining may be rectified. It happens even in urban areas; in Kwekwe in the middle of the city, a school collapsed after mining activities were done, yet the local authorities have power to deal with that and they were supposed to stop the menace. Some of the roads that were used, I travelled from Mutasa recently, if you see mining activities just closeby the road, one day Mr. President, we will hear that you fell into a pit due to mining activities.
Mr. President, they are mining on both sides of the road yet we have local authorities. I do not know where the problem is. There is the Public Health Act that is also supposed to ensure the protection of people’s health. They are supposed to ensure that people’s health is protected and ensure that people are not prone to diseases like bilharzia and mosquitoes, yet no one is looking into that. So, we come back to the question, what are we supposed to do? According to me, I think we should legislate a law about corporate social responsibility so that it does not end in talking, but it must be implemented. If you go to Uzumba, Nyadire and other areas, there is no more land, but there are only pits because there are a lot of minerals being extracted to Venice in Itally, they do not throw away anything and they use everything, the dust and the stone itself.
Mr. President, if you go to Dar-es-Salaam Hotel, if you see it today, it is made out of stones from Zimbabwe, yet there is no corporate social responsibility. Why do we not legislate it and make it a law instead of crying about people extracting our minerals and leaving nothing to show for it. We must enact a law on corporate social responsibility to ensure that anyone who mines will be forced to fill up the pit and ensure that they also construct social infrastructure like roads or schools in line with the corporate social responsibility.
Mr. President, all the minerals that we have in this country, we may end up not even taxing our people through the income tax because corporate social responsibility on its own can give us revenue. If you go everywhere, be it Mount Darwin or Chirumanzu, you find the same problem. All those people should be forced to undertake corporate social responsibility instead of corporate tax, we force them to construct clinics, dip tanks, procure dyalisis machines, or whatever including everything that we do not have. That should be an instruction to anyone mining, big or small mine. We should put such a law on corporate social responsibility. If you go to Brazil, you find that law because there were a lot of artisanal miners. As soon as that law was put in place, their taxes are now low. If you go to Nyaminyami, I think it is the only local authority that does not charge taxes because they are earning their revenue from wildlife. If a local authority can run from such endevours, what about corporate social responsibility? They can actually build hospitals or ensure that we get medication. If we increase tax Mr. President, there will be an outcry again, but remember we are the second highest taxed nation in the world after Israel.
Mr. President, if we keep on increasing taxes, it does not work. Let us enact a corporate social responsibility Act. For anyone who may want to undertake an activity, be it mining or timber, if they fulffil corporate social responsibility, our country may develop, all the crying that is going on right now will stop. I know that all the Members here have various problems, but we need to come up with solutions. We suggest that diamonds should be extracted from Marange and polished here in Harare. There will be no problem, but the problem is where those minerals are coming from. This is my opinion that I would like to add on this debate. Hon. Sen. Moyo said the foreigners are the ones who are doing that, even ourselves as locals we are doing that as well, just mining and not reclaiming the pits. We need to ensure that we solve the problem that we continuously cry over. People out there in the rural areas are looking up to us to ensure that we solve this problem and ensure that the roads are maintained out of corporate social responsibility. These small companies that we find in this country, if we increase tax on them, they will close but if we put corporate social responsibility, it will work. I thank you Mr. President.
HON. SEN. MBOHWA: Thank you Mr. President for giving me this opportunity to debate. I would like to add my opinion on this motion raised by Hon. Senator Moyo on Artisanal Miners. Mr. President, the issue of minerals in this country touches us, especially as women. Indeed we know that when you face a problem, even if you are given a dollar, you celebrate. Zimbabwe suffered and that is a well-known issue. I said that in another conversation yesterday that Zimbabwe was a serious patient to the extent that no one thought that patient would wake up. For us to wake up or to rise again, it means we had to proffer solutions or use any measures which ensure that we get on our feet. Once the patient recovers, you then start considering other nutrients to ensure that the person is further strengthened. That is where the Second Republic or the new dispensation has taken us to. We are now considering Zimbabwe like a running person after having risen from a desperate state. We were not considering a lot of conditions because we were desperate for help. The thinking was as long as we are getting something, so investors came and did all sorts of things such as mining and just leaving. Some of the laws were not followed for fear that the investors would avoid investing in Zimbabwe but at the stage where we are now, we are supposed to start talking as people who own their resources. The time for celebrating any small investment considering where His Excellency has taken us to must come to an end.
If only my opinion would be considered, we should get to a state where if an investor for example goes to Mberengwa, Ngungumbane, first of all, that investor must sit down with the community and Chief Ngungumbane so that the community states what they want. I remember there were community shares and sometimes people are afraid that we may chase away investors but right now, let us empower the community to ensure that they are involved in the negotiation process. If you go to Zvishavane for example, you will find a lot of open pits and you see cattle roaming about and you wonder what is going to happen in 10 years time. My request is the community projects empowerment or shareholding must be brought back so that they are empowered to be part of the negotiation process and say their views that if you open a pit, you must close it. Right now they are not involved in the negotiation process of the initial stage. Who are you going to ask? When they leave, they just go and you have no one to ask. Mr. President, we also wanted to ask though we are trying to uplift the country, we used to say anyone who sees any mineral anywhere should start mining, but let us say that we did that because we were trying to resuscitate the economy. However, right now, let us group them so that they are empowered and given equipment where they start mining on legal areas and on areas where they will not endanger the communities. We give EMA the responsibility to ensure that where they are working, it is allowed and it is okay for the environment. EMA is just watching as mining is happening everywhere. Pits are being opened and roads are being undermined. Who is going to inform the President because the one who is supposed to be watching is just seated? If EMA is not good enough, let us ensure that the communities help them to bring sanity. Let us ensure that anyone who wants to venture into mining is fully equipped because there are a lot of children dying out there because they just venture into mining without full equipment. In all the areas where mining is taking place, we must ensure that there are laws that stop people from going there. The minerals that we have Mr. President, I think the whole world, the whole earth, there is no country that is as rich as Zimbabwe. In every corner of this country, somebody said even if you were to start digging right here, you will not go deep down without picking up any mineral, be it in our farms, that is how blessed and wealthy Zimbabwe is. We are saying we now have a listening President who accepts our requests. We hereby request that the laws be aligned. Those who are knowledgeable about the laws referred to the Mines and Mineral Act. Yes, indeed we need to correct those laws.
I also would like to speak about women artisanal miners. Even if it was not specified in the motion but since our bias is towards women, we would like to say as women, we must also be considered in mining. If a woman is involved in mining, they will not run away to another area. They stay at home. If you empower women, you preserve government money. Although men are good, they start coming up with illegal means of selling minerals. So we are saying most of the money meant for mining should be given to women. Most of the money meant to procure machines should also be given to women. Let us have laws to ensure that where there are disputes women are protected.
Mr. President, I would like to thank His Excellency, for where this mining has taken us so far. Although we are under sanctions, they try by all means and despite the sanctions, our country looks as if there are no sanctions. It is also our responsibility as Zimbabweans to ensure that we preserve that wealth. Our heads are full of corruption and we do not seem to know what is good or bad in building our country positively. We must ensure that we change that mindset of self-enrichment as individuals and put the interest of the country forward.
As I round up, I would like to say let us give them the conditions that we want and satisfy our citizens. The dialysis machines that we are wishing for - we can give them as a condition for example in Mberengwa where there is lithium. They can implement that. Yes, we want investors, but where the Second dispensation has taken us, we are at a level where we can be firm and negotiate what we want because we are no longer in a desperate situation. I thank you Hon. President for the time you have afforded me.
+HON. SEN. RITA NDLOVU: Thank you Mr. President of the Senate. I will not say much but I have a few words pertaining this motion. I would like to thank Hon. Senator Moyo for this motion regarding our mineral resources. Yes, I agree with the previous Hon. Member who highlighted the fact that there is no country which is as wealthy as Zimbabwe in terms of mineral resources. This country is wealthy such that if it was well managed, the challenges we are facing would not be there.
I will focus more on policies. Yes, the previous speaker indicated that we need to enact laws but what is it that makes us fail to follow those policies that are there. We do have policies but what is happening is that we are going against those laws. For example, the previous Hon. Member talked about by-laws whereby she encouraged the local authorities to ensure that these laws are followed. I will focus more on Bulawayo City where drinking water is coming from areas that have so many pits that have been left open by these artisanal miners.
If it is to rain in this city, like what happened with Cyclone Idai, Bulawayo will never get enough water because of these abandoned pits. There is absolutely nothing that is happening to protect people from this city. Some of us stayed in Bulawayo for about 3 weeks without water because of these pits that were left unattended by artisanal miners. There is a law prohibiting artisanal miners from digging the land but these artisanal miners continue to leave these pits unfilled.
We know that people in Zimbabwe are suffering, but in their suffering, they have been left to do things as they wish. All of us are suffering including Members in this august House. If we continue to disobey our laws and ignore our duty of telling people what our laws require us to do, then we will have challenges. These artisanal miners whenever they get their gold, they sell it at lower rates to those with big cars. When these artisanal miners sell their gold to wherever they sell it, they pay little then those with big cars are the ones sending them to go and mine and once they have mined their gold, they come after it at a cheaper price.
We need to ensure that these laws that have been enacted are fully operational and are followed accordingly because without enforcing them, we will continue to write these laws every now and then.
Let me also focus on those that are mining from community mines. For example, in Silobela where I come from, there are so many mines. There is one mine which is operating in that area but the community is not benefiting from it. When I am talking of certain issues, we need to ensure that we are telling the truth.
Mr. President my plea is that these areas which have pits that have been left uncovered should be protected by soldiers and police officers because these areas are big and they require protection from many people. Council of course is trying to ensure that this place is protected but the area is big. There is not enough protection. In addition, laws need to be enforced. One Hon. Member indicated that there is need to enforce laws to ensure that these pits are filled up and the miners needs to refurbish the roads they are using. The challenge is that I am doubtful that the laws will be followed because we are used to ignoring the stated laws in our country. We have always ignored current laws.
I am from Silobela and I use Nkayi Road. We have two mines but that road is not being refurbished. You can travel for about 200km for 10 hours, yet we have two mines that are making money and they have been operational for quite a long time. There is absolutely nothing that is benefiting the community.
My plea is that if these laws are to be enacted. We need to ensure that communities are benefiting and roads are refurbished. I wonder which roads they are using because the roads are in a bad state. With these few words, I would like to support this motion moved by Hon. Senator Moyo. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. MAVENYENGWA: Thank you Mr. President. I would like to thank the mover of the motion, Hon. Senator Moyo for the motion that was brought into this Senate about artisanal mining. This is a very important motion because it touches on the wealth of the country as well as environmental management conservation, especially referring to open pits and any other things that maybe disturbed by those activities. Mr. President Sir, I would want to say, anyone who wants to venture into mining must ensure that they reclaim the area where they will be mining. This is because we realise that as soon as they finish extracting the minerals, some of them do not consider rehabilitating the environment. They should consider that the area may endanger human beings or their livestock as most of them just extract minerals and do not cover the pits.
There are already existing talks in the country about preservation of the environment and it is under the Environmental Management Agency (EMA), under the Ministry of Environment. I would like to say EMA must be adequately equipped, including staffing and giving them required vehicles so that they the maybe able to move around and monitor all the areas where mining activities are taking place. Nobody goes into mining without being given the conditions of land reclamation and ensure that wherever you carry out the activities you preserve the surrounding environment.
EMA must be empowered with arresting powers. They should arrest anyone who violates the laws, those who do not cover their pits as well as just digging everywhere. People sometimes lose their livestock as they fall into those pits trying to graze because those who venture into mining are only after the minerals. They do not care about what will happen to those remaining into the area.
Secondly, the Government should help the artisanal miners, especially youth and women as alluded to by Hon. Senator Mbohwa. They must be given licences and also be provided with adequate equipment to ensure that after extracting minerals, they can then cover those pits to ensure that the surrounding environment is reclaimed. In addition, our Government should teach our children vocational skills such as mining and not just teach them academics where they only consider looking for employment. They must prioritise creating jobs.
If we look on social media, the children from China are taught to make clothes, repair radios and all those vocational skills but in this country, the emphasis is on making someone who will end up looking for employment. The children must be taught about minerals at school and they must be taught about the mining activities themselves to ensure that they are empowered wherever they are. Mr. President, I am saying the Government must help us to ensure that women and youth are taught vocational skills such as mining so that they also benefit from mining activities. Mining should not be seen as if it is only for foreigners. Foreigners will come, extract the minerals and develop their own countries but if it is a local person, they develop their communities and create employment for locals.
They construct shops and build a lot of things that will benefit the Zimbabweans. I am saying Mr. President, that must be emphasised in our women and children to ensure that they are taught vocational skills that are essential in their lives. I also would like to talk about value addition on minerals.
Let us not export our minerals in raw form. Let us try by all means to do value addition of these minerals in this country. It might take time but let us ensure that we work on it. For example, if it is about gold, let us make jewelry or such value-added items. Let us use a lot of money to import all those machines that we may use to value-add our minerals. For instance, we may focus on gold alone and ensure that we make items or goods from gold until we come up with factories that manufacture goods from it, be it household utensils or jewelry. Let us ensure that we make those goods in this country instead of exporting them in their raw form because we do not get much returns. After exporting it in raw form, we are going to import rings from gold.
Right now, we understand that in America, where they make their USD money, they preserve it using gold yet they do not have gold but they get it from us. I also like to applaud the President who brought up a good programme where we understand that gold is being preserved from the Reserve Bank. It is giving strength to ZiG, our money and at least we now understand and appreciate that by keeping our gold, it strengthens our currency.
I am saying, we should have factories and we should not export them in raw form. We end up importing goods that are made from our raw resources at a higher price. We sell those items at lower prices, but we end up buying the goods at a higher price. So, what I am saying to our Government is, let us ensure that we focus on exporting goods to develop the country. When they come here, they must not extract our minerals at a low value. There are areas like Chiadzwa and Marange, for many years, diamonds have been extracted, but the roads there are not even tarred yet trucks are busy ferrying those goods. However, the people in that area suffer when they travel because nothing has been constructed or built. There is no industrialisation, not even a town.
If you go to Marange, it is still remote. I would like to support the previous speaker who proffered that we had community share programmes that were led by the traditional leaders and communities. That programme must be restored to ensure that local people benefit. In that way, schools and clinics may be built because local authorities indeed want to ensure that their areas are developed. In Masvingo, Bikita minerals, they are busy extracting minerals and exporting them, but locals suffer and they do not get clinics or even access to water yet they make millions. The miners are making millions out of that and they fail to just sink a borehole that may cost even 2 000 from the millions they make. So, I am saying, those community share ownership schemes should be restored to ensure that our people benefit because we are looking at vision 2030 that talks of upper middle income economy to our people. That vision should be restored to ensure that they uplift people`s livelihoods by 2030. The livelihoods of our people will be better. I thank Hon. Senator Moyo for bringing that motion. We expect the Minister of Mines to come and respond and explain to us, what Government policy is, that supports the vision of the President and Vision 2030 to ensure that people`s livelihoods are improved. Thank you.
^^HON. SEN. MOHADI: Thank you Mr. President for giving me this opportunity to add a few words on this motion. I would like to thank Hon. Senator Moyo who brought this motion on artisanal miners, which is an important motion. These artisanal miners are people like us but instead of them developing our country, they are not following our country`s laws in carrying out their mining duties. These artisanal miners have caused destruction on our land. Looking at the Gwanda highway or Kezi, with special focus on party offices, there are so many open pits that have been left by miners. This also affects the railway line which means that these artisanal miners are not concerned about the Government infrastructure that needs to be protected. This is a challenge because they are not even monitored by EMA.
If we continue to let them operate the same way they are operating, they will continue to destruct our environment. Looking at the operations of these artisanal miners, they are destroying our land because there is more soil erosion created by their activities which is why we continue to face the challenge of top soil being eroded into big rivers. We used to have certain rivers and dams that would go for a year without drying up, but not anymore. I will focus on Mazowe Dam. It is slowly facing siltation challenges because of these activities. We have a challenge as a country because of these artisanal miners. They move around carrying weapons like swords, stealing from people. Some of them attacking those who will be mining underground. Such activities need to be followed up to ensure that there is peace on our land. In addition to the artisanal miners` activities, their activities are greatly affecting our livestock and the people living in the communities that they operate from. They leave open pits in the areas they operate. Some of these pits collect water and these pits pause danger to our livestock. Some of them are even using dynamites and some of the animals die after drinking water containing cyanide, these animals die. This in most cases we had a challenge in Hwange where we had animals that would be found dead after drinking such water. This is because there is no close monitoring. Therefore, our task as this august House as lawmakers, yes, we have done our part but there is no close monitoring in ensuring that these laws are strictly followed and followed accordingly. This is critical so as to protect our land.
Therefore, my plea is to ensure that hard penalties are put to those that are not following the stipulated laws. Another issue, on the solution is that EMA including us legislators need to help each other in ensuring that these artisanal miners follow the laws in their operations, including ensuring that each time they are done with their mining activities, they cover the pit that they would have dug. This will also assist our livestock which continue to die because of these open pits that are left behind. With these open pits, for those that will travel overnight may be drunk some of them fall into these open pits. As we speak, some of them are now disabled because of these challenges. Let us all encourage each other to monitor these laws and also monitor the implementation of these laws and make follow-ups as to how these laws are implemented so as to ensure that the future of these artisanal miners does not endanger us in the communities. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. ZINDI: Thank you Mr. President, I rise to add my voice on this motion. I would like to express my dissatisfaction, specially looking at how our country is struggling to raise money when we have a lot of minerals as alluded to earlier on by various speakers. I am worried about that, why do we agree to live like slaves in our own country when we have so much wealth? I consider things like the law that Hon. Senator Gotora refers to, the Mines and Minerals Act that was enacted in Rhodesia in 1961, the year that I was born. I went to the liberation struggle, came back, the reason why we joined the liberation struggle is because we wanted to remove the oppression or anything that disadvantages the blacks who are the owners of this country or promotes the interests of the whites.
Mr. President, the whites enacted laws that promote their interests. Why then are we failing with all the fallen heroes and their skeletons that we abundantly have, yet here we are, some of us are alive, the country is liberated. The aim was to ensure that we live in accordance with our wealth. My concern is why are we failing to amend that law to ensure that we fulfil the aim of the liberation struggle, what are we afraid of? Let me proceed, I will not say the number of times that law came into this House and was not passed – what is stopping us that when an investor comes, as Government, we are promoting the interests of the majority. Why can we not come up with a template to say if you want to invest in Mutasa to mine gold in Penhalonga - as Government we consider what are the main problems in that area. We say there is no road at Rupinda, we put that on the template, Rupinda has no clinic a place close to the Mozambican Border, people have to walk to Hauna to the clinic, there is no bus because there is no road. That is what the people want. So on the template, we tell the investor, we give them as a condition that before you start anything else, you should construct all these infrastructures. That must be a template for the whole country before we can talk about an investor extracting lithium, platinum or any mineral.
Mr. President, let us give us as a condition that the locals must be involved in that process and ensure that we do not use a top down approach but bottom up approach. That is my opinion. Furthermore, I am trying to support what Hon. Senator Gotora said that corporate social responsibility should be made into law. That is what I think should be the solution. In addition, every year, America invites African Presidents to the Africa-US Summit on Economic Development. Russia does the same and China is doing the same. We are all invited by one American President yet we are over 52 countries here in Africa. If we are to united like that, we can tell them that we are the ones on demand because we have the minerals and we are the ones with the resources that the American President desires. We are the ones who have an advantage. So, we should unite as African Presidents to ensure that we go with one position and demand technology transfer as a condition so that we are able to process the minerals that we are summoned for in our numbers, 52 or 54 to go to America or China to attend an Economic Development Summit wherever we are summoned to go. Let us put it as a condition as alluded to by Hon. Senator Mbohwa. We are not desperate for anything because we are the ones on demand and according to me, nothing can stop us from doing that.
In addition, when we accept that investors come and extract gold or lithium, we are actually exporting various jobs. Factories will be built to process that lithium and we will be able to make batteries from that lithium. That is why I am saying African governments should unite to agree to that position of making it a precondition. Whilst still on that issue, I would like to acknowledge that the President is trying his best on the issue of beneficiation. I went to the Sabi Lithium Mine launch and the President said a plant will soon be completed that will manufacture batteries. I really applaud that and that should be a template used for all other minerals.
I am deeply concerned by platinum which has 10 other minerals within it. These are gold, silver and more except for platinum. It is however, being exported in its raw form and processed outside this country in South Africa. Where the processing takes places, we have never heard the Financial Bill telling us the value of the processed platinum and the quantity and value of the other minerals in the platinum. Silver is also the same, we have never heard about the value. Once the minerals leave the country, they are gone for good. Any other minerals found in that, we have never been given information. As a country, we are not even informed. We are losing so much in that way.
Let me conclude by saying that what I would like to encourage on this motion is that the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Mines should be involved in this debate in this august House because our minerals should benefit our country. I thank you.
+HON. NDEBELE: Thank you Mr. President for acknowledging me after standing up for quite some time without getting this opportunity to air my voice on this important motion regarding our minerals. This motion moved by Hon. Senator Moyo speaks more on our country’s future because this is where all our wealth comes from. This wealth is disturbed in many ways. We have quite a number of learned people in our country who continue to go outside to foreign lands and we realise that they are the ones working hard in making those countries wealthy which they are supposed to be doing here in our country. There is a challenge when it comes to mining in our country, especially in our different communities where there is more gold, more education and wealth. Each time it is realised that there are more minerals underground. I was once in this other area where I stayed for a long time and right now that area has not changed a bit. It does not have a school yet this area is denied to have a school because this particular individual in that area says the land belongs to him. He has been holding onto that land for eleven years to date. This person also has a number of areas where he is mining from. This individual is denying the council to erect a school in this particular area to the point that children in this area have to walk for long distances to the nearest school including those below the age of five. They are facing challenges getting to school. There are rape cases that they are faced with, yet this person continues to deny council the right to build a school in this area. There is quite a lot happening in our country which is making us suffer because of those people who are prioritising wealth that comes from minerals.
Growing up, it was difficult to see gold. Our traditional leaders know that it was difficult to speak about our wealth. When one is speaking about this, there is need to ensure that our representatives follow all the stipulated laws to ensure that our land is protected. Right now, people are just leaving open pits all over and this is posing a challenge. We are seeing people that are coming from other countries who do not know the history of our freedom fighters who went to war to liberate us. We are seeing our wealth only benefiting those that are clever.
I need to know how many mining claims one should get because there are people with 20 claims. There are very few people with two claims. How many is this particular individual having in their operations? There is nothing that is benefiting the youth or women from their mines. In most cases, they say they are sponsoring and how do you sponsor when you leave that mine with nothing? The money that is paid to these artisanal miners who go underground is not enough, yet the person who sponsors these youths gets away with a lot of money which does not go to Fidelity. It is illicitly taken out of the country.
Most of the youths who are paid these little monies go to places where drugs are sold. From there, they go to these beer springs where they are involved in drug and substance abuse. Growing up, I never heard of drug and substance abuse. These youths who are given little monies become violent when they go back to their wives. Clearly how do we empower these children because artisanal mining in Zimbabwe has taken over? Why can these mines not be registered so that it is known how many mines are in a particular constituency and how many people are employed by a particular miner so that it helps the community.
There is also need to share information with the rest of Zimbabweans so that they know and not to have one individual having more mines to the point of denying council the power to build a school. Each time they get to Government offices, they indicate that this mine belongs to this particular individual, you cannot do anything on this land. Children as old as 15 years are not going to school in this particular area, yet children are facing challenges like rape and school dropouts. Our land is full of graves and there is absolutely no place without a grave.
Going back to our local authorities and traditional leaders, they need to inform us whether they have not encountered people’s skulls in these pits. Maybe they have encountered them, but it is not being said out. Because of such challenges, we are faced with drought whereby we are no longer receiving enough rains. Even if we receive rains, dams are no longer filling up because of these open pits that remain uncovered. These are the pits that collect water instead of having water trickling to dams. Even in our rural areas once it rains, you realise quite a number of cattle go missing because they would have fallen into these open pits that are left uncovered.
We need to have legal mines that employ children and give them pay slips so that it is known that from such a time, children are at work. This encourages them to abstain from illegal mining. This will encourage them to work and they will know that by month end, they will be getting money. This will help them to move away from drugs and substance abuse.
The reason why we are faced with a drought is because we have turned a number of fields into mines. We need to know the demarcation to our fields. Right now, we are staying in homes which are built on shaky ground. Some of them are falling in. We need to make sure that our traditional leaders unite with the rest of the stakeholders and come up with solutions that will help us tomorrow.
For quite some time now, we have been faced with a challenge of teenagers that are giving birth and this has posed a challenge to girls. Very few times you realise that a teenager is impregnated by another boy. In most cases, a teenager is impregnated by a man because they are attracting them with money that is coming from these mines. This is now a challenge in our society. This is mainly emanating from unregistered mines which are the ones that are causing many challenges in our communities because there is no protection of the poor from those that are earning money illegally. Furthermore, my plea to traditional leaders is that for some that get enough money, they disregard their children, which makes these children engage in illegal mining. Some of them end up going to our neighbouring countries. From there, they engage in beer drinking. Please help us so that our communities are safe.
For those that are mining legally, why can they not assist people in these communities by covering these open pits that are left unattended to? If they are given an opportunity to cover these open pits along the way, this will develop the poor communities and reduce siltation of the dams as well as soil erosion. For example, if you throw away a plastic bottle, you are told to pick it up for recycling. Therefore, there is need to ensure that the enacted laws are enforced to ensure that open pits are covered so as to avoid posing challenges to our communities.
Mr. President, I am focusing more on rural areas and our culture. We are speaking more on EMA, forgetting that from here, EMA is approaching traditional leaders, who in the end, do not have enough to say about their areas because they will be following up on written messages which are being brought by EMA. There is need for them to engage the traditional leaders. They hear from them how their areas are like, those that have more destruction and those that are better off. This will assist us in ensuring that our land is preserved. No one is thinking of taking their money to Fidelity because they are looking at a scenario whereby if they take their minerals there, for a dollar they will get ZiG.
So they want foreign currency from outside the country. They need to take their minerals to Fidelity. They want to disempower the ZiG on their own. The ZiG is doing well for our country and I am one of those that can attest to that. Laws need to be monitored and need to work. My apologies Mr. President, I have indicated for quite a while the zeal to debate and now I am debating as if I am angry. Let us ensure that the proceeds of our land go back to the grandchildren. Let us not allow people coming from outside the country to come here and extract our minerals, leaving us with nothing. They need to ensure that they leave us something as Zimbabweans.
HON. S. MOYO: Mr. President Sir, I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. MAVENYENGWA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 27th June, 2024.
On the motion of HON. SEN. GOTORA, seconded by HON. SEN. MAVENYENGWA, the Senate adjourned at Twenty-Nine minutes past Four o’clock p.m.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Tuesday, 25th June, 2024
The Senate met at Half–past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENTS BY THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE
BILL RECEIVED FROM THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
THE HON DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: I wish to inform the Senate that I have received the Criminal Laws Amendment (Protection of Children and Young Persons) Bill [H.B. 4A, 2024] from the National Assembly.
NON-ADVERSE REPORTS RECEIVED FROM THE PARLIAMENTARY LEGAL COMMITTEE
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: I would like to inform the Senate that the Parliamentary Legal Committee met on the 6th of June, 2024 and considered all the Statutory Instruments 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71,72, 73, 74 and 75 gazetted in the month of April 2024. The Committee is of the opinion that the Statutory Instruments are not in contravention of the declaration of rights or any other provisions of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
SWITCHING OFF OF CELLPHONES
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: I would like to remind all Senators to put their phones on silent mode or switch them off.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE:
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF VETERANS OF THE LIBERATION STRUGGLE AFFAIRS (HON. SEN. H. MOYO): I move that Orders of the Day, Numbers 1 to 2 on today’s Order Paper be stood over until the rest of the Orders of the Day have been disposed of.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
REPORT ON THE JUDICIAL SERVICE COMMISSION FOR THE YEAR 2023
Third Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the Judicial Service Commission for the year 2023.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. M. NCUBE: I would like to just say a few words on the report which was tabled before us by the Minister of Justice on the Judicial Services Commission. Mr. President, I went through the report and I was able to dig out three particular things. The Judicial Services Commission is actually founded on three pillars of transparency, accountability and independence. So, as I was reading through the report, I tried to relate all the information I came across on those three pillars. On transparency, I would say the Judicial Services Commission is trying its best to make court processes and procedures accessible to all Zimbabweans. There are financial challenges, but they are trying their best. They are building courts in terms of infrastructural provision all over the country. They recently completed courts in Epworth, Mutawatawa, Chikombedzi and other places. This shows they want justice to be easily accessible to all our people.
Also, there is an issue of accountability. When you read through, you realise that one or two judges were facing some censure of some kind because the President had actually put together tribunals to investigate those judges and they quickly resigned. Coming from the Midlands Province where there are many disputes in terms of mining claims, there are many people who go about invading other people’s places as long as they are rich and then they create disputes. Most of those disputes were actually resolved in the High Court in Bulawayo. However, there was a certain judge who had been captured by some of those rogue elements. They would come to your mine and produce fake papers, creating a dispute knowing that it needed to be resolved in Bulawayo in the High Court where they would easily win because they would have paid the judge and that should not be allowed. Hence, I applaud the President. When there is willful corruption, he quickly sets up tribunals to deal with those issues. I think justice should not just be done, but has got to be seen to be done. Perception should be right. We cannot allow a situation where corruption is associated with the Judiciary in this country. Also, when we look at the Commissioners of the Judicial Services Commission, you can see that these are people of high integrity. That alone reinforces the fact that the judiciary is above suspicion. They will not be in a situation where they compromise the delivery of justice in this country, but is the judiciary truly independent? That is one question that needs to be interrogated. Obviously, there is need to collaborate with other arms of Government, but the judiciary is supposed to keep its independence.
When they appeal to us to ensure that they are properly funded and we give them 50%, 60% of their budget. We are also accomplices because we are compromising their independence. They have got a lot of work to do, hence the Constitution was very clear that they have got to table their reports here so that we can support them fully for them to become independent. When we also look and realise the infrastructure which they have embarked upon in terms of building of courts everywhere, like I have alluded to, you will see that the report is silent in terms of accommodation.
Is it right for an Magistrate for that matter to be a lodger? Does it not compromise their independence? There is no mention of accommodation of judicial officers in the report. I also must commend that the Judicial Services Commission has embarked on an integrated electronic case management system in line with the dictates of technology and incorporation of artificial intelligence, in terms of case filling and case referencing. There is emphasis that where web-based system has been adopted, particularly in the superior courts, you will see that the efficiency has improved tremendously. They have been able to deal with 95% of the cases.
It is therefore incumbent upon us to ensure that integrated electronic case management system cascades to the lower courts, Magistrates Courts and other to bring in efficiency within the Judiciary delivery system. Mr. President, one of the courts which is letting people down tremendously is the Labour Court. It is just not delivering to expectation. We know that cases which are referred to the Labour Courts are so economic sensitive. For the Labour Court to have cases in their books for three, four, five years, it affects the people concerned.
There is need to look at that carefully Mr. President. I also realised within the report there is no mention of the relationship between the Judicial Services Commission and traditional leader as Judicial Officers, because they also at sometimes put on hats of Judicial Officers in their Community Courts. Where is the nexus? Where is the relationship? Can we just let the traditional leaders make decisions in a discrete manner without incorporation into the wider Judicial delivery system? I think there is need to look into that Mr. President so that systems are properly standardised. It affects our people at every level.
Before I end my short report Mr. President, I would like to commend other provinces. Harare is miles and miles ahead in terms of commission of crime. It does not matter what crime it is; Harare is a leader. Other provinces tend to have statistically acceptable numbers. When we look at 26 thousand, 30 thousand for Harare and other provinces are way below a thousand. Maybe it is because everything happens in Harare and the bulk of the population is concentrated in Harare, but it does give a bad mark for Harare.
In conclusion Mr. President, as Members of Parliament, we need to support the Judicial Services Commission so that we strengthen the Judicial delivery system financially and ensure that judicial officers are equipped properly, have got tools of trade and are properly remunerated. They should therefore be in a position to compromise the whole process in terms of delivering justice. Thank you, Mr. President.
THE MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER DEVELOPMENT (HON. E. MOYO): I move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 26th June, 2024.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE ZIMBABWE ELECTORAL COMMISSION FOR THE YEAR 2023
Fourth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the report of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission for the year 2023.
Question again proposed.
THE MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER DEVELOPMENT (HON. E. MOYO): I move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 26th June, 2024.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE ZIMBABWE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION FOR THE YEAR 2023
Fifth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the report of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission for the year 2023.
Question again proposed.
THE MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER DEVELOPMENT (HON. E. MOYO): I move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 26th June, 2024.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
THE MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER DEVELOPMENT (HON. E. MOYO): I move that Order of the Day Number 6 be stood over until the rest of the Orders of the Day have been disposed of.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
REHABILITATION OF OPEN MINES BY ARTISANAL MINERS
HON. SEN. S. MOYO: I move the motion standing in my name
That this House-
ACKNOWLEDGING that Zimbabwe is endowed with a lot of natural resources, among them minerals;
COGNISANT that the country’s wealth is the cornerstone of the economic development and has to be exploited for the benefit of the citizens of Zimbabwe;
CONCERNED that the exploitation of minerals has its own
challenges which are brought about by miners in their quest to extract rich mineral resources;
NOW, THEREFORE, calls upon the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development- (a) To ensure that artisanal miners rehabilitate all open mines that their teams dig in various parts of the country as they extract minerals from the ground; and
(b) That miners plough back some of their profits to communities where they extract the resources.
HON. SEN. C. NDLOVU: I second.
HON. SEN. S. MOYO: Thank you Mr. President Sir for the opportunity you have given me to debate on my motion. I am here to hold the Minister of Mines to action on behalf of the citizens to express the will of the people when it comes to the mining of our mineral resources. The Senate and Parliament, as the representatives of the citizens, should pay attention to everything that is happening regarding our mineral wealth and the impact on the lives of the citizens we represent. It is important to consider ways to ensure that foreign investors in the mining sector benefit both the investors and the local population, but mostly our people.
Mr. President, this should involve implementation of transparent regulations, promoting corporate social responsibility, ensuring fair labour practice and actively involving local communities in decision making processes related to mining activities. The goal should be to maximise the benefits of foreign investors while minimising negative impacts on the environment and local communities. This can be achieved through effective governance, regulations and oversight of the mining sector in our beloved country of Zimbabwe.
The people of Zimbabwe are suffering, there is unequal distribution of wealth. We argue that the benefits of mining in Zimbabwe are not evenly distributed among the population, with the majority of the profits going to foreign companies rather than local communities. It is the Hon. Minister’s duty to make sure policies are improved so that people benefit.
Secondly, there are environmental concerns, mining activities that are happening are having a significant impact on the environment, including mining without licences, cutting down trees, again EMA regulations in places where mining is happening, water pollution due to explosives and other tools used, soil is destroyed which can harm local communities and ecosystem. We have seen it; it is no secret that the Chinese are all over. They just mine and do not do anything to develop the communities in which they practice mining. All they are doing is looting and the children of Zimbabwe suffer. The AMD acid mine drainage is what pollutes the water, mining waste is not properly managed. Water sources such as our rivers, streams and ground water suffer.
The Minister should have policies in place that treat mine water before it is released into the environment, re-using treated water and properly managing mine waste to prevent formation of acidic drainage. I recommend that there be community education. Monitoring programmes can also help raise awareness about the risks associated with mining activities and promote healthier practices.
Another issue has to do with labour practices. Some foreign mining companies have been exploiting our local labour, paying low wages and providing poor working conditions for our citizens. When it comes to management level, we have a lot of our engineers leaving for the diaspora because of low salaries and this results in investors bringing their own engineers. That is not all as far as bringing their own labour force. For example, the Chinese at Hwange Colliery are mining there and all their labour force is not local, it is Chinese.
There are a lot of resources being extracted. For example, those with the licences to mine chrome find other minerals in the process, like gold and do not pay for the licence to mine gold. So when they extract other minerals from the chrome they found, they make triple profits. We are concerned that foreign mining companies may extract resources from Zimbabwe without adequate consideration for sustainable development, leading to abuse of resources and long-term negative consequences for the country.
There is no development being done in these areas such as building of power plants and housing which can benefit the locals indirectly. No form of development is being done and that is a big problem that needs urgent attention. On the other hand, we do know that there can be economic growth. Foreign investment in mining can contribute significantly to the economic growth for our country Zimbabwe. It brings in capital, technology and expertise that can help to develop the mining sector and create jobs if the Hon. Minister puts in place proper and improved policies.
Mr. President, I call the Hon. Minister of Mines to action. Can he tell us what is being done with the Government revenue because mining activities generate revenue for the Zimbabwean Government through taxes and royalties which can be used to fund public services and infrastructures. What has been done so far? Due to my years of experience in the mining sector, here are some recommendations for the Hon. Minister of Mines to consider:
- There should be transparency and accountability. He should implement policies that enhance transparency in the allocation of mining licences, revenue collection and resource management. Also, create mechanisms for public oversignt and independent audits to ensure that revenues are not lost to corruption.
- Secondly, there should be local employment and skills development. He should enforce regulations that mandate mining companies to prioritise hiring local talent and invest in training programmes to develop local skills. This can help create job opportunities for Zimbabwean citizens and ensure the transfer of knowledge and technology. This will stop the violence happening between Chinese and our locals which led to the death of some of our citizens.
- There should be community engagement and benefit sharing. The Minister should require mining companies to engage with local communities and develop mutually beneficial agreements that ensure communities receive a fair share of the benefits from mining activities. This could includes infrastructure development, education, healthcare, or direct financial contributions.
- There should be protection of our environment as a people. The Minister should enforce strict environmental regulations to minimise the negative impact of mining activities on local ecosystems and communities. Require companies to implement sustainable mining practices and invest in rehabilitation and restoration programmes.
- There should be revenue management. He should establish a transparent system for managing mining revenues, including mechanisms for saving and investing funds for future generation. Implement a big wealth fund to ensure that revenues are used wisely and benefit the entire population.
- There should be capacity building. He should invest in the capacity building of Government agencies responsible for regulating the mining sector to effectively monitor compliance with regulations, enforce laws and negotiate fair deals with mining companies.
Lastly, there should be monitoring and evaluation. The Hon. Minister should implement a robust monitoring and evaluation system to track the progress of policy implementation and assess the impact of mining activities on the well-being of the population. Use this data to improve policies and practices.
By adopting these recommendations, the Minister of Mines can help ensure that the people of Zimbabwe benefit from the rich minerals she has. I thank you.
+HON. SEN. MLILO: Thank you Mr. President. I think it is important in this country that we should have a clear policy on mineral issues. We should protect women, people with disabilities and all the vulnerables in the mining sector, women in particular are among those those who are despised. If a woman finds a claim for mining activities, men come in because of their resource base and overpower women. We request Government to protect us as women, to protect us from all the processes that will be happening, particularly in the mining sector. I thank you Mr. President Sir.
HON. SEN. S. MOYO: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. MLILO: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 26th June, 2024.
MOTION
COMPENSATION TO PENSIONERS AND POLICY HOLDERS BY PENSION AND INSURANCE COMPANIES
Eighth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the reduced value of the Zimbabwean Dollar.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. NDEBELE: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. S. MOYO: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday 26th June, 2024.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE 148th ASSEMBLY OF THE INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION (IPU) HELD IN GENEVA
Ninth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion of the Report of the 148th Assembly of the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) and Related Meetings.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. GOTORA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. M. NCUBE: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday 26th June, 2024.
MOTION
CONGRATULATORY MESSAGES TO HON. SEN. CHIEF CHARUMBIRA ON ASSUMPTION OF THE PRESIDENCY OF PAP
Tenth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion that a congratulatory message be conveyed to Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira on his ascendancy to the Presidency of the Pan-African Parliament
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. CHIEF NHEMA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. CHIEF NGUNGUMBANE: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday 26th June, 2024.
MOTION
ESTABLISHMENT OF PUBLIC HEMODIALYSIS FACILITIES IN DISTRICTS
Eleventh Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the treatment of chronic kidney disease in Zimbabwe.
Question again proposed.
*HON. SEN. MUZODA: Thank you Mr. President. I also would like to thank Hon. Senator Zvidzai, for bringing this motion. It is a very important cause, especially with regards to the health of all of us in this august House. I would like to debate about a kidney ailment Mr. President. It is so disturbing that relatives and friends are dying because of this problem, while as Government we just watch and do nothing to assist those alive to continue living. Looking at the statistics Mr. President, especially those who die because of kidney problem, we have not yet acquired medicine and necessary equipment that is used for diagnosis. The whole country only has two machines at Mpilo and Parirenyatwa Hospitals. So that affects people because they cannot be attended to on time.
Sometimes they travel long distances. What I would like to encourage Government, is to procure these dialysis machines so that people are attended to before the ailments worsen. Mr. President, kidney problem is a silent disease which, at the beginning, joins other ailments in the body such as diabetes or blood pressure. If somebody is affected by blood pressure and diabetes, it is very rare for the kidneys not to be affected. If only Government should be able to treat people suffering from kidney failures, diabetes as well as blood pressure and provide medication as well as machines in various areas in the country. People should be diagnosed much earlier. That way they can be treated. Mr. President, the kidney problems, when we were growing up, were foreign to us, but now they are also being caused by what we eat which is causing a lot of stones in our kidneys, thereby leading to kidney failure.
My advice is that people should be diagnosed much earlier just like any other disease. The problem with the kidney disease is that when it is seriously infectious, there will be a requirement for it to be removed. There are a lot of people who survive on one kidney.
Without wasting much of your time, my request to the country is that if only we could have diagnostic machines for chronic diseases in each and every district so that the diseases may be attended to at district level, so that there are no complications if there are referrals. Our country is endowed with a lot of wealth, how can we fail to buy machines that assist our citizenry? With so many minerals that we have, it is so painful to watch people die yet we are so endowed with wealth.
I would like to urge Government to prioritise machines that are used to diagnose diseases such as cancer, kidney, diabetes and blood pressure so that our people may live longer and we do not continue losing people because of that. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. MBOHWA: Thank you Mr. President for giving me this opportunity to add my views on this motion brought by Hon. Senator Zvidzai which refers to kidney problems. Indeed, in the past, we did not know much about these diseases but my thoughts are that we should come up with programmes dedicated to the rural areas so that we restore the foods that we used to eat in the past. Some of the foods that we are now consuming may have GMO side effects that may affect our internal organs and cause many other health problems.
Since we now understand that we live in a global village, it is impossible to go back and our children are no longer able to consume the foods that we used to eat like wild fruits as well as organic foods. These were very helpful to our health. These days nobody wants to eat such foods. We are now consuming a lot of processed foods. I would like to thank His Excellency the President because in 2008, there were no medicines and diagnostic machines in hospitals but with the new dispensation, they are working hard to make such equipment available in hospitals. Nowadays, we see a lot of change and improvements.
If we look at these diseases like cancer, there is something that is happening with regards to the prevention of the diseases. As we speak, the First Lady has started an outreach programme in the rural areas where a bus equipped with diagnostic equipment is moving around to all the areas so as to make health facilities accessible to all. If only that service could be taken to lower levels of society, especially in rural areas and ward levels. You find that in the rural areas, for someone to know that they have cervical cancer or their kidneys are affected, it is very difficult. They die in ignorance because they cannot access that help. This effort has started with mobile buses that are equipped with modern equipment and if only the outreach programme could go right round the country in addition to the efforts that the First Lady is doing, this could be very helpful. I would like to thank very much the present Government because we are bringing development.
I referred to the problems that we used to have in 2008 where the sanctions strongly affected us but right now as I speak, we have quite a number of machines despite the fact that they are very expensive but they are now available in the hospitals. We knew that back then, anyone who is sick used to go out of the country to receive dialysis as well as chemotherapy but those facilities are now available although we are only starting. They are not yet in abundance. I applaud the efforts and I hope we will get there eventually.
Mr. President, kidney diseases are very painful. When it starts there is no reverse, you definitely know that you are going to die. If only Members of Parliament would go to the rural areas and teach the people to sensitise them on what they are supposed to be warry of with regards to the early symptoms of this disease. I am aware of the fact that some of the hospitals have been decentralised like in Gokwe North. Outreach efforts will also be helpful including these mobile buses that I am talking about.
Before I sit down, I would like to thank His Excellency very much because there are a lot of things that are taking place in this country. If we were to concentrate on health services only, everything else may come to a standstill. There is a drought and other social problems that are bedeviling this country. All the facets of the economy and life must be attended to. His Excellency is trying very much to make sure that all facets of life are uplifted. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. MUPFUMIRA: Thank you Mr. President for giving me this opportunity to add my voice to this motion. I would like to thank the Hon. Senator who brought this motion and I would like to bring it up as a reminder. There are some diseases that you may survive and for some, it is life and death, like the heart problem. Kidney problem is all about life. If they fail, death is inevitable for such diseases. My contribution is, if that disease affects you, it is for the rest of your life. There should be efforts to ensure that you are attended to. We know that there are major hospitals and most of the people are found in provinces and districts. My request is, the Ministry of Health should be allocated funds to ensure that such services are decentralised to primary health centres, especially in provinces. Right now, anyone affected by kidneys has to travel by bus or train, but it could be easier if they are attended to locally. We have witnessed some of these incidences which are so disturbing.
Some people have to travel long distances and the fees that they have to pay are too high. If only we could come up with a levy that attends to such diseases like cancer because most of the people who are affected are dying, they cannot travel to central hospitals like Harare or Bulawayo. We hear in the press that some of the machines such as the cancer machines stopped working in 2021. What should we do because these are priorities and these are the things that affect people, especially in the rural areas where we come from?
Mr. President, we donate blood in this country at BTS for free and BTS is not a Government company. It is a company that looks at making profit. After donating blood, I bought a pint of blood at $250 for a relative. Imagine if you are involved in an accident. Sometimes when we talk, it is as if they are far-fetched issues but in case of an emergency, you may need four pints of blood. You are asked to procure the blood on your own. Those are some of the things that must be looked into, especially by the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Social Welfare. In other countries, blood is not procured at more than $50 a pint and this is a fact, but ours, the price is going up.
People see BTS close to Parirenyatwa and think it is a Government institution. No, it is private. The blood that is needed by people is normal blood which does not need processing. It does not even need to go to BTS and it can be done at district level or at provincial level. You get blood from people and it is stored locally. These are some of the things that may be scrutinised by the Ministry of Health. We are donating blood for free but when you need it, you are now asked to pay $250 or $300 per pint. I am combining diseases such as cancer and kidneys. If only as legislators we could scrutinise these things and understand that we are the ones who vote for the budget, this can happen right at your door step and you may not have money.
I saw one of us and I was touched when I saw that they are suffering but for someone who fails even to walk, if only we could get such life saving for free. Those are some of the things that must be considered and taken as social services. How can someone die at work failing to even walk as they try to get help? Let us consider this as our problem. Do not take it as someone’s problem. A disease can just come up without preparing for it.
I confess Mr. President. Three weeks ago, I was strong and healthy but one of the days, I woke up with breathing problems. I was taken to hospital and spent the whole week on oxygen, yet I had spent the whole week healthy and fit here. We have no control over diseases. I also thank God because I am here. You did not even know that I was on oxygen the whole week, yet the previous day I was here debating, thinking that I am strong. We need to take the health issues seriously.
Cancer, dialysis and other services must be decentralised and let us ensure that people have access to them in their localities. How many of them can afford to come here? Even if we construct health centres, when they are not equipped, it will not help. The kidney issue must be taken seriously. I understand the problem why there is need for Ministers to come and respond to our debates and motions. In Tanzania and Zambia, blood is cheap. What can we learn so that we rectify that? We are here to safeguard people’s lives and represent them. That is why I would like to say Mr. President, the kidney problem is very painful. Let us take it seriously and ensure that there is machinery in rural areas so that they do not travel to other areas in order to access that. Social Welfare as well as the Ministry of Health must look into that to ensure that they come up with a solution to ensure that people may live long. This problem is worsening and the life styles have changed. The food that is now being consumed is different from what we used to consume when we were growing up. We are here debating about our children and generations to come or even on my behalf because I do not know what is going to happen to me tomorrow.
May the Chiefs also add their voices to ensure that cancer patients are attended to. Indeed, there is this mobile outreach programme that on a daily basis people need to be treated and the health issues must be prioritised. I would like to thank all the Hon. Members and re-emphasise that this is a very critical issue. It is not a neighbour’s problem. Some of the people here may be affected. We must also look into the medical aid issues where you are supposed to pay for treatment, despite the fact that you have contributed. Medical aid must help the people who contribute. Some people travel to India and are asked to come with their own money to pay for air fare as well as upkeep, yet we have medical aids. Some of them are helpful, but some of them are not. So, we need to look into that, to ensure that anyone on medical aid must be able to get assistance. What we are talking about is good for our health insurance policy that should be able to assist everyone regardless of status in society. We must speed up such processes that ensure and guarantee healthcare to everyone. Thank you.
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Thank you Hon. Senator Mupfumira for those important words.
^^HON: SEN. MOHADI: President of the Senate, this is an ailment that people look down upon. It is an ailment that kills. I would like to thank the Senator who brought this motion to this House on kidney ailment. The other issue is on our Committee on HIV and AIDS. Each time they go out to different hospitals, they need to have some time to get to different hospitals and see if there is medication and equipment that caters for kidney ailments because in most cases, we have challenges of those that are unable to afford. The poor are unable to get access to medical fees in most instances. The other issue is that we need to craft policies that will assist to ensure that the issues we are discussing are pursued. At the moment, we need to see that our medical aids, especially the ones that we are encouraging civil servants, is that we need to have a look into it and see how it operates, especially the one we are referring to. In most cases, each time you visit a hospital, they do not accept it because it has challenges in paying. Therefore, we need to have a medical aid that will be able to assist everyone. It helps us a lot, especially if we do not have money because we do not get money all the times. Therefore, a medical aid is crucial to everyone, which is why people have seen it difficult to always join medical aid services. Diseases like cancer, is where life becomes difficult to have it treated. Let us help each other and make it a point that as policy makers...
There having been a power outage.
HON. SEN. MOHADI: Mr. President, I do not know if I should continue.
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: You can hold on. You can now proceed Hon. Member.
^^HON. SEN. MOHADI: Thank you. I was saying as policy makers, we need to ensure that the policies that we craft are operational because our other duty is an oversight duty. We need to ensure that if there are policies, we need to make follow ups to those policies and ensure that we go out to the public to see if people are getting treatment. I do not have much to say but just to encourage all of us that it is true that this kidney ailment is there and it kills. Let us ensure that it is reduced and have us get to hospitals and ensure that there is medication to treat this ailment in Harare and Bulawayo. There is absolutely no one who will be able to travel about 700 kilometers to come to these cities for treatment, this is before we even talk of the fees that one is supposed to pay. People are dying silently with challenges of failing to get medication. With these few words Mr. President, thank you, have a great day.
HON. SEN. S. MOYO: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. MLILO: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 26th June, 2024.
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO ZUPCO AND PRIVATE TRANSPORT OPERATORS
Twelfth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the adequacy of public transport in the country.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. TONGOGARA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. MOHADI: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 26th June, 2024.
PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT SERVICES FOR TEENAGE MOTHERS
Thirteen Order read: Adjourned debate on the effects of teenage pregnancy.
Question again proposed.
^^HON. SEN. MOHADI: Thank you Mr. President for giving me this opportunity to debate on the teenage pregnancies motion moved by Hon. Senator Tongogara. The motion speaks to us parents and teenage girls. Right now we are faced with a challenge of teenagers who are no longer finishing school because of pregnancies. Some of us who stay in border towns realised that our children choose to cross borders going to neighbouring countries to look for work. This is indeed a challenge because most of them do not have passports and so use illegal crossing points. Each time they use these points, they tend to be abused, this is where they get to meet maybe men that they do not know and these are the same men that turn to abuse them.
Mr. President, the same applies when they get to neighbouring countries, they get to places that they do not have anyone that they know. They get to men who rape or abuse them sexually and get pregnant. This then becomes a challenge because whenever they are to indulge, they obviously indulge without any protection. This puts their life in trouble from there until their time of death, even the child that they give birth to, you would realise that they do not give them love. No wonder why some of them throw these children into toilets or dust bins because they do not care about these kids. They do not know where they will take these kids to.
Looking at the health of these teenage mothers, you will realise that these will be around 13 years, they will not be mature enough to give birth to a child but the situation that they get into, leads them into falling pregnant. The moment they give birth, you will realise that their health is by far disturbed because they are not mature enough to have a baby.
If we are discussing a motion like this one, to us women, it is very sensitive. We are talking of kids and our grandchildren who are getting into trouble of leaving school due to these challenges, because the teenagers we are talking about, some of them will be in Form 1 or in Form 2. Each time they get into these challenges, you realise that they are afraid of even saying out on the challenges that they are faced with. Our policy as a country does not allow these children to continue with school once they are pregnant or once they have given birth. They continue to shy away from going to school just because they are afraid of being laughed at.
Mr. President, my plea to us as Senators, as policymakers, we need to go back and encourage our children to go to school because once a child is at school, it helps them to continue with school, without only focus on getting married. The other issue is that when talking of these teenagers, some of them are not really afraid of going to school but for some, it is because they are orphans so they tend to indulge in sex because there is no-one to reprimand them. Even when they are going to school and when they come back home, they do not have anything to eat and the final result is they realise there is no point in going to school. Some kids who are born to these teenage mothers are left in the care of their grandparents who also do not have adequate resources to fend for the kids. This kid might end up faced with challenges in their early stages of development.
In our resettlement areas, schools are very far away from the villages. I will give an example of a school that I once visited a few years ago and early this year. This school is in a farming area in these resettlement areas. It is very far and it is about 20km from that school to the next school. It is a satellite school and their Grade 7 pupils are supposed to write their examinations from the nearby school which is more than 30km away. These kids end up not going to school. During the time I visited the school, I established that those who fail to write their examinations are supposed to come and repeat Grade 6 for them to proceed to Grade 7 the following year. This child was now 13years in the same school. These are the same children that are cooking, sweeping, and fetching water for teachers. So what is the end result of these children’s lives? These are the challenges that we are faced with. We need to ensure that we have enough schools that are easily accessible and not more than 5km to the next school. When they travel long distances to school, this is when they are lured by different men and boys who will then abuse them. It is critical to have schools nearer to villages to reduce these challenges. Surely if children have to walk 10kms to their nearest school, does it look right to us as Hon. Members? It impinges on their human rights and they will live with the situation as it is. So, it is our duty to help these children to get schools close by. The orphans need to be assisted by Social Welfare which should see to it that their school fees is paid. Right now, there are kids that go to school without uniforms and in this cold weather, some go to school bare footed. How do they continue to go to school with such challenges? Mr. President, let us see to it that these children get help. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. MUZODA: Thank you Mr. President. I want to start by thanking Hon. Sen Tongogara for bringing this motion on the girl child. This issue affects different people in our society because the girl child is an important person and must not be disturbed in her life. In our day to day life, we also need to scrutinise what leads to girls being raped and impregnated more frequently. As I alluded to earlier on, girl children were not born promiscuous or prone to abuse but like the saying goes, “an apple does not fall far away from the tree”. We try to understand how the girl child was brought up to that stage where they are abused and trapped by such people with no respect for the girl child. How was that child brought up?
As we go back as parents, let us reflect on what is happening. The phenomenon is not new, of girls being impregnated and left like that. There are reasons that are causing all that. There are some areas where schools are very far away. That problem where schools are 10km away from where the girl child stays is also a contributory factor especially to those who do not want to see children growing up well. They take the opportunity to abuse them. So, the request is, firstly, we need to get schools which are close by so that our children may go back early in order for them not to meet such incidences. Mr. President, if you find someone who is not affected by abuse of a girl child when that person is a parent, it is very difficult to understand because these children are our life and future. So, my request is that we need to rectify the livelihoods of our children so that they are not prone to abuse by passersby. If a 13 years old child travels 10km to school and gets to school at 08:30, leaves that school at 4:30 p.m. and gets home at 9:00 p.m. What happens along the way? Even if they are of the same age - let us rectify that and build schools closer to our children. The truth is our country is one that is causing these problems because as parents, we are also failing to build the characters of our children to stay home and we apportion the blame on Government.
There are a lot of other things that we see. I was shocked one day when I was accompanying one of the Hon. Members to Rainbow Towers Hotel. Mr. President, these things are happening in full view of the police. I do not know who brought those very small kids to the hotel. Those girls obviously do not look like they are going to college, they look like they are Grade 7 or Form 2 and they affect the movement of people at the foyer. This is a Government hotel where all this mischief is taking place.
I asked one of the young girls who stood at my window and I said what do you want and she had nothing to say. Let us protect our children and ensure that they stay home. Sometimes they wonder and go to environments where they find small scale miners. The environment back home sometimes pushes young children into this kind of vice. If a child sees parents sitting at home the whole day with no supper in the evening, this is what is leading the children to venture into prostitution and sell their bodies.
So, I would like to urge each other, especially in the constituencies where we come from, that people must take care of their children and must not affect their future by not being harsh or ill treating them. Good counselling and upbringing comes from home and not as they travel on the road. So, in order for our children not to fall prey into early pregnancies and contract diseases, they need to be brought up properly where they come from. I thank you Mr. President.
*HON. SEN. GWATURE: Thank you Mr. President for according me this opportunity to add my voice on the motion which was raised by Hon. Senator Tongogara. She did a good thing because things are not well out there when it comes to teen pregnancies. When I look closely and investigated on this issue, the thing that is causing our children to go astray is because we are no longer following our cultural values.
Our culture is the one that builds our nation. Our children are following the laws because of human rights. These rights are killing our children in Zimbabwe because when you come across a child who is misbehaving and he or she is not your child, you cannot reprimand them. Long back we grew up being reprimanded by elders who were not our parents, but these days you will be taken to court. So, I am saying that if it was possible, we should put our heads together as parents and come up with ways that can bring our children together so that they do something which is worthwhile. Also, we must move away from just reprimanding our biological children because children are very clever. They will do bad things outside there not in front of their parents. We should put our heads together so that we can come up with laws like what we are doing right now. The country has drought, but we are putting our heads together.
Yesterday we were in Mutare, talking about climate change and they are running about this issue. We should not only run around with other issues leaving out important issues as well because our children are the future leaders. We are talking about gender, where men and women should unite for the betterment of our country. So, the boy child and girl child are the same. We should be able to run around as parents because we are facing a lot of issues. It is very difficult to see a 13 or 14 year old girl falling pregnant. When it is happening next door it is alright, but when it is under your roof, it is very disappointing. So, I am saying we should adopt our yesteryear values so that our children can be reprimanded by any adult. Also, the other issue is that if a child goes to school without proper things and the child is chased away consecutively for nonpayment of school fees, it is very difficult. When she comes back the following day, she will be shy because others will laugh at her because of constantly being chased away from school. I think the department of Social Welfare should take care of orphans. We have a lot of orphans around and these children need to be looked after. Poverty will end up leading them into early pregnancies and early marriages. I think we should come up with ways on how to help our children with school fees and proper equipment.
Someone mentioned to a child going to school without shoes, that child will not be able to fit with the other children and will end up thinking of other things. This is also a cause for drug abuse because they will say that if they are under the influence of drugs, they will not know that they are lacking. When we are in these urban areas, we have children who leave their homes early for school. Their schools will be near boys’ homes. When it is cold or raining, they find shelter in the boy s’ homes and they meet a lot of abuse and end up being pregnant, especially those who are in form four, when you are looking forward for them to complete their education. It is very painful. With those few words, I thank you, Mr. President.
HON. SEN. TONGOGARA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. TSOMONDO: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 26th June,2024.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE DELEGATION TO THE 80TH SESSION OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE AND THE 45TH CONFERENCE OF APU HELD IN COTE D’IVOIRE
Fourteenth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion of the Report of the Delegation to the 80th Session of the Executive Committee and 45th Conference of the African Parliamentary Union.
Question again proposed.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF VETERANS OF THE LIBERATION STRUGGLE AFFAIRS (HON. SEN. H. MOYO): Mr. President Sir, I move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 26th June, 2024.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE DELEGATION ON THE ELECTION OBSERVATION MISSION TO RUSSIA
Fifteenth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the Delegation on the Election Observation Mission to Russia on Russian Presidential Elections.
Question again proposed.
+HON. SEN. MOYO: Thank you Mr. President. I would like to thank Hon. Sen. Tongogara for bringing the report on the visit to Russia on election observation, which was being led by Hon. Chairperson for the Portfolio Committee of Foreign Affairs and International Trade from 13th to 28th March 2024. Firstly, the report was read and we listened attentively from the delegation which went to the Russian Federation during the elections.
The delegation witnessed and learnt a lot a lot over the elections. They also saw it important to bring back what they have learnt to Zimbabwe so that the people may know the reason why they went to that country. We listened attentively to the report which was presented before the august House. As Hon. Senators who are in the Upper House, we should take note of the report and debate over the matters that were raised so that we see how good it was and how the elections were held because the delegation that we have sent will come and report back to the House.
I will direct straight to the Hon. Chairperson who led the delegation to Russia that they selected those who went to represent themselves and those other Hon. Members who travelled with them. I took note of what was written in the report and take note that they went to represent us as Zimbabweans so that they come and address us in the august House, in this Parliament. I take note that there are two political parties in Parliament, which are the ZANU PF and the CCC.
I also take note that in those Committees, there are also Hon. Members and Senators who were part of the delegation. It is important that here is the Upper House which has got Hon. Senators and Hon. Chiefs, that this country should be united. I take note that there was only one party which went to Russia which was ZANU PF. I saw it fit that in this august House, people who select those who go to represent us, the organisation should select across all parties represented in this House so that as Zimbabweans, we show unity. We should not forget that we are all Zimbabweans here. Some are war collaborators and others war veterans; we all got independence in 1980. We want to take note that when we go out of this country, we should present ourselves well.
There is this other issue that I always ask myself, it is this relationship between Russia and Zimbabwe. We have got friendly relationship during the liberation struggle of this country. I wonder what the delegation that went there exactly learnt from Russia concerning diaspora voting. We have 1.8 million people who live in the diaspora, which is endorsed in the report. As Zimbabweans, we should learn a lot from that. Russia votes in such a way that there are so many diasporans who voted there. We should as well follow suite. Indeed, we noted that in our last election, there was no diaspora vote. I took note of that and this is coming from the report. The delegation that went to Russia to represent the Hon. Members in Zimbabwe visited seven polling stations out of 94 000 polling stations. We notice that the election was free and fair as well as credible but we should take note that we only went to seven polling stations, we did not visit the other 94 000.
This friendly relationship with Russia should continue and we should continue learning good policies and try to implement here as well.
I also wish to report that CEC and ZEC, we also learnt good policies and also took note that there were people with disabilities who were allowed to vote on their own. I saw a good environment where those people with disabilities came forward to cast their votes. I took note that we should learn from them. The most thing that I like and am proud of is, if a friend is doing good, you should also do the same. We noted that there were sign language interpreters and media was also using sign language. We noticed that we do not have those sign language interpreters. We should also follow suite in that manner.
I want to report that the delegation did good work and they visited the Zimbabwean Ambassador for that country. I asked myself whether there are any roadworthy vehicles so that our Embassy would also look attractive and exquisite. I ask myself whether as Zimbabweans we are failing to have good infrastructure and magnificent places like those that they visited and the high-class vehicles? We notice that some of the vehicles for this side are very roadworthy, those of our administration but the delegation did not represent us well on that aspect.
On the issue of staff, how many Zimbabweans do we have as staff members? In Russia, we witnessed that they use their mother tongue. We take note that here it is tough, we do not have so many people, whether there is no money or not. Is it so embarrassing to see His Excellency the Ambassador driving a vehicle which is not of high class? Why do we use those premises instead of us constructing our own infrastructure and buildings because we have the resources?
It is very important that we should work together very well to present ourselves in a good manner. If I am out of the country, I do not want to show how bad the situation is, whether I am starving or not. I will dress modestly to present myself as a classy person. If I am driving a vehicle which is not roadworthy, they will notice that there is something wrong in this country, Zimbabwe.
As you look at this report which was presented by the Hon. Chair, we had a delegation. The Hon. Chair should take note of the embassies, so that we raise our flag high and that people witness that this country Zimbabwe is a good country, not to be seen as Sudan and some other countries. We should present ourselves as a well up country, with resources. With those few words, I thank you.
HON. SEN. TONGOGARA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. MOHADI: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 26th June, 2024.
MOTION
MOBILE BIRTH REGISTRATION EXERCISE
Sixteenth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the challenges faced by the people living in the border areas on the issuance of birth certificates.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. R. M. NDLOVU: Mr. President, I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. TONGOGARA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 26th June, 2024.
PRESIDENTIAL SPEECH: DEBATE ON ADDRESS
Seventeenth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion in reply to the Presidential speech.
Question again proposed.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF VETERANS OF THE LIBERATION STRUGGLE AFFAIRS (HON. H. MOYO): I move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 26th June, 2024.
On the motion of THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF VETERANS OF THE LIBERATION STRUGGLE AFFAIRS (HON. H. MOYO), the Senate adjourned at Seventeen Minutes to Five o’clock p.m.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Tuesday, 25th June, 2024
The National Assembly met at a Quarter-past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE HON. SPEAKER in the Chair)
HON. KAMBUZUMA: Good afternoon Hon. Speaker Sir.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Good afternoon.
HON. KAMBUZUMA: Thank you so very much. Do we not have national points of interest?
THE HON. SPEAKER: There is?
HON. KAMBUZUMA: Yes, there is.
THE HON. SPEAKER: I beg your pardon. Thank you. Hon. Nyabani.
*HON. NYABANI: Good afternoon Mr. Speaker Sir.
*THE HON. SPEAKER: Good afternoon.
*HON. NYABANI: Thank you very much. My point of
national interest pertains to ZiG, our local currency. Most small businesses end up being prosecuted because of the rates. Most wholesalers and manufacturers are not abiding by the law pertaining to the prescribed official interbank rate. I am not randomly talking, but this is after I did extensive research.
I have gone to a number of wholesalers who are charging
around 18, 19 and even 20. These are wholesalers that are found in Harare, they are not far and I wonder what could be done to stop this. I want to request that the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, together with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, send teams to ascertain what is happening. People in the rural areas are being arrested, but there are people who are here in Harare using the same rates.
You will find people in Mutoko, Murewa, Rushinga and
Bindura being arrested yet they are getting their supplies from Harare wholesalers. Wholesalers in Harare should bring down their prices and stick to the gazetted prices. The rural retailers are just putting a mark-up on the rates that they would have been charged by the wholesalers. I thank you.
*THE HON. SPEAKER: Your concerns and views have been
noted, but when you noted that people were not abiding by the law, why did you not inform the police?
*HON. NYABANI: Mr. Speaker Sir, I went to the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe and spoke ….
*THE HON. SPEAKER: Hon. Member, you should have
informed the police.
*HON. NYABANI: There is police at the Reserve Bank Mr.
Speaker Sir. This is a civil issue and not a criminal issue.
*THE HON. SPEAKER: Hon. Member, you have raised a
very valid point, whether it is a criminal or a civil offence, a person should be arrested. So, I want to request that in future, you inform the police.
You can put that question to the Minister of Finance,
Economic Development and Investment Promotion during the question and answer segment tomorrow so that you get a response to your question.
HON. V. MOYO: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I am rising on a matter of national interest in recognition of the international day against drug abuse and illicit trafficking, one of the most serious public health and socio-pathological threats facing adolescents and young people is drug and substance abuse which has a long-term impact on their well-being and future as it eats into the socio-economic capital.
As we commemorate this day, I am alive to our effort as the august House, as demonstrated by the robust debate on a motion that was raised by Hon. Mapiki on the same issue which was overwhelmingly supported by both sides of the House. This is a testimony that there is still a lot that binds us together than that which may separate us.
Mr. Speaker Sir, I rise to urge the Executive to intensify its fight and efforts in the war against this scourge so that the future of our young ones is preserved for a more prosperous socio-economic posterity. I so submit.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Did you read some newspapers today?
HON. V. MOYO: No, I did not.
THE HON. SPEAKER: First thing in the morning before you do anything, you must read and catch up with your print media and other social platforms. If you had read the print media article, I think it is on the front page. His Excellency, tomorrow will respond to exactly what you have raised. I think a plan of action is going to be announced tomorrow by His Excellency the President and you will be represented by ‘Yours Truly’ myself. So please watch out for the statement and I am sure you can take that to the constituents as well, together with the other Members of the House.
HON. BAJILA: Good afternoon Mr. Speaker. I rise on point of national interest that arises from the advertisement by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority which has been flighted across numerous media platforms and channels. According to the advertisement, the ZIMRA will conduct an auction of its obsolete equipment, including vehicles, office furniture, fridges, and other items at Mhlahlandlela and Victoria Falls offices on 27 June 2024.
My attention was brought to the notice that all payments for this auction are strictly in United States Dollars. While other words in the notice fall on normal font, the word strictly has been put in bold to emphasise the point.
Mr. Speaker, this is tantamount to a vote of no confidence on the local currency by our tax collector. To prevent the use of local currency even for the purchase of second-hand goods, is the highest level of contempt by the tax collector. I, thus call upon the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion to bring ZIMRA to order and to allow the use of both foreign and local currency in these transactions if we have confidence in the local currency. I thank you.
THE HON. SPEAKER: You have made an interesting observation. Perhaps you can follow it up tomorrow during Question time so that you can get more elaboration from the Minister of Finance.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
HON. KAMBUZUMA: I move that Order of the Day Number 1 on today’s Order Paper be stood over until Orders of the Day Numbers 2 to 5 have been disposed of.
HON. NYANDORO: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO ZUPCO AND PRIVATE TRANSPORT OPERATORS
Second Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on inadequate and reliable public transportation.
Question again proposed.
*HON. MAPIKI: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir, for giving me this opportunity to support the motion which was moved by Hon. Mashonganyika regarding those who are in the transport business. They should register their vehicles because we are facing several road accidents. I support this motion because I believe that operators should register their cars and be given different commercial number plates.
These vehicles must go through testing and they should be given licences to operate, especially after checking whether they are road-worthy or not. A person who will be driving such a car should have their eyesight and mental state tested because instead of applying brakes, some react late thereby causing accidents. This is a motion that I believe should be supported.
The Government should avail buses to ZUPCO or fund the company so that we have buses that are in good condition and roadworthy. There are some buses assembled here in Zimbabwe, for example the AVM, DAF, and other buses, hence they should be given capital or funding. The Government should also give ZUPCO the facility to import buses from Belarus duty-free.
Furthermore, bus drivers or drivers of public transport should be regulated so that the age of public transport should start from 25 years or 30 years. It should be from 30 years and above and not more than 60 years of age, so I would suggest that 30 to 60 years of age, the bus driver should retire or their eye sight should be checked as well as how they perform. So the biggest challenge is that even when cars are registered, at road blocks you will find that this might be a car which should not be allowed to pass a roadblock, but they pass. There should be surveillance cameras at roadblocks which are connected to the police headquarters so that they are programmed to monitor what is happening at roadblocks. This will help us to monitor that only registered cars will be going because in the evening, you find that touts who know that the police will not be on the roads will be driving cars and buses without drivers’ licences which allows them to drive such cars. Most of the accidents that we witness are because of such drivers.
In Harare, there are a lot of pirate taxis and we have seen in China and other countries there are a lot of cameras in urban centers. We do not have the resources at the moment so that we monitor cars, especially in big cities like Harare. I believe we need to engage the Ministry of Information Communication Technology because the Ministry is not doing due diligence. It is taking time, but we need to monitor so that we see the movement of cars. Instead of waiting to ticket drivers on roadblocks, people should receive their tickets as they are monitored along the major roads for various traffic offences. I believe this should be done if we engage the Ministry of Information Communication Technology. It should be programmed properly so that when someone commits a traffic offence, they receive their ticket forthwith. This would allow us to be able to monitor what is happening on our roads so that people comply with the rules.
Sometimes people will be chasing targets. At times they overload and over-speed so that they capitalise on their targets and so they exceed speed limits, like on major roads where 120km is the maximum. At one point, the police were monitoring speed limits, but now they are not doing that. Sometimes you also find that people might be rushing to pick up people, but there should be alternative forms of transportation like the shuttle trains which will be picking up people. Trains have a larger capacity to carry people and this will lessen the pressure on small cars, pirate taxis and other cars. The issue of pirate taxis should be really dealt with because many people are losing their lives. Some people are being abused, raped or robbed in prate taxis. When licences are being given, there should be a criteria to look at people who deserve because people should be vetted to see whether or not they deserve to be given permits to ply different routes.
We have the Traffic Safety Council Department which has a responsibility towards teaching people about road rules. The cars which are supposed to be registered should be cars which can carry passengers and goods, but you find that there are large haulage trucks which carry bricks, stones and other goods. Such cars should be inspected for roadworthiness because they are also causing accidents.
In Mozambique, there are laws which prohibit large haulage tucks from moving between 6.00 p.m. and 6.00 a. m. This allows authorities to monitor that only registered cars are using public roads. Sometimes you find some haulage trucks breaking down in major roads because they are not roadworthy. So I believe that Government should consider the issue of resuscitating goods trains in order to alleviate such challenges like the ones that I was mentioning.
So indeed, I thank Hon. Mashonganyika and I support the motion that was moved by the Hon. Member and I also want to support the Road Department, our Police, the Home Affairs Ministry and other arms of the State because we have noted that a lot of people sometimes get hurt through these accidents. I thank you Hon. Speaker for this opportunity.
*HON. ZEMURA: Thank you Hon. Speaker Sir, for giving me the opportunity to contribute towards the issue of public transportation. Most times I have noted that when there are naughty drivers, people accuse the police, some alleging that where were the police when this was happening. Indeed to speak the truth, the police need to be empowered with their tools of trade and they must go and monitor what is happening on our roads, but many naughty people drive whilst they are drinking beer. They will be having different brews whether it is black label, mutoriro or other brews.
This distracts the driver. It takes away the concentration of the driver. So I have noted that Zimbabwe should be well equipped to fund the Home Affairs so that people can have breathalyzers to test the amount of alcohol in driver’s systems. Hon. Speaker, the truth is that the police cannot test people by merely looking at them using their eyes, yet people will be drunk. Mutoriro is not only for young kids, but it is also being consumed by old people who drink and drive, whether they are driving buses or small cars. There are some cars which just ply different routes whilst overloading people. You find people as old as Hon. Zemura sitting in the boot. Sometimes people will be packed like sardines. Is this good? No, you also find transporters putting people in car boots which are supposed to be for luggage. Our transporters are not registered. The ages of 18-25 are the drivers of pirate taxis.
Pirate taxis sometimes are always on the road and they work on targets. Sometimes they are told to do eight trips per day and they do not consider people’s safety. Even buses which go to Nyamapanda, you would find that the buses would go and come back the same day. There is a lot of competition on our highways and that competition endangers people and causes accidents. The people will be over-speeding throughout the day so that they meet their targets. So, there should be laws which govern these buses and cars so that there is a database of the cars which apply different routes and the time that they use or take any route. The police should calculate the time that they have taken.
The Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage should correct this issue so that it is ascertained whether public transport operators use registered cars, buses or not. You find that sometimes people are being dragged by rank marshals and separated from their luggage. When you take your luggage, you find that the car is gone. There should be a law to register all public cars or vehicles.
In the past, buses had timetables. When a bus was supposed to leave at 8.00 a.m. and arrive at 12.00 p.m. in Murewa, arriving earlier than that would warrant the bus driver being questioned on the movement and whether they were following the same timetable or not. This was a good thing for transporters. When commuter omnibuses came, the timetables were changed and you would find that commuter omnibuses just moving around without any restriction. There is no one who restricts commuter omnibuses on the speeds they use.
The Ministry of Transport should be serious, especially regarding the issue of public transportation. The Ministry should look into this issue and investigate it so that people are carried with dignity from one point to the next. There should be dignity of passengers instead of the willy-nilly…
THE HON. SPEAKER: Hon. Member, please use one language. Dignity is chiremerera.
HON. ZEMURA: Hon. Speaker Sir, it is a slip of the tongue, please forgive me. For people to be carried with dignity, we all have cars in this august House. When a kombi comes and when a pirate taxi comes, no one will get into that pirate taxi because we know the kind of behaviour exhibited in the pirate taxi. Sometimes people might even fear to come to Parliament and no one will say that I want to get into a pirate taxi. We want what is happening to our Hon. Members to also happen to passengers, whether from Mbare, Masvingo or different parts of the country. Please, go to Mbudzi and see how people are tossed around, especially those who will be going to Chivhu and others in that direction.
The different transporters should be investigated by the Ministry. At one point, I did not come to Parliament and the driver said let us go to board a pirate taxi. I said I would rather stay at home because sometimes you travel fearing for your life and your safety. We need to enact laws which protect the people. Transporters are not doing well and because of that, we request that the Ministry investigates them because people are dying through poor transportation, more than through HIV/AIDS.
Remember, the people who were coming from church who died last year. Those who were going to Mutendi Church, the whole bus perished because of one transporter. I request that the Ministry of Transport should be serious and look into this issue. If we want to protect our people, we must not allow the people to die because of transporters. The bus is no longer safe, commuter omnibuses are no longer safe and there are a lot of accidents that are happening. Even the pirate taxis which are being involved in accidents, some cut in front of other motorists, this can be prevented when people are arrested and prosecuted.
When we put punitive laws, people will not commit such traffic offences. I do not want to blame the police, but I want to blame the Ministry of Transport and our Government because if punitive actions were being taken, such actions like using breathalysers would ascertain the level of alcohol consumed by a driver. I am saying that because I have lived in other countries like America, but I never heard of accidents happening because the police are empowered with adequate tools of trade so that they can test the alcohol content of drivers. I have said a lot about transporters and I thank you for the opportunity.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Thank you very much. Please stick to the prayer of the motion. There are four areas. The second one on enforcement by agencies of Government seems to be overwhelming, but there is very little about capacitation of ZUPCO as prayer number one. The role of Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe as prayer number three. The fourth prayer is the capacitation of NRZ. So be more comprehensive in your responses to the motion.
HON. NYANDORO: I have focused my points mainly on how the current transport system affects people with disabilities. The current transport is inaccessible to the disability community. There is lack of ramps and probably lifts for buses and mini buses who ferry people in and out of the buses. The way in which the transport operators handle people with disability - they are handled in a harsh way in such a way that they are not given time to get in and out of the vehicles with dignity, like what Hon. Zemura said.
There is also limited access to information with regards to the schedules of routes - that is even if they exist because the public transport system does not have any routes. You just go by the road side and you find a kombi or a mushikashika or a ZUPCO bus. I would like to emphasise on the need to capacitate ZUPCO, especially as they are the main transport system that ferries people from point A to B. If we look at it, ZUPCO has got better fares than the mushikashikas and the commuter omnibus. ZUPCO has also better space that might not really accommodate but ZUPCO is better than all the other transport operators that exist within our system.
There is little or no coverage with regards to the people when we look at people that have short eye sight or that do not see. There are no publications in the public transport system to show them where the bus is going or is going to drop off the passengers. It then becomes more difficult for the people who cannot see to liaise with the transport operators. To ensure a disability friendly transport system, I think the Ministry of Transport and the Government must focus on bringing back the commuting system of NRZ which is more accessible and more affordable. This will assist the people with disabilities. I feel and think that the Government should invest in training the transport operators to ensure that they handle people with disabilities in a humble and dignified manner. In whatever we do, we may not be able to know what exactly people with disabilities require to access this essential service. I urge the Government to make sure that in whatever they do, they do it in consultation with the disability community so that they are also included and their needs are taken care of.
I also urge the Government to ensure that there is enforcement of regulations when registering public transport operators. I think it is very important that all the vehicles, before they go for registration, are checked and evaluated to see if they are disability friendly so that everyone else is included in the transport services.
The Government should increase accessibility features to install audios or visual announcements and markings for accessible sitting to cater for the people living with disabilities. Government should continuously monitor and evaluate regularly the access and improve the accessibility of public transport costs and also make sure that it is accessible to those living with disabilities and their aides.
If I may add more, I think it is important that the Government through the Ministry of Transport, scrap all fees for those people that are helping people with disabilities to move around because most of the time people with disability will fail to go wherever they want because they will not have adequate funds to make themselves travel together with their aides.
*HON. J. TSHUMA: I am standing in for the Hon. Member and I thank you for giving me this opportunity to add my voice to the motion which was moved by Hon. Mashonganyika which is indeed a good motion. This motion is meant to preserve lives so that we do not continue losing lives through accidents.
The first issue being a request that Government should ascertain that private transporters are licenced or regulated and the capacitation of ZUPCO so that it has an adequate complement of buses. In business, we anticipate that when someone works outside business ethics that person can be removed from that particular trade or field. For example, the problem with unroadworthy buses and kombis is that there are no enough good cars and buses. So, it would be a good thing if Government capacitates ZUPCO with an adequate compliment of buses as this will eliminate pirate taxis. If Government could give licences to those who are already in the transport sector; and if Government could issue loans so that they augment their fleets, this will ensure that there are enough public buses and eliminate pirate taxis.
Pirate taxis cannot continue operating because those who are legally licenced will be doing their job. We may deploy officers from all police camps but still continue to have challenges - when someone is sick, we need to identify the cause, not the headache.
What is dominating the industry particularly looking at Honda Fits and other pirate taxis is that they are not public vehicles. So, what we need as Zimbabwe is for transport operators to acquire bigger buses that will ferry 100 or more people. When buses go to termini like Copacabana, Fourth Street and other termini in smaller towns in districts and different areas, then smaller buses can also be deployed on other roads that are off road or are in peripheral areas.
We want Harare to be a world class city but because of what is currently happening where you find people hanging on boots and behind cars, this takes away the shine of the sunshine city. ZUPCO should be capacitated to buy more buses and they should buy buses that can operate in both urban and rural areas. There are buses that are meant for urban routes on tarred roads only. This needs to be looked into.
I am saying there should be duty free importation of buses for companies like ZUPCO because what is affecting people probably is the issue that they cannot import cars. When transport operators import cars duty free or the duty is less, then this would allow them to import more buses. So, this will be good for public transport operators because they will be having new buses coming in to replace the old ones.
I request that the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development when looking at countries like Dubai, you find that there are taxis that ferry people. These taxis are not owned by individuals, but are a business opportunity. They are a revenue stream that can benefit the Ministry because if the Ministry then has a fleet of taxi cabs, the revenue stream will contribute to the fiscus. I want to urge Government to look into the issue, particularly the Ministry that can take this as an opportunity for business for cities like Harare.
There should be shuttle vehicles like the pirate taxis that operate from the Charge Office to Fourth Street; Copacabana to Fourth Street or Copacabana to Mbare – short distances. This means that there is no shuttle service to ferry people across those points as some people will be in a hurry and may end up compromising their safety accessing these pirate taxis. They cannot wait for buses to fill up because often times, people will be trickling in during off peak hours.
So, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development in conjunction with the City Council should consider taking this as a business idea and this will curb accidents on our roads.
There is also this issue that police should arrest road traffic offenders and that fines should be punitive. Indeed, this is good. People should be arrested and penalised. I also believe that stiffer penalties, fines and spot fines are a bit of a challenge because this is between the drivers and the police officers. Sometimes you will find that drunken drivers commit minor or major traffic offences, the situation perpetuates bribery and extortion between the motorists and the police officers manning the roadblock.
Police officers in the Traffic Department countrywide own cars. There is no police officer who does not have a car. They get their money from roadblocks. In one of the provinces where I normally visit, at one point, a motorist was stopped at a roadblock. You will find that the officers cash in less money than the money they collect at roadblocks. They are pocketing the bulk of the money from roadblocks. So, it is important that this issue is looked into. We need to address the root of the problem so that we have enough public transportation to eliminate pirate taxis. There should be reasonable fines that will make a police officer think twice before accepting a bribe.
There was also mention of the Traffic Safety Council as an agency that has a mandate of educating motorists on traffic rules and regulations. This is quite pertinent because the Traffic Safety Council should be on our roads, especially where people commit traffic offences. For instance, in Harare, there are well-known spots where rank marshals are plying their trade. Such roads should have Traffic Safety Council Officers educating people. I know that they may not be enough to cover every road in the country, but there is need to identify hot spots where there are touts and rank marshals during holidays and other times. This is quite an important issue.
The last issue that was mentioned in Hon. Mashonganyika’s motion is that Government should capacitate the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) with locomotives and passenger trains. The issue of rehabilitating our railway networks is quite important and will benefit our people. This is an issue that we have raised several times as Parliament that our roads are being damaged by large haulage trucks that carry heavy loads.
You will find some roads not lasting long. Indeed, I support the Hon. Member that this is quite important and there is need for alternatives through the provision of passenger and goods trains so that our goods are carried on the locomotives. There should be additional locomotives that ply different routes across the country. Looking at Harare which has quite a large population, there are areas like Chitungwiza, Norton and Ruwa which are a bit far away from the Central Business District and need public transportation through the railway line.
Indeed, our roads will benefit from the lessened pressure because most goods will be using the railway line from one city to the other through our goods train. It also lessens the volume of traffic on our roads and it will also lessen accidents because there will be fewer cars. Those abnormal haulage trucks are causing accidents on our major roads because they move a bit slower than other vehicles. Accidents happen because motorists will be trying to overtake, so because of human error people fail to calculate the braking distance hence overtaking whilst facing on-coming traffic. I thank you.
HON. KANGAUSARU: Thank you Madam Speaker and greetings from Hurungwe Constituency. I would also like to thank you Madam Speaker, for allowing me to rise today to support the motion on the need for comprehensive reforms in the regulation of the transport sector.
It is a grave matter of public record that our roads have become increasingly plagued by instances of highway robberies with commuters and goods transporters falling victim to brazen criminal elements. Madam Speaker, these public-facing robberies not only traumatise and endanger innocent civilians but also disrupt the flow of essential goods and services, thereby stifling economic progress and undermining the Government’s development agenda.
Madam Speaker Ma’am, the root cause of this alarming trend can be found in the inadequate registration and oversight of transporters operating within our borders. Currently, the process of registering and licencing transport operators lacks the necessary rigor and accountability mechanisms. This regulatory vacuum has allowed unscrupulous and potentially dangerous elements to infiltrate the industry putting the safety of our people at a grave risk.
Moreover, the absence of a comprehensive database of registered transporters, complete with detailed profiles and real-time tracking capacities has hampered law enforcement’s ability to monitor and respond to criminal activities. Furthermore, the lack of specialised security task forces to patrol vulnerable sections of our road networks has only emboldened the criminal syndicates who operate with impunity.
Mr. Speaker, I firmly believe that the time has come for us as the representatives of the people to take decisive action to address this pressing issue. I, therefore, propose that this august House urgently considers the following measures to safeguard the well-being of our citizens and the integrity of our transportation network:
For the registration of operators, both public and private, that mandates comprehensive background checks, vehicle inspections, and the implementation of robust security protocols. This will serve to weed out potentially dangerous elements and instill a culture of professionalism and accountability within the industry.
Introduce the relevant regulatory authorities such as the Transport and Infrastructural Development Commission, with the necessary resources and mandate to conduct regular, unannounced inspections of transport operators to ensure compliance with safety and security standards. This will create a deterrent effect and compel operators to adhere to the established norms.
Establish a centralised database of registered transporters, complete with detailed profiles and real-time tracking capabilities, to enhance law enforcement’s ability to monitor and respond to criminal activities. This measure will equip our security forces with the tools they need to apprehend and prosecute the perpetrators of these heinous crimes.
Introduce harsher penalties, including the revocation of operating licences for transport operators found to be complicit in or facilitating public-facing robberies. This will end with a clear message that such criminal behaviour will not be tolerated and will serve as a powerful deterrent.
Mr. Speaker, the time for action is now. By addressing the glaring gaps in the regulation of the transportation sector, we can restore a sense of safety and security for our citizens, safeguard the flow of essential goods, and send a clear message that such brazen criminal acts will not be tolerated. I thank you.
HON. BAJILA: Good afternoon Madam Speaker. Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to add my voice on this motion. I want to thank other Hon. Members who have contributed ahead of me, in particular, Hon. Mashonganyika and Hon. Chikwinya for bringing this motion before the House.
I seek to attend to the question that appears on the motion around the issue of financial assistance to ZUPCO, around the issue of a law enforcement agencies intensifying their work on making sure that our roads are user friendly. I also intend to attend to the issue of the revival of the National Railways of Zimbabwe.
Madam Speaker, in 2005 this House passed the ZUPCO Debt Assumption Act. The ZUPCO Debt Assumption Act was a law passed by this House to cause Government to assume a debt that ZUPCO was having with the Metropolitan Bank. In 2002, Madam Speaker, ZUPCO had taken ZWL 41 billion loan from the Metropolitan Bank and by 2005 it was clear that ZUPCO was incapable of clearing that debt. The ZUPCO Debt Assumption Act came to this House and was passed. At the time the Government took over that debt and payed US$12.5 million, to the Metropolitan Bank and various debtors that ZUPCO had.
The ZUPCO Debt Assumption Act further mandated ZUPCO as a parastatal and the Minister to improve numerous reforms in terms of how it is managed in terms of financial management and systems of operations. This is contained in the ZUPCO Debt Assumption Act which was passed by this House.
Madam Speaker, as of 10 May, 2024 media reports indicated that ZUPCO now has a debt again, which stands at US$28 million. This is at the back of its debt of UD$12.5 million being assumed by Government in 2005. I come Madam Speaker to say the system by which we are managing ZUPCO is clearly not functional. We are moving to a second ZUPCO debt assumption period. Unfortunately this time around it will not be easy for us to have these conversations around assuming the ZUPCO debt, because ZUPCO has now been included in the Mutapa Wealth Fund and there is little that the public can do with respect to entities that are part of that fund. All the same, we need now to find means of making sure that ZUPCO is viable, because despite the debt assumption of 20 years ago, the Debt Assumption Act, making recommendations on reforms that were going to prevent ZUPCO from being in debt again, ZUPCO is back in debt.
So this motion calls for financial assistance to both ZUPCO and transport operators. Madam Speaker, we have no option. We cannot subject our people completely to the private sector when it comes to the issue of public transport because people always need social safety and social security. We need to find means by which we can make ZUPCO work.
Madam Speaker, one of the ways will be through doing to ZUPCO what we did to ZBC. At some point we had one ZBC which was in charge of all radio stations, which was in charge of everything on air. One day we made a resolution that we are now going to move ZBC to be on its own as a parastatal running everything and we are creating ZBC Holdings. By creating ZBC Holdings we then managed to have Radio Zimbabwe being a standalone company with its own board, its own systems of operation. We had ZTV being a standalone company with its own systems and ways of operating and so forth and so on.
We could look at ZUPCO and try to move it this way before we consider the huge financial assistance that it needs because as it stands right now, for ZUPCO to be able to function we first need to clear the US$28 million debt that it already has. We can then start to make it function and it is not an easy thing that we can just speak about and pretend that it can be done by just pumping money and hoping that things will proceed normally.
Madam Speaker, the opportunity we have to take ZUPCO the ZBC direction is that ZUPCO is already a parastatal of the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works. It is not a parastatal of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development and we can look into other countries. We can look even into proposals that were done just before me by Hon. Tshuma. The proposal could be to say let us have ZUPCO as it exists now as a holding company and then we have Murehwa United Passenger Company that I know Hon. Zemura will be proud of. We can then have Gokwe United Passenger Company that I know Hon. Tshuma will be proud of. Then we have these companies run by local authorities, run at local level but still having the supervision and management of a ZUPCO Holdings at national level. By so doing, we will develop our own best practices here and be able to say this can work, this cannot work.
Madam Speaker, I come from Bulawayo. If you are using Masiyephambili Road, there is some place called Govheya. If you get to Govheya, you will feel that you are at a cemetery of buses. This is a fleet of ZUPCOs that we bought as a country. They came into our roads and within two or three years, all of them were parked at Govheya and they are still parked there today. They are of no use. We need to say as we think of recapitalising ZUPCO we must find other ways because the old ways we have done of saying ZUPCO is in debt, let us give them money, they buy new cars, those cars got defunct. Again, ZUPO has problems, we pump money. It has proven that it does not work and the ZUPCO Debt Assumption Act of 2005 is enough proof for this House to consider. Madam Speaker, I believe that if we do that we will be able at some point to resuscitate our public transport system.
Linked to that, Madam Speaker, is around the issue of what mode of transport do we have mainly in the country. Commuter omnibuses are part of our public transport system and I see that the motion also speaks to assistance for the private sector, but Madam Speaker, we need to ask ourselves where we are getting these commuter omnibuses from. Most of our commuter omnibuses are manufactured in Japan. Do Japanese use commuter omnibuses for their public transport system? No, they do not. They use buses be it is urban areas, small towns. Anywhere buses are the most popular means of transport and we need to be able to support the growth and development if we are to support the private sector of those who want to bring buses into our space.
Hon. Tshuma gave us an example that you can have one bus which can load half the people at Coppa Cabana at once. We can have one bus which can load a quarter of the people at Fourth Street, Simon Muzenda taxi rank at once. A bus can do the same, be it at Batanai in Gweru, Renkini in Bulawayo or Esigodini. We need to find means of supporting that buses be increased in our transport networks, be it the private or the public sector. That way even the congestion will be reduced but we cannot ban commuter omnibuses because one of the things that always jeopardises our system is operation by banning. All we need to do is to support the increase of buses in our system. If combis find means of fair and lawful competition with buses, so be it but if also they do not succeed and they decide to join the bus industry, that is okay but it will be wrong for us to continue operating by banning.
I move to the issue of the National Railways of Zimbabwe. I remember very well at the pre-budget seminar last year when Mr. Speaker besieged this House that we should give NRZ whatever amount they want so that NRZ be revived. I support that kind of idea because we need NRZ back and functional. I experienced the beauty of the railways some four years back when I had goods that were supposed to be moved from Harare to Bulawayo. A set of sofas, a bed and a wardrobe cost me USD21 on a train from Harare to Bulawayo.
Myself alone, getting into a bus travelling from Harare to Bulawayo was USD20. This shows us how railways can be useful to us and the need for us to be serious around reviving them. In order for us to revive the railways, we need to ask ourselves what happened on the railways to get where they are. Hon. Tshuma spoke to some of the issues. The growth of the haulage truck industry in our country created means by which huge loads could move into our roads fast from one destination to another. That way people began to reduce the use of the railway. When people began to reduce the use of the railway, it meant that NRZ did not have funds it could use to maintain the railway line and even maintain its fleet of trains. Eventually, we saw the collapse of the NRZ.
On the issue of roads, the roads such as Bulawayo/Victoria Falls Road cannot be fixed as long as we have not fixed NRZ. The reason being haulage trucks have taken loads that should have been on the railway and brought the load on the road. So, you might put a lot of money today and fix Bulawayo/Victoria Falls Road, but be rest assured that in two or so years, the haulage trucks will have finished that road again and you will have to go back to redo it. Fixing NRZ is also at the centre of fixing our roads because we need to reduce the load on our roads and take it to our railways.
One of the ways we can use to achieve this is to introduce what are called weigh bridges because when we teach our drivers when they go to VID to acquire their licences, the question of weight restrictions is always there, but we are not doing weight restrictions in Zimbabwe. If we are doing them, then we are not enforcing them. My proposal is that let us introduce weight restrictions enforcement in all our roads and say this is the total amount of weight.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon. Bajila, you are left with five minutes.
HON. BAJILA: Thank you Madam Speaker. When we are introducing weight restrictions, we say this is the total weight that can be carried on any vehicle on Bulawayo/Beitbridge Road. We introduce weigh bridges at every tollgate. Whenever a vehicle has to pass through a tollgate, there must be an automatic system of weighing it and say your weight is above use on this road and therefore, you are being fined on the spot before you even cross that tollgate. The fine has to be so prohibitive and the ticket should be null and void at the next tollgate.
For example, if you are fined on the tollgate from Bulawayo to Harare Road, when you get to Gweru, you should not say I have this receipt and I paid at the Norton tollgate, so I cannot pay here. No, you have to pay at every tollgate that you pass if you are overweight. When we do so, there will be reduction in weight on our roads and when we do so, some of the weights will go to the railway. We will have hit two birds with one stone.
We also need to go further and increase the fines of overweight on strategic roads of this country such as Plumtree/Mutare, Beitbridge/Chrundu and Beitbridge/Victoria Falls. We need to increase the fines for having overweight load on these roads. That way, I believe we will resuscitate NRZ, manage the lifespan of our roads better and that way, I believe that we will be able to bring back our ZUPCO. With those words Madam Speaker, I thank you.
HON. KAMBUZUMA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. MATEWU: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 26th June, 2024.
MOTION
PRESIDENTIAL SPEECH: DEBATE TO RESUME
Third Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on motion in reply to the Presidential Speech.
Question again proposed.
HON. KUDHLANDE: Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am. I want to thank you for affording me this opportunity to add my voice on the State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered on the 3rd of October, 2023 by President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, His, Excellency, Dr. E. D. Mnangagwa. It is my great honour and privilege to begin by congratulating our duly elected President, His Excellency the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, on his reelection. The people have spoken and they have chosen a leader who embodies their hopes and dreams. Your vision is a testament of the visionary work your administration has carried out that far. We stand ready, as Parliament, to contribute to another transformative term by His Excellency.
I stand before you today, humbled and honoured to have been elected as the representative of the people of Zimbabwe. I am deeply grateful for the trust they have placed in me and I pledge to serve my constituency and the country at large with integrity, dedication and commitment to the principles that bind us as a nation. It is truly an honour to be part of what will undoubtedly, be a landmark 10th Parliament under the able leadership of the President, E.D. Mnangagwa.
Our mandate as elected officials is to ensure the success of the national strategies already set in motion by our President. His results are already being felt on the ground by ordinary Zimbabweans.
Allow me to extend my humble thanks and gratitude to the President for providing the extension of the Parliamentary Women’s Quota. In the August 2023 elections for the National Assembly, we saw 637 successful male candidates while there were only 70 successful female candidates. More work remains for us to do before we can truly talk of gender equity in politics. We thank His Excellency for taking a leading role in this area.
Economically, as a Parliament, we will ensure that bold and transformative measures continue to be taken as we march along the road to vision 2030. The ultimate goal is an empowered and prosperous upper-middle income society. However, it is the interim that we will continue to strive for inclusive growth, delivered in a fair and transparent manner especially to the rural and female sections of our population. It is our duty to promote an enabling environment for new enterprise development while also encouraging employment and job creation in these historically marginalised areas. Again, we look to the example already set by our President, who in my home province has led from the front with development programmes such as the commissioning of the Allied Timbers Cashel Valley Saw Mill and the employment creation for the local community in the Chiadzwa area.
What is also notable is, His Excellency has led us to all these achievements while our nation has been under the burden of illegal sanctions. As Parliamentarians, we will continue to call for the unconditional removal of all illegal sanctions imposed in our nation. We will also continue to work tirelessly to ensure that these sanctions do not succeed in their agenda. As a movement and as the Government, our spirit has been renewed and our strength freshened. We continue the march as a unified and resolute nation as we look forward to the next five years of development, growth and prosperity for all Zimbabweans. I thank you.
HON. MATEWU: On a point of order Madam Speaker Ma’am. I think the motion as it was moved, was to debate the State of the Nation Address by His Excellency which was basically the legislative agenda of this House. I plead with you so that Hon. Members who are going to debate the Presidential Speech do so and let us know what pieces of legislation as proposed for this year so that we can get a feel of this speech.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Your point of order is over-ruled Hon. Matewu.
HON. NGWENYA: I rise to add my voice on the motion raised by Hon. Nguluvhe, seconded by Hon. Zhou and thank them for bringing this important motion for debate. I would like to congratulate His Excellency, the President of Zimbabwe, Dr. Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa for resoundingly winning the 2023 election in a free, fair and peaceful environment. Through this election, I would like also to congratulate Hon. Members in this House who were also elected. I will further congratulate the Hon. Speaker and his deputy who were also elected in this House. I would also like to thank the electorate who participated in their numbers in that particular election and voted willingly and freely.
His Excellency the President, in his SONA address, touched on very important issues. Amongst them, he touched the issue of providing 35 000 boreholes for all the villages in Zimbabwe. Those villages also include my constituency, that is Gokwe-Gumunyu, where I am also looking forward to having more boreholes drilled in that constituency as per the President’s mantra. I could tell from what the President promised Zimbabweans, that all boreholes will be drilled. So far, about 20 000 have been drilled in the country. For sure, the 15 000 that is remaining, I expect my constituency to receive in that particular area 15 000 that is remaining.
On the legislative agenda set by His Excellency the President, Cde. E. D Mnangagwa; it touched the growth of the mining sector from USD2.8 million in 2017 to the present USD12 billion. I stand here being a witness to the growth as I have artisanal miners in my constituency – Gokwe Gumunyu in places like Zenda, Mutukani and Kasonde Mine who have immensely benefited and are also selling their gold to gold centres dotted around the country.
This brings to mind the proposed Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill that I believe will go a long way in addressing all the anomalies and disputes over claims in this sector. I have witnessed some of them in my constituency, especially in Venda and Mutukani areas, where there are continuous disputes over these claims. I hope the bringing of the Mines and Mineral Amendment Bill to this Parliament will pave way for resolving those disputes amicably.
Madam Speaker Ma’am, still on the legislative agenda set by His Excellency the President, Dr. E. D. Mnangagwa, an agenda that resonates with our country’s Vision 2030. I would like to explore some of these laws other than the one on mines that I have already covered. I will also look at the Sugar Reproduction Amendment Bill which came at the right time. This is a very important household product that is also used for blending our petrol, thereby reducing its costs to the benefit of our people.
I would like to thank His Excellency, the President for this Bill being brought to this House and promoting the mass production of sugar cane and leading to the production of sugar in large quantities. Madam Speaker Ma’am, it was also encouraging that His Excellency, the President brought the amendment of the Parks and Wild Life Act. This, I believe, will deal with the issue of human and wild life conflict that is being witnessed in places like Tenda, Nyamasaka, Mashame and all other areas that have wild life. I have just mentioned a few that are in my constituency. This conflict has led to crops being destroyed by straying wild life especially elephants. I just hope that this amendment, which I believe will bring relief in these communities, will possibly compensate people who are affected by this conflict.
Finally, Madam Speaker Ma’am, I would like to also add my voice to the issue of devolution that was brought by His Excellency, Dr. E.D. Mnangagwa. This entails equitable distribution of our cake to all our provinces and it is most welcome. Notable achievements have been made throughout the country. For instance, in my constituency, there is Gunguwe Bridge that was constructed, completed and commissioned as well. The bridge actually links all four constituencies in Gokwe North. They link Chireya, Gumunyu and also Kabuyuni areas.
Other than that the President, also through devolution, schools were attended to. Others were repaired whilst others were built from scratch. I have schools in my constituency like Gumunyu High School that was repaired through devolution. I also have Budiriro Primary School – it a new state of the art school that was constructed in my constituency as well. I would like to thank His Excellency the President for promoting the livelihood of our people and children - [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] –
Madam Speaker Ma’am, I also believe that increased devolution funding will lead to repairing more roads, especially our rural roads. I have observed that through the work of His Excellency and his 2030 Vision, several roads are being constructed. Increasing the devolution share to provinces will lead to more roads, schools and even clinics being repaired or constructed. I have roads in my constituency that includes roads like Nembudziya to Peter’s Store that may benefit through devolution. I have others, Tafara-Gandaware Road, for instance, Nembudziya-Nyahungwe and Norah-Zenda via Mutukani – just to mention a few that need to be repaired so that people travel freely. It actually leads to cheap forms of transport whenever they are returning to their homes.
Madam Speaker Ma’am, I will not conclude without mentioning the delicate resource that is water. Dams are also being repaired countrywide and funding of devolution will lead to more dam construction and more scooping of dams to remove sand from those dams thereby leading to our people and animals benefiting. So I plead for this devolution fund to have increased funding so that our President’s, Hon. Dr. Mnangagwa’s Vision is realised. – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] –
In conclusion Madam Speaker Ma’am, let us all as a country rally behind His Excellency, Dr. E. D. Mnangagwa’s mantra ilizwe lakhiwa ngabanikazi balo, nyika inovakwa nevene vayo. By actually supporting our President through this mantra, our vision and the country’s vision from our President is achievable. I thank you. – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] –
HON. NGULUVHE: Good afternoon Madam Speaker. Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity. Madam Speaker Ma’am, Hon. Members of Parliament, as we conclude the debate on the State of the Nation Address delivered by His Excellency, President E. D. Mnangagwa on 3rd October, 2023, I rise with a profound sense of duty and responsibility to move a motion of gratitude, reflection and commitment on the issues and pledges articulated in the address.
Firstly, I extend my deepest appreciation to His Excellency for presenting a comprehensive vision of our nation’s current state and strategic future direction. The address underscored critical priorities that demand our collective effort and unweathering dedication.
I also want to thank the Hon. Speaker of Parliament, Adv. J. F. N. Mudenda, for his exemplary leadership and for providing the platform for this critical debate. Your guidance has ensured robust and productive discourse. My sincere thanks goes to all Hon. Members who participated in this debate. Your insights, perspectives and constructive criticisms are invaluable in shaping our legislative agenda.
The diversity of viewpoints presented reflects the democratic spirit of our Parliament and our commitment to serving the people of Zimbabwe. I also extend my gratitude to the ministers who responded to the issues raised in the State of the Nation Address debates.
Hon. Members rightly highlighted the importance of economic stability and growth. The President in his address outlined significant initiatives aimed at revitalising our economy, including bolstering our agricultural sector, promoting industrialisation and enhancing our mining capabilities. We must continue to support policies fostering economic diversification, job creation and sustainable development. Equally important is our mandate to ensure that the mines and minerals bills are gazetted and speed up their passage through the Parliamentary processes.
The President’s commitment to controlling inflation, promoting investment and stabilising our economy is crucial and the introduction of the new monetary policy including the ZiG currency is a step in the right direction.
The need for modern and reliable infrastructure was a recurring theme in our debate. The Government’s commitment to upgrading our roads is commendable. As such, developments are essential for facilitating trade, improving markets and enhancing the overall quality of life for our citizens. Additionally, the emphasis on expanding our energy infrastructure, including renewable energy projects, will ensure we meet the growing demands of our economy and mitigate the impacts of climate change. Our commitment to environmental stewardship today will secure a sustainable future for generations to come.
On that note, the much-anticipated Climate Change Bill which seeks to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and facilitate low-carbon development technologies should be thoroughly debated towards strengthening appropriate institutions and funding mechanisms. The Parks and Wildlife Amendment Bill which was highlighted in the SONA and already gazette will ensure better association between human and wild animals in communities.
Agriculture remains the backbone of our economy. On the initiatives to boost agricultural productivity, support small holder farmers and ensure food security are crucial, the President’s vision for self-sufficient Zimbabwe, with a surplus for export, is achievable with the right support and implementation strategies. Climate-smart agriculture and access to financing for farmers are areas that require continued focus.
I commend the dedication to social justice and inclusivity ensuring that no Zimbabwean is left behind. The gazetting of Persons with Disabilities Bill is a significant step towards this goal. We must continue to advocate for policies that promote equality and protect the rights of all citizens.
Lastly, Hon. Members debated on the need for greater youth and women empowerment as highlighted in the SONA. Our young people are the future of Zimbabwe and we must create opportunities for their growth and development. Similarly, empowering women economically and socially is not just a moral imperative, but also a catalyst for broader societal progress. We should continue to ensure that the National Youth Bill and the Small and Medium Enterprises Amendment Bill come to Parliament.
In conclusion, the State of National Address has set the stage for an ambitious and transformative agenda. It is incumbent upon us as Members of Parliament, to work collaboratively and diligently to translate these plans into tangible outcomes through our legislative agenda. Let us commit to putting the interest of our nation and our people first, fostering unity and driving forward the vision of a prosperous and resilient Zimbabwe.
I hereby move that this House adopt the motion.
Motion that:
May it please you, your Excellency the President: we, the Members of Parliament of Zimbabwe, desire to express our loyalty to Zimbabwe and beg leave to offer our respectful thanks for the speech, which you have been pleased to address to Parliament on the State of Nation Address debate, acknowledging the outlined priorities and pledging our collective effort to achieve the goals set forth, adopted.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON DEFENCE, HOME AFFAIRS, SECURITY, AND WAR VETERANS AFFAIRS ON THE PETITION FROM THE CHILDREN OF WAR VETERANS AND HEROES DEPENDENTS FORUM
Fourth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Petition from the Children of War Veterans and Heroes’ Dependents Forum on the Economic Empowerment for War Veterans and their Dependents.
Question again proposed.
*HON. MUDZINGWA: Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am for allowing me to add my voice to the motion that was moved by Hon. Nguluvhe and seconded by Hon. Kaitano.
Madam Speaker Ma’am, this is a painful issue, it is quite touching when I speak about it and I feel like shedding tears. So, I would like to add my voice to this motion regarding the children of war veterans who raised their plight in this august House.
Let me take you back a bit when independence came, it came after the sacrifices that were made by young boys and girls who lost their lives so that they would be independent. These cadres sacrificed their education, families and everything that was being done by their age mates at that particular time and went to war.
Madam Speaker, it was not easy out there. The war was not easy. There were no aunties, mothers and parents. All these things were contained within you as an individual. Independence came and brought liberation to us young girls. It was not easy for women to stand in front of people debating like what we are doing now. In the past, during the colonial era, no girl was allowed to do that, but because of war veterans, today we can stand in this august House as a result of the independence which was brought by those who sacrificed themselves.
In the past, ladies could not just come to Harare but the men would come to perform their jobs. There was need for requesting for permission to travel to Harare to stay with your husband if you were a wife. You would spend a week then they would make a follow up to make sure that you go back to the rural areas. It was not easy. Now, you find that along First Street, people are plying different trades but no one was allowed. This came as a result of the liberation which was brought about by war veterans. There are a lot of us here. In the past, this House was not this full, only a few representatives who were allowed but because of independence, we are here representing our constituencies. We debate in peace and we have our resources because of our liberators. There were a lot of complains from the children of war veterans. This might seem insignificant, but they brought their plight to our attention saying that our parents could not go to school.
They also wanted to speak big words, English words, but because of war and the sacrifices, some could not go to school and were not educated to their expectations. So their children raised their plight saying that they implore the august House to look into their plight, that indeed their parents are not educated but how about their children? They also desire to be educated. No one is paying school fees for them. The children of war veterans are being chased away from schools. Some are being told that they cannot register before paying their school fees. This is the request they brought to this House that their parents are not educated, so they request that they be assisted so that they get the education that their parents did not get.
Indeed, it is true. As I stand here, my child was chased away during my child’s final year and I negotiated, but I was told that if I do not pay, my child will not register for the final year. The child would repeat. I had to sell my livestock in order to pay for fees for my child. That is when my child registered for the final year.
Is this the right way that the sacrifice that was made by our war veterans should be sacrificed like that where you find war veterans begging? It is a humble request by war veterans that as a nation, we do not want to beg but war veterans should be remembered. War veterans should not be pleading but they should be remembered. It is not about education only, but even issues to do with farms. There are a few war veterans who benefited from the land redistribution scheme, but this is the reason why we left this country. Some of us were very young and we grew up during the liberation struggle so that we get our land, but is this what is supposed to be happening? We implore the Government, and we request that war veterans be compensated. This is the love they showed for their country, for their people. Let us love our war veterans.
There are a lot of issues. There is the issue of land. We spoke about schools; we spoke about that. In councils, there are 20% allocations of war veterans and they are saying they are not seeing that. So Government should indeed intervene so that war veterans get that allocation of 20%. It is my humble prayer that this august House should feel for war veterans and give war veterans enough love so that in everything they request, they desire, they should benefit.
I want to thank you Madam Speaker for giving me this opportunity. I thank you.
HON. MAPHOSA: Good afternoon Hon. Speaker and all the Hon. Members in the House. Thank you for affording me the time to debate on war veterans affairs. What is a war veteran? A war veteran is a person who served in the active military or air service and who was discharged or released there from under conditions other than dishonoured.
Madam Speaker, why are the war veterans important to us as a country? Our war veterans are critical to life as we know it today because they protect our freedom, provide us with a way to learn about our history and the world around us. War veterans risked their lives for people they never met during the time when they went for liberation war. Today, we are enjoying peace and freedom because of the sacrifice they did during the war, defending this country.
Madam Speaker, we have got types of war veterans. We have got disabled veterans, recently separated veterans, campaign badge, armed forces, medal services, chimbwidos and mujibhas as well. They are also part of war veterans because they played a role during the war by cooking and providing food to our war veterans.
Hon. Speaker, I also want to go to the characteristics of the war veterans. All true war veterans adhered to the same basic principles in their lifetime. The war veterans are committed. They should have integrity and are supposed to be accountable, loyal to the country and the people at large. They should be able to serve others before themselves. Hon. Speaker Ma’am, the war veterans understand the importance of these principles in building a strong team like what they used to do during the war. There is no one in war that is supposed to work alone.
They succeeded in winning the war because they worked as a team. What makes war veterans so special to us and the country as a whole is that they served to protect us as country as well as their loved ones. They have fought for the freedom of our country that we are enjoying today and forever. I say Zimbabwe today will never be a colony again. What are the rights of war veterans in Zimbabwe? The war veterans have got rights. They are entitled for pensions, access to best healthcare and have land like Hon. Mudzingwa has said.
Some of them have no land as of now, and yet that is their right. They went to war to go and fight for land. I am appealing to all those that give land to give war veterans so that they will realise the dream that they fought for. Furthermore, they have got the right to education through their kids. This is because they are old people now, hence their kids should go to school. Hon. Mudzingwa also mentioned that their kids are also being chased away from school, which is not proper. If we do not pay school fees for their kids, we are killing both our war veterans and history. Such benefits are prescribed.
In conclusion, war veterans should have identity. We need to see them without struggling. They should have badges and their names written on them, simple and a simple fight, we need to see all those things with our war veterans. We should also support them and aid whenever they die no matter their ranks or whether they are at home. They need to be remembered since they brought freedom to our country. We should not forget our war veterans and struggle to see if one is a war veteran or not. They have to have a badge wherever they are. Hon. Speaker Ma’am, thank you for giving me this time to air my voice about the war veterans, we should not struggle. Thank you so much.
*HON. MURWIRA: Good afternoon, Madam Speaker. I want to add my voice to the motion that was moved by Hon. Nguluvhe. I want to honour war veterans for their sacrifice so that all of us are independent. Even as we stand here from the right to the left, we are here because of the boys and girls who sacrificed their lives. I want to honour our war veterans. When we moved around the country, they said a lot of touching issues, some saying that you do not honour us.
When you go to Heroes Acre from the district province and national, there should be a change where we see that our war veterans are honoured. We see during the heroes’ celebrations; we will be seated in VIP tents and they will be out there. So, let us honour them because of their sacrifice, the respect they had when they came from the liberation struggle. I want to talk about the quarters in mining concessions and farms. This should not be on paper only but should transcend the boundaries that are there.
A lot spoke about their health and it really touched some of us and we shed tears. It is important that they get medical aid so that they would be treated for the different illnesses they have, some which came as result of the war. The Ministry of War Veterans should look into the issue where war veterans are also given farms. Their farms should not be taken away. This is indeed painful because these people suffered during the liberation war. It is important for our war veterans to have their welfare issues addressed. These are some of the issues that we should address.
Let us copy other countries. We are saying that the Ministry should look into this because when we interview them, they think that we are trying to test them. I am saying that even the projects in Government should benefit our war veterans. Some were given funds, some farms and some do not have equipment for their farms. I also want to talk about their salaries.
We heard about it and it is meagre. It cannot cover their needs like catering for their rentals, school fees and food. It is indeed painful. Their salary should be adjusted so that they can fend for their families. Their life should be addressed and His Excellency at one point addressed them. I appreciate that because he spoke about their welfare. Sometimes when you go to rural areas, war veterans say that you are not doing much about us. I thank you.
+HON. MAHLANGU: Thank you Hon. Speaker Ma’am. I would also like to add my voice to this debate that was brought by the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Defence, Home Affairs and Security Hon. Nguluvhe. I will just add a few points especially on the education of war veterans’ children. The children were requesting that this Parliament also takes care of them. We know that these children, when they are still at school, at times do not realise how important school is. For children of war veterans, they are said to continue with their education till they get to tertiary education without breaking. What happens in life is that at times they break but if they then want to resume schooling, they should be allowed to go back to school. As it is now, some of us are enjoying the benefits because we went to school. These children should be given a chance to go back to school.
There are difficulties that they face at times. As this august House, we must come up with resolutions that will also benefit all children despite the fact that they are not ministers’ children – every one should enjoy. When you select children for the quota system to come and represent them here, they also want to appear on the list – it should be strictly war veterans’ children who are on the list.
When it comes to mines because we are always talking about Zimbabwe being open for business, these war veterans’ children should not be harassed because we understand that at times when people are given these mines, these elderly people who are in positions harass them or even when they are given land for farming, they are harassed. It is difficult for them to get the land. These children must benefit because of the role that their parents played.
They should also benefit in hospitals. If they require to go and get medication outside the country, they should also benefit from that. This august House should also take care of these children. Their parents should be given proper burials and tombstones erected. These are people who brought freedom to this country. I thank you Madam Speaker.
*HON. KARENYI: I would like to thank Hon. Nguluvhe for bringing this motion to this House. This has enabled us as the august House to also debate and come up with views on how best the children of those liberation war heroes can be treated so as to alleviate their plight.
My heart bleeds for we have taken a long time to reach this stage. If it were possible, once all Members have agreed to this motion; we should expeditiously conclude this matter. Since 1980, there has been this gap and children have suffered. They have not benefited.
The majority of children of these war veterans maybe some of their parents are now deceased. There could be child headed families. This means there can not be any form of assistance that can be rendered to them. They are the ones that are prone to drug abuse because of lack of adequate materials. I am happy that this Committee brought up this motion and I am happy that everyone who is in this House would want us as the Government or august House, to see how best we can assist these children.
It is paramount for them that they get educational assistance. It is my considered view that if it was possible, where we used to have the Presidential Scholarship, these children who would have excelled in their education should be beneficiaries and should be given first preference so that they are able to continue with tertiary education.
The issue of medical treatment would require a funding specifically for these ones and not that they have a medical allowance. They should also have their own medical aid as individuals so that when they are sick, they can be attended to. This helps us to also review such issues that we will have discussed. In terms of provisions – they should also benefit when the youth quota is being considered during the allocation of mines. They should also receive a certain percentage as children of the war veterans. This means that once they have been empowered, they will be able to develop. If one is given a rod, one will be able to fish forever unlike one who has been given fish which one will consume and it ends there.
There is also the issue of land - we know that there are some people who know that we no longer have farms to assist such families. I have observed that in China; they do not use a huge hectarage for farming. They get their money from cash crops such as tomatoes and carrots and send them to the markets. It is my view that when the land audit takes place, those with numerous farms should be allocated a single farm and the rest be allocated to the children of the war veterans so that they may have their own land and be self-sustaining.
As I take my seat, I am of the view that this Parliament carries out a research to find out that it is not only the children of the war veterans, but we have old ladies whose children perished during the war. Some were lucky that their children returned from the liberation struggle; after they worked for a while, they would go back and give their parents goodies. There are those old ladies whose children perished during the liberation struggle. I am of the view that when you think about their welfare, we should also consider as Government, the welfare of these old women. They may not be many of these women who are still alive. So, this will then help them. These are the same grandparents who are now looking after these children, possibly we want them to receive monthly allowances. It will then show that the Government has a human face to those people that caused the liberation of this country.
It is my intention Madam Speaker, that as I speak, I recall we were in the Old Parliament Building when this issue was also discussed about the welfare of the war veterans and what should be done. It is now taking a lot of time before the matter is concluded. I urge this august House to move with speed so that we help those that did well by going to fight for our liberation and also remember their children and their mothers so that they can get something to sustain them.
This is a matter that is close to my heart; I have my grandmother, and my fathers are late. We had an uncle called Goliath, he died and she has always mourned the lack of compensation for the loss of her son who died during the liberation struggle as we think about this old woman and children who need assistance.
Thank you Madam Speaker for the opportunity. Thank you to Hon. Nguluvhe for bringing this motion. I thank you.
*THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Thank you Hon. Karenyi.
HON. DZIDZAI BATAU: Thank you Madam Speaker. Hon. Speaker, I rise to voice for the voiceless, the children of our brave war veterans. Their petition is a heartfelt cry for recognition and a plea for support and testament to the sacrifices made by their families.
Let us acknowledge the debt of gratitude we owe to those who fought and to address the needs of their families. Let us remember that the welfare of our war veterans and their children is not a debt but an obligation. I urge us to approach this debate with empathy, understanding and commitment to ensuring that those who have served our nation are not left behind.
Together, let us create a bright future for those who have given us so much. Let me just go through the following points Madam Speaker, the areas that I feel must be addressed;
- Education and Empowerment: - Let us provide scholarships, skills training and entrepreneurship opportunities to the children of war veterans enabling them to excel and break the cycle of poverty.
- Healthcare and Well-being: - Our living war veterans deserved access to quality health care, specialised treatment and elderly care. Acknowledging their sacrifices and dedication, we must acknowledge their sacrifices and dedication to our nation’s liberation.
- Recognition and commemoration: - We must honour our war veterans contributions through national recognition programmes, commemorative events and memorials, ensuring their legacy inspires future generations.
- Economic empowerment: - We must provide support for businesses and initiatives, fostering economic growth and job creation and recognising their role in building their nation.
- Housing and land: - We must ensure that war veterans and their families have access to decent housing and land, fulfilling the promises made to them and providing a sense of security and dignity. We must make sure that the land allocated to the war veterans is protected and transferred to their families after their passing on. This will provide a sense of security and perpetuating their legacy.
Let me conclude Madam Speaker, by saying, supporting this petition will demonstrate our gratitude, respect and commitment to the welfare of our war veterans and their families. Let us work together to address the challenges they face and honour the service they offered to our nation. So, I submit Madam Speaker. I thank you.
HON. J. TSHUMA: Thank you very much Madam Speaker. Good afternoon. I rise to add my voice to a very pertinent issue that was brought before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee chaired by Hon. Nguluvhe.
It is a very mind sobering piece of work that the children of our war veterans came up with. It should have never come to this point. We should have never allowed our children to end up coming to petition us over an issue that is so obvious, an issue that we ought to all have made sure that it is articulated, defended and that these people are taken care of.
Madam Speaker, we are speaking here of men and women, very brave indeed, who risked their lives and went out there into the bushes without medical aid or pay slips and sacrificed everything. Some of them did not come back at all – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.]- So, is it not supposed to be our time to repay them now to say you went out there and freed our land and made us independent, so now let us take care of you?
I have seen in family set-ups Madam Speaker, when you raise your child, take them through school and then they eventually get employed, they come back and look after you. They come back and make sure that you have got all the provisions that you need in your life. They will buy you a house, they can even buy you a car and if they are privileged, they will make sure they take you on holidays and they will make you live a very comfortable life. They will put you on their own policies in cases of death and they include you on their medical aid schemes in case of sickness.
Is it not time that Zimbabwe understood these very simple things and make sure that no war veteran shall be asked for money when they walk into a hospital? Are we not supposed to be saying, now every war veteran must be so much recognised so that even when they board public transport, we do not ask them to pay for the ride? They earned it!
Why are we sitting here as a Government and not thinking about all these sacrifices that the people made for us? We are in Parliament today because they sacrificed – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.]- During the Rhodesian era, there was no black person in Parliament. You would not be sitting there as Madam Speaker during the Rhodesian era but today, look at you – all so beautiful and honoured because of the war veterans – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.]-
It is very important, therefore, that when we speak of such issues, we do not only speak about them for the sake of speaking about them. Let us speak about them with a conviction of making sure that things are done. This issue was spoken about before and I was in the Eighth Parliament then, when people spoke about the war veterans’ affairs and to date, we are still speaking about the same thing. Look, our President with all the wisdom and everything, has even created a whole ministry for the war veterans. He has done his part. What are we doing as Parliament? - [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.]- He even went further in our revolutionary and colossal party, ZANU PF, to commission a whole wing of war veterans to make sure that their issues are well articulated and have all the structures up to senior level, that is, the politburo level.
The President will stand and say, let us do things for these people and make sure that they are well taken care of but iwe neni tirikuitei? - [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] - Look, recently the President attempted to show you that he has got the war veterans at heart. He has now even gone further to say okay, this issue of the ZIPRA cadres who had their properties confiscated way back in the 80s., the President said, let us set up a commission and have these properties given back to them for economic empowerment. Is that not a grand scene? What are we doing ourselves about these things, we start dilly-dallying, going behind each other’s backs, we start pulling each other down. That pull him/her down (PHD) syndrome must be done away with, it is one thing that is killing us as a nation.
You also find some people; I think they will be highly intoxicated by some drugs that are known, will now go out there and say chiidzoserai payanga rakasungirirwa tozoridzosera isusu. What kind of nonsense is that? Are they not aware that somebody’s blood remains down there? Somebody’s life was lost there for that same Zimbabwe to come here. We must criminalise such statements when someone says such a thing. Such a person is as good as a person who can easily kill. How can one say idzoserei payanga rakasungirirwa when somebody lost their life? When blood was spilled. It shows that some people do not use their brains to think, I do not know what they use. It is something that should be looked into Madam Speaker.
War Veterans deserve all due respect, they sacrificed already for this country. They have done their best for us. I can now walk in and drive my nice car, respected and honoured because somebody lost their life for that. It is something that we must always think about when we have all these beautiful things. Just think that there is somebody who did not come back from war.
I am glad Hon. Karenyi here brought up another interesting angle to this whole story. The angle of those mothers who had their children who went there and never came back and the mothers are not getting anything. Let us look into such kinds of scenarios and make sure that we correct them.
It is good to see that Hon. Members on the left now think reasonably and they came up with such wonderful suggestions and I say well done to that. This is what we call nation-building and progressive thinking.
As I wind up and conclude, I want to urge this House to make sure, especially the Portfolio Committee chaired by Hon. Nguluvhe, to make sure that they now sit on top of this issue and make sure we no longer talk about this again. We do not want to hear a child belonging to a war veteran has been kicked out of school. Let there be a law to make sure that it is enforceable.
There is a war veteran in Bulawayo who was so sick, they had put a catheter on him and he did not have money to go and change that catheter. He was now using a five-liter container, a war veteran! He was a commander of the ZIPRA forces and we sit here and we are okay with that. Something must be wrong in our heads. We should never enjoy so much that we forget the past. In all the things that we do, always think about the end.
I want to thank Hon. Nguluvhe and his Committee for receiving the petition from the children of war veterans. I now want to urge the Portfolio Committee to make sure that after we conclude this debate, let us not talk about it again in the Eleventh Parliament. Let us have steps taken, and laws put into place to make sure that these are implemented. The Ministry of Finance must release money timeously and make sure that the children’s school fees. All war veterans without medical aid must walk into any Government hospital and be treated for free then we will be people who know what they are doing. When we do that even the Lord Jesus himself shall bless this nation. I thank you.
HON. KAMBUZUMA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. NYANDORO: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 26th June, 2024.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
HON. KAMBUZUMA: I move that Orders of the Day Numbers 5 to 16 on today’s Order Paper be stood over until Order of the Day Number 17 has been disposed of.
HON. NYANDORO: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
CONGRATULATORY MESSAGE TO THE GOVERNMENT OF MOZAMBIQUE FOR ATTAINING FORTY-NINE YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE
HON. SHAMU: I move the motion standing in my name that:
RECALLING with great pride and appreciation that every 25th of June, since 1975, is forever embedded in our hearts as a milestone and a massive defining moment in the history of our comrades and brothers in arms in Mozambique and the region as a whole, as the country celebrates its most popular holiday which is affectionately referred to as the “‘Dia da Independência Nacional”
INSPIRED by the sacrifices, solidarity and unflinching support to our gallant ZANLA forces throughout our ferocious liberation struggle against the white minority rule in our country until final victory which ushered our own independence;
ACKNOWLEDGING that no other selfless and committed sacrifice surpasses the heroic exploits of our all-weather friends and brothers in Mozambique;
NOW THEREFORE this House conveys its warmest heartfelt congratulations to the Government of Mozambique and the entire nation as our brothers and sisters in Mozambique enjoy and celebrate their forty-nine years of independence from the shackles of colonialism.
HON. TIMBURA: I second.
HON. SHAMU: Today, the 25th of June is the 49th year of independence, which means 49 years ago the heroic people of the Republic of Mozambique finally achieved their independence from Portuguese colonialism.
Madam Speaker Ma’am, as we the people of Zimbabwe join the people of Mozambique in celebrating their independence which was born out of an arduous and bitter armed struggle from 1964 to 1975, we shall forever remain indebted to the people of the Republic of Mozambique for their enormous sacrifice towards their attainment of Zimbabwe’s independence in April 1980.
Madam Speaker, when His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe and Commander in Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces Dr. E.D Mnangagwa was the Vice President, he sent a message commemorating the 30th Anniversary of the death of the First President of the Republic of Mozambique Cde Samora Machel who died in a tragic plane crash with 35 other comrades in Mbuzini South Africa on 19th of October, 1986. Part of his message read, ‘The death of Samora, that revolutionary and visionary icon, profoundly affected Zimbabwe as it did Mozambique. During the Liberation war, Mozambique provided rear bases to our guerillas, most of who were based in the neighbouring country. Critical infrastructure like roads, bridges, schools and clinics were also sabotaged and destroyed by the Rhodesians in an attempt to destabilise and curtail Mozambique’s ability to support Zimbabwean guerilla effort.’
Madam Speaker, this quotation from his Excellency the President Cde Dr. Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa is a commemorative message which underscores the unwavering support of the people of Mozambique through their revolutionary party Frelimo and that they did not stop supporting us after Mozambique had achieved its independence in 1975.
In the book The Struggle for Zimbabwe written by David Martin and Curtis Johnson, it is stated that in mid July 1970, Frelimo allowed ZANLA guerillas led by the late Mayor Urimbo, the Commissar par excellence, to pass through Frelimo’s liberated zones of Tete Province bordering North Eastern Zimbabwe. As a strategy, Madam Speaker, that positively changed the course of Zimbabwe’s armed liberation struggle.
Madam Speaker, Frelimo won their independence in June 1975, but they did not stop. Zimbabwe’s armed struggle for liberation became Mozambique’s war. The people of Mozambique continued to fully support Chimurenga. The sacred blood of Zimbabwe’s brave freedom fighters became one with that of our Mozambican brothers and sisters.
Madam Speaker, when the late President Samora Machel visited Zimbabwe for the first time after independence in 1980, he stated very clearly that Mozambique would not be free until its neighbours were free. By supporting the struggle for the people of Zimbabwe, the revolutionary people of Mozambique were making the philosophy of Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of Ghana, who opined that the independence of Ghana was meaningless unless it was linked to the liberation of the whole of Africa, a reality.
In supporting the struggle for liberation of the people of Zimbabwe, Mozambique was playing its role Madam Speaker Ma’am, contributing to the noble cause of freeing Africa as a whole. I hope that the sacrifices, revolutionary solidarity and unflinching support that the people of Mozambique demonstrated in selflessly supporting the liberation struggle of the people of Zimbabwe shall continue to inspire us as a nation as we seek to control the commanding heights of Zimbabwe’s economy that now we are politically free. Therefore, we would like to achieve economic independence.
As this august House conveys through you, Madam Speaker, its warm and heartfelt congratulations to the Government and people of Mozambique as they celebrate their 49 years of independence, the best tribute we can pay to the people of Mozambique for their sacrifice for our freedom is through deepening and strengthening our national unity, consolidating our peace, condemning corruption in all its forms and ending the exploitation of men by men. We must be truly masters of our own destiny. Long live the Republic of Mozambique. I thank you Madam Speaker.
HON. TIMBURWA: Madam Speaker, today we gather not only as representative of our beloved Zimbabwe, but as brothers and sisters standing in solidarity with our neighbour Mozambique. As they celebrate their independence day, this day marks a significant chapter in Mozambique’s history. A testament to resilience, bravery and unwavering support.
Mozambique’s journey to independence was fraught with trials and sacrifice for this day June 25, 1975. Mozambique emerged victorious from clutches of colonialism proclaiming its sovereignty and affirming the dignity of its people. This victory was not just a political milestone, but a profound statement of self-determination, identity and resilience. There are lessons to be learnt, Madam Speaker, from the youths that participated in the liberation struggle of Mozambique. As we reflect on Mozambique’s struggle for freedom, it is crucial to draw lessons from the brave youths who played a pivotal role in this historic achievement.
The Mozambican youths of the day were able to bring independence in an era characterised by their courage and sacrifice. These young men and women were not deterred by the formidable mind of colonial powers. They laid down their lives behind their families and dreams driven by the visions of a free and independent Mozambique. They exercised a brave unity and solidarity. Despite diverse backgrounds, the youths united under a common cause. Their solidarity transcended ethnic, linguistic and regional differences, showcasing the power of unity in the face of operation.
Their resilience and determination was their path to independence. It was long and ordered the youth’s unyielding determination even in the face of immense diversity. It is a powerful reminder of the strength that comes from resilience and steadfast commitment to a just cause which was the emancipation of the nation of Mozambique.
We also want to acknowledge their solidarity with Zimbabwe. Their unwavering support as Mozambique was extended to us during our own struggle for independence. Mozambique was a sanctuary for many Zimbabwean freedom fighters, providing not only refugee but also logistical and moral support. The bond forged in the crucible of our liberation struggle stood the test of time, evolving in the lasting relationship and partnership between our two nations.
We, as the young people in Zimbabwe, need to embrace courage and be able to channel the same courage that was shown by the liberation struggle of Mozambique and those that stood for Zimbabwe demonstrated in the independence of both nations that the youths are the future of any country. We, as Zimbabwean young people, should also brace up in developing and building our nation like that which we saw in the independence of Mozambique.
We need to be fostering unity and collaboration as the strengthening of a nation lies in the unity of its people. As the youth, we must rise above division and collaborate towards common goals recognising that our diversity is our strength. The journey to national building is fraught with challenges. As youths we must embody resilience and perseverance as well as understanding that setbacks are temporary and can be overcome by determination and hard work.
Madam Speaker, as we celebrate the spirit of independence and solidarity, I call upon us, the youths of Zimbabwe to rise to the occasion and take action, be active in engaging community service, voluntary work and civic activity to contribute to the development of our nation Zimbabwe like we saw in Mozambique. We need to seek education and knowledge that empowers ourselves and skills that will enable us to contribute meaningfully to the nation’s progress. Knowledge is a powerful tool for transformation as we witnessed during the Independence of Mozambique.
We need to be ambassadors of peace within the region and ambassadors of unity that fosters dialogue and understanding amongst diverse communities. We need to work towards building harmonious and inclusive society as we learn from our neighbour and sister revolutionary country, Mozambique.
In conclusion, I call upon us as the young people of Zimbabwe, to be sturdy fast and firm defending our sovereignty and standing for that which is right for all Zimbabweans. The reason why we chose to celebrate Mozambique’s independence is because they were sisters in arms and sisters in revolution. For us as Zimbabwe to be able to talk about our independence, it is because they welcomed our liberation struggle, our forefathers and our army bearers to come into Zimbabwe with open hands. The same way they welcomed us is the same way we should continue fostering unity amongst our sister nations, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. I call upon young people in Zimbabwe to embrace connectivity and to embrace unity among our SADC nations so that we can forge a war that will lead us to economic emancipation of our block. Thank you.
*HON. MUDZINGWA: Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am. I did not know that I was going to get this opportunity to debate on the issue which was brought forward by Hon. Shamu on Mozambique’s freedom that they are celebrating their independence today. Let me start by thanking the parents of war veterans in Mozambique. The time when we used to fight for our liberation, we used to stay in Mozambique. The challenges that we faced also affected those people in Mozambique. When Zimbabwean soldiers were being bombed; the same was happening to those Mozambicans. It was to do with the love between the two countries. The trouble for Zimbabweans is the same as the challenges which were being faced by Mozambicans. Let us celebrate their independence together with them because they fought very much. They showed us love to an extent whereby if you were to hear your children being bombed today, were you going to tolerate that? If it was me, I was going to ask them to say we are tired of helping you. They stood firm up to the extend when Zimbabwe was liberated. I am here to thank the abundant love from Mozambique. Let us not leave them alone. Sometimes when they meet some challenges as a nation, we need to stand and support them. I submit.
HON. KAMBUZUMA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. BAJILA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 26th June, 2024.
On the motion of HON. KAMBUZUMA, seconded by HON. BAJILA, the House adjourned at Twenty-One Minutes past Five o’clock p.m.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Thursday, 20th June, 2024
The National Assembly met at a Quarter-past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE HON. SPEAKER in the Chair)
HON. ZEMURA: On a point of national interest. I have stood here many times talking about what we have been promised by the Eighth Parliament that we would get our stands so that we would build our accommodation. Unfortunately, those stands have not been given to us. The place is there…
THE HON. SPEAKER: Sorry, sorry. That is an administrative matter. The question of stands has been concluded very effectively by the Minister of Local Government and Public Works, Hon. Garwe. We are not forgotten – [Laughter.] –
Hon. Matewu, you had also requested to make a statement on issues of national interest.
HON. MATEWU: I rise on a point of national interest. In terms of Section 299 of the Constitution and I quote, “Parliament must monitor and oversee expenditure by the State on all Commissions and institutions and agencies of Government at every level”
(a) Revenues are accounted for
(b) All expenditure has been properly incurred
(c) Any limits and conditions on appropriations have been observed.
Mr. Speaker Sir, I rise today because the citizens are worried about what has been going on in the press where Moses Mpofu and Mike Chimombe were given a tender of US$87 million. They were advanced US$40 million for the supply of goats which most of them did not supply.
I implore you as the Speaker of Parliament to direct the Public Accounts Committee to launch an enquiry into this matter so that:
- The public is not shortchanged because the money came through the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
- That ZIMRA conducts a lifestyle audit of these two businessmen to ensure that the public are not being shortchanged and that they are paying their fair share of taxes to the fiscus and they are also paying value added tax to those deals that they must have been given. I thank you - [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] -
THE HON. SPEAKER: Thank very much Hon. Matewu. The English saying is, ‘do not close the stable when the horses have bolted’. I am sure you are aware of that saying. Your statement would have made sense and laudable if ZACC had not taken a step to investigate the issue on the same lines that you have just stated now. The investigation has started and if you have been following the press, the two suspects are out of the country as indicated by their lawyers. The lawyers are saying they will present themselves to ZACC and answer whatever queries are going to be raised by ZACC. So the horses have bolted unfortunately, thank you.
HON. MATEWU: On a point of order Mr. Speaker Sir.
THE HON. SPEAKER: On a point of order in terms of my ruling?
HON. MATEWU: Completely different angle.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Is it in terms of my ruling? Whether it is angle X to Y, unfortunately you cannot debate my ruling.
HON. MATEWU: I am not debating it. I am not asking for what I asked before. I only wanted to say the Public Accounts Committee must call the Ministry of Lands and Agriculture to come and explain ….
THE HON. SPEAKER: It is a good suggestion but unfortunately, you must observe the doctrine of separation of powers. If one arm of the State is seized with the matter, you cannot just come up also as the legislature and start on the same process. Allow the Executive through ZACC to proceed accordingly. If you are not satisfied thereafter, which I doubt because they have to report to this House their findings, there is a special report. Why do we not wait for the report and then debate accordingly? We cannot have the criss-crossing of the responsibilities between the Legislature and the Executive. I hope the gutter press understands that I have not gagged you. Thank you.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): I want to thank you Mr. Speaker Sir, for clearly articulating. I was hoping these are the issues that when Committees are being inducted, they must know that when certain things are happening, you cannot have a parallel process. It will jeopardise everything else. I believe that the same Committee, if they had picked this last year when they were doing their oversight role, then they would have recommended to ZACC to do the same. I am very pleased that you have clarified that so that everyone is very happy to know that they have to stick to their lane.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Including the gutter press who do not understand our Standing Orders and say that Hon. Gezi and Mudenda are gagging Members of Parliament, taking advantage of our majority in the House, which is not the case. We go by the Standing Orders, period.
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: Thank you Mr. Speaker for that clarity, it makes everything very clear.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): I move that Orders of the Day Numbers 1 to 3 be stood over until Order of the Day Number 4 has been disposed of.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
PRESIDENTIAL SPEECH: DEBATE ON ADDRESS
Fourth Order read: Adjourned debated on motion in reply to the Presidential Speech.
Question again proposed.
HON. MUTIMBANYOKA: Hon. Speaker Sir, I feel greatly honoured that you have afforded me this privilege and opportunity to make this Maiden Speech before this august House. For the record, my name is Hon. Kiven Mutimbanyoka and I recently earned the nomenclature Honourable after securing a special mandate from the great people of Harare East, to represent and articulate their concerns and issues in this Parliament.
My speech to this august House will encapsulate all the issues that were raised and fully articulated in an insightful and electrifying State of the Nation Address delivered on the 3rd of October 2023 by the Head of State and Government, His Excellency Cde. Dr. E.D. Mnangagwa.
Harare East, just like any other constituency in Zimbabwe, is seized with a lot of challenges ranging from, but not limited to water and sanitation, obsolete health care facilities, poor road network, inadequate and inaccessible education centres, poor service delivery, economic hardships such as hunger and unemployment, especially among the youth.
I was impressed and delighted when the Head of State spoke to these challenges, laying bare his pragmatic roadmap and unequivocal solutions to taming these social ills highlighted above. The State of the Nation Address (SONA) was heavily laden with dosages needed to get the ailing economy back to its feet.
The Government, under the stewardship of His Excellency, has introduced a new, stable and acceptable currency which is the bedrock of economic development and wealth creation. As Harare East, we welcome this positive development and would like to convey our profound gratitude and appreciation to the Head of State for spearheading such bold and strategic decisions. It is therefore our responsibility as representatives of the people, to encourage the use of our local currency and to inculcate a sense of pride and patriotism which are key ingredients in fostering confidence in our new currency. We must also come up with robust and progressive laws and policies to protect and insulate our currency from currency manipulators and all haters of people-centric policies.
I was happy to note that His Excellency pointed out the importance of affordable human settlements to all Zimbabweans. As Harare East, we are saddled with housing and accommodation challenges. We have a lot of inhuman and squalid settlements within the constituency, thus posing both a security threat and a health hazard to our people. We therefore plead that the Government avails spaces as soon as possible to curtail this challenge.
As a constituency, we are deeply concerned about the surge in drug and substance abuse, especially among the youths. The President, in the State of the Nation Address, spoke so emotionally about this issue and promised that measures would be put in place to tame this unfortunate scourge. I strongly feel that as Parliament, we are duty bound to revisit and review the laws on drug and substance abuse as some of our laws are now archaic and obsolete. We also need to come up with serious punitive laws to discourage would be offenders. We need to quickly set up rehabilitation centres to assist all those who have been affected and as fiduciary leaders, we must find ways to keep the youths busy by creating employment opportunities, crafting life enhancing programmes, projects and activities to keep them off the streets.
Mr. Speaker Sir, the President in the State of the Nation Address, advised and encouraged us on the importance of crafting good laws. He said, “This august House should ensure that the law is an instrument for development”, given this guidance, I would like to make a clarion call to my fellow law makers not to abrogate this constitutional responsibility. We are the agents of hope, we are the agents of national development, we are the agents for constitutionalism and above all, we are the agents of deepening democratic practices as guided by our quintessential leader His Excellency, Cde. Dr. E. D. Mnangagwa. Therefore, there is need for us to bury our political differences when proposing, crafting and enacting laws for prosperity.
Coming to the enactment of laws as a legislative agenda that was set by the President, my constituency will be following with keen interest the development and enactment of laws such as:-
The review of the Water Act and the Zimbabwe National Water Authority Act. Section 77 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe provides that every person has the right to safe, clean and potable water, thus the review of these two Acts will guarantee that all citizens are bestowed their sacrosanct and inviolable right to water.
The Telecommunications Amendment Bill is key given that it seeks to enhance and inspire communication efficiency. The Bill will also strengthen the existing mechanisms to fight all kinds of cyber frauds and any related crimes. The Bill will further inspire collaboration and bring flexibility to the workplaces. Additionally, the Bill will simplify the current licensing regime and open up space for other players to penetrate the ICT industry. More importantly, the Bill will save time by eliminating unnecessary face to face contact.
The Private Voluntary Organisation Bill seeks to regulate the operations of non-governmental organisations. The Bill will help curb money laundering and financing of terrorism and to ensure that Non-Governmental Organisations do not undertake political lobbying. The Bill will also seek to ensure the good internal administration and financial accountability of private voluntary organisations for the benefit of their stakeholders.
The Zimbabwe Construction Contractors Council Bill seeing that we have lots of undesirable settlements sprouting around, some with the effect of compromising and devaluing properties within the affluent suburb of Harare East, we need this Bill to regulate, regularise and bring sanity in the built environment which currently is in the free fall state. The Bill will enhance the provision of modern and affordable housing for all Zimbabweans.
The Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies Bill will be a game changer in Zimbabwe as the Bill will encourage our people to save collectively and make loans readily available to group members. The Bill will respond to and obliterate the difficulties being experienced by members of the SMEs in obtaining emergency loans, credit schemes, bank guarantees and any other financial instrument necessary to enable potential small scale and aspiring sole traders to access capital.
In conclusion Mr. Speaker Sir, allow me to express my profound gratitude to the Head of State and Government, His Excellency Cde. Dr. E. D. Mnangagwa for a well thought out, citizen-oriented and socially motivated State of the Nation Address. As Harare East, we pin our hopes on the Head of State to soldier on in steering the country in the right direction as guided by his address to the nation. We urge and pray for the President to continue unabated in accelerating our journey towards a peaceful, just and prosperous destination that all other progress-driven nations strive towards on daily basis.
Now, turning to my commitment and pledge to the people of Harare East Constituency. I would like to categorically state and promise that I will wholeheartedly serve their interests, aspirations and advance their concerns which are critically important to their well-being. I will, therefore, participate in the development and enactment of laws which will improve and enhance their livelihoods. Under my leadership, with the guidance of His Excellency the President, Harare East will never be the same again.
With these few remarks Mr. Speaker Sir, allow me to resume my seat. I thank you for giving me this opportunity, so I submit – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear] -
THE HON. SPEAKER: Although the Chair is not necessarily expected to comment on the quality of the debate. I must seek your indulgence and say the Hon. Member has set the bar very high by being analytical, by being very analytical in his submission and I hope others will follow suite – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] - Hon. Matiza! Hon. Matiza!
HON. MATIZA: I am here Hon. Speaker. Allow me…
THE HON. SPEAKER: You want to remind me as a teacher, when you call out a name – Present! Please proceed.
HON. MATIZA: Thank you so much for this opportunity. I really appreciate. We feel safe when you are around Sir, thank you so much – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections] -
Hon. Members of Parliament, I thank God for this opportunity to stand before you. Allow me Hon. Speaker to thank His Excellency, President of our great nation, Cde. Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, for giving us this opportunity to stand before the Parliament – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] - I know some of us are not good preachers of good things, but allow me again to thank the great and amazing work that the President of Zimbabwe is doing to transform our nation. As we see, the transformation in Beitbridge boarder is one of a class border post. One of the best airports – Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport; Zimbabwe Cyber City – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections] – the newly established cricket stadium in Victoria Falls, Somabhula fibre network – we really appreciate the works the President is doing. My cry Mr. Speaker Sir, we are not good preachers as most of the time we preach badly about our nation. It is my question, where is the preacher to preach the good news? Where is the preacher …?
HON. MATEWU: On a point of Order Mr. Speaker Sir.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Yes, what is the point of order?
HON. MATEWU: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. We ask that the Member sticks to the debate on the SONA and not to divert and start to say things, because we have other things to do on the Order Paper. – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections] - So, I ask that the Hon. Member sticks to the debate just like what the previous Member did, not what he is doing. Thank you.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Thank you. I give you Hon. Member Matewu the benefit of the doubt because sometimes some people see detours where there are not detours at all. So, the Hon. Member may continue with his debate.
HON. MATIZA: Thank you Hon. Speaker. My question is, where is the preacher to preach good news about our nation? Where is the preacher to spread good news about Zimbabwe? If we go to social media, the same people who are complaining here are the same people who are preaching bad news about our nation. We see other nations in the western world, after delivering their speeches, they speak good about their nation. It is our duty as Zimbabweans to preach good words, good works His Excellency is doing upon our nation.
I do not want to take much of your time, Hon Speaker, but I appreciate a lot - [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] -
THE HON. SPEAKER: Proceed Hon. Member.
HON. MATIZA: I am happy, thank you. Pachivanhu kunonzi ukaona demhe rinoita musindo wakanyanya harina zvinhu mukati. Hon Speaker, I really appreciate. I just want to thank the President for the SONA. It helps us a lot.
HON. MATEWU: On a point of order Mr. Speaker Sir. Firstly, the Hon. Member is mixing languages. Secondly, the Hon. Member is waffling. He is not saying anything. He is not debating the SONA. He is just waffling. Mr. Speaker, can you please direct the Hon. Member accordingly. Thank you.
HON. DHLIWAYO: Point of observation Hon. Speaker.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Order, I have not made a ruling. Yes, Hon. Matiza, in terms of our Standing Rules, you do not mix languages. You stick to one language as much as possible and also get into the kernel of the SONA address
HON. MATIZA: Thank you Hon. Speaker Sir. I appreciate, I am still learning. As you all know, I started to speak yesterday, so I am still learning. When I see you all, I see you as my teachers. You are going to correct me. The only thing I stood up to say is, I appreciate the opportunity and the works of our President, Cde. E. D. Mnangagwa. We appreciate. Thank you Hon. Speaker.
HON. CHAKUKURA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir, good afternoon. Mr. Speaker Sir, thank you for giving me the opportunity to add my voice on the SONA by the President, His Excellency Dr. E. D. Mnangagwa. As evidenced with the great works being done in the country by His Excellency, surely we cannot complain. Looking at where we came from and where we are headed, which is towards the vision 2030, indeed we can witness road and railway networks being improved.
The Committee on Transport and Infrastructural Development was present to witness the official opening of the Old Mazowe Road now known as Chairman Mao Boulevard and also the Lomagundi Road now known as Nemakonde, only to mention a few Mr. Speaker Sir. I am sure they can agree as to the beauty and smoothness that the roads carry Mr. Speaker Sir, that if you see anyone coming late, please allow me to stand by the door and jot their names because we cannot be coming late with such smooth roads.
Mr. Speaker Sir, allow me to say the roads are tsepete tsepete. With the road and rail networks being improved, the quality of social life improves as connectivity between communities and also movement of emergency services is improved. These well designed roads are reducing traffic congestion and facilitating the efficient movement of goods and services by supporting economic activities and trade, improving productivity in sectors that rely on transportation. As a child from Chipinge, I hope these road networks will extend to the improvement of the Mt. Selinda Road which connects to the Mozambican border.
Mr. Speaker Sir, His Excellency the President, promised us 35 000 boreholes in his SONA in which each village should have one and we can agree as to the solarised boreholes that we see in different villages as it is still work in progress. With these boreholes, comes a fenced one hectare of land which will allow fish ponds and drip irrigation for gardens which are open to the whole village. These are known as village business units. The village business units will improve nutrition and financial stability as parents will be able to pay for their children’s fees by selling their products and also reduce drug and substance abuse amongst the youths as they are kept busy. Men and women are also kept busy and this will reduce Gender-Based Violence and dependency.
Mr. Speaker Sir, technology has improved. As Vision 2030 carries the vision of a digital economy, we can all agree on the improvements of e-learning, e-medicine and e-business, only to mention a few and also the distribution of computers in various schools including the rural areas.
Mr. Speaker, we now have confidence in our domestic currency, the ZiG. Business units are running smoothly and are stable. It gives us a sense of pride to have a strong and stable currency backed by gold. Vocational and rehabilitation centres have been put in place for the youth of the country as the President is concerned about the youths as they are the leaders of tomorrow. If they use drugs and substances, they will not be able to focus on the future and the growth of our country. Drug and substance abuse is a serious issue. All those involved in that should be dealt with accordingly.
Mr. Speaker Sir, I will end with a quote that captures the idea that some people intentionally choose to overlook or remain ignorant of the good deeds and positive actions happening around them being done by our President, Dr. E. D. Mnangagwa. I hope we all see the good work and choose to move forward with him towards our Vision 2030 and also appreciate the things he mentioned in the SONA as he is a President of his words. The quote is from James Boldwin Mr. Speaker. It says, “There are none so blind as those who will not see. The most deluded people are those who choose to ignore what they already know”. I thank you.
*HON. KASHAMBE: Mr. Speaker, in the interest of the majority of Zimbabweans and the constituency that I represent, I am going to present my SONA in my language, Shona.
Firstly, I would like to congratulate the President of this country, Hon. President Mnangagwa and the Members of Parliament on winning the 2023 elections. I would also like to appreciate that the elections were peaceful and fair as was said by those who came to monitor. The President talked much about the various crops that are grown in Zimbabwe because farming is being done in Zimbabwe such that people are no longer suffer from hunger. Adding on to farming, our President constructed dams so as to cater for the climate change. Sometimes the rains do not come as expected and these dams will help the country to have enough food.
I would also like to thank the President for encouraging that wherever we are, we should continue doing farming and not come to urban areas looking for jobs. By so doing, he said that in every homestead, there should be a farm or garden which should bring economic stability in the homestead, for children’s fees and money for medication. This is what we call business units.
On that note, I would also like to thank Zimbabwe that for the past three years, we have seen that we are now experts in wheat production and every day, we have bread. We used to import but now we can get wheat locally. I would also like to talk about the mining of minerals in this country. We used to mine in small quantities but because of the support …
*THE HON. SPEAKER: Please stick to Shona, it is not “support” but kutsigira kwete ku supportwa. What is that?
*HON. KASHAMBE: The support that our young miners are getting, the ones we call artisanal or small-scale miners, are now earning more money.
I would like to also commend the devolution programme that came with the Second Republic, the distribution of minerals and money in Zimbabwe. The money is being distributed to every constituency in this country and we can see that no one and no place is being left behind.
On that score, the issue of roads has been spoken about and we are happy that the development of roads is being done by the citizens of this country. Our roads are now better compared to roads in other countries. The President has said nyika inovakwa nevene vayo.
Mr. Speaker, I think by this time we all now know that internet is mostly used and we would like to thank our President for choosing a young Minister of ICT in Anastacia Tatenda Mavetera. I also want to appreciate that where I come from in Seke, there are plans being made by the President and I am glad that they are reaching where I stay.
Let me finish off by saying the President showed that he wants the citizens of the country to live well and would like those who are in cities to have title deeds on their dwellings. This is currently on-going in places like Seke and Epworth. Our President is someone who listens to all citizens problems. With these few words, I thank you.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): I move that the debate do now adjourn.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Hon. Minister, you should have consulted the Chair. I had a tête-à-tête with the Chief Whip and I thought you were going to do some miracle this afternoon. What happened?
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: No, Mr. Speaker. I wanted to wind up but it is not yet ready.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Okay, we can proceed.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Tuesday, 25th June, 2024.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): I move that we revert to Order of the Day Number 1 on today’s Order Paper.
Motion put and agreed to.
SECOND READING
PRIVATE VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS AMENDMENT BILL [H. B. 2, 2024]
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI) on behalf of THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC SERVICE, LABOUR AND SOCIAL WELFARE (HON. J. MOYO): I rise on behalf of the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare to deliver his Second Reading Speech on the Private Voluntary Organisation Amendment Bill. The Bill before you today is a very necessary measure to improve the administration, accountability and transparency of charities in our country. The legal word for charity in our country is Private Voluntary Organisation. Under our law, every charity that uses money collected from the public or donated from a foreign Government or agency is required to be registered as a PVO in terms of the Private Voluntary Organisation Act, which Bill is before you and that is the Bill we seek to amend.
Let me say from the onset that our country benefits very much from the work of those PVOs which operate lawfully within our borders. PVOs provide support for communities in a wide range of areas where the national or local Government want for resources or expertise have been deficient for any reason. I am speaking of support and assistance in the form of programmes, projects, services, goods and money in such sectors as health and education provision, assistance to widows and orphans for the relief of poverty and hunger and empowerment of youth, women and the disabled.
We, as Government, are very grateful for the help given by the PVOs. The best PVOs have access to resources, experience and expertise solely needed by the people they benefit. Therefore, from the bottom of my heart and on behalf of the Government, I would like to applaud you for the great work you are doing. Accordingly, Mr. Speaker Sir, this Bill does not speak to those law abiding PVOs I have just mentioned, but to the few who may be tempted to use the guise of charity to carry out undesirable, harmful and criminal activities. For instance, when this Bill was first introduced, we had received communication from the Financial Action Taskforce which is the world’s police against money laundering that some charitable trusts are being misused as a means for channeling funds to fund terrorism and other criminal activities or to launder the proceeds of criminal activities by buying properties in Zimbabwe and other countries.
We are also, as the Government, aware that some so-called charities act in a politically partisan manner by directing money to favoured political parties or candidates at the expense of other political parties or candidates. Partisan assistance using foreign money or money collected from the public under the guise of charity must never be allowed to influence the outcome of national or local elections. In many developed countries, this kind of behaviour is understood to be harmful to the very idea of charity. In the United States for example, you cannot register any organisation as a non-profit organisation for tax purposes if that organisation campaigns or canvasses for any political candidate or party.
It is in this context that this Bill seeks to clean up the space within which the PVOs may operate. For some time now, the Government has noticed that some so called charities have completely bypassed the Private Voluntary Organisations Act by forming “trusts” sanctioned by the Registrar of Deed, Companies and Intellectual Property. This is a devise that is specifically permitted by the Act because originally, Government did not want to discourage families or individuals from forming family or private trusts to benefit family members or member of the public using their own wealth. It is still not our intention to impose registration on these kinds of private trusts. However, it appears that any trust is using for “charity purposes,” foreign money not generated by their own activities or investments, or using money collected from members of the public at large, then they must be required somehow to register as a PVO under the Private Voluntary Organisations Act. We want such trusts to be accountable in the eyes of the public on the sources of their funds and the use to which they are put.
Mr. Speaker Sir, it was realised that the procedures for registration under the Act need to be streamlined and expedited. This is why some of these charities have chosen the route of forming trusts sanctioned by the Registrar of Deeds, Companies and Intellectual Property. We cannot run the risk of charities of a public character being used as a cover for theft, embezzlement, tax evasion, money laundering or partisan political activity.
Mr. Speaker Sir, I will not at this stage, undertake a clause by clause analysis of this Bill. The Explanatory Memorandum to the Bill admirably suits that purpose, I encourage Hon. Members to read it carefully.
With those words, I urge Hon. Members to support this Bill which is intended to promote a better, safer and more conducive environment for the operation of PVOs in our country. I move that the Bill be now read a second time, Mr. Speaker. I thank you.
HON. MASHONGANYIKA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I want to present a report on the Joint Portfolio Committees on Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare and the Thematic Committee on Gender and Development on public consultations on the Private Voluntary Organisations Amendment Bill [H.B. 2, 20024].
INTRODUCTION
The Private Voluntary Organisations Amendment Bill [H.B. 2. 2024] was published in the Gazette on the 1st of March 2024. The Bill has four objectives. The first is to comply with the Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) recommendations, especially number 8 which targets the abuse of Private Voluntary Organisations (PVOs) for terrorist financing. This recommendation emphasises a risk-based approach, requiring governments to identify PVOs at risk and apply proportionate measures to mitigate these risks. The second objective is to streamline administrative procedures for PVOs to allow for their efficient regulation and registration. The third and fourth objectives are to provide measures to prevent and mitigate proliferation financing and to safeguard against the abuse of charitable giving for political or social undesirable ends respectively.
FATF is an inter-governmental organisation founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 countries and Zimbabwe is a member. FATF was established to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other threats to the integrity of the international financial system. Each member country is assessed periodically for compliance with the policies and legislation on money laundering and financing of terrorism. The main objectives of FATF include setting standards and promoting effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measure, assessing compliance by countries, identifying and analysing threats, promoting global adoption and implementation, maintaining a list of high-risk and non-cooperative jurisdictions supporting the implementation of financials providing training and technical assistance. These objectives help to protect the global financial system from misuse and promote transparency, integrity, and resilience in financial markets. Zimbabwe was placed under a monitoring programme in October 2018 by FATF in order to ensure the country aligns its laws on private voluntary organisations.
METHODOLOGY
In terms of Section 141 of the Constitution, which mandates Parliament to ensure public involvement in its legislative process and that interested parties are consulted about Bills, the Portfolio Committee on Public Service, Labour, and Social Welfare, and the Thematic Committee on Gender and Development conducted public consultations on the Bill from 12 to 17 May 2024. The Joint Committee was divided into two teams which undertook consultations at 10 different venues across the 10 provinces of Zimbabwe.
In addition, the Portfolio Committee on Public Service, Labour, and Social Welfare attended a workshop organised by Zim Institute in partnership with the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum. The workshop was also attended by representatives from Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) during which they presented their views on the Bill.
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
General Observations
Some members of the public supported the Bill, stating that PVOs needed to be regulated at a higher level since some of them abuse funds from donors for personal gain. It was highlighted that as long as PVOs operate in good faith, sticking to their mandate and transparency, they would never be adversely affected by the new amendments. In addition, it was noted that good supervision of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) was necessary to stop them from meddling in politics, particularly by supporting political parties. Some NGOs were accused of using the communities to source funds, but such funds were never used for the benefit of the communities. Furthermore, it was noted that some PVOs were diluting the local culture, resulting in moral decadence, hence the need for regulation. Finally, the Bill was applauded as it sought to curb terrorism, which had profoundly affected some countries socio-economically, including those on the continent.
- Some members of the public were of the view that the Bill, as currently drafted, imposes broad and restrictive measures that could undermine the operational effectiveness and independence of the Non-Profit Organisations sector since all civil society organisations need to be registered as PVOs. They stated that the Bill does not adequately differentiate between high-risk and low-risk Non-Profit Organisations. This lack of specificity could result in unnecessary restrictions on legitimate activities, ultimately harming the sector's ability to contribute to the social and economic development of the country, resulting in loss of employment and foreign currency earnings through taxes paid by NGOs and humanitarian assistance. Another reservation by the public on the Bill was that the Ministerial intervention and harsh penalties may lead to self-censorship and discourage NPOs from engaging in advocacy and human rights work. This could weaken the sector’s role in promoting social justice and holding the government accountable.
- The proposal was to retain the distinction between charitable trusts and other NGOs. It argued that having all PVOs regulated in one basket will create conflict with existing laws as registration processes and regulation mechanisms are different. It was proposed that trusts registered under the Deeds Registries Act and common law universitas should still be allowed to exist and operate within mandates and remain exempted from registration as PVOs. However, some applauded this approach, citing that the PVOs should abide by the law and operate within their core business and therefore, should be registered as PVOs. Lastly, there were some members of the public who rejected the Bill.
Highlights of Participants' Views
Clause 3
The overall concern by the CSOs was the removal of the PVO Board and replaced by the Registrar of PVOs who shall be the registration and regulatory authority of PVOs. They complained that all decision-making powers are placed in the hands of the Registrar and suggested limiting the Registrar’s powers to clearly defined administrative functions. They also called for involvement of a board to investigate issues before any ministerial intervention. Additionally, they recommended incorporating judicial oversight mechanisms to ensure that decisions to suspend or dissolve PVOs are subject to independent review. Another proposal was to maintain the PVO Board as opposed to having the Registrar and that the PVO Board’s composition should have more members appointed by CSOs.
Clause 4
It was proposed that the CSOs themselves, through a creation of self-regulating National Council of PVOs, should convene the PVO Forum instead of the Registrar and that the proposed council should be the one to adopt its own structure and by-laws.
In terms of time for compliance with registration processes, it was proposed that the transitional period should be extended to 12 months instead of 30 days just like the ones provided for in Section 303 (9) of the Companies Act. Thus, allowing enough time for PVOs to comply. CSOs opined that the 30-day registration deadline was too short and may result in disqualification of some already operating NGOs. CSOs also complained that the Bill does not provide time limits within which the Registrar must determine application for PVO registration.
Another concern by CSOs was that the Bill was not clear on the registration requirements and registration fees to be paid and proposed that these should be clearly stated in the Bill.
Furthermore, a call was made that criminal sanctions, which is level 12- and one-year imprisonment should be removed and replaced with fair penalty such as paying fines.
Clause 6
The CSOs argued that there was no need for PVOs to apply to amend the particulars of registration where there are material changes relating to the Constitution and ownership. The proposal was that PVOs should not be required to register more than once, and the meaning of material change should be changed to mean a change in the composition of the board of the organisation and the objectives of a PVO. CSOs feared victimisation by the Registrar citing that he/she can approve or reject application. CSOs cited that international good practice demands that associations are not required to obtain permissions from authorities before revising their internal management structures or rules.
Clause 7
The provision in the Bill that appeals from the decision of the Registrar goes to the Minister who may uphold the Registrar’s decision or refer the decision back to the Registrar, was considered as giving the Registrar too much powers instead of referring the appeals to the High Court as the highest level of authority. The CSOs complained that there was no right to appeal thereby ousting the jurisdiction of the courts and the right to fair hearing. CSOs also proposed the establishment of a grievance and complaints committee comprising of representatives from government and CSOs where PVOs can lodge their complaints and concerns.
Clause 8
The public supported the clause, emphasising the need for PVOs to disclose the source of their funding to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and that such funds should come in through the central bank for monitoring purposes. However, some CSOs called for the need to define illegitimate and immoral sources of donations.
Clause 9
Some CSOs complained that this clause gives the Minister unfettered power to interfere in the internal management of PVOs, resulting in a violation of freedom of assembly. Another submission was that Clause 9 does not oblige the Minister to engage a representative sample of PVOs in risk assessments, thus violating Recommendation 8 of FATF.
Clause 10
It was submitted that it is not clear what supporting or opposing a political party or candidates entails and proposed that the provision should specifically prohibit financing campaigns and partisan political support. It was further proposed that the criminal sanctions, that of level 12 or one year imprisonment should be limited to payment of fines.
Clause 12
It was pointed out that the introduction of civil penalties, including personal liability and fines in USD, presents challenges and proposed the inclusion of an appeal mechanism to ensure that these penalties are subject to judicial oversight, protecting against arbitrary or unfair enforcement.
Committee Observations
The following are the Committee’s observations:
There were mixed feelings with regards to the Bill. Some members of the public were supporting the Bill to be passed as it is, some rejected the Bill whilst some were calling for amendments to some sections.
- Some members of the public were not fully aware of some provisions in the Bill, resulting in general contributions not relevant to the Bill.
- There were fears from CSOs and some members of the public that the Minister might use the powers given on Clause 9 of the Bill to punish or close the PVOs perceived to be supporting political activities resulting in loss of employment and humanitarian support.
- The public also feared that some NGOs, especially those in the humanitarian sector might fail to register within the stipulated period of 30 days thereby risking deregistration in the current face of El Nino induced drought.
- Some members of the public and CSOs were of the opinion that the PVO Amendment Bill was coming to remove all NGOs in Zimbabwe. However, the Committee believes that Government was mindful of the supportive role played by PVOs in assisting the disadvantaged members of society such as persons with disabilities, women, youth, children and the elderly and will not arbitrarily use the law to close genuine PVOs.
- There was a concern by CSOs that there was no right to appeal thereby ousting the jurisdiction of the courts and the right to fair hearing in that appeals from the decision of the Registrar goes to the Minister who may uphold the Registrar’s decision or refer the decision back to the Registrar instead of referring the appeals to the High Court.
Recommendations
The Committee, therefore, recommends that:
- The timeframe for registration of the PVOs should be extended to at least nine months to allow proper vetting and submission of all necessary paperwork from the PVOs.
- In terms of dealing with appeals from the decisions of the Registrar, the High Court should be the highest authority instead of the Registrar, to allow the right to appeal and the right to a fair hearing.
- The Bill should define and specify the political activities that PVOs should not support.
On the issue raised by NGOs on fears of victimisation and closure of some PVOs, the Committee recommends some collaboration between the Government and NGOs. I so submit Madam Speaker.
HON. MUSHORIWA: Thank you Madam Speaker. I rise with a deep heart and regret at the reintroduction of the Private Voluntary Organisations Bill (PVO) before this august House. This Bill Madam Speaker, is actually bad for this country. You need to understand Madam Speaker that this is not the first time that this Bill has been brought to the august House. In the last Parliament, the Bill was brought and the President, in his wisdom, refused to sign this Bill to become law.
Madam Speaker, today we are in this august House, again to debate on this Bill. From a hygienic perspective, I know that the Hon. Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, being the Leader of Government Business, is within his right to come here to present a Bill on behalf of other ministers. It also speaks volumes Madam Speaker, that the relevant Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare does not have the guts to come to this august House to stand and present this Bill that has got a huge negative effect on this economy.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): On a point of Order Madam Speaker.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER (HON. TSITSI ZHOU): What is your point of order?
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: I want Hon. Mushoriwa to withdraw that the Minister does not have guts to come here solely because I presented it. Where rules permit, then you do not make an inference without full information why the Minister is not in the House. In fact, the Minister is not a coward, he is one of the best ministers that we have in terms of articulating issues – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear] - He was even dispatched by His Excellency to go and deal with foreign Governments in respect of this particular Bill. So, if the Hon. Member can withdraw that particular statement because it is not supported by any rule whatsoever.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Thank you Hon. Minister. Hon. Mushoriwa, can you please withdraw your statement?
HON. MUSHORIWA: Madam Speaker, I withdraw the word ‘guts’, that the Hon. Minister had no guts. What I wanted to emphasise Madam Speaker is that the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, even assuming that the Minister is away on Government business, the Deputy Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare who is also a minister, should also have had the courtesy to come before this august House or even if the Hon. Minister was to present, we would also expect the Deputy Minister to be in the House.
Be that as it may, Madam Speaker, I just want to tell you that Zimbabwe today, we declared a natural disaster and we are in a limbo as a country just like …
HON. ZIYAMBI: Sorry Madam Speaker, the Hon. Member cannot continue on the basis of assumptions. He must withdraw his assertion. Where the rules allow a minister to be present on behalf of another minister, which is also in the Constitution, the Hon. Member is terribly misinformed on the function of Government. Even if you go into the Constitution, Cabinet Ministers are individually and collectively responsible for their work.
So, where there is collective responsibility, we do not want people to cast aspersions on a particular minister when the responsibility is on the whole Government and he cannot continue in that line of argument which is not necessary. I thank you Hon. Speaker.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Mushoriwa, you are well aware that the Cabinet Ministers are given different assignments and the fact that they are not here means they are engaged in some other business. Please can you withdraw your statement?
HON. MUSHORIWA: Madam Speaker, I had actually withdrawn the statement.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Mushoriwa, you then went ahead and mentioned something that you also need to withdraw.
HON. MUSHORIWA: I think for the sake of progress Madam Speaker…
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Mushoriwa, order! Can we have order in the House? Just be honourable enough and withdraw.
HON. MUSHORIWA: I withdraw. Madam Speaker, I just want to emphasise that this year, as a country, we have actually extended a begging bowl so that we could be in a position to feed the nation. One of the things that you do not want to do is the timing of bringing such a Bill before this august House. We cannot, Madam Speaker, at a time when we are at our lowest, when we need to be assisted, we then bring such a Bill.
The Hon. Minister said that this Bill does not affect all the PVOs in general, but in life in general, perception is more powerful than reality. When you go through this Bill, Madam Speaker, you will realise that this Bill does not mean good for this country. Madam Speaker, this Bill has got three objections. Firstly, it says that it has to comply with the Financial Action Task Force. Secondly, it has to do the streamlining, the administrative issues and also to prevent the PVOs from undertaking political lobbying.
I wanted to point out to you, Madam Speaker that first and foremost, if you read this Bill in its entirety, you find that most of the provisions in this Bill, I am quite confident and sure that the Constitutional Court, if it is subjected, suppose we have to pass this Bill, most of these provisions will be found to be ultra vires the Constitution. In fact, Madam Speaker, you will find that some of the provisions that are contained in this Bill, in 1997, the Supreme Court made a ruling that said the same importation that have been brought into this Bill was found by the courts to be ultra vires the Constitution
I will explain to you, Madam Speaker, what this Bill wants to do. This Bill wants to give the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare and his officials the right to meddle in the affairs of PVOs and not only meddle, Madam Speaker but it is the manner, the methodology in which a systematic onslaught is being cooked up to deal with private voluntary organisations which in my view, cannot be allowed to happen in this country. You have a situation where the Ministers can literally suspend management of a PVO without any hearing, without even hearing the side of the story from the PVO. The Minister or his officials can literally do such a thing.
Madam Speaker, this cannot be allowed to happen in Zimbabwe and more-so when we want to move forward. You are aware Madam Speaker that recently, His Excellency President Chissano and the President of the AfDB, part of the things that they have actually raised is that we are in the high debt resolution and we want to make sure that we have got engagements with our international creditors pertaining to our debt and one of the key things that is crucial is that we should be seen as a country, to be making laws that do not send wrong signals but should actually make laws that speak to the developmental agenda which co-exist.
We need to make sure that what we speak on the right side also marries with what happens on the left side. If you look at the Government position paper on the Debt Resolution Conference and what is actually happening through this Bill, Madam Speaker, it is actually opposite. That Government policy inconsistency does not help to build a nation. If you then look, even if assuming for once that this Bill was meant to comply with the Financial Action Task Force but just go to the provision of the Financial Action Task Force, what does it say? It says that Government should actually work, cooperate with civic societies in making sure that they curb terrorist funding, money laundering and the other aspects, but what does this Bill do Madam Speaker? This Bill seeks to do the very opposite. This Bill wants to make sure that it attacks the foundation of the private voluntary organisations.
I want to state here that in terms of the benefit to this economy, the private voluntary organisations have done extreme work, even in terms of capacitation of its Members of Parliament in this august House, in terms of feeding our people, in terms of climate change and other areas. PVOs have done a superb job and what are we supposed to be doing? We are supposed to be aiding and making the process of them working easier so that they continue to do the proper job. Not only that, Madam Speaker, the PVOs in a country where formal unemployment levels are too high, have actually absorbed quite a huge workforce which has actually assisted generally in the welfare of our citizens, but here we are Madam Speaker. We now have this Bill before us.
Now, let us talk about streamlining administrative procedures. This Bill does not seek to streamline administrative procedures. In fact, this Bill will make it even extremely difficult for PVOs to operate. Let me just give you an example. This Bill gives the Minister without notice, powers to simply do some changes and this is contrary to the provisions of Section 68 of the Constitution which allows for due process. The other thing which is actually very dangerous to this Bill, the Bill gives the Minister a blank cheque, not only to cover the current PVOs, but it also gives the Minister to even bring other institutions that are not currently under the ambit of this Bill.
Madam Speaker, as the Parliament of Zimbabwe, we cannot allow a Bill like this to pass through this august House because it is tantamount to unzipping the powers of Parliament to make laws and such laws cannot be allowed to go. Then the third reason, we are told that they want to prevent PVOs from undertaking political lobbying. I think this one Madam Speaker, maybe could have probably been the real reason of this Bill, but if it was the real reason as I suspect and the Minister may disagree, then I want to tell you that it has actually been done in a wrong manner.
As a country, we have the Political Parties Finance Act and if anyone was to do anything which is contrary to the Political Parties Finance Act, then the Government has got a right to charge a person along that legislation which exists, but what does this Bill do? First, it contravenes the provisions of the Constitution in terms of freedom of association and it does not also describe how you describe political lobbying. If Mushoriwa is working for X PVO entity, but I have got my own inclination as a person who works for that organisation and it is allowed, the Constitution allows me to do so. It should not be criminalised because it is within the ambit of their right.
Understandably Madam Speaker, the Constitution under Section 86 allows certain limitations of freedom of association but the limitation should be reasonable, necessary and justifiable in a democratic society. I want to put to you Madam Speaker that the provisions that are contained in this Bill do not justify those limitations. Then you also want to look, Madam Speaker, even as an entity, a PVO, let us assume for instance there is an NGO that supports the preservation of wetlands as their key manifesto, I do not think it should be an issue that NGOs should be punished for such a thing.
Madam Speaker, I want to tell you that this Bill has got major ramifications if we were to pass it. I want to emphasise that even in terms of public hearings …
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Can we have order in the House.
HON. MUSHORIWA: I just wanted to emphasise something. I wanted to tell you that in the history of public hearings on Bills, we have never seen what we saw during the public hearings pertaining to the PVO Amendment Bill. The chaos that we witnessed, things that we saw on social media, the reports that we got even from the staff of Parliament and threats to their lives pertaining to this Bill, points to a position which I then say the Government should do, in my view, what the President did in the last Parliament.
This Bill should not see the light of the day. We should agree across the political divide to make sure that this Bill needs to be sent back to the Ministry of Public Service to reconsider and relook. I am aware Madam Speaker that civic society have also engaged the Government. I am glad the Hon. Minister of Justice attended one of the meetings that it was reported that he was part of them.
There is need and indeed, I will also be submitting several amendments to this Bill, we cannot allow this Bill to pass as is. This Bill will destroy this country, the livelihoods of several citizens of this country and this Bill does not in anyway threaten support of any political party. This Bill is not for Zimbabwe and because of that, I urge this august House to agree with me that this Bill should not pass through this Parliament. I thank you.
*HON. GANYIWA: Madam Speaker, let me add my voice on the importance of this Bill and I want to thank you on the opportunity to debate this Bill so that we move forward as a nation. Let me say that if you look at us all in this House and I want to say to the nation at large and in this House, that we are married people but what we cannot agree to is what I am about to say now that we could be married to people who were once other people’s fiancés. What happens after that is to see the ex-fiancé of your spouse continue to court your partner bringing gifts. No spouse wants that.
As a married person, I would get worried why an ex-fiancé wants to continue giving me gifts. I would query the intentions before accepting the gift because what I am seeing here is yes, it is true that we are married to someone’s ex but because I love my family, I guard jealously my home. We were once colonised and it is clear, most of the NGOs are coming from the colonisers, so we will ask what their ulterior motives are. What are they seeing in our nation? We are representing people in the constituencies and you will see some of the NGOs coming, pretending to want to help people but they have ulterior motives and want to be helped themselves.
I know there is technology and we should help each other. There are some who are lucky who have wives who also assist but I do not enjoy using the money that is brought by my wife before I know where she gets the money from because there is a danger. If one is enticed with a carrot, you find people destroying their homes because of things that are not within their reach. There are corrupt people out there. Those who want to help should come to the table and lay their views or challenges, not for people who want to help to cry to help people.
I once talked in this House that if I have a very beautiful wife but if I do no have any children, you can come and try to help us, but I do not want that person to take my wife. I will protect my wife. You can help me in all the other areas, but I will not allow anyone to take my wife to bed. I will flex my muscles.
Madam Speaker, kindly help us so that we can investigate and analyse this Bill so that we can protect our nation from people who have ulterior motives when it comes to aid and donations. When I read the Bible, the last verse which still lingers in my mind says ‘blessed is the hand that gives than the one that receives.’ As Zimbabwe, we also want to give and not to be given. We have a lot that we can give to them.
I am happy because the Bill refers to the Minister who is part of the Executive. He looks at how our nation is being run when it comes to our economy and culture. He is the one who knows how to protect his people. In the rural areas there, I came across some organisation which was helping people with food, but they were acting as ZIMSTAT because they were counting people. If Government does not have the powers to listen to what the people are saying, then they should act promptly. The Minister should be empowered so that he can stop people who want to breach our laws – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.]-
The Hon. Member who debated before me referred to politics where all funds are investigated and approved, but if dirty money is given to some people in the rural areas out there, how will they know that the money is dirty? There is a term that is used in English which says that “money has got a voice and it amplifies whatever a person can say”. A person who has money is more influential than a person who does not have money. They say that money amplifies voices of mankind. Money gives volume and value to what is said, even if it is valueless. If we are not very careful and let funds come into the country and be given to people by people whom we do not trust, we will destabilise our country.
The other day I was watching television where in some countries, people are not allowed to ask a person whether they have a husband or wife in public. It is not allowed, but those countries want to sneak those things here because they will ask whether you have a partner because what they are saying is that they are promoting homosexuality. Asking a person whether they have a wife or husband offends people. Now they want to bring that aspect in this country clandestinely. We do not subscribe to that.
Madam Speaker, I stood up because the previous Hon. Member’s debate was off the line. If we look at our culture, there are certain things that if they are talked about, they open a can of worms and threaten the way our people live. If there is a thing that is important, it is what the Minister has just read in this House. That is what is important because if we leave it as free for all, this country will not be governable. Any good democratic country should have laws and rules that protect its people. We should put a sieve so that we screen what is to be imbedded in our laws. This sieve is really needed so that we filter the coming in of things like these.
In conclusion, let me say that there are some people who want to debate on this motion, but let me say that those who want to help should not impose their aid to those that want assistance. I thank you.
HON. MALINGANISO: Thank you Madam Speaker, good afternoon. Madam Speaker, I am a keen reader of the Holy Book, the Bible. There is one such prophet who stands out in the Bible and it is Prophet Amos. A lot of commentators would christen him a prophet of doom. He was the first prophet to pronounce punishment on a chosen nation, Israel. He was in exile for three transgressions and for fall of Israel, I will not revoke the punishment. If you read the Book of Hosea, he is instructed to go and marry a woman of harlotry. I am seeking here to underscore that in his wisdom, the Lord gave a chosen nation a guiding manual. He gave a chosen nation a divine constitution. If you read Amos, you will realise that there were blessings upon deeds of obeisance and curses upon deeds of disobedient.
Madam Speaker Ma`am, it would appear that jurisdictions across the world have only mimicked the will of God. You cannot exist in a setting that is void of guiding statutes. We are a nation that has unique history, history of subjugation, a history of colonisation and for us to be here enjoying this peace, our forefathers had to bear the brunt of a protracted armed struggle for the sole purpose that as a sovereign nation, we do govern ourselves and as guided or as directed by the Constitution, this is not a Bill that has been imposed upon people. It is a Bill. It is not a Bill that was imposed upon people, it was a Bill that was crafted, a Bill Parliament took to the people to hear their views. The Portfolio Chairperson has just shared with us the findings from the people. It will be amiss if we seek in our collective or individually to try and discredit the voices of the masses.
Whenever there is a situation of domination and subordination between two groups, whatever their colour or religion, this will be reflected in their language. By language, I do not refer to a chosen way of speaking but I am talking of content that is within speeches. Madam Speaker, it is not time for us to continue to be surrogates. It is not time for us to continue to be available for the whims and caprices of the erstwhile colonisers; we must self-determine.
Madam Speaker, the Bill, in my view, is a good Bill, as I have alluded to. We are a sovereign nation that ought to be governed by its own laws and the rules cannot be changed to suit the whims and caprices of individuals or groups that seek to derail the progress we are seeking to author as a nation. Where I come from, and this I also heard as we moved around the nation doing public hearings that we have had NGOs that have had a system of coming and trying to assist – in Shona they say vanouya vakafuga matehwe ehwai idzo dziri mbada. Why do I say so Madam Speaker? NGOs would approach Government, they are cleared to hand out food stuffs but within their pockets, individuals would find papers and descriptions campaigning for certain political parties. It is therefore common cause that we have certain individuals that are discrediting the Bill because their parties are the ones whose inscriptions were found in those food stuffs.
If, as the over-amplified the notion of freedom of association must be respected, Madam Speaker, those that are seeking to partake in our politics must register political parties and not come out in the jackets of PVOs. In Shona, they say kuvhunduka chati kwatara hunge une katurikwa. – [HON. MUSHORIWA: Inaudible interjection.] -Why would one who has good intentions be afraid of being regulated? It is a question that we must ask ourselves before we rise…
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Mushoriwa, you are the Chief Whip from my left side and hence you are supposed to act like one. It is not proper for you to start shouting or else everyone on my left side will start shouting, so please behave like a Chief Whip. Hon. Member, please continue.
HON. MALINGANISO: Madam Speaker, it is true that we are in the midst of an El Nino induced drought and there is a likelihood of hunger. Where I come from, Government has just distributed food, three months worth of food. Yesterday, the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare said in this House that those in towns that are hungry are allowed to request cash for food, that is our state of preparedness. Even so Madam Speaker, the fact that we have hunger must not be a cause for failure to enact our own laws. Hon. Ganyiwa said, as a proud father, he governs his home. In Shona, hatirase mbereko nekufirwa. The over-amplified FATF recommendations that I have heard a certain Hon. Member saying, does not direct Zimbabwe to do what it is about to do. I think it has been misconstrued Madam Speaker, that we do have terrorism in Zimbabwe and this must not stop us from arriving at a place of enacting laws to deter such.
Why do I say so Madam Speaker? We have just discovered oil, we have just discovered gas, and these minerals have been known to be a cause of sponsored uprising for that matter and in the recent history, we have Nigeria where there is ISIS. If we do not have such laws, organisations that are seemingly conventional might be abused for the purpose of sponsoring instability and in our case, for purposes of regime change as always has been the case.
What made me stand and speak is a point that was raised by a certain Hon. Member that Government must cooperate with PVOs. In my respectful view Madam Speaker, the reverse is true. It is PVOs that must cooperate with Government. Why do I say so Madam Speaker Ma`am? A visitor cannot arrive and begin to change rules. When a visitor arrives in Rome, they should do what the Romans do. If you are a PVO coming to Zimbabwe, you must do what Zimbabweans direct. These are laws that are not being enacted unilaterally. As I have alluded to, we have had public hearings and what stood out that I thought would have been talked about is the fact that indeed, there were disturbances; sponsored disturbances by those hell bent on discrediting the Bill. Chinua Achebe said “there is not a night so long it does not end with dawn.” This Bill must be embraced. - [AN HON. MEMBER: Inaudible interjection.] -
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order Hon Tsvangirai. We are in Parliament and you know we are not supposed to shout. Please withdraw your statement.
HON. TSVANGIRAI: I did not say anything.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: As I am sitting here, I can see all of you. Please can you withdraw?
HON. TSVANGIRAI: With all due respect, I did not say anything.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order, Hon. Tsvangirai, I have requested you to withdraw what you have said. Can you please leave the House. - [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] - Order Hon Members, who is saying that from my right. Order, can we have order in the House. Who is saying that from my right? Can we please respect this House from both sides?
HON. MALINGANISO: Madam Speaker, I was stressing the point that we have had disturbances from sponsored individuals that sought to derail progress but indeed the long night of abuse of PVOs is coming to an end and it must come to an end. The people in their numbers came and they spoke, the majority in support of the Bill. The few progressive individuals that had issues have actually submitted recommendations and suggested amendments. Democracy is a game of numbers and people in their numbers have spoken in support of the Bill. So it is not for this House to disrespect democracy and arrive at a place of going against what the people have submitted. The Bill must be supported. I so submit Madam Speaker.
HON. MATEWU: Thank you Madam Speaker. Allow me to debate this very important Amendment Bill. I want to first start by talking about the role of this Parliament as stipulated and codified in Section 117 of the Constitution. The nature and extent of legislative authority Section 117 (1) (b) says that “the legislative authority confers on the legislature, the power to make laws for the peace, order and good governance of Zimbabwe. This is a very important clause in the Constitution because it says our role as Parliament is to make laws for the good governance, order and peace in this country. One cannot underestimate the role that is played by non-governmental organisations. I want you to underline the word non-governmental organisations, which basically means that they are not government organisations which fall under Section 119 of the Constitution. This Bill takes us backwards and I am reminded in History of the night of the long knives in Germany. This is what I equate this Bill to - where we are today. It is worth noting that our GDP and the money that is conferred to various Government ministries and agencies is not enough to support the work that is done in this country. We will not go far…
HON. MUGWADI: On a point of order Madam Speaker. When speaking in Parliament, it is my humble submission that Hon. Members must articulate their views with precision to ensure that there is no confusion or catch-22 situations that arises out of statements recklessly thrown in the air. May the Hon. Member -[HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] -
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order, order, order. I will not be able to hear his point if you are shouting.
HON. MUGWADI: The Hon. Member has referred to the night of long knives. If we have read history from the same book, the night of the long knives was an operation carried out by former Germany Chancellor, Adolf Hitler to kill, slaughter and murder Nazi opponents. That is what the night of the long knives is clearly about. He has made reference in debating a PVO Bill and equating it to the night of long knives. May the Hon. Member, for the sake of myself and other Members, in particular myself, explain how this Bill is supposed to be a night of the long knives. Who is supposed to be murdered, maimed or tortured in this Bill? Maybe in the process a fresh can of worms may be clearly opened. I so submit Madam Speaker.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Matewu, for the benefit of everyone, you might need to clarify.
HON. MATEWU: Madam Speaker, the rules clearly state that I am allowed to debate. I am not raising a point of order or a point of national interest. I am debating and when you debate, you give the context. Let me remind my Hon. Friend, Hon. Mugwadi…
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Matewu, it is important that you continue to address the Chair and not Hon. Mugwadi. I am saying it in a way that you might need to allow the House to be on the same page with you.
HON. MATEWU: Thank you Madam Speaker. In English, there is a saying that says, ‘ignorance is bliss’. Madam Speaker, the night of the long knives is not just the Germany incident as was mentioned by the Hon. Member from Buhera West. It was actually an impetuous also in the Parliament in the House of Commons in England. There is what is also called, the night of the long knives. So, it is not my problem, it is not my concern that the Hon. Member does not know that incident. I so submit. I will continue Madam Speaker – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear] - My point of reference…
THE TEMPORAR SPEAKER: Order Hon. Matewu. What is your point of Order Hon. Minister?
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Madam Speaker, let me thank Hon. Mugwadi. The purpose for debate is to allow me to respond. I am in the same predicament, I do not even know what the night of the long knives in England was all about. So, if he can explain and relate to the Bill so that I will be able to respond to the second reading speech. I so submit – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.]-
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Matewu, it is important that we follow your debate. It is also important if you explain so that we are able to be on the same page with you as the Hon. Minister indicated. He will need to respond. So, please, we want to understand exactly what you are talking about. Thank you.
HON. CHIGUMBU: On a point of order Madam Speaker!
HON. MADZIVANYIKA: On a point of order Madam Speaker!
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order, Hon. Matewu. What is your point of order Hon. Madzivanyika?
HON. MADZIVANYIKA: Thank you Madam Speaker. I think Madam Speaker, it is important to understand that Parliamentarians are people who are supposed to be learned to the extent that we do not expect you to ask for definitions – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] - If you do not know, you go and research. The purpose of debate Madam Speaker …
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order, Order! It is very, very – you can take your seat Hon. Madzivanyika, when I say Order, you take your seat.
It is also very important for all Hon. Members to really understand and follow a debate. Where one does not understand, it is allowed for one to ask exactly what is being meant. This is a very important debate that is going on and we need to understand. Hon. Matewu, please continue.
HON. MATEWU: Thank you Madam Speaker.
HON. CHIGUMBU: On a point of Order Madam Speaker.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order Hon. Matewu. What is your point of Order?
HON. CHIGUMBU: Madam Speaker, this is a session to debate not to lecture. When Hon. Mugwadi rose, he did not look for …
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order, Order!
HON. CHIGUMBU: Allow me to finish Hon. Madam Speaker.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order, Order!
HON. CHIGUMBU: Can you allow me to finish so that …
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Can you take your seat? You are all aware that we have an Hon. Minister who is representing the Minister of Public Service, Labour, and Social Welfare. This debate is very important for that particular Ministry. It is allowed for the Hon. Minister to get clarity from a Member on the floor. So, can you allow Hon. Matewu to explain? Thank you.
HON. MATEWU: Thank you Madam Speaker. My role as Member of Parliament in debate is not to clarify anything - that is for the Hon. Minister to go and research and clarify … - [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] – However, for the sake of progress, I will explain in Oxford English, when we talk about ‘the night of long knives’, it is an expression to say that things have gone really bad. That is the context of what the night of long knives means. I thank you.
My point, Madam Speaker was that, let us first take a look at Parliament itself. How many workshops in this august House are actually funded by the non-governmental organisations?
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order, Hon. Matewu.
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: Madam Speaker, the Hon. Member, if he does not want his views to be responded to, then it is futile for him to continue. We must agree on that. If he wants to speak to himself so that the whole world can understand he knows Oxford dictionary, then that is fine.
The rules of this House are that when you debate the second reading speech, the Minister must respond. When I seek clarity to link the night of the long knives with the Bill, he must – but when he indicates that, it shows that things have gone bad. What has gone bad? He must be able to link that not to come here to speak – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] - to show us that he has been in England for a long time and he knows English better than all of us – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] – We are not proud to be English people, but he must articulate what it means, what he means by saying that things have gone bad in relation to the Bill so that we can respond as the Executive. I submit.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order, order! Before you come in Hon. Mugwadi, Hon. Members to my left, it looks like some of you need to understand and some of you really feel that we need to be on the same line. The Hon. Minister is indicating that Hon. Matewu explains so that he can also respond and as yet, he has not gotten the response. Maybe it is because you are not explaining it fully. Can you walk the Hon. Minister through what happened on the night of the long knives?
HON. MATEWU: Madam Speaker, I said it is an expression – it is an expression and I am detailing…
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order, order! I have not given you the floor. – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] – Order, order! Clerk, may you approach the Chair? Order, order! Can we have order in the House? Hon. Matewu, may I request you to debate in a manner that is understood and avoid making innuendoes that will disturb the smooth flow of business in the House?
HON. MATEWU: Noted Madam Speaker. Let me get into my debate. So, Madam Speaker, I was saying the non-governmental organisations play a pivotal role in this country, not least this Parliament, not least the workshops that these Members of Parliament go to that are partly funded by these non-governmental organisations.
They are important and intrinsic to our work as Members of Parliament. How many non-governmental organisations are helping people and helping in food distribution? There is a lot that can be said Madam Speaker. I would want to say to the Hon. Minister, part of the reasons why they want to sail this Bill was that they wanted to curb money laundering. I want to ask and I am sure he will respond in his speech. Is there any evidence of money laundering by any NGOs ever and also, is there any money laundering that has been done and has been investigated by the Finance Intelligence Unit in the RBZ and more-so from ZACC with prosecution and a conviction? That is very important Madam Speaker because when you make laws, you are making laws to ensure that you achieve something, but if you are not going to achieve anything by a draconian law, then Madam Speaker, that is not acceptable. This Bill, in my view, violates human rights, freedom of association, peaceful assembly and association, which is sacrosanct in the Constitution.
Freedom of association, Madam Speaker, is important as NGOs will now be compelled to register as PVOs that may be actually denied registration and they will not be able to continue their operations. This will actually apply to current NGOs, them being asked to re-register now with the Registrar and maybe denied. That includes those who have already been operating as trusts and also common law inveritas. The Bill also Madam Speaker, gives powers to the Minister and Registrar, thereby interfering with the independence of NGOs. Why is this important Madam Speaker, because they are NGOs, which means they should not be treated like statutory bodies like the Zimbabwe Media Commission, the Human Rights Commission where the Minister and someone else have executive oversight over them. So, this will be contrary to the reason why we have NGOs in this country.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Matewu, you are left with five minutes – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] - Can we have order in the House and allow Hon. Matewu to be heard in silence.
HON. MATEWU: Madam Speaker, the Registrar may also terminate contract of employment for NGO employees, which is ludicrous. How does a Registrar go into a private NGO and terminate employment contracts of them? This is unheard of, Madam Speaker Ma’am. The Bill also introduces civil and criminal penalties which can be imposed on the board members that will discourage the rightful people, the philanthropists from actually associating with any NGO as they fear the law can be used against them.
Madam Speaker, we need to have a holistic approach and look at this Bill. If it is being amended, we need to know Madam Speaker, the actual reasons. If the reasons are that political parties can be funded, have been funded or allegations of funding, then there must be an investigation into those allegations, not to bring an overarching law that will disenfranchise the poor who are benefiting from the NGOs.
Madam Speaker, the qualifications of the Registrar should be stipulated because the Registrar turns from being an administrator to an executive function, because if they have the power to suspend any member or NGO, then their role actually becomes executive and not administrative as it should be with the name Registrar.
So Madam Speaker, let us make laws in this country for good governance and for peace like what the Constitution says. Never should we make laws that have an overarching impact on the operations of this country. Madam Speaker, it is worth noting that billions and I mean billions of dollars, have been funded to, for example if you look at the Ministry of Health and Child Care, it gets millions and millions in foreign currency from NGOs. We are talking about NGOs that are there, that are actually helping us. If you look at those NGOs that deal with HIV and so forth, that actually donate drugs to various health ailments, all those come through the NGOs.
It is inconceivable therefore Madam Speaker, that we put stringent laws that will make it difficult for NGOs to operate.
[Time Limit]
HON. MUSHORIWA: I move that his time be extended, Madam Speaker.
HON. MADZIVANYIKA: I second Madam Speaker. –
AN HON. MEMBER: I object.
Motion put and negatived.
HON. MATEWU: It has been seconded Hon. Speaker.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Matewu, it has been negatived.
HON. MATEWU: Madam Speaker, let us stick to the laws of this House honestly, otherwise there is no point of us coming here to debate. Let us stick to the rule book. Why should this be draconian? Where is that law?
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order Hon. Matewu!
+HON. ROSE MPOFU: Thank you Madam Speaker. I would like to thank you for giving me this opportunity to debate this Bill that talks about NGOs. I strongly support the issue of looking into this Bill because we really need, as Members of Parliament, to put serious considerations on issues brought about by this Bill.
There is no husband who will allow a visitor to come to their home and rule. Madam Speaker, any NGO that would want to come and operate in this country needs to be looked into. I think it is better that even if there is hunger in this country, which has always been there especially when we do not get enough rains, our Government has never failed to feed its population. Despite this hunger challenge, we are seeing developmental projects going on and the President has always been in the forefront saying our county is built by its owners, by its people. Therefore, as a country, we have our laws just like every other country. Even though they are non-governmental organisations, they need to stick to the country’s law. Looking at all of us here, we are all Zimbabweans. Therefore, we need to look into the other issues that might be coming with non-governmental organisations because Jesus was crucified by people that he trusted. Right now, we have our ZiG and looking at the way it is gaining, it may even end up being better than United States dollars. We need to seriously look into this Bill and ensure that NGOs that want to operate into this country are clearly looked into to see if their operations have been looked into seriously.
Let us clearly looking into their roles because if we do not do that, we will let the enemies come into our country. When you get home with 10 children and you give them money, you will have already captured these children. Therefore, I feel this Bill needs to pass early. Those who do not want to have their operations clearly looked into, then let them stop operating from this country.
Madam Speaker Ma’am, with these few words, I feel that l have aired my views regarding this Bill. Non-governmental organisation are helpful but some of their help is not honest. Most of it comes during election time. So if it is like that, we will not allow such. We will not let thieves to come and destroy us. I would rather go hungry than to sell my country. Those who went for outreach programmes saw what I am talking about. Those who want to assist us need to come fairly and use the proper channels.
*HON. MAPIKI: I think I should go back to history because we cannot talk about NGOs without the history. These NGOs did not start today which some people are defending, they started long back. When we started the struggle fighting Cecil John Rhodes, that was the birth of NGOs. They started during the British South African Company, during the battle. There was the Rhodes Foundation. It was set up so that it would topple the black Governments. Even in Asia, some parties are there. From the British Southern African Company, there was the Cecil John Rhodes foundation. There was Anglo-Ndebele war. When we were fighting the Whites during the struggle, Anglos were really defending the interest of the British. When the Anglo war was set, they congregated after the war in Africa. They realised that when using the guns; because the children in Africa now wanted their things, they came up with other foundations. These are British foundations. They also sat down and chose Obasanjo to lead. His main job was to recruit young people who would accept anyone.
In Uganda, they took Bobi Wine; here in Zimbabwe they took Chamisa and in Zambia they took Hichilema. We want you to see how these stories developed so that when we talk about these issues, we will not waste our time…
HON. MUSHORIWA: On a point of order. When a Member debates, let them debate the Bill for the benefit of the Hon. Minister for his response. We cannot allow the Hon. Member to just go on, which will not benefit the Hon. Minister.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Mushoriwa, I think you have had your time to debate and allow Hon. Mapiki to debate at this point in time.
*HON. MAPIKI: Thank you Madam Speaker for protecting me. When we talk about issues to do with NGOs in this Bill, people should know the history so that when we come to where we are now, we would have protected our country. The people that we are talking about such as Obasanjo, are the ones who are leading the British Open House. Obasanjo was the leader in Nigeria and if you see his works, you find that the Britons will intervene because we have not seen any NGOs coming from Russia or China but they come from the West, the countries that colonised us. So their main aim is to topple the African Governments.
This Bill which has been brought in by the Minister should be supported because we have to protect and fence our nation or property. It can be wires or gardens or anything so we should fence our things. I remember these organisations during the 2023 elections, there was an organisation which gave one of the oppositions US$5 million to use in their politics. Why was the $5 million not given to children of Zimbabwe? We should look closely at issues like that when talking about the wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Hon. Ganyiwa referred to people who have ulterior motives. If you see your wife receiving gifts from the neighbour, it means there is something. All those who are arguing and supporting detractors of Zimbabwe, I do not know their standing. Many organisations, when you see oppositions making noise, it is because they are being given money …
*HON. G. K. HLATHSWAYO: On a point of order Madam Speaker. My point of order is that we would want to know those who are given money.
*THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Hlatshwayo, you want to know those who are being referred to by Hon. Mapiki. Hon. Mapiki, please speak about things that you know and have authority.
*HON. DHLIWAYO: I just wanted to say that we do not know the names so they can approach Hon. Mapiki privately.
*HON. MAPIKI: That is what we are referring to Hon. Speaker because this thing is not coming out well. People are being given money and we cannot name people who are not present here but if I was allowed, I could point them out.
Let me go further and articulate what is at hand. There is a proliferation of NGOs from the time that we discovered oil and gas in Muzarabani. That is when they started flocking into the country. There is an author by the name Ngugi wa Thiongo from Kenya who said that what these whites do is that they steal 20 bags of maize from your homestead and when you are crying, they take two bags from the 20 and give it to you pretending as if they have helped you. These donors are offering workshops for Members of Parliament so that we go and sell our country through workshops. If it is like that, then it is not proper.
When we went to war, Parliaments were there, but they did not protect us. We should put laws that support and protect us. I want to support the Bill which is being proposed by the Minister. There was the war of liberation, but now we are faced with the war of economic emancipation. Minister, we will support you. His Excellency, the President once said that the voice of the people is the voice of God. Many as we are, let us support this Bill. We cannot stop some people from crying about the introduction of this Bill, but let us carry on. Aluta continua!
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON Z. ZIYAMBI): I move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Tuesday, 25th June 2024.
On the motion of THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI), the House adjourned at Ten Minutes past Five o’clock p.m. until Tuesday 25th June 2024.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Wednesday, 19th June, 2024
The National Assembly met at a Quarter-past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE HON. SPEAKER in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE HON. SPEAKER
INVITATION TO A HALF-DAY WORKSHOP
THE HON. SPEAKER: I have to inform the House that all Hon. Members are invited to a Half Day Workshop jointly organised by Parliament and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Thursday, 20th June, 2024 starting from 0900 hours sharp in the Multi-Purpose Hall. UNICEF and ZIMSTATs will jointly present the provincial and district census data and profiles to all the Members.
HON. ZEMURA: On a point of privilege Mr. Speaker Sir…
THE HON. SPEAKER: I beg your pardon.
HON. ZEMURA: I said point of privilege…
THE HON. SPEAKER: Point of privilege today on a Wednesday?
HON. ZEMURA: Yes, please.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Of national interest?
HON. ZEMURA: Of national interest.
THE HON. SPEAKER: But you know that Hon. Member, we do not entertain those on Wednesdays.
HON. ZEMURA: So, no privilege today?
THE HON. SPEAKER: Yes, this was your decision in terms of the Standing Orders.
HON. MUTSEYAMI: On a point of order. You did not favour the House with regards to Cabinet Ministers who are not in the House in terms of apologies.
THE HON. SPEAKER: I was not favoured with the list. As you can see, they are bringing it now.
HON. MUTSEYAMI: All the same Hon. Speaker, before you even favour us with the apologies, there is need to take note that if you look at the bench, most of the Ministers are not here. It is now more like a cast in stone….
THE HON. SPEAKER: You are opening a debate now. That is no longer a point of order. You have requested me to read the apologies, so I am complying.
APOLOGIES RECEIVED FROM MINISTERS
THE HON. SPEAKER : The Hon. Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, Prof. M. Ncube; Hon. Dr. Mombeshora, Minister of Health and Child Care; Hon. O.C.Z. Muchinguri-Kashiri, Minister of Defence; Hon. M. Mutsvangwa, Minister of Women’s Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development; Hon. Garwe, I thought I saw him here – Minister of Local Government and Public Works, I was advised that he was proceeding to Victoria Falls, but he indicated that he will attend to question time here. Hon. B. Rwodzi, Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry; Hon. T. Mnangagwa, Deputy Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry; Hon. Dr. Masuka, Minister of Lands; Hon. V. Haritatos, Deputy Minister of Lands; Hon. Prof. Murwira, Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education; Hon. S. Sibanda, Deputy Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education; Hon. Mupamhanga Jnr, Deputy Minister of Youth Empowerment, Development and Vocational Training; Hon. Jesaya, Deputy Minister of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture; Hon. Sanyatwe, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage; Hon. D. Phuti, Deputy Minister of Information, Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services; Hon. Kambamura, Deputy Minister of Mines; Hon. A. Gata, Deputy Minister of Primary and Secondary Education; Hon. R. Modi, Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce and Hon. Y. Simbanegavi, Deputy Minister of Energy and Power Development.
I want to assure you Hon. Mutseyami and the House that I have written to His Excellency the President indicating the rosters of Hon. Ministers who appear to be constantly absent in the House, contrary to Section 107 (2) of the Constitution. I want to believe that His Excellency the President will take the necessary action accordingly.
ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
HON. KANGAUSARU: My question goes to the Minister of Finance. How does the Minister’s Public Finance Management System ensure timely and transparent disbursement of funds to local authorities and service providers operating in the rural areas, especially in Hurungwe?
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF FINANCE, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT PROMOTION (HON. D. K. MNANGAGWA): Thank you Mr. Speaker and thank you Hon. Member who asks about the PFMS which is our integrated system that ensures payment requests are submitted and disbursements alike. We are having some challenges. The system is going through upgrades to make sure that it caters for the whole of Government.
Historically and in the past few months, it has been working efficiently for the non-NDS and the rest has been manual. As we speak, the necessary upgrades and tweaks are being done, so there will be more efficiency. I would like to think that in the next few weeks or months, you will see a more streamlined payment system, especially at local authority level, both municipal and the rural ones.
HON. KANGAUSARU: Thank you for the answer Deputy Minister…
THE HON. SPEAKER: Order Hon. Member, you address the Hon. Ministers as the Hon. Minister. That is the in-House Standing Order.
HON. KANGAUSARU: Thank you Hon. Speaker. Thank you Mr. Hon. Deputy – [Laughter.] –
THE HON. SPEAKER: Ko Mr. akubva kupi futi?
HON. KANGAUSARU: Thank you Hon. Minister for the answer – Mr. Hon. – [Laughter.] - Mr. Speaker Sir, can I bring it again. Thank you very much for the answer Hon. Deputy Minister. What measures are there in place to address the delays and the leakages?
THE HON. SPEAKER: Hon. Minister, if you can respond on the question of delays.
HON. D. K. MNGANGAWA: I think it is a variation of the same question which will be presumption that there are specific delays other than the general delays from the system not working efficiently. I will reiterate that there are system upgrades to make it more automated as opposed to some of the manual processes that we have to go through. We will see within the next weeks and months, more automated processes for all our ministries, departments and agencies through the PFMS.
HON. MADZIVANYIKA: My supplementary question to the Hon. Minister of Finance is, are there no opportunities for embezzlement of the national purse during this time when we are using the manual system, especially when disbursing money to local authorities? Is there any option to feed into the system once the system is up?
THE HON. SPEAKER: I do not know what the Minister will say but when you feed the system, it means you are activating it to be more proficient. I will leave that to the Hon. Minister to respond
HON. D. K. MNGANGAWA: While there are delays, this does not mean payments are not happening. There is processing in place which might not be desirable at the present moment but this is being worked on from the technical point of view to make sure that our IT and ICT systems are working efficiently.
HON. KARIMATSENGA-NYAMUPINGA: My question is directed to the Minister of Transport who is the Leader of the House today, Hon. Mhona. What is Government policy on public transport for persons with disability, especially those who are physically disabled?
THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA): I would like to thank the Hon. Member for this pertinent question which is very emotional, where we have witnessed some of our persons with disabilities struggling to navigate and move especially when boarding public transport.
It is quite befitting that I apprise this august House that we are advocating for those who are importing buses to make sure that when they import buses, they also import buses with the provision of accommodating people with disability. We are doing this through the Ministry of Transport but you have seen that quite a number of public service vehicles that we have do not conform to that requirement. We will continue through moral suasion that we have such vehicles plying our roads. We will continue having that regard in terms of making sure public transport is available and is in tandem with those who have challenges, whether they are disabled or not, in a position to board normally like any reasonable person.
The humble plea to this august House is to come up with very effective pieces of legislation that if you then say you can not continue importing and if it comes again from this august House, we are there to implement with speed but above all, as a Ministry, we will continue with our engagement, working closely with other ministries as a whole of Government approach.
HON. KARIMATSENGA-NYAMUPINGA: Hon. Speaker, I have heard of late that when you purchase a vehicle and want to register it, you cannot register without a radio licence. So, why is the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development not taking this same initiative to say if your bus does not conform to the regulations and rules that accommodate persons with disabilities, then it cannot be registered? Remember in this country, the President has this mantra that no one should be left behind, where are we as a Ministry? Yes, they were advocating, we thank them but we have not heard that noise about persons with disabilities’ transport.
Hon. Speaker, persons with disabilities are being lifted into buses. As a woman, I lose my dignity when I am carried onto the bus with my dress flying all over. Let us give dignity to persons with disabilities, I think the Hon. Minister should even give us more on this issue.
HON. MHONA: Once again, thank you, Hon. Speaker. As I indicated, it is an emotional debate that will also affect everyone even those who are seated in this august House. Since time immemorial, we have witnessed persons with disabilities facing such challenges and as I alluded to earlier, yes, we need to move as a country because at times we are not conforming to the dictates of accommodating persons with disabilities. So as a whole of Government, as I indicated, we should look at the public transportation system which falls under the purview of - if we are talking of cities, Local Government.
We are reasoning together as Ministries to mitigate these challenges that we are facing in the transportation of people with disabilities. I agree with the Hon. Member that yes, we need to move with speed so that we present and uphold the sanctity and dignity of citizens, especially those who have disabilities. I thank you.
*HON. MUCHEMWA: I want to ask what measures are in place for the disabled to be exempted from paying for public transport? Persons living with disabilities are being asked to pay a fare even for their wheelchairs in public transport. What measures are you putting in place to protect persons living with disabilities from paying for public transport?
*HON. MHONA: Thank you Hon. Speaker Sir. I thank you Hon. Muchemwa as well. I would like to inform the august House that the Department of Ministry of Finance, in conjunction with ZIMRA, allows disabled persons to import vehicles on rebate. Many of them have complied with that provision and imported their vehicles. This arrangement allows the disabled to get their cars for use.
In liaising with other Ministers, we will look into that because sometimes the disabled use pirate transport. We will look into that and ensure that they are exempted from paying fares. I will talk to the relevant Ministry concerning that matter. I thank you.
HON. MUTSEYAMI: Is it on record that the Government, as of now, does not have legislation that addresses people living with disabilities with regards to having transport that is both affordable and usable?
HON. MHONA: Thank you, Hon. Speaker Sir. Let me also thank Hon. Prosper Mutseyami for that very important question. When it comes to legislation, as the Executive, we are there to enforce. I would also pose the same question again to the august House. If there is that lacuna, why are we not putting up legislation to make sure that we have such?
However, to answer Hon. Mutseyami as he has asked, the policy is very clear that no one and no place must be left behind. This is the policy of the Government, whether we are talking of persons with disabilities or we are talking of other service provisions, we must provide transport. Constitutionally, it is the mandate of the Government to make sure that we provide adequate resources that we have so that people, whenever they are boarding our buses, whether it is private or public vehicles, are accommodated.
In cases of those owning their vehicles, I indicated that we have a policy that will enable persons with disabilities to also import their vehicles using rebates. However, I would also want to make sure that at the end of the day, if there is a gap, we can work closely with the Executive and the Legislature to try to fill the gap. I thank you.
*HON. MARIKANO: Good afternoon Mr. Speaker Sir. My question is directed to the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development. What measures have been put in place by the Government in conjunction with what is happening at the Railways of Zimbabwe in terms of maintenance?
Our trains should be able to convey passengers and transport goods as well.
*THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA): Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. Yes goods used to be transported through the railway line, now it is no longer there. However, right now, because of the Vision of His Excellency the President, we have friends and other countries helping to revamp the railway system. Of late, we have had accidents at railway crossings because people thought the railway lines were no longer functional
Yes, our infrastructure was poor and dilapidated, but I would like to tell this Parliament and the country at large that our railway line is still very intact. Our tracks are being used, however, 10% of our tracks need attention and we are working on straightening those tracks. There is a bank that we are engaging with that has promised to avail us the resources so that we can have new engines.
It will take time of course, but it is our wish as Government to revamp our tracks. We will also start with a passenger train from Harare to Bulawayo. We are working on Chitungwiza – Harare tracks in liaison with the CMED. In a short time, we will be working on this track to enable residents of Chitungwiza to come to town by train. The service will also be extended to Norton and Ruwa. I thank you Hon. Speaker.
HON. MANDIWANZIRA: Thank you very much Mr. Speaker, I just want to thank the Hon. Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development for the articulation of the work that the Government is doing to resuscitate, revive and repair some of the parts of our railways that are not working.
If we consider the fact that we are hardly saying network for the longest time, I just want to find out from the Hon. Minister, are there any plans to build new routes for railways as the Hon. Minister maybe aware that there have been discoveries of mineral resources? For instance, lithium in many parts of our country where the main transport system is just road, but where it wants or justifies the building of the railway network. Is there any consideration by the Government to establish new networks than to just repair what is existing? I thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
HON. MHONA: Thank you Hon. Speaker Sir. Let me also thank my brother, Hon. Supa Mandiwanzira, for that very important question which is very topical and very pertinent. Hon. Speaker Sir, not only the existing infrastructure that I talked about, we have also seen the advent of mining companies like what he has alluded to and the connectivity to those mining companies is of paramount importance again to the Ministry. I can cite a good example, Manhize which is coming on board shortly, where we are going to be constructing a new line from Manhize to Mvuma, that is a 50 kilometer line – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear]- not only that, it will also feed into Mvuma. We want the shortest possible distance to the port and we are talking of Beira Port Mr. Speaker Sir. So, we are also earmarking to have a new dedicated line from Mvuma to Nyazura whereby the transporter would not need to take goods to Harare via Mutare, but will have a dedicated line again.
We also have to connect the missing link Hon. Speaker Sir, between ourselves and Kafue. We know that if you are going to gravitate towards Mashonaland West, our railway network ends in Lion’s Den. So we are connecting Lion’s Den and Kafue so that we have the North-South corridor connection now in a proper and sound state. So, you will see us again together with Zambia, constructing the missing link from Lion’s Den to Kafue which is also another new line. With the discovery of minerals, it is the desire of the Ministry so that we take the railway line right up to the door step of the mining company. Thank you, Hon. Speaker Sir. – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] -
*HON. MATINENGA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir and I thank the Hon. Minister for the answer to the question asked by the Hon. Member on the resuscitation of our railway networks. I will go further to ask - what timeframe can he give us, are you going to do that this year or next year? Can he explain so that the populace is satisfied? I thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
*HON. MHONA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I thank the Hon. Member for the pertinent question. Her question desires that what I have just said here could be done as soon as possible. For instance, when we spoke about building roads to Parliament – people thought that this was impossible, but the roads are in place now. This means what we are talking about concerning the railway system is what we are working on right now as we see that we have resources in terms of agriculture and minerals. We have sectors that are looking into the railway system right now. We are about to finish Machipanda to Manicaland. We have 10 kilometers that had gone bad; we are trying to revamp that in conjunction with a company from Mozambique.
We are revamping that and resuscitating the railway so that as a land-locked country, we are able to access ports, be it Beira or Maputo. This is why we are resuscitating our railway system. You will see all this happening as Parliament because we are implementing all this – this is work in progress. I thank you.
HON. P. DUBE: Thank you very much Hon. Speaker and thank you very much to the Hon. Minister. Perhaps, would the Hon. Minister assure this House if there are funds allocated for the implementation of these very important projects? Thank you.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Well, the question does not arise, because the Hon. Minister has already indicated that it is work in progress. If work is in progress, then the money must be there somehow, otherwise there would not be any work in progress.
HON. MASVISVI: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. My question is directed to the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Hon. T. Moyo. What is the Ministry’s policy in regard to the enhancement of digital literacy to establish computer and internet connectivity in schools, particularly in rural areas, in line with the Heritage Based Education 5.0 model?
THE HON. SPEAKER: Is the Hon. Minister in here or the deputy? Hon. Minister Ziyambi, there was a small technical coup and Hon. Mhona was acting Leader of Government Business. Do you want to take over?
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): You scared him Mr. Speaker Sir by reference to the word coup. So he is no longer interested. Good afternoon Mr. Speaker Sir.
Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I want to thank the Hon. Member for the question which pertains to availability of internet facilities in primary schools to ensure that our learners are captured early in terms of appreciating digital technology. Mr. Speaker, I thought that the Hon. Member was going to direct the question to the Minister of Information, Communication Technology who is here.
She is very much responsible for ensuring that across the Government sector, we have a whole Government approach. Her brief is to ensure that we have internet connectivity, be it to learners, industry, local authorities, you name it. So with your indulgence, Mr. Speaker, a more informed answer would come from the Minister of Information Communication Technology who is here. I thank you.
THE MINISTER OF INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY, POSTAL AND COURIER SERVICES (HON. DR. MAVETERA): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. Let me thank the Hon. Member for that question. Like what the Hon. Leader of the House said, as a Ministry, we are superintending for us to be able to make sure we have got digital classrooms, digital connectivity, especially in primary and secondary schools.
The policy direction that we have, Hon. Speaker, is to make sure that we connect all schools. The policy that we have is also to make sure that the connectivity or the network that we are going to be providing will be for only one year and after that, we expect the school to be able to come up with a sustainability plan which will make sure that they will have internet.
Through the Universal Services Fund, we have been able to establish computer laboratories. To date, we have established 202 computer laboratories and we still hope we will be able to do more. We have also managed to connect and give computers to more than 1000 schools. I know that sometimes we might not be able to finish a computer laboratory, but what we have been able to do is to make sure that at least we avail computers to various schools.
Again, I want to appreciate the visionary leadership of His Excellency, our President. Two weeks ago, he launched an e-learning platform in Makumimavi School in Chikomba West. That alone shows the thrust that our President has in line with us making sure that we have got virtual classrooms and schools that are connected. So this is the policy as far as us making sure that we connect everyone. We do not leave anyone and any place behind, especially in the rural population. Thank you Hon. Speaker.
HON. MASVISVI: My supplementary question is, what immediate interventions are you putting in place to reduce the imbalances between the rural and urban schools standard of learning as desired by the NDS1 and 2 towards the attainment of Vision 2030 goals?
THE HON. SPEAKER: That is a separate question altogether. It does not connect with digital platforms that was invoked by the original question.
HON. MASVISVI: Mr. Speaker Sir, maybe I may elaborate.
THE HON. SPEAKER: No, you cannot elaborate on a wrong question.
HON.MASVISVI: Thank you Hon. Speaker.
HON. CHIGUMBU: Supplementary question Mr. Speaker Sir. I want to ask, you mentioned that you are following a policy in terms of computers and computer laboratories in schools. Within your policy, is there anything that caters for standardisation of whatever you are putting up in those schools, considering that technology is moving at lightning speed? We would not want a situation whereby we end up dumping computers in computer laboratories in schools. Do we have any policy that speaks to the quality and standardisation of whatever you are putting in those computer laboratories? I thank you.
HON. DR. MAVETERA: Yes, indeed, we have got a standard. This is why you heard me say that when we are giving out computers, we have got different categories. We have got a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 30 for each computer laboratory. We have realised that we also need to look at upskilling whereby we are now training teachers into coding and robotics.
So just looking at that, we are saying we also need to train them. We need to make sure that these teachers are equipped in terms of making sure that they relay this information to our students, at the same time looking at giving standardised connectivity and a certain bandwidth which is equivalent to each and every school.
That is what we have managed to do. However, we still feel that there is more that needs to be done to make sure that at least we come up with ways which will see us introducing more to schools, but as it stands now, it is quite the same in all the schools. All we need to do considering the resources, sometimes it is minimum, sometimes it is maximum, but we have tried to standardise to make sure that it is all the same in each and every area. Thank you.
HON. MADZIVANYIKA: Point of clarity.
THE HON. SPEAKER: You cannot ask a supplementary question through a point of clarity.
HON: MADZIVANYIKA: Supplementary question Mr. Speaker. Thank you Mr. Speaker. As a follow up to the issue of connectivity in terms of the rural areas, rural schools, how far have you gone as a Ministry in terms of the Starlink deal? The Starlink deal has got a broader bandwidth, it has got bigger geographical cover and also fast speed of processing power. How far have you gone to improve? Thank you Mr. Speaker.
HON. DR. MAVETERA: Yes, as far as Starlink is concerned, we want to thank our President for the visionary leadership that he has shown in making sure that he allows Starlink to be licenced in Zimbabwe. We are now finalising on the technical modalities to make sure that we conclude. I am sure within the next two weeks, we would have concluded. Thank you.
*HON. CHOKURURAMA: Mr. Speaker, I would like to first thank the President for appointing ministers who are able to build this country. My question is directed to the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development. With his expertise, all roads are now tarred. As we move between Chivhu and Mvuma, there are a lot of bridges that have their steel girders or edges broken down as the bridges have been vandalised and accidents may occur…
*THE HON. SPEAKER: You are now telling a long story, just go straight into your question.
*HON. CHOKURURAMA: My question is; what measures or plans are there to resuscitate such damaged bridges?
*HON. MUTSEYAMI: On a point of order. My point of order Mr. Speaker is that the question that has just been asked by Hon. Chokururama was asked last week by Hon. Zhou and responded to.
*THE HON. SPEAKER: I was not around but Hon. Minister, is that correct?
THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA): Mr. Speaker, I was also not around.
*THE HON. SPEAKER: And the Leader of Government Business, was the same question asked?
*THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON.Z. ZIYAMBI): We were both not here Mr. Speaker.
*THE HON. SPEAKER: Hon. Deputy Speaker, what is the truth here?
*THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr. Speaker, I was not around as well, but maybe my colleague beside me here was present.
*HON. TSITSI ZHOU: I recall that when I was in the Chair, that question was not asked. So, the question should be answered.
*THE HON. SPEAKER: Is that so. This is a challenge for us to know who is telling the truth now – [HON. MEMBERS: Hansard.] – We do not have the Hansard here as well. So, Hon. Minister, you can respond to the question.
THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA): I would like to thank Hon. Chokururama for the important question. We have people who are criminals in this country. We are busy developing the country while some are busy vandalising our infrastructure. We have some artisanal miners who even dig underneath the roads or rails and in so doing, vandalising our resources. The same applies to the bridges. They go to vandalise some of the components there and sell them. This is a matter of concern to us as a country and we cannot allow that to continue.
We have rivers and bridges where some of the steel components or girders have been removed. May we have a certain sentence for those people who vandalise so that we can maintain our infrastructure? Even some of our road marks, especially the reflectors that we put on the roads are vandalised. I do not know where we are, but it is our request as a Ministry that we should have a sentence and that wherever we go, we should conscientise each other not to vandalise our infrastructure.
*HON. MUCHEMWA: My supplementary question to the Minister is that in other countries, we see some roads being constructed nicely, but we have private companies which are allocated to maintain the roads. For instance, from Chivhu to Masvingo, there should be a company to ensure that repairs and maintenance is done on the road. Do we have a plan that we can put in place here in Zimbabwe to do the same?
*HON. MHONA: I thank Hon. Muchemwa who comes from Mashonaland East for the pertinent question. It is true that we revamp our roads and to ensure that we maintain the standards. His vision is also a vision that we have as a Ministry so that when roads have been done, those who will have done the project of that road should take a certain time ensuring that the road is maintained. Whatever repairs are needed, they should attend to them. We look up to these companies to ensure that they maintain and repair those roads should there be any damage. The plan is in place for those who would have worked on the road. A road should last at least 20 years without any damages. If it is damaged before that period, the company should come and attend to that.
*HON. MATIZA: I want to first commend the Minister for a job well done pertaining to the roadworks, but we also have natural disasters that destroy bridges. For instance, Gokwe-Sesame bridge which connects Gokwe and Nembudziya. It helps a lot of people, particularly those who will have fallen ill. People have problems there. What measures do you have in place for damages caused by natural disasters?
*THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA): I want to thank Hon. Matiza for the question and I want to say that I am glad to speak to the Hon. Member for the first time. If you look at NDS1, we are expected to attend to infrastructure that is climate resistant. As Government, we work hand-in-glove with the Civil Protection Unit which is under the Ministry of Local Government that whenever there is a disaster, we put our heads together to ensure that those affected can be assisted. For example, if a disaster happens on the road resulting in the loss of lives, Government and Civil Protection Unit come in to assist the affected.
HON. JAMES: My question is directed to the Minister of Finance. Can the Minister confirm that the debt he reported to the African Development Bank at the end of April was approximately US$2.7bn higher than that approved in the budget for this year in December 2023?
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF FINANCE, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT PROMOTION (HON. D. K. MNANGAGWA): Our debt figures are still going through some validation and reconciliation. There has been US$1.9billion recapitalisation of the Mutapa Fund and an additional US$1.2billion that was assumed from the RBZ. These would still need to be reconciled and validated before they are entered in the debt profile. That process is still underway.
HON. JAMES: Presumably, these will come through to Parliament before expenditure. Can the Deputy Minister give us an idea what this money is being spent on?
HON. D. K. MNANGAGWA: I can assure the Hon. Member that all this expenditure will come through Parliament and the process of validation and the reconciliation, particularly for the debts that we have assumed from the RBZ, as to what exactly these monies were used for, and to make sure that they were actually used for the purposes they were said to have been used for. This is a process to ensure that your question will be answered at the right time. I thank you.
HON. MADZIVANYIKA: In the last three weeks, the Minister of Finance tabled the debt position for this country here in Parliament and left copies. Was that not including the debt assumed from the RBZ and the recapitalisation of the Mutapa Investment Fund?
HON. D. K. MNANGAGWA: The process of this validation and reconciliation is to ascertain how we treat some of this expenditure, whether it becomes top of the line or bottom of the line. Whether that was the correct position or not, I would ask that we allow the processes to go through the various departments and technocrats. Indeed, there is an additional US$2.7billion that was presented at the AfDB by the Hon. Minister, which is still going through a validation process. If you can wait for that and how we treat it from an accounting perspective, we should be able to give a precise answer. I thank you.
HON. G. HLATYWAYO: I just wanted to find out on the timelines?
HON. D. K. MNANGAGWA: I would have to come back again and give timelines. What I can assure the Hon. Member is that this is a process that as Treasury, we are keen to make sure that we close as quickly as possible and ensure that our books are in good order. So, we will try to get it expediently done. The processes are currently underway. I thank you.
THE HON SPEAKER: If you may allow me Deputy Minister, did you resolve the issue as per our telephone discussion without you giving details? – [Laughter]-
HON. D. K. MNANGAGWA: Mr. Speaker Sir, you said you would advise if I needed to intervene and I should wait.
THE HON. SPEAKER: So, there was no intervention as yet?
HON. D. K. MNANGAGWA: From my part no, Mr. Speaker.
THE HON. SPEAKER: If you can proceed to intervene. On the same note, I would like to see the Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Minister of Energy and Power Development, Minister of Industry and Commerce and the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare. When you see me disappear, do not follow me at the same time. Just watch when someone comes back, then you can proceed to see me. There are one or two issues that we need to have tete-a-tete on. Thank you.
*HON. T. MURWIRA: My question is directed to the Minister of Energy and Power Development. May you kindly update us on the electricity situation in the country? In some areas, electricity comes back around 10pm and goes around 3am. What is the plan when it comes to electricity?
THE MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER DEVELOPMENT (HON. E. MOYO): Thank you very much and I want to thank the Hon. Member for the question. We are currently going through a lean period in terms of power generation mainly as a result of…
- HON. MEMBER: Point of order Mr. Speaker.
THE HON SPEAKER: What is your point of order?
*AN. HON. MEMBER: Thank you Hon. Speaker. The person asked in Shona, so she is expecting to be answered in Shona.
*THE HON. SPEAKER: I dreamt that she understands English.
HON. E. MOYO: Thank you very much Hon. Speaker. I think there is interpretation going on. Hon. Speaker, the issue of power supply in the country is heavily affected by hydrological issues in Lake Kariba where we have lost over 800 megawatts. The stored capacity at Kariba is 1050 megawatts and we are only able to produce 214 megawatts on average because of the water rationing which has resulted out of low inflows in the lake. On that perspective, after losing over 800 megawatts, it makes it very difficult to sufficiently supply power in the country.
However, we have come up with measures to ensure that our power supply at least is able to make the country function, one of which was the commissioning of Units 7 and 8, which produce above 600 megawatts on a daily basis and those two units are very efficient.
We also have Units 1 to 6 where we have 4 Units in operation and they are producing an average of 300 megawatts. Some of those units are not very reliable and we have come up with a mechanism to constantly repair them. We are doing a lot of maintenance work in those units so that they can be as efficient as possible.
The other measures that we have put in place includes renewable energy, efforts where we have given licences to a number of IPPs who are developing own projects. Some of them are mines, others are factories and agricultural undertakings where they are producing their own power. On the mining front, we have asked Ferro Chrome miners, those ones are subsidised, they have a lower rate in terms of their tariffs. So, we have asked them and given them a period of time which lapses at the end of next year to develop their own generation plants for own consumption so that we have more power, which is free for social use. I thank you.
HON. MANGONDO: Thank you Hon. Speaker Sir, Good afternoon. My supplementary question. First of all, let me thank the Hon. Minister for the detailed response he has given with regards to the incessant power cuts that we are experiencing. My question to the Hon. Minister has to do with power cuts which are caused by faults not repaired on time. I will give an example of my own school and clinic in my own village in Murewa South Constituency which has no supply of electricity since last year due to faults. The question to the Hon. Minister is, what is the policy in terms of repair of faults as well as whether Government has service level agreements with ZETDC in terms of their Service Charter? Thank you.
HON. E. MOYO: Thank you very much Hon. Speaker Sir, and thank you for the follow up question. In the case of faults, there are different causes of faults which range from antiquated equipment to vandalism. On the specific question of the policy, the policy is to expeditiously attend to those faults. In specific cases where those faults have not been attended to for such long periods as given by the Hon. Member, I would propose that we have a discussion around that on the specific issues so that we can make follow-ups and determine what the reasons are. It will be very difficult to generalise in terms of attending to faults because each fault has its own problems and constraints. I would advise the Member that we meet even after this session or they can come to the offices and we have a look into that. Otherwise, the policy is to expeditiously attend to faults. I thank you.
HON. MALINGANISO: My supplementary question to the Hon. Minister, is there any service level agreement between the Government and the power utility with regard to this service provision? Thank you.
HON. E. MOYO: Thank you very much Madam Speaker. The Service Charter is very clear and that is to ensure that there is expeditious attendance of faults. However, like I indicated earlier or perhaps if I could go back to history a bit, we all know that towards the end of last year, we received a cost reflective tariff after so many years without one. That resulted in a funding gap which could have affected service delivery in terms of procurement of spares and in terms of other amenities that are required for the service to be rendered seamlessly. Now with the cost reflective tariff, I think the situation has improved although we still lag behind in some areas, especially where high level equipment, expensive equipment is required. As I said, if there is a specific issue, a lot of Members of Parliament visit us so that we rectify some of the issues that they are facing. I think today I hosted two Members of Parliament on the same and I am sure their issues were resolved. Those that we have not been able to resolve are work in progress and there are a number of reasons why in some cases those faults are not immediately attended to. Thank you.
HON. DHLIWAYO: Thank you Madam Speaker. My supplementary is, we have an individual who managed to invent a device that can tap radio energy and I think is currently in the United States, Maxwell Chikumbutso. I want to understand if there are any attempts by the Ministry of Energy to do research or to engage such individuals so that we enhance our electricity generation capacity? Thank you.
HON. E. MOYO: Thank you Madam Speaker. At the moment, we have not followed up that although we shared after reading the article regarding the said inventor and we submitted to the technical departments at ZESA Holdings. We have not really got any responses regarding that and sometimes in terms of technology development, there are a number of stages that the technology has to go through until it matures to a point where it can be commercialised but at the moment, we have not really pursued much of that. Thank you.
HON. JAMES: Can I ask the Hon. Minister, he spoke about cost effective tariffs, has he noticed an increase in revenue collections since the conversion to ZiG?
THE MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER DEVELOPMENT (HON. EDGAR MOYO): Thank you very much Madam Speaker, I think that question was asked before and I will repeat the response that I made last week. There has not been a further increase apart from what was awarded towards the end of last year. What could have happened for which I ask the Hon. Member to give us a specific written question is that our tariffs were pegged in US dollars and then the movements were now following the movements in the exchange rate. This is what I know but apart from that, there has not been any further increase apart from what was awarded. I thank you.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon. James, please may you put your question in writing so that the Minister will go and make some investigations and come to this House with a comprehensive answer. Thank you.
HON. MUTOKONYI: We want to thank you for the buses which are carrying people in the rural areas. Madam Speaker, it looks like that our cheap buses, the ZUPCO buses are no longer plying very well in our areas. So we want to know whether there are any challenges being faced by ZUPCO, why they are not plying these routes. In the Svosve area, they rely on those buses but they are not there.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: It is now a specific question. That you mentioned Svosve, it now becomes a specific question. I think the Minister can answer. Hon. Mutokonyi you can repeat your question.
*HON. MUTOKONYI: My question is the public transport which is cheap and safe, they were pirating very well, but now in most areas, they are not pirating, especially in the rural areas. Are there any challenges causing these buses not to ply the rural areas routes?
*THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): I want to thank the Hon. Member for the very pertinent question which shows that the Hon. Member is aware that when our President came into power, there were a lot of ZUPCO buses plying our areas, but has realised that there are not enough in the area where the Hon. Member comes from. What happened is that when this programme was started, there were a lot of problems in the urban areas. You realise that most of the buses that were sourced by the President were put in urban centres, but then if you look closely on the last allocation, he commissioned buses through those who are manufacturing the buses, that they should manufacture buses which are suitable for rural areas. Those buses should be manufactured locally. Those buses which are going to be manufactured, are going to ply all the roads in our country. We were forcing those buses which we received, but we are happy that those who are manufacturing buses, are collaborating with those from outside so that the buses will be manufactured locally. You will find those buses on our roads very soon.
*HON. CHITIMBE: He says that the buses were now in the urban areas, but in the urban areas, we do not have those buses, where are they?
*HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: The way we see things is different, it depends on what you want to see and what you want to believe in. The buses came, the President commissioned the buses, the responsible Minister was there because he was leading the sourcing and distribution of the buses in the urban centres. If they do not see them, it means they are on the roads that is if she is not seeing them parked at the depots. Thank you Madam Speaker.
*HON. MUCHEMWA: I have heard from the first speaker that the ZUPCO buses are cheap and reliable, but some of these buses are charging high fares. We knew that there were fare tables which charged according to distances, but these ones are just charging willy-nilly. What is Government policy so that they work together with private companies to provide them with table fares for the benefit of our people?
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: Thank you Madam Speaker. From our investigations through the Government of our President, we see that if we put price controls, they destroy businesses. We do not want to force people to sell at a certain fixed price because those people will go out of business. We encourage market forces so that a lot of people get into this industry. If a lot of people get into the industry, there will be a lot of competition and then people will reduce prices on their own because there will be competition in the business.
HON. MADZIVANYIKA: Thank you Madam Speaker, my question is directed to the Minister of Home Affairs and in his absence, to the Leader of Government Business. Do you have the capacity to arrest and prosecute criminal elements that are alleged to be close to the Presidium of this country? If you are not, is it possible to invoke what has been invoked in November 2017, to correct or restore legacy? I thank you.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Madam Speaker Ma’am, I want to thank the Hon. Member for the question. Can the Hon. Member furnish me with concrete proof that the President is surrounded by criminals? I thank you.
HON. MPOFU: My question is directed to the Minister of Youth. What is Government policy on the implementation of addressing drug abuse amongst the youths in rural and marginalised areas? I thank you.
THE MINISTER OF YOUTH EMPOWERMENT, DEVELOPMENT AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING (HON. MACHAKAIRE): Thank you very much Madam Speaker. I also want to thank the Hon. Member for her pertinent question. As you are aware, our largest population in this country constitutes the youths. We have a serious problem of drug and substance abuse but as a Ministry, we have a Committee that was created by His Excellency the President, which looks into that matter. I however, want to assure the Hon. Member that as the Committee and the Ministry sit under the demand reduction pillar, on that Committee, we are working very hard to ensure that we create programmes for the youths to fight this scourge. At the same time, I want to say that as a Ministry, we have started awareness programmes in rural areas to make sure that we educate our youths. We also have a programme that we are working hand-in-hand with the Ministry of Health. They have facilities for those that are drug addicts. I also want to say that in the coming few months, you will see the Ministry going to rural areas to start educating the youths that are under the influence of drugs. I thank you.
HON. MPOFU: My supplementary question is, how effective are the policies and initiatives in reducing drug abuse among young people and how is the success measured? I thank you.
HON. MACHAKAIRE: Thank you Madam Speaker. Like I alluded to earlier on that in a few months to come, we are going to start rolling out programmes pertaining to this matter though we have already started. In some districts, there are programmes where we are working hand-in-hand with Hon. Members of Parliament to make sure that we educate our youths on the dangers of drugs and substance abuse. I thank you.
*HON. MUTSEYAMI: Thank you Madam Speaker. My supplementary question is on the issue of drug and substance abuse. I want to know what Government is doing in order for a law to be passed so that people are rehabilitated. We have come to the realisation that most of the rehabilitation centres are owned by private companies and they are very expensive and out of the reach of many. What plans has Government put in place to come up with cheap rehabilitation centres so that people can go there for rehabilitation? I thank you.
*HON. MACHAKAIRE: My response to the supplementary question is that we had some places which were COVID centres. Those places are being converted into rehabilitation centres and as I alluded to earlier, we are working together with the Ministry of Health for those places to be converted in order to accommodate drug addicts. We are also getting into private partnerships with other companies so that we help each other and work together. The challenge of drug abuse requires all of us as a nation to work together and fight together. Let me hasten to thank some people who are building their own private places. Some are in partnership with Government and we are taking our children there, but we look forward as Government, to have our own places in the shortest possible time. We are taking over all the places that were COVID centres and turning them into rehabilitation centres. I thank you.
*HON. MUSANHI: Thank you Madam Speaker. I would like to find out from the Hon Minister the Government policy on those who are supplying drugs. They should be taken seriously as they are the ones causing the problems. The people are known and the drug peddlers are known. Those who supply to schools are known as well. I thank you.
*HON. MACHAKAIRE: Thank you, Madam Speaker. Let me thank the Hon. Member for his supplementary question. We see the challenges of youths but we have our Home Affairs Department that we work with. We meet in certain meetings with those in charge of Home Affairs. It is the Minister who has the power to prosecute people who peddle drugs but in the few days there was a blitz and most of them were prosecuted.
However, if you do not mind Madam Speaker, I can go and come up with a written statement so that we can put our heads together with Hon. Members.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: I think let me help you, Hon. Minister. You can refer the question to the Minister of Home Affairs so that he can come up with a response.
HON. NKUNI: I thank you, Hon. Speaker Ma’am. My supplementary question on drug abuse is that prevention is better than cure. What provision does the Ministry have to keep these youths from idleness? I think the cause of drug abuse is because they have nothing to do, especially after high school or university.
HON. MAVHUDZI: On a point of order! The very same question was asked last week by Hon. M. Ziyambi and it was responded to.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Is it true that the question was asked last week? – [HON. MEMBERS: Yes.] – So, Hon. Member you can read the Hansard.
HON. MAPIKI: Thank you, Madam Speaker. My question is directed to the Hon. Minister of Agriculture, lands, fisheries, water, and rural development, if he is not there I can direct it to the leader of the House. What is the Government policy of removing sand from the rivers and dams because all the rivers are silted when farmers want to grow wheat? In the few open dams, water cannot flow smoothly because of siltation.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL, AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you, Madam Speaker. If I am not mistaken, three or four weeks back, this question was asked and the Minister articulated it very well and I was also impressed.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Is it true that the question was asked? – [HON. MEMBERS: Yes.] – Hon. Mapiki, you can refer to the Hansard.
HON. SAGANDIRA: My question is directed to the Minister of Health and Child Care in his absence the Leader of Government Business.
What is the policy regarding menstrual health management particularly with regards to young girls and women with disabilities?
THE HON. DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON. KWIDINI): Thank you, Hon. Speaker. Let me also thank the Hon. Member for the question. The question is very broad because there is no illness which is called menstrual health which is managed by the Ministry as such but the menstrual situation is a known nature that is common to all women. So, particularly in disabled women, I think the Hon. Member can put this question in writing so that we can research more.
HON. KARIMATSENGA-NYAMUPINGA: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I want to thank the Minister for the part answer to the question when he said all women have their menstrual periods
HON. MADZIVANYIKA: On a point of order! I think the question was stopped at a point where the one who asked was asked to put it in writing. There is no supplementary question there.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Why not wait to hear from the Hon. Member?
HON. KARIMATSENGA-NYAMUPINGA: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I just wanted the Deputy Minister to clarify that for sure all women go through the menstrual cycle. So I would like to thank the Minister for the sanitary wear that is being provided to schools. However, the distribution of these sanitary wear is not equitable because the flow differs from person to person. When they are distributing, I think they should look at equity as well in terms of the number of days and flow. I thank you.
*THE DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you Hon. Nyamupinga.
*HON. DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON. KWIDINI): I want to thank you Madam Speaker for the supplementary question that has been put forward by the Hon. Member. It is very true, as Government, we consider that all women have their menstrual cycle. We will also consider those who live with disabilities, if they have more menstrual days, they should have more pads. Thank you.
HON. HUNGWE: Thank you Madam Chair. My question is directed to the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion. What is the Government position on the rate being applied on pegging prices of goods and services?
There is also need for clarity on issues to do with cost of transacting in plastic money and the exchange rate when acquiring United States Dollars from the banks by companies. I thank you.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF FINANCE, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND INVESTMENT PROMOTION (HON. D. K. MNANGAGWA): Thank you Madam Speaker. If I got it correctly, the Hon. Member’s question is, what is Government’s policy in terms of the exchange rate used in shops for the pricing of goods? Would I be correct on that?
THE DEPUTY SPEAKER: Yes.
HON. D. K. MNANGAGWA: Madam Speaker, I think Government policy has been quite clear as annunciated in the Statutory Instrument that was passed in this august House, just a few weeks ago, that the prevailing interbank exchange rate is the one that is supposed to be used in our grocery stores, retailors and any goods and services. Any deviation from that would attract a fine of ZiG 200 000.00 and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) is always on high alert.
In as far as the high transaction charges, Madam Speaker that is still within the ambit of the banks. We have taken a policy of non-interference in terms of bank charges and transaction costs, but continue to engage our banks to reduce some of these fees to make it easier and more accessible to use electronic money. I thank you Madam Speaker.
HON. MADZIVANYIKA: Thank you Madam Speaker. Mine is a follow-up to the Hon. Minister. I understand that the FIU has been making inroads to manufacturers and retailers by freezing and penalising them. Hon. Minister, my question is, are the retailer prices not cost-recovery prices? Hon. Minister, when we compare the transactional charges for a company to get money from the bank, the bank charges 5%.
Then next there is IMTT, which has been increased to 2%. Lastly, there is 1% administration fee by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and the total is around 8%. So, will those manufacturers and retailers be able to recover the cost if they are allowed to sell at the prevailing interbank rate? Is it possible Hon. Minister, to look into that so that you do not polarise who are doing business legally? Thank you.
HON. D. MNANGAGWA: Thank you Madam Speaker and thank you to the Hon. Member of Parliament. Madam Speaker, we are not too concerned about the pricing of these goods, but rather the exchange rate that is being used. I think we have been quite clear that we will not engage in price controls. We will allow the market to cross those who misbehave to cross themselves out. Our main concern is on the exchange rate that is being used. We will take no notice or heed to the pricing and rather let market forces deal with that but what we will monitor is the exchange rate. Thank you Madam Speaker.
*HON. MAKUMIRE: Thank you Hon. Speaker. I would like to thank you for giving me this opportunity to add my voice. Hon. Speaker, the places we are talking about are the places that were given for farming. We would like to hear what the Minister is saying to the people that are being abused on their land. The people are suffering a lot. They are not being paid for their labour. What does the Minister say to the people who are suffering for their land?
*THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC SERVICE, LABOUR AND SOCIAL WELFARE (HON. J. MOYO): Thank you Hon Speaker. I would like to thank Hon. Makumire for the issue that he has brought to this House. We said we have two issues. If they are in the rural areas, the committees that are led by chiefs choose people who will be in charge, especially those who are not working in estates. They are supposed to be chosen in these areas. They are chosen so they are given money to buy food. That decision to give them money so that they buy food is ongoing. In Chiredzi, it depends with the place and there is no place without a headman. Thank you Hon. Minister.
*HON. NYABANI: On the issue of social welfare, what happens when someone gets two supplies from the cash transfer and social welfare?
*HON. J. MOYO: Thank you Hon. Speaker. This needs evidence because it is corruption. We would like to know who is doing that so that they are corrected for their mistakes.
*HON. CHIDUWA: Thank you. I would like to know, there is a system that was supposed to be there that would avoid double dipping. Is there yet a system that will avoid someone benefiting from cash and maize? Thank you.
*HON. J. MOYO: Thank you Hon. Speaker. I would like to thank Hon. Chiduwa. We are now putting things digitally and we are working on those who are on cash for food. They are now both being put on digital so that we make sure there is no double dipping. Thank you Hon. Speaker.
HON. NYABANI: On a point of clarification, Madam Speaker.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: I have not given you a chance to speak. Go ahead Hon. Nyabani.
*HON. NYABANI: Thank you Madam Speaker. You said there is a system, those who are registering the husband to social welfare and the wife to cash. The double dipping is occurring. It is my question and I am glad that the question has been brought to the House.
HON. M. NDEBELE: On a point of order Madam Speaker. I think the Honorable Member must direct his question to the Minister instead of the Speaker of Parliament. I thank you.
*THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you Hon. Member. Hon. Nyabani, please address to me.
*HON. NYABANI: Thank you Honourable Speaker, the issue that I am addressing is, where I am coming from, a woman is registering on cash transfer and the husband to the social welfare and the child to another. The whole household is benefiting. What can be done so that these can be worked on? Thank you.
*HON. J. MOYO: Thank you Madam Speaker. Hon. Member, I said that when we are giving food, there are people who will still be corrupt and corruption will not be ended by Social Welfare officers only. So if an Honourable Member has any information on that, it is important for it to be brought to us so that it can be clarified by the police. I would like to plead to the House that if there is any corruption that you are aware of, please address them so that they can be worked on.
REDRESS ON THE DEDUCTION TOWARDS THE GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES MUTUAL SERVICES SCHEME
- HON. MATARA asked the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare to explain to the House on the following:
- Why a 2.5% deduction towards the Government Employees Mutual Services Scheme (GEMS) is being made from salaries of some Government employees who have not even consented and yet the scheme is said to be on a voluntary basis and,
- To state how the aggrieved can seek redress.
THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC SERVICE, LABOUR AND SOCIAL WELFARE (HON. J. MOYO): Allow me to start by giving a brief background of the Government Employees Mutual Savings (GEMS) Fund. GEMS was introduced in 2021 through a Cabinet decision which sought to create a savings culture across the civil service and also after having noted with concern exorbitant interest rates being charged by microfinance institutions to civil service employees. GEMS fund charges concessionary interest rates of 10% per annum whilst on average, microfinance institutions charge as much as 50% to 90% interest rates per month.
- Let me inform the House that the 2.5% deduction was only implemented after the issuance of a formal minute to all Heads of Ministries to advise members within their purview of the development.
- The Government Employees Mutual Savings Fund was rolled out with effect from 01 February, 2021. Circular No. 6 of 2021 was communicated to all Heads of Ministries, departments and agencies advising them to disseminate information about the rolling out of GEMS to all Government employees under their purview.
- A follow up Circular No. 8 of 2021 was communicated to all Heads of Ministries and agencies advising them to cause prospective members to complete an opt-in or opt-out form to confirm whether they wish to be members of the fund. In the communication, members in the civil service were advised that should a deduction be made from an individual who elects not to be part of GEMS facility, a deduction reversal will be made on the pay sheet of the following month in favour of the individual.
- To complete Circular No. 6 and 8 of 2021, press statements were issued on 05 February, 2021 and March 2021 respectively. The press statement made efforts to address some of the concerns raised by prospective members of the civil service about the GEMS fund credit facility.
- In March, 2022, the Public Service Commission undertook a comprehensive stakeholder’s consultation regarding the fund. The meeting which was attended by all Heads of Ministries across provinces and workers representatives was meant to obtain feedback from civil servants on the GEMS fund a year after its launch. The general view from the workers and management was that the facility was providing cheaper loans to borrowers.
- GEMS allow members to opt out from the scheme at any time as well as accept opt-in from members who wish to rejoin or join for the first time. Of note, is that 40% of members who opted out have rejoined after noting the developmental advantages of the GEMS scheme.
- GEMS fund has an approved procedure manual document that lays rules for the benefit of its members. The fund is being managed in a systematic basis that allows all members to benefit. To this end, GEMS loans have seen applications increasing by over 100% month on a month.
- The GEMS fund is being audited on a yearly basis and wished to note that it got an unqualified opinion during the past year.
CURBING DAMAGE BY HAULAGE TRUCKS ON THE NORTON-MUROMBEDZI HIGHWAY
- HON MALINGANISO asked the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development to inform the House the measures being taken by the Ministry to curb damage by haulage trucks on the Norton-Murombedzi Highway.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. SACCO): I would like to thank the Hon. Member for raising the question. Our Ministry is aware of the damage being caused by haulage trucks on the Norton to Murombedzi Highway. The increased number of haulage trucks on the road in question is as a result of a rise in the mining activities in that area. As a Ministry, we are coming up with a legislative framework that will cap the maximum weight that vehicles can carry on that road to 10 tonnes. Our Ministry will further enforce such once a legislative framework is in place using the Vehicle Inspectorate Department and to complement such, the Ministry is also working on constructing weigh bridges along the major highways of the country.
HON. MALINGANISO: Is there a possibility that non-weigh bridge enforcement tools can be used, for example, relying on the GVM once a truck is loaded, maybe for purposes of prosecution when the road is abused? Is there a possibility that such measures can be employed?
HON. SACCO: I would like to thank the Hon. Member for the follow up question. There is capacity to use GVM as an indication of weight but in this case, we need to put in place the legislative framework first to allow us to cap the maximum weight to 10 tonnes. Once that is in place, then we will enforce that maximum weight that we would have put in place using VID and other apparatus.
DESTRUCTION OF THE ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE ALONG THE BANKET-ZIPAM ROAD
- HON. MALINGANISO asked the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development to apprise the House on measures being taken by the Ministry to prevent the destruction of the road infrastructure by heavy vehicles and in particular, the Banket-ZIPAM Road.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. SACCO): I think Question No. 42 is similar to Question No. 41 where the questioner raises on the destruction of road infrastructure on the Banket–ZIPAM Road and the Ministry has taken your concern Hon. Member. We will also look on this as well as we do the legislative framework for both of these roads and other roads that might be so affected by the increase of heavy traffic due to increase in mining activities. We have also taken note of that one but going forward, as a Ministry, we are also looking into recapacitation of the NRZ so that we can move freight from the road to rail to reduce the degradation of our roads.
COMPLETION OF BRIDGES AND RESURFACING OF THE NENYUNGA-SIMUCHEMBO ROAD
- HON. S. TSHUMA asked the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development to apprise the House regarding the completion by the Ministry on the construction of bridges and resurfacing of the Nenyunga-Simuchembo Road which has been outstanding since September 2023.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. SACCO): I would like to thank Hon. Tshuma for raising this pertinent question. Plans are still in place for the continued road works on the Nenyunga – Simuchembo Road. Most of the work has been done but there are issues outstanding in terms of drainage in which our Ministry is committed to expedite the works and ensure that a good network is in place for all citizens. Under the mantra of His Excellency the President, Dr. E.D. Mnangagwa, of leaving no place and no one behind, I would like to assure the Hon. Member that this road remains a priority under the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development and you will see work soon commencing on this particular road.
*HON. S. TSHUMA: Hon. Minister, do you have any plans to commence work before the beginning of the rain season because when the rain season starts, it will be too muddy.
*HON. SACCO: Let me say we are going to sit down as a Ministry and see what work needs to be done and the amount of money to be used but we also look forward to working with other stakeholders. We have plans that ZINARA will give us fuel so that we do emergency works on those types of roads. We will sit down and see what resources are needed so that the road can be repaired as soon as possible.
COMMENCEMENT OF THE MUTARE-GRAND REEF BY PASS ROAD TO FORBES BORDER POST
- 44. HON JAMES asked the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development to inform the House when the much-awaited Mutare-Grand Reef by pass road construction to the Forbes Border Post will commence.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. SACCO): I would like to take this opportunity to respond to the question raised by Hon. James. Our Ministry remains committed in commencing the work on Mutare-Grand Reef by pass road construction. The commencement of this project is of ultimate importance as it will divert traffic from Christmas Pass which is experiencing many accidents and causing congestion as heavy trucks are using the Christmas Pass. The commencement of this project will kick-start soon after the necessary approval for funding from the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion and a PPP has been granted.
HON. JAMES: Hon. Deputy Minister, we were led to believe that the PPP partner was already in place waiting for the go ahead. We were told that this project would start in December. Surely on a PPP, the partner comes up with the bulk of the money. Perhaps the Minister could explain how the PPP is going to work in this case. I thank you.
HON. SACCO: Let me elaborate for the benefit of Hon James and the House that when it comes to private partnerships, the process is quite exhaustive because you want to make sure that monies spent on projects are spent where we get value for money and that projects of such nature go through the Zimbabwe Development Agency (ZIDA), Attorney General’s Office and ultimately they go for Cabinet approval. Once this has been granted, the PPP partner has to access financing. Currently we are now at a stage where the Ministry of Finance has to do the relevant approvals to allow the project to start. I would like to ask the Hon. Member to bear with us as the due process is being done so that in future, you do not point fingers at us for having any short cuts. I would like to ask the Hon. Member to have patience as this happens.
HON. ZEMURA: I want to thank the Hon. Minister for his efforts that the roads will be repaired. I want find out on the road that goes from Harare to Nyamapanda. It is really a dangerous road, but there is nothing that is being done to repair that road. The potholes there may cause a lot of problems. It is a major road which is used by tourists to Mozambique and Malawi. Would you mind Hon. Minister putting it on the list so that it can be repaired as soon as possible?
HON. SACCO: I would like to thank the Hon. Member for your follow up question. The Harare-Nyamapanda Road is also under consideration for a PPP and processes are underway to allow an investor to take up the construction of the Harare-Nyamapanda border post road. The process is at an advanced stage and we hope that in the near future, you will see work starting on the road. I would like to assure the Hon. Member that with the issue of potholes, as the Ministry of Transport we are using internal resources to repair potholes on the major trunk roads under the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development.
I would like to go further and say that as the Ministry, we are reintroducing maintenance units across the country where we are buying equipment to equip these maintenance units with pick up trucks, water bowsers et cetera so that we can deal with periodic maintenance on our major roads. We will communicate to the responsible provincial roads engineer to look into the issue of potholes on the Harare Nyamapanda Road. I would like to assure you that this is one of our priority roads that we will commence work in the near future. I so submit.
*HON. NYABANI: I would like to ask the Deputy Minister that when they are rehabilitating roads in the country, what criteria do they use to select these roads?
*HON. SACCO: Let me answer in this way, Zimbabwe is quite a big country and we have so many roads to be attended to. According to the President’s mantra, no man should be left behind and we are making sure that every road is repaired, but we cannot repair every road in one day because we might be constrained in terms of resources. When you see us going into partnerships, we will be trying to make sure that we attend to as many roads as possible. No province is going to be left behind when it comes to road repairs.
PLANS TO RESUME THE RESURFACING OF KADOMA-SANYATI-NEMBUDZIYA ROAD
- HON. S. TSHUMA asked the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Development to apprise the House on the Ministry’s plans to resume resurfacing of Kadoma-Sanyati-Nembudziya Road?
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. SACCO): Mr. Speaker Sir, our Ministry remains committed in continuing the resurfacing of Kadoma-Sanyati–Nembudziya Road. Currently, there is a contractor to work on the 8 to 28km peg, to make a total of 20kms in which so far the contractors completed 4.5 km. Further to this, my Ministry is currently working on re-gravelling the 55 to 75km peg distance under ERRP. I so submit.
REHABILITATION OF THE GALIVA-CHIREYA-NEMBUDZIYA ROAD
- HON. TSHUMA asked the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development to inform the House on the Ministry’s plans regarding the rehabilitation of the Galiva-Chireya-Nembudziya Road which has deteriorated to a bad state of disrepair.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. SACCO): Thank you once again Hon. Speaker Sir. To respond to Hon. Tshuma’s question, our Ministry is responsible for maintaining the country’s major highways and trunk roads that connects with these highways. In light of the above, the road in question Mr. Speaker Sir, is under the purview of RIDA formally DDF which does not follow under the purview of our Ministry. I so submit.
*HON. TSHUMA: Thank you Hon. Speaker. I would like the Hon. Minister to explain to the House the difference between roads as he has alluded. In connection with RIDA, which Ministry are we supposed to consult because I was thinking that if it is issues of roads, we must consult the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development?
*HON. SACCO: Thank you Hon. Speaker and I would like to thank Hon. Tshuma. I want to give an example that our roads are different, what we call responsible authorities. Migwagwa ine mitupo yakasiyana, imwe soko, imwe shumba, imwe chirandu. Because the roads are different, we are pleading with our Hon. Members so that they understand whether a road belongs to the council or it is under DDF or Ministry of Transport. Our councils get funded through devolution. DDF and RIDA have got their own budget and lastly Ministry of Transport, there is the Department of Roads. This will help our Hon. Members to understand our roads and the responsible authorities.
Secondly, RIDA which was known as DDF, has got a Permanent Secretary who is responsible for RIDA who reports to the Office of the President and Cabinet. I also want to let you know that when we met, it was discussed that RIDA will be getting equipment. We will buy equipment so that we repair our roads countrywide. They are looking forward to getting that equipment in the shortest possible time in two or three months. So, we look forward that RIDA will be able to maintain our roads. I thank you Hon. Speaker.
*HON. TSHUMA: As Members of Parliament, we will be looking forward that the responsible Minister will have all the answers that we want and the clarity that we need in our constituencies. Like what the Hon. Minister has said, it shows that roads that are not under his Ministry, like RIDA and council, we might not get the right answers because no one will be able to answer those questions. There are districts in Zimbabwe like the one that is in my constituency – Gokwe North, the council cannot even raise money to do maintenance for 2km. They do not have revenue. We still come back to the point where some places are going to be left behind. We are pleading with the Minister to look into that issue so that he can assist. The monies allocated to these areas are not enough. In my area Gokwe North, it has been years now since that road has not been maintained. The other problem is that the authorities responsible for maintaining that road cannot come to this House on question time to answer for themselves. I thank you.
*HON. SACCO: Thank you Hon. Speaker. It is true what you have said Hon. Tshuma. Our road authorities are different. Those authorities include the Department of Roads, Rural District Councils, Urban Councils and RIDA. All those get funding from the same Government. Like I said, we are in the process of buying equipment for our councils. Under devolution, some councils get tippers, TOB and other equipment. The plans that we have as Government is to buy equipment so that our councils get the necessary equipment to repair the roads. RIDA was once District Development Fund and by then it did not have the capacity to repair roads. Because of the Second Republic under His Excellency, Dr. E. D. Mnangagwa, they were given money through the fiscus so that they can be able to buy equipment to construct the roads.
As we know, the roads under the city council can be taken by the Ministry of Transport and have authority over those roads and the Ministry maintains that road; it is a process. If you have other roads that are in bad shape, you can approach the Ministry of Transport so that the Ministry can look into that road and find a way forward. I so submit.
*HON. MAPIKI: Thank you Hon. Minister for your response. Is there any supervision on the funds allocated to RIDA, and also to look into it that they buy strong durable machines? Do you inspect the equipment before they buy? Many councils bought graders emuchando and now those graders are not functioning. Does Government supervise the councils so that they buy the required equipment that are durable? Magrader emuchando ese akadhakwa.
*HON. SACCO: I thank you Hon. Speaker. It is true that the Second Republic Government is transparent. The equipment which is being bought is through a tender process and competitive bidding is done. All those things are looked into in terms of costing and durability. There is a process that we are embarking on where we are capacitating our councils that we have our central procurement will be done so that things will add up with Urban Council and ZINARA. We will put our heads together so that we look at what is needed and we put it to tender so that those who are able to supply durable machines will get the tender.
*HON. CHIDUWA: Thank you Hon. Speaker I want to find out from the Minister, when we embarked on the emergency rehabilitating of our roads, they said all roads are under him but I heard him referring to RIDDA that they have their own roads and ARDA has their own roads as well. Has the policy changed because we thought all the roads were under the Ministry of Transport, despite the Department easing the problem but it is all Government’ approach. Has the policy changed?
HON. SACCO: Thank you Mr. Speaker. I want to thank you Hon. Speaker for your question. It is very true ERRP was put in place so that they would adopt all the roads for the maintenance of all the roads because it was an emergency. As you know, ERRP time came to an end so we are looking for a Statutory Instrument that will extend the ERRP term up to December. For now, it is not yet in place but in the shortest period of time, I think it will be there.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER (HON. MACHINGURA): Hon. Minister, we urge you that when you are conducting your meetings, if you can ask about coordination, how it stands, so that Members in the House do not lose any information that has to do with the Ministry of Transport for their questions. We want to have information about some of the roads, and how they are going to be repaired. I do not know how you can tackle that issue.
REHABILITATION OF THE PLUMTREE-MPOOENGS-BEITBRIDGE ROAD
- HON M. NDEBELE asked the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development to inform the House on the measures being taken by the Ministry to rehabilitate the Plumtree-Mpoengs-Beitbridge Road which is in a deplorable state and needs urgent attention.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRANSPORTAND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. SACCO): Thank you Hon. Speaker for allowing me to respond to the question from Hon. M. Ndebele. The Ministry is aware that the road being referred to by Hon. Ndebele is of paramount importance in the province of Matabeleland South and Zimbabwe at large. From Plumtree to Mpoengs going onwards to Beitbridge, this can be accessed by Mpoengs-Maphisa- Gwanda-Beitbridge Road or Mpoengs-Maphisa-Munama-Guyu-Gwanda-Beitbridge Road. These two routes connect some of the three major Border Posts in the province which are Plumtree Border Post, Mpoengs Border Post and Beitbridge Border Post which is the busiest inland port in the Southern Region. It is certainly without doubt that the rehabilitation of these routes will create unmatched socio-economic benefit to the province and the nation at large. Therefore, it is against this background that the Ministry of Transport has consistently been making efforts through ERP 1 and 2 as well as the Road Development Programme to construct 26 kilometers on Gwanda-Guyu-Manama Road and 5 kilometers on Gwanda-Mapisa where 5 kilometers construction and 10 kilometer resealing along Maphisa-Mpoengs are ongoing.
Hon. Speaker, the ongoing construction of the extremely damaged sections on the Bulawayo-Gwanda-Beitbridge Highway are also being looked into. All these sections constitute the route in question. The House may also recall that His Excellency, the President Dr. E. D. Mnangagwa has declared the extension of ERRP 2 up to December, 2026. We await the relevant Statutory Instrument to allow us to commence works in this regard.
In light of this declaration, the Ministry will continue the construction of Gwanda-Mapisa Road and the Bulawayo-Kezi Road. We will also embark on routine and periodic maintenance works on various degraded sections of this route as we are working towards reestablishment of maintenance units within the Ministry to give us capacity to speed up the process. In addition, for the interest of the House, having noted the importance of the Border Post in Matabeleland South we will also work on the construction of the Plumtree- Maitengwe Border Post Road. I so submit Hon. Speaker Sir.
HON. M. NDEBELE: I want to thank the Hon. Minister for answering me on a positive manner. Through you Hon. Speaker as he has said there is a lot of revenue being collected by these three Border Posts. Do you not find it prudent to prioritise things and give us first priority to do the right think linking the three Border Posts so that we are not left behind? Thank you so much.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Member, is that a comment or a question.
HON. M. NDEBELE: It is a comment and a question as well on prioritising things. There is a lot of revenue being realised from the Border Post. Our province needs to be capacitated through this road network.
HON. SACCO: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir and thank you Hon. Member for your supplementary question and comment. We are currently conducting a nationwide tour, where I am travelling throughout the provinces to get an appreciation of such areas. We have covered Mukumbura Border Post, we have done Mount Selinda and in the near future I will be travelling to other provinces including Matabeleland South. I would like to get a hands-on experience of what you are talking about so that I can speak after the visit but a point has been raised and duly taken note of that we are losing revenue and this is happening in many areas. We are trying to speedy up the processes so that our border post can be opened and we can open up revenue streams for the fiscus, for Treasury to be able to collect the revenue that we are currently losing as a country. I would like to assure the Hon. Member Mr. Speaker Sir that these are one of the areas that I would like to visit to get an appreciation. I so submit.
HON. ZEMURA: My supplementary question is as the Minister is going for the visits in Matabeleland South - can he also come and visit Mutoko-Murewa-Macheke Road that has been damaged by the lorries that carry granite stones? The lorries were told long ago by the President to stop the practice and beneficiation be done in Mutoko. A lot of lorries are diverting coming via Harare to avoid being arrested, they go through our Mutoko Road damaging that road and they do not repair the Road. They are not paying anything to Murewa Council.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. SACCO):
Thank you Hon. Zemura for your valuable intervention. I would like to assure the Hon. Member that when I come to the province, I will definitely tour those roads to get an appreciation under the mantra ‘leaving no-one and no place behind.’ I so submit.
THE TEMPORAY SPEAKER (HON. MACHINGURA): Hon. Minister, is it not possible to introduce tolling for these granite carrying transporters so that you can maybe use the proceeds to repair the same roads that they are damaging. Just food for thought.
HON. CHIDUWA: Hon. Minister, the issue of the road rehabilitation from Beitbridge going to Victoria Falls and you also mentioned the Gwanda/Mapisa Road. My question is on the roads maintenance unit. It is an issue that came out here in Parliament and your Ministry specifically mentioned that the roads maintenance unit was going to be resuscitated, but we do not seem to see any traction on the ground. Can you please update us with regards to the resuscitation of the roads maintenance unit and how far you have gone to decentralise it to districts? I so submit.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. SACCO): I would like to thank Hon. Chiduwa for his pertinent question. You mentioned the Beitbridge to Victoria Falls Road of which from Bulawayo to Victoria Falls we are working on maintenance where we are doing pothole patching. I believe we are more than halfway. We have also been in negotiations as the Ministry with potential investors who are interested in constructing and upgrading the road from Beitbridge to Bulawayo to Victoria Falls and these are at an advanced stage. On the old Gwanda road, a PPP has been awarded recently and I believe work has already commenced so there is progress in that regard. Coming to the maintenance units, as a Ministry we want ultimately to do 50 maintenance units, which is five per province but due to budgetary constraints, we have started with 20 where a tender has been flighted to procure flatbed trucks, water bowsers and other equipment for these 20 maintenance units. We are also in the process with the Public Service Commission, of employing the relevant skilled staff that is required to man these 20 maintenance units. We hope that in the near future, once the equipment has been acquired, these maintenance units will start to function and we will move to the second phase where we will work on capacitating another 30, bringing at least to five maintenance units per province. So, I would like to report that procurement is already under way for the equipment for these maintenance units. I thank you.
WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS TO QUESTIONS WITH NOTICE
DISBURSEMENT OF BEAM FUNDS IN HIGHFIELD,
BUDIRIRO, GLEN NORAH AND GLEN VIEW
- CHIDZIVA asked the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare to inform the House on: -
- a) when the Ministry plans to disburse money dedicated for the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM) to schools in Highfield, Budiriro, Glen Norah and Glen View;
- b) to explain the selection criteria applied for beneficiaries of BEAM;
- c) when the Ministry plans to review this selection criteria; and
- d) What plans have been put in place to ensure that the intended
beneficiaries benefit from the scheme?
THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC SERVICE, LABOUR AND SOCIAL WELFARE (HON. J. MOYO): Madam Speaker, I wish to inform the House that, Government prioritises education assistance to children in difficult circumstances and is committed to settle all school fees arrears under the Basic Education Assistance Module. Further, the ministry acknowledges school fees arrears owed to mainstream primary and secondary schools across the country. The arrears for primary schools amount to ZIG380 430 247 (USD28 369 146.00) while secondary schools are owed ZIG379 174 554.00 (USD28 350 101.00), giving a sum total of ZIG760 605 102.00 (USD56 719 247.00).
In light of the foregoing, the ministry engaged the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion to clear the aforementioned arrears. ZWL50 000 000 000.00 was therefore allocated for the first quarter of 2024 while actual release was ZWL31 000 000 000.00. This disbursement was against a budget of ZWL805 087 608 000.00 leaving a balance of ZWL774087 608 000.00. The disbursed amount settled 2022 arrears for both primary and second schools in the country including schools in Highfield, Budiriro, Glen Norah and Glenview constituencies. The ministry is continuously following up with the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion on outstanding school fees arrears as it awaits further release of funds by Treasury to settle the same. As funding improves, my ministry will ensure that timely, religious and predictable payments are made to schools in accordance with the BEAM cycle.
- Madam Speaker Ma’am, the Hon. Member is informed that, selection of BEAM beneficiaries is done using a community-based targeting approach at community level through community selection committees (CSCs). Each primary school community has a Community Selection Committee that has a term of office of two (2) years, that is, to preside over two BEAM cycles.
The CSC shall have 12 members made up as follows:-
- six elected community representatives (three men and three
women) with good knowledge of households, no record of abusing children and with a sound appreciation of children’s rights issues. The selected members shall be evenly distributed across the school catchment area;
- Two children (one girl and one boy) from the child-led Child
Protection Committee, and
- Four ex-officio members made up of two School Development
Committee (SDC) members, one each from the primary school and the local secondary school, the primary school head and the Primary School Guidance and Counseling teacher.
The committee receives nominations of children to benefit from BEAM from members of the community. Nomination of potential beneficiaries is done by anyone in the community including children themselves to ensure all deserving children are not excluded during the selection process.
The BEAM programme targets vulnerable school going children aged four to 19 years from Early Childhood Learning (ECE) classes, primary, secondary and special needs schools identified by their CSCs as vulnerable and deserving assistance. BEAM selection and targeting criteria is as follows:-
- Children in child-headed households;
- Children in labour constrained households;
- Orphaned children;
- Children who are out of school due to financial constraints;
- Children living and working on the streets; and
- Children left behind under the care of an incapacitated guardian.
Currently, the ministry is in the process of reviewing the BEAM
Operational Manual through stakeholder consultative processes to ensure the programme remains relevant and effective. The policy review will also include strategies to enhance the targeting modality, transparency and effectiveness among other key parameters.
To ensure adherence to policy guidelines, monitoring visits are conducted by Joint Monitoring Teams (JMTs) from the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare (MPSLSW), the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education (MoPSE) and the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works (MLG&P), at national to community level. The monitoring process follows the BEAM cycle which comprise of the pre-selection, selection and post-selection stages. JMTs can conduct focus group discussions, surveys, site visits, perusal of records and other appropriate methods to ascertain; the proper constitution of CSCs, client satisfaction with beneficiary selection, including grievances regarding selection of children (inclusion/exclusion errors), that is, the extent to which selected children are deserving by local participatory poverty or wealth ranking standards for beneficiary and non-beneficiary households within the selected communities.
Additionally, a grievance handling mechanism is in place to ensure that those aggrieved with the processes can air out their views and are heard. This is done through the Grievance Handling Committees (GHC) that are constituted in each community to handle complaints by parents or guardians and stakeholders aggrieved on any aspect of BEAM delivery. The GHC consists of a Ward Councilor (Chair), one village head, a religious leader or repute, two children’s representatives (other than the ones in the CSC) and a Community Child Care Worker providing secretariat services to the committee. The village head and the religious leader shall be selected by the community and the tenure of the committee shall be coterminous with that of the CSC (two years). The GHC also sits as a Help Desk when the community meets to validate the prioritised BEAM list and when the community reconvenes to validate the final BEAM beneficiary lists. Furthermore, grievances can be forwarded to the Social Development Offices at district, provincial and national levels.
ASSISTANCE TO CHILDREN OF VICTIMS OF DRUG AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE IN HIGHFIELD, BUDIRIRO, GLEN NORAH AND GLEN VIEW
- *HON CHIDZIVA asked the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare to inform the House the plans being put in place to assist children of victims of drug and substance abuse living in Highfield, Budiriro, Glen Norah and Glen View.
THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC SERVICE, LABOUR AND SOCIAL WELFARE (HON. J. MOYO): Madam Speaker, children of victims of drug and substance abuse are negatively affected by parental incapacitation which compromises their care environment. As such, they are at risk of dropping out of school, subjected to all forms of violence and deprivations including ill-treatment and neglect in the face of parental incapacitation due to abuse of drugs. As such, my Ministry is mandated to provide care and protection to all children including those whose parents are abusing drugs.
Additionally, in instances where the child’s family is incapacitated and failing to provide appropriate care to a child, alternative care options can be explored which include extended family, supported community care, foster care and institutional care, which is a measure of last resort. The Ministry’s position is to promote family-based care for all children and support families through positive parenting sessions to inculcate responsive and nurturing caregiving.
I wish to inform this august House that we also have Community Cadres known as Community Child Care Workers (CCWs) who were trained on early identification and referral of children in need of care for specialist child protection services. Upon receiving cases of such children, my ministry through the Drug and Substance Abuse Unit (Community Reintegration Pillar) and the Child Protection Section provide them with Psycho-Social Support and counseling services to survivors. Online counselling services are also provided using the ministry’s toll-free number (0714647002). These psycho-social support services help to build survivors’ coping skills and restore human work and dignity. The services are available to the survivor, family members, the community and service providers at large.
My Ministry is also in the process of establishing Outpatient Psycho-Social Support Centers. Currently, our pilot projects are in Harare at Makombe Building and Bulawayo Fort Street Social Development offices. The centers are free for everyone especially children who are at risk and exposed to Drug and Substance Abuse.
To build resilience of survivors, the ministry links them to Social Protection Services, for example, vocational training for youths and adults, education assistance, food assistance, social cash transfers et cetera. In addition, the Ministry also provides health assistance to indigent survivors facing challenges in meeting medical costs.
There are interventions to prevent relapse by survivors post-rehabilitation which included follow-up visits and supervision, formation of support groups, creation and strengthening of income generating projects and Internal Savings and Lending (ISAL) schemes, strengthening parenting initiatives to encourage social networking through peer-to-peer support.
Other interventions include the following:-
- Coordinating drug and substance abuse activities at district,
province and national level. Child protection and safeguarding – statutory mandate;
- Conduct Spot Check visits to public places of entertainment
policing;
- Information dissemination through Awareness campaigns;
- Assisting the courts through the provision of Child Protection
officer’s reports in response to child protection issues;
- Providing Psycho-Social Support to the survivors and families;
- Provision of places of safety protection services to improve individual and household resilience;
- My ministry is also secretariat to the Child Protection
Committee from national to sub-national levels. These committees oversee the protection of all children in the country. Children also actively participate in these committees. I thank you.
OPERATIONS OF THE TONGOGARA REFUGEE CAMP
- HON BAJILA asked the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare to apprise the House on operations of the Tongogara Refugee Camp including its holding capacity, current population and the nationalities of its occupants.
THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC SERVICE, LABOUR AND SOCIAL WELFARE (HON. J. MOYO): Madam Speaker
Ma’am, the Tongogara Refugee Settlement has 870 hectares designated for refugee settlement. The settlement has capacity to accommodate about 500 000 refugees and asylum seekers. However, currently, the settlement has a population of plus or minus 14 000. The majority of the refugees in the country are from the Great Lakes Region mainly from the DRC, Burundi, Rwanda and some are from East Africa.
The settlement offers all facilities that are accessed by the host
community and these include education, health and other livelihood options. I thank you.
POLICY REGARDING PENSIONERS WHO DID NOT CLAIM
THEIR PENSIONS
- HON BAJILA asked the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare to inform the House the Ministry’s policy regarding pensioners who did not claim their pension prior to the multi-currency system and are only claiming it during the current multicurrency regime.
THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC SERVICE, LABOUR AND SOCIAL WELFARE (HON. J. MOYO): Madam Speaker Ma’am, the Hon. Member is informed that our pension scheme is a final salary scheme. This means, the final salary is the one used to compute pension benefits payable to members. This situation is a replica of what happened in 2009 when the economy was dollarised and the regression method was used to process and pay benefits for affected pensioners. Regression means that, pensionable emoluments as at 1st March, 2024 are regressed by 3% backwards for the purpose of determining pensionable emoluments as at date of termination of a member.
Currently, with effect from 1st March, 2024, all salaries are pegged in United States Dollars, part being paid in United States Dollar hard currency and the other part paid in United States Dollar convertible to ZIG using exchange rate on the month of payment. Public Service Commission approved the use of Regression Method stated above to pay all the benefits prior to 1st March, 2024. Treasury concurrence is being sought to pay all outstanding benefits prior to 1st April, 2024. I thank you.
DATABASE AND CATEGORISATION OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
- HON. KARITSAMATSENGA-NYAMUPINGA asked the Minister of Public Service Labour and Social Welfare to inform the House whether the Ministry has any database for persons with disabilities that categorises them in terms of their forms of disability.
THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC SERVICE, LABOUR AND SOCIAL WELFARE (HON. J. MOYO): Madam Speaker Ma’am, the ministry has District Social Welfare offices all over Zimbabwe and each district has names of all persons with disabilities in the area, types of disabilities and their contacts. It then literally means that the ministry has a database for all persons with disabilities in Zimbabwe. It is important to note that the ministry is currently in the process of coming up with a consolidated database which will be more accurate and reliable.
The ministry has also reached out to ZIMSTAT for support to roll out a nationwide comprehensive survey on persons with disabilities.
OPERATIONS OF ENTEMBENI OLD PEOPLE’S HOME IN LUVEVE
- HON BAJILA asked the Minister of Public Service, Labor and Social Welfare to apprise the House on the operations of Entembeni Old People's Home in Luveve particularly, its corporate governance and audit system including qualifications of the staff.
THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC SERVICE, LABOUR AND SOCIAL WELFARE (HON. J. MOYO): The Hon. Member is advised that Entembeni Old People’s home is a private institution which looks after old persons and the Government of Zimbabwe has an obligation to support the institution through payment of per capita and administrative grants. The ministry regularly monitors activities of these institutions. These institutions also submit reports to the ministry.
Currently, the ministry is in receipt of a monitoring report from the Provincial Development Officer for Bulawayo Metropolitan Province which highlighted challenges that the organisation is facing. The ministry will engage stakeholders including the City of Bulawayo and the management of the institution on trying to bring normalcy to the governance issues raised.
The ministry will send its auditors to look into the financial management of the institution in order to build their capacity and strengthen their internal controls.
It is not the intention of Government to take control of the institution from its current owners as they are doing a good job in complementing the efforts of Government.
DROUGHT RELIEF IN THE HIPPO VALLEY AND TRIANGLE ESTATES IN CHIREDZI
- HON. MAKAMURE asked the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare to inform the House what plans have been put in place towards drought relief in the Hippo Valley and Triangle Estates in Chiredzi which have not benefited from Government assistance and donor aid as they are considered commercial agricultural zones.
THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC SERVICE, LABOUR AND SOCIAL WELFARE (HON. J. MOYO): The Hon. Member is advised that Hippo Valley and Triangle Estates are commercial farming areas and inhabitants thereof are presumed to be workers or employees of the Sugar Estates who earn a living through the wages that they are paid. If the workers have any challenges in terms of the inadequacy of their remuneration, they must approach my Ministry through the Labour Administration Department where salaries are negotiated. If they are however genuinely indigent members of the community, they must approach District Welfare offices and be assisted through the public assistance programme.
Questions with Notice were interrupted by THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER in terms of Standing Order Number 68.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
HON. KAMBUZUMA: I move that we stand over Order of the Day Number 1 until Orders of the Day Numbers 2, 3, and 4 have been disposed of in that order.
HON. MLOTSHWA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO ZUPCO AND PRIVATE TRANSPORT OPERATORS
HON. MASHONGANYIKA: I rise to move the motion standing in my name that:
CONCERNED by the dire situation of inadequate and unreliable public transportation;
FURTHER CONCERNED with the ever-increasing number of unregistered transport operators that provide services to complement shortages in the public transportation sector;
ALARMED by the increased occurrence of incidents where innocent commuters are victims of robbery by some of the unregistered operators;
ACKNOWLEDGING the critical role played by transportation in the livelihoods of citizens and the overall development of the nation:
NOW, THEREFORE, calls upon—
(a) the Government to provide financial assistance to both the state-owned Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (ZUPCO) and private transport operators for acquisition of more public transportation vehicles;
(b) the law enforcement agencies to intensify their efforts to identify and apprehend unregistered transport operators who operate outside the purview of regulatory oversight. Additionally, it is imperative that stiffer penalties be
imposed on individuals found guilty of criminal activities such as robbery or endangerment of public safety within the transportation sector;
(c) the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe to conduct a comprehensive awareness campaign for both operators and commuters on their rights and responsibilities when using public transportation in order to promote compliance and accountability;
(d) the Government to increase its financial support to the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) so as to enhance its operations and provide safer as well as reliable alternative transportation to meet the public demand.
HON. CHIKWINYA: I second.
HON. MASHONGANYIKA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I am gravely concerned by the dire situation of inadequate and unreliable public transport in our country. This issue is compounded by the ever increasing number of unregistered transport operators attempting to fill the gaps in our public transport sector. There is a major public transport shortage in the country.
Zimbabwe, like many developing countries, faces challenges in its public transport system and currently public transport system is primarily characterised by a mix of informal mini buses known as kombis and limited conventional buses. However, the informal sector dominates the public transport sector and right now leading to issues of overloading, reckless driving, robberies and lack of adherence to safety regulations. The few registered commuter mini-buses and conventional buses are not adequate to ferry people to their destinations. This has resulted in many people using the private vehicles namely; Toyota Wish and Honda Fit, which are not fit to carry many passengers. These small vehicles are always overloaded. Some passengers will be in the boot and shockingly, in front there will be two or three passengers including the driver. These small cars can carry up to 10 passengers. Overloading and speeding of these small cars has resulted in road accidents and innocent people have been killed while some have been seriously injured. To make the situation worse, the vehicles also known as mushikashika are not even road worthy. The majority of our public transport vehicles do not adhere to safety standards leading to frequent accidents and discomfort for passengers. Lack of proper infrastructure including bus terminals and designated lands contribute to traffic congestion and inefficiency. A lot needs to be done at ranks where buses pick and drop passengers.
We are alarmed by the sad incidents where innocent commuters have fallen victim to robberies and other criminal activities perpetrated by some of these unregistered operators. Such occurrences threaten the safety and security of our citizens and thereby undermining the public trust in our transport system. As a country, we should acknowledge the pivotal role that transportation plays in the daily lives of our citizens and the broader development of our nation. There cannot be any economic development without a reliable transport system. The Government must take decisive action to address the issues of public transport.
Mr. Speaker Sir. I, therefore, call upon the government to provide financial assistance in terms of loans to both the State-owned Zimbabwe United Passengers Company (ZUPCO) and private transport operators to facilitate the acquisition of more buses and commuter omnibuses. This will enhance the capacity and reliability of our public transport system.
Law enforcement agencies to intensify their efforts to identify and apprehend unregistered transport operators. We must impose stiffer penalties on individuals found guilty of criminal activities such as robberies or endangering public safety within the transportation system.
The Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe to conduct a comprehensive awareness campaign for both operators and commuters. This campaign should emphasise their rights and responsibilities when using public transportation to promote compliance and accountability.
The government to increase its financial support to the National Railways of Zimbabwe to enhance its operations. A robust railway system will provide a safe and reliable alternative transportation option to meet public demand and the Vehicle Inspection Department to intensify regular inspections for public transport vehicles.
I will give a case study of the Dakar Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) System in Senegal. The Dakar Bus Rapid Transit system in Senegal serves as a notable example of a reliable and efficient public transport system in Africa. The implementation of the BRT system has significantly improved the quality of public transport in Dakar, offering valuable insights for Zimbabwe to consider when enhancing its public system.
The BRT system in Dakar includes dedicated lanes for buses allowing for faster and more reliable travel reducing congestion and providing a more efficient service to passengers.
The Dakar BRT system utilises a modern fleet of buses, equipped with comfortable seating, air conditioning, and accessibility features providing a more pleasant and convenient travel experience.
The BRT system in Dakar incorporates an integrated ticketing system that allows passengers to use smart cards for seamless travel. Additionally, real-time information on bus schedules and routes is readily available to passengers enhancing convenience and reliability.
The implementation of the Dakar BRT system involved the construction of modern bus stations and terminals as well as the development of dedicated bus lanes and priority signaling, contributing to the overall efficiency of the system.
The Dakar BRT system serves as an exemplary model for Zimbabwe to consider when transforming its public transport system. Zimbabwe can benefit from developing dedicated bus lanes and modern bus terminals to improve the efficiency and reliability of public transport services.
By investing in a modern fleet of buses equipped with comfort and convenience features, Zimbabwe can enhance the overall travel experience for passengers encouraging a shift towards formal public transport services. Let me take this opportunity to thank His Excellency the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe for the road rehabilitation networking.
In conclusion, Mr. Speaker Sir, implementing an integrated ticketing and information system can streamline the travel experience for passengers offering convenience and reliability.
The success of the Dakar BRT system was supported by strong regulatory frameworks and government commitment, emphasising the importance of policy support for the transformation of public transport. I thank you.
HON. CHIKWINYA: Thank you, Mr. Speaker Sir. I rise to second the motion by Hon. Mashonganyika regarding the issue of public transportation and unregistered transport operators on our roads leading to high occurrences of fatal accidents and robberies against commuters. The merits of this motion are indeed commendable in seeking to find remedies to the challenges facing the transport sector.
Mr. Speaker, to buttress the point raised by the mover, according to the Safety Council of Zimbabwe, statistics between 2015 and 2022, 14 600 people died and 74 000 were injured in road accidents. This translates to an accident happening every 15 minutes. Current statistics show that 1,545 deaths and 7,294 injuries have been recorded in the first nine months of 2023.
The Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe recorded 38,482 road accidents country-wide between January and September 2023. This translates to 141 road accidents per day and 5, 89% per hour, or one accident every 10 minutes. Over the past five years, there has been exponential research on vehicles in Zimbabwe as a result of increased importation by our citizens to the extent of overwhelming our roads. We have also noted that some drivers to a certain extent are unlicensed, under age, or have fake licences and this is a serious cause of concern.
Mr. Speaker Sir, our collective intervention as stakeholders to bring about sanity in the transport sector is required. I commend and applaud the Government of the Republic of Zimbabwe once again for a robust and considered effort in the self-evident works of massive national road rehabilitation and dualisation through His Excellency, Dr. E.D. Mnangagwa's intervention by declaring the country’s roads a state of national disaster, through Statutory Instrument 47 of 2021 and instituting the Presidential Emergency Road Programme.
Mr. Speaker Sir, he is not just a listening President but an action-oriented President. The National Policy Vision 2030 seeks to enhance the coordination and implementation of programmes and projects for the transport sector. Mr. Speaker Sir, the National Development Strategy 1 (NSD1), 2021 – 2025 states that, “some of the key national priorities of the NSD1 include economic growth and stability”. The transport sector is an enabling pillar for economic growth through infrastructure development.
To this end Mr. Speaker Sir, un-roadworthy public service vehicles and the mushikashikas which the mover has adequately covered has become an eyesore congesting our city roads and national highways impacting negatively on the smooth flow of vehicles, thereby affecting effective and reliable transport service provision in our country. Mr. Speaker Sir, I posit that the transport sector in the country faces a plethora of challenges emanating from intertwined regulatory and law enforcement frameworks we must be alive to. As we exercise our oversight and legislative role as Parliament, let me hasten to say that our major milestone would be achieved through a sound regulatory and law frameworks in the transport sector as we cannot achieve much without an effective transport system.
Mr. Speaker Sir, as part of the recommendations, I call upon the Parliament to institute legislation that empowers law enforcing agencies to deal with unscrupulous conduct in the transport sector. They are not doing us any good at all, vari kuti kanganisira zvakanyanyisa.
The use of illicit mind-altering substances and drugs as well as operating public service vehicles under the influence of alcohol must be curtailed through the provision of screening by Zimbabwe Republic Police and relevant authorities with on the spot breathalysers and blood tests and action taken.
I second that medical aid kits must be part of the requirements and measures such as fire extinguishers to ensure that the safety of the commuting public who use public service vehicles are also treated on the spot. Drivers and conductors manning buses and Kombis must be trained on basic first aid as well as a customer service provision and etiquette through relevant stakeholders from the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development.
Mr. Speaker Sir, the aforementioned challenges require collaborative synergies among the ZRP, local Authorities, VID, ZINARA and Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe among key stakeholders such as the parent Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Development and the Judiciary to consider deterrent sentences to those found guilty of traffic offences, unfair pricing models of services in the sector and non-compliance in the transport industry as already alluded to.
Therefore, Mr. Speaker Sir, we call upon the following recommendations to be considered:
- There is need for continuously standardising our Trunk road to
match or lead Regional standards and quality as we move towards Vision 2030 through the Ministry of Transport Infrastructural Development in terms of the quality of our roads, signage and carriageway markings such as is the case in Nairobi, Kenya or even our neighboring South Africa as an example we can borrow a leaf from.
- Resourcing and equipping the VID must be considered through
the fiscus from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and Investments Promotion.
- Gazetted rules must be enforced by law enforcement agencies
which include ZRP, local authorities, VID, Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe, ZINARA, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development and the Judiciary.
Mr. Speaker Sir, as part of the recommendations, the haulage and bulk goods transportation matrix must necessitate a spotlight on the Zimbabwe National Railways to be configured as an essential service though this has been alluded by the Hon. Minister in his response to a question.
The re-introduction of rail passenger’s service which will go a long way in solving current transport challenges which result in congested road accidents and robberies to our commuting public. The emerging mushikashika and other unroadworthy vehicles. The Minister reported that the programme is underway and we are grateful.
Recapitalisation of the NRZ through the Mutapa Fund is proposed for modern coaches, wagons and a standard rail track gauge that provides seamless regional introgression in the sector. Available statistics point out that in the 90s NRZ at its peak moved large volumes of goods and passengers amounting to 14.4 million tonnes of cargo against installed capacity of 18 million tons. While in 2021, NRZ transported 2,191 million tonnes of carbon against a target of 3 million tonnes.
If NRZ is back online it will lessen the impact of haulage trucks on our roads which have overcrowded and significantly contributed in damaging both intra and inner city roads in damaging both intra and inner city roads resulting in unbearable congestion.
Mr. Speaker Sir, we are happy that the construction of a new rail route for commuters and goods is being considered. In areas such as the Harare- Chitungwiza, Mabvuku and other areas as the Minister has stated.
The legacy issues bedeviling NRZ, calls for institution of a forensic assessment that is primed at finding lost information by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Development to be considered for being NRZ is a pillar in our transport sector.
Mr. Speaker Sir, we further call for the Aviation Sector through the Ministry of Transport and infrastructure development, it must not be ignored. I cite the compliance and requirements of the International Air Traffic Association (IATA) and the Yamoussoukro Declarations on 4th and 5th rights of airline on open sky policies must be implemented for the safety and convenience of goods and passengers alike. This will ensure that passengers and goods are ferried by Air transport which is an alternative and faster way of transporting both people and goods.
As I conclude Mr. Speaker, let me take this opportunity to highlight that dry ports, water ways and sea harbours play an integral role in complementing the whole transport needs in our landlocked country. The Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development must amplify the prominence of this sector by increasing the developments in the area of transportation. Therefore, Parliament needs to continuously craft practical and beneficial promises in this august House to reap meaningful of benefits in the transport sector for a continued development and growth of our country in line with Government policy of an empowered, prosperous upper middle class society by 2023. I so submit Mr. Speaker Sir, - [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] -
HON. KAMBUZUMA: I move that the that the debate do now adjourned
HON. NYANDORO: I second Mr. Speaker Sir.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 20th June, 2024.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
HON. KAMBUZUMA: Mr. Speaker Sir, I move that Order of the Day, Number 3 be stood over until Order Number 4 on today’s Order Paper has been disposed of.
HON. B. NYANDORO: I second, Mr. Speaker.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
REPORT ON THE BENCHMARKING VISITS TO SWEDEN, LATVIA AND FINLAND
HON. SHAMU: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I move the Motion standing in my name that this House takes note of the Delegation Report on the Benchmarking Visits to Sweden, Latvia and Finland held from 4th to 11th March, 2024.
HON. ZIKI: I second
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Thank you. I call upon Honorable Shamu to move his motion.
HON. SHAMU: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I will seek your indulgence on the onset, Mr. Speaker Sir, seeing that we have quiet a long report. What I will do is I will introduce the report and I will go straight to our observations and recommendations and most of the content will be available for Members of Parliament to read in the Hansard.
INTRODUCTION
The Speaker of Parliament, Hon. Advocate Jacob Francis Nzwidamilimo Mudenda, led a Parliamentary delegation on benchmarking visits to Sweden, Latvia and Finland from 4th to 11th March 2024. The Hon. Speaker was accompanied by the following Committee Chairpersons:
- Webster Shamu, Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade;
- Surrender Kapoikilu, Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Information and Communication Technology;
- Joanah Mamombe, Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Environment, Climate and Tourism; and,
- Master Makope, Acting Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, Science and Technology Development;
The overarching objectives of the visit revolved around exercising Parliamentary diplomacy through exploration of potential areas of cooperation and learning best practices in several key areas, more poignantly in the following areas of interest:
- Functions of the Committee of the Future (Artificial Intelligence and Information Communication Technology);
- Renewable Energy and Waste Management;
- Environment and Climate Change; and
- Institutions of Higher Learning and Vocational Training.
The delegation extends its profound gratitude to Ambassador Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga for providing critical support in the preparatory stages of the visits as well as impeccable administrative and logistical support during the visits. Her unwavering commitment to duty resulted in the visits being a resounding success.
In her briefing to the delegation on the operations of the Embassy, the Ambassador started by highlighting challenges and successes recorded by the Embassy this far. In the same vein, the Ambassador expressed gratitude to the President, His Excellency, Cde Dr. E.D Mnangagwa, for the continued efforts in improving the conditions of service for diplomats through timeous payment of salaries, renovation of the Chancery and its adequate furnishings.
VISIT TO SWEDEN
Tour of Strangnäs Solar Park
The Hon. Speaker’s delegation visited Strangnäs Solar Park on the 4th March 2024. The Solar Park is one of the largest solar parks in Sweden with a total installed capacity of 14 megawatts and an electricity production capacity of 13,000,000 kWh, equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of 4,650 apartments. The project provides residents with affordable and environmentally clean source of electricity, thereby contributing significantly to reduced carbon emissions.
Speaker Mudenda indicated that a project of such magnitude would be highly impactful and beneficial in the quest to have the New Parliament of Zimbabwe Building move to greener sources of energy. Speaker Mudenda further highlighted that mutual cooperation between the two countries’ similar projects would be valuable to the Zimbabwean people as the NPB solar project would catalyse such projects across the country as the country boasts of unlimited sunshine radiance compared to Sweden.
Meeting with State Secretary
In the afternoon of the 4th March 2024, Speaker Mudenda and his delegation interfaced with Swedish Secretary of State, Ms Diana Janse who shared her country’s current drive towards reforming its development aid cooperation paradigm by fostering greater strategic trade and economic partnerships with respective countries, Zimbabwe included.
Hon. Speaker Mudenda acknowledged the existing historical, political and economic ties between Zimbabwe and Sweden dating back to pre-independence. In this context and in the interest of Parliamentary diplomacy, the Hon. Speaker underscored the need for continued dialogue in order to enhance bilateral relations between Sweden and Zimbabwe for mutual benefit.
Accordingly, both sides expressed optimism in exploring further areas of cooperation, particularly in the mining and health sectors where Sweden already has discernible presence in Zimbabwe. The Hon. Speaker assured the State Secretary that property rights for both domestic and foreign investors are guaranteed by the Zimbabwe Constitution. However, the Speaker raised concern about the debilitating effects of illegal sanctions by some Western countries which have constrained the national development agenda of Zimbabwe, particularly that Zimbabwe cannot easily access foreign capital.
In the same vein, he acknowledged the devastating global effects of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on the global economies. In the spirit of Parliamentary diplomacy and in playing its role in the peaceful resolution of the conflict, the Parliament of Zimbabwe supported the establishment of the IPU taskforce on the Russia-Ukraine conflict with the view to finding a solution to end the conflict through diplomacy and dialogue.
Working Dinne
Speaker Mudenda and his delegation met business representatives from Green Business Team and Absolicon Solar Collectors augmented by industry experts and economists for a working dinner at the residence of Ambassador Misihairabwi-Mushonga.
The Green Business team led by Mrs Annika Johansson made their pitch on the development of an off-grid water purification technologies for the production of safe drinking water to the public to avert the scourge of water bourne diseases.
The second presentation was made by Mr Joakim Bystrom of Absolicon, whose theme was, ‘Decarbonising Industries with solar thermal heat: Transforming the world’s energy supply’. Mr Bysrom presented a trailblazing model that is rapidly changing the industrial ecosystem anchored on the use of solar energy. On that score, it was noted that the entity had entered into a partnership with Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) wherein the latter will be producing thermal heaters to replace traditional heating models for industries such as breweries across Zimbabwe.
Finally, Ms Angelica Lups di Cruz made a passionate plea to the delegation to preserve the country’s cultural heritage within the ambit of trade-offs in the emerging areas of carbon credits. Ms Angelica underscored the need to safeguard land as a pristine resource which is fundamental in maintaining robust biodiversity and sustainable environmental ecosystem.
Meeting with Dag Juhlin Dannfelt
On 5th March 2024, the delegation interacted with Mr. Dag Juhlin Dannfelt, Director General in the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Both sides acknowledged the long-standing cordial relations between Zimbabwe and Sweden dating back to the struggle for independence in Zimbabwe.
Speaker Mudenda expressed his concern over global peace and security issues, particularly the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle-East. He opined that the instability in the conflict regions has ultimately impacted negatively on the global economy, the supply chain of goods and services, food security and attendant humanitarian crisis. In this regard, he called for the expeditious resolution of global conflicts through Parliamentary diplomacy and dialogue.
Turning to Parliament business, Speaker Mudenda expressed Parliament of Zimbabwe’s commitment to ensuring that appropriate legislation that promotes the ease of doing business for both domestic and foreign investment is in place. To this end, Parliament of Zimbabwe had enacted legislation for the creation of the Zimbabwe Investment Development Authority (ZIDA), a one-stop-shop investment centre. Accordingly, he called on Sweden to encourage its business community to invest in Zimbabwe.
Finally, Speaker Mudenda called for the unconditional lifting of illegal sanctions which are affecting the country’s ability to access foreign capital from the Bretton Woods institutions and the Paris Club.
Lunch Meeting with the Swedish Delegation to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)
On 5th March 2024, the delegation attended a luncheon hosted by the Swedish delegation to the IPU led by the Chairperson of the group, Hon. Margareta Cedefelt. Discussions focussed on the current global conflicts and the role of parliamentary diplomacy in resolving them. Of particular interest was the Ukraine-Russia and the Middle East current conflicts. Both sides agreed that peace and security are critical in achieving sustainable development.
Furthermore, the two sides discussed the possibilities of increasing economic cooperation, particularly on renewable energy which is critical in realising accelerated industrialisation and development in Africa with minimum pollution to the environment.
With regards to labour issues in Zimbabwe, the Hon. Speaker applauded His Excellency, the President, Cde Dr. Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, for his wisdom in creating a fully-fledged Ministry of Skills Audit and Development that will inform the Government on Zimbabwe’s skills requirements. Regarding the question of labour migration asked by the host IPU Committee, Speaker Mudenda highlighted that this was a global phenomenon which is dependent on the supply and demand for labour in various economies.
Meeting with Speaker of the Riksdag (Swedish Parliament)
The Hon. Speaker’s delegation met with Dr Andreas Norlen, the Speaker of the Riksdag (Swedish Parliament) in the afternoon of 5th March 2024. Both Parliaments affirmed their commitment to fostering collaboration in strengthening Parliamentary processes through such benchmarking visits and exploring possible areas of cooperation such as in the green revolution trajectory.
In response to Dr Norlen’s question on alleged irregularities in Zimbabwe’s harmonised General elections of August 2023, Speaker Mudenda expressed deep concerns regarding the generalised nature of the EU's report on alleged election irregularities which were not clearly specified in its report. Nonetheless, Speaker Mudenda reiterated Zimbabwe's commitment to the evolving tenet of democracy and observance of the rule of law while affirming that as far as Zimbabwe’s election outcome was concerned the election was peaceful, fair and credible.
Furthermore, Speaker Mudenda proposed to his fellow Speaker the need to establish a Parliamentary Friendship Association between the two Parliaments in order to cement deeper understanding and collaboration.
Concomitantly, Hon Speaker Mudenda lauded the Swedish Government for establishing the office of ombudsman meant to receive complaints from the public on some governance issues affecting the public. Equally, Zimbabwe is concluding the establishment of an Independent Complaints Commission for the same purpose.
Speaker Mudenda extended an invitation to the Speaker of the Swedish Parliament and his delegation to visit Zimbabwe in the near future, a proposition which was well received by Speaker Mudenda’s counterpart.
Meeting with Members of the Committees on Transport and Communications, Industry and Trade as well as Environment and Agriculture
Speaker Mudenda’s delegation concluded their tour of Sweden by meeting the above named joint Parliamentary Committees. The meeting discussed the positive use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in various sectors of the economy including its use in e-commerce and sustainable environmental ecosystem. Both sides agreed on the need for a regulatory framework on how AI can be used positively in that respect.
With regards to climate change, the delegation was informed that Sweden's action plan is aligned to the EU climate change regulations. As such, Sweden has been persuaded to utilise carbon taxes domestically as it participates in the EU emissions trading system regarding the purchasing of international carbon credits as a measure to reduce carbon emissions.
In the same vein, Sweden has a robust waste management system which is driven by the natural and cultural inclination towards a clean environment.
VISIT TO LATVIA
Meeting with the Speaker of the Parliament of Latvia
The Hon. Speaker’s delegation started its engagement in Latvia on 6th March 2024 with a meeting with Hon. Daiga Mierina, Speaker of the Parliament of Latvia. The historic visit by the Parliamentary delegation from Zimbabwe was indeed instructive on the trajectory of enhanced relations between the two countries and by extension, the two legislatures.
Discussions focused on issues of mutual interest including strengthening economic, trade and people to people bilateral ties between the two countries, possible areas of cooperation between the two legislatures, current global conflict situations that threaten peace and security as well as forthcoming elections for the UN non – permanent seats by the sister Republics.
The Hon. Speaker of the Latvian Parliament unequivocally condemned what she termed Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. In this regard, she opined that the European Union unanimously stands with Ukraine and has subsequently placed issues of regional security as a priority.
On that score, Speaker Mudenda reminded his host that even the callous First and Second World Wars ended with peace round Conferences anchored on diplomacy and dialogue. In that regard, Speaker Mudenda affirmed that the attendant peace and security dividend was non-negotiable. In this context, Speaker Mudenda supported the establishment of the IPU Taskforce on the Russia-Ukraine conflict as well as the SADC initiative for the peaceful resolution of the conflicts in Northern Mozambique and the Eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
It was resolved that modalities would be put in place for the establishment of a Parliamentary Friendship Association that would strengthen the Parliamentary processes between the two legislatures.
Meeting with Mr. Kaspars Melnis, Minister of Climate and Energy
In the morning of 6th March 2024, the Speaker’s delegation met with the Minister of Climate and Energy, Mr Kaspars Melnis, with the view of learning Latvian laws and policy architecture around climate change and renewable energy.
Consequently, the Minister informed the Zimbabwean delegation that Latvia is currently engaging relevant stakeholders on the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) which sets goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by increasing renewable energy use. The NECP is augmented by the regulatory framework from the EU bloc.
Furthermore, the Zimbabwean delegation learnt that the Latvian Parliament has a Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs’) Commission that comprises Members of Parliament and works on issues related to Latvia's implementation of the United Nations SDGs’. This Commission has a Sub-committee on Climate Change that focuses on issues related to climate change in Latvia.
The delegation was informed that Independent Power Producers (IPPs) generate electricity and sell it to traders or directly to the national grid. Renewable energy sources like solar and wind are becoming increasingly central for Latvian IPPs as the country strives to increase renewable energy usage.
Latvia's approach to the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) focuses on mainstreaming its use across all sectors of the economy and governance. Additionally, the Minister advised the Zimbabwean delegation that AI is being tested for application in Latvian agriculture such as automated crop monitoring, optimising resource use and potentially improving yields. The Speaker’s delegation subsequently observed that this is an area which would be greatly beneficial to Zimbabwe on the backdrop of Zimbabwe being an agro-based economy. Relatedly, Latvia has early warning detection systems in place for a plethora of naturally occurring climate change hazards such as floods, droughts, and inclement weather patterns.
Honourable Speaker Mudenda's Visit to the Monument of Freedom in Latvia
Speaker Mudenda, accompanied by H.E. Ms. Daiga Mierina, Speaker of the Saeima (Latvian Parliament), laid wreaths at the Monument of Freedom in Latvia in the presence of a military parade. The Monument commemorates heroes and heroines who lost their lives in the pursuit of Latvian freedom and independence.
Meeting with the Latvian Economic, Agricultural, Environmental and Regional Policy Committee
The Hon. Speaker’s delegation subsequently met with Ms. Skaidrite Abrama, Chairperson of the Latvian Parliament's Economic, Agricultural, Environmental, and Regional Policy Committee (EARERPC), and its Members on the afternoon of 6th March 2024. The EARERPC holds a broad mandate that encompasses tourism development, making it the busiest Committee in Parliament. Its work spans various areas, ranging from transitioning to renewable energy and electricity market laws to animal protection and competition law. Simultaneously, the EARERPC actively encourages public participation in Parliamentary processes
Speaker Mudenda shared Parliament of Zimbabwe’s public participation process, particularly the public hearing process on proposed laws (Bills). He also highlighted that Members of Parliament can table a Private Members Bill such as the one on the abolishing of the death penalty which was tabled by an opposition Member of Parliament.
Meeting with the Latvian IT Cluster
On the 6th March 2024, Hon. Speaker Mudenda held a productive business meeting with representatives from the Latvian IT Cluster. The Latvian IT Cluster comprises several companies that have a strong accent of the use of AI and digital solutions. The meeting explored potential partnerships and collaboration opportunities between Latvian IT companies and Zimbabwe's Parliament, business and public sectors. Additionally, discussions explored various areas of collaboration, including knowledge transfer, hardware implementation, digital transformation and entrepreneurship development
Meeting with His Excellency, the President of Latvia
To crown the Hon. Speaker’s delegation working visit to Latvia, Speaker Mudenda, accompanied by H.E. Ambassador Misihairabwi Mushonga, was honoured to meet His Excellency Mr. Edgars Rinkevics, President of the of the Republic of Latvia on the 8th March 2024. President RinkevicsLatvia expressed his country’s keen interest in accelerating political, economic and trade relations between Zimbabwe and Latvia. Accordingly, the President commended Ambassador Misihairabwi-Mushonga for her spirited efforts in enhancing bilateral relations between the two sister republics.
In concurring with President Mr. Rinkevics, Hon. Speaker Mudenda expressed utmost gratitude for the support rendered to Zimbabwe and its freedom fighters during the liberation struggle. In this regard, he expressed confidence in the positive impact of the benchmarking visit in strengthening bilateral relations between the sister republics in response to His Excellency, President Mnangagwa’s mantra “ZIMBABWE IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS”.
Additionally, Speaker Mudenda highlighted the negative impact of the war in Ukraine, including imported inflation affecting global economies. He also referred to the escalating conflict in the Middle East resulting in devastating humanitarian crisis. Similarly, Speaker Mudenda bemoaned the conflicts in Africa, in particular, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo where the SADC Region had deployed peacekeeping forces as well as deploring the exponential rise in coup d’états in some parts of West Africa.
The President appealed for Zimbabwe’s support in Latvia’s bid for the UN non-permanent seat on the Security Council for 2025/2026 session. In the same vein, the President pledged that Latvia will also support Zimbabwe’s bid for the UN non-permanent seat on the Security Council in 2027/2028 session.
In the spirit of sharing perspectives on global peace and security, the President of Latvia was keen on Zimbabwe to send a delegation to attend the High-Level Peace Summit scheduled for Switzerland in 2024.
In conclusion, His Excellency, the President of Latvia asked the Speaker to deliver fraternal greetings to his brother, His Excellency, Cde Dr. E.D. Mnangagwa. Speaker Mudenda happily obliged that he would deliver the message.
VISIT TO FINLAND
Fun Academy Education and Vocational Training Introduction, AI, and Collaborations at Helsinki University Presentation on Pedagogics (Learning and Teaching)
Speaker Mudenda’s delegation met with University of Helsinki's Professors and Lecturers on 8th March 2024 in Finland. The University presented its strategic plan straddling 2021-2030 under the vision: "WITH THE POWER OF KNOWLEDGE – FOR THE WORLD." The goal of the University is to be a leading global university and a centre for "Bildung" (education emphasising personal growth). Accessibility, openness, work environment and sustainability are its key focus areas. It offers online courses and explores ways of using digital technology in education.
Aalto Startup Centre
In the afternoon of 8th March 2024, the Speaker’s delegation visited the Aalto Start-up Centre housed within Aalto University for a highly interactive and informative session. Aalto Start-up Centre, ranked 3rd among the World’s University Business Accelerator, was founded in 1997. It supports research based and innovative start-ups to build healthy, sustainable and successful businesses through training and access to tools of the trade as well as providing links with relevant key stakeholders. To date, Aalto Start-up Centre boasts of more than 600 alumni companies, employing approximately 3 200 people. This represents 80% of the start-ups that are still in existence to date, with a 500 million Euro turnover annually.
The delegation was informed that the start-ups are provided with the necessary support systems to ensure that they succeeded. Furthermore, start-up founders have platforms to interact and share experiences. One such platform is the SLUSH Conference, an annual networking conference for start-ups and venture capitalists. Commenting on the SLUSH Conference, Ambassador Misihairabwi-Mushonga applauded the initiative. However, she bemoaned the apparent lack of participation from the African countries. In order to address this, a Team comprising female African Ambassadors is exploring the idea of having an African Street during SLUSH 2024 where African First ladies would be invited to participate. Additionally, it was recommended that the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology should participate as well.
The delegation was highly impressed by the concept and the success rate. The delegation observed that the concept dovetails with the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology’s 5.0 model which seeks to refocus higher and tertiary education in Zimbabwe through the five pillars of teaching, research, community service, innovation and industrialisation anchored on cultural heritage.
Recognising the potential of creating a strategic partnership between Aalto and tertiary institutions in Zimbabwe, the Hon. Speaker extended an invitation to the representatives of the start-ups to undertake a visit to Zimbabwe and benchmark with Zimbabwe Universities’ innovation and industrial hubs. The other suggested entry point into Zimbabwe is the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) held annually in April.
Meeting with the Speaker of the Parliament of Finland
On 11th March 2024, the Speaker’s delegation interfaced with Hon. Jussi Halla-Aho, Speaker of the Parliament of Finland. The Host Speaker highlighted that the Finnish Parliament is unicameral and comprises 200 Members of Parliament representing nine political parties. The host Speaker explained that while the different political parties may differ on issues relating to socio economic, political, migration, labour markets and taxation, among other issues. However, there is always a great sense of unity when it comes to national security and foreign affairs issues.
Speaker Mudenda shared that Zimbabwe is a constitutional democracy and accordingly, Parliament seeks political synergies in its work as well as political tolerance through its Parliamentary processes such as the Committee system whose membership is proportionally drawn from political parties represented in Parliament.
Hon. Speaker Mudenda shared Zimbabwe’s position on the conflict in Ukraine to the effect that diplomacy and dialogue should be used to resolve conflicts. Furthermore, Speaker Mudenda extended his gratitude to Finland for taking in refugees from Ukraine. In this context, Zimbabwe supported the position taken by South Africa to approach the courts to ensure that international humanitarian law is respected in Middle East and that there should be a ceasefire to allow for the distribution of humanitarian aid among the victims of the conflict.
Hon. Speaker Mudenda also briefed the Host Speaker on the hot spots in Africa, namely, Mozambique, Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the coups in some countries in West Africa.
Speaker Mudenda explained that Zimbabwe continues to enjoy a peaceful environment post the August 2023 harmonised general elections. With regards to processes after the announcement of election results, Hon. Speaker Mudenda explained that an aggrieved political party or Presidential candidate is free to seek recourse from the Constitutional Court seven days after the announcement of results.
Hon. Speaker Mudenda extended an invitation to Finnish business entrepreneurs to invest in Zimbabwe as the Parliament had enacted legislation that addresses the ease of doing business through the creation of Zimbabwe Investment Development Authority (ZIDA), a one-stop- shop investment centre. Additionally, a law to govern joint ventures was enacted. He addressed the issue of property rights by advising that these are guaranteed by the Zimbabwe Constitution under the Bill of Rights.
Speaker Mudenda explained the bone of contention with the West which emanated from the Zimbabwe Government’s decision to undertake the land reform programme. He further explained that Zimbabweans took up arms in order to address the land question after the indigenous people were dispossessed by the colonial settlers as well as the issue of being denied universal suffrage. He explained that, not all white farmers were dispossessed of their land. Rather only those with multiple farms were dispossessed of the excess farms. The Zimbabwe Government, through the Second Republic led by President, Cde Dr. Mnangagwa, has put in place the compensation modalities for white farmers through a special purpose vehicle fund to pay disposed white farmers for infrastructure built on the farms by them.
The Host Speaker posed a question on whether Zimbabwe’s agriculture sector had recovered after the land reform programme. In response, Hon. Speaker Mudenda assured the Host Speaker that indeed Zimbabwe had recovered and is now food secure producing adequate maize and wheat despite unpredictable droughts from time to time. Furthermore, the country had started manufacturing fertilizers. The country also boasts of over 10 000 water bodies earmarked for irrigation schemes in the country. It is anticipated that in the medium term, Zimbabwe will be the bread basket of Southern Africa.
Finally, Speaker Mudenda expressed his hope for continued dialogue and exchange of parliamentary best practices between the two legislatures through the establishment of a Zimbabwe-Finland Friendship Association.
Meeting with Commerce and Environment Committees
The final meeting of the day was held between the Speaker’s delegation and the Finnish Parliament's Commerce and Environment Committees to share experiences and exchange best Parliamentary practices in their respective Committee Systems. The delegation was informed that the Commerce Committee primarily deals with policies related to industry, business and energy. Mr. Puisto, Chairman of the Committee, provided insights into the Committee's work in formulating and implementing regulations relative to its Portfolio. On the other hand, the Environment Committee focuses on environmental and climate change governance as well as housing regulations. Ms. Heinaluoma, Vice Chairperson of the Committee, representing the Opposition Party, elaborated on the Committee's responsibilities regarding environmental issues such as the climate change phenomenon and Finland’s renewable energy development efforts.
It was instructive to learn that the Finnish Parliament responds to an online petition that has canvassed no less than 50 000 signatures. The Speaker’s delegation was also informed that legislation is primarily initiated by Government. In that regard, the delegation was further advised that EU legislation generally takes precedence over Member States’ national legislative processes where the EU legislation affects all EU Member countries to the extent that member countries are expected to domesticate EU legislation.
The delegation was amazed to learn that the establishment of a day-care system with equal parental leave for MPs' spouses was a latest Parliamentary legislative innovation which guarantees both spouses equal parental leave opportunity as they alternate in caring for newly born children without loss of income.
The challenges posed by Finland's aging population in the social and healthcare sectors were discussed where the panacea lay in Finland’s quest to attract foreign workers to work in critical sectors of economy. The delegation was informed that Finland is exploring cooperation with other countries, such as Zimbabwe, to fill the labour market deficit.
The Speaker’s delegation learnt that Finland's government comprises four political parties. While there is no whipping system, the government leads in deciding policies and programmes.
On the pertinent matter of the establishment of a Parliamentary Friendship Association by both Parliaments, which was a recurring leitmotif during the course of Speaker Mudenda’s visit in the Nordic countries, it was noted that the matter will require a Finnish MP to table a motion in the House for consideration. Once the motion is adopted, there is no need for a Memorandum of Understanding to establish the Association. Rather the said Association would operate informally guided by issues of mutual interest.
OBSERVATIONS
The following were the observations of the delegation;
Sweden is committed to reforming its development aid cooperation paradigm by fostering greater strategic trade and economic partnerships with countries such as Zimbabwe. It has a vibrant renewable energy sector, with the Strangnäs Solar Park being one of the largest solar parks in Sweden. It was observed that Swedish companies are already present in Zimbabwe, especially in the mining and health sectors. Furthermore, there are also Swedish companies with expertise in off-grid water purification technologies, solar thermal heating systems and a well-developed waste management system that could be beneficial to Zimbabwe. The Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion be engaged to advance cooperation in this regard.
Latvia actively uses AI across various sectors of the economy, including agriculture for automated crop monitoring, resource optimization and yield improvement. It also has early warning detection systems for natural hazards such as floods, droughts, and extreme weather. In addition, Latvia uses the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change scenarios to model its national disaster risk monitoring and evaluation of its early warning systems for effective management of climate change impacts. It is, therefore, an imperative that the Ministries Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development and Environment, Climate and Wildlife be engaged to pursue possible economic ties in this respect.
Latvia acknowledges challenges faced by its SMEs, including limited access to proper retail space and financial models. The Latvian government offers a 40% capital investment cost return to established SMEs and provides support to young farmers and environmentally friendly SMEs. It also actively encourages public participation in the legislative process. Stakeholders can submit electronic questions to Parliament, access proposed laws for comment and attend Committee meetings which are often open to the public. Latvia's online parliamentary platforms enable the public to follow Committee debates and directly raise issues with Committee Members or the Chairperson of that Committee. The Ministry of Women Affairs, Small and Medium Enterprises should investigate possible collaboration with its counterpart in Latvia. Parliament should intensify online public hearings.
The delegation observed that Zimbabwe can leverage technology in education bearing in mind that AI has the potential to personalise learning and improve educational outcomes. Zimbabwe could consider establishing a framework for the ethical use of AI in Educational Technology, similar to the University of Helsinki. The Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Innovation and Technology Development could promote student innovation by encouraging universities to create programmes that support student entrepreneurship, such as Aalto Start-up Centre's Business Generator programme. The delegation observed that building partnerships between universities and industries can lead to successful innovation hubs by replicating the model between Aalto University and Aalto Start-up Centre.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The Ministry of Energy and Power Development should adopt similar Swedish policies to promote renewable energy, such as building solar parks.
The Ministry of Energy and Power Development and ZINWA should collaborate with Sweden to develop green investment projects in Zimbabwe, such as off-grid water purification and solar thermal heating systems.
The Ministries of Environment, Climate and Wildlife as well as Local Government and Public Works should study Sweden's waste management system and develop a more robust system in Zimbabwe.
The Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology and Courier Services should develop a regulatory framework for the use of AI in various sectors of the economy, such as agriculture, to improve efficiency and productivity, Meteorological Services Department and the Civil Protection Department to develop early warning detection systems and disaster risk monitoring and evaluation for effective management of climate change impacts.
The Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology and Courier Services should establish a legal framework for data privacy cybercrime control. As Zimbabwe adopts new technologies, it should ensure there are laws in place to protect student data privacy, similar to Finland's CURRECHAT platform as well as control AI application abuse.
The Ministry of Women Affairs, Community and SMEs Development should implement supportive policies for SMEs, including financial models and improved access to retail space.
Zimbabwe should invest in research and development and support research into AI applications for education and other sectors as guided by the President’s policy directives.
Zimbabwe should explore ways to attract Zimbabweans working abroad back to Zimbabwe similar to Finland's efforts to address their aging population and diaspora home investment.
Zimbabwe should participate in international conferences such as SLUSH Africa to expose Zimbabwean start-ups to potential investors and collaborators.
Zimbabwe should explore opportunities for increased economic cooperation with Sweden, including attracting Swedish investment to the country more than the current status.
The Parliament of Zimbabwe should consider a research support system for MPs that involves providing them with access to AI-powered research tools once a development strategy is in place.
Re-cognisant of the cross-cutting nature of AI, Parliament of Zimbabwe should establish an expanded Committee of the Future comprising Chairpersons of Thematic and Portfolio Committees.
The Parliament of Zimbabwe should establish a Parliamentary Friendship Associations with the Swedish Parliament (Riksdag), Latvia and Finland in order to solidify parliamentary diplomacy and foster collaboration on issues of mutual Parliamentary interest.
CONCLUSION
The delegation expresses its gratitude to the Government of Zimbabwe and the Parliament of Zimbabwe for affording it the opportunity to undertake the benchmarking visits which will undoubtedly enhance Parliamentary processes in Zimbabwe.
HON. MAKOPE: Thank you Mr. Speaker for affording me this opportunity to add my voice on the motion or report presented by Hon. Shamu on benchmark visit to Sweden, Latvia and Finland. I think Zimbabwe as a nation can borrow a leaf from the best practices which are being done by other nations in the world, particularly the global north, those nations which are advanced in technology as well as other sustainable development.
I want to second some of the recommendations which have already been made by Hon. Shamu in this engagement. The re-engagement and re-engagement as has been the mantra by His Excellency the President, Dr. E.D. Mnangagwa and also treating all other nations as friends because Zimbabwe is a friend to all and enemy to none. It is also enshrined in the NDS 1 that through technology as well as parliamentary diplomacy of this nature, we can improve the standards of living of our people.
Mr. Speaker, I want to touch on the success stories of nations such as Sweden. In Sweden, the smart solar energy at their Stragnass Solar Park, it produces energy which is enough to supply more than 5 000 households per annum. That energy is connected to their main grid. So, I think we can leverage on their knowledge as well as their cooperation because we have very good relations with countries such as Sweden since independence.
Countries such as Sweden receive sunshine for a short period of time, probably two to three hours because those nations are in arctic regions in the far north and receive sunshine at an acute angle. Back home in Africa, Zimbabwe in particular, we receive sunshine for more than nine hours, especially in the summer season. So, we can use that energy which is with us and I believe such are low hanging fruits that Zimbabwe can take advantage of and reduce this energy crisis that we are mourning everyday because we have the resources at hand already as compared to those countries. They have solar and water heaters. In fact, they have technology in energy which answer all their day to day challenges that I think we can also learn to do.
Let me touch again on the artificial intelligence aspect. This is the way to go Hon. Speaker. As a nation, we should also embrace the artificial intelligence in all sectors of our economy. The Committee has already recommended the establishment of the Committee of the Future in this Parliament. The Committee of the Future is a bit futuristic. It is a Committee that focuses on the future trends of socio-economic aspects of our society. How does it operate?
Mr. Speaker, the Committee of the Future, if it is well established at this Parliament, when we are crafting the policies or laws which govern our nation, we will look at the future trends and then we will respond by crafting a policy which responds to that particular eventuality. Let me give a very good example, if we can take the data that we have in our census. If we input that data using the artificial intelligence gadgets which some nations have such as Finland, they can predict the population distribution density, death rate and mortalities for 40 – 50 years to come. Then when you are crafting the policy, as a nation we respond to such situations. So, that Committee of the Future, I think is of paramount importance for us to establish as Parliament.
Artificial intelligence Mr. Speaker, as I have already alluded to, is the way to go. I propose that if we establish a National Artificial Intelligence Research Centre that can be dedicated to advancing artificial research and development, this centre will serve as a hub for innovation and collaboration.
Increase funding for research and development: allocate a significant portion of the national budget to support research projects with a focus on AI applications.
Promote Public-Private Partnerships: encourage collaboration between Government, private sector and international partners to drive innovation.
Develop AI Education Programmes: integrate AI and digital literacy into the national curriculum to prepare our youth for the future job market.
Support Startup and Innovators: provide grants and incentives to startups and innovators working on AI solutions.
Proposals for the Committee of the Future:
To ensure Zimbabwe is well prepared to navigate the complexities of the future, I propose the establishment of an expanded Committee of the Future within our Parliament. This committee should comprise the Chairpersons of Thematic and Portfolio Committees reflecting the cross cutting nature of AI and other emerging technologies.
Mandate of the Committee
Strategic foresight: the committee will engage in continuous analysis of global technological trends and their potential impact on Zimbabwe, providing strategic recommendations to Government.
Policy development: collaborate with various stakeholders to develop forward looking policies that promote innovation, economic growth and social well-being.
Ethical guidelines: formulate guidelines to ensure the ethical use of AI protecting citizens rights and fostering public trust in technological advancements.
Capacity building: advocate for educational reforms and skill development programmes that prepare Zimbabwean workforce for future job markets.
Inter committee collaboration: facilitate coordination among different parliamentary committees to ensure a cohesive and integrated approach to future challenges.
Investing in research and development with focus on AI applications is not merely an option but a necessity for Zimbabwe to thrive in the 21st Century. By learning from the successes of Sweden, Latvia and Finland and aligning our efforts with the President’s vision, we can transform our education system, boost our economy and improve the lives of all Zimbabweans.
I urge this esteemed House to support this motion and commit a future where Zimbabwe stands as a beacon of innovation and progress.
HON. KAMBUZUMA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. NYANDORO: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 20th June 2024.
On the motion of HON. KAMBUZUMA seconded by HON. NYANDORO, the House adjourned at Six o’clock p.m.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Tuesday, 18th June, 2024.
The National Assembly met at a Quarter-past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER in the Chair)
*HON. NYABANI: Thank you Hon. Speaker, I rise on a matter of national interest. Yesterday, 17th June, we were commemorating the degradation of the environment world-wide, or I would say we were looking at the causes of deserts. I once stood up in this House asking a question to the Minister of Agriculture with regards to conservation of soil because soil is life. If the soil is not conserved, it means our country will become a desert and people will die of hunger. All our dams are silted. It is cheaper to construct a dam than to desilt dams. Dams are being built, but what is Government doing to ensure that they do not continue to stop sitation Soil is being eroded every year. The Minister answered and said there is no kugadzira madhunduru. AGRITEX officers who are supposed to do that are said to be housed in provincial capitals and the department only has three officers. This means that after 30 years, this country will be a desert. It is important that we should preserve our environment…
*THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon. Nyabani, may you please move a motion with regards to this important issue.
*HON. NYABANI: Thank you Hon. Speaker Ma`am.
*HON. CHIKOMO: Thank you Madam Speaker and good afternoon.
*THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Good afternoon to you too Honourable.
*HON. CHIKOMO: My point of national interest is with regards to solving issues. There were ways of conveying the message to the Creator. For example, if there was a drought, beer would be brewed by old men and women. If there was a problem with wild animals attacking the community, people would go to sacred places and speak to the ancestors about this.
As a country or Government, what is our generation doing in order to resolve our conflicts through God our Creator so that we do not continue to suffer? For example, we had a drought in Zimbabwe this year, what actions have we done in terms of prayer so that we will not encounter another drought? We have disease outbreaks, weak currency and so on – what is Government doing so that there is God’s intervention?
*THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: As far as I am concerned, these issues are dealt with by the responsible people. However, you have asked this House whether it is being done or not, I think it would be prudent if you would ask the Minister responsible for culture tomorrow.
*HON. CHIKOMO: Thank you Hon. Speaker.
HON. CHIGUMBU: I am rising on a point of national interest pertaining to the arrest of Zimbabwean citizens who had gathered at a private property to have a private meeting – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.]-
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: May we have order in the House – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.]- May we have order. Please continue Hon. Member.
HON. CHIGUMBU: I would like to draw your attention and the attention of this House to the inhuman treatment that was subjected to …..
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon. Chigumbu, if it is in connection with the arrest of people, we cannot discuss that in this House. You can ask the Hon. Minister concerned tomorrow during question time if you have got some issues. We cannot discuss those issues and I cannot give a ruling on that arrest of citizens in this country.
HON. CHIGUMBU: If you can indulge me Hon. Madam Speaker.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: No, please may you take your seat. I have already ruled – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.]-
COMMITTEE STAGE
RESUMPTION OF CONSIDERATION OF THE ADVERSE REPORT BY THE PARLIAMENTARY LEGAL COMMITTEE ON STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS NUMBERS 17, 18, 23, 24, 32, 33, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42 AND 52 OF 2024
First Order read: Committee Stage: resumption of the consideration of an Adverse Report by the Parliamentary Legal Committee on Statutory Instruments No. 17, 18, 23, and 24 of 2024, published in the Gazette during the month of February, 2024 and Statutory Instruments Nos. 31, 32, 33, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, and 52 of 2024, published in the Gazette during month of March 2024.
House in Committee.
There being no debate having arisen
HON. NDUDZO: Thank you for recognising me. I will consider the absence of any debate or contribution to the contrary as acceptance by the whole Committee of the proposal and I accordingly submit that the resolution by the Parliamentary Legal Committee must accordingly be adopted as such. Thank you Mr. Chairman.
House resumed.
HON. NDUDZO: Thank you Madam Speaker. I now, with leave, move that this House having given consideration to the Report of the Parliamentary Legal Committee on Statutory Instruments Number 17, 18, 23, and 24 of 2024 published in the Gazette during the month of February 2024 and Statutory Instruments Number 31, 32,33,38,39, 40, 41, 42 and 52 of 2024 published in the Gazette during the month of March 2024, resolves that the Statutory Instruments would, if enacted, be in contravention of the enabling Act. I thank you.
Motion put and agreed to.
Report adopted.
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER
NON-ADVERSE REPORT RECEIVED FROM THE PARLIAMENTARY LEGAL COMMITTEE
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER (HON. T. ZHOU): Order, Order! I have received a non-adverse report from the Parliamentary Legal Committee on the Criminal Laws Amendment [Protection of the Children and Young Persons] Bill, [H.B. 4A, 2024].
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Madam Speaker, I now move that Orders of the Day, Numbers 2 to 4 be stood over until Order of the Day, Number 5 has been disposed of.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE JUDICIAL SERVICE COMMISSION FOR
THE YEAR 2023
Fifth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the Judicial Services Commission for the year 2023.
Question again proposed.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Madam Speaker. I want to thank Hon. Members from both sides for having been very much satisfied by the report that the Judicial Services Commission tabled through me before the august House. I now move that the report that has been laid before Parliament be adopted.
Motion that this House takes note of the Report of the Judicial Service Commission for the year 2023, presented to this House of Parliament in terms of Sections 253 and 323 (1) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, put and agreed to.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am. I move that we move to Order of the Day, Number 6 on the Order Paper.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
ADMINISTRATION OF THE NATIONAL CADASTRE
SYSTEM TO THE ZIMBABWE NATIONAL GEOSPATIAL
AND SPACE AGENCY
Sixth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the establishment of the Electronic Cadastre and Mining Cadastre systems.
Question again proposed.
HON. DHLIWAYO: Thank you Madam Speaker for allowing me to add my voice to the motion raised by Hon. Mhuri on the Cadastre system. Let me give a brief background of how the Cadastre system was adopted in Zimbabwe.
The objective was to have a national Cadastre system, but the Government decided they could not start with a national Cadastre system. Therefore, they started with something like a pilot study. So, a mining Cadastre system was established, but the objective was not a mining Cadastre system. It was a national Cadastre system. What is a Cadastre? A cadastre refers to information that concerns a land unit. So, that information may be the natural endowments that a country has. It may be the land that we have for cultivation. That is what we call a cadastre. Therefore, a system that manages the way these natural resources are utilised, that is the one that we call a cadastre system.
When the cadastre system was introduced, a mining cadastre was a pilot study to enhance our understanding of how this cadastre system would work, Madam Speaker. I will therefore support the motion that the cadastre system must be housed under Zimbabwe National Geospatial and Space Agency (ZINGSA). At the same time, it should be a national cadastre system. It should not be just a mining cadastre system.
While the Surveyor General’s Department can offer variable inputs with regard to the cadastre system, I doubt it may have enough capacity to manage the cadastre system, therefore it may remain giving or supporting ZINGSA when it comes to establishing the cadastre system, but I do not think it has the capacity to run the national cadastre system. Thus, the Surveyor General’s Department can continue to offer its technical expertise while the system is housed under ZINGSA.
Coming to the urgent need to have the cadastre system, that cannot be over-emphasised. As a nation, we are in pursuit of our vision 2030 where our President, Dr. E.D. Mnangagwa is on record saying by the year 2030, Zimbabwe must be an upper middle income economy, a vision that we cannot afford if we cannot account for the natural resources that we have in a nation. It is therefore of paramount importance that we have a clear account of our natural resource base, our natural endowments. It is one thing to be highly naturally endowed and another to know what we are holding, what we account for when it comes to our natural resources.
So, accounting for our natural resource through a consolidated national cadastre system will expedite or boost our economic growth trajectory and help in achieving our vision 2030. I therefore support the motion by Hon. Mhuri that this must be expedited and we must have a consolidated national cadastre system that will help us as a nation to have a thorough understanding of the resources that we are holding upon each and every unit of land. I so submit. God Bless Zimbabwe. Thank you.
HON. BUTAU: Thank you Madam Speaker and good afternoon. Thank you very much for affording me this opportunity to debate on the national cadastre system, the motion which was moved by Hon. Mhuri.
I strongly believe that a national cadastre system is essential for our country’s economic growth, efficient management and social equity. A cadastre system is a comprehensive repository of land ownership and usage data. Its implementation will have far reaching benefits for our nation. Let me go through the following points in support of my argument; the first one is improved land administration. A national cadastre system will streamline land administration, reducing errors and increasing transparency. It will provide a single source of truth for land ownership, boundaries and usage preventing disputes and fraud.
The second point Madam Speaker is enhanced economic development. It enhances economic development by providing a clear and a secure record of land ownership. A cadastral system will attract foreign investment, stimulate economic growth and increase property values. It will also enable effective land use planning, infrastructure development and resource allocation.
Let me go to the third point Madam Speaker, which is efficient land use and management. The cadastral system will enable optimal land use, reducing conflicts between different land users such as agriculture, conservation and urban development. It will also facilitate the identification of vacant or underutilised land for development projects.
The fourth one, Madam Speaker, is social equity and empowerment. The national cadastre system will protect the rights of land owners, particularly vulnerable groups like indigenous communities and small-scale farmers. It will provide a formal recognition of their land ownership, security of tenure and access to credit and social services.
Madam Speaker, let me conclude by saying the national cadastre system is crucial for our country’s economic growth, efficient land management and social equity. It will provide a foundation for sustainable development, transparency and accountability. Let us embrace this vital tool for our national progress. So I submit Madam Speaker. Thank you.
+HON. GUMEDE: Thank you Madam Speaker. I have a question to ask about this cadastre system. What is it for? We want it to be precisely explained to us so that we can explain to our constituents. Yes, we can hear that it is good. We have heard them explaining how it works, that its objective is to put livelihoods in a good place and conserve the environment.
It is good that we should look after the environment properly so that we know when to start and when to stop. We have such public places as in Matobo and Njelele just as an example. If we put this system in place, what will be done about these places which should be accessed by the public, for instance Njelele, a cultural centre? So as black people, we want to know if this system is in place, we will be able to access where we are supposed to do our traditional and cultural rights. That is the question. I want to know how we are going to handle such cultural centres which will be accessed by the public if the Cadastre system is in place? If this Cadastre system is in place, are you going to be able to access those traditional centres where we do our rituals? That is the question I have.
There are things that I would like to know, this Cadastre system, if I cannot explain it clearly, how am I going to tell the people in my constituency about it to understand what it is? Therefore, we request to know who is going to put it in place and how. What law is going to be put in place to effect it so that we can understand it? Actually, I understood this and I will go and give feedback to our constituents in accordance with how we have understood it so that our people can be able to accept and understand it. I thank you.
HON. MATINENGA: I debate on the issue of languages. I think there is need for that correction.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Noted.
HON. B. JAMES: Madam Speaker, just a short note on the Cadastre system. I would prefer to know much about it in detail, but to me it is where we implement to gather information on farming, land issues and mining issues. Our concern is that the Cadastre system extends into whole entities in the top fund. If not funded, the Cadastre system will not be complete and probably with reconsiderations. Thank you.
HON. ZIKI: I would just like to add a few points, just to add my voice to this debate. The national Cadastre system is a centralised registry of land ownership and use, typically maintained by a Government, agency or by department. It provides comprehensive and standardised record of land parcels, including information such as ownership, details, boundaries and special data, land use and zooming, property values and taxation, historical transactions as well as records.
The main objectives of this national Cadastre system is to ensure secure and transparent land ownership, facilitate efficient land administration and management, support urban and regional planning, enhance land valuation and taxation, and to reduce land disputes and conflicts.
So, over and above all the other reasons that have been stated here by Members who spoke before me, a national Cadastre system is quite a necessity as we have gone through all the reasons why it should be done. My submission here Madam Speaker is that, it is a necessity for economic reasons and collection of taxes. We all know that we are in a situation whereby we need to boost our taxation. Therefore, this is another way of raising taxes. I so submit.
HON. DHLIWAYO: Thank you. I am not sure if Hon. Gumede has been answered. She wanted a full comprehension to understand…
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon. Dhliwayo Order! This is not a question and answer session. We are debating a motion. So, the things that were raised, were the questions and concerns, but through a debate.
HON. DHLIWAYO: Thank you Madam Speaker.
HON. KAMBUZUMA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. MUSHORIWA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 19th June, 2024.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
HON. KAMBUZUMA: Madam Speaker ma’am, I move that Order of the Day Number 7 be stood over until Orders of the Day Numbers 8, 9 and 10 are disposed of in that order.
HON. MUSHORIWA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON DEFENCE, HOME AFFAIRS, SECURITY AND WAR VETERANS AFFAIRS ON THE PETITION FROM THE CHILDREN OF WAR VETERANS AND HEROES DEPENDANTS FORUM
HON. NGULUVHE: I move the motion standing in my name that this House considers and adopts the Report of the Portfolio Committee on Defence, Home Affairs, Security Services and War Veterans’ Affairs on the Petition from the Children of War Veterans and Heroes’ Dependants Forum on the Economic Empowerment for War Veterans and their Dependants.
HON. KAITANO: I second.
HON. NGULUVHE:
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Pursuant to Section 149 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, Children of War Veterans and Heroes Dependants Forum petitioned Parliament of Zimbabwe on the need to exercise its oversight and legislative functions and ensure that government implements the Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Act (Chapter 17:12) herein referred to as the Act, in order to address their issues. Accordingly, the petition was referred to the Portfolio Committee on Defence, Home Affairs, Security Services and War Veterans Affairs herein referred to as the Committee for consideration. Thus, the Committee conducted an enquiry into the issues raised in the petition. This report is a summary of the key findings, observations and recommendations made by the Committee.
2.0 OBJECTIVE OF THE ENQUIRY
The broad objective of the enquiry was to consider the prayer by the petitioners with a view to recommend action for the relief sought.
3.0 METHODOLOGY
The Committee undertook the following activities in gathering evidence;
3.1 It received oral evidence from the petitioners in order to get first-hand information on specific issues that needed to be addressed;
3.2 It interviewed Permanent Secretaries for the Ministry of Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Affairs; the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Resettlement; the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development, and the Chief Executive for Zimbabwe Lands Commission in order to get explanations and responses to the issues raised in the petition;
3.3 It also received oral evidence from War Veterans League in order to get their views on issues raised by the petitioners.
3.4 It conducted public hearings in Lupane, Bulawayo, Gwanda, Gweru, Masvingo, Mutare, Kadoma, Harare, Marondera and Bindura.
3.5 The Committee analysed and deliberated on all the evidence gathered and this formed the basis of this report.
4.0 PETITIONERS PRAYER
The Children of War Veterans and Heroes Dependants Forum beseeched Parliament to exercise its constitutional role and address the following issues;
- Amend the definition of “dependant” in the Act to include dependants who are over 18 years who require fees assistance for higher and tertiary education,
- Amend the Act to include a provision on respect, honour and recognition of the Veterans of Liberation Struggle,
- Exercise its oversight role in terms of section 119 (2) and ensure that the constitutional rights on benefits of war veterans are upheld.
- Ensure evictions of heroes’ dependants on allocated land are halted.
- Ensure sufficient allocation of money for the Liberation Struggle Fund to enable full realisation of the welfare of war veterans and their dependants.
- COMMITTEE`S FINDINGS
5.1 Definition of the Dependant in the Act
Section 2 (a) of the Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Act (Chapter 17:12) defines a “Dependant as a child, including a step child, legally adopted child or child born posthumously, who has not attained the age of 18 years and is or was at the date of death of the veteran of the liberation struggle concerned dependant upon him or her for support”. The petitioners found this definition restrictive in that a child gets to Form 6 usually at 18 years. The petitioners sought a broader definition of a dependant so that dependants can still access educational assistance beyond 18 years, especially for higher and tertiary education.
Mr. C. Mpambela, the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Affairs highlighted that his Ministry in providing educational benefits to children of war veterans was guided by the provisions of the Act. Whilst acknowledging the challenges being faced by children when accessing tertiary education assistance, he submitted that these could be addressed administratively without amending the Act. He noted that the current legislation has some inconsistencies which needed to be addressed. Reference was made to Section 12.2 (a) (ii) of the Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Act which states that: “The Minister shall, in consultation with the Ministry of Finance, by Statutory Instrument, prescribe Educational Benefits to a Veterans of the Liberation Struggle, /his or her spouse and his or her Dependant, which shall consist of Education Assistance at a Government Primary, Secondary, Higher and Tertiary Educational Institution.'' On the other hand, Statutory Instrument 281 of 1997 states that, “educational benefit will be extended to those who are above 18 years provided that the studies were or the training was commenced while the beneficiary was below the age of 18 years and are being pursued on a full-time basis”.
During public hearings, participants across the country confirmed that some of the children of war veterans who are above 18 years were being denied educational assistance benefit by the Ministry of Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Affairs. In addition, they expressed concern that for a few who were being assisted, there were delays in fees payments to relevant tertiary institutions, resulting in many disturbances such as failure to attend lectures, risk of dropping out and failure to access results and certificates. A proposal was made for the amendment of the Act to provide for education assistance to children of war veterans who are over 18 years so that they will learn up to professional doctorate degree.
Concerns were further raised on alleged favouritism and nepotism in the selection of learners under the Presidential Scholarship Programme and thereby sidelining majority of children of war veterans. They proposed that at least 25% of these students should be children of war veterans.
5.2 Respect, Honour and Recognition of the Veterans of Liberation Struggle
Section 23 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe provides for the need to respect, honour and recognise veterans of liberation struggle. The petitioners noted with concern that the issue of respect, honour and recognition to Veterans of the Liberation Struggle was a constitutional requirement which the Ministry of Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Affairs should take seriously. The Act was regarded as lacking in this regard, resulting in respect, honour and recognition of veterans in all spheres of Government and private institutions. For that reason, they called for the amendment of the Act to clearly provide in practical ways, the practical measures for according respect, honour and recognition to Veterans of the Liberation Struggle as stated in section 23 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
Some of the practical measures included leading processions during significant national commemoration gatherings such as Independence, Heroes and Unity Days. They also proposed issuance of identity cards and bravery medals to recognise their distinct categories. As a sign of respect, they expected timeous provision of funeral assistance before the burial of the deceased veteran.
Mr. C. Mpambela maintained that, to a large extent, the Act recognises the provisions of Section 23 of the Constitution. He indicated that the request by petitioners could still be met administratively and may not warrant amendment to the legislation. He informed the Committee that since 2022, arrangements were being made for veterans to have their own sitting arrangements on national events. They had also in the past participated in processions such as the Anti Sanctions Marches. Furthermore, plans were underway for them to play a significant role during Independence Day Celebrations and other national events such as Heroes Day Commemorations. He informed the Committee that the process of issuing medals resumed in 2023 and that the award of Independence medals to War Collaborators and Non-Combatant Cadres could continue in future. The Ministry concured with the petitioners on the need for issuance of identity cards for war veterans.
Participants across all the provinces during hearings concurred with petitioners that the war veterans were not accorded the respect, honour and recognition at most State functions, in private organisations such as banks and in various government offices. They proposed a distinct visible mark like a liberation war medal or badge or identity card to enhance their recognition wherever they are. Participants further proposed that war veterans be given a quota in Senate as a sign of recognition.
- 20% Quota Benefit Over Gazetted State Land
Section 21 (1) of the Veterans of Liberation Struggle Act which states that, "Veterans of the liberation struggle are entitled to be resettled on and receive holdings of land within the allocation made for the benefit of such veterans of twenty per cent (20%) of gazetted State land, and to receive in relation to such land the same rights of tenure as other resettled persons have." The petitioners lamented that the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Resettlement was not meeting the requirement of this provision. Thus, the petitioners felt that their rights were being violated.
Professor O. Jiri, the Permanent Secretary for Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Resettlement and Commissioner T. Bare, the Chief Executive Officer for Zimbabwe Lands Commission, acknowledged that the 20% qouta was not being complied with as war veterans only occupied 6% of the redistributed land. During public hearings, war veterans were in support of the petitioners and urged the Ministry to comply with the 20% quota.
- Evictions of Heroes’ Dependants from Allocated Land
The petitioners expressed concern that some surviving spouses and dependants of departed heroes were being evicted from allocated land. They alleged that most of these evictions were spearheaded by corrupt officials from Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Resettlement. They also cited cases where repossessions by the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Resettlement were done without fulfilling the provisions of Section 21 (3) of the Veterans of Liberation Struggle Act. It states that, "If for any reason, an Offer letter or any other tenure right is lawfully withdrawn from a veteran of the liberation struggle who wishes to engage in agricultural or any other economic activity on the land, such veteran shall be entitled to, within a reasonable time, be resettled on another piece of gazetted land of equivalent size."
Prof. O. Jiri, the Permanent Secretary for Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Resettlement confirmed that he was aware of the evictions and that most of them were being done by corrupt Ministry officials. The Ministry was now rotating Provincial Lands officers with a view to curb these tendencies. He encouraged the petitioners to report the illegal evictions for remediation. On lawful repossession, Prof Jiri emphasised that his Ministry was complying with the provisions of Section 21 (3) of the Veterans of Liberation Struggle Act. Members of the public, during hearings, expressed similar sentiments regarding the conduct of Ministry Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Resettlement officials on evictions.
- Economic Empowerment of War Veterans
Section 23 (2) of the Constitution which states: - “State must take reasonable measures for the welfare and economic empowerment of veterans of the liberation struggle”. The petitioners felt that the government had done very little to fulfil this constitutional provision. They bemoaned that the majority of war veterans and their dependants were wallowing in abject poverty as they could not fully engage in economic activities due to lack of capital. Some had sustained injuries and the low monthly pay-outs could not sustain them.
Mr. C. Mpambela, the Secretary for the Ministry of Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Affairs submitted that Part III of the Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Act [Chapter 17:12] clearly spelt out benefits and schemes for Veterans of the Liberation Struggle, their spouses and dependants which included basic pension, a once-off gratuity depending on availability of resources, educational benefits, medical and dental benefits as well as funeral assistance.
War veterans and their affiliates submitted that the Government has done very little to uplift them from poverty. They proposed an increment in their monthly pensions to Warrant Officer Class I (WO1), capitalisation of their ailing projects, tax exemptions on both land and vehicle imports tax, free parking in cities and exemptions from toll fees.
They pointed out that Government, through the War Victims Compensation Fund, had only catered for the visible physical scars of veterans whilst the disabilities of Veterans of the Liberation Struggle far exceeded mere physical visible scars but included mental and emotional scars such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and various neurotic disorders which had not been attended to. They proposed for the establishment of government funded specialised medical care centres to cater for war victims.
5.6 Liberation Struggle Fund
Mr. C. Mpambela, the Secretary for the Ministry of Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Affairs concurred with the petitioners that the Liberation Struggle Fund meant to cater for the welfare of war veterans and their dependants was underfunded. This had resulted in constrained welfare improvement for war veterans. Both the Ministry and petitioners proposed that Parliament should ensures that Treasury allocates sufficient funds to the Liberation Struggle Fund during budget approval.
6.0 COMMITTEE`S OBSERVATIONS
The Committee observed the following:
- Educational Assistance
- There are inconsistences in the legislation in that on one hand, the Act provides for assistance for higher and tertiary education to heroes’ dependants while such benefit can only be enjoyed when the dependants commence such studies below 18 years.
- In the majority of cases, students enrol for higher and tertiary education when they are over 18 years, thereby failing to access support under this Act
- Respect, Honour and Recognition
- Whilst the Constitution in Section 23 underscores the need to respect, honour and recognise war veterans, the Act did not provide the practical measures for the realisation and enjoyment of such accolades.
- 20% Quota Benefit Over Gazetted Land
- That there was under allocation of land to war veterans violating the provisions of the Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Act (Chapter 17:12) by Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Resettlement.
- Evictions from Farms
- The Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Resettlement was failing to supervise Lands officers resulting in illegal evictions of beneficiaries.
- The Committee was appalled by the acknowledgement from the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Resettlement that their officers were engaging in corruption without any stringent measure taken against such officers.
- Economic Empowerment
- The Committee expressed concern that 44 years after independence, Government has not taken practical steps to ensure that war veterans get treatment for post traumatic disorders.
- Government has not taken practical steps to empower war veterans economically by providing adequate resources for the War Veterans Fund.
7.0 COMMITTEE`S RECOMMENDATIONS
The Committee recommends the following:
- Educational Assistance
- That the Ministry of Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Affairs should harmonise the Veterans of Liberation Struggle Act Chapter 17:12 and Statutory Instrument 281 of 1997 by 31 December 2024.
- The Minister should amend the Statutory Instrument in such express terms, to ensure that dependants who are over 18 years continue to access support for higher and tertiary education regardless of whether such studies commenced when they were below 18 or not.
- With effect from third term 2024, the Ministry of Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Affairs should ensure timeous payment of school fees for children of war veterans currently on its list of beneficiaries.
- That Ministry of Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Affairs should formally engage tertiary institutions by 31 July 2024 to allow continuous learning for war veterans' dependants whilst fees payment is being processed.
- Respect, Honour and Recognition
- That the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs should submit an Amendment to the Constitution to provide for a quota in Senate for war veterans by 30 June 2025.
- That the Ministry of Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Affairs should consider the following in order to ensure that war veterans are respected, honoured and recognised.
- Timely payment of funeral assistance within three days of the reported death of a war veteran.
- Going forward, war veterans should be recognised during State occasions by awarding medals and provide dedicated sitting space for them.
- Should issue identity cards which give war veterans priority in government offices by 31 December 2024.
- 20% Quota Benefit Over Gazetted Land
- That the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Resettlement should adhere to the provisions of Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Act (Chapter 17:12) in all its next land allocations.
- Rampant Evictions from Farms and Mines
- That the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Resettlement going forward, must ensure that compensation and provision of an alternative land of equal size is done when repossessing land from war veterans in terms of Section 21 (3) of the Veterans of Liberation Struggle Act.
- Economic Empowerment
- That the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare should review and adjust monthly pensions for war veterans and ex-political prisoners equivalent to that of a Warrant Officer Class 1's salary in the Zimbabwe National Army by 31 July 2024.
- That the Ministry of Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Affairs in collaboration with Ministry of Health and Child Care, should establish at least one specialised medical care unit for war victims at provincial hospitals by 31 December 2025.
8.0 Conclusion
The Committee appreciated the role played by the Veterans of the Liberation Struggle in bringing the independence of Zimbabwe and the peace that is being enjoyed by every citizen in this country. Veterans of the Liberation Struggle indeed need to be honoured, respected, recognised and empowered in order to enable them to enjoy the fruits of their hard work and sacrifices. Government departments are urged to implement provisions in the Constitution relating to war veterans and their dependants to ensure that their needs are addressed.
HON. KAITANO: Thank you very much Madam Speaker Ma’am. I rise to add my voice on the report presented by Hon. Nguluvhe. Inasmuch as Section 23 of the Constitution speaks about the recognition, respect and honour of the war veterans, those that fought for the liberation of this country, I personally feel that there is a lot that we need to do as Zimbabwe. There is a lot in order to cascade what is in the Constitution, to the practicalities on the ground.
Madam Speaker Ma’am, the world over, people and nations have recognised their warriors. They have recognised the people that fought their wars. – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear]- In many countries, the kind of respect given to such a constituency, every nation recognises the work that they have done. One example is found in 1 Samuel Chapter 17, there was a giant who had tormented a nation. People were ransacked left, right and centre by that giant. When one young man used unconventional warfare at that time and defeated him on behalf of that nation, we hear that he was honoured by the King. He was given the opportunity to marry the King’s daughter. That is an example of the highest honour given to a warrior.
Madam Speaker Ma’am, it is very critical for this country to continue honouring at an accelerated rate, those that have fought for the liberation of Zimbabwe. There are bigger things that can be done, but there are also smaller things that as a nation we can do to honour our gallant fighters. One SADC country sings about them in their national anthem and they say this kind of people, their blood waters our freedom. They recognise the important role that the gallant fighters did in their country in order to give them freedom and they sing about them even in their national anthem.
Madam Speaker Ma’am, the war veterans deserve our recognition. When we gather for example at the Independence celebrations, it is a special day for them. It is a special day in their lives. I believe there is something small that we can do for them, for example, giving them a special sitting place, just those small things. Even at the national heroes, the commemorations day is theirs. Just those little things, they are not looking for many things such that when they go home, they feel that indeed, they fought for this country. Those little things will go a long way in their social and psychological life. When one gets satisfied, even the physical health follows suite.
Madam Speak Ma’am, in Zimbabwe we recognise our Chiefs and village heads. They have badges and when you see them, you know ndava changamire ava. Our war veterans do not have such - [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear] - We queue with them when we are waiting for buses, we queue together with them when queueing for hospital medication. We queue with them all over the places. They are not distinctly recognised in terms of having something with them. Madam Speaker Ma’am, it is high time that we institute such measures as a way of recognising and honouring the gallant fighters of this land - [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear] –
When they park their cars in the municipalities, their cars are clamped if they do not pay parking fees. Is that what we want for our war veterans? Sometimes they fail to pay tax, land tax or the levies for their farms which is $6 per hectare. They fought for that land and in many times, they fail to pay that tax. Should we punish them for that? Certainly not. As a people, as a nation, we need to stand and support our war veterans. If we give foreign investors some tax holidays to come and invest in this country, how much more of those people that have fought for this country, that have fought for the peace of this country? The investors are coming here because of that peace, should we not give them some tax holidays? – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear] - as a way of honouring what they have done and as a way of saying thank you war veterans for the great work that you have done, for the sweat, for the blood that you shed. Is that asking too much Madam Speaker Ma’am? To ask them to have a tax rebate, an import rebate where they bring just one car in their lifetime. They bring one car duty free. It that asking too much? - [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear] - The liberty that we have, the comfort that we have seated here in Mt. Hampden debating national issues, we must never forget that there are people who shed their blood and sweat day-in and day-out. They were sleeping in caves, in mosquito infested areas with a lot of bugs. Is it asking too much Madam Speaker Ma’am, if we ask for them to be given a card so that when they go to hospitals, they just go straight and be attended to? Are we asking too much for them?
It is my submission that as a people, we are able to take care of our war veterans. I do not want to refer to many countries that take care of their people. I do not want to refer to Algeria or any other country but suffice to say, even without any precedence from other countries, we can set a goal, we can set our own precedence of what we need to do for our war veterans in this country. As I conclude Madam Speaker Ma’am, I want to conclude with Galatians, Chapter 6 vs. 7 which says, “do not be deceived, do not be mocked. God cannot be mocked. Whatever a man soweth, that he shall reap”. Our war veterans sowed liberty for this country and liberty, they must reap. Our war veterans sowed prosperity in this country and prosperity must visit them and their children’s children up to the fourth generation. Our war veterans sowed tranquility in this country and tranquility must follow them even in their graves, they must have peace there. Even when they turn around, they must have the peace that they brought into this country. Do not be mocked, do not be deceived, God cannot be mocked. Whatsoever a man soweth, that he shall reap. I thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Madam Speaker, I move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 19th June, 2024.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): I move that we revert to Order of the Day, Number 3 on the Order Paper.
Motion put and agreed to.
COMMITTEE STAGE
ADMINISTRATION OF ESTATES AMENDMENT BILL
- 3, 2024]
Third Order read: Committee Stage: Administration of Estates Amendment Bill [H. B. 3, 2024].
House in Committee.
Clause 1 put and agreed to.
On Clause 2:
HON. MUSHORIWA: Thank you Mr. Chair. During the Second Reading of this Bill, we raised an issue with the Hon. Minister pertaining to the naming. Whereas the name ‘Master of High Court’ was suitable when the Master of the High Court was under the Judicial Services Commission, this amendment seeks to bring a break from the Judicial Services Commission so that the Office of the Master can be a stand-alone with its board. So, I suggest that in this Bill, we should remove any reference to the High Court so that we name the ‘Master’ just to be the ‘Master’s Office’ without saying Master of High Court. I think it will probably confuse people and I think the Hon. Minister during the debate, had no qualms with it because we could call the Master by any name and the inclusion of Master of High Court to me is not necessary at this juncture. Let us have a clean demarcation between the Office of the Master and the Judicial Services Commission. I thank you.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Hon. Chair, on reflection, the Hon. Member's submission is incorrect. The naming of the office to say the Master of the High Court was not done when the JSC was moved from the Ministry, even when it was still directly under the Ministry, it was called the office of the Master of the High Court.
The word Master is very much intricately connected to the High Court and we do not want to introduce misleading changes that would confuse the generality of the public. Our public knows that if you are dealing with estates, you go to the Master of the High Court and this has been the name, and some names then become connected to what is happening. Most importantly, the work that the Master does is connected to the work that the High Court does, so I believe that this is a very innocent and very good name to keep. So, I submit that we leave it as it is. Thank you.
HON. MUSHORIWA: I hear what the Hon. Minister is saying but Hon. Minister, during the Second Reading, remember you submitted to this august House that one of the things that had moved us to go to this amendment was primarily to make sure that there is a distinction between the courts, so that people that were aggrieved by the activities or the omissions of the Master’s office should be in a position to approach the courts.
The current situation where the Master of the High Court is part of the Judicial Service Commission is complicated, making people fail to bring issues against the Master of the High Court. I just think that by keeping the name, many people in their minds will simply think that the Master of the High Court is still the extension. Remember, it will take a lot of time for people to understand that the Master of High Court has moved from the Judicial Services. As long as that name remains the danger Hon. Minister is that we will continuously have a problem where people will be shy to take the Master of High Court, even though it is now a standalone entity.
However, if you insist, because also people are used to it, I can also tell you that the reverse side of it is that the people are also used to knowing that it is under the Judiciary and they will be shy to take the Master of High Court to court.
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: On the contrary, Hon, Chair, people now know that it is under the Judicial Service Commission. We have separated but we are now giving legal effect so that we create that office which is a standalone. Now, there is not going to be any reference to administrative issues being deferred to JSC to be done by the board of the Master. So people now know and we are beginning to see even with the ad-hoc arrangements that we did before we brought the Bill. We are seeing the benefits of having a standalone office of the Master.
I want to allay his fears and say that the reason why we are bringing this Bill is to give legal effect to the separation and ensure that we create a statutory provision to set up the office that will be independent, there will be mechanisms that will allow even aggrieved people within the Bill to have recourse to the courts without the conflation that was there. I submit, Hon. Chair.
Clause 2 put and agreed to.
On Clause 3:
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Hon. Chair, I am proposing an amendment in my name that on page 3 of the Bill and subsection 2, will insert new section 4 on lines 39 and 40 and substitute with the following so that the new section will read like this “In appointing members of the board, in terms of subsection 1, subsection C, regard must be heard to the provision of section 17 and 18 of the Constitution”.
We are just speaking to the gender parity that is provided for in the Constitution, it was missing in the Bill, so when appointing the board, members' regard must be given to issues of gender parity.
On page 3, of the Bill, insert before subsection 2, will be inserted a new section 4 on lines 35 and 36 where we delete sub-paragraph 6 and substitute the following: - I think subparagraph 6 was speaking about, “one shall be on the composition of the board members, that one shall be a member of the Attorney General’s office nominated by the Attorney General”. We are deleting that to say that one shall be an employee of the Ministry responsible for the administration of this Act. I so submit those amendments on this particular clause.
HON. MUSHORIWA: Hon. Chair, my debate is not necessarily concerning the amendments to the Clause that the Minister has submitted but what I have a problem with are issues that are contained within clause 3. The first thing that I needed the Minister to possibly educate me as a non-lawyer; look at clause 3 between lines 34 and 35, subsection 1 says, ‘shall perform such of the Master’s functions whether under this Act or any other enactment as the Master may assign to them. I am not so sure whether any other enactment is assigned to them by the Master or by the Minister. I just need some clarification from the Minister.
Then on a matter of principle, on page 3 of the Bill on line 15 on the composition of the Master’s office’s board, I have got challenges with (a) reference to the chairperson of the board, that he should be a person who is qualified to be appointed as judge of the High Court. I do not understand because I believe that anybody with relevant expertise from other fields can chair this board. There is no reason why we should continuously say we need the board to be chaired by a lawyer or someone qualified to be a judge of the High Court.
I believe that a person with the requisite knowledge and we have seen a chairperson who has done exceptionally well in various endeavours. Secondly, in lines 38, and 39, I need the Minister to explain to me the justification of having one employee of the Ministry of Finance to be nominated to sit on the board. Then on the next line, I think, there is need to just delete where it says at least three or four of the members of the board shall be women. I think you should delete the words, three or, it should just read, ‘at least four’, because that board currently starts at nine. So, at least I think, that is in tandem with the amendments that we have actually read in terms of the gender parity. We cannot have at least three or four. It should just only be four.
Then on the next page Mr. Chair, are the reports of the board, 4C. It says, the board shall, as soon as possible after the end of each financial year, submit an annual report to the Minister. This is not consistent Chairman, with other statutes. I think, it should be amended to say; “the board shall, within 90 days after the end of each financial year, submit an annual report to the Minister”, and I think, that is the standard.
Then, if that is agreed Chair, we then also go to the first paragraph on Page 5. Then instead of saying, “the Minister shall lay before Parliament, every annual report submitted to him by the board”. We need to then make the time frame to say that the Minister shall, 30 days after receipt of the report, lay it before Parliament. I think, that is the standard so that it is not open-ended.
Then Chair, because this clause is too wide, I think you will allow me to also then go to page 6 of the same. I actually believe that we need two issues to be addressed Hon. Minister. First, I actually think we need a clause there that says, “30% of the amount” - we should limit the employment costs because I think we have a challenge in respect to entities that are established on good faith, but then they end up spending most of their money on employment costs. I think it is imperative that a certain percentage and I propose that a minimum or maximum of 30% of the money should not be …
THE TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (HON. MACHINGURA): Hon. Mushoriwa, you mentioned Page 6, but did not tell us where you are.
HON. MUSHORIWA: Sorry, Page 6, on the functions of the Master’s office under CAG there.
Then I also wanted, Hon. Chair, I do not know …
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: Hon. Chair, can he make reference exactly where he wants corrected there? What is wrong with (b) and (c)?
HON. MUSHORIWA: It is not that they are wrong per se, but what I need is actually an extension. For instance, on (c) rather, I need it to then extend to say that, a minimum of let us say 40%, should be invested in equities to preserve capital value. I actually believe that the Master of High Court – you want their investment portfolio to be in such a manner that there is preservation of value. So, left without any qualification in terms of investment, I think, it will be problematic.
So, I would want to persuade the Hon. Minister to say on (c), we should extend and keep a threshold on the amount of monies that should be invested in equities. We have seen the down turn of entities that end up investing their money in other portfolios at the risk of beneficiaries of these monies.
Then tied to that, I would even want the Hon. Minister – unfortunately, we had not put the amendment, but I would have wanted the Hon. Minister to consider this request that in this clause, we should add something that speaks to the employee costs. Unless the Hon. Minister can then tell me that it is covered somewhere in respect to those things.
On Clause 3, basically those are my submissions Mr. Chairman, which I believe they need to be looked into by the Hon. Minister. I thank you.
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: Thank you Hon. Chair. The first one was why have we left the chair of the board being a judge? The majority of the work that will be done will be of a legal nature really. Hon. Chair, based on my experience now, the majority of the disputes that arise need legal solutions and it is very appropriate that we maintain the chairmanship of the Master’s Office being somebody at the level of a judge.
Secondly, Hon. Mushoriwa spoke about why one employee from the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion? The Ministry of Finance Economic Development and Investments Promotion has a huge and substantial interest in the Office of the Master in that they are controlling funds in Trust that are deceased estates funds. If anything goes wrong, the liability falls on Government and also even if there are other funds like guardian funds or whatever funds that are there or funds that have been prescribed, the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investments Promotion must give guidance because those then become public funds. So, you cannot exclude the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investments Promotion from having a representative in a fund that is largely controlling public funds and there is public interest, hence the reference to somebody representing the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investments Promotion.
You will also appreciate that they also need a lot of revenue when their estates are being wound up and they must give guidance in that regard. So, I believe there is a lot of wisdom in maintaining that particular individual in there.
Then you also made reference to the reports of the board. I think I agree, I will request my team to craft it in the manner consistent with other Acts to say within 90 days and then submit that. I am sure they will bring me some notes to craft it so that the reports of the board to read that within 90 days, they should submit those reports before Parliament. I agree with that.
THE TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (HON. MACHINGURA): Hon. Minister, while you are still on days, there is also something to do with 30 days after the receipt of the report.
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: What was that?
THE TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON: Yes, there is the 90 days then there is the 30 days.
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: I am not seeing the 30 days. Did you make any reference to that?
THE TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON: On page 5, yes.
HON. MUSHORIWA: No, it is actually to say that after the Minister has received the report, 30 days after that, it will then be tabled in Parliament.
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: Normally Hon. Chair, we say that reports must be laid before Parliament within 90 days after the end of the year. So, within 90 days, the reports must be laid. We do not usually couch it to say the Minister must get it in 90 days, lay it in 30 days. That is not the correct way to do it. The correct way is simply to say, the Minister shall lay before Parliament, every annual report submitted to him, but we want to combine the two now to say the board shall within 90 days after the end of the year, submit an annual report which the Minister would then lay before Parliament. That is the standard way that it is, and even if you go to the Constitution, they will simply borrow and insert that. I will get back to it when I get my notes. I agree to that amendment.
The other one was the provision on women. I am removing that because we have already taken care of that. It is on page 3 which says, ‘at least three or four of the members of the board shall be women.’ We have already covered it, so we will expunge that from the Bill.
Then Hon. Mushoriwa spoke about the provision of the Master giving direction to the staff. Which provision is that one? Hon. Mushoriwa, which one is that?
HON. MUSHORIWA: It is on page 2 line 35.
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: Yes, where it says, ‘subject to this Act and any directions the Master may give them, the officers referred in that…shall perform such of the Master’s functions whether under this Act or any other enactment as the Master may assign them.’
Hon. Chair, provisions of the Mental Health Act can actually be required in there to say that if you have someone who is incapable of managing their own affairs, the Master can actually rely on those provisions. It does not mean that the Master will entirely rely on this particular Act in the administration of the work. So, the way it is couched is broad enough to ensure that it does not limit them in the manner that they do their work. The Master may actually do something in connection with the state of a mentally challenged person by giving direction to the staff. So the way it is, that is correct.
You spoke about employment costs. On investments and employment costs, first thing is employment cost. These are covered under the Public Entities and Corporate Governance Act. It actually regulates how those that are in State enterprises or public entities should be paid and ordinarily they would be paid from the fiscus if there are shortfalls, but in terms of investments, the Bill is actually giving provision that the board can set up an Investment Committee that will take into consideration the need to invest the monies in a manner that you were alluding to. So that has been taken care of in the Bill to say that the board of the Master should look into that, invest the funds and make sure that they preserve the value as far as possible.
Hon. Chair, I think I have covered most of them. So employment costs to standardise those in State enterprises; if you go to and read the provisions of the Public Entities and Corporate Governance Act, I think it is very clear how it should be done and the parameters. It actually indicates if a company is non-performing, these are the monies that you are supposed to pay. If it is border line or if it is performing very well, this is what you are supposed to do. It gives differentiation and it is very clear. That is the guideline that is given. Hon. Chair, before we proceed, I just want to get the proper couching of the amendments that I agree with Hon. Mushoriwa.
THE TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON: Minister, just for brevity’s sake, have you answered the question where he was saying 30% of the money must go there. Was that your last answer?
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: Yes, that will be overtaken because he was saying that employment costs must not be above 30% but I have said employment costs are covered by the provisions and we do not need to put them there.
Thank you Hon. Chair for your indulgence. On page four of the Bill, I propose the following amendments between lines 35 and 40 which is titled, 4 (c) Reports of the Board
“4 (c) (1) The board shall not later than 90 days at the end of each financial year, submit an annual report to the Minister”.
It will cover what Hon. Mushoriwa was making reference to. Then the other one on page 3, between lines 35 and 40, expunge that bullet 2 which reads, “at least three or four members of the board shall be women”. I submit Hon. Chair.
Amendments to Clause 3 put and agreed to.
Clause 3, as amended, put and agreed to.
On New Clause 4:
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Hon. Chair. Hon. Chair, I am proposing the insertion of a new Clause 4 after the current Clause 3 - New sections substituted for Section 26 of Chapter 6.01. I will read it because I submitted the amendments late so that Hon. Members can grasp. “Section 26 of the principle Act is repealed and substituted by -
‘(26) Competition for the office of Executor dative
‘(26) Subject to subsection 2, in every case in which a competition takes place for the office of Executor dative, the surviving spouse or failing him or her, the next or some of the next of kin or failing him or them, a creditor or creditors or failing him or them, a legate or legates shall be preferred by the Master to the office of Executor.
(2) The appointment of every Executor dative by the Master under this section must be approved by the High Court in accordance with this section.
(3) The Master shall on notice of motion to every person having an interest in such estate apply to the High Court for a provisional order appointing one or more executor that is for the deceased estate concerned, supported by an Affidavit of the Master setting forth that there is competition for the office of the Executor, which competition has not been resolved on the date of lodging of the application, together with such of the following affirmations as may be relevant to the case, namely;
- a) The Master proposes to make an appointment of anyone or more of the above mentioned persons or classes of persons as executor or executors, giving particulars of the name or names and addresses and addressees of the person or persons so nominated for appointment by the Master and the capacity in which they are so appointed or;
- b) There exists any good reason which the Master shall specify in the Affidavit against the appointment of all or any of the above persons or classes of persons as executor or executors with result that the Master proposes to make an appointment of a professional estate administrator or some other fit and proper persons giving particulars of the name and address of the professional estate administrator or persons so nominated for appointment by the Master and the capacity in which he or she is so appointed.
- At the hearing of the application, if it appears to the Judge that no good reason exists against the appointment of the executor if nominated by the Master, the Judge shall grant the provisional order where upon the Master shall proceed in terms of Sub-section 5. Provided that if application is opposed, the Judge shall not refuse to grant the provisional order, unless all the persons having an interest in such estate jointly depose that the deponents have agreed that some other person or persons nominated by them appointed as the Executor or Executors that is giving particulars of the name or address. Names and address or addressees of the person or persons so nominated for appointment by the deponents and the capacity in which they are so appointed in which event the Judge shall decline to grant the provisional order and direct the Master to appoint as Executor or Executors as, the person or persons nominated.
- When granted, the Master shall pose the provisional order to be enrolled in the motion roll for confirmation at the earliest motion quote after the date on which the Judge grants the provisional order.
- On the return date for the confirmation of the provisional order, the motion quote shall confirm the provisional order unless there is produced before the court an Affidavit jointly deposed by all the persons having an interest in the estate in question to the effect that the deponents have agreed that some other person or persons nominated by them be appointed as the Executor or Executors if giving particulars of the name or names and addresses or address of the person or persons so nominated for appointment by the deponents and the capacity in which they are so appointed, in which event the motion quote shall direct The Master to appoint as Executor or Executors that is the person or persons so nominated.
Let me just summarise this Hon. Chair for the benefit of Members. There are scenarios that can arise that a family may not agree on who to appoint as an Executor. Under the current Act, the Master can appoint an Executor. This provision we simply including it as a check to ensure that they cannot be a connivance between the Master and the persons so chosen to be Executor. We are simply saying that if the Master discovered that the family cannot agree on who to be Executor, he can then make an application to the court and clearly state that there has been a dispute and submitting all the facts and the court will then make a determination.
We are saying when the Master can actually also indicate to the court, if there are reasons, if anyone goes to court, why he also believes it is not necessary but we are putting, including this, to take care of incidences where people may connive with the Master and have somebody appointed as an Executor and he will not take care of the general wellbeing of everyone but will now be dealing with the person that appointed them. This is just a clause that will check the powers of the Master and request the Master to defer to the court so that the court will be satisfied. The other reason is leaving it solely on the Master, he will then have a list of people who can be executors and ordinarily, these are solvent estates and the Executor will be paid. There is room for connivance. Once you deferred to the court you are actually ensuring that, that is taken care of and there is also confidence in the office of the Master in that the Master will say ‘no we made an application to the court. It was not me who appointed them’. So, I move that we insert this new clause Hon. Chair Sir. I submit.
HON. MUSHORIWA: We did not have much of this before us but I just want to find out from the Hon. Minister. One of the major challenges that we have been facing at the Master of High Court is that we have been having these estate management companies or people that claim to be experts in estate management who are being appointed by the Master of High Court as Executors. What has actually happened is that if you check, especially from where we come from in the high-density suburbs where you then find that instead of the beneficiaries of the deceased to then benefit, the money ends up benefitting the Executor.
I just wanted to find out from the Hon. Minister from the amendments that you have proposed, apart from the Master of High Court taking an application to the court obviously when he takes application to the court, maybe he will have an executor in mind. Do you not also think that amendment should have spoken in terms of qualifications that are necessary because with these new amendments, things will be in order? We know of people that mill around the Master of High Court offices literally taking advantage of families that are in a desperate situation.
I am just hoping that this amendment will then cure those people that mill around the Master of High Court in terms of them not collaborating or coming up with some agreement with officers at the Master of High Court resulting in their names being put as executors of these estates.
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: The motivation to include this amendment after the Bill before Parliament was exactly in part what Hon. Mushoriwa is saying; to ensure that we try to limit as much as possible. In the Act, those that are appointed are indicated that they should be registered with the Estate Administrator’s Council. Here we are now trying to remove that connivance that we are exactly pinpointing to say that people can actually end up knowing each other and if there is a dispute, let us say between Mushoriwa’s Estate and the value of the estate is US$3 million, they are seeing figures - the Master will call his friend to say Mr. Moyo, can you rush here. I want you to be an executor here because the family is not agreeing. In the end, exactly what you are saying, the person who benefits is the executor and not those family members. We are saying by including this process, we will have checks and balances in the process. We are not leaving it solely in the hands of the Master.
In the same vein, we are also protecting the Master because he will be now referring to court process to say that it is now the court that confirmed this. If you look at it, we tried to include many processes which I believe once the Bill has passed under regulations, they can clean up and indicate what can actually be required. The whole basis we are speaking is exactly what you are saying. I so submit.
Amendment to Clause 3 put and agreed to.
Clause 3 as amended, put and agreed to.
On New Clause 4:
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFARIRS (HON Z. ZIYAMBI): I move the amendment standing in my name that:
On page 7 of the Bill, delete clause 4 on lines 28 to 33 and substitute the following (the subsequent clauses 5 and 6 are to be renumbered 9 and 10 accordingly)—
- New section substituted for section 97 of Cap 6:01
Section 97 of the principal Act is repealed and substituted by—
“97 The Guardian’s Fund
- The Guardian’s Fund established under the operation of Ordinance No. 105 (1833) of the Cape of Good Hope shall be continued under and subject to this Act.
- The Guardian’s Fund shall be administered by the Master on behalf of the Office, for which purpose the Minister may (for the better administration of the Fund or the safeguarding of its moneys) give any policy direction to the Board in terms of section 4D (“Policy directions as to exercise of Board’s functions”).
- All moneys received by the Master under section 51, 61, 80, 82 and 93 or otherwise received by him or her in terms of this Act on behalf of persons who are legally incapable or do not have the capacity to manage their own affairs, shall form and become part of the said Guardian’s Fund and due and proper accounts shall be opened in respect thereto.”.
Amendment to New Clause 4 put and agreed to.
New Clause 4 as amended, put and agreed to.
On New Clause 5:
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFARIRS (HON Z. ZIYAMBI): I move the amendment standing in my name that:
- Amendment of section 105 of Cap. 6:01
Section 105 (“Prescription of claims to moneys in Guardian’s Fund”)(2) of the principal Act is amended by the deletion of the resuming words (before the proviso thereto) and the substitution of “and on the expiration of that period the debt shall be extinguished by prescription and the moneys concerned paid in equal shares into the Consolidated Revenue Fund and into the funds of the Master’s Office”.
Basically, it is just giving provision that if there are funds that have prescribed, they become State funds and our laws say all public funds are deposited into the Consolidated Revenue Fund. We have just indicated that subject to the Public Finance Management Act, a provision can be made that the Masters Office can retain some funds for the running of the office. That will be governed by that Act, but it is just making provision for those funds that have prescribed that they should be deposited in the revenue account.
Amendment to New Clause 5 put and agreed to.
New Clause 5, as amended, put and agreed to.
On New Clause 6:
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): I move the amendment in my name that:
- 6. Amendment of section 106 of Cap. 6:01 Section 106 (“Investment of moneys to credit of Guardian’s Fund”) of the principal Act is amended by the repeal of subsection (2). “(2) No such investment shall be made by the Master without first consulting the Board, which may, for the purpose, establish an committee (to be called the “Investment Committee”) in terms of paragraph 6 of the Fourth Schedule.”.
Amendment to New Clause 6, put and agreed to.
New Clause 6 as amended, put and agreed to.
On New Clause 7:
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Hon. Chair, I am still inserting a new clause after Clause 5 and now it is after the one that we have inserted, so it will be insertion of New Clause 7 after the new Clause 6 that we have inserted, It will now read:-
‘Amendment of section 106 of [Chapter 6:01], section 106, that is investments of monies to credit of Guardian’s fund of the principal Act is amended by the repeal of subsection 2 and the insertion of the following:
‘(2) No such investment shall be made by the Master without first consulting the board, which may, for this purpose, establish a Committee (to be called the “Investment Committee”) in terms of paragraph 6 of the Fourth Schedule.”
So, now what Hon. Mushoriwa was speaking to saying that the Master must invest the funds, here, we are indicating that the Master should not do it alone but when it comes to investing the funds in office, then the board must know and the board should have an Investment Committee that will assist to ensure that proper investments are done. So, this is the insertion of the new Clause 7 that we are proposing. I so submit. Thank you, Hon. Chair.
HON. MUSHORIWA: Chair, is it not possible that we substitute the word ‘consult’ so that we say ‘no such investment shall be made by the Master without approval’. We remove the word ‘consulting’ and substitute with ‘approval’.
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: Thank you Hon. Chair, just for clarity, you should explain why you want that instead of this, before I can nod or refuse to nod.
HON. MUSHORIWA: I wanted to cover the aspect where the Master will say, I consulted and even if the board may not possibly agree but the fact that he has consulted, remember, it now says the board will have an Investment Committee. So surely, I think approval to me would actually sound better rather than consulting.
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: Thank you Hon. Chair, I agree, I think we will adopt the wording. It makes it even neater because we want the board to have some oversight and be involved rather than leaving it to the Master alone. So, I think we will substitute, I agree and I will amend by proposal so that (2) will read ‘no such investment shall be made by the Master without approval by the board, which may, for this purpose establish a Committee to be called the Investment Committee in terms of paragraph 6 of the Fourth Schedule. I so submit Hon. Chair.
Amendment to New Clause 7 put and agreed to.
New Clause 7, as amended, put and agreed to.
On New Clause 8:
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Hon. Chair, I move the amendment standing in my name. I am proposing insertion of a new Clause 8 after Clause 7.
- New section substituted for Section 108 of Chapter 6:01 Section 108 of the principal Act is repealed and substituted by— “108 Audit of books and security of Guardian’s Fund.
(1) The books and securities of the Guardian’s Fund shall be audited by the Auditor-General or (at the request of Office) by a person registered as a public auditor in terms of the Public Accountants and Auditors Act [Chapter 27:12] and contracted by the Auditor- General in terms of Section 9 of the Audit Office Act [Chapter 22:18] (and if a person is so contracted, references in this Section to the Auditor- General shall be taken to refer to such person).
(2) The Auditor-General shall without derogation from his or her duties as such or from the generality of the duties imposed upon him or her by this section—
(a) examine such books and securities at such intervals as will ensure that a continuous check is maintained upon all transactions involving the Guardian’s Fund;
(b) report to the Master any error, omission or irregularity and, if such error, omission or irregularity is not corrected to his satisfaction, report thereon to the Minister.
(3) There shall be paid from the Guardian’s Fund—
(a) such fees and other charges for audit and related services provided by the Audit Office or by a person contracted by the Auditor-General in terms of subsection (1);
(b) to the funds of the Office such charges and expenses as have been incurred by the Office in the administration of the Guardian’s Fund.” This I think Hon. Chair you recall when we did the Second Reading speech, Members expressed the need to have the Guardian’s Fund being audited and this is a response to that to ensure that we have provision for auditing of the Guardian’s Fund. I so submit Hon. Chair.
Amendment to new Clause 8, put and agreed to.
New Clause 8, as amended, put and agreed to.
THE TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON: Hon. Minister, Clause 5 is also talking of a new Section inserted in Chapter. 6:01. That is on transitional provisions.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): We are not yet there. We are inserting clauses after the Clause 5 that is in the original Bill. So all these are insertions. The original 5 will then be at the end, it will be renumbered accordingly.
On New Clause 9:
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEBAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Hon. Chair, I move the amendment standing in my name, insertion of new Clause 9 after Clause 8. It is a punishing schedule because I circulated them late but I have to read so that Members can appreciate. Section 117 of the Principal Act is repealed and substituted by this one 117 which reads removal of the executor, tutor or curator from office.
- This Section does not deprive any interested part of the right under the common law to initiate action for the removal of an executor, tutor or curator on the ground that his or her continuance in office is prejudicial to the interest of the State in respect of which the executor, tutor or curator was appointed.
- If the Master on his or her own motion and after making due inquiry in terms of Section 116, is of the opinion that a executor, tutor or curator ought to be removed from his or her office on the ground that
- he is not qualified for appointment to such office or that appointment was for another reason or illegal that he or she has failed to perform satisfactorily any duty or requirement imposed upon him or her, in terms of any law or that he or she is mentally or physically incapable of performing satisfactorily his duties or that such person is no longer suitable to hold of office, then the Master shall proceed in accordance with this Section. The Master shall, on notice to every person having an interest in the matter, apply to the High Court for an order removing the executor concerned from his or her office supported by an affidavit of the Master justifying such removal by reference to sub-section 1(a), reasons that I have read above, or at the hearing of the application if it appears to the Judge that no good reason exists against the removal of the executor the Judge shall dismiss the case but I will get the correct wording because they omitted something and I will come back to it.
3 Provided that the Judge shall refuse to grant the order if there is evidence produced to him or her and affidavit by any person having an interest in the matter showing that there is good reason not to remove the executor, tutor or curator concerned from his or her office.
- Provided further that the refusal to grant an order of removal under this sub-section, shall not prejudice the right of an interested part under the common law to initiate the removal of the executor. This we are repeating, I am removing.
- Where an Executor has been removed from his or her office the master shall revoke any letters of administration or confirmation as the case may be which have been granted to such a person. Chair, I just want to check something Hon. Chair if you can indulge me. Hon. Chair, 4 as it is, is correct, but I am expunging the one that reads “provided that further, the refusal to grant an order of removal under this subsection shall not prejudice the right of an interested party under the common law.” because it has been mentioned already. I so submit Hon. Chair.
THE TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON: Hon. Minister, on Subsection 3, where you are saying the Master shall, on notice to every person having an interest, apply to the High Court for an order removing the Executor, Tutor or Curator concerned from his/her office supported by an affidavit; will this person continue to act until the matter is heard or they are interdicted so that they do not interfere with the estate?
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: Thank you Hon. Chair, I took note of your observation. My apologies for the small delay. Where I have deleted that sub paragraph, I am now inserting this one that says, “ as soon as an Executor, Tutor or Curator receives notice of an application under Section 2 (2) the Executor, Tutor or Curator shall vacate the office until the application is determined and the Master shall be deemed to act in his/her place until the application is determined. So, I submit the amendment so that it can be captured, but I am sure Hansard has captured what I have said. I so submit Hon. Chair.
Amendment to New Clause 9 put and agreed to.
New Clause 9, as amended, put and agreed to.
On New Clause 10:
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Hon. Chair, I am proposing again amendments in my name by the insertion of a New Clause 10. The new Section substituted for Section 120 of Chapter 6:01 which reads, “Sell of property otherwise than by auction” Section 120 (1) if on written application by the Executor to the Master:
- “The Executor produces to the Master, an affidavit jointly sworn by all the persons having an interest in an estate supporting the application of the Executor to sell specified property of the State (being property in respect of which the will of the deceased contains no provision to the contrary), otherwise than by public auction and the Master is of the opinion that no good grounds exist for not granting the application.” The Master shall give the Executor the necessary written authority for the Executor to proceed accordingly.
- The Master after due enquiry, is of the opinion that it would be to the advantage of persons interested in the estate to sell any property belonging to such estate otherwise than by public auction or
- All claims creditors against the deceased estate as have been lodged with the Executor will be met if any property belonging to such estate were sold otherwise by public auction, the Master may depose to the affidavit referred to in subsection 2 in support of an application for the Executor to be granted the necessary authority to act.
- The Executor shall on notice of motion to every person having an interest in such estate, apply to the High Court for a provisional order to grant to the Executor the authority to sell any specified property belonging to such estate by private treaty supported by an affidavit of the Master, setting forth the basis on which the application is made by reference to the subsections that I have mentioned before together with adequate particulars of the property that will be the subject matter of the authority.
3, at the hearing of the application, if it appears to the judge that no good reason exists against the grant to the executor of the authority concerned, the judge shall grant the provisional order whereupon the executor shall proceed in terms of subsection 4, provided that the judge shall refuse to grant the provisional order if there is produced to him or her, an affidavit by any person having an interest in the estate showing that there is good reason not to grant to the executor the authority concerned.
(4), when granted, the executor shall cause the provisional order to be enrolled in the motion roll for confirmation at the earliest motion court after the date on which the judge grants the provisional order. On the return date for the confirmation of the provisional order, the motion court shall confirm the provisional order unless there is produced to the court, an affidavit by any person having an interest in the estate showing that there is good reason not to grant the executor the authority concerned and if no such affidavit is produced or the affidavit does not, in the court’s opinion disclose good reasons for the refusal to grant the order, the court shall confirm the provisional order”.
Hon. Chair, maybe just a quick explanation to the mischief that we want to cure in this clause. We do not want one or two persons to just connive with the executor and sell the property and others will discover that the property has been sold. We want the Master to follow certain processes that will lead to the court making a confirmation and once the court process has commenced, everyone that is involved in that particular estate needs to be informed. If they do not deposit an affidavit challenging that, then the process can continue. This is to guard against connivances in certain instances and also to protect, should there be litigation because the Master will then now say, I followed the process, we went to court, you did not turn up and all the due processes were done. So this is the reason why we are proposing the insertion of this clause. I so submit.
THE TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON: Hon. Minister, may you also read subheading 4 under Clause 10.
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI read again subhead (4).
THE TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON: Also clarify subparagraph (a), it is the executor who is producing to the Master an affidavit that he claims has been signed by everybody having an interest in the estate. Is this okay? Can these people not appear before the Master or the judge in person than to have somebody submitting a writing on their behalf?
HON. ZIYAMBI: This is okay because the executor knows, he is familiar with all the beneficiaries and if he deposits the affidavit, the assumption that everyone acts in good faith, it will be fraudulent, in which case the normal course of the law will take place. However, the assumption is that if you are family and you have all signed the affidavit, it suffices to just deposit it.
Amendment to New Clause 10 put and agreed to.
New Clause10, as amended, put and agreed to.
On New Clause 11:
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL, AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. ZIYAMBI): Hon. Chair, I move the amendments standing in my name by insertion of new Clause 11 after Clause 10. The new section substituted for section 132 of Chapter 6, 01. Section 132 of the principal act is repealed and substituted by the new 132, regulatory powers of the Master's office. New 132 - (1), the Master’s office may make regulations providing for any matter which by this Act is required or permitted to be prescribed or which in his opinion is necessary or convenient to be prescribed for the better carrying into effect of this Act and generally for the management and good conduct of the business of Master’s office.
(2), without derogating from the generality of subsection 1, regulations may provide for (a) the custody and preservation of records, impurities, and valuable effects of the Master’s office; (b) the payment of the money into and out of the guardian’s fund; (c) the fees which shall be payable in respect of the administration of estates of deceased persons or of the estates under curatorship or tutorship; (d) the fees which shall be payable in respect of any act, matter or thing done or caused to be done by the Master or in the Master’s office; ( e) how fees referred to in paragraph c or d shall be paid; (f) the functions of estate administrators and insolvency practitioners in their dealings with the Master’s office subject to such modifications as maybe specified by the provisions of this Act or any relevant Act to estate administrators and insolvency practitioners; (g) the conditions of service of members and employees of the Masters’ office; (h) penalties for contraventions of any such regulations not exceeding a fine of level 10 or imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year or both such fines and such imprisonment.
(3), regulations made in terms of subsection 1, shall not have effect until they have been approved by the Minister and published in the Gazette. I so submit.
THE TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON: Thank you Hon. Minister.
Amendment to new Clause 11, put and agreed to.
New Clause 11, as amended, put and agreed to.
Clause 5, now Clause 12, put and agreed to.
On Clause 6, now Clause 13:
HON. MUSHORIWA: Mine is a small amendment on this newly renumbered clause. On Page 11 of the original Bill, between lines 15 and 20 (b) that says, ‘shall convene a special meeting of the board on the written request of not fewer than two members’. I think we should amend that by deleting the word, ‘two’ and say ‘three’. I do not believe that a special request should be made by two people on a board of around nine people. A third, I think, would be a fair position, otherwise we end up having a special meeting and the chairperson will be inundated with so many requests. I thank you.
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: Thank you Hon. Chair. I agree, I propose that we amend that and remove two and put three.
THE TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON: Thank you.
Amendment to Clause 6, now Clause 13, put and agreed to.
Clause 6, now Clause 13 as amended, put and agreed to.
Fifth Schedule, put and agreed to.
THE TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON: For the purposes of clarity, what originally was Clause 6, is now Clause 13, comprising of the Fourth and Fifth Schedules of the Bill.
House resumed.
Bill reported with amendments.
Bill referred to the Parliamentary Legal Committee.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am. Earlier on I indicated that Consideration of the Criminal Laws Amendment, Protection of Children and Young Person’s Bill [H. B. 4, 2024] will be done later on. I therefore, with leave, Madam Speaker, move that Consideration of the Bill be done forthwith. I thank you.
CONSIDERATION STAGE
CRIMINAL LAWS AMENDMENT (PROTECTION OF THE CHILDREN AND YOUNG PERSON’S) BILL, [H.B. 74A, 2024]
Amendments to Clauses 3, 4, insertion of new clause after 4, substitution of Clause 5 now Clause 6, substitution of Clause 8 now Clause 9. Amendment of Clause 9, now Clause 10; amendment of Clause 10, now Clause 11. New clause inserted after Clause 11, now Clause 12, and a Schedule Section 13, put and agreed to.
Bill as amended, adopted.
Third Reading: With leave, forthwith.
THIRD READING
CRIMINAL LAWS AMENDMENT (PROTECTION OF THE CHILDREN AND YOUNG PERSON’S) BILL, [H.B. 74A, 2024]
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Madam Speaker. I move that the Bill be now read the third time.
Motion put and agreed to.
Bill read the third time.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Madam Speaker, I want to thank the Hon. Members from both sides for the excellent work that was done in ensuring that we come up with these provisions that protect our children from sexual predators. Madam Speaker, there was a gap and we needed to deal with this. We are also thankful to His Excellency, for putting a stopgap measure to ensure that our children are protected. I want to applaud the House for diligently going through this Bill and passing it in this august House. You will forever be remembered as a Parliament that took a bold step to move the age of children from 16 to 18 in terms of the protection of our young persons. I thank you.
On the motion of THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI), the House adjourned at Twenty-two Minutes to Six o’clock p.m.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Thursday, 13th June, 2024
The National Assembly met at a Quarter-past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE ACTING SPEAKER in the Chair)
HON. P. ZHOU: Thank you Madam Speaker. I rise on a point of national interest which has become of concern to me as it should be to this august House. Firstly, I must commend the Second Republic for the ongoing rehabilitation of critical infrastructure such as roads across Zimbabwe. However, while these have been remarkable strides meant to propel Zimbabwe into an upper middle-income economy by 2030, I am very concerned by the rampant vandalism of critical road infrastructure such as bridges, railways and road signage. I have noticed that there are some rogue elements that vandalise and steal the balustrades. This has not only compromised the integrity of these bridges, but has also placed thousands of people who use them at a heightened risk. In this regard, it is imperative that the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development, in partnership with the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage, urgently implement measures directed at; firstly, protecting these bridges and key road infrastructure and for the balustrades, use alternative material that do not attract those that are vandalising bridges. Secondly, arresting the criminals that continue to destroy our infrastructure. I thank you Madam Speaker.
THE ACTING SPEAKER (HON. MAUNGANIDZE): I ask the Hon. Member to bring a motion for debate in the House on Wednesday. I thank you.
*HON. NYABANI: Thank you Hon. Speaker. I want to thank the Second Republic for the maintenance and construction of roads that they are doing. The roads are being done very well and I want to applaud that. My concern is that I visited Mbare-Musika; people are selling their wares in the roads. I also visited Eastlea and council workers are moving around in civilian clothes. You find that only one person will be wearing a uniform. They will be confiscating vendors’ wares and leaving the vendors with nothing. They even arrest them after confiscating their wares, council workers are now thieves. The Committee on Local Government must investigate this issue, especially in Mbare. If you go to Masvingo, Rushinga, Bindura and other small towns, the towns are clean and organised. I am appealing that the Committee on Local Government visit Mupedzanhamo and see what is taking place there. I thank you. – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.]-
THE ACTING SPEAKER: Order Hon. Members on my left, please be quiet. I thank the Hon. Member for raising such an important matter. I kindly request you to bring a motion for debate and proffer recommendations to the Minister.
*HON. HAMAUSWA: Thank you Hon. Speaker. I rise on a point of national interest. I am concerned by people who just boast about their wealth that no one can account for. A lot of people are just splashing their wealth sometimes using social media boasting about their wealth. Some will give people gifts like what NGOs do, but we are seeing this being done by ordinary people – [HON. MEMBERS: Chivhayo.] – This is being done by one or two people. Some are saying that they are connected to the Executive. I now want to know from the Hon. Minister, if these people are paying taxes. I also noted that in one of our neighbouring countries…
THE ACTING SPEAKER: Order Hon. Hamauswa, that is not a point of national interest you are raising, please sit down.
*HON. HAMAUSWA: What is it then Hon. Speaker?
THE ACTING SPEAKER: Order Hon. Member, Hon. Hamauswa, please sit down.
*HON. HAMAUSWA: I respect…
THE ACTING SPEAKER: Hon. Hamauswa, can you please sit down, we need to procced with business of the House. Please, sit down, that is not a point of national interest.
*HON. MAMAUSWA: I wanted to thank you for your wisdom for giving me guidance in case of tomorrow. I want to know what it is called…
THE ACTING SPEAKER: Hon. Hamauswa, are you defying my order?
HON. MUTSEYAMI: Thank you Madam Speaker. I rise on a point of national interest. During the Fifth Session of the Ninth Parliament of the Republic of Zimbabwe, there was a National Budget which was done and in that National Budget, an allocation was set. Then the life of the Ninth Parliament came to an end but the CDF was never disbursed.
THE ACTING SPEAKER: Hon. Mutseyami, I think you
raised this point yesterday - [HON. MUTSEYAMI: I was granted to raise it today.] – Alright, you may proceed, apologies.
HON. MUTSEYAMI: Thank you Madam Speaker. During
the Tenth Parliament, in its First Session, a budget allocation was done for CDF but up to now, the money has not been disbursed. We now have two allocations which have not been released for constituencies, inclusive of constituencies which had Members then who have since left Parliament. We have two outstanding CDF allocations for 210 constituencies. My prayer to you Madam Speaker is for the Hon. Minister responsible for Parliament, Hon. Ziyambi Ziyambi, to help the situation by pushing the Ministry of Finance for Treasury to allocate CDF for the two consecutive Sessions which have not been disbursed.
Secondly, take note that in the Fifth Session, the money
allocated then, regardless of the projection of rates and inflation, was supposed to be equivalent to USD50 000. The money which was allocated for the First Session of the Tenth Parliament is an equivalent of USD50 000. This means constituencies are owed an outstanding of USD100 000. It is my prayer, so I submit - but let it be considered and be addressed as a matter of urgency, like yesterday. I thank you.
THE ACTING SPEAKER: We ask the Administration of Parliament to look into the matter. Thank you.
HON. DR. MUTODI: Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am. I wish
to raise a point of privilege with respect to proceedings on Tuesday in this august House. I unfortunately used the word ‘incompetent’ referring to an Hon. Deputy Chief Whip who had mistakenly omitted my point of privilege. I think given the point in limn, or
the subject in limn, the word ‘incompetent’ does not meet the
decorum expected in this House, especially referring to a senior Parliamentarian in her first term of election in office. I believe respect, tolerance and dignity are at the fulcrum of this august House, hence I wish to unreservedly withdraw the statement made as afore described.
Having said this, I wish to remind this House that point of privilege takes precedence over the other motions of the day as stated in Standing Order Number 72 (b), as read with Standing Order Number 73 of the Standing Rules and Orders. According to the Standing Rules Number 73, notices of motion must come after points of privilege with which have been disposed of.
As I conclude my point of privilege, I wish to state that there are instances where Members attend this House and sign attendance registers, only to be marked absent when the record of proceedings is finally produced. I say this in relation to the proceedings of 30th May, 2024, in which I was present in this House and had to present my Committee Report on the Death Penalty Abolition Bill, after the Hon. Minister of Justice had requested for the Second Reading of the Bill. In spite of my attendance and participation, the record of the proceedings indicated that I was absent and I have put this to the attention of the Government Chief Whip. I hope that the Serjeant-at-Arms Department will take corrective measures towards this matter. I thank you.
FIRST READING
PARKS AND WILDLIFE AMENDMENT BILL [H.B. 1. 2024]
THE MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT CLIMATE AND WILD LIFE (HON. NYONI) presented the Parks and Wildlife Amendment Bill [H. B. 1, 2024].
Bill read the first time.
Bill referred to the Parliamentary Legal Committee.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
HON. TOGAREPI: 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. NYANDORO I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE JOINT PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON BUDGET, FINANCE AND INVESTMENT PROMOTION AND INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE ON THE 2024 MONETARY STATEMENT
Sixth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the Joint Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Investment Promotion and Industry and Commerce on the 2024 Monetary Policy Statement.
Question again proposed.
HON. CHIDUWA: They are still debating Madam Speaker.
The Acting Speaker having called upon Hon. Chiduwa to take the floor.
HON. CHIDUWA: Hon. Madam Speaker, I think Hon. Members are still debating.
HON. KANGAUSARU: Thank you, Madam Speaker Ma’am for giving me this opportunity to debate on the report of the Joint Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Investment Promotion and Industry and Commerce on the 2024 Monetary Policy. Firstly, it is a general principle that monetary policy objectives include maintaining price stability, controlling inflation, stabilising the financial system, and promoting sustainable economic growth. The 2024 monetary policy as presented in the report by Hon. Chiduwa, was crafted addressing the same objectives. Let me remind this House that the objective for our current Monetary Policy is for our beloved country to have a solid and stable national currency, a stable and sustainable exchange rate, confidence restoration and to achieve macroeconomic stability. At Global level, the International Monetary Fund welcomed Zimbabwe’s introduction of a new bullion-backed currency as an important step towards achieving stability in our country. That alone Madam Speaker, shows the solid policy stance taken by the RBZ establishing a functioning currency after previous efforts amid hyperinflation and collapsing foreign exchange values.
The introduction of Zimbabwe Gold currency (ZiG) which is backed by a basket of minerals, mainly gold and foreign currency reserves shows the will that we have, as a country, to have our own stable currency. No country can develop Madam Speaker, without its own currency. Surely, we need to have our own currency. Madam Speaker, the three main functions of money are (1) a medium of exchange (2) store of value (3) unit of account. The ZiG which is backed by assets as defined in the Monetary Policy has a defined intrinsic value which shows that apart from being a medium of exchange only, it is a store of value. Generally, gold is considered a safe haven investment during downturns and financial crises because of its long history of use as a store of value. The policy direction of having our own structured currency is a solid stance towards building our country, towards attaining vision 2030.
Truly speaking, what matters to the business community is currency stability to facilitate planning. Costing and pricing decisions are always difficulty in an inflationary environment. Assessment of business profitability is also another challenge. The ZiG is expected to afford the business community a relatively stable currency to facilitate long term planning. The policy indicated that 78% uptake share of gold coins was by corporates suggesting that there already is a buy-in to a gold backed currency. Further to that, is value preservation. Madam Speaker, value preservation is a key consideration to the citizens. The chase for the US dollar in the parallel/illegal market attests to the desire to preserve value. The pronouncement by His Excellency Dr. E. D. Mnangagwa, on the availability of gold to back the currency was crucial in bringing comfort and confidence to the transacting public.
In the past Madam Speaker, we have noticed that although the introduction of Bond Notes was backed by US$200 million facility, the cumulative printing of money caused fast depreciation of RTGS$. Now, the proposed new policy measure means that ZiG will only be printed in tandem with increase reserves. Money supply policy thrust ensures that reserve money growth is contained within the limits of growth in gold and foreign currency reserves. So hypothetically, this arrangement restricts the ability of RBZ to print ZiG willy-nilly. If this holds, the gold-backed ZiG will become a stable currency, thus clamping ongoing rapid dollarisation of the economy.
Let me turn to the willing-buyer-willing-seller policy proposal Madam Speaker. Previously, the country used to have the auction system which has been replaced by a refined interbank foreign exchange market under a willing-buyer-willing-seller trading arrangement. We can all agree in this House that this policy development brings in a transparent price discovery mechanism in the interbank market. The policy further proposed to fund the willing-buyer-willing-seller mechanism using the 25% surrender proceeds from exports. The willing-buyers-willing-seller trading arrangement is an attempt to boost confidence in the economy. In the past, we have seen that the variation between the auction rate and the parallel market rate was also a potential source of arbitrage. The idea of transparency and a floating exchange rate has long been requested and if fully implemented, it could combat the currency volatility.
An increase in demand for a particular currency will increase the value of the currency. The fiscal policy measure of starting to create demand of ZiG through mandatory requirement for companies to settle at least 50% of their tax obligations in ZiG is a welcome move. The demand for local currency to pay taxes impacts exchange rate positively. This can lead to limited exchange rate volatility. The monetary policy statement indicated that more than 80% of transactions are taking place in foreign currency, and the local currency only covers 20%. Given such a situation, it definitely means that we cannot at one go have all taxes paid in ZiG or all commodities paid in ZiG. We need to have a step by step process to move the local currency coverage from 20% to at least say 30% by 2025, 50% by 2026 and 70% may be by 2027. Such a step by step measure will guarantee success.
The 2024 Monetary Policy proposed to alleviate bank charges which have been a thorn in the flesh for the general public. For instance, the farmers who get paid say once a year will get their accounts debited through what they call bank maintenance or service charges. Farmers will find their accounts deep in negative balances, meaning part of their income will just go to the servicing of the debt. Banks have been making huge profits through bank charges. The proposed measures restricting banks from charging individual bank accounts with a conservative daily balance of US$100 and below or its equivalent in ZiG for up to 30 days is firm and shows commitment to promoting financial inclusion and reducing unnecessary costs to the people of Zimbabwe. High bank charges levied on both foreign and local currency frustrate depositors. Consultations with the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe brought to light that large chunks of income by banks is being derived from service charges as opposed to interest on loans. Alleviating bank charges is a commendable policy move by the RBZ as exorbitant bank charges have increased the opportunity cost of maintaining a small account, discouraging potential savings and pushing poor citizens from formal banking channels. However, more must be done to reduce excessive bank charges that have become an albatross in fulfilling the National Financial Inclusion Strategy launched way back in 2016.
As I conclude, we have our legislative role bestowed upon us in Section 117 of our Constitution. We need to close all the gaps that may be used by speculators. Chief among all is curbing illegal forex trading in line with our Exchange Control Act. The Act which was passed by Parliament prohibits illegal monetary dealings. The premium offered by money changers is lucrative to the public, but at the same time causing depreciation of our currency. Last week, our neighbour Zambia, introduced a Statutory Instrument banning illegal forex trading. Such a decision shows their commitment to make their Kwacha strong. So, why is it shocking in Zimbabwe to preserve the value of our ZiG?
In conclusion, the announced 2024 Monetary Policy Measures aimed at stabilising inflationary pressure and exchange rate volatility will help calm markets, which have been in turmoil for some time. More importantly, this arrangement of backing the ZiG with reserve assets has excellent potential to bring a lasting solution to our currency challenge. Once we have our stable currency, we can power industrial production, create a conducive environment for investment and in turn, improve the livelihoods of our citizens. At this juncture, I can assure the nation that with the ZiG, we will make it. Let us embrace the new ZiG. ZiG bho, I thank you Madam Speaker.
HON. MUSHORIWA: Thank you Madam Speaker for giving me the opportunity to debate the joint report done by the Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Economic Investment as well as that of Industry and Commerce. This is in respect to the first Monetary Policy as pronounced by the new Governor Dr. John Mushayavanhu. Madam Speaker, I needed to preface my debate in respect to this report and the Monetary Policy that was so presented, by looking into the historical perspective and where we are coming from as a nation. Everybody everywhere in this world and especially in Zimbabwe, deserves to have a stable currency, a currency that you can actually plan and do your things knowing that the value of your currency will not change in the manner in which we have found ourselves as a country in the past few years. A currency should meet the basic tenets of money which are the store of value, the medium of exchange and once a currency loses those, then we create a problem.
We are a country that moved away from our Zim Dollar in 2009 to the multi-currency. We then gradually went into the RTGs and then changed again to the multi-currency era and now we are in a new set-up where we still have the multi-currency, but the Governor has come back and said he has come up with a new currency for Zimbabwe which is the gold backed currency. If we analyse and look at it, I want to say that the previous Governor of the RBZ, Dr. John Mangudya and even the current RBZ Governor, Dr. John Mushayavanhu, Dr. Mangudya was the CEO of CBZ and he had run that bank very well and Dr. John Mushayavanhu comes with a history of having run the FBC bank in a very good way. So, in a way, it will be wrong to then fault the Governors in their individual capacities because when it comes to the capacity of corporate governance, I think they did prove that they can do it. But, there is something that I think is an elephant in the House, where we then find ourselves getting into trouble. One of the major challenges that we face is that our Monetary Policy has not been in sync with our fiscal policy and this has been a problem. One of the major challenges that you then see even when the new Governor introduced the new currency, there was a lackadaisical approach first by the RBZ as an institution and also even the Fiscal Policy authorities. We knew way back because the President had indicated that we were actually moving into the trajectory of bringing ZiG currency as early as February. But guess what Madam Speaker? We reached a stage where the new currency was introduced, but there were no bank notes or coins to support that. Even in terms of publicity, it was so poor compared to the standards that were set by RBZ previously when we had these currency reforms under the former Governor, Dr. Gideon Gono. There was that slow start which created a problem when the new currency was introduced. But more fundamentally, the Fiscal Policy, I think we should have had the Minister of Finance coming before the august House to quickly come up with credible fiscal policy interventions and not this question of the Minister saying he will wait for the Mid-Term Fiscal Review to then come up with some complementary fiscal policy. I do not think it adds up to the support that is needed when you are introducing a new currency. What we have at the moment, which I think is dangerous is that we have a situation where we now literally rely on the police enforcement to ensure that the parallel or black-market rate does not run amok. Right now, we have a legal challenge which will create a problem. How then do we make sure that our currency remains strong? We need to make sure that the Government should live to its word. We need to make sure that printing of money should be stopped. We need to make sure that Government lives within its means. As long as the Government does not do that, then we will actually have a problem with ZiG. It will just be a question of time. We also need to make sure that Government’s activities should move towards the use of ZiG rather than a question of having most of its services being in US dollar or other currencies.
If the Government has confidence in its currency, surely the industry and commerce and all other individuals will also have confidence with the ZiG. I want to give credit and say that if the announcement by the new Governor is supported by the Government, then I think we will reach a certain stage. However, if Government does not support the new Governor’s initiative, then we will be back to where we started.
In addition, one way we will find ourselves back there is when we have policy inconsistencies. This august House needs to make sure that even when the Minister of Finance comes in this House for his mid-term fiscal policy review, we need to make sure that he is coming up with complementary efforts that supports ZiG. If we do not do that, then we will go back into the problem that we faced in 2019 where the Minister of Finance had to come back and tell us that RTGS was no longer equivalent to 1:1. We are aware that Government had announced that we are in a multi-currency regime for the next 4 and half years. Right now, we should be having a clear roadmap in terms of making sure that we will have our own currency and this US dollar and multi-currency will go away. The roadmap cannot just be a roadmap without sign post and milestones. We should be knowing that by such a period, we will have reached a certain stage. At the moment we do not seem to be having that signpost and mile stones that have been set by
Government.
The RBZ on its own cannot do much. It all has to be dependent on the Government activities and which I think we will be crucial. The other thing which is crucial is that according to the Governor, he said around 85% of our transactions at the moment are actually in multi-currency. The major challenge that we need to tie up is how does parallel market happen. It happens when you go to a bank and you want to do a legitimate foreign transaction and then you fail. We need to make sure that the processes done by RBZ in terms of making sure that monies that should be availed to the market is done in a transparent manner. We are actually glad and happy that at the moment, the auction rate has been removed because it made some people rich. They would go to the auction rate, get the money at a discounted rate, take that money and use a portion of that money to import one or two things but the bulk of the money would be poured into the parallel market. Such a situation that creates arbitrage opportunities should not be allowed to exist and this is what we need. We need to make sure that we cut all arbitrage opportunities for our people. We need also to make sure every time all the Portfolio Committees in this august House try by all means in their review of the various ministries to ensure that when it comes to the ZiG promotion, are we supporting it in the ministries in the manner in which that they will be doing issues.
Currently, we have a situation where we find even if you look at ZESA how they converted into ZiG, their conversion model is faulty resulting in a situation where people are now overpaying when it comes to payment of ZiG. This is primarily so because the conversion was not done properly. It is also important that the Ministry of Finance should ensure that the conversion and some of the mistakes that happened during the conversion from the RTGS to ZiG are corrected because we do not want to create a problem which may then haunt us a nation.
Having said that, I want to say that we need to see the ZiG succeed. One of the major challenges that we have actually seen is that most people in this country, the pensioners, insurance policy holders who contributed to Old Mutual and Southampton Insurance lost all their savings. Even Members of Parliament who have served very well in this august House, some of them are living on a pension which is very small, primarily because the money they are getting as pension pay outs does not afford them to live a life that is worth of a Member of Parliament - worth of a civil servant who has given his or her best service to this country. Government needs to go back and relook into the welfare of those pensioners because they are living a terrible life as if they never worked during the course of their life and the fault was not theirs. It is not that they did not save, they saved and invested but as leaders of this country, we failed them.
To that extent, it is important that Hon. Members make sure that all pensioners’ policies live so that the ZiG will not go back to the history of the RTGS or former Zim dollars which became obsolete. We want ZiG to prosper and Zim dollar to be there so that our future as a country may be in a position to move forward.
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE ACTING SPEAKER
HALF DAY WORKSHOP ON 2022 CENSUS
THE ACTING SPEAKER (HON. MAUNGANIDZE): I wish to inform the House that all Members of Parliament are cordially invited to a half day workshop jointly organisd by Parliament of Zimbabwe and UNICEF. The half day workshop will take place next week on Thursday, 20th June, 2024 in the Multi-Purpose Hall at the new Parliament Building, Mt. Hampden. The programme will start at 9 o’clock. UNICEF will jointly present with ZIMSTAT the provincial and district census that are profile to Parliament. The workshop will enable the Members of Parliament to appreciate the results of the 2022 population and housing census, particularly the social status of citizens at district level. This will ensure that Members of Parliament effectively perform their oversight role. Please join us for this informative and engaging event. I thank you.
HON. MABURUTSE: Thank you Madam Speaker for giving me this opportunity to add my voice in this debate. I have a few words to contribute to this debate. The Ministry of Finance must embrace the ZiG first such that everyone else will follow suit. We cannot have a situation where the Government is pushing everybody to embrace ZiG whilst the Government is not accepting the ZiG itself. It could be workable if the Ministry of Finance can allow people to pay their duties in ZiG. The moment that is allowed, you will realise that everyone else will be running looking for the ZiG thereby making our own money strong.
On the industry side there is the 25% exporter surrender value which exporters are in our local currency which is the ZiG. That money will act as a reserve money which the exporters cannot use anywhere. This is because they cannot even pay that 25% electricity using the ZiG, they cannot pay duties for the imports that they are making. By not allowing the payment of duties and other utilities in the ZiG, companies are honestly failing to grow. So, I think it is a thing which we would want to advise the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, to look into it seriously such that our ZiG could remain stronger. I thank you Madam Speaker.
HON. CHIDUWA: Thank you Madam Speaker. I would want to thank Hon. Members for the robust debate, development-oriented debate that was very honest. I think the honesty that was displayed by the Hon. Members is because we all want our country to succeed and the success of our country is also dependent on us as Hon. Members to be able to tell each other the truth. I think this is what the Hon. Members have done.
As I close this debate, let me just touch on the highlights of what was presented by the individual Hon. Members. The motion was seconded by Hon. Madzivanyika and Hon. Madzivanyika was of the view that the ZiG, since it is backed by an asset, one should be able to convert the ZiG in exchange for the underlying asset. If you remember our currency, we used to have this thing which was written ‘pay the bearer on demand’. This is what he was referring to. He said there is need for us to create trust in our currency. He also raised the issue of divisibility and this is an issue that I also discussed with the Governor some two days ago to say people are struggling to get change.
It is very difficult for small transactions because we do not have coins. This is what was proffered by Hon. Madzivanyika to say there is need for us to have coins. There is need to address policy confidence through policy certainty. The ZiG should be the currency of choice and I think this is what has been brought out even now by Hon. Maburutse to say we should be able to use the ZiG, not only for specified services but for all local goods and services. Hon. Madzivanyika also said there is need for us not to focus on QPDs only, but also to consider the payment of PAYE, Value Added Tax and withholding tax, all these should be paid in the ZiG. The 25% surrender value for exporters is like a reserve now which the Hon. Member said because the surrender is failing to get a home. He then proposed that there is need for us to make sure that we also pay our bills, ZESA, water and duty using the 25% surrender value.
Hon. Mukomberi reiterated that the ZiG is a structured currency which is supported by gold, forex reserves and other precious minerals and it is very critical that the Hon. Minister repeals S.I.118 so that there is uniformity in the exchange rate and I think this was already done by the Hon. Minister. On the issue of us not using the police to police the policy, Hon. Mukomberi said there is need for us to make use of the policy to ensure that there is compliance and I think these are the highlights from Hon. Mukomberi.
Hon. Hungwe said let us give the ZiG time. It is a new currency and stability is gong to be brought about dependent on the behaviour of economic agencies and he said let us support the ZiG. The banks and the industry should support the ZiG and on the QPDs, he supported the idea that the QPDs should be paid in local currency and let us ensure that the bulk of the transactions that are done for locally produced goods should be done making use of the ZiG. He then lamented the shortage of point of sale machines and proposed that all supermarkets and all transacting entities should have point of sale machines and also propose the use of plastic money.
He also touched on the need for our banks to review bank charges downwards as a way of promoting financial inclusion. I think this is an area that has been mentioned by a number of our debaters. I transition to the submission by Hon. Tsvangirai who applauded the closure of the Dutch auction system and said the willing-buyer-willing-seller is going to promote the usage of the formal systems because the Dutch system was promoting the arbitrage and thereby distorting the value of the local currency.
He then said the market based pricing brings sanity in the market and also said all goods and services should be payable using the ZiG and I am sure this is a point that is coming out from all the Hon. Members. He also said the policies should entrench and promote financial inclusion, especially among the youth.
The submission by Hon. Mangondo; there is need to promote the use of the ZiG and RBZ should go on a ZiG sensitisation programme so that we are all aware of the existence of the ZiG. Companies should follow on the production of exportables to strengthen our currency. On this note, Hon. Mangondo was saying in order for us to strengthen our currency, it lies when we produce and I think this is very critical. He also lamented the issue on bank charges and said there is need for our banks to review bank charges downwards. The submission by Hon. Matinenga; she said the Hon. Minister and Governor should walk the talk on policy implementation and I am sure this is something that is coming out from all the submissions that are before us, once there is a policy proposal, we need to follow through as proposed.
Hon. Sakupwanya said there is need for exchange rate and prices stability and with stability comes confidence and I think this is very critical. He then implored on citizens to make use of the ZiG as a store of value. He said there must be a deliberate move by the Government to pay for council rates, electricity and other services to create the demand for the ZiG and I am sure this is what is coming out. He also said there is need to relax regulations on the operations and opening of Bureau De Changes. This will ensure that the unbanked remote areas have access to financial services, especially in cases where they are supposed to have access to forex. Again, he mentioned the issue of bank charges being too high.
Hon. Zhou said let us promote the use of the ZiG, it should be able to buy all goods and services in the country. We should be able to pay for passports, duty and there is need for swipe machines. I think this is what the other Hon. Members said. She also said the ZiG should be made available in the market and we have noted that. As of now, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has been drip-feeding the availability of the ZiG. What is coming from the Hon. Members is that we need the availability of the ZiG on the market.
Hon. Nyakuedzwa said, let us have confidence in our currency and I am sure this is what is coming. Hon. Kangausaru, there is need for us to have our own currency and this is what we have embraced as Zimbabweans. The ZiG should now perform the true functions of money as a store of value and as a medium of exchange, but what is critical is currency stability. The willing-buyer-willing-seller would provide competence in the market and has dealt a blow to the arbitrage that was going on. You also lamented on high bank charges that banks push ordinary depositors out of the formal banking system, thereby limiting the ordinary people on the Government policy of financial inclusion.
Hon. Mushoriwa mentioned that the monetary policy should be in sync with the fiscal policy. He also said the publicity that was done by the Government and RBZ was inadequate and he then implored that there is need for the Minister of Finance to immediately announce the complementary fiscal measures. He also reiterated that there is also need for Government to support the policy announcement by RBZ Governor, especially on the usage of the ZiG by ministries, departments and Government agencies. The ministries and Government agencies should support the ZiG and use the official conversion rates as announced by the RBZ Governor. All in all, he said he would want to see the ZiG succeed.
Hon. Maburutse said Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion must embrace the ZiG before anybody else, and as the principal Ministry, it should lead by example by making use of the ZiG. Government departments should be the first to embrace the ZiG. In that, he said all duties should be paid in the ZiG. On a closing note, Hon. Maburutse said on the 25% quarter surrender value, it now acts as reserve money as it is now failing to find a home. Due to that, he then said his proposal is for all goods and services to be paid using the ZiG. So, this is a summary of what was submitted by the Hon. Members and I would want to thank the Hon. Members for the contributions that you made towards the joint report that was done by the Committee on Budget, Finance and Investment Promotion and the Committee on Industry and Commerce.
Hon. Members, Hon. Speaker, I therefore, propose that this House adopts the report of the Joint Committee on the 24 Monetary Policy Statement. I thank you.
Motion that this House considers and adopts the Report of the Joint Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Investment Promotion and Industry and Commerce on the 2024 Monetary Policy Statement, put and agreed to.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
HON. TSITSI ZHOU: I move that we revert to Order of the Day Number 7 on today’s Order Paper.
HON. KAMBUZUMA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
ADMINISTRATION OF THE NATIONAL CADASTRE
SYSTEM TO THE ZIMBABWE NATIONAL GEOSPATIAL
AND SPACE AGENCY
Seventh Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the establishment of the electronic Cadastre and mining Cadastre systems.
Question again proposed.
HON. I. NDUDZO: Thank you Madam Speaker. Firstly, let me thank Hon. Mhuri for bringing to the House such a motion of strategic national importance. Madam Speaker, simplified national Cadastre system entails having in our nation, a consolidated land registration system that is electronically auditable and available. It would enable our nation to be able to account for each square inch of the 40 million hectares that constitutes the nation of Zimbabwe, which is about 400 000 km2, in the total land area of this beautiful nation called Zimbabwe.
It is a no-brainer that we need it as a matter of utmost urgency and priority, to have a national Cadastre system that encompasses our land and our mining rights. If you look at the cost benefit analysis, you will realise that we stand to immensely benefit as a nation when we have a consolidated land registration exercise. Within the precincts of the limited time that I have to debate, I will endeavour to motivate on some of the advantages that tend to accrue to our nation if we expedite the registration and consolidation of our land and our mining rights.
Firstly, it is not possible to plan when you cannot properly account what you have in your custody and what you have under your control. The future of this country requires meticulous planning because we know that land is a finite and an inelastic resource. The land that we have is an inheritance which we bequest from our forefathers, which we must also bequest to generations to come. We must be able to pass it on in an orderly and organised manner. That can only happen when we have a consolidated national Cadastre registration system.
I would further submit that when land is not registered or when the registration of land is not clear, it renders that land bad capital because we know that the value of land is not just any physical occupation and use. It is also on the bankability and the transactions that you are able to carry on the basis of the registration, title and whatever certification you may have, which is accorded to a particular piece of land. As things stand, you notice that in the majority we have in this country, we still have unclear registration which is why we always have a lot of disputes surrounding ownership, control, use and other functions of the land which we have in this country. Having this national electronic cadastre system will not just help us ameliorate those disputes, but will enable us to also strengthen our national balance sheet. When we have land which is dully registered and properly accounted for, we are able to know the true value of the land which we have in this country. In respect of mineral rights, we will know the true value and it can become an easy basis for us to be able to explore, conduct national exploration and even know the true value of the minerals that lie beneath the land that we live on.
Madam Speaker, it is my submission that carrying into effect the motion as proposed by Hon. Mhuri will actually enable us to have an end to the multiple disputes that are bedeviling our dispute resolution forums.
As things stand Madam Speaker, we have infinite numbers of disputes between miner to miner. We have a lot of problems if you go to the Ministry of Mines where every day a lot of time and resources are wasted trying to find out who actually owns which piece of mining location and who has got superior rights to the other because as things stand, the current manual system is susceptible to abuse and manipulation. We also have miner to farmer disputes because if you look at the land legislation that exist in Zimbabwe through the Land Acquisition Act as Amended by the gazette Land Consequential Provisions Act, you find that it says certain things in respect of use of land. These things are not always aligned to the provisions of the Mines and Minerals Act which gives priority rights to miners.
Having Consolidated National Cadastral Survey System will also enable us to mop up and clean our legislation so that there is clarity as to which rights takes precedence over which other set of rights. Even in the communal areas, we have disputes that are so difficult to resolve. We have disputes between Chiefs, the boundaries which area lies under which chieftainship is a common dispute. Madam Speaker, the difficulties and differences between headman, even the difficulties and differences between respective village heads, where does my village end and where does the next village begin. It is a real issue which often finds expression in disputes that come even before the courts or sometimes where people end up resorting to self-help to resolve such disputes. If the motion is carried into effect Madam Speaker, we will come to a situation where it should be possible at the click of a button to be able to scientifically and empirically establish the bounds of each respective village or each respective piece of communal land. That will also assist even in terms of planning and in terms of allocation of land- use.
Madam Speaker, it is also my considered view that having a proper land registration system that is easily accessible to everyone will be quite pivotal in promoting investment in our country. Investment is like water it falls gradient – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] Very rarely will someone be motivated to invest their resources and capital in a place where there are potential disputes because there are difficulties in ascertaining ownership control and use of land. When you compare the so called developed nations versus the developing nations, you will see that one of the major distinctions that exist is that in the developed world there is accountability and there is registration. There are also records that define who owns each small inch of land. So you look at a small country and with respect like Belgium, you find that a country perhaps without any mineral rights, a country even without a favourable climate but when you look at the value of their land - even though it is perhaps a very small fraction of Zimbabwe. Their land has got more value because of the registration process that consolidates ownership title and land use. That is what, in my respectful view, we mut be able to pursue.
Madam Speaker, it is not just about foreign direct investment but it is also important in attracting and retaining local investments. We want a nation where the natives of the country are so proud to go out and earn capital elsewhere and find Zimbabwe as the most attractive investment destination. Things will be so orderly and it should be possible for you to ascertain the use and functions designated for each piece of land that exists in this country – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear] –
Madam Speaker, you can imagine that as things stand, we have had incidences where even people who have title deeds have been susceptible to fraud. You are aware of people who have illicitly been able to actually transfer land belonging to another person by hook or crook. They are able to go to the Deeds Registry’s Office and are able to come up with title deeds that transfer property and you find yourself being evicted from a property which you actually own. You can imagine what the situation is like in respect of land which is not consolidated on a national registration cadastral system.
Having a national consolidated land cadastral system will enable us to plug all the loopholes and eliminate all the current infractions in land theft, land barons and other excesses that do not augur well for the Zimbabwe that we all want to be proud or to be associated with – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear] - It is therefore my respectful submission Madam Speaker that as the National Assembly, we need to fully support the motion by Hon. Mhuri. We must be able to do everything possible to make sure that there is priority in funding the exercise and that when the exercise is completed, we then utilise the system that emanates from that exercise to be able to actually clean-up all our land legislation. Right now, you have the Deed Registries Act, it says one thing, the Town Country Planning at Regional Act is saying a different thing, I have already mentioned the other pieces of legislation.
Lastly Madam Speaker, one of the challenges we have as things stand in our country is that even when land is designated as State land sometimes you actually find conflicts between different Government agencies in respect of the same piece of land. I will give you an example in context, if you look at the Forestry Act, it designates certain pieces of land largely in the Eastern Highlands As most suitable for forestry. You realise that within demarcated forests you actually have people who are moving in there invading that land trying to use that land for other purposes. Zimbabwe is strategically blessed as one of the few countries in the world where we can actually have commercial forestry.
Madam Speaker, that land must be properly preserved, reserved and always protected for that purpose even though it will be owned by the State. The same can be said even of the land which we have set aside for parks and for the sanctuary of wildlife. You actually find that we have incidences where certain people try and actually appropriate part of that land because these issues are not as clear and as consolidated as there would be in the after mark of the implementation of the motion as proposed by Hon. Mhuri. It is for those reasons that I urge this august House and I urge everyone present to put everything that they can in supporting this motion. I so submit and thank you.
HON. MUTOKONYI: Thank you Madam Speaker. I also rise to support the motion moved by Hon. Mhuri with regards to the issue of the mining Cadastre. We have seen a lot of corruption, particularly in the local authorities with regards to this issue of land ownership. It is a fact that once the system is availed on a national approach, such kind of inefficiencies will be avoided. Madam Speaker, we have also witnessed that…
HON. DHLIWAYO: On a point of clarity. I wanted to find out - I heard Hon. Mutokonyi saying a mining Cadastre system. Is it a mining Cadastre or it is a national Cadastre system?
HON. MUTOKONYI: Thank you for that. Yes, it is a national Cadastre system. I have just been reading something on mining Cadastre system. Thank you for that. I am very happy that we have got Hon. Members who will be listening attentively. I have looked at the issue of transparency. Once the national Cadastre system is on board, we are going to eradicate a lot of issues that deal with red tape where we have witnessed a lot of bureaucratic excuses in the offices with regards to issues to do with mining, land and many others. The coming in of this system, even in management, we say the system follows the structure. The structure will then make sure that any of these challenges that have been witnessed before will be a thing of the past. I remember some time ago, I read the report on the National Peace and Reconciliation. The report had a lot of issues with regards to disputes. Most of these disputes were coming from mining, farming, rural communities and land regarding ownership. So, this will then buttress the issue and the disputes will be minimised because the system will be addressing them and managed at national level, thus eradicating all these disputes. We have also observed, particularly in the rural communities, the disputes amongst the chiefs. It is a good approach to have this system as it is going to ensure that the country - the Zimbabwe that we want is managed in a proper and transparent manner.
In economics we know that there are factors of production, and land is one of the key factors of production. If we want to talk about productivity, we can only be productive on land that you are sure of the ownership, particularly when you come to investment, you will have to be sure that the investment that you are getting into, the land ownership is very clear. The coming in of the Cadastre system will actually favour and increase productivity with regards to long term investments. We have also noted that in terms of infrastructure development, quite a lot of infrastructure development is being called for and driven in the national development policy. This infrastructure development also has to be done on properly accounted for land in terms of ownership. This will then drive the economy. We are now talking of economic growth, which is done productively on the land that is rightly and correctly owned. That is very important for us as a nation to have this system in place for continuity.
We also look at the issue of ease of doing business. Zimbabwe is open for business and the ease of doing business is also enhanced in our legislative laws regarding the same issue. We then need to ensure that we align our policies and our legislative laws to the new Cadastre system so that it drives the business in terms of the ease of doing business and consequently few litigations due to issues that may arise. Madam Speaker, without wasting time, a lot has already been debated by other Hon. Members. I do submit and also buttress the motion raised by Hon. Mhuri. I thank you.
*HON. MACHINGURA: Madam Speaker, I just wanted to say if people do not know the amount of the things that they have, how will that assist us? If this Cadastre system is capable of showing the minerals that we have underneath the ground, such minerals like copper and lithium, we can be in a position to plan our things properly. Whatever it is that we do, we should ensure that we are able to leave this for our children. If we are going to have diamonds and we finish them all and have all the minerals extinct, our children will be left with nothing. We need to be sure of what we have. The Cadastre system will tell us the number of minerals that we have and it will do us a lot of good if we call people that come in and we will be able to tell them the quantities of gold that we have. If we have no idea of what we have, we will remain with nothing. I want to tell you that what is happening in the communal lands, we have some issues. There was a person who was given a place to reside on. Then a snake came and he killed it. A second snake came and he killed it. When he went for a beer drink, he was asked if he had seen the two letters that had been sent to him. So, the disputes on land issues that are happening on the ground are unbelievable. This Cadastre system will assist us in terms of the pegs in terms of properties. The issue of proper boundaries has a lot of disputes. One person will encroach into another’s property and because of that, people are having disputes. The Cadastre system will be able to designate and show where Machingura’s property starts and ends.
In towns, on the issue of land for residential purposes, there are some stands that they hide and leave unallocated and when they report progress to someone who does not know much about the issue of land, they report fewer stands than those that exist and those unallocated ones are the ones that will be corruptly sold to people, yet they will have been planned at the same time. The same applies to what is happening to farming land. When people go to peg the land, they also do not account for all the land available. A Cadastre system that shows us the boundaries and what we have underground does us a lot of good. Also when we invite investors, we are able to tell them the quantities of gold that we have. If we do not know, we will remain with nothing. I want to tell you what is happening in communal lands. We have some issues. There was a certain person who was given a place to reside. A snake came to his homestead and he killed it. A second snake came and he killed it again. When he got to a beer drink, he was asked if he had seen the two letters that were sent to him. The disputes on land are numerous. The cadastre system will be able to guide us in terms of pegs of our properties. The issue of property boundaries has a lot of disputes. People encroach into each other’s farming lands and because of that, people are having a lot of disputes. So, the cadastre will be able to designate where Mr. Machingura is and anyone else’s property is.
When the technical departments at urban and rural councils plan for residential purposes, there are some stands that they reserve unallocated. When they report progress to the CEO who is not well versed with the land allocation, they then later sell these stands corruptly to people. This is what is happening with land that is reserved for farming. When people go to peg the land for farming, they leave behind some other land that is not allocated. That is why you see people appearing from nowhere having pieces of land. If we have a cadastre system, then people will be able to know that there are certain things that have been planned.
I just stood up to support the motion that was moved. If you look at ZINGSA that they are talking about, you will see that there is a lot of scientific gadgets used to produce master plans for areas such as Tokwe-Mukorsi. They are not the ones that keep these master-plans but they do work on behalf of other groups. Recently, they launched ZIMSAT 1 which gave out accurate information pertaining to land pegging. Soon after independence, we had five agricultural regions. But when ZINGSA came they revised all this and we now have agricultural regions like 2 A and 2 B. They modernised and came up with a new map which shows what we are doing. I want to support the cadastre system because it will help us in a lot of things and ways. I thank you.
HON. MHURI: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. BAJILA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Tuesday, 18th June 2024.
MOTION
LEGISLATION TO PROMOTE THE DEVELOPMENT OF PREVIOUSLY MARGINALISED LANGUAGES
Eighth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the officially recognised languages of Zimbabwe.
Question again proposed.
*HON. JONGA: First of all, I want to thank Hon. Bajila for moving this motion. When the war of liberation was fought, there was no other way where you could use any other languages apart from our own mother tongue as we had to plead with our ancestors to lead us to victory. We would do that using our mother tongue which would be understood by ancestors.
These languages have now been suppressed to the extent that a lot of people no longer understand their languages. I take for example places like Chiredzi or Chipinge, there is Tonga and Shangani. Such areas are appearing as if they were out of Zimbabwe because these were minority languages. If these minority languages are taught throughout the country, harmony, peace and unity among the people would be enhanced because our children can have inter-marriages. For example, if my daughter is married in Beitbridge, I will be helped by being able to speak Venda and Ndau. I had a problem with my daughter who secured an internship in Bulawayo and I asked why she was reluctant to go. She said she was unable to converse in Ndebele. There is a serious problem if children do not learn our languages because if she had learned Ndebele at an early age, it would have been easier for her to learn and speak the language. I urged her to go and learn whilst she was there because she is still young.
If we encourage the use of our local languages, it will be easier, for teachers will get jobs. We have sixteen official languages so if a lot of teachers are going to be recruited to speak these languages, we further encourage that those in the Ministry of Education should now say as a requirement instead of English and Maths being one of the compulsory requirements that should not apply to Zimbabwe. If you go to Botswana they place a lot of importance on the Tswana language. I attended a workshop for the people that had come from Belarus, Members of Parliament who were there so that the investors who came could not even utter a single word of English. There was an interpreter - that means they place little importance on their own mother languages. However, in our country we place a lot of importance on our oppressors or colonisers. Some of the problems that we have in this country are caused by using the wrong language. The people in the era of Mbuya Nehanda could understand English. There are also those that use sign language and if sign language was taught in schools, it would help those that use sign language. In the majority of cases, it appears as if they are marginalized because there are few people who understand sign language and also practice it.
If they are given a chance for this sign language to be taught in schools, it would become easier for them. The more we speak our language, the more we enhance and conserve our culture and our tradition. I know that in Mt Darwin West where I come from when one arrives at a homestead, before they greet you, they give you some water to drink, this is because visitors could be thirsty or lose consciousness as they arrive, hence the water treatment first and when you greet each other if it is a girl anotyora muzura. I believe Hon. Chibagu will agree with me on that point in terms of our culture in Mashonaland Central. It is important for us to teach and to know our language so that we can maintain our culture, way of life and our traditions. We will know that we are people in our land which is our inheritance, Zimbabwe.
*HON. GANYIWA: Thank you Hon. Speaker. Let me get into the motion despite the fact that I have left behind the researched documents that I had prepared. I want to contribute to this motion that was brought by Hon. Bajila because no man can embrace a baobab tree alone. Let me also play my part. The motion before us if not properly handled, will be an exercise in futility. Why do I say so, yes, the issue of teaching languages and their being practiced in Zimbabwe and their diversity is important, it cannot be considered important if we just encourage the teaching of these languages only without looking at other issues why we have languages as human beings.
Why did I say if we only confine ourselves to languages it will be an exercise in futility, it is because we would have left a number of things that are part and parcel of the social economy of the people. We should not leave out the practices of culture and the manner in which we craft our laws according to tradition. Why did I say the one that writes and gives you what to read is the one who controls your mind in the economy and politics and everything, even religion?
If you look in this august House, the way we dress - we must dress appropriately. Even if we advocate for the learning of our languages, if I am forced to be wearing a jacket and tie, it means this is an exercise in futility. Even if we look at the curriculum and syllabuses that we have in our schools up to university level, we will reach that far but we would have already left behind our culture and our languages, learning Roman and Dutch Law.
I believe that such practices cannot be learned in our language, that is why they say that we should learn using foreign languages. I remember when others said that they were cheated in an election, it was because we had certain vocabulary that we imaged, which we could not understand because it was said in Roman Dutch.
Madam Speaker, I was saying that the issue of languages was being debated in a very good manner and unites the people of Zimbabwe. I thank you.
HON. HAMAUSWA: On a point of order Madam Speaker. Is this part of the motion? - [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] –
THE ACTING SPEAKER: Thank you for your point of order Hon. Hamauswa. It was just an example.
*HON. GANYIWA: Thank you Madam Speaker for protecting me. The guilt is always afraid. Let me proceed with my debate, if the spear had entered too strongly, it becomes difficult to remove it. What I want to bring out clearly is that let us look at all things if we want to be proud of our languages because our languages have certain hidden things that we keep secretly so that they protect the way we live. This will protect us because even our enemies may not be able to know what exactly we will be talking about.
From the educational background, if you see a parent looking for a place for a child, what they look for is the official language being used there. That is the yardstick that they use of how pupils learn at a school. There are other schools which are strict in using English and are strictly English speaking environments, meaning at that no Shona is allowed at that school. You can also observe that when we gather as families, a child who breaks Shona is given a higher place. That one who would have broken English is circulated on social media and is said to be dull. Then you would ask, dull in what sense? It is said he who gives you what to read and what to learn controls the minds of people in everything.
I will move a few steps, even in our courts, we are supposed to have judges wearing wigs, bearing in the manner in which we do our things. In fact, the way we are sitted, should be having lion skin that would even frighten those who would be trying to disturb me from debating. When we are looking into the issue of promoting our languages, we should look at all things holistically, in terms of the economic development, social and law making. The manner in which our law-making process can be done in this particular House, where we are coming from in terms of our culture, social, economic and the people that we lead in this august House, coupled with the languages that we are encouraging that they should be taught.
Furthermore, that they be used as the mode of communication in the syllabi and curriculum that they are learning. That is the only way we can win from the problems that we are currently facing. If that is not done, it would be an exercise in futility. With those few words, I have played my part. I thank you.
HON. BAJILA: On a point of order. You are raising a third speaker on your right. The ratio is 2:1.
THE ACTING SPEAKER: I am using a ratio of 3:2. Thank you.
HON. BAJILA: Why Madam Speaker? Why? The ruling is, the ratio if 2:1, that is what two thirds is all about. The ratio you are using is two fifths.
THE ACTING SPEAKER: Okay Hon. Bajila.
The Acting Speaker having recognised Hon. Nyelele, - [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] –
THE ACTING SPEAKER: Hon. Members, order!
HON. HAMAUSWA: Whenever we raise an issue of ratio, the Speaker who is there will always correct…
THE ACTING SPEAKER: What is the inconvenience Hon. Hamauswa? – [HON. HAMAUSWA: It is the second time for you to reject a point of order, which is correct on the ratio. Whenever we raised it, it was promptly corrected, not to say can we break the rule, then we correct after breaking. When a Member raises a point of order, it would be good to correct, so that we feel part and parcel of this House…] – Thank you Hon. Hamauswa. – [HON. HAMAUSWA: We will feel that we are no longer part and parcel of this debate, which is unfortunate for this House. I therefore, request that you revert to the correct procedure, which we agreed in this House.] – Alright, I have heard you.
∞HON. NYELELE: Good afternoon Madam Speaker. Thank you for giving me this time to add my voice. We should encourage the use of native languages because it unites us. It also brings us together to have peace and harmony. I want to thank my elder Hon. Bajila who brought this motion that we are debating in this House so that we share views on what we can do and help each other to be proud of our 16 languages. In Zimbabwe, we have the Chinese that built this Parliament; when we meet them in corridors, they will be speaking their Chinese language yet we will be busy conversing in English.
I therefore encourage that we should use our languages, those who speak Venda, Nyanja, Xhosa should speak freely. More-so when we speak with our grandparents using our languages, it makes us understand and respect each other because certain English words are disrespecting. Therefore, I should speak in the local language whereby we understand each other even with our parents and our elders unlike English where we hug each other, which is not our culture. Let use our languages.
Madam Speaker, I am also requesting that in all that is written, let us use indigenous languages. They say English is an instructional language, but we should also use other languages. I thank you.
∞HON. CUMANZALA: Thank you Hon. Speaker, good afternoon. I am very excited that today I am using my language, the Tonga which is a sweet song. Firstly, I want to thank Hon. Bajila for the great work that he did by coming up with this motion which brings together the people of Zimbabwe. Some can undermine this issue but from my perspective, I think that it unites our country because it is very essential for national building.
Also, I want to thank the Government of Zimbabwe which saw it befitting that all languages that are spoken in Zimbabwe, which include Venda, Kalanga, Tonga, Nambya and others that I have not mentioned that they should be called national languages. This is because this country is composed of Zimbabweans who speak different languages. Therefore, if you take into consideration the Chiefs who come from the Kalanga area in Plumtree, when they were giving their submissions to the Portfolio Committee, they were saying that the ancestral spirits of Zimbabwe do not listen to English. It is because when you are praying to the ancestral spirits, you speak all the native languages so that all the ancestral spirits can listen to us. For this country to be a successful country, we should respect all the people who came here, the Khoisan, whether we like it or not. The Khoisan are the first people to come into Zimbabwe. Other languages came after the Khoisan. It is as if I am being proud of ourselves but the Tongas were also the first to be in Zimbabwe, which translates to say there should be a way of appeasing our ancestors.
The motion by Hon. Bajila is that all these languages should be taught in different parts of our country. For example, in the Venda speaking area, if Ndebele is being taught and also other languages, it unifies those people across the country. It will not cause discrimination to say where do you come from, are you Tonga by tribe, are you Shona, but what is important is that we should be taught those languages. I myself was taught by Ndebele speakers and Shonas. They were teaching me Tonga as well as Shona in Kariba. It is possible that anyone can learn a language even if you come from somewhere. It brings us together and gives us that pride that we are Zimbabweans and then we can learn to tolerate each other.
We know that Government is doing a lot and of course, our Constitution is clear on the Education Act but there is a lot that needs to be done so that this motion brought by Hon. Bajila becomes successful. What should be done Madam Speaker to improve this? The Education Act should be amended so that it can unify people and find a way of how these languages can be taught. In the Education Act, it says the 16 officially recognised languages, which means the law is not binding.
It should have a term that is binding. In Zimbabwe we have what we call Masvingo Language Centre, the Midlands State University for languages, they are doing great work. We are grateful to the Government for bringing such an initiative, but they should go an extra mile, especially in terms of resources being given to these centres so as to have more human resources who can be promoting different languages. We as Tongas are happy because Tonga is being taught in schools from grade one to seven, form one to form six and at universities and colleges. Tonga is now there but other languages like Xhosa and Venda still have a long journey, including the Ndaus and Changanis. Resources should be put in teacher training institutions and universities that promote languages and produce mainly teachers for those languages which include aspects like culture and traditions of those languages. Resources should not be for centres for translating documents into these languages. Hon. Members, here in Africa, there are some arrangements that have been made to promote languages. Some of these programmes include a policy guide which was well accepted and received by African Ministers of Education in Burkina Faso in 2010. This encourages all African Governments to empower our people with their local languages, which means that as Zimbabweans, if we are to follow Hon. Bajila’s vision, we can be identified as an example in the global world that we promoted our languages in our schools and everywhere across the nation. We know that there is a lot that needs to be done.
The other issue is the Languages Bill. The parents and the Ministry came up with the Languages Bill in 2020. This Languages Bill has principles, justifications and values that if we can follow, can be implemented through the Education Policy or the Amendment to the Education Act because the Languages Bill itself gave birth to the Language Policy. The Language Policy is one area that our Government should look into. I know that in the past three weeks one Ministry had set down to look into the Language Policy. This is the starting point that we should follow as Zimbabweans who are looking forward to building and developing our country so that in future our nation can celebrate its differences and diversity. We cannot celebrate our diversity if some of our languages are not being empowered and taught in schools. Hon. Members, I think our Language Policy should come out clear that all languages should be taught in schools. For example, which language in Binga can be taught besides Tonga then here in Harare in Mashonaland which languages should be taught besides Shona. If you ask a child from Buhera, he/she will tell you they can only speak Shona and English. That is not their problem because the children were not exposed to speaking other languages that are in Zimbabwe so that they can interact with other Zimbabweans. The same applies with a child who stays in Tsholotsho who when he comes to Mashonaland cannot converse in the Shona language. Therefore Hon. Members, I consider that this motion is a non- partisan motion. Let us come together and build our country as Zimbabweans. In those few words Hon. Speaker, I want also to thank those who made it possible that our language can be spoken in this House, it is one of the best languages I have spoken. Thank you Hon. Bajila and Hon. Speaker.
HON. MATARA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir for according me this chance to add my voice on the motion raised by Hon. Bajila on teaching and learning of local languages. Mr. Speaker Sir, if we look at our cultural preservation it is through the learning and teaching of our local languages that our cultural heritage and cultural awareness is promoted. Teaching of the local languages improves academic performance since learning in mother tongue helps students perform better academically and reading and writing skills. Mr. Speaker Sir, teaching of local languages increases success to students who may struggle with dominant languages. Local languages instruction foster community involvement encouraging parents and elders to assist and participate in their children’s education. Mr. Speaker Sir, it is through the teaching and learning of local languages that they aid empowerment and pride to learners. Speaking and learning in one’s mother tongue instils a sense of pride. It gives identity and empowerment. I so submit.
+HON. MACHANGU: Thank you for the time afforded Sir, good afternoon Hon. Speaker. I also want to thank you for this motion which was brought by Hon. Bajila. It is a good opportunity for me to speak in my mother language, my original language and my home language. We are being encouraged to use our own languages so they should also be used in the education system. I also want to go deep and point out where our problem is. What I have observed is that we are saying that teachers should teach the learners in the language of that area yet the teachers themselves do not know the indigenous language of that area. Our education system is seen as the problem. My prayer is that the curriculum of the teacher be the first one to be changed so that the teachers are taught the indigenous languages at the teachers college then they can come down and teach our learners well equipped in those indigenous languages. As teachers, they can speak more than three indigenous languages because when someone wants to go outside this country they are encouraged to learn German, if they are going to France they are told to learn French and they learn that language. There should be a policy that teachers should learn our languages in colleges. I am Ndebele and I speak Ndebele. I should be encouraged to learn two languages so that when I am deployed to go and teach at a school where they speak Shona, I can converse. I will give an example, this problem touches me very much. There is a school that has 12 teachers and nine of them cannot speak Ndebele, only three can. How are these learners going to succeed in their examinations?
In Ndebele we greet our elders as livukile as in plural. One of the teachers gave an example of ekuseni meaning in the morning. That is his understanding because when you greet an elder like livukile, it is wrong. In the afternoon we say litshonile and then the teacher changed it to emini because that is his understanding. I thank Hon. Bajila very much because this motion should be looked into deeply.
Last week I was in the constituency and I was going around hoping that the person I was travelling with can converse in my language, but that person just looked at me as a sign that she could speak the language. I could not speak deeply in my Ndebele which should not be the case because if I had done that, it was like segregating. When people come to Mashonaland, they should converse well in Shona and when they go to Beitbridge, they should say ndaa, when they go to Triangle, they should say avuxeni, when they go to Binga they should say mwapona, when they go to Hon. Bajila’s place they should say mabuyani. It should go on like that nicely so that we can talk to each other in our languages.
I have a grandmother who when I get home, she will ask for a newspaper Umthunywa or Kwayedza because the papers are written in a language that she understands. If I take a newspaper written in English, she will not understand that but when you give her Umthunywa or Kwayedza, she will understand it. It is very important for the language of that area to be taught, but some take it lightly. This same issue has disintegrated our nation. I was given homework by my child to say what is a young one of an elephant and someone said it is a calf. The child was marked wrong because it was in Ndebele. Some of our people are not proud of our indigenous languages and they regard these as inferior.
I was privileged to stay in different areas of Zimbabwe. I stayed in Matabeleland, Mashonaland and Plumtree and I learned these languages because I was willing to learn. Someone may stay in an area for about 10 years, but cannot speak any of the words because he would be undermining or would not want to associate him with that language. Do not be surprised because I may speak as if I am angry, I am just disappointed. I am angry about the situation where teachers are coming, but they continue failing to learn these languages. Those who are in charge of teachers’ training, when they deploy teachers to Nkayi, they should consider whether that teacher will speak in that language. When a teacher is taken to Venda land, will he learn the Venda language because it is so painful that the teacher will be teaching in English which may not be understood by the learners?
Long back at school, we used to be punished for speaking in vernacular language. We were sent for punishment for speaking in our mother tongue because they would prioritise English as superior. How do you punish someone for speaking his mother tongue? I want to thank you for giving me this opportunity to debate since the His Excellency said a nation is built by its owners using indigenous languages.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER (HON. MACHINGURA): Thank you Hon. Machangu for that forceful debate. It has reminded me, at one stage I heard that the former President of Malawi Dr. Banda was in the presence of the Europeans and he was speaking in English. He got somebody to interpret to his people. He said a statement that I want my people to be free, free and free. The person who was interpreting said ndifuna kuti antu anga akare atatu atatu. So, you can see what that means.
+HON. ZEMURA: Thank you Hon. Speaker Sir. I do not speak Ndebele. I only want to thank you for the opportunity that you have accorded me and also to applaud Hon. Bajila the mover of the motion. The issue on the table is a very big issue. It is quite sensitive to me because I relocated from Bulawayo to Mashonaland as a teacher. I faced a lot of challenges but it did not take time because l was teaching Grade One (1).
The issue whereby an individual speaks only one language in a big country like this one; during my certificate, I used to have Ndebele, Zulu and English, but when I came here, I said I wanted to work. Then I was deployed to a school whereby all the people could speak Shona. I was happy because it made me learn Shona so fast.
Hon Speaker Sir, the issue of learning different languages is very good. It is quite important even if you go to training. I am one of the people who went to the United College of Education in 1968 when it started. We were a mixture of Shona, Ndebele and Kalangas. All the people could speak different languages. We would each get an opportunity to stand and debate in the mother language. That actually made us to learn all the different languages.
When going to a Grade One, class it was quite interesting. Those young ones would gather around you because you were failing to speak their language not knowing that they were actually teaching you their language. I learnt the Shona language through teaching Grade Ones. Young pupils were actually happy to come and interact with me because they knew I was breaking their language every now and then. As a trained person, I used to go back home and read books so that I could understand when comparing words. For instance, how to say mother in Shona.
You will not face any challenges when you have the zeal to learn any language. Right now , I cannot debate in Ndebele. Why? Simply because I then adapted to Shona. That is where I got married and they actually appreciated me being their in-law. They all know that I am a pure Ndebele and they are not afraid of voting for me simply because I know the Shona culture and everything.
So these languages that we speak in this House, Hon. Speaker Sir, teach us a lot in our communities. Even in schools, I never saw a parent who came to ask a lot of questions like why is it that my child wrote this way? This was so because I had my own researchers, colleagues who I would ask for assistance and they would query if I was capable of teaching Shona. All four classes were given one exam paper and my class would always excel. . Why? Simply because I had a calling to say, I do not want my children to be underestimated by other classes. To date , I still meet a lot of my former students in the streets of Harare who actually acknowledge me as their former teacher. Why? Simply because I took learning and teaching and then it became something important in my life. Such things depend on how you take them.
Now that we are politicians how did we take it to become politicians and for people to vote for us into this august House? This is just the same as teaching in a school while coming from a different tribe on how best to learn their language. I am simply saying we need such languages to be taught in all schools and people must not say, you are a Ndebele then you have to go to Matabeleland, and now that you are a Shona person you have to go to Mashonaland. That makes us mix and mingle in our culture and heritage. Like right now, I am not actually afraid to be in the Zemura family. Why? Simply because I am now the most respected person.
Other fellow colleagues of mine in that areas now respect me as a much respected politician in their area. We must not be afraid even if you are taken to Plumtree. There is nothing that you can fail to understand. You have to mix that language from Plumtree. They speak in their language. You speak while at home then you mix and understand everything. Let us avoid subdividing our country to say this is Ndebele, Kalanga and Manyika. All these things, it is very easy. We need all those children to learn. When learning they have to learn all those languages. They have to understand and be capable of writing such languages. Imagine you teaching a grade one pupil and then that same child comes top of the class but you cannot speak Shona. Why? Simply because I was now utilising the syllabus. I was actually learning while the children were learning then we went together.
Let us teach these children so that they understand more than one language. In Nkayi we know only one language. Here in Mashonaland we have Shona, Ndebele and Zezuru. Just call me in your area. I will come to your area and then I will become a headmaster in your area, even Kalanga area, even in Masvingo. There is nothing that I am unable to conjoin on the issues to do with language. It is easy for children to understand those languages.
I was very happy when I heard Hon. Bajila raising this issue. The only thing that did not make me happy was that of deploying Ndebele people in Matabeleland, Shona people in Mashonaland. Why are we dividing? We are now dividing our country. Let us avoid such. Let us make sure that our children learn all the languages in schools through those teachers, through those children teaching even those teachers because those youngsters are the best teachers for us to understand. I got to understand Shona very fast because I was teaching grade 1. I taught grade 1 for 10 years which then gave me the power to become a public speaker. It is now easy for me to speak even Shona even if you listen to my speech regardless of me being born in Nkayi. I thank you Hon. Speaker Sir.
*THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Thank you Hon. Zemura for your speech.
HON. LINYANE: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir for giving me this opportunity to debate on the motion moved by Hon. Bajila, calling the Government to promote the teaching of Zimbabwe’s local languages in schools. The only recognised languages are Shona, Ndebele and English. The State must promote and advance the use of all languages used in Zimbabwe. According to the Constitution of Zimbabwe, it provides that the State must promote the use of all languages in Zimbabwe, including sign language.
The speakers of unrecognised languages feel that their language and culture are invisible in the society, which can lead to low self-esteem and loss of cultural identity. They may experience stigma and discrimination, which can lead to social isolation and exclusion. They face difficulties in accessing education as schools may not offer instructions in their language.
The State could consider implementing some of the following strategies: Inclusion in education and making sure that all languages are in the curriculum, that teachers are trained on how to teach and support learners in these languages, media and public communication, ensuring that all official communications and media broadcast are available in all languages, including sign language; cultural events and festivals, organising events and festivals that celebrate and promote the different languages and cultures of Zimbabwe and school competitions and also create language quotas.
Legislation could require a certain percentage of Government communication, media broadcast and educational material to be in the previously marginalised languages. Also allowing for the teaching of numerous non-official languages in Zimbabwe’s education system can have several effects on the people of Zimbabwe. Enhance cultural understanding, exposure to foreign languages can broaden people’s understanding of different cultures and ways of life which can promote greater respect and tolerance, improved employment opportunities knowing a second or third language can make people more employable, particularly in areas such as tourism, international business and translation.
In conclusion, amending Section 62 of the Constitution Act to include other officially recognised languages in schools could be an important step promoting and protecting these languages. It would ensure that they are taught in schools on the equal footing with Shona, Ndebele and English and that learners are also able to develop proficiency in their languages.
Mr. Speaker Sir, some key considerations in these amendments could include defining which languages would be recognised as official in schools. Also developing curriculum and teaching materials for these languages, training teachers on how to teach these languages effectively and create condition for the development of those languages. I thank you.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER (HON. MACHINGURA): Thank you for your debate. You stated that there are only three recognised languages in the country and you mentioned English, Shona and Ndebele. Was that correct?
HON. LINYANE: I said the mostly spoken languages…
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: If you said spoken, that is right but I think I heard you saying the languages that are official are these ones. Thank you if you have corrected it.
HON. SAMAMBWA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. Let me do it a bit faster because all these Hon. Members are complaining that they want to go home. I would like to address the issue on the table which was tabled by Hon. Bajila. The issue to do with local languages. Our languages are the ones that maintain or keep our heritage and culture. I would like to give you an example. We have lost a lot as a country simply because we take it to say a child who knows whatever he knows and then they demand English.
This Parliament here was built by the Chinese, but no one speaks English. Everything that they have here, they call it in their Chinese language. That makes us lose a lot of children with a lot of knowledge trying to praise one person. When I went to one of the meetings, people were speaking in English and the chiefs said why do you want to make a foreigner happy whilst oppressing our local citizens.
Let me simply say this local language of ours has got to be respected. It makes people know who they are, where they came from, where they are going and where they are at the current state. If you look at it, a lot of young generation now speak in English, the type of English that they speak when we were under colonisation. Those colonisers used to speak English and up to now, you will see that people are still speaking in English. If you go to China, the Chinese President will never speak English and the same applies to the Russian President. This is because they respect their culture. I am kindly asking for all of us as black people, as Zimbabweans, to respect and continue to teach our local citizens our local languages.
If I take those youngsters and ask what their totem is, they do not even know. As elders, we are also going the wrong way teaching those children English. I am kindly asking all children to be taught on their history and be taught on speaking their mother language. Way back, I used to look in these roads of ours. A lot of vehicles that are in this country are manufactured in Japan, but you never see all those Japanese speaking in English.
When we buy those vehicles, we will try to speak English and will never be able to manufacture our own vehicles because we are using English. Technology is found in China most of it, but they speak in their local language. I am kindly asking for other children of ours who are very much talented, but are under pressure or oppression because they will be forced to speak in English. Whenever they want to be employed, they will be asked to provide 5 Ordinary Levels including English as if that child is about to be employed to work for the whites. Even if you look at those people who take cattle into their dip tanks, they are being asked to pass 5 Ordinary Levels including English.
We kindly ask for these people to ensure that whenever they are going to those rural areas or local leadership when they have these chiefs or headman, they will never lose their culture. I am asking us black people to avoid leaving our Shona language. Let us continue using our local languages and stop praising those foreigners. I thank you.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Thank you Hon. Samambwa. When you stood up you said you wanted to present a short speech, now that you are speaking something which is very good, do you still want people to go home?
HON. NDEBELE: Thank you for this opportunity Mr. Speaker. Our languages are what defines us. I would like to thank the mover of this motion Hon. Bajila for raising this motion in this House, about the use of indigenous languages. We do not need to differentiate our language from our culture because it defines who we are.
I have realised that in a country like South Africa, anyone in this country is free to use their language, an indication that they respect their languages equally. No language is given first preference to the other. In the teaching of these languages, we need to ensure that the teacher who will be teaching these languages, especially teachers of our kindergartens, need to be trained to teach these children their first languages. Languages that are being spoken nowadays have more of slang because of the mixture of different languages in the societies where we come from. So, we need to have language specialists who will train us how we use languages accordingly.
Another issue that we need to look into with regards to language training in schools is to ensure that text books to be used need to be written appropriately and we need to see to it that textbooks for specific languages are sent to specific speech communities. We also need to ensure that each and every teacher sent to a school in a particular speech community is able to teach that particular language spoken by those speech communities. They need to ensure that the teachers can speak at least one of the languages spoken in those communities, apart from English so that they can converse with people from these speech communities as well as students.
I would like to thank the mover of this motion Hon. Bajila as we look into the aspect of us agreeing on this motion for the development of our country. Thank you.
HON. BUTAU: Hon. Speaker, I strongly believe that promoting and teaching languages is essential for our cultural heritage, identity and community development. Local languages are the fabric of our society and it is our responsibility to preserve and pass them on to our future generations. I tender the following points in support of this motion;
- Cultural preservation, local languages are vital. Part of our cultural heritage and by teaching them will ensure the continuation of our unique customs, traditions and beliefs. Language is the carrier of our culture and its loss would mean the erasure of our history and identity.
- Improved cognitive abilities; studies have shown that bilingual and multi-lingual individuals have enhanced cognitive abilities including better memory, problem-solving skills and multi-tasking capabilities. By teaching local languages, we can improve our children’s cognitive development and academic performance.
- Community empowerment; local languages are the key to community empowerment. By promoting and teaching them, we enable our people to communicate effectively, access information and participate in decision making processes. This leads to greater community engagement, social cohesion and economic development.
- Language diversity and richness; local languages are rich in unique expressions, idioms and metaphors that enrich our linguistic diversity. By preserving and promoting them, we contribute to the world’s linguistic heritage and foster cultural understanding and appreciation.
In conclusion, let me conclude by saying promoting and teaching
local languages is crucial for our cultural preservation and cognitive development, community empowerment and linguistic diversity. Let us embrace and celebrate our local languages and ensure the continued vitality for generations to come. So, I submit.
HON. MUNEMO: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I would like to say good afternoon to you Hon. Speaker Sir. Thank you for according me such an opportunity to debate on the issue to do with indigenous languages.
Hon. Speaker Sir, I am one of the persons who is touched after these learners fail to pass their English then they are told that they have nowhere to go. A lot of colleges to do with education here, if you do not have English, you are not allowed to enroll with them. This is just the same as what was fought for by our forefathers. They fought for this country and we have to do the same with our culture. If we simply say English is the only requisite for one to pass on to colleges, we are still under oppression.
One of the things that worries me is, if one speaks in English, if he/she breaks it, we laugh at that person. When a person from Nigeria or India comes here and speaks in English, then he/she breaks the language, we listen attentively trying to figure out what is it that person is trying to say.
As Zimbabweans, we simply say that those who speak broken English are not actually motivating each other. I still remember one person who said, if you know your other language and then you know an extra language, that is being rich. If you know another language, then failing to know your mother language is being poor. When we wrote our Ordinary Level examinations, we were asked to make a choice, you could write Shona using English in that exam. I never saw anywhere where it was written that one should respond to English using Shona. That is oppression.
We see our children failing English and they say you cannot go anywhere. They finish first year, second year and third year failing English. Those who are saying they fail are us the parents. This goes to an extent whereby the girl child ends up thinking of marriage. Who is oppressing those children? We are trying to say girl child, boy child while we are oppressing them. We are still relying on that law of oppression. Let us kindly move away from that.
I am kindly asking the Minister of Education if he is listening while I am debating now, they have to try their level best as fast as possible to say if children fail Shona and pass English, they have to proceed to tertiary education. Even if they go to Belvedere Teachers’ College or Madziva Teachers’ College, they should continue with tertiary education while supplementing English. Examinations in Geography and Science are all written using English and they would have passed those. In this country, when one fails only the English language, it is said you cannot go anywhere. It does not augur well with me.
I am kindly asking the Minister to critically analyse this. Many children are not doing anything in rural areas simply because they failed the English language. Those are the same people whom we fought for during our liberation struggle – [AN HON. MEMBER: House ngaichiite adjourn, tinoda kunotora macoupon.] -
Let me express this, those coupons are waiting for us. Hon. Speaker Sir, I would like to thank you for the time you have accorded to me and I say it is actually good. Even if Hon. Bajila speaks in English, I do not understand what he is saying. I speak in my local language Shona using idioms and then he fails to understand. It is very good for me to say as the Ndebele speaking people, we learn Shona in Matabeleland. Those in Mashonaland should also learn Ndebele and this will simply show that we are children from the same country. I do not want to continue debating. Members will not actually continue listening to me. I would like to thank you Mr. Speaker Sir for this issue but I am kindly asking for sudden change in terms of languages. All people should be multi-lingual. I thank you.
HON. BAJILA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. KARIKOGA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Tuesday, 18th June, 2024.
On the motion of HON. KAMBUZUMA, seconded by HON. NYANDORO, the House adjourned at Twenty-Three Minutes past Five o’clock p.m. until Tuesday, 18th June, 2024.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Tuesday, 11th June, 2024
The National Assembly met at a Quarter-past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE HON. SPEAKER in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENTS BY THE HON. SPEAKER
PETITION RECEIVED FROM CLEOPATRA NYAKU AND TAWANDA MAFUTA AND ZIMRA WORKERS ON THE INCAPACITATION OF ITS WORKERS
THE HON. SPEAKER: I have to inform the House that Parliament received a petition from Cleopatra Nyaku and Tawanda Mafuta beseeching Parliament to initiate immediate measures to produce and distribute Braille versions of the Persons with Disability Bill to libraries, disabilities focused organisations and Government offices and ensure that all future legislative documents including Bills, Acts and Amendments are made available in accessible formats to facilitate the participation of persons with disabilities in the democratic process of the country. The petition has since been referred to the Portfolio Committee on Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare.
I also have to inform the House that Parliament received a petition from Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) workers beseeching Parliament to investigate the causes of the workers’ incapacitation, provide guidance on the matter and ensure that adequate resources are allocated to ZIMRA through the enforcement of the previous Parliament recommendations on the ZIMRA Funding Model. The petition was deemed inadmissible as the issues raised in the petition are labour issues which can be resolved in a court of law. The petitioners have since been advised accordingly.
HON. KARIMATSENGA-NYAMUPINGA: Thank you Hon. Speaker. My apologies I was not sitting at my usual place. I rise on a point of national interest Hon. Speaker. There is a national appeal for more inclusive disability law making. During the ongoing development of this new Act for Persons with Disabilities, it is crucial to assess the effectiveness of public participation. Why they are saying so Mr. Speaker, is because the national census data indicate that approximately 10% of our population are living with disabilities with a significant portion residing in socio-economically disadvantaged rural areas.
The current public hearing structure conducted at provincial level did not reach the districts, it reached capital cities of provinces; it did not reach the grassroots. I think most of the Members in this House represent rural constituencies where the public hearings did not reach. So, the point of national interest here Hon. Speaker is, this process is not inclusive because it is leaving out the very people demanding this Bill who are residing in the rural areas, but did not have the opportunity to also add their voices to this Bill.
Yes, people might say they send out some people to stand in for the voiceless, but I do believe that everyone has got a voice. They would have wanted to add their own voices. So, this Bill is actually town or city-centred. It is not talking about everyone with disability considering that 10% are disabled, but only 0.1 or less attended the public hearings. So, it is our appeal to you Hon. Speaker, that you allow us to revisit including the centres that they did go. You can imagine someone going to Lupane from your area and they have disability and are poor; they could not get resources or transport. There was no transport to ferry them and their wheelchairs to the venues knowing that the transport system of this country does not accommodate wheelchairs, most of them. They will ask for extra fare to accommodate you and your wheelchair. That is the appeal the nation has on this issue. It is the persons with disabilities themselves, the carers of the people with disabilities, the relatives and the community who sometimes support persons with disabilities in their areas. They could not add their voices on the public hearings that took place. I thank you.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Thank you very much. The Committee on Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare is accordingly directed to revisit the areas that have been left out, especially the constituency of people with disabilities so that we have a better picture and understanding of what is on the ground – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear] –
HON. TIMBURA: Thank you Hon. Speaker Sir. I rise today on a point of national interest to express our profound gratitude to His Excellency the President, Emmerson Mnangagwa, for his visionary decision to licence the Starlink Network provider in Zimbabwe. This monumental initiative underscores His Excellency’s unwavering commitment to advancing our nation’s technology infrastructure and bridging the digital divide that has long challenged our progress. Some of the advantages of this is enhanced connectivity, economic growth and fiscus contribution, affordable access and importation facilitation, healthcare improvement, agricultural development, disaster response and management.
As I conclude, one of the critical important issues I am highlighting and thinking of is the consumer protection and fair pricing. With Starlink’s entry into the market, we anticipate increased competition among internet service providers. This competition is essential for protecting citizens from predatory data tariffs, ensuring that internet services remain affordable and accessible. His Excellency’s focus on consumer protection demonstrates his unwavering commitment to the welfare of all Zimbabweans. Also, nuetralising the market monopoly, the introduction of Starlink, will help neutralising monopoly of the telecoms sector in Zimbabwe. A competitive market environment encourages innovation, improves service quality, lowers prices, benefits consumers and fosters a healthier economic landscape. His Excellency’s strategic vision for a fair and dynamic market is commendable.
In conclusion, the licencing of Starlink network provider in Zimbabwe is a forward-thinking initiative that will propel our nation into a new era of connectivity and opportunity. On behalf of this House and the citizens of Zimbabwe, I extend our deepest appreciation to His Excellency, President Emmerson Mnangagwa for his steadfast dedication to our nation. With the advent of Starlink, we are not just connecting the internet, we are connecting to endless possibilities under the visionary leadership of His Excellency. We still hold to a future where every Zimbabwean is empowered, every voice is heard and every dream is within reach. Let us harness this opportunity to build a digitally inclusive vision and economically robust and proudly united Zimbabwe. I thank you.
THE HON. SPEAKER: In Zimbabwe, no one can be left behind in the fight of industrial revolution which is anchored on digital technologies. I think your statement is indeed well-received and I hope the responsible Ministry will act accordingly to realise the dream.
HON. G. K. HLATYWAYO: Good afternoon Mr. Speaker Sir. I rise on a point of national interest. Given that Zimbabwe is assuming the role of SADC Chair this August, I urge the Executive arm of Government to refrain from making comments that unsettle country neighbours. This is in light of the widely publicised comments suggesting that Zambia and Malawi are posing a security threat to Zimbabwe through association with the United States of America (USA) – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] –
THE HON. SPEAKER: Order, order! I think there was a point of order that side.
*HON. NYABANI: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. Hon. Members should distinguish what are national, regional and international issues. I thank you.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Thank you very much Hon. Nyabani. Hon. Hlatwayo, the arena of foreign affairs in terms of bi-lateral or regional relations, is a matter for the Executive to deal with at all times. If there are any issues, the Executive – who is saying enda ikoko. Do not interrupt my ruling. It is unbecoming of the Hon. Member.
I was saying this is a no-go area where you have issues that relate to bi-lateral or multi-lateral relations between or among States, those are dealt with at the level of the Executive. So, the chief diplomacy of either countries, the point of order, with its good intentions, I think it is misplaced. Thank you.
An Hon. Member having wanted to raise a point of privilege.
THE HON. SPEAKER: There is no point of privilege after the ruling of the Chair.
HON. G. K. HLATYWAYO: I think I am supposed to be heard.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Do you want to argue with the Chair or not? I think, if my memory serves me right, you were at the workshop. At that workshop in Bulawayo a similar question was raised and I advised accordingly. So this cannot be the forum to raise the issue again.
HON. MATEWU: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I rise on a point of national interest. The month of June is mental health month, particularly this week, it is mental health awareness week, which runs - I think from 11th June. Mr. Speaker, one in 10 men will struggle with mental health concerns, such as anxiety and depression as they pass the age of 30. Most striking is that less than half of men actually seek assistance on treatment due to societal expectations of masculinity, most men will suffer in silence.
Therefore, men are more likely to take toxic substances. In some cases, as we have seen in newspapers and in social media, commit suicide. Parliament must be at the forefront in raising awareness on issues to do with men’s mental health. I so submit.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Yes, men sometimes tend to carry some artificial bravery and courage, when in fact we are internally suffering. It is better to cry out your miseries in order to reduce the stress inside. Your point is well received and I hope we take care of your observations accordingly. In terms of our Standing Orders, we allow only four points of national interest. Hon. P. Zhou, perhaps you can do yours on Thursday. There is still time for you to raise that one.
HON. DR. MUTODI: On a point of order Hon. Speaker.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Hon. Mutodi, you have a point of order arising from what debate?
HON. DR. MUTODI: My point of order is on Order No. 73 of the of the Standing Orders which says a Motion referred to in Standing Order No. 72 (d) concerning a matter of privilege must take precedence over other Motions as well as other orders of the day. Mr. Speaker, I had raised a point of privilege….
THE HON. SPEAKER: Why did you not register with the Chief Whip?
HON. DR. MUTODI: I raised it with the Deputy Chief Whip, but maybe she did not raise it with you.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Hon. Member, I have got a list here and I go by that list. You have to have some conversation with the Acting Chief Whip.
HON. DR. MUTODI: But her incompetence cannot compromise….
THE HON. SPEAKER: Order, order, I said I am going by this list.
HON. DR. MUTODI: I am simply saying she is incompetent, I told her, she is incompetent.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Order, this is not the place for you to exercise that freedom of speech. Leader of Government Business can you take the floor.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Mr. Speaker, I move that Orders of the Day Numbers 1 and 2, be stood over until Order of the Day Number No. 3 has been disposed of.
Motion put and agreed to.
COMMITTEE STAGE
CRIMINAL LAWS AMENDMENT BILL [H. B. 4, 2024]
Third Order Read: Committee Stage: Criminal Laws Amendment Bill [H. B. 4. 2024].
House in Committee.
Clauses 1 to 2 put and agreed to.
On Clause 3:
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Hon. Chair. I move the amendment standing in my name that on page 2 of the Bill, delete clause 3 on lines 2 to 8 and substitute— “3 Amendment of section 61 of Cap. 9:23
Section 61 (“Interpretation in Part III of Chapter V”) of the Criminal Law Code is amended—
- in the repeal of the definition of “brothel” and “prostitution” and the substitution of—
““brothel” means any place which is occupied or used for the purposes of sex work or for persons to visit for the purpose of having sexual intercourse for money or reward;”;
“sex worker” means a male or female person who for money or reward—
- allows other persons to have anal or vaginal sexual intercourse or engage in other sexual conduct with him or her; or
- solicits other persons to have anal or vaginal sexual intercourse or engage in other sexual conduct with him or her;
and the word “sex work” shall be construed accordingly;
- by the repeal of the definition of “sexual intercourse”;
- by the repeal of the definition of “young person” and the substitution of— ““child” means a boy or girl under the age of eighteen ”.
Mr. Speaker, extra-marital is removed and we remain with sexual intercourse. It has nothing to do with marriage, it is having sexual intercourse with a young person. In fact, those young people are not even supposed to be married anyway. So, if that can be noted down so that when we are cleaning up the Bill, it clearly reflects the correct meaning. I hope Hansard will capture it correctly. Let me go to the actual Bill. In the actual Bill where it makes reference to Clause 4 (c) where it says “solicits or entices a young person to have extra-marital intercourse.” That is where I am indicating that the extra-marital intercourse must be removed so that it reads “solicits or entices a young person to have sexual intercourse with him or her.” Then in that particular clause where it makes reference to ‘extra-marital intercourse’, it is removed and substituted with ‘sexual intercourse.’ I thank you Hon. Chair.
Amendment to Clause 3 put and agreed to.
Clause 3, as amended, put and agreed to.
On Clause 4:
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): I put amendments in my name as they fully appear in the Order Paper, to indicate that we are changing for clarity to those who do not have the Order Paper. (On pages 24 of the Bill, insert the following clause after Clause 4, and renumber the subsequent clauses accordingly: “70A Deliberate infection of child with a sexually-transmitted disease
- In this section—
“sexually-transmitted disease” includes syphilis, gonorrhea, herpes, HIV and all other forms of sexually-transmitted diseases.
- Any person who—
- knowing that he or she is suffering from a sexually-transmitted disease; or
- realising that there is a real risk or possibility that he or she is suffering from a sexually-transmitted disease;
intentionally infects any child with the disease, or does anything or causes or permits anything to be done with the intention or realising that there is a real risk or possibility of infecting the child with the disease, shall be guilty of deliberately infecting that child with a sexually-transmitted disease and liable to a fine up to or exceeding level 14 or imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years or both.
- If it is proved in a prosecution that the person charged was suffering from a sexually-transmitted disease at the time of the crime, it shall be presumed, unless the contrary is proved, that he or she knew or realised that there was a real risk or possibility that he or she was suffering from
- It shall not be a defence to a charge under subsection (1) for the accused to prove that the child concerned—
- knew that the accused was suffering from a sexually-transmitted disease; and
- consented to the act in question, appreciating the nature of the sexually- transmitted disease and the possibility of becoming infected with
(5)A court convicting a person for any crime constituting unlawful sexual conduct against a child shall, if it also convicts that person for deliberately infecting that child with a sexually-transmitted disease, not make any part of the sentence of imprisonment imposed for the latter crime run concurrently with any sentence of imprisonment imposed for the first-mentioned crime.”.
Where it says, “sexual intercourse or performing indecent acts with young persons”, in Clause 4 where we are amending Section 70 which reads “sexual intercourse or performing indecent acts with young persons,” we are changing that to reflect the spirit of the Constitution and replace with “sexual intercourse or performing indecent acts with children between the ages of 12 and 18” and we change it accordingly where it makes reference to ‘a young person,’ we are now saying ‘child’. That is the amendment that I am putting as it fully appears in the notice of amendment. I thank you.
HON. MUSHORIWA: I think in principle, I do not have a problem with the amendment, but I think there is something that the Hon. Minister needs to explain. In his amendment, where a young person and an adult who is not more than three years older than the young person, I see the Minister has actually included a text which says that, ‘unless the Probation Officer appointed in terms of the Children’s Act has authorised a charge’, I am not so sure whether that one is necessary. I thought the best thing was to simply leave it; where the age difference is three years, the discretion should be left with the Prosecutor General rather than to include that text. I do not see how it will work in the normal day to day running of the courts.
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: Hon. Chair, the disadvantage that Hon. Mushoriwa is having is that we are going to have the Children’s Amendment Bill in this House. Issues to do with children are in the Child Justice Bill and ordinarily, we want to defer to the Probation Officer. We do not want the Prosecutor General to deal with those issues. We want to protect as much as possible, children under 18 years. So, in this particular incidence, the Probation Officer will be able to interrogate and explain the behaviour of that particular child that will then be preferred to be prosecuted. So, this is consistent with what will obtain in the Child Justice Bill when we bring it back. We feel it is a very good clause where all children, before they are prosecuted, will be referred to the Probation Officer to deal with them and it is the decision of the Probation Officer together with the Prosecutor General that will now determine if that particular child must be prosecuted. I thank you Hon. Chair.
HON. MUSHORIWA: I just wanted the Minister to clarify. Minister, is it not that the intention here is the three year gap and children that engage in the sexual act with an age difference of three years and an adult whose age difference is also three years, for instance, a 17 year old sleeps with a 20 year old? I am just wondering whether that would not leave a lot of discretion to the Probation Officer as you stated here or even the Prosecutor General, where we have two cases possibly being handled differently. Would it not be good for the law to simply say those with three years difference should be left without the need of being criminalised?
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI. Thank you Hon. Chair. My explanation that I proffered the first time still obtains that there may be a consistent behaviour that may be picked by the Probation Officer in that particular individual. If they are first timers, I do not think that the Probation Officer will then prefer that without any reasonable cause because the Prosecutor General will interrogate that report and be able to satisfy herself that the case should be prosecuted. He/she is responsible for prosecution. That is the reason why I said when the Child Justice Bill comes, you will fully understand, and this is a very good provision that we have put in there. I thank you.
Amendment to Clause 4 put and agreed to.
Clause 4, as amended, put and agreed to.
On New Clause 5:
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): I am proposing to insert after Clause 4 which becomes a new Clause 5 so that as it fully appears on the Order Paper, for those that do not have the Order Paper to insert the following after Clause 4 and renumber subsequent clauses accordingly. We debated here about deliberate infection with HIV which I indicated that I am going to amend so that it reads:
“70A Deliberate infection of child with a sexually-transmitted disease
- In this section—
“sexually-transmitted disease” includes syphilis, gonorrhea, herpes, HIV and all other forms of sexually-transmitted diseases.
- Any person who—
- knowing that he or she is suffering from a sexually-transmitted disease; or
- realising that there is a real risk or possibility that he or she is suffering from a sexually-transmitted disease;
(c) intentionally infects any child with the disease, or does anything or causes or permits anything to be done with the intention of realising that there is a real risk or possibility of infecting the child with the disease, shall be guilty of deliberately infecting that child with a sexually-transmitted disease and liable to a fine up to or exceeding level 14 or imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years or both.
- If it is proved in a prosecution that the person charged was suffering from a sexually-transmitted disease at the time of the crime, it shall be presumed, unless the contrary is proved, that he or she knew or realised that there was a real risk or possibility that he or she was suffering from
- It shall not be a defence to a charge under subsection (1) for the accused to prove that the child concerned—
- knew that the accused was suffering from a sexually-transmitted disease; and
- consented to the act in question, appreciating the nature of the sexually transmitted disease and the possibility of becoming infected with
- A court convicting a person for any crime constituting unlawful sexual conduct against a child shall, if it also convicts that person for deliberately infecting that child with a sexually transmitted disease, not make any part of the sentence of imprisonment
This clause, we amended it in the original text – it appeared like we were criminalising willful transmission of STIs, but we are limiting it to those that have sexual intercourse with a child which we are saying the child cannot consent. So we are equating that to rape. We are saying if you infect that particular child with an STI, that is an aggravating circumstance and your sentence must be stiffer.
HON. DR. MUTODI: My point of discussion is on the issue of intentionally infecting the child with an STI. We are already saying that having sexual intercourse with a child is against the law. Just having that sexual intercourse is a breach of the law without even going to whether you have done it intentionally or unintentionally. I humbly ask if the Minister can revise the term ‘intentionally’ to include even cases where the person infecting the child did not do it intentionally or did not show any signs of whether he was doing it as punishment or some sort of unruly behaviour. I do not know if that can be accommodated.
HON. MUSHORIWA: I also want to buttress that point. There is no need Hon. Minister to use the word ‘intentionally’. It is actually bad for an adult to sleep with a child. It should just simply say, ‘a person whether knowingly or unknowingly know that you are HIV positive, syphilis of gonorrhea or whatever, if you just infect a child with a disease, it will be an aggravating circumstance’. We do not want to leave any room for lawyers to hide behind the word ‘intentional’. Let it just be given, you have to be punished accordingly.
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: I hear what the Hon. Members are saying and it is fully covered, there is no problem in the way it is couched. It gives two options. It is an aggravating feature whereby if we remove that it becomes very broad. Somebody may have sexual intercourse with a child when he fully knows that he is infected. There is a difference with somebody who knows that there is a real risk or possibility that he may be suffering from a disease. In sentencing the two will be different. If somebody is taking medication and goes on to do that, he did that with the intention, knowing fully well that there is a high probability. If you look at the word or the way it is couched, in (a) it says, “knowing that he or she is suffering”. There are those that know and go on to do that. It is aggravating. There are those that realise that there is a risk – so we have covered all that in the manner that the law has been couched.
What becomes dangerous if we do not do that is that the prosecution will have to prove the existence of the essential elements of the crime and if you remove that, you make it broader. When you indicate that there must be a real possibility knowing fully well that you are infected, it is very easy sometimes to prove that. If the prosecution can prove that, that particular individual’s medical records show that they were taking antiretrovirals or they were under medication for an STI, they know because they were taking medication. If prosecution can prove that, that person is extremely promiscuous, there is a high probability that, that particular individual can infect; it is aggravating. We do not need to remove those words because they will ensure that improving the gravity of the crime, the prosecution will be able to do that easily. I so submit.
There is an error in the amendment on (b) on the last line where it says ‘with a sexually transmitted disease and liable to a fine up to or NOT exceeding’ – there is a ‘not’ that has been omitted there.
Amendment to New Clause 5 put and agreed to.
New Clause 5, as amended, put and agreed to.
On Clause 5 Now Clause 6:
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Hon. Chair, I put amendments in my name on New Clause 5 which indicate that we are deleting in the Principal Act, as amended by the deletion from Paragraphs (b) and ( c) ‘of but below the age of 18 years’. We are deleting that because we have already described the age group that is prohibited to have sexual intercourse is 12 to 18 years. So we are proposing deletion of that in the Bill. I thank you.
Amendments to Clause 5, now Clause 6 put and agreed to.
Clause 5, now Clause 6, as amended, put and agreed to.
On Clause 6 now 7:
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Hon. Chair, I put the amendments as they appear in the Order Paper where we are changing the title procuring and substituting it with procuring for purposes of unlawful conduct and removing the word ‘prostitute’ and substitution that with ‘sex worker’. This is in line with the debate that happened here to say that the reference to prostitute is discriminatory. Those of my kind are not generally referred to as prostitutes, so we have complied with the recommendations that came from the House to substitute ‘prostitute’ with a ‘sex worker’.
Amendments to Clause 6 now 7, put and agreed to
Clause 6, now Clause 7 as amended, put and agreed to.
On Clause 7 now 8:
HON. MATEWU: Thank you Hon. Chair. When we make laws, I think it is important to be explicit. This Clause is basically saying, ‘… being an owner or occupier of any premises knowingly permits another person on the premises to commit rape and so forth…’. I wonder why we have to put knowingly. Why should it be knowingly? I want to give an example. If Hon. Sacco gives Hon. Mutodi his premises, if this Clause is there, how are you going to prove that Hon. Sacco knowingly knew that Hon. Mutodi will come with a child on their premises? I think the law must be explicit that if you give someone your premises, whether knowingly or unknowingly and such acts occur within your premises, then you must be liable by law. That way people who provide such facilities in the locations say ‘mabase’ would be very much aware that there is nowhere that they can then say knowingly, I did not know that so and so was going to commit such an act.
I think the law should be explicit not to leave room that you can start to debate whether one knew or one did not know because it will be very difficult for any prosecutor to actually prove that someone knowingly gave someone a premise to commit that act. I thank you.
THE TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON (HON. MACHINGURA): Honourable, you gave an example of Hon. Sacco that if you are the owner of the hotel - what are you saying?
HON. MATEWU: I think it is something better to deal with the perpetrator himself or herself.
HON MUSHORIWA: I actually feel that this clause should actually be deleted from the Bill. Like we pointed during the Second Reading to the Hon. Minister, I do not think you can put the onus on the owners of hotels, lodges or even an owner of a house. For some of us who are MPs in high density suburbs, kids will always tell that I have given a base to John. John can just come and he give him the keys to the room. You will not ask what sort of a girl he is bringing. So, this question of then saying that you can really have a successful prosecution of a person because he or she gave room to this person to commit such a crime, I think it is too much and I think this one is not necessary. I do not see how in a court of law a prosecutor can actually win a case against either the owner of the lodge or hotel or even our own people who call them bases in the locations. I think this one should be deleted.
HON. MATEWU: I want to support Hon. Mushoriwa. The reason why I had said that, I want to make it clear for the Minister to know how extremely difficult that clause would become. I think the deletion of this Bill in total would be something that would be enable and would make the law very much applicable. Like you said, in a hotel, are you going to arrest the owner of the hotel because the law would be saying the occupier or the owner? Are you going to arrest the owner of a lodge? I think it would be very difficult in terms of the law. I think what Hon. Mushoriwa said is correct, that clause is unnecessary. Thank you.
THE TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON: Hon. Member, please make a correction. You referred to the deletion of the Bill. You wanted to say..
HON MATEWU: Sorry, the clause not the Bill.
HON. DR. MUTODI: I think the key word Hon. Chair is, we should provide the accommodation knowing fully that the child was going to be sexually exploited. That makes sense; any lawyer would know that there are elements of the crime that we need to comply with for someone to be found guilty beyond any reasonable doubt. The clause as it is, it supports conviction beyond reasonable doubt if the owner of the place knew for certain that the child was going to be sexually exploited by him or her having provided that kind of accommodation. Hon. Matewu referred to a hotel. Maybe, there is a manager, and if the manager knew that a child was going to be sexually exploited, he or she is not different from a driver who drove a vehicle recklessly leading to an accident or death of a person. That would be the same analogy. Thank you.
THE TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON: How many times do you want to debate Hon. Matewu?
HON. MATEWU: I thought in the Committee Stage we are allowed to debate.
THE TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON: Please proceed.
HON. MATEWU: Thank you. I fundamentally disagree with Hon. Mutodi on this one. We should not be in the habit of making laws that can never apply. We must make laws that can be applicable and that can make sense. I still believe that this is an unnecessary clause that is in the Bill. Hon. Mutodi cites that if the manager of the hotel knows, the clause here is saying the occupier or the owner, are you going to go back now and trace because the manager is just an employee of the hotel? However, are you going to go to the owner who possibly, maybe it is a company or corporate or if it is not an individual where there are shareholders, are you going to arrest those shareholders? I think this clause here is misplaced. It leads to a lot of ambiguity that is so unnecessary. This clause must be deleted by the Hon. Minister. Thank you.
HON. DR. MUTODI: I think what Hon. Matewu is saying now makes sense. If the Bill is referring to the owner, it then means that if the hotel is multi-owned by several shareholders, it would be difficult to arrest all of them. However, I was talking in terms of saying there is a bus company, the owner is sitting somewhere, the driver is driving the bus and he drives it so recklessly that he causes the death of people in the bus. We would not go and arrest the owner; we would arrest the bus driver for recklessness. In this case, it would be the hotel manager who knew that the child was going to be sexually exploited and then gave the person accommodation. I thank you.
*HON. TSITSI ZHOU: Thank you Hon. Chair. I feel like if we say the owner of the place is the person who is responsible for identifying who comes to his or her place, the way the owner of a lodge or a hotel or a father and mother at their homestead where they receive an in-law who is below 18 years old, the owner is the one to be taken into custody so that they will have to take care of those people who come even while they are under age. Thank you.
HON. MATEWU: What the Hon. Member is referring to, let us take a hotel set-up. There are shareholders, for example Crown Plaza, which is owned by Africa Sun, which does not have an explicit owner and has shareholders. Are you then saying that those 20 shareholders - not just 20 shareholders because they will be, you know the way equity works, it can have 1000 shareholders. Are you then going to pin-point and say all these people have not made laws - let us be serious here. Let us not make laws that jeopardise tourism, that jeopardise our hotels and lodges. What is going to happen is that, if you pass the clause as it is, it means that hotels have to be extra careful but how are they going to be careful. Are they then going to be asking everyone that are you going upstairs or which room are you going to because most hotels are free flow? I think we have not thought through properly. I believe the perpetrator of that crime or the one who committed that offence on the child is the one who is supposed to face the law as it is and to face justice. We are trying to be a country that encourages tourism, to make sure our hotels are filled up. The moment we start to put stringent laws that undermine the growth of this tourism industry, I think we will lose the float. The law must be clear. If you are going to be found guilty or if you are going to commit this act on a child, you are responsible for that. If we cannot separate the hotel and individual houses, like we were saying kuma base, kumba and so forth. If we cannot separate those, then this clause must fall away. Otherwise we are making a law trying to address one particular issue but we end up affecting the whole industry. I think this clause is not fit for the purpose.
THE TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON: I think there is another Honourable who debated saying if you are the owner of the house, you are liable. I wanted that person to clarify, if your son or daughter in your absence provide a friend with a base then what happens to you?
*HON. NYABANI: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. Some of the laws that we put in place, let us scrutinise them, like to say in a hotel, we are simply saying people who sleep in a hotel should be 18 years and above. By so doing, we will be prohibiting all those children below 18 to enter hotels. That is what we are trying to say, we are saying children below the age of 18 are not allowed into the hotel. If we say somebody who is 18 years - we have Hon. Members here, they have their children who actually visit them in hotels to collect some money, groceries, how then are you going to identify that this person who is entering is coming for genuine visit, deals or something else? My opinion is, let us not criminalise that. Let us simply say this one has entered a hotel to abuse someone who is below 18 – a hotel has not done anything wrong but those people who are committing crimes inside, those are the perpetrators.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Hon. Chair, just to guide the debate, this section refers to complicity in sexual crime, so debate along those lines.
HON. TOGAREPI: I think the Minister has taken words from my mouth. Let me start from the manager and the owner. The manager, in the contract of employment is an agent of the owner. A manager is part of the ownership of the hotel, whoever accepts such an act to be done under their roof is liable. There are people who run brothels. They are into business for that, maybe in a hotel where people have gone into a room, you will not know but there are people who are into business of facilitating sexual relationships and they are paid. I feel that there should be a way to deal with people who are complicit in this situation.
Hon. Chair, how do we do that. There is a law in this country where if somebody is booking in a hotel must identify himself or herself. In the process of identification, you are able to know the age of the person or whether a person is a foreigner or not. So you can correctly charge. I think we need to curtail the part of complicity; it is very critical because there are people who have got houses dotted around Harare specifically for that. In most of these cases, you do not see young children going to hotels to do that. They will go to these houses called bases as what Members were saying today.
Hon. Chair, I do not know how it can be couched but let us deal with those who are promoting those sexual relations for the minors in those brothels. Thank you.
HON. DR. MUTODI: Hon. Chair, I want the Minister to take cognisance of another situation where maybe where an adult son may be twenty years of age brings a muroora who is less than 18 years of age and the parents of the son accommodate muroora like what is happening in Apostolic Sects. Maybe someone who is 14 years old or a 15-year old atiziswa by a person who is an adult. Are we going to arrest the mother and the father since they co-own the house that is being used for the sexual exploitation of the child? How are we going to deal with that?
HON. BAJILA: I think in principle, it is important for us to have a law that criminalises one from being complicity in these kinds of things. It cannot just be open that people will be aware that criminal activities are being conducted in their premises and there is nothing that touches them.
Hon. Mutodi just raised another point which is linked to what I was about to also give as an example on the need to look into this broadly and perhaps have a means of differentiating between corporate entities and individual entities in terms of the penalty that would follow after that. Also, if you read 76 (a), the whole amendment as proposed, there is the point around the degree of relationship. It is a question of people knowing that this one and this one are cousins. In terms of our laws, that is incest. It is not allowed but space is given for them to be involved in sexual activities. Clearly, the two of them must be liable for something and those who create that kind of environment to exist must also be liable for something because they are aware that these people are relatives and they are aware of what they can create.
Hon. Chair, but we need to then find ourselves asking the question, how are we going to have proof in the context of corporate entities that they are aware you might be having two people, male and a female who are cousins and they check in at a hotel to commit an act of incest. Clearly, the hotel has no means of knowing that these two are cousins. That is why the point that says knowingly doing so, if there is a way that we can explicitly put that, how are we going to prove that this was known? I think then, it will be okay.
Hon. Chair, the problem lies largely in saying, you are unlikely to get successful prosecution in most of these cases where it would be difficult to prove knowledge that this act is going to be done. However, there are some cases that knowledge will be easy to prove, like the one that Hon. Mutodi spoke of, that this one is a young girl, she is 18 and traditionally, it has been said that she must be married to my son. I am aware of this. If she is brought to my home, I will provide space for her and my son. Clearly there is proof and it is easy to prove and even the one of incest, but others will be complex to prove and we might need to go deeper into dealing with proving it, specifically in the context of corporate entities. I thank you.
HON. MUSHORIWA: Hon. Chair, I think if you read this Clause 7 (a), the key word is ‘knowingly’ and without further definition of knowingly, then this will not help us as a nation. You will never and I bet my last dollar, it will be difficult to have a successful prosecution using the law as it is. If the Minister insists that he wants it, then I think he needs to do a further amendment to possibly then come up with explicit cases which define knowingly. Maybe like what Hon. Mutodi said, that if you do this or that but leaving it as it is, I do not think it will be a good law for this country because no prosecution will happen. We will see people getting arrested, but I think this will be an easier way for lawyers to make money because you will just be hired and you go there. However, can you prove the knowingly part? Remember, in a criminal case, you have to prove beyond reasonable doubt. So this one is not worth it and I think it should be removed from this Bill.
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. Before I go further, I have just observed that my drafters made a mistake. The reference should be to a ‘child’ and not a ‘young person’ because as it is, it is exactly the same as it is currently in the Criminal Code, but we are removing the definition of a young person and putting the definition of a child. In this particular case, we are dealing with having sexual intercourse with children between the ages of 12 and 18. Before I respond, I am actually proposing that where in the Bill reference is made to a young person, we change that to a child.
Having said that, I earlier on stood and said this particular Section makes reference to being complicit in sexual crimes. The way it is worded indicates that if you are an owner or occupier - I want to thank Hon. Mutodi and Hon. Togarepi for the way they explained. Being the owner or occupier of premises knowingly permits and trying to establish that a crime has been committed, there are elements of that particular crime that the prosecution must prove. In fact, they must prove those points beyond reasonable doubt. So the law acts as a protector for those that might be innocent and ensure that those that are guilty are nailed by the prosecution beyond reasonable doubt. You will find out that the prosecution should actually bring out the mens rea, that you knew what you were doing and you did that. Having said that, I want to add that in society, there are people who do exactly like this and our investigating officers are able to see a particular pattern. So, if we say we expunge it from the Bill, we have actually given them a licence to do that.
There is a specific pattern that comes out in terms of those that deal with brothels. Our law enforcement agents or our investigators can actually pin-point a specific pattern that this particular brothel even when investigating it, the young child can actually indicate so and so is the one who picked me up and did one, two, three, four and then this particular person came in. That is why I said that this particular provision has always been there. We want to deter people who use their premises. It is different from two young people who pick up each other and go home. There are those that use their premises for that particular purpose and you can have a specific pattern. We are saying that if the prosecution can prove - because when you are investigating a case, you pick certain essential elements that will nail them and you will say this particular child said this. This is a deterrence mechanism that we are putting in our law. It is not going to affect hotels that would not know who went in, but if that particular manager has a habit of facilitating and the prosecution can prove it - this is what we are saying here that if the owner and even agency of owner knowingly permits another person to do that and it is proved beyond reasonable doubt, those essential elements of proving a crime that Hon. Mutodi was talking about; if they are proved, this is the kind of behaviour that we do not want. We are putting it in our Code as a deterrence and also to punish those that would want to do it. So I move Hon. Chair, that we keep this. It is already in the Code anyway, but the change that we need is to remove the young person and replace it with child so that it becomes consistent with the letter and spirit of our Constitution. I so submit Hon. Chair.
Amendment to Clause 7, now Clause 8, put and agreed to.
Clause 7, now Clause 8, as amended, put and agreed to.
On Clause 8, now Clause 9:
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Hon. Chair, I am proposing that we expunge this from the Bill as we have already dealt with it. I thank you.
Amendment to Clause 8, now Clause 9 put and agreed to.
Clause 8, now Clause 9, as amended, put and agreed to.
THE TEMPORARY CHAIRPERSON: Order, sorry Hon. Members, I have to go back to Clause 7, which is now 8. Where it says ‘young person’, it must actually read to say ‘child’.
Amendment to Clause 7, now Clause 8 put and agreed to.
Clause 7, now Clause 8, as amended, put and agreed to.
On Clause 9, now Clause 10:
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON ZIYAMBI): I move the amendment standing in my name:
On page 5 of the Bill, delete in Clause 9 on line 1, the title “Procuring” and substitute “Procuring for purposes of unlawful sexual conduct”.
On page 5 of the Bill, delete in Clause 9 on line 6 the word “prostitute” and substitute “sex worker”.
*HON TAFANANA ZHOU: I need to seek clarification on Clause 10 which replaces Section 83 and Section 86 of the Criminal Law Codification Act which was declared by the Constitutional Court. I simply need clarification from the Hon. Minister to say when it was declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court up to the time when His Excellency used his powers to make a law, a lot of crimes were committed. I kindly need you the Minister to tell us what is it that should be done since there was no active law by then.
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: Rules of procedure dictate that we do not debate general issues in Committee. We speak to the actual clauses. I submit.
Amendment to Clause 9 now Clause 10 put and agreed to.
Clause 9 now Clause 10 as amended, put and agreed to.
On Clause 10 now Clause 11:
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. ZIYAMBI): I move the amendment standing in my name that:
On page 5 of the Bill, delete in Clause 10 on the word “young person” wherever it occurs and substitute “child”.
On page 5 of the Bill, delete in Clause 10, the proviso between lines 39 and 41 and substitute the following:
“Provided that such a defence may be refuted by the prosecutor adducing evidence to the effect that the accused person knew or had reasonable cause to believe that the child concerned was under the age of eighteen years at the time of the alleged crime.”.
During the Committee Stage, there was debate to the effect that this clause was not very clear where it said ‘provided that the apparent physical maturity of the young person, consent shall not on its own constitute reasonable cause for the purposes of this sub section’. This is the clarification that if the Prosecutor General now adducing evidence to show that you knew if you proffer the defence that I did not know that this particular child was below the age of 18 because of the physical appearance, then the Prosecutor General can actually adduce evidence that will prove that you knew and that defence falls away. We put that particular paragraph to give comfort to ensure that those who unknowingly had sexual intercourse with a child, the burden of proof is on the Prosecutor General to prove that they knew. I move that we adopt this amendment.
Amendment to Clause 10 now Clause11 put and agreed to.
Clause 10 now Clause 11, as amended, put and agreed to.
Clause 11 now Clause 12 put and agreed to.
New Clause 13 inserted after Clause 12;
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Hon. Chair. I move the amendments as they fully appear on the Order Paper. After Clause 11 (now 12) on page 7 of the Bill, insert the following clause—
13 Minor amendments to Cap. 2:13
The provisions of the principal Act specified in the first column of the Schedule are amended to the extent set out opposite thereto in the second column. Schedule (Section 13) Minor Amendments to Criminal Law Code
Provision Extent of Amendment
Section 81 (1) By the deletion of “prostitution” and the substitution of “sex work”. Sections 82, by the deletion of “prostitution” and “prostitute” wherever it occurs and the substitution of “sex work” and “sex worker” respectively.
Section 87, by the deletion of “prostitute” and “prostitutes”
wherever it occurs and the substitution of “sex worker” and
“sex workers” respectively: where I am proposing a new
Clause 12 after Clause 11, that is minor amendment to
[Chapter 2.13] and where we indicate that the provisions of
the principal Act specified in the first column of the Schedule are amended to the extent set out opposite thereto in the second column. So, there is a schedule there where I am indicating that wherever the word ‘prostitute’ appears, it be deleted and substituted with ‘sex worker’ wherever it appears in Section 81 (I) section 82 and Section 87 respectively. I so submit.
Amendment to New Clause 12 put and agreed to.
New Clause 12, as amended, put and agreed to.
House resumed.
Bill reported with amendments.
Bill referred to the Parliamentary Legal Committee.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. ZIYAMBI): Hon. Speaker, I move that Orders of the Day, Nos. 4 to 8 be stood over until Order of the Day No. 9 has been disposed of.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
ADMINISTRATION OF THE NATIONAL CADASTRE
SYSTEM TO THE ZIMBABWE NATIONAL GEOSPATIAL
AND SPACE AGENCY
Nineth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the establishment of the Electronic Cadastre and Mining Cadastre Systems.
Question again proposed.
HON. TIMBURWA: Thank you Madam Speaker. Today we are debating a motion on a matter of significant national importance, the establishment of electronic Cadastre and Mining Cadastre system. The Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion indicated in the Budget Statement on the 30th of November 2023 that the 2024 National Budget would cater for an electronic cadastre system to be administered by the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement and a mining cadastre system to be administered by the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development.
Of Concern Madam Speaker, cost and efficiency, it is concerning that establishing two separate cadastre systems under different ministries carry significant cost implications and risk inefficiency. Let us consider the financial and operational impact. Cost implications; duplication infrastructures and administrative functions across two ministries will inflate costs. We must avoid spending excessively when our budget can be utilised more effectively.
Establishment, maintaining a separate system requires extensive resources including technology staff and on-going operational costs.
Operational efficiency, managing two separate systems can lead to fragmented data management increasing the likelihood of discrepancies and reducing data reliability.
Inter-ministerial coordination challenges could lead to delays and bureaucratic shadows slowing down decision making processes. Zimbabwe National Geospatial and Space Agency capacity already possesses the infrastructure and technical capacity to administer a comprehensive national cadastre system. Here are some of the facts;
Technical expertise; ZINGSA specialises in geospatial data management, satellite imagery and spatial analysis. Their expertise aligns perfectly with the requirements for managing an efficient cadastre system.
Integrating the cadastre systems under ZINGSA would ensure high quality data management and technical precision.
Existing Infrastructure
ZINGSA already has the necessary infrastructure in place, which can be utilised to develop and manage the National Cadastre system without significant additional investment. This existing infrastructure include advanced date centres, GIS software and trained personnel capable of handling large scale data projects.
An electronically Cadastre system is a digitalised platform that manages and records information about land parcels and their ownership. It integrates geospatial data (maps, satellite imagery) with legal information (ownership, land use rights) to create a comprehensive and up to date database of land information. This system is crucial for several reasons:
Accuracy and Precision
Electronic cadastre utilises advanced geospatial technologies such as geographical information systems (GIS) and global positioning system (GPS) to provide accurate mapping of land parcels. This accuracy is essential for resolving land disputes, planning infrastructure in projects and managing natural resources.
Real Time Updates
Unlike traditional paper-based system, electronic Cadastres can be updated in real time, ensuring that the information is always current and reliable. Real Time updates are crucial for monitoring land transactions, changes in land use and development in real estates markets.
Accessibility and Transparency
A digital Cadastre system is accessible to various stakeholders, including Government agencies, land owners, investors and general public. This transparency helps to reduce corruption, prevent fraudulent land transactions and builds trust among stakeholders.
Hon. Speaker, the importance of the Cadastre system land mines registry system is as follows;
Streamlining Land Administration
A centralised land and mines registry system is critical in streamlining land administration in Zimbabwe, by consolidating land and mining data into a single system, we can ensure more efficient and transparent management of these resources. Such a system will facilitate faster and more accurate processing of land and mining rights, reducing bureaucratic delays and improving service delivery to citizens and businesses.
Enhanced Data Utilisation
Utilising satellite imagery and geospatial data, ZINGSA can accurately monitor and manage land use across the country. This capability is particularly important for identifying under utilised farms and lands. For example, satellite imagery can reveal fertile regions with little to know agricultural activities, allowing the Government to take corrective action, such as relocating land to more productive use or providing targeted support to farmers.
Supporting Agriculture Development
A centralised system will enable the Government to identify and address issues of land under utilised. By pinpointing regions where fertile land is not being used effectively, targeted interventions can be made to boost agricultural productivity and food security, accurate land data is essential for planning and implementing agricultural policies that maximise the use of available resource and promote sustainable farming practice.
Transparency and Conflict Reduction
A centralised registry enhances transparency in land and mining transaction, reducing the likelihood of disputes over ownership and usage rights. Clear and accessible records help to resolve conflicts efficiently and fairly. Transparency in land administration also builds trust among investors, encourage more investment in agriculture and mining sector.
Economic Growth and Investment
Streamlined land and mines administration attracts both domestic and foreign investment. Investors are more likely to commit resources to a country with clear, reliable and transparent land and mining records. A well-managed Cadastre system can significantly boost economic growth by creating a more predictable and secure environment for business operations.
Resource Allocation and Planning
A centralised Cadastre system provides the Government with comprehensive data on land and resource allocation. This information is vital for effective planning and development projects. It enables better coordination among different Government agencies and ensures that resources are allocated effectively and equitably.
Securing Investments and Addressing Land Disputes
Securing of investments:
For both local and foreign investors, the security of their investment is paramount. A centralised Cadastre system ensures that land and mining rights are clearly defined and legally recognised. The legal clarity protects investors from potential disputes and fraudulent claims, providing them with the confidence to invest in long-term projects.
Ringfencing Investment
A robust and transparent registry system allows investors to “ring -fence” their investments, meaning they can clearly demarcate and secure their assets. This protection is essential for securing financing, as financial institutions require undisputed titles of land and mining rights before they extent loans or investments.
Reducing Land Disputes
Land disputes are a significant barrier to economic development. They often arise from unclear overlapping land rights and lead to prolonged legal battles. A centralised Cadastre system provides a single, authoritative source of information on land ownership and usage rights. This clarity helps to prevent disputes from arising and facilitates quicker resolutions when they do occur.
Improving Governance and Rule of Law
A centralised registry enhances the rule of law by ensuring that all land and mining transactions are recorded and governed by consistent legal standards. This system improves governance by making it easier for authorities to enforce land and mining loans, reducing opportunities for corruption and illegal activities. We can draw lessons from other nations that have successfully implemented the centralised Cadastre system.
Norway: Norway is centralised Land Registry System has proven effective in streamlining land administration processing, reducing conflict and enhancing data accuracy. This system has significantly reduced the time and cost associated with land transactions.
Rwanda: Coming closer home, we have got a country like Rwanda. Rwanda’s Land Tenure Regularisation Programme Centralised Land registration under a single agency, resulting in improved land tenure, security and increased investment in land.
Potential Challenges and Solutions
Transition Concerns
Acknowledge potential challenges during the transition, such as data migration and system integration. Propose a phased implementation plan with clear timelines and milestones to ensure smooth transition.
Stakeholder Engagement
Emphasise the importance of engaging all relevant stakeholders, including Ministries, land owners and miners to address their concerns and ensure their cooperation.
Impact on Stakeholders
For Land owners and Miners
A unified Cadastre system would provide clear and reliable information on land and mining rights, enhancing security and facilitating investment. Simplified processes and reduced bureaucratic delay would benefit both land owners and miners.
For Government Agencies
Streamlined data management would enable data planning and resource allocation, supporting national development goals. Enhanced coordination between agencies would improve overall governance and service delivery.
Detailed Cost Analysis
Total Estimated Cost over five years $8,500,000 - $14,700,000.
Potential Economic Benefits
Direct Revenue Generation.
Land Registration Fees
Estimated revenue: if we assume that the system facilitate 100 000 transactions annually and each transaction generates $50.00 in fees, the annual revenue would be approximately $5 million.
Five year revenue: $25 000 000.
- Commercial Mining Licences:
Estimated Revenue:
With efficient processing and transparency, the system could attract more commercial mining investments. If 500 new commercial mining licences are issued annually at $10 000 each, the annual revenue would be $5 000 000.
Five Year Revenue: $25 000 000
Indirect Economic Benefits:
- Increased Investment:
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI);
A reliable cadastre system increases investor confidence, potentially boosting FDI in agriculture, mining and real estate. If the system attracts an additional $50 000 000 annually in FDI, the indirect economic benefit over five years could be $250 000 000.
- Enhanced Agricultural Productivity:
Improved Land Utilisation;
By identifying underutilised fertile lands, the system can help increase agricultural output. If better land utilisation results in a 10% increase in agricultural GDP, contributing an additional $100 000 000 annually, the five-year benefit could be $500 000 000.
- Reduction in Land Disputes:
Legal and Administrative Savings;
Efficiently resolving land disputes saves legal costs and administrative expenses. If the system reduces such costs by
$10 000 000 annually, the five-year savings could be $50 000 000.
- Economic Growth from Infrastructure Development:
Infrastructure Projects;
Accurate land data supports infrastructure projects. Improved infrastructure can lead to an estimated five percent increase in overall economic activity. If this translates to an additional $100 000 000 annually in economic output, the five-year benefit could be $500 000 000.
Summary of Potential Economic Benefits
- Direct Revenue Generation:
Land registration fees: $25 000 000
Commercial Mining Licences: $25 000 000
- Indirect Economic Benefits:
Increased FDI: $250 000 000
Enhanced Agricultural Productivity: $500 000 000
Reduction in Land Disputes: $50 000 000
Economic Growth from Infrastructure Development: $500 000 000
Total Estimated Economic Benefits over five years: **$1 350 000 000
Cost-Benefit Analysis:
Total Estimated Cost over five years: $8 500 000 - $14 700 000
Total Estimated Economic Benefits over five years: $1 350 000 000
By implementing a centralised cadastre system, Zimbabwe could potentially realise significant economic benefits, estimated at $1.35 billion over five years, far outweighing the estimated costs of $8.5 million to $14.7 million. This highlights the substantial return on investment and underscores the importance of advancing this critical infrastructure project for national development and economic prosperity.
Hon. Speaker, I support this motion on setting up of the National Cadastre System. With your indulgence Madam Speaker, I propose a motion for the setting up of a National Cadastre System in Zimbabwe with immediate effect. This system will centralise land and mining administration, enhancing transparency, efficiency, and economic growth.
I strongly recommend establishment of the Centralised Cadastre Implementation Committee. I rise to propose a motion for the establishment of a Centralised Cadastre Implementation Committee. To harness the benefits of a centralised cadastre system, it is essential to have a dedicated body overseeing its integration and implementation. This committee will ensure efficient coordination and expedite the deployment of the National Cadastre System. To harness the benefits of a centralised cadastre system, it is essential to establish a dedicated committee to oversee its integration and implementation. This will ensure efficient coordination and expedite the system’s deployment.
Recognising the importance of a centralised cadastre system for national development and economic prosperity, this House resolves to establish a Centralised Cadastre Implementation Committee by 1st July, 2024. This committee will oversee the integration, implementation, and continuous improvement of the National Cadastre System, ensuring efficient coordination between the Zimbabwe National Geospatial and Space Agency (ZINGSA) and relevant ministries.
Specific Dates:
Formation of Committee: 1 July, 2024.
First Committee Report: 1 September, 2024.
Adoption of the National Cadastre System Implementation Timeline;
Furthermore, I propose a motion for the adoption of a clear implementation timeline for the National Cadastre System. This timeline will ensure coordinated efforts and the swift realisation of the system’s benefits. I urge this House to consider these motions as critical steps towards the efficient and timely implementation of the National Cadastre System. A clear implementation timeline for the National Cadastre sytem is essential for timely execution. This timeline will ensure coordinated efforts and swift realisation of the system’s benefits.
In light of the need for a structured and timely implementation of the National Cadastre System, this House calls upon the Government to adopt the following implementation timeline:
- Initial Infrastructure Set-up and Software Development: 1st August, 2024 to 31st December, 2024.
- Data Migration and Integration: 1st January, 2025 to 30th June, 2025.
- Training and Capacity Building Programmes: 1st February, 2025 to 31st July, 2025.
- System Go-Live and Full Operation: 1st August, 2025.
This timeline will facilitate a smooth transition to a centralised cadastre system, promoting transparency, efficiency and economic growth.
Hon. Members, it is imperative that we prioritise the establishment of a unified National Cadastre System under ZINGSA. This approach not only ensures cost efficiency and operational effectiveness but also aligns with Zimbabwe’s long-term vision for economic growth and sustainable development. By consolidating the cadastre systems, we can harness the full potential of geospatial data to drive progress and prosperity for our nation.
I urge you all to support this motion and assign the responsibility of administering the National Cadastre System to ZINGSA. Let us take this decisive step towards a more efficient, transparent and prosperous future for Zimbabwe. Embracing technological advancements like a centralised cadastre system is not just a step forward; it is a leap towards a future where transparency, efficiency and economic prosperity are within our grasp. Let us harness the power of technology to unlock our nation’s true potential and secure a brighter, more sustainable future for all Zimbabweans. Thank you, Hon. Speaker.
HON. KANGAUSARU: Thank you, Madam Speaker. Greetings from Hurungwe. Thank you for granting me this opportunity to add my voice on this topic debate on the National Cadastre System. Madam Speaker, I stand before this esteemed august House today to add my two senses on the critical issues concerning the National Cadastre System. In a nutshell, the cadastre system is a method of recording and managing information about the land ownership, boundaries and values. It is a comprehensive system that provides a framework for the administration and management of land rights, interest and restrictions. It is in other words, a methodical arranged public inventory of data concerning all legal land objects in Zimbabwe based on the surveying of our boundaries. In other words, it is a parcel based and up to date land information system containing a record of interest in land. It usually includes a geometric description of land parcels linked to other records describing the nature of the interest, the ownership and the control of these interests and often the value on the parcel and its improvement.
Madam Speaker, the main four components of this system includes the land registration, recording ownership and title information. Let me say it must exclude the communal land “kumusha, kumaruzeva ngakungogara kurikumaruzeva” in order for us to preserve our values, our traditions and our cultures. The second component that is crucial, it is the cadastre mapping creating and maintaining maps of land boundaries and parcels. The third component which is crucial in this system is the land evaluation, assessing the value of land for taxation, sale and other purposes. The fourth one being land use regulations, managing zoning land use and development restrictions. Automatic systems restore and manage lands information which will be able for us to move from manual to automatic.
Allow me Madam Speaker, to highlight some of the points in favour of the national cadastre system. It provides a centralised and standardised system for managing land information thereby reducing errors and inconsistencies. The second one, it provides a clear and secure documentation of land ownership reducing disputes and conflicts. It streamlines land transactions such as buying and selling by providing easy access to land information. It also provides valuable data for urban and regional planning, allowing for more informed decision making.
It reduces the opportunity of corrupt parties such as fraudulent land transfers.
Allow me Madam Speaker, at this juncture to highlight some of the pitfalls of this system that need to be worked around for the system to be a success. The cadastre system has high implementation costs. In order for us to implement it, it costs us dearly. Establishing a national cadastre system requires significant investment in technology, infrastructure and personnel. There is also the privacy concern. A national cadastre system raises concern about the privacy and the security of land owners’ personal information. Resistance to change also is one of the pitfalls. Land owners and local authorities may resist the introduction of a new system particularly, if they are accustomed to traditional methods. The manual system, the complexity also is one of them. A national cadastre system can be complex to establish and to maintain, requiring significant technical expertise. One of the other thing also Madam Speaker, is that there is a potential for errors. A national Cadastre system is not immune to errors, which can have significant consequences, such as incorrect ownership records.
In summary, the cadastre system gives goals like to provide land tenure and property rights. It facilitates efficiency, land transactions and development. It enhances land use and planning and management. Overally, the implementation of national cadastre system requires careful concentration of these points, as well as consultation with the stakeholders and experts in the field. The National Cadastre System in Zimbabwe is currently developing with the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development undergoing a data capture and a cleaning process.
As already alluded to, this system aims to provide a comprehensive and accurate database of land ownership and boundaries, enhancing land administration and management in Zimbabwe. Once complete, the system will be an available tool for land owners, investors, Government agencies, promoting transparency, efficiency and sustainable land use. I thank you.
HON. MUKOMBERI: Thank you Madam Speaker for the opportunity granted to add my voice to the motion on the National Cadastre System. A cadastre system is a digital platform that records and manages mining licences, concessions and other legal instruments related to mining and agricultural corrections in Zimbabwe. It provides a transparent and accessible data base for all stakeholders such as Government Officials, investors and communities to track and monitor mining activities in the country. It is quite commendable that Zimbabwe as a country is moving toward the betterment of mining and agricultural industry land use in relation to the merging of such a system in the tool industrial activities.
The advantages of such a cadastre system that it will bring maybe to the mining industry in Zimbabwe include among others, elimination of corruption. How does it eliminate corruption Madam Speaker? A cadastre system eliminates corruption and promotes good governance by digitalising the process. It becomes more challenging for corrupt officials to manipulate licences and engage in illicit activities because all transactions and approvals are recorded and this allows a clear trail of accountability and reducing opportunities for wide spread corruption in terms of the allocation of the mining land and even an agricultural land.
Secondly, it facilitates the attraction of foreign direct investment and how is that Madam Speaker? Transparency that is enhanced through this cadastre system is crucial in attracting foreign direct investment into the mining sector because international investors often prioritise countries with strong legal frameworks and reliable systems in place. So a robust mining cadastre would give the investors the confidence to invest in Zimbabwe knowing that their right and licences are properly registered and protected.
To add more on that Madam Speaker, such a cadastre system also facilitates in reducing bureaucratic hurdles. That is to say an iron plant mining cadastre system can help stream line administrative processes and reduce bureaucratic hurdles. Currently, obtaining mining licences and conducting due diligence in Zimbabwe is time consuming and cumbersome and a digital platform would simplify procedures, reduce red tape and enhance efficiency. Apart from that, a cadastre system also improves the involvement of local communities when it comes to the allocation and use of land in terms of mining and agricultural activities.
It is pertinent to note that a mining cadastre system enhances inclusion of local communities in terms of the mining operations, the impact to the nearby communities and their livelihoods. Through that system communities can access information regarding mining activities in their areas ensuring that they have a say and are consulted in the decision-making processes. This information is easy to access since it will be a digital process in a digital platform.
Lastly, it facilitates evidence-based policy making. The mining cadastral would enhance data collection and analysis providing valuable insights for evidence-based policy making. Accurate and up to date information on mining licences and agricultural production; the production of volumes, revenues and environmental impacts can empower law makers, regulators and researchers to make informed decision to maximise the benefits of mining and such activities while minimising its negative impacts.
I want to make this humble submission and say it is prudent that Zimbabwe will emerge a digital cadastre system on agricultural land as well as mining land. Thank you.
HON. TOGAREPI: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. BAJILA: I second
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 12th June, 2024.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
HON. TOGAREPI: I move that all Orders of the Day on today’s Order Paper be stood over until Order of the Day Number 10 has been disposed of.
HON. MUSHORIWA: I second
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
LEGISLATION TO PROMOTE THE DEVELOPMENT OF
PREVIOUSLY MARGINALISED LANGUAGES
Tenth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the officially recognised languages of Zimbabwe.
Question again proposed.
HON. KANGAUSARU: Thank you Madam Speaker for allowing me and for giving this opportunity to debate on this motion that calls for the promotion and teaching of local languages in our schools. This is a matter of paramount importance as the preservation of our indigenous tongues is essential for the cultural preservation and intellectual enrichment of the people of Zimbabwe.
The statistics paint a static picture and according to the latest census data, only 67% of Zimbabweans speak their native language at home with the remaining 33% opting for the use of English and other foreign languages. This troubling trend represents a gradual erosion of our linguistic heritage and impediment to the holistic development of our youth.
We need to look no further than our neighbouring countries to witness the immense benefit that arise from the promotion of local languages in education. In South Africa for example, the 11 official languages are mandatorily taught in schools, resulting in the citizen that is not only multi-linguistic, but deeply connected to their cultural roots.
The linguistic diversity has been well-spring of innovation, creativity and social coherence. Similarly, if we look at other countries like Tanzania, Swahili enjoys the status of a national language with it being the primary medium of instruction at both primary and secondary schools. This has led to a remarkable unit of purpose and identity among the Tanzanian people while also facilitating broad access to education and economic opportunities.
Further, I believe that Zimbabwe must follow into footsteps of these success stories. By managing the teaching of a rich contemporary of local languages from Shona and Ndebele to the myriad of minority tongues, we can empower our students to take pride in their cultural heritage while also equipping them with the linguistic tool to strive in an increasingly globalised world.
In addition, the benefits of this approach extend far beyond the confines of the classroom. The promotion of local language will foster strong community bonds, boost culture tourism, provide a well spring of inspiration for our artists, poets and story tellers. It is an investment in our national identity that will pay dividend for generations to come. When a nation’s citizens are fluent in their native language, it creates a fertile ground for the fruition of creative industries. Just look at the example of India where the resurgence of regional language films, literature and music has been the driving force behind the country’s booming creative economy. In the State of Tamil Nadu for instance, the film industry known as Bollywood creates an estimated US$2.1 billion in annual revenue and employs 300 000 people.
This vibrant cultural ecosystem has not only provided lucrative careers for actors, directors and producers, but it has sprung a thrilling market of merchandise, tourism and related services. Similarly, in Kenya the rise of the Kenyan literary scenes with authors writing Swahili and other languages has been a boom for the country’s creative industries. Writers like Ngugi wa Thiongo and others have gained global recognition while also inspiring a new generation of Kenyan story tellers. This has also enriched the nation as a whole and has also generated valuable export earnings and job opportunities.
Zimbabwe is blessed with a rich contemporary of rich linguistic and cultural diversity. By empowering our students to become fluent in their native language, we will be unlocking the tremendous potential of our poetry, artists and story tellers. Imagine the resurgence of Shona and Ndebele literature, the flourishing of Mbira music and the global acumen that could be earned by the Zimbabwean film makers showcasing the vibrancy of our local languages like Ndau and Chewa.
Furthermore, the economic impact of such cultural renaissance cannot be overstated. The creativity industry has the power to general sustainable employment and attract tourism, hence our nation’s soft power on global stage. Moreover, the cultivation of a vibrant and local language-based creativity economy we serve to preserve and to celebrate our unique identity, fostering a profound sense of national pride and unity, are tantamount to the Zimbabwean people.
I implore my colleagues to lend unwavering support to this motion. Let us see the opportunity to chat a course towards Zimbabwe where our children learn to speak the language of their ancestors with pride, dignity, integrity and sincerity. Our diversity linguistic can be celebrated as a source of strength, where our national consciousness is rooted in the rich soil of our cultural heritage. I urge my fellow Hon. Members to embrace this motion with unwavering commitment. Let us invest in the empowerment of our poetry, artists, story-tellers, for in doing so, we shall unlock the untagged potential, the boundless economic and cultural potential that lie within the rich template of our indigenous language. I thank you.
*HON. NYABANI: Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am. I wanted to say this motion has come at the right time. In fact, it should have come long back for us to debate in this House. If you look at countries like China, they do everything which is good for their nation. Our Great Zimbabwe in Masvingo was built by people who could hardly speak English. People think that it is a modern way of doing things if they speak in English.
This motion has been tabled at the right time because in Zimbabwe, when somebody wants to go to a university, you will be asked to have English as a compulsory subject, even if you want to go to a college. When we say 16 officially recognised languages in our country, why are we only saying English is compulsory? What is so important to have that English? I appreciate this motion. We do not have to look down upon our mother languages thinking or expecting that foreign languages are more important than ours. Others feel that those are the languages which bring us closer to God, but what we are simply saying is, if it is Mathematics, we have somebody who understands to say if I add one plus one, we come up with two.
Let those children learn using that vernacular language. If it is Ndebele, Tonga, Kalanga or any other language, children should be taught in their mother languages which they understand. If children complete their education level, they will do something tangible. When I did my O’ levels, I went to a mission college where they asked if I had English. I said I did not have English and then they said, ‘you want to go and learn mechanics?’ Is English that very important to do that course?
As black people, we want to take a longer route which is not ours, leaving our own way. Other people try their level best to speak in English when they are in Parliament of which they cannot even eat. If you have any language, it is a mode of communication from one person to the other. You simply want to understand what you want to do. So, if you are in Zimbabwe, I am encouraging all of us that whenever you go to universities or colleges, or wherever you go, people must be taught in their mother language.
I think what is important is to know what you want to do after school. People come from China and they do not even know English. When they come here, they look for somebody who can translate Chinese to English language and the translator will accompany them wherever they go. That Chinese person is doing something tangible in their motherland. In Zimbabwe, if somebody knows his/her duties, you will be looked down upon simply because you cannot speak English. Why do you not look for somebody to translate or to assist and interpret for the betterment of the job?
I support that whoever brought this motion was sent by our ancestral spirits. If I am talking of my name Tendai Nyabani, we have to speak our mother language. We are now empowering those foreigners. Why are we blaming our local languages? In this country, we used to speak in Ndebele, Shona, Zezuru and Kalanga only. What is wrong with us speaking in those languages now that you are taking priority to English? What is so important about English? We are being fooled.
Even those learned people, they simply say there is need to cleanse your mindset because some of the things cannot be explained deeply because you will run out of words as it will not be your mother language. I am telling this whole august House to say what was said by Hon. Bajila, regardless of him being on the left side of the Speaker, that is a very good motion. It simply encourages everyone to learn Mathematics. Whenever you want to learn Science, Agriculture or farming, that person should be taught in his/her mother language. This is because we need that person whenever he/she goes to do practical work and he/she has to do it the rightful way.
I simply remember when Hon. Members are asked if there are any further debates, they simply say ‘no’, just because they were not understanding what was being said. If the law is signed by the President, people will start to say this is not it. How could you let it pass? It is all because you could hardly understand what was being said. Other people were saying those who are blind need to have Braille language to assist them. If you are asked to say any further debate, you simply say no debate.
When we get to the budget, you are asked if there is any further debate and you say no debate. It is simply because you are not understanding what is being said. This is because everything is being tabled in a foreign language which we do not understand. So, Madam Speaker Ma’am, I would like to thank you for the time you gave me.
With these few words, I have given vision to my colleagues to say we have a lot of people within the foreign languages. It is because those other people know how to speak English and Shona and they have to be assisted in a way whereby we have to have our country progress, not only to say you cannot proceed to Form 6 because you do not have English. Am I a doctor to treat people from America? I can only treat people from my rural area. Let us do something which will take our nation forward. I thank you.
+HON. MAHLANGU: Thank you Madam Speaker ma’am. I would also like to support the motion that was brought by Hon. Bajila and seconded by Hon. Moyo. This is a very good motion because when you look at how people view languages and, especially when children are growing up it is difficult for them to start learning English, especially a child who is doing ECD who is just starting school. If that child is taught in the language that he or she understands, it makes it easy for her to grasp the concepts.
Even here in this House, we speak different languages and at times, it is difficult for me to understand what Hon. so and so was trying to say because I would not be understanding that language. If everyone is taught languages that are spoken here in Zimbabwe, like what Hon. Bajila said, he mentioned that there are sixteen (16) languages here in Zimbabwe.
It should be the Government’s responsibility to see to it that people learn all these languages because people travel a lot. I can leave this place and go to Mutare and find it difficult for me to communicate with them because I would not be knowing the language. In some places they speak deep Shona, me as a Ndebele person might not even understand the language. If we go to some countries like South Africa, Namibia, Uganda and even Botswana, they speak their languages. They know the importance of their languages and even the way they dress, you can easily identify them by their dressing. They also follow their traditions in languages as well and if you look at other places, offices that we visit at times, you even fail to communicate with someone who is in the office who is supposed to assist you because they can only communicate with them in English only but if you take an old lady who is 64 years or 75 years, it will be difficult for that old lady to express themselves properly in English. So, it will be difficulty for them to get help because of the language barriers.
Madam Speaker, I also say this motion should pass because it will help us here in Zimbabwe. It will make us understand what others are saying and we also understand what they are saying. Even children at school should also understand and even if they are being taught science, the concept should be explained in their native languages. I thank you.
HON. MUROMBEDZI: Thank you very much Madam Speaker. I rise to strongly support the motion put forth by Hon. Bajila. The promotion and development of previously marginalised languages is not just a constitutional mandate but in moral imperative, it is about honouring our diverse heritage. Fostering inclusivity and building a nation where every linguistic community feels valued and represented.
Madam Speaker, languages are more than just a means of communication. They are repository of our cultural heritage and identity. Each language carries with it, its unique traditions histories and knowledge systems that contribute to the rich tapestry of our national identity. By promoting these languages, we are preserving invaluable cultural assets for future generations. Research has consistently shown that children who are educated in their mother language during the early years of schooling, perform better academically. According to UNESCO, mother tongue is best education which improves learning outcomes and reduces dropout rates.
Madam Speaker, by integrating marginalised languages into our educational system, we can enhance the quality of education and promote greater equity. Investing in language promotion can have significant economic benefits. It can boost tourism by attracting visitors interested in our diverse cultural heritage. Furthermore, it can stimulate the creative industries leading to production of literature, music, films and other cultural products in various languages. This not only preserves our cultural heritage but also creates job opportunities and promotes economic growth.
Countries like South Africa, Ethiopia and India have successfully implemented policies to promote linguistic diversity. South African’s Pan South African Language Body and Ethiopia’s promotion of twelve official languages are exemplary models. These countries have demonstrated that it is possible to create a multi-lingual society where all languages are respected and promoted. Zimbabwe can learn from these examples to develop and implement effective language policies.
Section 6 of our Constitution clearly states that the State must promote all official languages. This is not a choice but an obligation. We have a legal and moral duty to ensure that all sixteen official languages are promoted and developed. This includes creating educational materials, conducting public awareness campaigns and ensuring that the Government services are accessible in all official languages.
We need to move swiftly to finalise and implement the Draft Language Policy developed in 2022. This policy will provide a comprehensive framework for the promotion and development of all official languages. A statutory body dedicated to language promotion similar to South Africa’s Pan South African Language body can coordinate efforts and ensure sustained progress in this area. We should amend the Education Act to make sure that the teaching of marginalised languages is mandatory in schools. This can be achieved by including a ninth subject for O’level students specifically focusing on a previously marginalised language.
Digital platforms can also be used to create and disseminate educational and cultural content in various languages. This approach can teach a wider audience and make learning materials more accessible. Engaging our local communities in language promotion efforts is crucial. Communities should be involved in deciding which languages to promote in their regions fostering a sense of ownership and pride. Particular attention should be given to the Khoisan language which is at risk of extinction. As one of the oldest languages in Zimbabwe, its preservation is critical for maintaining our cultural and historical identity. We must prioritise efforts to document, teach and promote Khoisan to ensure it survives for future generations.
In conclusion, promoting previously marginalised languages is not just about fulfilling a constitutional obligation. It is about building a more inclusive, equitable and culturally rich nation. By supporting this motion, we are taking significant steps towards honouring our diverse heritage, promoting social cohesion and ensuring that every linguistic community in Zimbabwe feels valued and respected. I urge all members of this House to support this important motion. I so submit.
HON. M. NKOMO: Thank you so much for affording me this opportunity to add my voice to the debate on the legislation to promote the development of previously marginalised languages, a motion moved by Hon. Bajila, seconded by Hon. Moyo.
The motion does not only address what Section 6 (4) of our Constitution says, but it resonates well with President Cde E.D. Mnangagwa’s mantra of living no one and no place behind. Language plays a crucial role in the development of any country, hence the importance of Section 6 (4) and Hon. Bajila’s motion.
Besides playing the role of uniting people, language is a vehicle of information and custodian of culture for a group of people. Let me address the tenets of language by citing what our supreme law says; The Preamble of our Constitution, “United in our diversity…., Celebrating the vibrancy of our traditions and cultures…” As a nation, our uniqueness is our pride upon which unity is anchored. We are different in colour, language, religion and culture but celebrate the beauty, the liveliness of our way of life. In Lupane, we have our language, IsiNdebele which carries with it the way we live like the Ndebele people. When I visit Binga, the baTonga peope have a way of living which I appreciate and enjoy. However, that appreciation is not enough if I cannot speak or hear their language, hence the need to promote and develop chiTonga and other previously marginalised languages.
Let me draw your attention to a newspaper article published in ‘The Sunday Mail’ on the 4th of February, 2024 titled ‘President Mnangagwa’s untold linguistic genius’ written by a Linguistics researcher Talent Mudenda. The research alludes that President Mnangagwa is fluent in languages like isiNdebele, chiTonga, chiShona, Venda, Kalanga and many other languages which has allowed the President to absorb various cultural norms and traditional world views by understanding the unique historical trajectories and identities of different language groups. You will recall Madam Speaker when the President went around the country during the 2023 election campaigns, he mostly used the local languages in those communities, including chiTonga in Binga. He demonstrated his willingness to learn, lead and unite the country by engaging the electorate in their mother languages. Imagine how our country would be with most leaders able to speak five local languages fluently. Take for example in this House, if we can be like the President or yourself Madam Speaker, in terms of the languages that you speak – we would not be struggling to use English to debate. We are now forced to use English because we want everyone in this House and nation to hear what we are debating, assuming that everyone understands English.
I want to propose, as I support this motion by Hon. Bajila, that the Government should start with National Anthem competitions for the previously marginalised languages. This can be done through collaboration between the ministries of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture and Primary and Secondary Education. Imagine how many times the National Anthem is sung in those languages in a week, but there is no official and recorded version which can be aired on radio or television. I therefore call upon the Government to take measures as those of 1994 when we were changing from Nkosi Sikelela iAfrica to Phakamisani iFlag. We want to hear an official and recorded national anthem in chiTonga, Venda, Shangani, Chewa, Ndau, Nambya, Kalanga among others being aired on community radio stations which were opened by the Second Republic.
Secondly, the promotion and development of previously marginalised languages cannot take place outside the teaching and learning environment. I am grateful that the Government has rolled out the Teacher Capacity Development at Great Zimbabwe University, which was meant to empower teachers from previously marginalised languages with diplomas to attain degrees in these languages. I suggest that the Government also consider sponsoring the young people who have just completed Advanced Level so that they continue studying at teachers’ colleges and study these previously marginalised languages as their learning areas.
The Government also established the MSU National Languages Institute which launched the Elementary Science Terms dictionary in all indigenous languages last week. I am of the view that the Government should make deliberate measures of having more literature for these languages, not translations only. This can be achieved by partnering with one book publisher or use the MSU National Languages Institute to publish en masse, literature for these languages. There are many young writers of those languages, but they are failing because of the process and expenses of producing a complete book. Again, when those books are published, the Government, through the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, can subsidise and buy for schools in bulk like what was done in 2009.
HON. TSHUMA: I want to add my voice to this very pertinent motion brought in by Hon. Bajila. I think Hon. Bajila should have overheard me one day when I was in one of the places drinking wise waters when I spoke about this issue. He quickly ran and came here with a motion, but well-done Hon. Bajila for definitely bringing a very important issue.
Madam Speaker, I grew up in Hwange and that is where I did my primary education. While I was there, I spoke chiNyanja very fluently. I spoke Nambya, I learnt Tonga and I spoke it. All this happened at my young age. What this basically speaks to is that there is nothing as easy as a child learning any language. A child can learn any language easily, if you take them to France, they can speak French like they are French. If you take them to Japan or China, they will do the same. It is very pertinent for us to recognise and actually allude to the fact that the promotion and teaching of these languages should happen down there when the children are developing. When they grow up, they will grow up being able to speak any language that has been exposed to them. So, can you imagine if we had to promote all the 16 languages all over the country. If you go to Matabeleland, they must compulsorily learn Shona, Ndebele, Chichewa, Venda and Tonga and when they grow up, they are able to converse at any given time.
As I travel around the world, especially in South Africa Madam Speaker, I am always so taken up by the way the South Africans communicate. You will find a Venda conversing with a Sotho in their own different languages, if you understand what I am talking about. A Venda will be speaking Venda and the Sotho will be answering in Sotho but they are all understanding each other. They are communicating. How wonderful is that.
I want a situation whereby I can speak to a Shona person in my Ndebele and they can answer me in their Shona, but we still understand each other instead of this thing that you will always find when I go into an office. If I speak to them in Ndebele, they say handinzwi. It is so frustrating. Here you are within Matabeleland, you are supposed to be serving me. I am speaking to you and you are telling me handinzwi. The conflict begins there already because I am now saying to myself, what are you looking for in that office and in my part of the region if you cannot speak and understand my language. That answer can only come from this motion to say, let us literalise the teaching of all the local languages and promote them at grassroot level so that people grow up with these languages and then that way, we all live harmoniously.
Madam Speaker, I want to also expand it on the cultural point of view. Our colonisers discovered that and said you can never colonise these people as long as they are still intact with their culture, and language is part of the culture. So, they made us come in and think and believe that if you are a good and fluent English speaker then you are the thing to go. You are the most educated, you are the cleverest and like what Hon. Nyabani said here, that has nothing to do with anything at all.
The Chinese are the greatest inventors and they have been so good at whatever they have been doing. Everything that they have done they have learnt it in the Chinese language. They never go and start learning science in English or Mathematics in English. Can you imagine trying to teach a child, my child at school, the Pythagoras theory. Already, they do not understand the word Pythagoras at all before they even understand what the theory is all about, but had we spoken about it in the local language of that child, they would have understood it easily but it really is supposed to be learnt. What is supposed to be done to solve that kind of problem?
This is why I am saying that no matter what we do, let us definitely support this kind of motion. It might be too late for us but it is not too late for the generation that is coming to start learning the other languages from there. Let us have our Mathematics being taught in our local languages, Madam Speaker. Mathematics is not difficult, what is difficult is English. They do not understand in English, but had we been taught in Ndebele that nxa ufuna ukuqathanisa lokhu ukuhlanganisa lalokhuyana kuzaphuma lokhu, I could have got As. Even here, Madam Speaker, our Standing Rules should actually change. If I try and speak to you right now and mix Shona and Ndebele, you would be saying order Hon. Member, speak in one language.
So, already here in the House, we are not promoting the local languages enough. We want to stick to what Parliament adopted from the colonial era up to today yet we should be able to be flexible here to say if you want to debate and speak in Shona, Ndebele, Tonga and mix them all, everybody must be there to understand and if you do not understand like you are privileged, you can have your headphones to put on and hear what the Hon. Member is saying, but we are limiting each other already here in this very august House. So, it is very important.
Section 6 (3) of our Constitution clearly states that, ‘The State and all institutions and agencies of Government at every level must (a) ensure that all officially recognised languages are treated equitably and (b) take into account the language preference of people affected by governmental measures or communications and (4) says, ‘The State must promote and advance the use of all languages used in Zimbabwe including Sign Language and must create conditions for the development of those languages.’
So, it is very clear according to our Constitution, Madam Speaker, we are not doing enough. It also cascades down to our provincial levels. I really wonder why the Public Service Commission that employs people will bring someone to come and run the Ministry of Education in Bulawayo or Matabeleland South or Matabeleland North who does not even understand a word of Ndebele. I do not understand why the Government would place a teacher who has no understanding of Shona in Manicaland to go and teach the children in Manicaland yet they cannot even understand the chiManyika. Why are we doing that? Is it arrogance, what is it?
So, Madam Speaker, we need to be realistic with each other here. Let us be able to say look, it is not tribalism to demand that we want a person who understands here as Zimbabweans. It is not tribalism for the Manyika people to demand that they want a Manyika person there. It is just a simple matter of saying, let us be real - if you are going to deploy a Ndebele speaking nurse in Muzarabani and she does not even understand any word in Shona, then our ambuya who has never spoken any English or isiNdebele per se, goes there for help and cannot be helped because simply, the nurse does not understand what she needs. Then, what kind of country are we? What kind of culture are we trying to portray?
We are lying to each other. We always want to hide saying, do not be tribalist or do not be regionalist. It is not. It is a simple matter of saying we have made a mistake that we are talking about today, to correct. Before we correct it, let us have people who will be able to converse with local people there and that is how it should be. So, it is not tribalism Madam Speaker, for the Matebele people to say no, we cannot have a Provincial Education Director who cannot even speak Ndebele or we cannot have a Provincial Medical Director who does not understand Ndebele because they do not even understand the culture of the Ndebele people vis-à-vis even in the maShona places as well.
So, let us treat this matter with the soberness that it requires and make sure that we follow the mantra of our dear President who says that, we do not want to leave any place behind and anybody behind. This motion by Hon. Bajila is a very timeous and pertinent motion. I would urge that we all support it. Like I said, let us begin by trying to enact a law to say, all languages must be learnt from the ECD level because children learn faster. Then they will be able to know isiNdebele, isiShona, isiChewa, isiXhosa, isiVenda, isiTonga, isiNambya whilst growing up.
When they grow up, they will be able to come to a point whereby, like I said in South Africa, a Venda speaking person speaks to a Sotho or Xhosa speaker in their own languages and they all understand each other as they link harmoniously because languages can create or cause conflict if not properly managed. With these few words Madam Speaker, may I then definitely say, I also support and move that we all take into consideration this very pertinent issue. So, I submit. I thank you.
HON. TOGAREPI: Madam Speaker, I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. BAJILA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 12th June, 2024.
On the motion of HON. TOGAREPI, seconded by HON. MATEWU, the House adjourned at Twenty-Five Minutes past Five o’clock p.m.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Wednesday, 12th June, 2024
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
VISITORS IN THE SPEAKER’S GALLERY
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: I wish to recognise the presence in the Speaker’s Gallery, of a Parliamentary Delegation from the House of Representatives of Indonesia headed by the Committee for Inter-Parliamentary Corporation. They have visited Parliament of Zimbabwe to foster and promote parliamentary relations between the House of Representatives of Indonesia and the Parliament of Zimbabwe and to explore more bilateral, economic and social cultural cooperation. You are welcome – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.]-
APOLOGIES RECEIVED FROM MINISTERS
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: I have with me a list of Ministers and Deputy Ministers who have sought apologies from the House. Hon. Prof. M. Ncube, Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion; Hon. K. D. Mnangagwa, Deputy Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion; Hon. T. Machakarika, Minister of Youth Empowerment, Development and Vocational Training; Hon. B. Rwodzi, Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry; Hon. T. Mnangagwa, Deputy Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry; Hon. O. C. Z. Kashiri-Muchinguri, Minister of Defence; Hon. T. A Mavetera, Minister of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services; Hon. W. Chitando, Minister of Mines and Mining Development; Hon. P. Kambamura, Deputy Minister of Mines and Mining Development; Hon. Prof. A. Murwira, Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development; Hon. S. Sibanda, Deputy Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development; Hon. T. Moyo, Minister of Primary and Secondary Education; Hon. A. Ndlovu, Minister of Industry and Commerce; Hon. R. Modi, Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce; Hon. V. Haritatos, Deputy Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement and Hon. D. Marapira, Deputy Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement.
HON. MUTSEYAMI: I have a point of privilege Madam Speaker. Thank you, Madam Speaker. Please note that during the life of the Ninth Parliament, in our Fifth Session of the Nineth Parliament, we did a budget and in that budget, there was an allocation which was done for CDF. That CDF was never disbursed up to today…
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon. Mutseyami, I thought maybe your point of privilege was about the apologies. We can not take time on a Wednesday –[HON. MUTSEYAMI: I am not doing a point of national interest, I am doing a point of privilege, neither am I doing a point of order. Madam Speaker, with all due respect.] - Please go ahead.
HON. MUTSEYAMI: Thank you Madam Speaker. During the life of the Tenth Parliament, in our First Session, we had a budget and in that budget, we agreed on a budget for CDF allocation and up to today, that CDF allocation has not been disbursed. It is my prayer to the House…
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon. Mutseyami, I am being advised by the Clerk, I was right when I said you are not allowed to rise on a point of privilege on Wednesdays.
HON. MUTSEYAMI: Thank you Madam Speaker, I think you have heard the issue.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: I did not hear it.
HON. MUSHORIWA: On a point of order Madam Speaker.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Point of order emanating from where?
HON. MUSHORIWA: From the announcement. Madam Speaker, Wednesdays generally, there is supposed to be a Question and Answer Session. From the list that you have actually indicated, you have indicated nine ministries which are not represented. We know that looking at the front bench there, I think there are about three or so ministries which are adequately represented. I think it is only fair that you advise the House which ministries are available today. Secondly, I think Parliament needs to also do an audit because we have perennial Ministers who have got more than eight weeks without setting their foot in this august House on Wednesday and they are avoiding answering questions. That is unfair.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you Hon. Mushoriwa, your point of order has been noted. I will announce the ministries that are represented. Hon. Chief Whip, may you help me with a list of Ministers who are present.
HON. TOGAREPI: Madam Speaker, you also mentioned Minister of Primary and Secondary Education who is here. I do not know who gave you that list. Where that list came from, is it just a repeat of the list or it is actually coming from those ministries?
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: I was given this list by the Secretariat.
HON. TOGAREPI: Secretariat, we have noted that the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education is here. It is indicated that their issue is not there. Let me do the list now.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon. Mhona is the Acting Leader of Government Business.
ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
*HON. P. ZHOU: Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am. My question is directed to the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development. According to Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe, a road accident occurs in Zimbabwe every 15 minutes, with at least 150 people dying every month. Such accidents are attributed to reckless driving, inadequate enforcement of traffic laws and the use of defective vehicles. What measures has the Government taken to reduce the incidents of road traffic accidents in Zimbabwe?
THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA): Thank you Hon. Speaker Ma'am. I rise on a sad note that indeed, what the Hon. Member is saying is worrisome. A s I speak, last night just before night, we also had an accident along Nyamapanda Road where we lost seven precious lives, where a kombi had a tyre burst and it hit a tree. We lost seven precious lives on the spot.
Given the numbers that we have in our country, for us to continue having - precisely it is about five deaths per day which actually comes to 150 per month. I have given a thirty-day calendar month and we cannot continue. We are just talking of fatalities, we also have those who are maimed, injured and who will then be hospitalised. Some are breadwinners and not only that, but the burden to the dependent beneficiaries and even to the fiscus is big. In monetary terms, we are talking about three percent of our GDP and we will be looking at closely around USD406 million per annum that we are losing towards those who are hospitalised. Madam Speaker, we cannot continue, even one life is precious and so dear to us. The measures that we are taking through the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe, we have done massive robust campaigns, but I think it is actually falling on deaf ears. The race comes from us. On the behaviour of our motorists, you find someone driving against oncoming traffic in a dualised section. This does not need any awareness. Any sound person would know that these are not road regulations. I wonder, the Police has been calling against that kind of driving. Those who know the mushikashika kombis, you see someone akarembera kuseri kwekombi. Hon. Madam Speaker, some on their phones and the worst thing would be someone urinating standing at the bumper which is disgusting, at the end of the day. You wonder what sort of culture we are embracing as a nation. This calls for a holistic approach not only from the Executive, but from all of us so that we embrace this culture of dignity and respect of the sanctity of life. This will enable us to know that whenever you are using a road, you do not feel safe whether you are on the right side, someone will be drunk and driving from nowhere, hitting those who are innocent. I think where we are now, awareness alone cannot deter and mitigate what we are witnessing, which also calls for a robust road enforcement. We will do it together with my counterpart, the Minister of Home Affairs so that visibility of Police on our roads is something that we also need to enhance in terms of the traffic management systems where we are going digital. We must also have punitive measures on those who are violating our road regulations. It is quite sad Hon. Madam Speaker Ma’am, last week I had to attend another very sad incident where two buses collided just along Mutare Road. Again, it was due to human error where a truck driver had to cut one of the buses. Unfortunately, the truck driver abandoned the truck and ran away.
Madam Speaker, it comes back again to the people of Zimbabwe. We cannot continue having these numbers. My humble plea, even to the law enforcement agents is that as we partake in the exercise of manning our roads, we must do it with diligence.
HON. P. ZHOU: Thank you Madam Speaker, using cellphones whilst driving is one of the major causes of accidents again. What is Government doing to make sure that drivers do not talk and text whilst driving? I thank you.
HON. MHONA: Thank you Madam Speaker. I also want to thank Hon. Zhou for the question. It comes again to the issues of enforcement. We cannot do it because where there is human interface, at times we have problems. As a country, we are moving towards a system, together with the Ministry of Home Affairs, where we will be putting cameras in each and every street at very strategic points and ticketing without the human interface. If you commit a crime when driving, the message comes on your phone and the ticket is issued at that particular moment. There will be no human interface because at times you tend to negotiate with our law enforcement agents. If we go digital, we will mitigate such interventions.
HON. MAKUMIRE: Thank Madam Speaker. My question is concerning the steps that are being taken by Government to stop unroadworthy vehicles from plying the routes. Also what is delaying implementation of Statutory Instrument 118 of 2023, which I think will go a long way in reducing the road traffic accidents? Thank you.
HON. MHONA: Thank you Hon. Madam Speaker, let me also thank Hon. Makumire for the question. The point that he has raised, indeed, with the advent of Statutory Instrument 118 of 2023 which became effective on 1st January, 2024 where we are mandating public service vehicles to have gadgets of speed monitoring, this exercise is ongoing. Above all, Hon. Madam Speaker, like what the Hon. Member has said, we cannot continue – even the moment you have these gadgets, we will have those who continue to misbehave. You witness that they tamper with some of these instruments and gadgets. Above all, what is important is as Zimbabweans, the moment you start driving, you must know that you are not using the road alone. One must take cognisance of the fact that there are other road users that need to be respected. This is something that is missing Hon. Madam Speaker. We are not respecting each other as we drive, hence having these high rates of accidents.
I think like what the Hon. Member has said, we will continue enforcing that those gadgets are in place and above all, we have the Statutory Instrument in place, mandating the age limit. For those who are driving public service vehicles, we have advocated for 30 years and above. I know others were advocating for 35 or 40, but others were saying 50 years. We cannot have such a law where we say those who are only above 50 will drive. We are saying 30 years for now, I think this will be in sync with other SADC countries, for instance Zambia, Malawi where we will be synchronising those who drive within our roads. We want to move in that regard, we are also advocating for self-regulation of associations so that those who come into our roads will have to go through an association so that those associations are accountable in the event of a mishap. Thank you.
*HON. NYABANI: Hon. Minister, many accidents are caused by cars which are just parked haphazardly. You find that there is no order on the roads. What plans do you have in terms of enacting a Statutory Instrument which prohibits slow moving cars from taking the inner lane instead of concentrating on the left lane? Most accidents come as a result of people who try to overtake where they cannot overtake. Those cars which are slow moving should take the left lane.
*HON. MHONA: Thank you Madam Speaker, I want to thank Hon. Nyabani. Indeed, it is true there are some who move slowly in our highways, some will be on their phones but the law is clear, those who go for their lessons are told to maintain the left lane when they are moving slowly. Even where there are dual carriageways, it is clear that those who want to move slowly should take the left lane. This again reflects on the fact that there is no courtesy in our roads. Some people do it deliberately, they move slowly in the inner lane, you end up wondering whether they enjoy seeing people being congested behind their cars. The police indeed should issue tickets to such dangerous drivers. We are going to engage the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe so that people understand that those cars which are moving slowly should use the left lane. Where there is no dual carriageway, for example along the Beitbridge Highway, there is an option to go to the left shoulder where there is a fire hydrant line. Drivers who cross into South Africa know that when you are not speeding, you should take the left lane. I thank you.
*HON. TOGAREPI: Thank you Madam Speaker. I wanted to ask the Hon. Minister whether they should come up with a point system where when someone commits an offence, then points should be deducted and can result in the endorsement and the subsequent taking away of a licence because some people drive whilst drunk and commit different offences. Coming up with such punitive laws will act as a deterrent. I thank you.
*HON. MHONA: I would like to thank Hon Togarepi, the Chief Whip of this House. I concur with his suggestion which is in line with the vision of our Ministry together with the Ministry of Home Affairs. Those who listen to the news know that we announced that we are going to be working with a certain company. His suggestion is going to be applied and the point system will be applied until a motorist is no longer allowed to drive because of loss of points. When that law comes to this august House, we would need your support because the law is passed by this House. I thank you.
HON. KARIMATSENGA-NYAMUPINGA: On a point of order Madam Speaker, since this question has got more supplementaries coming with it and considering that we are losing a lot of lives in this country, according to the Standing Rules and Orders, could you not extend the number of supplementary questions? I thank you.
HON. MANGONDO: I second.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: We can take some three more supplementary questions.
HON. MANGONDO: Thank you Hon. Speaker Ma'am. In view of the fact that we are losing hundreds of people every month and even a bigger number of people who are maimed on our roads, what is Government doing in terms of ameliorating the suffering of families that would have lost their loved ones, specifically to deal with the issue of establishing a National Road Accident Fund? I thank you.
HON. MHONA: Thank you Hon. Mangondo for that very important question. Surely, the burden cannot be on the fiscus alone, we can come up with this fund. This august House has even been advocating for this very special fund. As a Ministry, we have started the process where we have tabled before Cabinet and now it is under the Committee on Legislation so as to perfect the piece of legislation. I am sure you will be seeing it coming again and we will work closely with our Parliamentary Committee on Transport so that we have a road accident fund. What is important is, who is going to administer that fund and that is before Cabinet. We are witnessing that at the end of the day, the burden is purely the medical institutions where we are having dependents paying bills on their own. So, the advent of this fund will ameliorate a number of challenges as posed by the Hon. Members. I do concur that this is the right trajectory for us as a country so that we continue to see how we can fund this very important road accident fund. Thank you for that Hon. Member.
HON. CHIGUMBU: Madam Speaker, most of the accidents that we have witnessed can be eradicated by implementation of smart management systems. What is the Ministry doing to make sure that where there is need for cameras or intelligent systems, they are implemented to eradicate these accidents? Can the Minister apprise the House in terms of how far they have gone in implementing those solutions which have been proven to be effective in reducing and eradicating road traffic accidents? I thank you.
HON. MHONA: Let me thank Hon. Chigumbu for the very important question. Maybe he missed part of my answer when I was attending to one of the questions. Let me reiterate, since it is a very important question; since it is an enforcement matter, we are working very closely with the Home Affairs Ministry and last month they had a partner that they did broadcast, known as Vitronics from UAE which is coming to work with us in terms of smart transport solutions. I am sure that it is also going to encompass the issues of cameras and deduction of points as alluded to by Hon. Togarepi. So, these are some of the mitigating factors that we are going to be having. But above all, it will then enhance the issues of enforcement which we are lacking. It is going to allay fears of those corrupt tendencies where we are going to reduce human interface and machines are going to be doing a lot of the work in terms of enforcement. I thank you.
*HON. CHOKURURAMA: Thank you very much Madam Speaker Ma’am and good afternoon to you. Thank you for affording me this opportunity to ask a question to the Minister of Transport. He mentioned the issue of age group which is expected to drive public vehicles and the issue of technological gadgets which can be used. What is the challenge in giving public transportation the papers to ply the different routes because it is clear to everyone that most of these vehicles are unregistered?
HON. MHONA: Thank you Madam Speaker and I want to thank the Hon. Member. Every vehicle which is plying public routes should be licenced but you find unlicenced vehicles like the mushikashikas plying different routes and those vehicles are illegal.
In addition, those vehicles which ply public routes, transport operators should come to the Ministry and be given authorisation. We do not have a problem with them. But we have a problem with vehicles which are not allowed where you find people going to different cities and they start pirating and overloading their vehicles. So, that is the group of people that we have a problem with. That is why we have decided to work together with the Ministry of Home Affairs so that only those who are licenced will ply public routes. I thank you.
*HON. TAFANANA ZHOU: I rise on a point of order. I have a suggestion that since this is a pertinent issue which affects people’s lives, I suggest that the Minister should bring a Ministerial Statement so that the issue is given due diligence. I thank you.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: We thank you. We have noted that and we request the Minister to bring the Ministerial Statement pertaining to the issue of road traffic accidents.
HON. MHONA: I accept the request Madam Speaker Ma’am.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: For the benefit of Hon. Members, Ministers who are present in the House are: Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Hon. Mhona; Hon. Dr. A. J. Masuka, Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement; Hon. E. Moyo, Minister of Energy and Power Development; Hon. M. Mavhunga, Minister of Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Affairs; Hon. Dingumuzi Phuti, Deputy Minister of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services; Deputy Minister of Health and Child Care, Hon. Kwidini; Hon. Levi Mayihlome, Deputy Minister of Defence; Hon. Gata, Deputy Minister of Primary and Secondary Education; Hon. Z. Soda, Minister of National Housing and Social Amenities; Hon. Sheillah Chikomo, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade; Hon. Mupamhanga, Deputy Minister of Youth Empowerment, Development and Vocational Training; Hon. Sen. M. Mutsvangwa, Minister of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development.
*HON. MATANGIRA: My question goes to the Minister of Local Government and in his absence, to the Leader of the House. For the sake of the people from the constituencies that are affected on the question to be proffered, I will open into Shona for their understanding of the language.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon. Matangira, the Constitution is clear and this august House allows different languages, so feel free.
*HON. MATANGIRA: My question is directed to Minister of Local Government and in his absence, to the Leader of the House. The question pertains to spatial planning in rural areas. This is an issue of planning which emanates from the point that the rural populace should have clearly demarcated boundaries where they stay and where they graze their livestock. You would find that councils are now pestering them saying that your fields are no longer yours and this is giving traditional leaders headaches and the rural populace, even ourselves as their representatives.
*THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA): I want to thank Hon. Matangira for such a pertinent question which is very passionate and really touching because this means that this is happening and it is important that the Hon. Member puts it in writing so that I take the message to the responsible line Minister for him to bring the response.
*HON. HAMAUSWA: I rise on a point of order. In this august House, the motion was moved which was debated at length addressing the issue which was raised by Hon. Matangira through your office Madam Speaker Ma’am. I believe that you should probably engage the responsible line Minister regarding the challenges that are faced by village heads and chiefs so that there is a land tenure system which is an issue that has been debated in this august House. I thank you.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Let me first respond to what the Acting Leader of Government Business said. Hon. Matangira, did you get the point that you put your question in writing then the responsible Minister will bring the response? Pertaining to the point of order raised, I want to say the motion was brought to this august House and I believe that there will be closure.
*HON. MATARA: My question is directed to the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare regarding the issue of the Government Employees Mutual Savings Scheme. A Government employee might apply for a loan at GEMS and after paying back the loan, the 2.5% which is deducted from the salary continues to be deducted. So, I need clarity from the Minister and an explanation of how the employee would be reimbursed that 2.5%.
*THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA): Thank you Madam Speaker, I also want to thank Hon. Matara. I am not here to educate Hon. Members of Parliament on how questions should be asked, but the question that was raised is a question that needs to be researched because it is a specific question which requires research. For me to give an answer before getting in touch with the relevant ministry would not help. So may you allow me to engage the relevant minister to go and research and bring a response to the House? I thank you.
*THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you Hon. Minister, since you have noted that it is a specific question, then the Hon. Member should put the question in writing.
*HON. MASHAVAVE: My question is directed to the Minister of Local Government and Public Works. I want to know what is the Ministry doing regarding our children or vendors who display and market their goods in urban centres? Are there any plans so that police do not arrest or confiscate vendors’ goods? What is the Ministry doing to bring an end to this challenge, especially taking into cognisance that most of our people are unemployed?
*HON. MEMBER: On a point of order Madam Speaker.
*THE DEPUTY SPEAKER: What is your point of order?
*HON. MEMBER: My point of order is that I believe the Hon. Member was not in the House when this question was asked by Hon. Jimu. He is repeating a question that has been asked.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: If this question was already asked, then it cannot be repeated again.
HON. MATEWU: On a point of order Madam Speaker.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: What is your point of order?
HON. MATEWU: Madam Speaker, I remember it was you sitting in the Chair when you said the ratio must be 2:1. What we are noticing here is you are taking three questions on one side and one question on the other side. We appeal that you must be fair to this side. I thank you.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, I am being fair and I am allocating questions on a 2:1 basis, and it is written down in the papers that I am using.
*HON. NYABANI: Thank you Madam Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education. In other ministries, directors and district leaders have cars. What are you doing so that our DSIs can be allocated cars to move around inspecting the schools? Now they do not have cars and it is difficult to supervise schools when they do not have cars. Schools are recording zero percent pass rates, the pass rates are declining and our DSIs do not have cars to investigate the cause of this. I thank you.
*THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION (HON. GATA): Thank you Madam Speaker. I want to thank Hon. Nyabani for that pertinent question. Indeed, it is true that there is a challenge and indeed transportation is important for our people. I would like to say that our Ministry will make sure that all the inspectors will be allocated transport so that they are able to reach schools. We have 15 vehicles that came this year, they have not been distributed and we cannot say they are enough. What I can say is that we have 15 vehicles that have been given to various districts. Funds being made available, we will continue to buy more vehicles. I thank you.
*HON. MUTSEYAMI: On a point of order Madam Speaker.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: What is your point of order?
*HON. MUTSEYAMI: I want to thank the Hon. Minister for her answer. This is my first time to hear a minister responding in Ndau.
HON. JAMES: Thank you Hon. Speaker, my question is directed to the Hon. Minister of Energy. I did ask this question about six weeks ago and it is in connection with ZESA tariffs. The then Speaker instructed the Leader of the House to pass on the query to the relevant ministry and as such, nothing has come back – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] –
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon. Member, can the Hon. Member be heard in silence please, order!!! Hon. James, please ask your question.
HON. JAMES: Thank you very much Madam Speaker, the tariffs appeared to have doubled since the conversion to the new ZiG. I think what has happened is that the conversion of all our balances was done at the rate of 2.498 to 1, but there was no conversion to the unit price in the old currency to the new currency. The effect that this has is doubling the price or could I put it in other words, those that are paying a fixed amount of US dollars are getting roughly half the number of units. Can we ask the relevant Minister and possibly the Minister of Finance to review this and to revert to the status quo, where what you are paying in USD or equivalent in ZiG gives us the same number of units? Thank you.
THE MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER DEVELOPMENT (HON. E. MOYO): Thank you Madam Speaker. I would like to thank the Hon. Member for the question on ZESA tariffs. I am not aware that tariffs are charged that way. Perhaps, what you need to understand is that these tariffs, their calculation or determination were fixed in USD. Then previously, the value was fluctuating a lot and the prices were tracing the fluctuations. Now, with the advent of the ZiG currency, they should have changed. If there are specific areas where that has been violated, you can help us to check on that and perhaps rectify if it is correct. If not, explain the situation. Thank you.
HON. JAMES: Thank you Hon. Minister. The point is, with the balances that were converted at 2,498, the unit price in the old Zimbabwe dollars was not converted at that price. What you simply did is taking USD price and multiply it by the new ZiG price, which in fact has ZiG price at double rate. As I said, people paying on fixed meters are getting roughly half the number of units after paying the same amount of USD. You need to review and I am happy to see it happening.
HON. E. MOYO: Thank you Madam Speaker. I think that one now becomes very specific. It requires that maybe we have a written question, which we can investigate and perhaps brings an answer to the House.
HON. JAMES: Madam Speaker, the question is; can the Minister review its charges so that the …?
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon. James, you are not allowed to rise on two supplementary questions.
*HON. MAPIKI: Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am. I would like to thank the Hon Member who spoke in Ndau. My question is directed to the Acting Leader of Government Business in the House. What is the Government’s plan regarding empowering skilled workers like artisans and engineers? You would find that those who import here in Zimbabwe, import from Zimbabweans who are in the diaspora. What is the Government’s plan regarding funding of such skilled workers so that they can manufacture what we need here, instead of importing from the diaspora? I thank you.
*THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA): Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am. I want to thank Hon. Mapiki. His question says that those who are able to invent; to manufacture and create goods that we need for different projects – indeed, it is a very pertinent contribution. We know that in business, everyone has a right to determine where they get their capital. There are banks which capacitate those who want start-up capital. For young people, we have an empowerment programme which is meant to empower young people so that they start businesses. We also have a women’s Ministry which leads different income generating projects. We have SMEDCO for that. We believe that such initiatives are meant to empower such skilled people. If the Hon. Member has probably a specific question which might need a different response, I believe that we have different institutions which can assist those who want to establish their businesses. Thank you.
*HON. MAPIKI: Indeed, it is true what the Minister said and for countries like Ghana and Rwanda, they have budgets for the diaspora citizens like engineers and artisans who manufacture equipment used by institutions like ZESA. Does our Government have such a similar programme?
*HON. MHONA: Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am. The mantra by His Excellency, President E. D. Mnangagwa’s mantra that the country is built by its citizens is true. If you have any idea, please bring the idea forward so that we can implement it. The question that if there are people who are outside in the diaspora, there are different programmes, whether it is land, whether it is a place where they can start their projects, then Government is there and I believe that Parliament is working with Government on such projects. I thank you.
HON. BAJILA: Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am. My supplementary question is that we saw purchase of bucket seats for the project happening at the National Sports Stadium which were imported from outside Zimbabwe. We are aware that Tregers Plastics, a Zimbabwean company based in Bulawayo, has capacity and is manufacturing these bucket seats. Does Government not have a plan to procure from these companies that are here in the country and have capacity to produce these seats rather than importing them? This will enable us to have our money stay within the country and create more employment for our people?
HON. MHONA: Thank you Hon. Madam Speaker Ma’am. I would like to thank my good brother Hon. Bajila for that very important question. Once again, the powers are vested in this House to summon whoever has violated or is not aligning – in this particular case, the Hon. Member has a valid reason to summon the Minister through their Committee to say, why did they not procure through this company vis-a-vis company X. It is within your purview to inquire further into that transaction. I suggest that the Hon. Minister might be having very reasonable reasons why they had to stick to that procurement process. If the Committee feels otherwise, they can be advised.
*HON. ZEMURA: Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am. My question is directed to the Minister of Health and Child Care. I want to ask regarding the issue that when our children apply for nurses’ training at hospitals, there are rumours that some are requested to pay 1 000. Is it Government’s initiation that people should pay before training? I thank you.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON. KWIDINI): Government does not have such a programme. The Ministry does not have a programme that requires anyone to pay money for them to be recruited, particularly the nurses’ training programme. We all have seen that in our areas, there are people who are targeting vulnerable people. There is nothing like that. When you find such a person, I request that you call the Police to apprehend such a person because we have such people who are doing that. Sometimes people promote corruption and as Government, we do know that nurses training is for free, no one is allowed to pay. I thank you.
*HON. MUCHEMWA: Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am. I wanted to say to the Hon. Minister that where we come from, for example I am from Mashonaland East, you find people from Mashonaland East are being trained in Bulawayo. Is it not possible to give first priority to the local citizens, for example in Mashonaland East and Bulawayo, why do we not recruit locally first? I thank.
HON. KWIDINI: Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am. Indeed, it is true. When you look at the current recruitment which was done in May, we applied the quota system, which means that 75% of student nurses who were taken were from their particular areas. Then there is a percentage where we say that every Zimbabwean is allowed to be trained in different areas so that they learn different things that are happening around the country. For example the different cultures - those in Mashonaland East training in Bulawayo or vice versa. You would find that last year, this is what was happening. This allows us as a nation, as a people, to understand each other’s culture, instead of regionalism where you find that someone in Mashonaland East says they cannot speak the Ndebele language or someone from Bulawayo saying in Mashonaland, that they cannot speak the local language. So we mix languages, I thank you.
*HON. MUNEMO: Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am, good afternoon. My supplementary question on recruitment is, has this been applied because as Hon. Members of Parliament, we note that children from our areas were not enrolled. I will give an example, in Mashonaland Central where …
*HON. ZVAIPA: On a point of order. Good afternoon Madam Speaker. My point of order is that Hon. Zemura is the one who asked the question with regards to the corrupt recruitment of nurses. All these are questions that are coming are not related to corruption. We want to go back to the issue of corruption.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, Hon. Munemo, can you proceed.
HON. MUNEMO: The example that I wanted to give relating to Mashonaland Central is that we once set down as Constituency leaders, we went to Karanda and St Alberts after undertaking that exercise. None of our children was recruited among the new recruits.
*HON. MUGWADI: On a point of order. My point of order relates to a suggestion that as Hon. Members of this august House especially those that are on the left, if there is a camera in the building, let us behave at our best I thank you.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, this is not a joke Hon. Member. New question!
HON. TOBAIWA: My question is directed to the Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education. The girl child at university and college has become prey to old sugar daddies and other bad activities. Poverty is creating prostitution and abuse of a girl child at universities and colleges. What policy measures is Government taking in addressing the national huge threat to the girl child. I thank you - [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] –
THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA): Thank you Hon. Madam Speaker Ma’am. Let me also thank Hon. Tobaiwa for that very worrisome question which actually goes against our cultural norms and values. She has raised a very important point concerning our girl child which we cannot tolerate as a community. I want to say a similar question has been posed before pertaining to what we are doing in terms of buttressing and also supporting those who are less privileged. You find the prevalence of such incidences actually happen to those who are coming from less privileged families. There is a programme regarding the fees programme in terms of those who can be assigned to work for their fees in order to be supported during their tenure at the tertiary or at the college. So it is important that we raise awareness of such a facility so that we do not have our girl child taken advantage of if they tap into such a funding facility. So my emphasis here is to make sure that we continue broadcasting and highlighting that there is a programme that can support our girl child so that they do not endeavour in trying to do unethical things in terms of sustaining their fees at colleges.
HON. TOBAIWA: Are there any hopes from Government to reintroduce the Government grants and loans to colleges and universities?
HON. MHONA: Thank you Hon. Madam Speaker and once again thank you Hon. Tobaiwa. That is a very good proposal and some of these initiatives are there to also assist our girl child. It has been talked about - the introduction of grants. Some Hon. Members in this august House are beneficiaries of such a very good programme. Also, as a listening Government, some of those initiatives will also be considered. I thank you.
HON. KARENYI: Thank you Madam Speaker. I understand Madam Speaker that due to economic hardships, most of the parents cannot afford to pay accommodation for the students. Is there any Government programme to make sure that at least the girls are afforded an opportunity to stay in hostels?
HON. MHONA: Thank you Hon. Madam Speaker, let me also thank Hon. Karenyi for that very important question. Indeed, accommodation is a challenge at a number of our institutions but with the advent of the Second Republic, we have seen construction activities of new rooms taking place so as to accommodate more students and enable them to learn from within rather than to lodge from the neighbouring communities. This is the desired trajectory Hon. Madam Speaker, that we continue to have more accommodation and accommodate our students.
HON. TSVANGIRAI: Thank you very much Madam Speaker. Madam Speaker, one of the key drivers of prostitution in higher or tertiary schools is the economic inequality and over the years or past months, economic inequality has increased. I would like to find out from the Minister the measures being put in place to decrease economic inequality. I thank you.
HON. MHONA: Thank you Hon. Madam Speaker. Let me also thank Hon. Tsvangirai for that very important question, which is very true. Even if you would go biblical, those who were poor were supposed to be there at the beginning of any given nation and you continue to have the poor amongst us. Whenever you talk of an equilibrium status, those inequalities will still be there and we are not advocating for poor people but we are saying surely, you cannot have an economy where you talk of everyone being on the same footing. My point here is, as much as we know as Government that there are those who are from less privileged families, we are having such initiatives as alluded to by Hon. Tobaiwa and Hon. Karenyi, so that we have more accommodation. We have grants so as to accommodate those who are less privileged. I thank you.
HON KANGAUSARU: Thank you Madam Speaker. My question goes to the Minister of Health and Child Care. What measures are being taken to improve the mental health services and accessibility in the rural communities? I thank you.
THE HON. DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON. KWIDINI): Thank you Madam Speaker. I would like to thank the Hon. Member for the question. I appreciate that mental health illness is now a challenge and mostly increased by this drug and substance abuse. As a Ministry, we are trying to make sure that all health services, including mental health services which he asked about, we are trying to take it to the district hospitals where it is easily accessible to each and every one affected. In terms of our primary healthcare clinics, we want to make sure that drugs which are also needed for this illness are available at local clinics such that we make sure every Zimbabwean benefits from that. I thank you.
HON. KANGAUSARU: Thank you Madam Speaker. How is the Ministry addressing the stigma associated with mental health in the country? I thank you.
HON. KWIDINI: Thank you Madam Speaker. Stigma is something which is not warranted or wanted by anyone, but these are individual perceptions. It is not recommended to stigmatise somebody who is affected or infected with an illness. What we encourage as a Ministry is to accommodate and encourage each and everyone. Mental illness needs encouragement so that those people affected and infected get healed and they are integrated into the community in a normal sense. I thank you.
*HON. NYABANI: Thank you, there was mention of the availability of medication; will it be readily available or not because they are saying medicines are being offered but when one is mentally disturbed, where will they get the money to buy the medication? Where would they get the money from? May the Minister clarify whether the medication is going to be readily available so that the relatives can then assist the mentally ill person? They may not be able to raise the money and assist the person. I thank.
HON. KWIDINI: Thank you Madam Speaker for the supplementary question from Hon. Nyabani. As a Ministry, we would want such medicines to be readily available at a short distance away from the patients. If one becomes mentally ill, those that live with one in the society can take one to the hospital and once we see that much more is needed in the form of medical attention, we will then detain that person in the hospital so that they can regain their normal mental state. I thank you.
*HON. MATSUNGA: My question is directed to the Minister of Health. There are some people who are mentally ill because of drug and substance abuse and drug addicts cannot recover once they are given medication. What is Government doing in terms of construction of medical rehabilitation centres so that the society can benefit and at one stage, we wanted to have a rehabilitation centre in each and every province in order to assist such people. How far has Government gone in that regard?
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON. KWIDINI): When one arrives at the hospital or clinic, we have qualified personnel that will be able to differentiate the illness that is afflicting someone so that they can be given the correct medication. That is taking place in our hospitals. On the other part of the question, in terms of the construction of the rehabilitation centres, that is a function between ourselves and the Ministry of Local Government so that we can construct these rehabilitation centres in the constituencies in order for those that are now mentally deranged due to drug abuse so that when they are treated at a rehabilitation centre, they can regain their health and become productive so that they will not indulge in drugs that will cause them to lose their mental health. I thank you.
HON. NYANDORO: What is Government doing to ensure most of the hospitals have the infrastructure that is able to accommodate those with mental challenges because we know in our ordinary wards, they will not be able to be accommodated. What is Government doing with regards to setting up infrastructure that will be able to accommodate those with mental challenges?
HON. KWIDINI: Let me thank the Hon. Member for the question. It comes back to the earlier question which was asked that, what is Government doing in terms of making these facilities available in each and every province. I am grateful to say the Ministry of Home Affairs is the one that started this programme during COVID-19 era and the infrastructure which was constructed during that time was turned into these facilities such that they can cater for that.
In each and every provincial hospital, there is what we call a Psychiatric Unit which is meant to accommodate those patients with that condition. If the illness is so severe that they cannot be kept at provincial hospitals, they can be transferred to institutions like Ingutsheni Central Hospital in Bulawayo, Ngomahuru in Masvingo and the Annex Unit in Harare.
HON. M. ZIYAMBI: My question is directed to the Minister of Youth. First of all, I would like to commend the Ministry of Youth and the Government as a whole on the initiative which is being done across the country towards the reduction of drug and substance abuse. However, my question is, what is Government policy on rehabilitated youth who have been reintroduced into society having not acquired any requisite skills in terms of self-empowerment and development whilst in rehabilitation since one of the main causes of drug and substance abuse is idleness?
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF YOUTH EMPOWERMENT, DEVELOPMENT AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING (HON. MUPAMHANGA): I would like to thank the Hon. Member for the question. The scourge of drug and substance abuse requires the whole of Government and society. As the Ministry of Youth, we are responsible for the demand reduction pillar under this initiative, to curb drug and substance abuse. In relation to the question by the Hon. Member, what we offer is vocational training skills as well as youth service in Zimbabwe.
I would also like to note that the point that the Hon. Member raised is very important and it is one that we will consider so as to collaborate with other stakeholders such as the Ministry of Health so that when these young people are past to leave these rehabilitation centres, they come into our care so that we can also equip them with skills, whether during the time they are in care or as soon as they leave.
HON. TSHUMA: My supplementary question is, does the Ministry have a policy to impart skills on these youth when they come out free of charge? Like what Hon. Ziyambi said, they will have taken drugs because of idleness and have no jobs, which means that they have no money. Is the Ministry in a position to be able to offer free training to equip these youth to be able to go back and fend for themselves?
HON. MUPAMHANGA: At the moment, in terms of the programmes that I proffered to this House, Youth Service in Zimbabwe is free. If we have young people who are coming out of rehabilitation and going to Youth Service, they do not have to pay. However, I would also like to add that there are various organisations such as CZH Church in Mashonaland Central in Shamva South Constituency where the organisation has partnered with the Ministry to conduct rehabilitation programmes that include passing on skills to young people for free as well. I say this so that we can encourage organisations like that around the country and the private sector to join hands with Government and fight the scourge of drug and substance together.
HON. MUTOKONYI: My supplementary question is on funding for youth programmes. May the Minister look into the issue, particularly to decentralise the funding model to district levels because the youth cannot access funding.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF YOUTH EMPOWERMENT AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING CENTRES (HON. MUPAMHANGA): Currently, young people across the country are free to approach our District offices or even our Provincial offices where they can get access to Empower Bank forms. They can open accounts at this District level. What happens is that there is just a delay where the bank is not there physically. Our District officers collect these forms and take them to the nearest youth bank. They return with the answers whether they are going to be given loans or not. We are also working to collaborate with another Ministry to see whether we can share infrastructure that is in existence already so that the Empower Bank can be available all across the country. I thank you.
HON. MALINGANISO: We have seen the youth applying for these loans but the availability of funds has been the issue. What plans are in place to make certain the funds are available?
HON. MUPAMHANGA: It is true that in some circumstances, the bank may fail to have enough funds for young people. I would like to inform Hon. Members of this House that in the past when the youth initiatives were there, loans were given out and grants were also given out but we had a high rate of non-performing loans. As a result of that, the loans that we can give out to young people without collateral have a ceiling of $500. What we have done as the Ministry is to encourage young people to group up into bigger numbers so that they can get a bigger loan amounts. We also want to encourage young people to be responsible enough so that when they take out loans from the Empower Bank, they return them and those funds can revolve and be given to other young people across the country.
HON. MAKUMIRE: I rise to ask the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare concerning the continuous review of salaries and benefits for civil servants.
THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRUSTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA): It is the desired scenario to continuously review salaries. I would not agree anymore or any further from what the Hon. Member is proposing - that it is at the heart of the Government to make sure that people are adequately and properly remunerated so that they get what they are worth at the end of the day. This is something that is ongoing. I want to commend Hon. Member for raising that. My counterpart who is the Minister of Public Service is also seized with that matter. That is why we have the several Committee meetings, including tripartites now and again, so as to continuously review salaries of civil servants.
HON. MAKUMIRE: I just want to ask the Hon. Minister, when can civil servants expect an increment in addition to the $20 that was given in March?
HON. MHONA: I think this is more specific and I can carry the message to the Hon. Minister so that he can bring the response back to the august House. I will just highlight to the Hon. Member that this is an engagement of parties where they continuously go through various bodies. They continuously engage and deliberate on salaries. I think the Hon. Minister will be in a position to give a sound response to that.
*HON. MANANZVA: My question is directed to the Leader of Government Business and Acting Leader of the House. Sometime ago we witnessed His Excellency the President launching the fronting of title deeds for urban properties. How far have you gone with the issue of regularisation of tittle deeds in urban centres?
*HON. MHONA: If you allow me, may the relevant Minister who is now in the House answer the question.
*THE MINISTER OF NATIONAL HOUSING AND SOCIAL AMENITIES (HON. SODA): Madam Speaker, I want to thank the Hon. Member for the question. It is true that we have, at the President’s heart the issue of tittle deeds for the properties that they are in occupation. We have gone a step further. We have gone beyond the title deeds that were issued in Epworth. We work with other line ministries such as Local Government and the Ministry of Justice and Parliamentary Affairs. The Ministry of National Housing is not the one that issues these documents. These are issued by the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs because the registrar of deeds is based in the Ministry of Justice. Preparations have been made by our Ministry in terms of the regularisation. It does not entail to just issue people with deeds.
We would want to ensure that the settlement is good and people can be given deeds for occupants of such area. Roads, schools, water and sewer reticulation if they are in place and in such things are being corrected and the beneficiaries are expected to do certain things.
They should have documentation that they have from the local authorities and they fill in documents and sign them. The documents should also show that they bought the stand when and how and once this has been cleared the people can now be issued with deeds. It is His Excellency the President that everyone countrywide should have title deeds to the places that they occupy. This should be beneficial to them. They can also use them as collateral because it is difficult to get loans now.
Giving someone title deeds is a way of empowering people. This will then make them entitled to receive loans because they have title deeds which they can use as collateral. I thank you.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER (HON. T. ZHOU): Thank you Hon. Minister for the clarification.
*HON. MHETU: We have one problem with the President’s programme on the deed of grant, that is, you cannot access the bank loan whilst using a deed of grant as collateral. You can only do that if you have a title deed. So, for our deed of grant to be converted to a title deed, there needs to be sewer, water and roads. The question then comes, what measures have you put in place to ensure that water reticulation, roads and other infrastructure are in place, in places where people have challenges accessing title deeds?
*HON. SODA: I thank you Hon. Mhetu for the questions. We have measures in place that we are working on. The Ministry, in partnership with the private sector, are working to ensure that allocated stands that are yet to be serviced are regularised through the user principle. The beneficiaries in those areas are expected to pay for certain services to ensure that the road infrastructure, water and sewer reticulation are in place. Without proper servicing of these stands, the Government cannot issue deeds. This is what the Government is trying to regularise so that this leads to the occupants receiving title deeds to use as collateral for loans. I thank you.
*HON. KANUPULA: Thank you Madam Speaker. My supplementary question is, the President sat down with councils and they did what is called, ‘call to action’. We all see that in these urban centers, it is only council land where work is being done. So, all councils have a deadline of up to 30th June to report on a consolidated map by those that are in housing corporatives and State land. We are not seeing anything being done to heed this call to action in urban centers. What is being done to housing corporatives on State land? What date have you set for your call to action? I thank you.
*HON. SODA: I believe this is a new question and this is not under my purview. This lies under the purview of the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works. I may not be the best person to respond to that particular question as to what is being done by the Ministry in terms of the call to action for those that are on state land since the urban centers that are run by local authorities are being looked into.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Your question is not a supplementary question to the one that has been asked earlier.
*HON. MHANGWA: Thank you Madam Speaker. There are some suburbs that were constructed in the 1990s and 1980s - those ones are ready. They tick the boxes in terms of having title deeds. What is the timeline for such settlements?
*THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Thank you Hon. Mhangwa, in future stick to one language.
*HON. SODA: Thank you Madam Speaker. This is now a specific question that deals with certain areas where he says these areas are ready to receive title deeds. As I earlier on pointed out, it is the Registrar of Title Deeds that issues the deeds. If there are people who now have every documentation and everything has ticked the box, we are creating awareness that when we say people should receive title deeds, anyone who feels that they now have everything in place to approach the authorities to get deeds to their property.
The one who feels the itch of the shoe is the one who is wearing it. So, those who have challenges in that regard, should approach the authorities. I thank you.
*THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Mhangwa, please redirect your question to the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs.
*HON. MASHONGANYIKA: I will direct my question to the leader of the House because the minister is not in the House.
We have the elderly who are sick, suffering from backaches, hypertension and diabetes. What is the Government doing in terms of giving them monthly grants to sustain themselves? I thank you.
*THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVLOPMENT (HON. MHONA): Thank you Hon. Speaker. I would like to thank the Hon. Member, Hon. Mashonganyika for a very important question. Indeed, the elderly should also be covered and be granted something by the Government, but our laws come from this particular House. We look at the budget annually, it is our right as an august House to then say, we are putting aside a certain amount for the purposes of the welfare of the elderly.
As Government Ministers, it is our duty to ensure that we implement what the House would have resolved on. I know that we have NSSA, so that the majority of workers get their monthly pension through the banks - that is another way but if the person was unemployed, the Government is required to look after such an elderly. Once, as an august House, we come up with such measures, nothing can stop us from having such a welfare fund for the elderly. I thank you.
*THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER (HON. TSITSI ZHOU): Thank you Hon. Minister, let me make this announcement. Time for Questions Without Notice is about to end. We observed that a lot of Hon. Ministers are going out of the Chamber when we have a lot of Questions With Notice that the relevant ministries should respond to. Those Hon. Ministers who have questions on the Order Paper, please remain. We would like to thank you for a job well done because we initially had 93 questions on the Order Paper and now, we have 43. We once again plead with you to finish the 43 questions that are outstanding so that we can have new questions next week.
+HON. MAHLANGU: Thank you Madam Speaker, I want to thank the Hon. Minister for his response that during the budget time, this august House should set aside funds for the elderly. Year in year out when we do the budget, the Ministry of Public Service and Social Welfare will be before this House to report that they have harmonised the cash transfer and this money is always there. This was what was said by the Member of Parliament but the question is, the money is there in the budget but is it being disbursed? I thank you.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Thank you very much Hon. Mahlangu. I understand the Hon. Minister said that this question will be better responded to by the relevant Hon. Minister. Unless if the Hon. Minister wants to answer.
*THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA): Thank you Madam Speaker. I want to thank the Hon. Member. Hon. Mahlangu, it is your right to call the relevant Minister and ask him when you are in Committee so that he will be able to respond. I thank you for giving us the direction.
*HON. MUCHEMWA: Thank you Hon. Speaker. As Zimbabwe…
Questions Without Notice were interrupted by THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER in terms of Standing Order No. 68.
HON. TOGAREPI: On a point of order Madam Speaker.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: What is your point of order?
HON. TOGAREPI: Madam Speaker, I move that time for Questions Without Notice be extended by 10 minutes so that Hon. Members can ask questions. Madam Speaker, somebody must define to Hon. Members what a point of order is. A point of order must be relating to violation of the rules or orders not that you want to go against what somebody has said. So, we waste time with non-points of order. We want genuine questions asked to the relevant ministries in the House.
HON. KASHAMBE: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
*HON. BAJILA: On a point of order Madam Speaker.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: What is your point of order?
*HON. BAJILA: My point of order is that Hon. Muchemwa is the third to be picked on that side of the House. You had agreed on a 2:1 ratio. I thank you.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Just to remind the House, I recognised Hon. Makumire then I recognised Hon. Mashonganyika and now I am recognising Hon. Muchemwa. Hon. Muchemwa, please proceed.
*HON. MUCHEMWA: Thank you Madam Speaker, my question is directed to the Minister of Home Affairs. As Zimbabwe, we note that the bodies of our war veterans are scattered in and out of Zimbabwe. What plans do we have to raise funds so that we go and exhume the remains of our war veterans for them to be decently buried. We are hearing that some are resorting to spirit mediums to show them where their relatives are buried. Having resorted to spirit mediums, still there are no funds set aside to exhume these bodies. Can this programme be transferred to the Ministry of War Veterans since they are the ones who deal with war veterans and know better?
HON. NGULUVHE: On a point of order.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: What is your point of order?
HON. NGULUVHE: The issue is in the motion which we are going to move tomorrow, so I thought may be we must first bring the report because we have got a petition on that issue.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Nguluvhe, but you have not presented it yet. I will allow the question to be responded to by the Minister of Home Affairs.
*THE MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS AND CULTURAL HERITAGE (HON. KAZEMBE): Thank you Madam Speaker, let me thank the Hon. Member for the question. It is an important question and yes, it is true that we have our fallen heroes in various places inside and outside the country. It is an issue that is always bothering us that we cannot rest when some of our fallen heroes have not been properly buried. As a Ministry, we have a programme of action that we have laid down in terms of how we are going to go to Zambia, Angola and other places. We are not just going to exhume the bodies of those that are buried there but also to spruce up the various shrines that we have in Angola and Zambia. So, we have a programme and we work hand in glove with the Ministry of War Veterans and the Ministry of Defence.
I am happy that this question has been posed by the Hon. Member. He has talked about the funding, which means that the Ministry of Finance may attend to this particular question and be in a position to answer the question. We all wait for the disbursements of funds from the Ministry of Finance; we have the strategy and the action plan. What we only await is the disbursement of the funds. Once it is disbursed, we will quickly go there and look at doing the planned work. I thank you.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: The extra minutes that you have asked for have elapsed. We now move on to Questions With Notice.
ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS WITH NOTICE
MEASURES TO REIMBURSE PARENTS OF BEAM BENEFICIARIES
- HON. MACHANGU asked the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education to inform the House measures which the Ministry has put in place to reimburse parents or guardians who would have incurred expenses paying fees for those catered for under the BEAM programme, particularly in cases where their fees are not received in time from this facility.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION ( HON. GATA): Thank you so much Hon. Member for this question. It is a very important issue regarding the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education’s policy on reimbursement of funds for pupils on BEAM. I can inform the House that our policy is clear, no child should be denied the right to education due to inability of the parent to pay school fees. We firmly believe that education is a fundamental right, not a privilege. The Ministry has put in place measures to ensure inclusive and accessible education for all pupils, regardless of their family’s economic status. Specifically, for pupils covered under the Basic Education Assistance Module (BEAM), the Ministry covers the full cost of the school fees. Schools are not permitted to send the pupils away or require any fee payments from their parents or guardians.
In case where parents and guardians facing challenges with school fees payment, to report such issues to their local Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education offices at the district, provincial, or national level. Upon receiving these complaints, the Ministry will promptly investigate the matter and ensure the school complies with the policy of BEAM.
The Ministry is committed to upholding the right to education for all children in Zimbabwe. We will not tolerate any violations of this policy and will take swift action against schools that send away pupils solely due to an inability to pay fees.
PLANS REGARDING COMPLETION OF PUMULA SOUTH SECONDARY SCHOOL
- HON. MAHLANGU asked the Minister of Primary and secondary school to inform the House the Ministry’s plans regarding the completion of classroom blocks at Pumula South Secondary school in Bulawayo.
THE MINISTER OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION (HON. GATA): The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education is seized with provision of decent teaching and learning spaces in all its schools. Over the years, attempts have been made to ensure that all pupils, regardless of their geographical locations, access quality education. For this reason, the Ministry is mobilising resources to build new schools and to renovate the existing structures. We have been made a public call to all stakeholders to join hands with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education towards this cause. We are grateful that any partners have expressed interest in partnering with the Ministry.
However, through Treasury, Government has the Public Sector Investment Programme (PSIP), which pays for projects such as the construction f classroom blocks at the schools. Every year, PSIP identifies schools which should be given priority for construction projects. Unfortunately, in 2024, Pumula Secondary School is not on the list of schools for 2024. The Ministry will consider the school in the 2025 Budget. Thank you.
MEASURES TO ENSURE ADEQUATE CLASSROOM FURNITURE AND TEXTBOOKS FOR TAKUNDA PRIMARY SCHOOL IN NORTON
- HON. TSVANGIRAI asked the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education to inform the House about the measures being put in place to ensure that Takunda Primary School in Norton has adequate classroom furniture and textbooks.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION (HON. GATA): Thank you very much Hon. Tsvangirai for raising this matter to our attention. Every year, the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education identifies schools that are in dire need of assistance in terms of acquiring furniture and text books. There are several programmes that are in place to help schools in obtaining furniture and text books. We have the Schools Improvement Grant (SIG) which is supported by educational partners with the goal of improving infrastructure and providing learning material. Although the Schools Improvement Grant (SIG) which is currently in place, cater for particular schools for now, we have not left out other schools such as Takunda Primary School. Takunda Primary School still stands to benefit from other initiative of Ministry.
We have, as a matter of fact allowed such schools, especially those with capacity to resource themselves through collection of various forms of levies. One such levy that we have authorised schools to levy from Parents/Guardians is the Text Book Levy. So Takunda Primary School can apply for permission to increase levies which can be used for the purchase of text books and furniture depending on their specific needs. However, the Ministry will in future consider such schools such as Takunda in the disbursement of SIG and other funding mechanisms that are at the disposal of the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education.
MEASURES TO ADDRESS WATER, FURNITURE AND TEXTBOOK CHALLENGES AT CLIFFORD PRIMARY SCHOOL IN NORTON
- HON. TSVANGIRAI asked the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education to inform the House the measures being put in place to address water, furniture and textbook challenges at Clifford Primary School in Norton.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION (HON. GATA): Once again, thank you very much Hon. Tsvangirai for bringing this mater to our attention. The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education is currently working with education partners in programmes of drilling boreholes at schools. We hope that Clifford Primary School will be included in the next phase.
On the issue of furniture and textbooks, as I said before, every year, the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education identifies schools that require assistance in buying furniture and textbooks. There are several programmes that address this need. The Schools Improvement Grant (SIG); which is supported by education partners with the goal of improving infrastructure and providing learning material, is one such programme. Unfortunately, Clifford Primary School has not been chosen amongst the beneficiaries in 2024. We will consider the school in our next phase. Meanwhile, as a Ministry, we encourage schools to make use of revenue obtained at school level.
HON. TSVANGIRAI: Thank you very much, Hon. Speaker. As we speak right now, students at Clifford Primary Schools in Norton are actually exposed to cholera. As a result of the school not having access to clean water. What does the Minister plan to do to improve the situation on the ground so that people can have access to clean water? Thank you.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION (HON. GATA): Thank you very much Hon. Tsvangirai for your supplementary question. We do have schools construction programmes going on, the OPEC Fund for international development, the OFED. To date, we do have a number of schools built and they were commissioned by His Excellency about a few weeks ago. There is something that is being done. However, there is still significant challenges and more schools are needed or need improvement. We need to refurbish to match the modern standards to cover the infrastructure gaps that are there. We also need to reach the marginalised communities, but there is something that has been done. We are making strides. Thank you.
MEASURES PUT IN PLACE TO RECRUIT A MEDICAL DOCTOR AND TO BUILD A MORTUARY FOR INSIZA SOUTH RURAL DISTRICT HOSPITAL
- HON S. SITHOLE asked the Minister of Health and Child Care to inform the House the measures being put in place to recruit a medical doctor and to build a mortuary for Insiza South Rural District Hospital in Matabeleland South.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON. KWIDINI): The Ministry of Health and Child Care has plans to construct a mortuary at Avoca rural hospital in the year 2024 once we receive a budget from Treasury. On the recruitment of a medical doctor for Avoca rural hospital, kindly note that Avoca rural hospital is a primary level health facility which does not have staff establishment for medical doctors because of the following reasons:
- There is no theatre at the primary level health facility.
- There is no X-ray at primary health facility.
- There is no laboratory at the primary level health facility.
These are the basic facilities required for a medical doctor to be stationed at a health facility, and these can be available at the secondary-level health facility. The plan in place is, the Ministry of Health and Child Care, through Insiza District has plans to establish out-reach clinics at the three rural hospitals, Avoca, Shanghani, and Wanezi starting at the end of June 2024. The Ministry is currently mobilising resources to ensure these outreach clinics are executed as planned where we second medical doctors to carry out duties at the clinics.
Questions for the Ministry of Lands having been deferred.
HON. MUSHORIWA: On a point of order Madam Speaker, we had the Minister of Lands and Agriculture in this House. The Hon. Minister cannot then just leave the House when he knows that there are questions that are supposed to be answered on the Order Paper. As such Hon. Speaker, I think he is actually taking Parliament for granted. When Members put their questions with notice, they expect answers and therefore Ministers cannot surely do this. Parliament should censor the Minister.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Mushoriwa, we have taken note of that observation and we are going to write to the Minister. We will now move on to Question No. 33.
MEASURES TO ADDRESS ELECTRICITY PRICE FLUCTUATIONS
- HON. GUMEDE asked the Minister of Energy and Power Development to inform the House on measures being put in place to address electricity price fluctuations.
THE MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER DEVELOPMENT (HON. E. MOYO): Hon. Speaker, let me thank the Hon. Member for raising the above question, allow me, Hon. Speaker, to respond as follows:
The electricity price fluctuations were due to the movement of the ZWL$ interbank exchange rate. The electricity tariff was fixed in USD and indexed to the interbank rate. It is important to note that the prices have been stable since the launch of the ZIG currency.
REPLACEMENT AND REPAIR OF ELECTRICITY POWER LINES FOR SCHOOLS IN MATOBO, MANGWE AREA
- HON. MGUNI asked the Minister of Energy and Power Development to explain to the House the plans put in place by the Ministry to replace and repair electricity lines that have been down for more than 15 years, as is the case with the one at Zamanyoni Primary and Secondary Schools in Matobo, Mangwe area.
THE MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER DEVELOPMENT (HON. E. MOYO): Hon. Speaker Sir, let me thank the Honourable Member for raising the above question. Allow me, to respond that the line was done back in 2004 or 2005. Before the line to Zamanyoni could be switched on, the backbone infrastructure had a fault which ZETDC had to work on. During the time that the line was down, many sections of the network collapsed and the substations were vandalised. Both the whole line and the two substations will require reconstruction.
Hon. Speaker, the ZETDC repaired the backbone line and others in Matobo late last year and REF, which is normally called REA and they have managed to energise the following in 2024:
- Njelele Primary School and
- Mashumba Business Centre.
Additionally, the following business centres are scheduled this year:
- Silonkwe, Mudundulwini and Mloyi.
The last three are on the same backbone infrastructure with Zamanyoni which we have scheduled for reconstruction in 2025. Hence, Zamanyoni Primary and Secondary Schools will be electrified in 2025.
ELECTRIFICATION OF LUVEVE 5 EXTENSION IN BULAWAYO
- BAJILA asked the Minister of Energy and Power Development to inform the House what the Ministry’s plans and timelines are regarding the electrification of Luveve 5 Extension in Bulawayo’s Ward 11 to the National Electricity Grid.
THE MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER DEVELOPMENT (HON. E. MOYO): Madam Speaker, let me thank the Hon. Member for raising the question. ZETDC is working with Luveve 5 extension residents in reticulating the whole suburb. The residents are yet to complete medium voltage and are about 70% complete. ZETDC is mobilising materials for the construction of 2.5km of high voltage line with a total of 7 pole mounted 200kVA transformers. Works are expected to be completed by the end of August.
PLANS TO CONNECT PUMULA SOUTH SECONDARY SCHOOL TO THE NATIONAL ELECTRICITY GRID
- MAHLANGU asked the Minister of Energy and Power Development to inform the House what the Ministry’s plans are to connect Pumula South Secondary School to the National Electricity Grid.
THE MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER DEVELOPMENT (HON. MOYO) Madam Speaker, let me thank the Hon. Member for raising the question. The school has not yet applied to ZETDC for connection to the grid. However, upon receipt of the application for connection, ZETDC will be ready to connect it within 30 days.
COMPLETION OF THE CIVIL REGISTRY BUILDING OFFICES IN INSIZA SOUTH COSTITUENCY
- S. SITHOLE asked the Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage to inform the House when the Civil Registration Building Offices in the Insiza South Constituency will be completed.
THE MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS AND CULTURAL HERITAGE (HON. KAZEMBE): The Department of Civil Registry had planned to complete construction of Insiza Registry Building by December 2024. The project was allocated a total of ZW$2,300,000,000 in the 2024 budget, which was equivalent to US$383,000. However, to date, the funds have not yet been released by Treasury and there is no activity on site. The department is therefore not in a position to give a definite timeframe for the completion of the building but otherwise we are eager to see the building completed. As soon as the funds are available, we will be on site in no time. I thank you.
HON. S. SITHOLE: My supplementary question, with your indulgence Madam Speaker, when will the Minister visit my constituency to see the situation in the offices?
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon. Sithole, that is not included in your original question but if the Hon. Minister wishes to respond, I will let him to proceed.
HON. KAZEMBE: Madam Speaker, if the Hon. Member wants me to visit, he can invite me and I have no problem. But I have been there so many times and I am aware of the work that is supposed to be done. That is why as a Ministry, we are keen and eager to complete that building but we can only do so if funds are availed by Treasury. So, it is not really about my coming to Insiza but if you want me to come, I can come any time. I am free to come and have chicken with him, it is fine. I thank you.
ATTRIBUTES OF BEING REPUTABLE TO THE SPORTS AND RECREATION COMMISSION
- BAJILA asked the Minister of Sports, Arts and Recreation to explain to the House the attributes that constitute being reputable to the Sports and Recreation Commission in the context envisaged by the National Sports Associations, and to further state where Tennis Zimbabwe stands in this regard as an association.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF SPORTS, RECREATION, ARTS AND CULTURE (HON. JESAYA): Allow me Madam Speaker to first correct, it is the Ministry of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture and not Ministry of Sports Arts and Recreation. For a National Sport Association to be considered reputable to SRC, it has to be compliant with the SRC Act and the SRC Regulations Statutory Instrument 342 of 1995. National Associations also have to ensure that their constitutions are in line with the said statutes and the Constitution of Zimbabwe and International Best Practices. National Sport Association Compliance in terms of the Sport and Recreation Commission Act, all national associations have an obligation to submit the following statutory and administrative returns to SRC at the end of the National Association’s financial year:
The statutory returns; a report on its activities for the year just ended; an audited balance sheet and income and expenditure account for that year; estimates of income and expenditure for the coming year; annual membership submitted and annual levy paid for the year just ended. The administrative returns are expected to be submitted to SRC; their annual general meeting minutes for the year just ended and their annual calendar of activities for the coming year.
Then with regards to the state of Zimbabwe Tennis in terms of compliance; as at 31 December 2023, Tennis Zimbabwe was compliant with the Sports and Recreation Commission. It is currently working towards rationalising its 2024 compliance status. As it stands, Tennis Zimbabwe has been advised to review its Constitution which is now outdated and must be in line with current trends. The Sports and Recreation Commission is in constant engagements with the National Sports Associations and has availed it with the basic Constitution template and the mandatory clauses which the SRC now requires to be included in all National Sports Association constitutions. I thank you.
HON. BAJILA: Thank you so much Hon. Minister for the response. This question arises from a request by the Minister that I put the question in writing following tennis players representing Zimbabwe going out there on international tournaments, paying for themselves, paying coaches’ travel, accommodation and other stuff. The Minster’s response suggests that it is only for 2024 that compliance issues have not been met yet, even prior to 2024, these patriots have been going there to represent Zimbabwe from their own pockets. Is the Ministry then saying there are other reasons why it has not been financing Tennis Zimbabwe because the earlier response was that it was compliance issues? Now, the response says it is only for 2024 that they have not been compliant. I thank you.
HON. JESAYA: Thank you so much Hon. Bajila. With regards to funding requests from the National Sports Associations, they are supposed to make requests to SRC within three months but then if they fail to submit funding requests within the stipulated time then their requests will be declined. I thank you.
HON. MUSHORIWA: Could the Minister then advise the august House if the SRC can be pro-active in terms of assessing the needs of associations rather than to just wait and sit without the need of them doing a check on the needs of the various associations than to simply decline on a technicality?
HON. JESAYA: Thank you for the supplementary question. What I know is that National Sports Associations are requested by SRC at the beginning of each calendar year to submit their budgets for all their games that they are expecting to play within that year and when they do so, they will also have to submit the request of those games within three months. If they had not put in the game in their budget for that calendar year, then maybe it is an issue that we will need to investigate but the way I know it is that they have always been pro-active in receiving budgets for that calendar year at the beginning of the year. Then they would also expect the National Sports Association to send through their budget for a specific tournament within three months.
RATIONALE BEHIND BUILDING MORE CRICKET STADIUMS
- HON. S. DUBE asked the Minister of Sports, Arts and Recreation to inform the House the rationale behind the Ministry’s plans to build more cricket stadiums at a time when there are redundant stadia
THE HON. DEPUTY MINISTER OF SPORTS, RECREATION, ARTS AND CULTURE (HON. JESAYA): Zimbabwe Cricket will be co-hosting the ICC Under 19 Men’s Cricket World Cup in 2026 and the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in 2027, alongside Namibia and South Africa. Zimbabwe Cricket’s priority is to ensure Zimbabwe has stadiums that meet the minimum standards set out by the International Cricket Council to host the global events. Its main stadiums in the country are Harare Sports Club in Harare and Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo and these need upgrading.
In preparation for the aforementioned global events, Zimbabwe Cricket is focusing on upgrading those two grounds as well as the building of new stadiums elsewhere that will serve either as match or training venues. The hosting of those major events is serving as a catalyst for the development of cricket across the length and breadth of Zimbabwe.
Currently, Zimbabwe Cricket does not own a single ground with all the cricket grounds across the country, including Harare Sports Club and Queens Sports Club being privately owned. This situation not only harms Zimbabwe Cricket strategy to spread the game and make it the country’s number 1 sport, but also limits the organisation’s investment into infrastructure upgrades at the rented facilities. Cricket thrives on a robust infrastructure that supports the development of talent from grassroots levels to professional leagues.
With more players and range of different cricket formats recently being introduced, the demand on cricket facilities and infrastructure is greater than ever. Having the right sporting facilities in the right places is critical to helping increase participation in cricket. The goal is to deliver a greater proportion of facilities that are affordable, efficient, effective and sustainable in delivering more sporting and recreation opportunities for Zimbabweans.
In addition, Zimbabwe Cricket has identified key facility priorities in each of the 10 provinces of our country. These facilities will provide easy access and will be available for use by local cricket clubs and schools. Children, youth and adults from local communities will have access to the facilities. The cricket facilities will boost the profiles of each city or province where Zimbabwe Cricket is developing a facility. The facilities will provide job opportunities for locals during the construction phase and once they are operational.
Lastly the facilities will open up business opportunities for locals to supply required goods and services. I submit Madam Speaker Ma’am.
UPDATE ON BRINGING THE YOUTH BILL TO PARLIAMENT
- HON. S. DUBE asked the Minister of Youth Empowerment, Development and Vocational Training to update the House on the progress made towards bringing the Youth Bill to Parliament.
THE HON. DEPUTY MINISTER OF YOUTH EMPOWERMENT AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING CENTRES (HON. MUPAMHANGA): The Ministry has done all that is within its power to ensure drafting of the Youth Bill. Outstanding processes are unfortunately outside the powers of my Ministry, which can only and has been doing follow ups. The Ministry drafted the principles for the Bill when these were approved workshops were held where stakeholders were consulted.
In addition, the Ministry came up with a lay man’s draft and the same was submitted to the Attorney General’s office for drafting. Currently, the Ministry is following up to the Attorney General’s Office for finalisation of the Bill. Once the drafting processes have been completed, the Bill will be taken through the parliamentary processes.
Questions With Notice were interrupted by THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER in terms of Standing Order Number 68.
On the motion of HON. KAMBUZUMA, seconded by HON. MUSHORIWA, the House adjourned at Two Minutes past Five o’clock p.m.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Wednesday, 12th June, 2024
The Senate met at Half-past Two o`clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE in the Chair)
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
HON. SEN. GOTORA: I move that Orders of the Day, Numbers 1 and 2 be stood over until the rest of the Orders of the Day on today’s Order Paper have been disposed of.
HON. SEN. TSOMONDO: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE JUDICIAL SERVICES COMMISSION FOR THE YEAR 2023
Third Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the Judicial Service Commission for the year 2023 presented to this House of Parliament in terms of Section 323 (1) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. GOTORA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. TSOMONDO: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 13th June, 2024.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE ZIMBABWE ELECTORAL COMMISSION FOR THE YEAR 2023
Fourth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission for the year 2023 presented to this House of Parliament in terms of Section 323 (1) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. GOTORA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. TSOMONDO: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 13th June, 2024.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE ZIMBABWE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION FOR THE YEAR 2023
Fifth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission for the year 2023 presented to this House of Parliament in terms of Section 323 (1) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. GOTORA: Thank you Mr. President, I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. TSOMONDO: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 13th June, 2024.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
HON. SEN. GOTORA: Thank you Mr. President. I move that Order of the Day, Number 6 be stood over until the rest of the Orders of the Day have been disposed of.
HON. SEN. TSOMONDO: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
COMPENSATION TO PENSIONERS AND POLICY HOLDERS BY PENSION AND INSURANCE COMPANIES
HON. SEN. ZVIDZAI: Thank you Mr. President. I move the motion standing in my name, that this House-
AWARE that the hyperinflation of the period 2006 to 2009 reduced the value of the Zimbabwean Dollar and resulted in the demonetisation of the local currency in favour the United States Dollar;
SADDENED that insurance companies and pension schemes eradicated the value of existing insurance policies and pension benefits despite the fact that the hyperinflation alone could not wipe out the value of pension and insurance policies as some were invested in real estate and other schemes protected from currency volatility;
ACKNOWLEDGING that Government endeavoured to redress injustices related to losses incurred by pension and insurance policy holders by requesting pension schemes and insurance companies to compensate the victims;
NOTING that the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion committed itself to ensuring that victims would be compensated with effect from March 2024.
NOW THEREFORE, resolves that-
- a) The Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion apprises Parliament on the compensation of the aforesaid victims;
- b) The victims be compensated in United States Dollar to mitigate losses incurred; c) The Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion strictly monitors pension and insurance companies to ensure that they do not short change pensioners and policy holders.
HON. SEN. PHULU: I second.
HON. SEN. ZVIDZAI: Thank you Mr. President. Thank you for keeping on bearing with us with respect to issues of procedure. I rise to speak on issues of loss of value of pensions and policies and other instruments that people of Zimbabwe participated in, hoping that they were investing into their future. The hyper-inflation set in 2006 up to 2009 when eventually Government decided that our local currency as ZWL had given up its breath, meaning that it had died, and it was to be replaced by the USD; at that stage, I remember very well that the Central Bank of Zimbabwe had just issued ZWL100 trillion notes and it meant that our currency had lost meaning and we had to move to rescue the economy and the people of Zimbabwe. Regrettably, whatever good, there is, sometimes it will solve one problem and give birth to another. In killing our local currency and moving over to the USD, the people of Zimbabwe who had invested in insurance policies and some who participated in providence funds as well as Government managed pension schemes such as NSSA and other Government pension schemes also lost a lot of value in the process.
The switchover to the USD meant that the insurance companies had some method to convert the value of these pension schemes from ZWL to the USD. The formula that was used to do the conversion was never through a consultative process. The people were not involved and noted that there was a serious erosion of their hard-earned investment. They lost a lot of value of their pension schemes. I remember at the stage of demutualisation, some people who had hoped to get some millions and millions of ZWL ended up getting something like 5USD, which indeed was very sad.
Happily, in 2015, President Robert Gabriel Mugabe instituted a Commission of Inquiry into the conversion and the loss of value of pension schemes. This Commission was headed by Justice George Smith with a few other people who were experienced in the insurance industry. I know one George Shinya who was a specialist in issues of insurance. I had an opportunity when I started my career to teach with him. He was a great statistician and then he moved over to Old Mutual.
Moreover, he had a very big understanding of the dynamics and mechanics of what was happening in the agent industry and was part of that Commission. The mandate of the Commission was to establish the total value and nature and the type of assets owned by insurance companies and pension funds as at 2006 or 2009. The mandate was also to determine the causes of loss of value of insurance policies and pension schemes that were managed by our insurance industry, the set of companies in the insurance industry.
Furthermore, to assess the conversion methods, I think this is where the challenge was. Cleverly, the President wanted to know the method that was used to convert the ZWL to USD value at dollarisation. He also wanted to know the level of prejudice that people suffered, the people who had the insurance policies and those that participated in providence funds that were governed by the Government.
The findings that Justice George Smith and his Commission established were that there were poor regulatory mechanisms by Insurance and Pensions Commissions (IPEC). IPEC is the Commission that deals with pensions and insurance. The regulatory mechanisms were very weak and this allowed the insurance companies to take advantage of that and allowed people to completely lose value of their investments.
So they determined that there was massive prejudice to pension and policy holders and that the remedy was to make sure that the victims were to be compensated. This is what the Commission established and recommended that there be compensation for the losses that were incurred from a formula that was not agreed on, a formula which was obviously very unfair. A formula that looked more on the interest of capital against the interest of the people. So we applaud Government for moving in that direction so that people could recover what value was lost. More particularly, Mr. President, the Commission actually established that there was capacity within the pension industry and the provident funds to compensate because most of the investments, we paid our monthly subscriptions to insurance companies and deductions were made by Central Government into our pension schemes. Fifty-four per cent of those funds were invested in property and other investments that hedge against inflation. So the argument that value was lost to inflation is not true, it is not honest because if you go round the nation, you will see beautiful investments, properties that Old Mutual for example, invested in. These are hedged against inflation, they did not suffer from inflation. Fifty-four percent of our investments over the years never lost to inflation, hence the pension schemes and the insurance companies have got capacity to compensate people and redress the suffering that people are experiencing at the moment.
Our pensioners, esteemed people who worked in the civil service, who worked in industry and contributed, are suffering today. They cannot even afford a square meal and yet they had invested so much into these schemes. Why is it necessary to compensate? The first thing is that it is necessary so that people can regain their value and that there is some sort of reparation. There is some sort of recovery on the people that invested hoping that their future would be financed this way.
The other important thing as well is to realise the importance of insurance and pensions schemes in establishing the economy, providing funding for the growth of the economy. Once compensation happens, we beg to rebuild confidence in the pensions industry. More people will then participate in the pension industry. They will participate in purchasing insurance policies. By doing that, we are actually saving so that part of the money can go into infrastructure development through prescribed assets, those funds being available to the people who might want to invest in manufacturing, value addition and so on.
Confidence in the insurance industry translates into a mechanism to help economic stabilisation and growth. It is also important to make sure that we cause this industry to live again and encourage people to save and avail funds for developmental purposes.
You know during times of difficulty, trying and prime times, the economy enjoys the capacity of people to keep spending on consumption. During trying times, insurance policies come in to ensure that people keep spending, thus helping stimulate the economy. It is important in those two respects and as a nation, we must understand that the cheating that happened impacted so heavily on the individual person as well as on the general economy and should not be accepted.
In 2023, that was around September, Government gazetted S.I. 162
which gave parameters on how the compensation should start and gave a
road-map to processes of compensation. In October/November, 2023 of
that year, all insurance policies and managers of provident funds would sit down and draw up a compensation plan. Thereafter, up to December, IPEC would look at all these plans and either pass them or fail them and for those that passed and generally, you were always supposed to pass because now the rules had been laid out and they were very reasonable rules. By December, clean shaven, we would have known that the process of compensation would start.
Happily, as we crafted our budget last year, the Minister of Finance clearly said by March, 2024, the process of compensating people would commence. We budgeted $174 million to begin that process. For Government to take the lead as the responsible authority for provident funds, NSSA and Government Pension Schemes, with an envelope of US$174 million, which is applauded as a very good intention but the devil lies in the detail and in implementation. Today we are nearly halfway through the year and there is dead silence with respect to that process. Where is Government with respect to this? Is this not being taken seriously enough? Are we convinced that if we injected the $174 million into the economy through compensating the people, that will be beneficial to the country?
Mr. President, this is where our prayer is. We pray that the Minister takes this seriously and at least update us as to where we are on the roadmap to compensating victims on the losses as excavated by the Commission that President R.G. Mugabe put together in 2015, and 2015 and 2024 is a good nine years apart. We want to begin to see some movement even if it is an indicator to just say look, ‘now the envelope has risen to $50 million, we are beginning this and that’. That will be pleasantly warm to us.
Some statistics indicate that the losses that pensioners and policy holders suffered amount to close to a billion dollars and there is capacity for insurance companies to make sure that the wrongs of the past are corrected for the benefit of the people of Zimbabwe at individual level and our economy at a more collective level. We also noticed that if we move with lethargy Mr. President, value is lost. This is why we pray that the compensation be hedged against inflation and the vagaries that affect our currency. In other words, I pray that compensation be in United States dollars because that currency is a little bit stubborn to the vagaries of the economy and other emerging challenges so that people can get value of their investments.
Once beaten twice shy, they say, would we like to let the insurance companies play the ball without close scrutiny? The answer is, they have beaten people and economy before. They need to be very closely supervised so that they compensate. No cent remains with capital but every cent goes to the appropriate people that invested in these banking schemes.
I so submit and I do hope that as the House, we take this matter seriously because it is a matter of very serious importance. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank you Mr. President for encouraging me to look deeper into the issue because at the initial stage, I would want to make it a one-minute statement. You encouraged me to make it a motion so that it can be debated more widely and for us to show our seriousness around the issue. I hope that my colleagues will support this motion because it is not only good for the people generally but also for Zimbabwe as a nation.
HON. SEN. MOYO: After ten years of hyperinflation which led to the dumping of the Zimbabwe dollar in 2009, the country took on a multi-currency system which resulted in a mismatch between pension fund assets and liabilities.
The multi-currency regime meant that there was no policy guideline for a suitable exchange rate to convert contributions and benefits to USD.
Most pension funds in Zimbabwe – the biggest problem we face is that contributions made by the children of Zimbabwe are being used to sustain the expensive lifestyles of senior executives without any return to the pension fund members.
Pension fund administrators are living large yet the people are living in serious poverty. This defeats the whole purpose of having this pension fund system.
The other problem is that most trustees on the boards who are elected from the plan membership do not have the necessary skills and it results in corruption taking centre stage. Most of these trustees are appointed due to favouritism and they have no knowledge of the pension business and do not have the right qualifications. The pension funds have no education and training policy to support the skills of the trustees. Therefore, they cannot fulfill the mandate of protecting and advancing the rights and interests of its members – the people of Zimbabwe.
The pension funds we have in the country have no strong information and technology systems such as internal audits, public accountants, procedure manuals and investment policy statements. Instead, they rely on manual records which result in millions of dollars in unclaimed benefits while the people of Zimbabwe suffer.
The Insurance and Pensions Commission should be empowered to prescribe acceptable price or cost ratios in order to improve the current situation so that investment returns can be enough to cover costs to prevent the draining of contributions. The IPEC Commission has to have qualified members who have to pass fitness and honesty tests on pension fund executive management. The bar has to be set high on the qualifications required for one to be a trustee. They should conduct a lot of training of trustees to ensure that they are confident in dealing with the more complex aspects of running the funds.
In closing, once qualified, the trustees chosen in confidence should be given powers to monitor and regulate whether the pension funds ICTs systems and processes are effective and acceptable. There must be severe punishment for non-compliance. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. KATUMBA: I would like to thank Hon. Sen Zvidzai for bringing up this important motion. If you look at most of us who are here, we are pensioners who did not get anything. In most cases, when you are saving money through the pension schemes especially through IPEC that represents insurance organisations for pensioners, you would be expecting to survive from that money. If you look at what happened in the past like what other Honourable Members are doing, indeed someone who has saved money and now due to retire, then inflation comes up and the currency changes. You are told that your money lost value. If only this issue about pensioners could be looked into and be rectified so that pensioners can be cushioned. You will be shocked when you go to IPEC and you are told that there are unclaimed pensions, yet there are a lot of people suffering in this country. This must be looked into, especially through the Commission that was alluded to, so that pensioners maybe assisted.
Most of the people who are going on retirement these days simply die soon after retirement because they will be going into deep trouble. I would like to encourage the Government to be seriously involved pertaining to pension issues so that people survive after retirement instead of availing the fund for beneficiaries.
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Thank you Hon. Senator Katumba.
*HON. SEN. MUPFUMIRA: Thank you for giving me this opportunity to debate on this motion. I would like to thank Hon. Senator Zvidzai for tabling this important motion.
Mr. President, some of us are now grown up. When we were still young and started working, pensions were there for civil servants like teachers, they had various names and schemes. People used to make pension contributions in preparation for retirement at the age of 60.
I would like to thank the Government for scrutinising this issue and acknowledging that we were robbed in broad daylight. This s not about Government, this money was looted by insurance companies. People contributed a lot of money for their future in order to avert suffering.
Indeed, we are told about inflation and all other stories, but the surprising thing is that most of these insurance companies are there. They bought a lot of assets, constructed malls and buildings and were pegging their assets against inflation. Some of us did not know what was happening and were told that there was no money after working and contributing for more than 30 to 40 years.
I am not talking about Government, but insurance companies. Some of them are main shareholders and have portfolios and assets outside this country. I thank the Government’s vision for highlighting this issue - indeed we need to look at it. In other countries that I cannot mention, people would have risen, brought up petitions and held mass action against these insurance companies. Locally, I think one person should just come up with that petition and then people should demand for accountability.
If you look at offices of those companies up to today, they are still taking our money yet they are not giving us anything. For some of us who can actually stand up against this, we are just a drop in an ocean. There are a lot of civil servants, teachers and nurses who invested their money yet they are not getting anything, they do not even know the offices to approach so that they can get an explanation of their life time contribution. Right now, we have moved to digitisation and electronic system, you give them your details, but you do not get anything. We hear about people who have not claimed their money, but they are not so many.
Government should come up with a Commission of inquiry. Government has also told us that there is some money budgeted, indeed it shows that Government understands that there is a problem. At the end of the day, we ask Government to look after people yet those people were contributing pensions. Those people who have reached 60 years used to be paid lump sums and get other earnings. Imagine someone as old as I am, being told that my husband has died and that I will only earn ZiG40.00 per month, yet my husband would have worked for 40 years or more. I am not the only one, some widows end up being desperate, yet there are assets and money that are there.
Let us take action because of that report. I expect action to be taken, there is no need for us to consider researches. A lot of people have died without earning those pensions and their surviving spouses and families are desperate. There is need for investigating as to who contributed during the yester years in order to ascertain how much their families are supposed to earn. Some families may not have that information, yet the late mother or father may have had money. A Commission was set up and research was conducted, all these reports are there. Now, we need action and clear explanation – there is need for openness so that media disseminates information advising beneficiaries that money is coming. There are a lot of affected people and the requisite media should be accessible to everyone including those residing deep in the rural areas.
Insurance requires surviving spouses to provide proof of life annually. I always say to myself, can an elderly woman in Kanyaga, deep in the rural areas where I come from do that? How does that person get that information? We are supposed to be all inclusive, they do not even know what is supposed to happen and how they should do it. Some people travel long distances to collect their pension, but the money that they earn cannot take them back to their homes. We need to look into such things so that people know and understand that we represent them when we come here.
These issues affect masses. People saved their money in an effort to plan for their retirement. I am saying that we should not just talk, but come up with strong resolutions that are binding. There is evidence and some of us are still alive. I do not know whether I will still be alive tomorrow. Some of our children may not even know that they were being deprived of their benefits for years, people would have been sending money overseas and the like. Those things have nothing to do with Government. Those are private companies. Sometimes we expect that Government should do everything yet here we are. You are trying to save your money to cater for yourself in future but here we are, there is no benefit from it.
So I would like to thank the Hon. Member who came up with this motion. There are a lot of malls that you find in cities and different towns. So how can they claim that they have lost value yet they are still in use? There is need for a thorough enquiry so that we at least get something.
Surviving widows may talk of their late husbands yet they are suffering. They are not getting anything. I would like to thank the Hon. Senator who brought this motion. It affects every one of us. Right now people no longer want to join pension schemes or insurance scheme because we lost a lot of money out of that. We used to contribute yet we never earned anything out of that. I thank you Hon. President for giving me this opportunity.
+HON. SEN. SIBANDA: Thank you President of the Senate. I would like to thank the Hon. Senator who brought this motion. I would want to add my voice to what has been said by the other Hon. Members in my short debate that I want to add which I believe could be of very much assistance.
If we look at the issue of pensions, it is something that is painful as others have already indicated earlier on. Looking at us as Zimbabweans and the way that we survive we are not people that are not developed. We are developed people and we are really educated which means that we are also supposed to be an example of doing the proper things.
Looking at most of the companies that are not Government institutions, they are better than Government institutions. To tell the truth this pension issue is very painful because as black people and as Zimbabweans, we appear as if we are enslaving ourselves. We are becoming slaves of our own because if the Government is the one that is responsible for employing much of the population and after the people have served a lot of years in the Government and people get peanuts after retiring, it makes it very difficult. Also people take their pensions before they are aged. Most of them have got families that they want to take care of, what we can refer to as extended family, that need to survive from this pension.
Looking at the way we are organised, it is very possible that we tell ourselves that we have failed to look into the issue of pensions and making them to be orderly or is it that we have just neglected and I will no longer mind about the pensions issue. We do not want to see Zimbabweans suffering due to these issues of pensions. Thank you.
HON. SEN. ZVIDZAI: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. H. MOYO: I second Mr. President.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 13th June, 2024.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE 149TH ASSEMBLY OF THE INTER PARLIAMENTARY UNION (IPU)
Eighth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the 149th Assembly of the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) and related meetings.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. GOTORA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. TSOMONDO: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 13th June, 2023.
MOTION
CONGRATULATORY MESSAGE TO HON. SEN. CHARUMBIRA ON ASSUMPTION OF THE PRESIDENCY OF PAP
Ninth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion that a congratulatory message be conveyed to Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira on his ascendency to the President of the Pan African Parliament.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. CHINYANGA: Mr. President, thank you for granting me an opportunity to rise before this esteemed Assembly to convey my heartfelt congratulations to the Hon. Senator Chief Fortune Zephaniah Charumbira on his ascension to the prestigious office of the President of the Pan African Parliament (PAP).
This milestone achievement is not merely a personal triumph, but a resounding testament to the eminence and global standing of the Zimbabwean nation. As one of the senior statesmen and revered leaders hailing from our shores, Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira’s elevation to this continental leadership role underscores Zimbabwe’s unwavering commitment to the ideals of African unity, development, and democratic governance.
Mr. President, the Pan African Parliament as the legislative organ of the African Union represents the collective aspirations and voices of the diverse peoples of our continent. Under Senator Chief Charumbira’s discerning stewardship, we can be assured that this critical institution will amplify the concerns and priorities of Africans with renewed vigor and purpose.
Further, Senator Chief Charumbira’s wealth of experience and expertise honed through his distinguished career as a Senator in the Zimbabwean Parliament and his long-standing involvement in regional and continental organisations make him uniquely qualified to lead the PAP. His proven track record of public service, coupled with his deep understanding of African affairs, will undoubtedly propel the Parliament to new heights of influence and relevance.
Mr. President the election of Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira as the President of the Pan African Parliament represents a monumental achievement not only for the individual but for the nation of Zimbabwe as a whole. It is a testament to the vibrancy of our democratic institutions and the caliber of the statesmen we have produced.
This moment of pride and glory underscores Zimbabwe’s continued relevance and leadership within the African Union framework. As Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira assumes this esteemed position, he will have the opportunity to contribute decisively to the shaping of the continent’s political, economic and social trajectory. His stewardship will provide Zimbabwe with a valuable platform to champion its ideas, influence policy debate and drive the agenda of African integration and development.
Mr. President, as I conclude, I urge this august House to join me in extending our heartfelt congratulations to Hon. Senator Chief Fortune Zephaniah Charumbira on his election as the President of the Pan African Parliament. May his leadership inspire and empower the people of Africa to realise their collective aspirations for a more united, prosperous and democratic continent. I thank you Mr. President.
HON. SEN. GOTORA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. TSOMONDO: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 13th June, 2024.
MOTION
ESTABLISHMENT OF PUBLIC HEMODIALYSIS FACILITIES IN DISTRICTS
Tenth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the treatment of chronic kidney disease in Zimbabwe.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. ZVIDZAI: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. PHULU: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 13th June, 2024.
MOTION
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO ZUPCO AND PRIVATE TRANSPORT OPERATORS
Eleventh Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the inadequacy of public transport in the country.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. GOTORA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. TSOMONDO: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 13th June, 2024.
MOTION
PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT SERVICES FOR TEENAGE MOTHERS
Twelfth Order read: Adjourned debate on the motion on the effects of teenage pregnancy.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. GOTORA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. TSOMONDO: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 13th June, 2024.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE DELEGATION TO THE 80TH SESSION OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE AND THE 45TH CONFERENCE OF APU HELD IN COTE D’IVOIRE
Thirteenth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the Delegation to the 80th Session of the Executive Committee and 45th Conference of the African Parliamentary Union (APU).
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. GOTORA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. TSOMONDO: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 13th June, 2024.
On the motion of HON. SEN. GOTORA, seconded by HON. SEN. TSOMONDO the Senate adjourned at Eighteen Minutes to Four o’clock p.m.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Tuesday, 11th June, 2024
The Senate met at Half-past Two o`clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE
DEATH OF HON. SEN. MURISI ZWIZWAI
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: It is with profound sorrow that I have to inform the Senate of the death of Hon. Senator Murisi Zwizwai, Senator for Harare Province on Saturday 1st June, 2024. I therefore invite Hon. Senators to rise and observe a minute of silence in respect of the late Hon. Senator.
All Hon. Members observed a minute of silence
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR MASHONALAND EAST PROVINCE (HON. SEN. MUNZVERENGWI): I move that Orders of the Day, Numbers 1 and 2 be stood over until the rest of the Orders of the Day on today’s Order Paper have been disposed of.
Motion put an agreed to.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE JUDICIAL SERVICE COMMISSION FOR THE YEAR 2023
Third Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the Judicial Service Commission for the year 2023 presented to this House of Parliament in terms of Section 323 (1) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
Question again proposed.
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR MASHONALAND EAST PROVINCE (HON. SEN. MUNZVERENGWI): I move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 12th June, 2024.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE ZIMBABWE ELECTORAL COMMISSION FOR THE YEAR 2023
Fourth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission for the year 2023 presented to this House of Parliament in terms of Section 323 (1) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
Question again proposed.
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR MASHONALAND EAST PROVINCE (HON. SEN. MUNZVERENGWI): Thank you Mr. President. I move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 12th June, 2024.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION FOR THE YEAR 2023
Fifth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the Human Rights Commission for the year 2023 presented to this House of Parliament in terms of Section 323 (1) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. PHULU: Thank you Mr. President. I rise today to present a comprehensive analysis of the Report of the Human Rights Commission for the year 2023. This report is a crucial tool that provides us with a snapshot of the human rights situation in our country. It is imperative that from time to time, we be reminded about the human rights situation in the country and that from time to time, we be forced to reflect on what is happening in our country with regards to the issue of human rights.
The issue of human rights is like the speedometer on your car. I know some of us have new cars. The speedometer is a crucial gadget on which you must keep your eye on a measure to see how you are travelling. To measure that particular factor that we call human rights, we need to ensure that we keep it at an optimum level. We also need to ensure that we make improvements where improvements are meant to be made. In addition, to ensure that we make concessions where human rights have been violated and also that as we go forward towards another day, the issue of human rights does not remain a very topical issue in our nation.
Issues of development should overtake issues of human rights violations at the centre stage. I urge us therefore, to recognise the importance of human rights in our society and to take concrete steps to promote and protect these fundamental frames. The report highlights several challenges facing our country including allegations of torture, arbitrary arrests and restrictions on freedom of expression and assembly. These violations are a stark reminder of the need for continuous vigilance and actions to ensure that human rights are protected and promoted in our country.
One of the most disturbing findings in our report is the wide spread use of torture by law enforcements agents. Torture is a violation of human rights that is unacceptable in any society. It is a form of cruelty that is designed to break the spirit of individuals and it is a practice that must be stopped. The report states that between 2019 and 2023, there were 237 cases of alleged torture reported to the Human Rights Commission. This is a staggering number and highlights the need for urgent action to address this issue.
Mr. President, the report also highlights the problem of arbitrary arrests and detentions. These practices are a violation to the right to liberty and security of the person. They are threat to the rule of law in our country. The report states that between 2010 and 2013, there were 456 cases of arbitrary arrests and detentions reported in Human Rights Commission. This is a significant number and highlights the need for urgent action to address this issue.
The report also highlights actions on freedom of expression and assembly. These restrictions are a violation of fundamental freedoms that are enshrined in our Constitution. It states that between 2019 and 2023, there were 123 cases of restrictions and freedom of expression and assembly that were reported to the Human Rights Commission. Again, I submit that this is a disturbing number and highlights the need to urgently address this issue.
In conclusion, I urge us to take concrete steps to promote human rights in our country. We must recognise their importance in our society to ensure that they are really and effectively protected and promoted. We must work together with civic society organisations to achieve this. I wish Mr. President, to analyse the impact of these human rights violations. The report highlights several challenges facing our country including torture, restrictions of freedom of expression and these violations have a significant impact on the individual and society as a whole.
It states that between 2019 and 2023, there were over 800 cases of human rights violations reported at the Commission. The report highlights several outcomes that have resulted from the implementation of programmes and this is a good thing about having these reports. The report will then tell you what programmes have been carried out and what has been the outcome of those programmes. We know that during that period, there were 300 cases of alleged violations that were reported.
It also states that the programmes aimed at promoting the human rights in the country were run by the Commission. The report states that there is need to do more in terms of ensuring that the Commission has the capacity to deal with these cases. Obviously, over the next few years, as we track these reports, because these reports will become useful over the years when we are able to compare and produce graphs to determine whether these cases are actually going down or they are going up, I am sure that in two or three years’ time, as we receive these reports on an annual basis, we will be able to tell whether this Government is putting in place programmes that are ensuring that there is a reduction in the violation of human rights. Certainly, I also want to end by making a submission that this is Human Rights Commission is a Commission which needs our support. Ever since its formation, if memory serves me right, it is one of the Commissions which has received the least support in terms of resources to do their work.
I remember when Commissioners, out of all the Commissions, did not have vehicles to work with. They were working with their personal vehicles and I believe that under the Second Republic, we should see an improvement in how this Commission is treated and how it is funded. This Commission is key in arguing the pains for Zimbabwe on various international platforms where Zimbabwe goes to make presentations on the human rights situation in the country.
Human rights situation is an important indicator whenever we go for conferences, particularly United Nations related organisations or platforms on the African continent where our Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs is required to present a report on the human rights situation in the country. Civic Society Organisations provide a shadow report and that shadow report would draw immensely from a report by an organisation or an organ such as the Human Rights Commission.
If we support it with finances, they will be able to produce more and more detailed reports and they will be able to make more effective interventions so that Zimbabwe’s human rights record is correctly captured, correctly reflected and begins to show that we are able to contain the human rights situation in our country.
In closing, I would like to say that as we contain this indicator and as we paint as an emerge that we are sensitive to human rights situation, perhaps one day we will see our message on Zimbabwe as a destination for investment and as a peer sitting on the international and regional tables with others becoming a very respected nation.
I would like to thank Human Rights Commission for presenting the report in terms of their constitutional mandate and for presenting a report which is detailed and gives us a good indication of what the human rights situation is like in our country. I move that we take note of the report and note it positively and that Mr. President, you send a nod to the Commission for a job well-done. Thank you.
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR MASHONALAND EAST PROVINCE (HON. SEN. MUNZVERENGWI): I move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 12th June, 2024.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR MASHONALAND EAST PROVINCE (HON. SEN. MUNZVERENGWI): Thank you Mr. President. I move that Oder of the Day Number 6 be stood over until the rest of the Orders of the Day are disposed of.
Motion put and agreed to
MOTION
BUSINES OF THE HOUSE
HON. SEN. MLOTSHWA: Thank you Mr. President. I do hereby move that we stand over the motion by Hon. Senator Zvidzai until all the other Orders of the Day have been disposed of.
HON. SEN. PHULU: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE 148th ASSEMBLY OF THE INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION (IPU) HELD IN GENEVA
HON. SEN. MUZENDA: I move the motion in my name, that this House takes note of the 148th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and Related Meetings held on 23rd to 27th March, 2024, in Geneva, Switzerland.
HON. SEN. CHIEF KHUMALO: I second.
HON. SEN. MUZENDA: Thank you Mr. President Sir. This report covers the Assembly which was held in Geneva Switzerland.
- INTRODUCTION
- The 148th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and
- Related Meetings was convened in the city of peace, Geneva, Switzerland from 23rd to 27th March 2024 under the overarching theme “Parliamentary Diplomacy: Building Bridges for Peace and Understanding”. The spring edition of the IPU Assembly was attended by one thousand six hundred (1 600) delegates, including fifty-five (55) Speakers and fifty-five Deputy Speakers from one hundred and forty-eight (148) IPU Member Parliaments. Furthermore, thirty-six percent (36%) of delegates were women, while twenty-seven percent (27%) were young Parliamentarians.
- The Parliament of Zimbabwe was ably represented by Hon.
Advocate Jacob Francis Nzwidamilimo Mudenda, Speaker of Parliament and Hon. Mabel Memory Chinomona, President of the Senate. They were accompanied by the following Members of Parliament:
- Chief Mtshane Lucas Khumalo;
- Tsitsi Muzenda;
- Tawanda Karikoga;
- Naledi Madzara;
- Jona Nyevera;
- Prosper Mutseyami; and
- Judith Tobaiwa.
1.4 The above theme of the IPU 148th Assembly was opportune.
According to the 2023 statistics obtained by the Stockholm International
Peace Research Institute, fifty-six (56) countries across the globe were
experiencing armed conflict. Consequently, some of these conflicts have
negative global impact on world economies such as inaccessible grain
and fertiliser supplies, curtailed movement of goods and services
resulting in devastating consequences of humanitarian crisis. In this
context, the IPU is applauded for providing a much-needed platform for
Parliamentarians to exercise Parliamentary diplomacy through dialogue
in order to complement the peace and security efforts by the United
Nations and other multilateral humanitarian organisations.
- SADC GROUP AND AFRICA GEOPOLITICAL
GROUP MEETINGS
2.1 As per established practice at IPU Assembly meetings, the SADC Group and Africa Geopolitical Group convened on 22nd March 2024 to discuss and reach consensus on issues affecting the region and the
continent respectively. The meetings provide a focused approach in
tackling issues under consideration by the global Parliamentary body.
2.2 Of special note, is that Speaker Mudenda continued to receive commendations for his sterling contribution to the work of the IPU among the SADC Parliaments and in the IPU Executive Committee
during his four-year tenure as he represented SADC Parliaments and the
Africa Geopolitical Group. Subsequently, Hon. Speaker Mudenda was
presented with a certificate of distinction by Hon. Roger Mancienne,
Speaker of the Parliament of Seychelles and President of the SADC
Parliamentary Forum in recognition of his “Outstanding commitment
and excellence in serving the African Geopolitical Group and the
SADC Region as a Member of the IPU Executive Committee.”
2.3 In keeping with the spirit of the theme of the Assembly, both the SADC and Africa Geopolitical Group resolved to support the
submission of an Emergency Item submitted by South Africa entitled,
“Raising awareness of the International Court of Justice provisional
measures for Israel in relation to Palestinians in Gaza, and of the
need for urgent action on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza”, for
inclusion on the IPU Agenda. This emergency item will be married with
Algeria’s proposal in terms of Rule 11(2) of the IPU Statutes and Rules
which allows for such composite approach. In the same spirit, the 12 Plus Geopolitical Group agreed to combine its submission with that of South Africa only to be aborted later. The vote on the Emergency Item resulted
in a stalemate and for the second consecutive time, the IPU failed to
have an Emergency Item.
2.4 Hon. Tulia Ackson, President of the IPU and Speaker of the
Parliament of Tanzania addressed both the SADC and Africa
Geopolitical Groups in her maiden appearance since election to the
position of President of the IPU in October 2023. President Ackson
expressed gratitude to Africa for the election support and pledged to
deliver on her campaign promises as well as to ensure that the
continent’s challenges receive due attention at the international fora.
3.0 GOVERNING COUNCIL
3.1 ACTIVITIES REPORT BY THE PRESIDENT: The
Governing Council took note of the IPU President’s report on the activities undertaken since she was elected as President in October 2023 anchored on three deliverables, namely,
- Reinforcing peace and security through dialogue – The IPU President undertook visits to the Middle East (Israel and Palestine) in November 2023 wherein she engaged the Prime Minister of Palestine, His Excellency, Mohammad Shtayeh as well as the Speaker the Parliament of Israel, Hon. Amir Ohana. Through her interactions during the visits, the IPU President gained a deeper appreciation of the conflict. She opined that both parties were willing to resolve the conflict through dialogue.
- Reinforcing the IPUs visibility – Key meetings attended by the IPU President include a webinar preventing and responding to violence against women in Parliaments; 9th MIKTA Speakers’ Consultation on Strengthening Multilateralism; Addressing Intergenerational Challenges held in Bali, Indonesia; Antalya Diplomacy Forum held in Turkey and the Women’s Speakers’ Forum held in France.
Supporting the implementation of the IPU Strategy – In support of the IPU Strategy, the IPU President attended the High-Level segment on COP 28 held in United Arab Emirates (UAE). Additionally, the IPU President attended the 2024 Parliamentary Hearing at the United Nations as well as the Annual IPU – UN Women Parliamentary meeting at the 68th session of the Commission for women held in New York, USA.
3.2 IMPACT REPORT BY THE SECRETARY GENERAL
ON THE ACTIVITIES BY THE OF THE IPU IN 2023
3.2.1 The Governing Council took note of Impact Report presented
by Mr. Martin Chungong, Secretary General of the IPU, which articulated activities undertaken since the last Governing Council Meeting held in Luanda, Angola in October 2023. The report was anchored on the five strategic objectives of the IPU as encapsulated in the IPU Strategy Plan (2022-2026). Some of the major highlights for the period under review included the following:
- An increase in Membership to 180 Member Parliaments and 15 Associate Members
- 762 human rights cases examined by the IPU
- Over 150,000 views on climate videos
- 3% of Women MPs at IPU Assemblies (IPU supported Sierra Leone with the quota system which saw more women elected in that Parliament.
- 6% of Young MPs at IPU Assemblies
3.3 IPU FINANCIAL REPORT
3.3.1The Governing Council noted the financial statement of the
Organisation together with the Audited Financial Report conducted by the Auditor General of the Government of Indonesia in Accordance with Rule 13 of the IPU Financial Regulations. The IPU Executive Committee noted that the financial position remains stable with a high degree of solvency.
3.3.2 The mobilisation of voluntary funding had also increased,
including the One (1) million United States dollars donation by the
United Arab Emirates. Other key funding agreements includes the
following:
- Swedish International Cooperation Agency (SIDA);
- Shura Council of Qatar;
- Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs Trade and Development (DFATD);
- The Irish Aid; and
- The World Health Organisation.
3.3.3 The Governing Council also noted that external funding for
the organization constituted only 27% while the rest was internally
generated mainly from Member Parliaments subscriptions.
3.4 REPORT ON IPU MEMBERS AND SITUATION ON
OTHER PARLIAMENTS
3.4.1 The Governing Council approved the request by the
Permanent Conference of Political Parties of Latin America and the Caribbean (COPPPAL) as an IPU observer.
3.5 IPU REGIONAL OFFICES
3.5.1 The Governing Council took note of the progress on
operationalization of the two IPU pilot Regional Offices in Uruguay and Egypt. It was noted that a two-year agreement between Uruguay and the IPU had been signed. The Host countries are expected to meet all costs relating to the running of the offices while the IPU would only render logistical support.
Ultimately, Member Parliaments through their Geopolitical
Groups, may open Regional Offices to foster parliamentary engagements outside the Assembly meetings as well as increase visibility in line with the IPU Communications Strategy.
3.6 IPU TASK FORCE ON THE WAR IN UKRAINE/
MIDDLE EAST QUESTIONS
3.6.1 Regarding the IPU Task Force on the Ukraine-Russia
conflict, the Governing Council noted the progress registered by the Task Force in dealing with the war in Ukraine. Accordingly, the Governing Council resolved to maintain the Task Force.
3.6.2 The Governing Council further resolved that the IPU should
also entrench its presence on other related conflict resolution initiatives by other bodies such as the Geneva Peace Summit being organised to resolve the war in Ukraine.
3.6.3 Similarly, the Governing Council noted and acknowledged
the efforts made by the IPU President following her meetings with authorities from both Palestine and Israel over the conflict in Gaza. To that an extent, the Governing Council resolved to await the detailed report which will be presented by the substantive Committee to the Assembly.
3.7 With regards to the proposed amendments of the IPU Statutes
and Rules, the Governing Council endorsed the establishment of a Sub Committee to scrutinize the various submissions by Member Parliaments and respective Geopolitical Groups. Hon. Nelly Mutii, Speaker of the National Assembly of Zambia will represent the Africa Geopolitical Group on the Sub Committee. The following are highlights of the proposed amendments:
- Gender rotation of the IPU Presidency
- Reduction of the IPU Youth Parliamentarian age from 45 years to 40 years
- Introduction of Portuguese as a working official language of the IPU.
3.8 The Governing Council approved the hosting of the 150th
IPU Assembly and Related Meetings by Uzbekistan from 5th to 9th April 2025. No Member Parliament has expressed interest to Host the 149th Assembly and Related meetings. Accordingly, the Governing Council approved the recommendation by the Executive Committee for this Assembly to be convened in Geneva, the Headquarters of the IPU, ceteris paribus (everything remaining constant).
3.9 The Governing Council resolved that annual meetings of
Women Parliamentarians, similar to the Annual Young Parliamentarians Meetings should be embraced. Additionally, the Governing Council approved the hosting of the Sixth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament scheduled for 2025 in Geneva, Switzerland. Accordingly, the Preparatory Committee for this Conference has since been constituted and will be chaired by the IPU President.
3.10 As is the entrenched practice now, the 2024 Cremer – Passy
Prize will be awarded during the 149th Assembly and related meetings in October 2024. Accordingly, the Governing Council noted that the nomination process is now open. The 2024 prize is open to sitting parliamentarians who are making an outstanding contribution to the defense and promotion of the IPU objectives as well as those who are contributing to a more united, peaceful, sustainable and equitable world. The nominations can be submitted through the Geopolitical Groups and must have two nominees, the substantive and an alternate. The deadline for submissions of nominees is the 30th April 2024.
3.11 The Governing Council took note of the reports of the IPU
Specialised Committees and other bodies including the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians. The Committee examined several cases of alleged human rights violations against Members of Parliaments in fourteen countries including Zimbabwe.
3.11.1The cases before the Committee on Human Rights of
Parliamentarians involve 41 opposition Members of Parliament (22 men and 19 women), 18 of them new and concern Citizens for Coalition of Change Members who were recalled on 14th November 2023. Accordingly, in expressing Zimbabwe’s reservations to the decisions of the Committee on Human Rights of Parliamentarians, Hon. Advocate Mudenda made reference to the detailed response he had submitted to the Committee on Human Rights of Parliamentarians in February 2024. Furthermore, he emphatically stated that the Speaker and the President of the Senate are guided by the legal regime governing the recall of Members of Parliament as pronounced under Section 129 (1)(k) of the Constitution of the Republic of Zimbabwe which stipulates that “The seat of a Member of Parliament becomes vacant if the Member has ceased to belong to the political party which he or she was a member when elected to Parliament and the political party concerned, by written notice to the Speaker or President of the Senate, as the case may be, has declared that the Member has ceased to belong to it.”
In this context, therefore, Speaker Mudenda explained that it is the
political party which is the instigator of the recalls. The Presiding Officers of Parliament are not mandated to investigate internal political party affairs, neither do they interfere in internal issues of political parties.
With regards to the intervention of riot police to bring order to the
House, Hon. Advocate Mudenda clearly articulated the background of the situation, highlighting that he had exercised extreme patience while Members of the opposition continued disrupting the business of the House unabated for two hours fifteen minutes. Accordingly, the police were indeed called in to remove the said Members and bring order to the House. Speaker Mudenda indicated that there were no reports of injuries and no medical reports were tendered to the said Committee to validate the veracity of its report.
Hon. Speaker Mudenda welcomed the proposed Mission to
Zimbabwe provided the Committee on Human Rights of Parliamentarians clearly articulates its terms of reference for consideration by the relevant authorities. Notwithstanding the reservations raised by Speaker Mudenda, the Governing Council endorsed the decisions as presented by the Committee on Human Rights of Parliamentarians.
- EMERGENCY ITEM FOR INCLUSION ON THE
AGENDA OF THE IPU ASSEMBLY
4.1 In line with Assembly Rule 11 of the IPU Statutes which
states that “A request for the inclusion of an emergency item must relate to a recent major situation of international concern on which urgent action by the international community is required and on which it is appropriate for the IPU to express its opinion and mobilise a Parliamentary response”, the Assembly considered three (3) requests for inclusion as an Emergency Item on the Agenda of the IPU 148th Assembly as follows:
- Raising awareness of the International Court of Justice provisional measures for Israel in relation to Palestinians in Gaza and the need for urgent action on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza submitted by South Africa with the support of the Arab Geopolitical Group, Africa Geopolitical Group, Indonesia and Malaysia.
- Call for urgent action regarding the conflict in the Middle East submitted by Denmark, France, Hungary, Ireland, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
- Free, fair and transparent elections without prohibitions: Towards an orderly and peaceful democratic transition in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela submitted by Argentina on behalf of delegations from Argentina, Guyana, Peru and Uruguay.
4.2 Unfortunately, none of the three requests garnered the
statutory two thirds majority vote. Consequently, there was no Emergency Item for debate.
5.0 OFFICIAL OPENING SESSION
5.1 At the request of Rt Hon. Tulia Ackson, President of the IPU,
participants observed a moment of silence in honour of those who had passed on, with particular reference to the iconic statesman, His Excellency Hage Geingob, the late President of the Republic of Namibia, Members of Parliament, victims of global conflicts, victims of gender based violence and those facing violent challenges in their different forms.
5.2 In her remarks to the Assembly, Rt. Hon. Ackson expressed
concern over the alarming rise in global conflicts which threaten peace and stability. In this context, she welcomed the theme of the Assembly which aptly speaks to the founding principles of the IPU as enshrined in Article 1 of the IPU Statutes and Rules. Additionally, the theme of the Assembly provided an opportunity for Member Parliaments to rejuvenate the work of IPU and making it central to global peace building initiatives through dialogue, negotiation and Parliamentary diplomacy.
5.3 Speaking at the same occasion, Mr. Martin Chungong,
Secretary General of the IPU welcomed the return of the IPU Assembly to Geneva, known as the “City of Peace.” Accordingly, he opined that this was particularly relevant as it sent a strong message that the IPU stands for global peace and democracy as strongly expressed in the IPU slogan, “For democracy, for everyone.” He drew Assembly’s attention to the critical role of Parliaments in achieving democracy through creating the appropriate environment as well as engaging in Parliamentary diplomacy. Accordingly, the IPU is, therefore, strategically placed to contribute to ongoing global efforts to restore peace through dialogue and reconciliation processes across geographical, religious, political and racial divide.
5.4 In keeping with its commitment to the inclusion of the youth,
Hon. D. Carden, the IPU President of the Forum of Young Parliamentarians also addressed the Assembly. He noted that in areas of conflict, it is the youth who are recruited to fight but unfortunately the same youths are excluded in times peace. In this regard, he strongly urged decision makers to include young people in peacemaking processes. Furthermore, he advocated for improvements to the diplomatic processes taking into account the geopolitics as well as the operating environment. In concluding his remarks, he opined that peace is the only battle worth waging.
5.5 In the spirit of promoting gender equality, the President of
the Forum of Women Parliamentarians addressed the Assembly. She opined that women should be at the centre of conflict resolution, peace processes and peace keeping missions. She called for the support of women organisations that deal with gender equality, humanitarian needs among other critical organisations.
6.0 THE GENERAL DEBATE
6.1 Following the special opening segment, Presiding Officers
and Parliamentarians reflected on the current global conflicts which have caused great turbulence and instability, threatening peace and international security. Speakers condemned the rising conflicts particularly in the Middle East, Ukraine/Russia conflict, conflicts in Mozambique and the DRC as well as coups in some parts of Africa. It was noted that these conflicts have a global impact and accordingly there is need for concerted and collective response to achieve peace and sustainable development. In line with the founding principles of the IPU, Speakers’ called for dialogue, negotiations and parliamentary diplomacy to resolve the current challenges.
6.2 In his address to the Assembly, Hon. Speaker Mudenda
welcomed the Assembly’s theme, “PARLIAMENTARY DIPLOMACY: BUILDING BRIDGES FOR PEACE AND UNDERSTANDING” which is in tandem with the United Nations Charter’s trajectory for peace and security among its sovereign states as provided for in Article 2 of the Charter and well as Article 1 (2) of the IPU Statutes and Rules which underscore peaceful resolution of global conflicts.
6.2.1 In the spirit of peaceful resolution of conflict, Hon. Advocate
Mudenda shared how the SADC Parliamentary Forum had exercised parliamentary diplomacy by calling for the intervention of the SADC Summit to curtail the insurgent conflict in Northern Mozambique and the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Accordingly, the SADC Summit had reacted positively in the spirit of collective self-defense.
6.2.3 In welcoming the establishment of the IPU Taskforce on the
Ukraine-Russia conflict, Speaker Mudenda underscored the need for sustained efforts in resolving the conflict which has resulted in internationally imported inflation and disrupted supply chains of goods and services in Africa as well as Europe.
6.2.3 In the same vein, Hon. Advocate Mudenda called for urgent
action in the resolution of the Middle East conflict, more so now as the world is witnessing the calamitous annihilation of Palestinian lives and colossal infrastructure destruction.
6.2.4 Hon. Speaker Mudenda, accordingly, called on the IPU to
foster the spirit of parliamentary diplomacy and dialogue and rise to the occasion in resolving global conflicts. He concluded by affirming that no war ends war as was the case in the First and Second World Wars.
6.3 At the conclusion of the General Debate, the Assembly
adopted the Geneva Declaration which called for peace and security in all the areas of conflict by exercising diplomacy, negotiations and dialogue.
7.0 FORUM OF WOMEN PARLIAMENTARIANS
7.1 In order to contribute to the work of the Assembly, women
Parliamentarians examined, from a gender perspective, the draft resolution of the Standing Committee on Peace and International Security entitled, “Addressing the social and humanitarian impact of autonomous weapon systems and artificial intelligence (AI).” The discussions focused on the need for national laws, policies and international instruments to regulate military AI systems and autonomous weapons, including from a gender perspective.
7.2 Additionally, the Forum of Women Parliamentarians held a
panel discussion on “Women peacebuilders advancing sustainable peace.” Participants discussed how Parliamentarians can improve the implementation of the women, peace and security agenda and work with women peacebuilders to promote inclusive and gender sensitive processes that are more likely to lead to sustainable peace. The discussions underpinned the criticality of inclusion of women on an equal footing, in peace processes, peacekeeping, peacebuilding and security efforts.
8.0 FORUM OF YOUNG PARLIAMENTARIANS
8.1 The President of the IPU, Hon. Tulia Ackson delivered the
opening remarks and stated that the voices of the youth are the bridge between governments and the people.
8.2 She further expressed her desire to advance inclusivity and
embracing youth participation for sustainable development. Hon. Ackson also reiterated that youth should be involved in advocating for the protection of women and children during warfare.
8.3 She concluded her remarks by expressing her readiness for a
strategic partnership with the youth in enhancing their participation in global parliamentary processes.
8.4 As Member Parliaments shared their parliamentary best
practices on youth participation, Hon. N. Madzara, provided Zimbabwe’s progress in youth participation highlighting the following key issues:
- The implementation of the youth quota in Parliament with effect from August 2023 where 10 seats in Parliament were allocated to the youth under 35 years;
- An increased number of young Members of Parliament at 40%. Additionally, there has also been an increase in number of young Zimbabwean Ministers from 4 to 11;
- Parliament of Zimbabwe established a Youth Caucus which advocates for the need to address the concerns of the youths; and
- The Government continues to support the youth through various initiatives including creation of youth desks in various Ministries. This has undoubtedly contributed to increased political awareness by encouraging youth to have an active interest in Zimbabwe’s democratic processes.
9.0 STANDING COMMITTEE ON DEMOCRACY AND
HUMAN RIGHTS
9.1 The UNESCO Representative, Mr. Prateek Sibal, highlighted
that while (Al) presents potential benefits to humanity, recent major advances in AI and its rapid application across political, economic and social spheres also presents immediate threats to democracy, human rights and the rule of law. Parliaments have a critical role to play in ensuring that appropriate legislation is enacted to regulate AI systems.
9.2 He further highlighted the following AI Regulatory
Approaches:
- Should be Principles Based in accordance with international guidelines;
- The regulatory framework should be Standards Based by allowing private organisations to self-regulate based on industry standards;
- Should have Agile Frameworks;
- Must be risk-based by preventing problems and controlling risks associated with AI which infringe on human rights and freedoms;
- Must Command and Control through Mandatory standards of conduct backed by criminal sanctions
9.3 Mr. Sibal also provided the following AI best practices and
recommendations:
- Identify specific challenges and diagnose them;
- Understand the lifecycle of the regulated technologies;
- Consider diverse regulatory tools ranging from persuasion to coercion;
- Participatory planning process that effectively include diverse voices and perspectives; and
- Monitoring the results and impacts of regulations.
9.4 The preparatory debate provided an opportunity for all
Member Parliaments to express their opinion on the issues to be included in the draft resolution which will be examined and finalised at the 149th Assembly of the IPU in October 2024.
10.0 PANEL DISCUSSION ON INTERFAITH DIALOGUE:
BUILDING BRIDGES THROUGH INTERFAITH DIALOGUE FOR MORE PEACEFUL AND INCLUSIVE SOCIETIES.
10.1 In his opening remarks, the Senior Advisor to the IPU
Secretary General, Ambassador Mokhtar Omar, bemoaned continued religious violence which undermine the current conversations around interfaith dialogue.
10.2 Furthermore, he emphasized that Parliamentarians should
enact legislation that enhances peaceful co-existence.
10.3 In the same vein, a Professor Masturah bint Obaid Al-Shamri
from the Shura Council of Saudi Arabia, underscored the need for a lasting solution to peaceful coexistence guided by appropriate legal framework. Furthermore, she commended the work of King Hamad Global Center for Peaceful coexistence in Bahrain, which provides a model framework for peaceful co-existence.
10.4 Hon. Karikoga, shared the Zimbabwe’s experiences
highlighting that Zimbabwe does not have an official religion, rather the country is tolerant of all religions which are equally protected by the law. He further cited Chapter Four (4) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, on Bill of Rights, whose section 56 (3) provides that, “every person has the right not to be treated in an unfairly discriminatory manner on such grounds as their nationality, race, colour, tribe, place of birth, ethnic or social origin, language, class, religious belief, ….” their religious belief, among others.”
10.5 Hon. Karikoga concluded his contribution by concurring on
the need for a strong legal framework that protects all religions which encourage peaceful coexistence.
11.0 OUTCOMES OF THE 148TH ASSEMBLY OF THE IPU
AND RELATED MEETINGS
11.1 GENEVA DECLARATION ON PARLIAMENTARY
DIPLOMACY: BUILDING BRIDGES FOR PEACE AND UNDERSTANDING:
11.1.1 At its closing sitting, the 148th Assembly adopted the
GENEVA DECLARATION ON PARLIAMENTARY DIPLOMACY: BUILDING BRIDGES FOR PEACE AND UNDERSTANDING. The Declaration acknowledged the rising global conflicts with the increasing threat of a new global arms race and the need for shared global commitment to building a resilient foundation for lasting peace rooted in upholding human rights and democratic principles. Accordingly, the IPU reaffirmed its commitment to parliamentary diplomacy to address the growing challenges to peace and international security.
11.1.2 In this context, the Geneva Declaration condemned all
human rights violations arising during conflict as well as all breaches of basic rules, principles and core tenets of international law. Parties to armed conflicts should strictly adhere to the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols without exceptions.
11.1.3 Furthermore, the Geneva Declaration acknowledges the link
between peace and development. Accordingly, conflicts affect the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Governments and Parliaments should, therefore, tackle the underlying causes of conflicts rooted in economic inequality and discrimination against some groups.
11.1.4 In view of the forthcoming UN Summit of the Future
scheduled for September 2024, the Geneva Declaration called on Member Parliaments to help advance UN reform and to further strengthen the parliamentary dimension of the work of the UN.
11.2 Resolution entitled “ADDRESSING THE SOCIAL AND
HUMANITARIAN IMPACT OF AUTONOMOUS WEAPON SYSTEMS AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.”
11.2.1The 148th Assembly of the IPU also adopted the resolution
entitled “ADDRESSING THE SOCIAL AND HUMANITARIAN IMPACT OF AUTONOMOUS WEAPON SYSTEMS AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.” The resolution stressed the need to study an international regulatory framework for AI so as to regulate the harmful use of this technology. Additionally, the Resolution acknowledged the significant role of Parliaments in raising awareness on the social, humanitarian, legal and ethical implications in the use of Autonomous Weapon Systems (AWS) and in supporting Governments with input to draft the text for an instrument to regulate such systems.
11.2.2 In this context, Parliaments were called upon to develop
comprehensive legislation to establish regulatory frameworks in governing the development, deployment and use of AWS once there is an internationally agreed definition of AWS.
11.2.3 Parliaments were further called upon to play a crucial role in holding governments accountable regarding AWS by ensuring quality in their governance, notably regarding the imperative of retaining human control over the use of force and transparency in their design, development, operation, regulation as well as oversight so as to trigger concrete action by governments and society at large.
11.3 Resolution entitled “PARTNERSHIPS FOR CLIMATE
ACTION: PROMOTING ACCESS TO AFFORDABLE GREEN ENERGY, AND ENSURING INNOVATION, RESPONSIBILITY AND EQUITY.”
The 148th Assembly of the IPU also adopted the Resolution
entitled “PARTNERSHIPS FOR CLIMATE ACTION: PROMOTING ACCESS TO AFFORDABLE GREEN ENERGY, AND ENSURING INNOVATION, RESPONSIBILITY AND EQUITY.” The Resolution, therefore, called on Parliaments to:
11.3.1 Take stronger climate action by implementing the IPU climate change tools such as the 10 actions for greener parliaments, to align their work with greening initiatives, to take greater part in NDC processes and to call for more ambitious climate action plans and goals that focus on people-centered and community-led adaptation as well as just and equitable energy transition at all levels;
- Cooperate with the public and private sectors to create a
conducive environment for investing in clean energy technologies and infrastructure, capacity-building and technology transfer and development as well as to promote greater public-private partnership at the regional and international level, and to deliver a more people-centered energy transition and climate-resilient development for all;
- Urge their governments to work towards facilitating
access to low-cost financing for developing countries, for existing as well as new and emerging clean and sustainable energy technologies in order to support just and sustainable energy transitions;
- Encourage the inclusion of the vulnerable groups,
particularly the youth and women in all climate change negotiation and processes.
- Motion on the Reform of the United Nations Security Council
11.4.1 In the context of diminishing trust in the UN multilateral
system, the Committee expressed deep concern over the current stalemate at the UN, where reform of the Security Council has been on the agenda for decades without any traction.
11.4.2 Accordingly, the Committee called upon each IPU Member
Parliaments to:
- Engage its Government leadership and its Permanent Representatives to the United Nations to advocate for that reform;
- To obtain regular updates from the respective Foreign Affairs Ministries regarding proposals for reforming the Security Council as well as progress made in this regard;
- Demand that the reform process is undertaken democratically, inclusively and transparently, and with an eye to the Summit of the Future in September 2024 as a decisive turning point;
- Prepare for the ratification of UN Security Council reform, pursuant to any final General Assembly approval and in accordance with national procedures; and
- Engage in parliamentary processes, such as debates, committee hearings and resolutions, to influence the intergovernmental process leading up to the Summit of the Future in order to ensure that the voices of parliamentarians are reflected in its outcome document, the Pact for the Future.
11.5 IPU Leadership Statement on the Situation in Gaza.
11.5.1In view of the worsening situation in Gaza, the IPU
leadership issued a Leadership Statement which called for urgent action to alleviate the suffering of the people in the region, including women, children and the elderly, who have been caught up in the conflict. Accordingly, the Statement called for: -
- An immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
- The immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.
- The relevant authorities on all sides to expand the flow of essential humanitarian aid to reach those in need in Gaza.
11.5.2 Furthermore, the Statement condemned all forms of violence against civilians and stressed the need to respect international humanitarian law by the belligerents.
11.5.3 Recognising the critical role of the IPU in pronouncing itself in international events, Hon. Speaker Mudenda disabused the IPU Leadership Statement as he opined that any statement on the situation in Gaza should have the authority of the Assembly. Accordingly, the statement should have reflected this key aspect.
12.0 CLOSING CEREMONY
12.1 The Chairpersons of the six (6) Geopolitical Groups of the
IPU addressed the Assembly during the closing ceremony. Of note is the shared concern in the rising global conflicts which have a devastating impact on civilians, particularly the most vulnerable being women and children. They expressed commitment towards advancement of conflict resolution anchored on dialogue, negotiations and parliamentary diplomacy.
12.2 Addressing the same occasion, Mr. Martin Chungong, the
IPU Secretary General, applauded Member Parliaments for the constructive engagements which resulted in the adoption of a wealth of outcomes and recommendations. He reiterated the IPU’s commitment to the climate change agenda. To that an extent, all Assembly documents were readily accessible on digital platforms. In view of the forthcoming 135th Anniversary of the IPU, Mr. Chungong encouraged Member Parliaments to enhance the founding values of the IPU through embarking on peace initiatives in their regions.
12.4 Finally, Rt. Hon. Ackson congratulated all delegates for the
successful Assembly which sent a strong message on the need for global peace and security to the international community, including the United Nations and its agencies, Non-Governmental Organisations and multilateral stakeholders, of the IPU’s reinvigorated resolve to placing the IPU at the centre of global peace building initiatives through dialogue, negotiation, and parliamentary diplomacy.
13.0 RECOMMENDATIONS
13.1 The delegation once again calls on the Youth Caucus to
spearhead the launch of “I SAY YES TO YOUTH IN PARLIAMENT CAMPAIGN.” This movement has gained traction among IPU Member Parliaments where it has been successfully launched.
13.2 The Portfolio Committee on Foreign Affairs and
International Trade to spearhead engagements with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade on the required action on UN reforms. Additionally, the same Committee to initiate discussions and debate in the House on the UN reforms.
13.3 Parliament of Zimbabwe should be incorporated into the
National delegation attending the Summit of the Future slated for September 2024 in New York, United States of America.
13.4 The SDG 16, more than any other SDG, relates to parliament
as the key institution of governance in every country. In this regard, Parliament is urged to enhance public engagement and inclusion in parliamentary processes through activities such as public hearings, responding to petitions and information dissemination, among others.
The setting up of Parliamentary Constituency Information Centers is a welcome development which should be expedited to enhance Parliament’s visibility at Constituency level to enhance Public participation in Parliamentary processes, especially by employing digital technologies.
13.6 Issues of climate change remain relevant and requiring urgent
action. In this regard parliament is urged to take stronger climate action by implementing the IPU climate change tools, such as the 10 actions for greener parliaments, to align their work with greening initiatives and to call for more ambitious climate action plans and goals that focus on people-centered and community-led adaptation as well as advancing just and equitable energy transition at all levels through the relevant portfolio and thematic committees.
14.0 CONCLUSION
14.1 The delegation once again encourages relevant Committees
to implement, to the extent possible, the resolutions of the 148th Assembly. Implementation of resolutions gives credence to Parliament of Zimbabwe’s participation in the IPU Assemblies and its related meetings.
14.2 The Delegation tenders its profound gratitude to the
Government of Zimbabwe and to Parliament for affording it the opportunity to represent Zimbabwe at such high-profile statutory meetings of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
HON. SEN. CHIEF MTSHANE KHUMALO: Thank you for giving me this opportunity in support of the report of the 148th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union that was raised by Hon. Senator Muzenda.
Mr. President Sir, following the spirit of the special opening segment, Presiding Officers and Parliamentarians reflected on the current global conflict which has caused great turbulence and instability, threatening peace and international security. Speakers condemned the rising conflicts particularly in the Middle East, Russia/Ukraine and conflicts in DRC and Mozambique. In line with the founding principles of IPU, Speakers called for dialogue, negotiations and parliamentary diplomacy to resolve the current challenges.
In his address to the Assembly, Hon. Speaker Adv. Mudenda welcomed the Assembly’s theme which was ‘Parliamentary diplomacy, building bridges and peace and understanding’ which is in tandem with the United Nations Charter trajectory for peace and security among its sovereign States as provided for in Article 2 of the Charter as well as Articles 1 and 2 of the IPU statutes.
In the spirit of resolutions of conflict, Hon. Adv. Mudenda shared how SADC Parliamentary Forum had exercised parliamentary diplomacy by calling for its interventions on the SADC Summit to curtail the insurgence conflict in Northern Mozambique and the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
In welcoming the establishment of IPU taskforce which was established at that conference on the Ukraine/Russia conflict, the Speaker underscored the need for sustained efforts to resolving the conflict which has resulted in internationally imported inflation and disputed supply chains of goods and services in Africa as well as in Europe.
In the same vein, Mr. President Sir, Hon. Mudenda called for urgent action in the resolution of the Middle East conflict. Also, now as the world is witnessing the calamitous annihilation of Palestine lives and colossal infrastructure destruction.
Only Forum for Women Parliamentarians were among others present at that forum. In order to contribute to the work of the Assembly, women representatives examined, from a gender perspective, a draft resolution on the Standing Committee on Peace and International Security entitled ‘Addressing the social and humanitarian impact on atomic weapon system and artificial intelligence’. The discussions focused on the need for national laws, policies and international instruments to regulate military systems and atomic weapons, including from the gender perspective.
There was also, Mr. President, a forum for young parliamentarians. The President of the IPU, Hon. Tulia Ackson, delivered the opening remarks and stated that the voices of the youth are a bridge between Government and the people. She further expressed the desire to advance inclusive and embracing remarks and stated that the voices of the youth are the bridge between Government and the people. If further expressed, it is desired to advance inclusive and embracing remarks and stated that the voices of the youth are the bridge between Government and the people, an embarrassing youth participation for sustainable development. It also stated that youths should be involved in advocating for protection of women and children during welfare.
On the increase of young Members of Parliament, it was stated that at least they are at 40% now. Additionally, there has been an increase in the number of youth Ministers in Zimbabwe. It has increased from four to eleven. It was further highlighted that at regular approaches, there should be principles based in accordance with international guidelines. The regular framework should be standard, based on allowing private organisations to self-regulate on industry standards. There should be ideal frameworks.
There must also be provision for the best practice and recommendations to identify specific challenges and diagnose them to understand the lifestyle of the regulated technologies, to consider diverse regulatory tools ranging from privatisation to cohesion, participation planning processes and effectively include diverse voices, perspective and monitoring of results and impact of regulations. In his opening remarks, the Senior Advisor to IPU Secretary General Ambassador, Mokhtar Omar bemoaned the continued religious violence which undermines the current conversations around interface realm.
Furthermore, he emphasised that parliamentarians should enact legislation that enhances peaceful coexistence. Hon. Karikoga shared the Zimbabwean experience highlighting that Zimbabwe does not have an official religion. Rather, the country is tolerant of all religions which are equally protected by the law.
He further cited Chapter 4 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe on Bills of rights whose Section 56 (3) provides that every person has the right not to be treated in an unfairly discriminatory manner on such grounds as their nationality, race, colour, tribe, place of birth, ethics and social origin, language, class and religious beliefs among others. Hon. Karikoga concluded his contribution by concurring on the need for strong legal framework that protect all religions which encourage peaceful co-existence. With those few words Mr. President, thank you so much.
*HON. SEN. MAVENYENGWA: Thank you President of the Senate for this time that you have given to me to add my voice on the report that was presented By Hon. Senator Muzenda, seconded by Hon. Senator Chief Mtshane-Khumalo when they went to Geneva in Switzerland. First of all, I would want to express my happiness on the issue that was mentioned in this House that the Speaker of the National Assembly, Hon. J. F. Mudenda when he got to the IPU, he was recognised that he is someone who was exercising his duties diligently and he was rewarded with a medal for that. We congratulate our Speaker of the National Assembly for representing Zimbabwe effectively at the IPU.
I would also want to congratulate the Speaker of the Parliament of Tanzania, Madam Tulia Ackson who was nominated as Speaker of the National Assembly. Tanzania is a country which also works hand in hand with us in SADC. She was selected to be the President of the IPU. She is a woman who was recognised and nominated. This shows that worldwide, women are also being recognised and that they have the potential to be in charge.
There are two issues that I want to mention today. The first issue is the emergency item which was mentioned by Hon. Senator Muzenda. This issue was raised by a South African MP. This has to deal with the conflict between Israel and Pakistan. I was disappointed because this issue was not debated since they failed to make the required quorum. This shows us that people that encourage conflict and wars between States, I suspect that in this issue they might have intervened and made sure that in the IPU Conference, there will not be a quorum so that the issues might not be debated.
As Zimbabwe, with our President, His Excellency President E. D. Mnangagwa, he mentioned that when people have conflicts in Zimbabwe, people should sit down and resolve their differences and live in peace. If we look at issues that happen in Gaza, people are perishing day in and day out. Children are dying, women are dying, the old people are perishing. Children are dying, women are dying and the aged are dying. This shows on its own that this was supposed to be discussed and debated in the IPU conference. This could have been made possible that it will be transferred to the United Nations (UN) and even other nations that are in conflict could have the chance to hear and to take heed to the instructions and make sure that this war ends and we preserve the sanity of human life.
The fact that this issue was not debated, the vision of the IPU is no longer recognised. We encourage that if it was possible, this war was supposed to end because it is causing a lot of destruction of property which affects development and people are dying. Others are becoming crippled, children are being orphaned and others are losing their children. Children are failing to attend schools as it is right now. Every proper channel of life would have been staggered and issues that we read in newspapers and on the television, say even those that provide food aid and first aid are now facing challenges in delivering food because the war is continuously pressing and they are failing to support the people in the affected regions.
I am saying that the war in the Gaza region should be stopped so that people can discuss and resolve this issue. We expedite this issue and people sit down to resolve the conflict. If those super power countries which have the power to cause this conflict to end, I have decided to mention this issue because it is something that really touched me and they failed to discuss this issue at the IPU conference and we are really hurt about the perishing of people in this region.
Mr. President, there is a second issue that I want to talk about, that the IPU is really doing amicably is promoting gender equality. We first saw that the President of the IPU is a woman. This shows that since it is an International Board, it is leading by example that gender equality is supposed to be applauded and promoted. Looking at this, I saw that in our country Zimbabwe, we are also leading in promoting this equality and especially, even looking in this very same House, the Senate, we are being led by a woman, Madam President, Hon. M. M. Chinomona. This shows that our country Zimbabwe recognises the importance of equality between women and men in proving equal opportunities between both genders.
Even looking at the National Assembly, we also noticed that our Government has made it possible that we have female Members of Parliament, women’s quota MPs who are more than sixty who just come to the Senate for being voted for. This shows that they just want to promote women so that we can promote the number of women to be equal to those of men in the National Assembly. I want to applaud the President and his Government for such a positive movement.
Looking at the women’s quota, it has exhausted its two terms that it was first given but considering that women had not reached a certain position where they can stand against men, especially in these campaigning and politicking gimmicks, there are a lot of issues which I can refer to as dirty games which happen. Most of the times, women are not able to survive in such an environment. They have another responsibility to make sure that the children have been fed and the husband well-catered for whilst men can stay out till midnight because they have no issues that have to do with home chores. The President recognised that there is an issue and extended the women’s quota term and hence, it continued up to this time.
Here in Zimbabwe, we are promoting equal opportunities between men and women. Even in ministries, we witnessed that there are female ministers who exercise the same roles as men. Here, we have our Minister of State, Hon. Senator Munzverengwi who is the Provincial Minister of Mashonaland East. This is the same as other women who are provincial ministers showing that our Government is gender sensitive on issues that pertain to providing equal opportunities between the gender divide.
The other issue that I want to comment on, that was mentioned by another Member and which is not pleasing is that if we have our challenges as a country, or other things that we do not agree on, we encourage that those issues be resolved internally. We have our internal issues being discussed at IPU, Europe, America and Asia, but when these are carried to international fora, they change and blame the Speaker and Government whilst these issues are within political parties. If there are issues like people recalling each other, they should resolve them within their political settings not to tarnish the image of the Speaker because his task is to read what has been presented before him. If he was given and failed to read, the Constitution of Zimbabwe would condemn him for incompetency because he would have failed to perform his task.
I feel that these issues were not supposed to be carried to international parliaments and bodies, but be resolved within as they are issues within a political party not an international issue. Each and every political party has its own problems. Even here, we have different parties; we have ZANU PF which does not interfere with what happens in other political parties, but you hear people saying people in ZANU PF are interfering in our political affairs while you are doing your own issues. It is something that is really disappointing that people can carry such trivial issues within their parties to international fora.
We also witnessed this in the Ninth Parliament when we were in the IPU and a party wanted to introduce an issue which had happened in their home town. They were given statutes which documented what was supposed to be discussed within the parliament. Our standing rules allow the Speaker to deal within his powers. I see that as parliamentarians, we are supposed to know that if we have issues that are challenging within our political parties, we have to address these issues within and not publicly blame each other. We are not supposed to blame people that are not at fault. I felt that I cannot sit down before mentioning this issue because this will continue and people end up saying we are not a free country and there is no order, whilst our country is free and we are exercising democracy to the maximum.
We allow people to do whatever they want within their political parties and organisations. We are not tasked to interfere within political parties. With these few words, I thank the team that went to the IPU and we will take a lot from this report and carry it on, including the recommendations that as Zimbabwe, we should take this and also improve our country encouraging development within our country. I thank you.
HON. SEN. MUZENDA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. CHIEF MTSHANE: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 11th June, 2024.
MOTION
CONGRATULATORY MESSAGES TO HON. SEN. CHIEF CHARUMBIRA ON ASSUMPTION OF THE PRESIDENCY OF PAP
Ninth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion that a congratulatory message be convey to Hon. Sen Chief Charumbira on his ascendance to the President of the Pan African Parliament.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. CHAPFUDZA: Thank Mr. President for giving me the opportunity that I also give a congratulatory message to Hon. Sen. Chief Charumbira for his ascendance to the position of being the leader of the Pan African Parliament (PAP). His ascendance to that position is an achievement of Zimbabwe. It is our achievement and we are proud and happy that we have got one of our own who is leading a board in this continent. We would like to congratulate him with that regard – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] -
We understand that when Parliaments sit, they make laws for good governance as we do in Zimbabwe that everything we are doing here is for the good of our people. As to the PAP, it is has the helm of the leadership of Chief Charumbira. We expect the good to come out of that Parliament that will make Africa happy. We are expecting a lot of changes and solutions to be delivered to the continent of Africa. For we know that occupying such a great position does not just come but it comes with responsibilities. So we know that our chief being the head of the PAP, there are a lot of things, redoes and mysteries which need to be unpacked for the good of the African continent. Africa is at an attack as we are right now. Culturally, the culture of Africa, that is the values and the norms are under attack. The Western culture is overlapping or covering up the African culture. We are seeing it now dominating. I think the ascendence of Chief Charumbira coming from a Christian country like Zimbabwe, is helping the restoration of our culture so that we live in an Africa that we are proud of. We want to be proud Africans. As PAP, whatever it does should show some Africanness in it. Mr. President, if we look at the European culture, it is like it is now allowing men to marry another men and women other women of which those values in Zimbabwe, we are not agreed to that. The ascendency of Chief Charumbira if you go and stand firm and proclaim that Africans have got the background and understanding of Christian values, we do not subscribe to men marring another men and women marring another woman in our continent. We know that from the beginning, God made the man and woman for a purpose and because we are Christian country, we cannot divert form those values. We know that some of these Western countries they sponsor such activities to happen in our midst. We cannot stand that law and become that so that we can follow whatever they believe. We believe in God and we believe in God’s values. It needs a leader who can stand firm because they will be a lot of money given to some of your leaders to have an uprising against our leader but we are just encouraging our Chief to be bold and stand his ground. This position has got a lot of temptations but from where we are coming from Zimbabwe, we do not believe in such cultures that I was talking about.
As a leader Chief Charumbira we are congratulating him that the way you are going, go and outline clearly the African agenda. What is the African agenda? The African agenda we are looking at an Africa which is peaceful, an Africa where we do not hear guns. So with that position, go and advocate for the silencing of guns in DRC, Sudan and Nigeria. We need a peaceful Africa which can propel economic growth. We would like our Chief in that position to lead Africa to know that of course, disputes arise but the way we solve them is that we should use dialogue, tolerance and forgiveness. Let us not allow infiltrators to destabilise Africa. A united Africa is good for economic growth. The African agenda is to see Africa processing its own resources. In this Parliament we are expecting our Chief to lead this Parliament to discuss issues of value addition to our resources. We can be a world class economy in Africa if we do value addition to our resources. Let us stop just giving these western countries our resources then we are left with pits. I was imagining this Pan Africanism – I took it so simple to a pan that we use in our homes; are we eating from the pan on fire or we are the ones that are inside the pan being fried? Let us think about that.
Africa has got a vast track of land but Africa is starving. We want our Hon. Chief who has been appointed to that position to discuss issues that we grow our own food; provide for our nation; we process our own food and we eat our own food. We cannot claim to be an Africa that is not independence whilst we are begging for food - there is no independence like that. – [HON. SENATORS: Hear, hear.] –
There are also issues of drug abuse. Drugs are being shipped to Africa and the youths of Africa who are the future of Africa are being weakened. So, issues like that should also be discussed extensively in that Parliament so that Africa can tackle drug abuse. Africa is in need of leadership and not just seat occupiers, it needs leadership that can stand boldly and say, awake to Africa, awake Africa because Africa is still sleeping. So, the Pan African body is a body that when led by a competent leader, it can take us somewhere. We do not want to be counted amongst poor continents. We are the owners of these resources that we have in Africa, let us exploit them and use them for the growth of Africa.
Other leaders occupy leadership positions for enrichment but we are saying to our Hon. Sen. Chief, go there and show a difference. Let the history of Africa be not be completed without including the name Hon. Sen. Chief Charumbira in it – [HON. SENATORS: Hear, hear.] - Let it be recorded in the history of Africa that it came to pass that at a certain time, there was a Chief Charumbira who was the leader of the Pan African Parliament who did this and that. So, we are encouraging our chief to go and do greater things and put our country on the map.
In Africa, we have got the power to define our own destiny. Let us stand and protect our values. We are aware that to stand and protect your values and stand for the truth is not easy, some of your colleagues will betray you. Mr. President, I urge Hon. Sen. Chief Charumbira to understand that there will be betrayal in that seat but let him be bold – some people were killed because of advocating for the truth. Europe still has interests in Africa, but let us not look at their interest and look at our own interest as Africans. What is it that is good for us?
I am also very disheartened by the issue that most international conventions are not held in Africa. People still have to travel to Switzerland, Europe and other international places to attend those conventions. You see, sometimes our leaders are looked down upon – you will at times, see our President addressing empty chairs. I do not think that if those conventions are held in Africa that would happen – it will not happen like that. So, I think that we should now originate some of the treaties that we signed to. We should not be called to come to sit at the dining table and be asked to sign but we should also tell them if you want resources, we have these conditions, of which you do not toe the line because you are not going to get them. So, I think that it is high time Africa defines its own destination and be its own destiny. We should not just be cheer leaders in the world cake but should be amongst others sharing equally.
I think there is need of a strong currency in Africa. So, Chief Charumbira with the position that he now holds, we need a strong African currency in an African banking institution so that we will not be relying on these western institutions that at the end of the day will be manipulating us.
Mr. President, we need a united Africa. When Ghana attained its independence, Kwame Nkrumah was the leader in 1957. He said that the independence of Ghana meant nothing when the whole of Africa was being colonised. He was talking of a united Africa that would bring desired change and results to the African continent. I would, therefore, urge our chief that when you are in that position, let us not be separated by ethnicity, colour and creed, let us not be divided by religion. Let us cherish those diversities, those differences.
Mr. President, I would also like to say that in that position, Africa is lagging behind in terms of infrastructure. What is now happening in Zimbabwe is, we are seeing a great change; a move towards developing our roads and industries. I also think that in that position, Chief Charumbira should champion the issue of infrastructure development because we cannot talk of the economic growth without infrastructure. The economy grows where there is infrastructure. He should champion that in the Pan Africa Parliament.
Mr. President, we have diamonds, oil and other resources that should benefit us in Africa but instead of these resources benefiting us, they are the cause of turmoil, wars and instability. Instead of our resources being a blessing to us, they are now causing wars. So, I will revert to the point of infiltration; Europe’s eyes are still on Africa. Let us jealously guard our Africa.
So, I say thank you and congratulations Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira for assuming that position. You have a lot of work to do. I would also like to thank the Hon. Senators who are listening to me. Thank you also Mr. President for giving me this opportunity.
THE TEMPORY PRESIDENT OF SENATE (HON. SEN. KAMBIZI): Thank you very much Hon. Senator Chapfudza for the various pieces of advice to our own Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira. At the same time, let me thank you as well for your congratulatory messages.
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR MASHONALAND EAST PROVINCE (HON. SEN. MUNZVERENGWI): Thank you Mr. President. I move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 12th June, 2024.
MOTION
ESTABLISHMENT OF PUBLIC HEMODIALYSIS FACILITIES IN DISTRICTS
Tenth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the treatment of chronic kidney disease in Zimbabwe.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. MLOTSHWA: Mr. President, I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. S. MOYO: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 12th June, 2024.
MOTION
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO ZUPCO AND PRIVATE TRANSPORT OPERATORS
Eleventh Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the inadequacy of public transport in the country.
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR MASHONALAND EAST PROVINCE (HON. SEN. MUNZVERENGWI): I move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 12th June, 2024.
MOTION
PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT SERVICES FOR TEENAGE MOTHERS
Twelfth Order read: Adjourned debate on the motion on the effects of teenage pregnancy.
Question again proposed.
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR MASHONALAND EAST PROVINCE (HON. SEN. MUNZVERENGWI): Mr. President, I move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 12th June, 2024.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE DELEGATION TO THE 80TH SESSION OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE AND THE 45TH CONFERENCE OF APU HELD IN COTE D’IVOIRE
Thirteenth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the report of the delegation to the 80th Session of the Executive Committee and 45th Conference of the African Parliamentary Union (APU).
Question again proposed.
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR MASHONALAND EAST PROVINCE (HON. SEN. MUNZVERENGWI): Mr. President I move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 12th June, 2024.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE DELEGATION ON THE ELECTION OBSERVATION MISSION TO RUSSIA
Fourteenth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the report of the delegation on the Election Observation Mission to Russia on Russian Presidential Elections.
Question again proposed.
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR MASHONALAND EAST PROVINCE (HON. SEN. MUNZVERENGWI): I move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 12th June, 2024.
MOTION
MOBILE BIRTH REGISTRATION EXERCISE
Fifteenth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the challenges faced by people living in the border areas on issuance of birth certificates.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. R. M. NDLOVU: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. MAVENYENGWA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 12th June, 2024.
MOTION
PRESIDENTIAL SPEECH: DEBATE ON ADDRESS
Sixteenth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion in reply to the Presidential Speech.
Question again proposed.
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR MASHONALAND EAST PROVINCE (HON. SEN. MUNZVERENGWI): Mr. President, I move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 12th June, 2024.
On the motion of THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR MASHONALAND EAST PROVINCE (HON. SEN. MUNZVERENGWI), Senate adjourned at Seventeen Minutes past Four o’clock p.m.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Thursday, 30th May, 2024
The Senate met at Half-past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE
APOLOGIES RECEIVED FROM MINISTERS
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Today is Thursday and in terms of our Standing Orders, we start off with Questions Without Notice. Before we go to Questions Without Notice, I do have a very long list of Ministers who have tendered apologies and it is as follows: Hon. Prof. M. Ncube, Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion; Hon. K. D. Mnangagwa, Deputy Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion; Hon. F. Shava, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade; Hon. S. Chikomo, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade; Hon. B. Rwodzi, Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry; Hon. T. Mnangagwa, Deputy Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry; Hon. K. Kazembe, Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage; Hon. C. Sanyatwe, Deputy Minister Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage; Hon. W. Chitando, Minister of Mines and Mining Development; Hon. P. Kambamura, Deputy Minister of Mines and Mining Development; Hon. E. Moyo, Minister of Energy and Power Development; Hon. W. Simbanegavi, Deputy Minister of Energy and Power Development; Hon. S. Nyoni, Minister of Environment, Climate and Wildlife; Hon. O. C. Z. Muchinguri-Kashiri, Minister of Defence; Hon. D. Garwe, Minister of Local Government and Public Works; Hon. T. Mavetera, Minister of Information, Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services; Hon. T. Moyo, Minister of Primary and Secondary Education; Hon. Z. Soda, Minister of National Housing and Social Amenities; Hon. F. Mhona, Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development; Hon. J. Masuka, Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement; Hon. Haritatos, Deputy Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement; Hon. R. Modi, Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce; Hon. O. Marupi, Deputy Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services; Hon. S. Sibanda, Deputy Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development; Hon. J. Mhlanga, Deputy Minister of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development; Hon. E. Jesaya, Deputy Minister of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture and Hon. O. Mazungunye, Deputy Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs.
Those who are present, it is a small team. Hon. Prof. Murwira, Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development; Hon. Phuti, Deputy Minister of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services; Hon. Mavunga, Minister of Veterans of the Liberation Struggle Affairs. It is not an ideal situation. Can we start with these three? Hopefully some will join us.
ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTION WITHOUT NOTICE
HON. SEN. SHIRI: Thank you very much Mr. President. My question is directed to the Hon. Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education Hon. Prof. Murwira. What is Heritage 5. 0 based curriculum? May you educate this House what it is all about?
THE MINISTER OF HIGHER AND TERTIARY EDUCATION, INNOVATION, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT (HON. PROF. MURWIRA): Thank you Mr. President. I wish to thank Hon. Senator Shiri for that question on what Heritage based Education 5. 0 is. I will take it in steps. First of all, I want to define what heritage is. Now, heritage describes our endowments. Our heritage is our minerals. Our heritage is our water resources. Our heritage are our plants, which are trees and herbs. Our heritage are our animals, which is our fauna. Our heritage is our climate. Our heritage is our people and our cultures.
When we go to school, university or whatever place of learning even dare chairo, we go there to learn how to perpetuate our society, how to make our people live well by providing their needs, but, the needs of people come from the heritage. Our food comes from our crops that we grow or animals that we rear. So the purpose of school is to teach people how to understand this universe, this nature, so that we are able to provide what they need, which is food, which is shelter, which is health, which is connection, transport communication, which is also innovation, kuchinja usavi. This is what people need.
When we say a country is developed, it means when we want food, we get it. When we want kurapwa, we get it, health. When we want shelter, we build it. When we want roads, we build them. When we want communication, we make phones. We provide for what people need. So if food is one and not zero, health is one, not zero and shelter is one, which means all of them are there. We say, we are developed, so life is good. In order for these things to be provided, they come from this nature. So we have nature or what we call heritage on our left hand and we have what we need to leave nicely in dignity on the right hand. In the middle is our learning process, to learn how to process this nature to what we need, the shelter and what I have been talking about. So the education is now what I am going to talking about, which is in the middle.
Now, the education must convert or must produce knowledge and skill. For example, if in plants, to know what the plants are doing so that we can make medicine from them, so that we can make food from them and so that we can make furniture from them. It is very simple. School is supposed to make us eat food. School is supposed to make us have phones. School is supposed to make us have transport. That is education. Education is the conversion, understanding of nature, conversion of our nature into what we use every day, so that we say we are Zimbabweans and we are living well. If this is understood therefore, I say how do we learn? How were we learning?
Now, in the colonial era, we were learning how to save the colonial master. How to be employed as a clerk, as a nurse and how to listen to instructions from the boss so that we can do the boss’s things nicely. While the boss, during that time, was learning how to convert stones into metal, how to farm so that they are rich. So they were learning well, but as for us, we were given education for reading writing and reciting so that we could speak perfect English. I have always said, perfect English Mr. President, the professor of your language is your mother. That is why it is called your mother tongue. You do not go to school to learn language because this you are already taught by the professors, mothers and teachers, how to speak. School is supposed to make us understand our heritage so that we derive a living from it.
Therefore, we were taught to read, write and speak, which means teach, research and community service, they were workshops actually. When the Second Republic came in, we did an analysis and we discovered – let us call this education 3.0 so that we have a system in understanding. Why 3.0 – teaching, research and community service. We were having a situation in this country where we have literacy of 97%, but industry was going down. So then you wonder saka kudzidza kudii? togoti takadzidza tine zhara nekuti kudzidza hakufanirwe kukonzera zhara. We must be able to know what we are doing and be able to do things on our own. So the education that we were given was the education for serving the colonial masters. Now, we had to add the ingredients of education to make it produce goods and services that make us be able to make clothes, farm crops tiumbe hari dzedu, tigadzire mota dzedu. Nekudaro we said the missing ingredients in our education were (1) heritage that was heritage that was talking about taidzidza zvinhu zvisinei nesu?Unonyatsokuona kuti ahhh munhu akanyatsokudzidza, but anenge achingotaura pamusoro paShakespeare. Normally Mr. President, we would say Shakespeare, Shakespeare, toti ndisekuru vako here Shakespeare. Why have you and I had to know about Shakespeare? Ndisekuru vako here?
Anyway, then we said innovation and industrialisation is the aim of education. It is the aim that we put on clothes and shoes. We mend things that is the ultimate aim of education. Therefore, we added two elements to our education in the Second Republic, which are innovation and industrialisation. Now, we have education with five themes teaching, research, serving our people, innovation and industrialisation because the aim of a university kubika ma industry. The aim of a university kubika chikafu, kwete kubika zhara.
These five elements are the elements of a good education and these are the ones that make China what it is today. These are what makes United States what it is today. This is what makes the developed countries because they do not go to school kunoita zvekutamba. Vanoenda kuchikoro kunoziva zvinhu kuti vagogona kugadzira ndege, zvikepe,sadza, Saka zvinhu zvese vanenge vainazvo because varikuzvidzidza daily. This is what we were doing before colonisation. That is how we built Great Zimbabwe. That is how we built Danhamombe. That is how we built Khame. This is how we built things because we were really busy doing things. All of a sudden, we started talking, he is very learned because Murwira anoposvonga chirungu. Chine basa rei? In China, they learn Physics without even learning English because physics has nothing to do with language, that is why you can do it in German, Portuguese, Spanish or Swahili. Language is a tool for expressing yourself but in expressing yourself, science remains the same. This is what we learnt. In the Second Republic, we therefore said education has got to be transformed completely so that it has five aims and that it studies our heritage. We cannot be studying Political Administration, BSc, when we have lions here. We cannot study Elk, when we have balabala here, we cannot be studying things that have something to do with snow and ice, when we have never seen any here. Therefore, our education has to take our heritage, use science, technology, innovation, biology, physics to understand how a musasa tree works, to understand how a muruma works, to understand how a mupembere can be processed so that we can heal stomach aches, simple and straightforward – [HON. SENATORS: Hear, hear.] – I hope through this, I have explained the imperative of a complete revolution in our education so that it begins to speak to us nokuti vanoti hee we are not employed but really a person comes from country x comes to your country, goes to an anthill, digs soil, makes hari for you and you look for employment there, nevhu renyu. This is what we have refused and we have said we have to change completely the way we look at education. The results could be seen in two, five, twenty or thirty years. It does not matter, as long as it goes into the future of a dignified Zimbabwe. I thank you.
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Thank you. I hope that clarifies what some people might not have been very clear on. We have got one more Deputy Minister who has joined the Chamber; that is Hon. Kwidini, the Deputy Minister of Health and Child Care. You are welcome Deputy Minister.
*HON. SEN. ZVIDZAI: Thank you Mr. President. I have a supplementary question to Hon. Prof. Murwira. Now that the world is a global village that from here to Greenland, it is taking seconds. We are putting our people in paddocks so that they do not know more. Are we not retrogressing because Zimbabwe has the knowledge to rule its country?
HON. PROF. MURWIRA: Thank you Mr. President and I also want to thank Hon. Senator Zvidzai for the question. His question will help me to say, no, that is not what we are saying. We are saying the world in its formation, I will try to explain in Shona. *The universe or the world has the laws of physics, the laws of gravity. If I light petrol, it will burn because it is returning energy to the sun where it got it from. If a tree burns, it means it was created from the sun and it will return the energy to the sun. The laws of universe are universal but the applications are specific.
Hon. President, if we have known that the mupembere tree is the same as the maple tree of Canada, we cannot go and get a maple tree from Canada for people to learn about trees. So we are no longer giving examples from Canada but we will use local examples when we are doing our chemistry, physics or biology so that we understand about a tree. Those in Canada will use their local trees. If we want to eat fruits, we will eat our mutamba which are close to us then in Pakistan, they will eat apples which they have.
Mr. President, if we learn that all trees are indigenous, they are in the forest - we have different forests and in our forests, we find nhunguru, tsubvu, marula, matamba, mazhanje, et cetera. Our forests have a lot of wild fruits, the same in India. In order for us to eat our marula, why do you not just use our wild fruits? Colonisation will remove you from your place and then they will steal from your heritage places. It is not like we are computerised; we do not want people who come and take things from us like diamonds and then they give us something in place of that but we want everything. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. MAVENYENGWA: Thank you Mr. President. My question is directed to the Minister of War Veterans. Mr. President, I want to understand from the Minister the issue of war veterans. We know that there is a board in place, which looks into their welfare and their businesses in mines, which they are supposed to benefit from as war veterans. I want to know how the plans are cascaded down to those who are in the rural areas. When are they going to benefit from those proceeds from companies which are being led by the board?
*THE MINISTER OF WAR VETERANS OF THE LIBERATION STRUGGLE AFFAIRS (HON. SEN. MAVHUNGA): Thank you Mr. President. I want to thank the Senator for a very pertinent question. We know that our War Veterans Act, [Chapter 17:12] allows us to have a Veterans Liberation Board, which looks at all the funds that are directed to help the war veterans. This board is expected to uplift the lives of the war veterans. It also empowers the board to look for funding elsewhere because the funds coming from the Government are not enough. This board put in place companies whose assets were given to war veterans like mines, farms, and other tourism places. The board is there and we have two companies in place, which are Power Zimbabwe and Veterans Investment Corporation. We have not given you any updates because we were trying to find our feet. We will update you on the progress, but I want you to know that the companies which were set up are there and they are in place to help the war veterans. All these will be under the Veterans Liberation Board. I thank you.
*HON. SEN MAVENYENGWA: Thank you Mr. President for the response from the Minister. We come from the rural areas where we interact with war veterans and looking at the time they came from the war, their ages and the kind of life they are leading, we want to understand from the Minister if these companies are operational. If they are operational, when do you think those war veterans in the rural areas who are struggling are going to get assistance because I think this board has been in place for a long time?
*HON. SEN. M. MAVHUNGA: Thank you Mr. President. I want to say that these companies have started working. I think you heard from the news when they were signing performance contracts and we asked them to come up with strategic plans. So the companies have started working, but what still remains is the transference of assets from the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development into their hands. We engaged the Ministry of Mines so that their papers will be in order to enable investors to come in and invest. Also, when it comes to farms, we have plans that they should come up with five-year business plans so that each farm will be able to get loans and that they start businesses. So I can confidently say that the work commenced, but it still has its teething problems and it is work in progress.
+HON. SEN. S. MOYO: Thank you Mr. President. I heard the Minister saying it is something wonderful. Following the Minister’s statement, he said that this is important and it is noble that the war veterans, all of them, be involved in the projects that she has mentioned such as farming, drilling of boreholes and businesses like mining. My question is that Hon. Senator Mavenyengwa asked about those war veterans that are in rural areas and wanted to know how they will be able to access them in those remote areas and how they are going to benefit from such noble exercises. I thank you.
* HON. SEN. MAVHUNGA: I want to thank the Hon. Member who asked about the comrades in the rural areas and how they can get assistance. In our plans, we have our offices in the rural areas from the district, province up to national. The duties of those in the national offices is to help the war veterans and our office to come up with programmes. Currently, we have awareness programmes and we are visiting all the provinces educating people on how we help them when it comes to projects and their health, and the benefits that they get from the Ministry. I thank you.
HON. SEN. TSHABANGU: Thank you Mr. President, we can always remind each other about Nkayi and Victoria Falls Roads.
I must admit that he put up a very incredible answer earlier. What strategies is the Ministry implementing effectively to communicate the national learning goals to various stakeholders including educators, parents and broader community in order to build trust and foster support for the transformation of our education system?
THE MINISTER OF HIGHER AND TERTIARY EDUCATION, INNOVATION, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT (HON. PROF. A. MURWIRA): I wish to thank Hon. Senator Tshabangu, first of all, thank you for the kind compliment. I will first say you know when there is a cloud that does not bear water, it still is a cloud. People get worried about that cloud, on why the cloud is not bearing water. Our education system at 1980, we inherited a literacy of about 10% and this country started working very hard to ensure that we improve the literacy of this country, which we did successfully. This is a very important step and foundation for education to have a literate nation.
However, as we went on, we needed to take the next step and I will tell you, I will be able to maybe demonstrate how and why we needed that step. Education, by nature, should cause the development of a country and it should be able to develop giants in a country. When we say giants, we mean those people that produce for the country, protect it and make sure that there is perpetuity in a nation to date.
However, we are now having a situation whereby the giants are crying. Just imagine getting into a kombi and somebody is trying to steal your money. Inside, there is a big giant and it is the giant who starts crying, then you know you are in trouble because the giant is supposed to be protective. So we really looked at the design of our education because we have very intelligent people in this country, but people were asking why this cloud is not bearing water.
When we looked at the design, we looked at the issue and saw that no, no, no we are learning, but we were leaving two elements which are innovation and industrialisation because the industries that are there did not fall from the sky, they came from the minds. Everything is a mental creation. We create straight from the mind and then into action. That is industrialisation, mass production of goods and services to satisfy human needs. So this by itself, just saying ladies and gentleman, citizens and residents of this country, our education is not working well for us and we must transform it. That is the message we have been taking since 2017 to 2018.
We went on to start by reforming the Manpower Planning and Development Act. Parliament then started moving across the country explaining why we needed to change this education or improve it so that basically, we could go into action to remove the element of parrots in our education system, because parrotology is very easy. Good morning, good morning, good evening, good evening, hello, hello; echo education of cramming was not helping us. However, it is a good beginning but it is not the end. So we explained this to the nation and Parliament, and the President passed the reformed Manpower Planning and Development Act with the support of the people of Zimbabwe. This Manpower Planning and Development Act is now saying education must lead to the production of goods and services. Industries must be produced from our education system. Nyika ichivakwa nevene vayo, through education science and technology development. What we learn at school is what must make us eat, sleep and move. Otherwise what else, where else will we learn how to develop this country except in school? If our schools are places where people cram to be little parrots, who will make salvation for this country?
We were barking up the wrong tree. We are now barking up the right tree and the Zimbabwean community really helped us to do that. So the new and amended Manpower Planning and Development Act was passed in 2021. We then went on to look at every University Act and we changed it with the support of Parliament, National Assembly, Senate and the community at large, to make sure that our universities now have innovation hubs and industrial parks. Now you can enjoy marula wine from Rutenga, that is an example of how the education should work.
In 2000 when we were visited by COVID-19, unfortunately we lost people and may their souls rest in eternal peace. However, what weapon did we use to make sanitisers because we had to fight COVID using three items? First of all, it was discipline which is Statutory Instrument. Secondly, they were masks and thirdly they were sanitisers, vaccines came later. Who made these sanitisers? They were colleges and universities.
First of all, we were cooking sanitisers in a pot until we automated them and ended up producing 2 million tonnes of sanitisers. This country has the lowest death rate from COVID-19, the world over. What did we use on heritage-based Education 5.0 and why? The reason is that the ethanol was coming from our nzimbe. Why heritage? The glycerol was coming from Mutoko, from our jatrofa and we mixed them and we made this country live as a system.
So it was very easy for this country to see that there was need to support this movement because it is liberation movement. It is the forth revolution from the First Chimurenga where we were fighting for our survival to the Second Chimurenga where we used guns, to the Third Chimurenga where we were getting our land and to the Fourth Chimurenga chepfungwa, where we are saying we will take this country forward by the way we think and do.
In addition, support for this movement is natural because everybody wants to be liberated and make their own cars, food and hospitals. A normal country needs dignity. How do you do dignity? By learning useful things. Who does not support that? We have enjoyed tremendous support from Parliament, community and we have moved all over and we have established industries. In Mutoko, we are having a bio-economy park. In Mwenezi we are having a marula park and we are beginning to build buildings on our own and began to produce oxygen for this country on our own. This is the issue of support that we have. We would appreciate more support Hon. Senator through you Mr. President of the Senate, to make this movement bold. China, Russia and United States is where it is because of pfungwa. Everybody who is developed is using pfungwa nothing else. So it is about education. So the support is natural. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. MAKAMBA: Thank you Mr. President. My question is directed to the Minister of War Veterans and in her absence, I will direct it to the Leader of the House. In his message last year in Mashonaland Central on Independence Day, His Excellency the President, Dr. E. D. Mnangagwa said that it was the first time for the Independence celebrations to be held outside big cities like Bulawayo and Harare. This happened because Mt. Darwin was chosen for the event. During the war of liberation, Mt. Darwin experienced much of the brutality of the war. People of Mt. Darwin are lagging behind when it comes to development of roads, schools and hospitals.
During the war, we know that the first white person to be murdered was murdered at Altena Farm in Mashonaland Central, Mt. Darwin. In 1963, Cde. Tungamirai and Cde Kaseke kidnapped the white district administrator, they hid his car and kidnapped him and went with him to Zambia. …
THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF SENATE (HON. SEN. KAMBIZI): Hon. Sen. Makamba, please ask your question.
*HON. SEN. MAKAMBA: My question is, war veterans are lagging behind on issues of development and we want to know the plans that are there to improve the lives of war veterans in Mt. Darwin?
THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Now, the question is specific to a particular province but if the Hon. Minister has something to respond, he can respond.
THE MINISTER OF HIGHER AND TERTIARY EDUCATION, INNOVATION, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT (HON. PROF. MURWIRA): Yes, Hon. President, the question is specific, but I want to say that Government policy says that it is not going to leave anyone and no place behind. There is no place that must lag behind. That is our principle which is used to address all the problems in the country including the area that he has mentioned, unless if he has specific things that refer to Mt. Darwin. The Hon. Minister can have a written question so that he will find time to investigate on the issue. I advise Hon. Sen. Makamba to put his question in writing.
HON. SEN. KABONDO: Thank you Hon. President, my question goes to the Hon. Minister of ICT and in her absence, I now redirect my question to the Leader of the House. A few weeks ago, State media reported Starlink as a security threat. What circumstances have changed that has led to the expediting of the licencing of the very same company that had been labelled a security threat a few weeks ago?
THE MINISTER OF HIGHER AND TERTIARY EDUCATION, INNOVATION, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT (HON. PROF. MURWIRA): Thank you Hon. President and I wish to thank the Hon. Senator for her question. I want to start by saying we have freedom of speech. So media can write, but it is not a Government Gazette and I think this question is very important because it makes us be able to explain how Government policy is pronounced. If it is real policy, it is either announced during a Post Cabinet Briefing or it is announced through a Gazette. Media can write, for example, it can write that Prof. Murwira is a monkey, but I am not. They can write but what is written does not reflect Government position, Government has channels that it uses to pronounce real policy, whether it is State media or any private media, media is media and as long as it is there, people can talk. Sometimes social media says what it wants and it is allowed, but it is not factual. Government has channels that it uses to communicate. So when you now see His Excellency the President or any other official Government in media now pronouncing either the accreditation or non-accreditation of a certain communication company, then that is when the truth begins, the rest was speculation. I thank you.
∞HON. SEN. FANUEL: Thank you Mr. President…
THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Order, there is no translation, can someone assist. Hon. Senator, can you also tell us to whom your question is directed. For progress sake, Hon. Sen. Fanuel, while somebody is trying to fix the issue of translation, let us proceed and we will come back to you.
HON. SEN. R. NDLOVU: Thank you Mr. President. My question was going to be directed to the Minister of War Veterans but I think the Leader of Government Business will take it up. It is with regards to the payment of school fees for the children of war veterans. Quite a number of children are being sent back for non-payment of school fees. I would like to find out how far he is ready to pay the backlog of those children’s school fees. It disturbs them when they are sent back home to fix the issue of school fees, et cetera. These children’s parents are former combatants who have nothing. They are old but they had children after the war and are former political detainees who are more than 68 years who have nothing to assist their children. The Government came up with a programme but it does not meet it. So, I wanted to find out how far the Ministry expects to pay the backlog of school fees.
THE MINISTER OF HIGHER AND TERTIARY EDUCATION, INNOVATION, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT (HON. PROF. MURWIRA): Thank you Mr. President. First of all, Government policy is to pay. There is no contradiction on the policy. When it comes to practice, which is where there might be shortfalls in execution, it is very specific and this question can actually be written down so that the Hon. Minister, when she is there, can detail the exact steps that they are taking. Very specific to alleviate any problem that may be arising, we would be very pleased if it is done that way.
THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Hon. Senator Ndlovu, you are advised that you put that in writing so that the actual Minister can then bring a proper response with regards to your question.
Questions Without Notice were interrupted by THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF SENATE in terms of Standing Order Number 67.
HON. SEN. TONGOGARA: I move that the time for Questions Without Notice be extended with 15 minutes.
HON. TSOMONDO: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
∞HON. SEN. FANUEL: Thank you Mr. President. My question is directed to the Minister of Education. The President said there is no one who should be left behind, but I have realised that in our district, Binga, we are still lagging behind. Learners in primary schools are not doing well. The teachers being employed in Binga cannot speak or write Tonga. We are grateful that a few have been employed. Why is the employment of teachers in Binga being only for people from other provinces who do not speak our local language? If you go to the hotels, you will find no one speaking in other languages besides their own language. What is Government doing to employ teachers who are from Binga?
Secondly, we have war collaborators who have been vetted for the past two years but they are not getting anything. They worked during the liberation war, when are they going to get their benefits? The papers are in the offices. Why are officers in those offices for war collaborators not getting vehicles to manage and get to those war collaborators and the masses? I thank you.
THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Hon. Fanuel, I give you the benefit of doubt because you had two questions directed to two different Ministers, but coincidentally the Leader of Government Business happens to be taking charge of that?
THE MINISTER OF HIGHER AND TERTIARY EDUCATION, INNOVATION, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT (HON. PROF. MURWIRA): I wish to thank Hon. Sen. Fanuel for those two questions. One has to do with policy on teachers and languages. The Zimbabwe Constitution of 2013 recognises 16 languages. Now, what is happening in the education sector is to make sure that we comply with that Constitution. It is a process. What has happened now is that for all teachers’ colleges, from 2018, a person who enters a teachers’ college has to learn three more languages other than their own. The first crop of graduates from 2018 to 2020 came in 2021; graduates who are multi-dialect.
As we move through time, because we are guided by the fact that Murwira as a biological person, can die but Zimbabwe will remain. So, the policies that we leave must continue building the country. Hence, this policy of having teachers that can speak the language of the child is alive and we are implementing it to the extent that one of the issues that we have done in terms of teachers’ colleges – in 2019, we started Hwange Teachers’ College. We recruited 150 students from Hwange who speak Nambia and some who speak Tonga. This is an attempt, although we are teaching languages across the whole country but we are, for the first time, very specific . We also now have an industrial training college in Binga and Hwange as I said. In Plumtree, we have the first polytechnic college, since the beginning of time. This shows you the direction of Government policy, on inclusivity in making sure that our people have access to education wherever they are. It is to our advantage that we have got people that are educated and productive. It is not a disadvantage at all because we want every brain to work for this country. So, the policy there is very clear. In terms of the speed of movement, this is what we always need to improve every day because we cannot say we are 100% correct but the direction is correct and we will be moving in that direction and continue to move in that direction.
Secondly, the question was on vetted veterans who are receiving nothing at the moment. Again, it is important to know that Government is the one that vetted, which means they have an intention to pay.
However, again we might have difficulties at the speed at which we are doing things, but the most important thing is that it is being given attention. We know for sure that there have been financial instabilities of some sort caused by all sorts of external factors. Now that we are stabilising the economy and we have the ZiG which is a heritage-based currency, we believe that as things get stable, cries will get less and solutions will get more.
*HON. SEN. SHIRI: Thank you Mr. President. I wanted to ask from the Minister on the issue of languages. What are you doing with the tertiary colleges so that the minority languages like the sign language that have been left behind, are also taught in colleges? Thank you.
*HON. PROF. MURWIRA: Thank you Mr. President Sir. I want to thank the Hon. Member for the pertinent question on the teaching of sign language. We have implemented what we call Midlands State University National Languages Institute. That was launched by His Excellency, the President about three years ago. Our aim is to have the expertise in all the languages. If you get there, you will have people speaking Chewa, isiNdebele, Shona et cetera. We are trying to promote direction.
At the United College of Education in Bulawayo, you will also see that we have introduced the special language programmes, including Mutare Teachers’ College. We have an overall policy that no one is supposed to leave training from the Teachers’ Training Colleges without three languages besides their mother language. We have started seeing the results/fruits, but we are not yet there. It is a journey. As we speak, we managed to translate the Constitution of Zimbabwe with the Midlands State University. It has been translated into all the official languages in Zimbabwe. We did the same with the COVID-19 pamphlets.
We are appealing to the Senators and all the Parliamentarians to continue providing more financial support towards this direction. It is important that we leave a legacy of peace and treasures. I thank you.
∞HON. SEN. KABONDO: Thank you Mr. President. I want to thank the Minister for his response. Thank you for the strategies that you are doing. However, I am requesting that when you get time, do audit and go to Binga, and see what we are talking about. I thank you.
Question Without Notice were interrupted by THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT in terms of Standing Order Number 67.
ANNOUNCEMENTS BY THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF SENATE
APPOINTMENT TO COMMITTEES
THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF SENATE (HON. SEN. KAMBIZI): I have to inform the House that in terms of Standing Order Number 19 (3), the Committee on Standing Rules and Orders has appointed the following to Committee on Standing Rules and Orders, Committee Chairpersons and the Parliamentary Legal Committee:
- Sen. S. Moyo, Indegenisation and Empowerment;
- Sen. S. Ndebele, Gender and Development;
- A. Gumbo and Hon. Sen. K. I. Phulu, to serve on the Parliamentary Legal Committee.
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT OF CCC PARTY MEMBERS IN PARLIAMENT
THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: I wish to inform the House of the following changes in the leadership development of CCC Party Members in Parliament:
Hon. L. Karenyi-Kore, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly;
Hon. Sen. S. Tshabangu, Leader of Opposition in the Senate and overall leader of the Opposition in Parliament;
Hon. Sen. S. Mlotshwa, Chief Whip in Senate;
Hon. Sen. S. Zvidzai, Deputy Chief Whip in the Senate;
Hon. E. Mushoriwa, Chief Whip in the National Assembly;
Hon. B. Nyandoro, Deputy Chief Whip in the National Assembly;
Hon. S. Mhlangu and Hon. Sen. K. Phulu to be Members on Standing Rules and Orders Committee;
Hon. O. Sinda, Deputy Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Women’s Parliamentary Caucus;
Hon. C. Chinanzvavana, Organiser for the Zimbabwe Women’s Parliamentary Caucus;
Hon. J. Makuvire, Member of the Executive Committee in the Zimbabwe Women’s Parliamentary Caucus Executive;
Hon. S. Matsunga, Member of the Africa Parliamentary Union Delegation;
Hon. S. Tshabangu and Hon. M. Kademaunga, Members of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Delegation;
Hon. N. Mlotshwa, Member of the OACPS EU Delegation;
Hon. H. Chidziva, Member of the Pan African Parliamentary Delegation;
Hon. L. Karenyi-Kore, Member of the SADC PF Delegation; and
Hon. M. Ngwena, Member of the ASSECAA Delegation.
HON. SEN. ZVIDZAI: On a point of privilege Mr. President Sir.
THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Yes, go ahead.
HON. SEN. ZVIDZAI: I would like to inform you and the House of my unavailability to serve as Deputy Chief Whip in the Senate. I thank you.
ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS WITH NOTICE
THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF SENATE (HON. SEN. KAMBIZI): Order, because we no longer have any Ministers in the House, that automatically means Questions With Notice are all deferred. We will move to business of the day.
HON. SEN. GOTORA: Before we move Mr. President, I have a point of privilege to make. It looks like our Ministers are not taking seriously the business of Senate. We have more than thirty Ministers in the country; that is inclusive of the Cabinet Ministers and the Deputy Ministers. It is a shame; we come and sit here when there is not even one Minister on a day designated for questions to be answered by Ministers. I think the appointing authority needs to relook at what is happening because this is not the first time. What I know is, even from the Ninth Parliament, it was the same and the Eighth Parliament it was the same. It looks like we are not moving anywhere. The people who are here are people representing millions of people out there who ask them to bring issues to the Ministers. What are they going to tell the people who sent them here? Thank you – [HON. SENATORS: Hear, hear.] –
THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Thank you Hon. Senator Gotora. I have taken note and will take it up with those seniors to me, and ensure probably something is done about it. I know it has been a long time that this has been spoken about but I for one will definitely make sure I have knocked on the doors.
MOTION
CONGRATULARY MESSAGES TO HON. SEN. CHIEF CHARUMBIRA ON ASSUMPTION OF THE PRESIDENCY OF PAP
First Order read: Adjourned debate on motion that a congratulatory message be conveyed to Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira on his ascendancy to the Presidency of the Pan-African Parliament.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. GOTORA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. SHIRI: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Tuesday, 11th June, 2024.
MOTION
ESTABLISHMENT OF PUBLIC HEMODIALYSIS FACILITIES IN DISTRICTS
Second Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the treatment of chronic kidney diseases in Zimbabwe.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. ZVIDZAI: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. S. MOYO: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Tuesday, 11th June, 2024.
MOTION
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO ZUPCO AND PRIVATE TRANSPORT OPERATORS
Third Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the inadequacy of public transport in the country.
Question again proposed.
+HON. SEN. S. MOYO: Thank you Mr. President Sir. I want to add my voice on the motion that was tabled in this House by Hon. Sen. Tongogara. First and foremost, I want to talk about issues to do with migration in urban areas or movement in urban areas. Most people use buses or omnibuses, small cars such as the ones that we refer to as Honda Fit and we also have trucks. All these modes of transport that I have alluded to, we realise that is what is being used in urban areas when they are moving from one place to another.
Mr. President, what I then ask myself is that our country got independence in 1980 and up to now, we are still struggling on modes of transport to use, especially in urban areas. We realised that we once had a COVID pandemic where we saw the ZUPCO buses that were being bought by the country. What I do not know is whether they were being bought by Government or a private company. There were so many buses that were bought. You realise that even buses from rural areas were contracted to assist in transport, especially in urban areas.
Mr. President Sir, after the COVID, we realise that we no longer see these ZUPCO buses. My question therefore is, what happened to the mode of transport that was under ZUPCO? It is a question that I am posing to the Minister of Transport that after the COVID era, we no longer have the buses, the ones that were being contracted under ZUPCO. Were these buses contracted under a private company or what?
Also Mr. President Sir, we need to take into realisation that there were trains that were being used as long back as 1985, if I remember, well up to 2000. I once used a train that was coming from Bulawayo to Harare – there was a BBR train from Beitbridge to Bulawayo.
This was a goods train but to my surprise, all these trains are no longer moving. This motion is very important but we need to prioritise issues so that when we talk about transportation, we need to know where we are supposed to start from. I started by talking about things we are no longer sure how they are being run. We will take for example Honda Fit cars which can carry about 14 people when it is supposed to carry only five passengers. You then ask yourself if there are any laws because why should 14 people be carried in a Honda Fit?
The first thing that we should take note of while on issues to do with urban areas; when I look at countries such as Zambia, they are doing so many things like road rehabilitation, ranks and transport. If we are to talk about transport, we cannot avoid talking about roads. We cannot have food stuffs without having a pot to use to cook the food. That is why I am alluding to issues to do with roads. We do not have proper roads. I do not know what policy is being used by Government and what they are saying to private transporters. That is those with their own cars or are able to procure buses that can operate in urban areas. Why are they not contributing in rehabilitation of the roads? In rural areas there are transport challenges because we do not have good roads and we do not have bridges in town. So, until the Government fixes the issues that I have alluded to and also have a policy where they can engage private companies to participate in the improvement of transport in both urban and rural areas, we will still face the same challenges.
We have Senators in this House who are well up and can assist in improving the mode of transport. For example, where I come from in Matabeleland South, we do not have buses but we rely on cars that are provided by people in the diaspora. However, they are also complaining about incessant breakdowns caused by the poor roads. I think this motion should have started with dealing with the roads before trying to deal with transport. We are having a major problem with our roads because of the many accidents that have claimed many people’s lives.
Last weekend people lost their lives in Lupane along Victoria Falls Road. All this was because of the bad road. The car hit a pothole and overturned. Most of the accidents that have been experienced along the roads are caused by bad roads. Our law enforcers who are always operating road blocks let a Honda Fit carrying 15 people pass through the roadblock and nothing is done about it. We do not have any laws being enforced to curb this practice.
I want to urge the Minister of Transport to be present when we debate such issues in this House. Hon. Tongogara indicated that when we talk about issues that we need resolved, for example this transport issue, we need the Minister to be present in the House so that he understands exactly what we are talking about. It is only when the Ministers avail themselves to this House and hear our concerns, that they will take our issues seriously. We need to have all the Ministers present every time the House is sitting so that they can hear our pleas.
I wanted to add my voice to this motion and emphasise that until we work on road rehabilitation and have a policy in place to engage private players to assist in road rehabilitation as well as bringing in different modes of transport that the problem will persist. In rural areas people have to wake up as early as 4 o’clock in the morning to get transport. Even in urban areas, civil servants who are being transported by Public Service Commission buses go to work as standing passengers because they cannot all sit in the buses. Government should come up with a strategy of having people knocking off work at 4 o’clock p.m. so they can also get home early rather than getting home very late and going to the buses very early. It is very difficult for women who are supposed to do all the household chores and prepare meals, assist their children with homework and prepare everything for their children before going to bed. Some of them drop off the bus and have to walk for 3km to get to their homes. Sometimes they are robbed on their way to and fro the bus stations.
With these few words, I feel that we need to support this motion and also come up with a strategy to engage Government and find out if we are on the same page and talking the same language. There are so many people who have lost their lives in accidents because of the poor roads. Yes, he did say the road to Parliament is being rehabilitated and that is a very good thing. But why can we not have a budget for all the other roads such as the Plumtree-Ndolowane Road? When you look at the map, you can see that the road was rehabilitated way back but when you move on that road, there are so many potholes. Once we have good roads, we will have many modes of transport to use because people want to use their vehicles on good roads. I thank you Mr. President.
HON. SEN. TONGOGARA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. SHIRI: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Tuesday, 11th June, 2024.
On the motion of HON. SENATOR GOTORA, seconded by HON. SENATOR. FANUEL, the House adjourned at Nine Minutes past Four o’clock p.m. until Tuesday 11th June, 2024.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Thursday, 30th May, 2024.
The National Assembly met at a Quarter-past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE HON. SPEAKER in the Chair)
THE HON. SPEAKER: I have requests from two Members to make statements on points of national importance. The first one is Hon. Bajila.
HON. BAJILA: Good afternoon Mr. Speaker Sir.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Good afternoon.
HON. BAJILA: Thank you so much for granting me this opportunity to make a point of national interest. My point arises from numerous responses that we got from Government Ministers, this last Wednesday.
Yesterday we had the Minister of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture, Hon. Coventry commenting that they are interested in making upgrades on the National Sports Stadium, but there has been no disbursement of funds in that regard. We also had Hon. Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Hon. Sacco making similar comments. …
THE HON. SPEAKER: Order, Hon. Member, if you had issues that arose from the statements made by the Hon. Ministers, you were supposed to have asked supplementary questions.
HON. BAJILA: Thank you Mr. Speaker, the issues do not relate to the …
THE HON. SPEAKER: You are quoting the responses of Ministers during Question Time, that is the context in which I am advising you.
HON. BAJILA: Okay, thank you.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Thank you. Please switch off your mic.
HON. TSVANGIRAI: Thank you very much Hon. Speaker for giving me this opportunity to raise a point of national interest. My point of national interest relates to the increase in the cost of living due to the shortages of change. Firstly, Mr. Speaker, transport costs have increased…
THE HON. SPEAKER: Just a moment. Did you say shortages of what?
HON. TSVANGIRAI: Change.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Shortage of change?
HON. TSVANGIRAI: Yes, Hon. Speaker.
THE HON. SPEAKER: What type of change? Can you be more specific?
HON. TSVANGIRAI: The availability of ZiG in smaller denominations.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Proceed.
HON. TSVANGIRAI: Firstly Mr. Speaker, transport costs have increased. For example, prior to the pronouncement of the Monitory Policy Statement of 5th April, 2024, in my constituency Hon. Speaker, it used to cost 50 cents to travel from Katanga to Govans or from Katanga to Offsale, a distance of less than five kilometers. Now, due to shortages of change, commuter omnibus operators are now charging USD1.00. Mr. Speaker, that is an increase of 100%. For some of us who come from low income areas Mr. Speaker, that is a massive increase; and for those that travel from Norton to Harare on daily basis. They now require USD4 instead of USD3 per day, vis-à-vis with the money that the majority of residents earn, it is not sustainable.
Secondly, allow me to remind you that the World Bank ranked Zimbabwe No. 1 in terms of food…
THE HON. SPEAKER: You want to remind me or the nation? You are talking of national interest. Why do you remind me?
HON. TSVANGIRAI: Mr. Speaker Sir, allow me to remind this House and the nation at large that the World Bank ranked Zimbabwe No. 1, in terms of inflation and shortage of change has exacerbated food inflation. For example, a 2kg packet of rice used to cost USD2.50, but now consumers are buying it for USD3. In accordance with that, at Speed Market in Norton, vegetables used to cost only half of a dollar prior to the introduction of ZiG currency but now consumers are buying them for USD2. The situation is even more horrible for pensioners who have a monthly income that is not enough to cover human basic needs. This is contrary to what the monetary policy aimed to achieve.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Order, I thought you meant trust of your issue of national interest is shortage of smaller denominations for change. How does that refer to inflation? There is no relevance, unfortunately.
HON. TSVANGIRAI: May I please continue Mr. Speaker Sir?
THE HON. SPEAKER: No, you cannot because you are talking of inflation. These cost so much and now, what has that to do with the shortage of change?
HON. TSVANGIRAI: Hon. Speaker, the shortage of change is due to people not having enough change…
THE HON. SPEAKER: And it is increasing the cost of living?
HON. TSVANGIRAI: Yes.
THE HON. SPEAKER: No, I think if you want clarification on these issues, ask a written question and let the responsible Minister deal with the matter in detail.
HON. TSVANGIRAI: Hon. Speaker, that is where I was going.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Thank you.
ANNOUNCEMENTS BY THE HON. SPEAKER
APPOINTMENT TO COMMITEES
THE HON. SPEAKER: I have the following announcements. I have to inform the House that in terms of Standing Order No. 19 (3), the Committee on Standing Rules and Orders has appointed the following to the Committee on Standing Rules and Orders Committee, Chairpersons, Delegates to the Women’s Caucus and International Parliamentary Statutory Bodies from the CCC Party; Hon. J. Makombe goes to Portfolio Committee on Health and Child Care; Hon. V. Sihlabo, Portfolio Committee on Energy and Power Development, Hon. V. Moyo, Portfolio Committee on Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services, Hon. Hwende, Public Accounts Committee; Hon, C. Matewu, Portfolio Committee on Media, Publicity and Broadcasting Services; Hon. M. N. Gumede, Portfolio Committee on Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation Science and Technology Development; Hon. J. Mamombe, Portfolio Committee on Environment Climate, Wildlife and Tourism; Hon. Gumbo and Hon. Sen. K. I. Phulu to serve on the Parliamentary Legal Committee.
I also wish to inform the House of the following changes in the leadership deployment of CCC Party members in Parliament. Hon. Karenyi…
HON. HWENDE: On a point of order Mr. Speaker Sir.
THE HON. SPEAKER: There is no point of order. I am making the announcement.
HON. HWENDE: But why?
THE HON. SPEAKER: Can you sit down!
HON. HWENDE: The CCC has…
THE HON. SPEAKER: Can you sit down!
HON. HWENDE: No, no, but you cannot say that there was a meeting of CCC. CCC never met…
THE HON. SPEAKER: Can you please sit down! I will repeat Hon. Karenyi-Kore, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Hon. S. Tshabangu, Leader of the Opposition in Senate and overall leader of the Opposition in Parliament. – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.]- Hon. Sen. Mlotshwa, Chief Whip in the Senate; Hon. Sen. S. Zvidzai, Deputy Chief Whip in the Senate; Hon. E. Mushoriwa, Chief Whip in the National Assembly; Hon. B. Nyandoro, Deputy Chief Whip, National Assembly; Hon. S. Mahlangu and Hon. Sen. K. Phulu, to be members of the Committee on Standing Rules and Orders Committee; Hon. O. Sibanda, Deputy Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Women’s Parliamentary Caucus; Hon. Chinanzvavana, Organiser for the Zimbabwe Women’s Parliamentary Caucus; Hon. J. Makuvire, Member of the Executive Committee in the Zimbabwe Women’s Parliamentary Caucus Executive; Hon. S. Matsunga, Member of the Africa Parliamentary Union Delegation; Hon. S. Tshabangu and Hon. M. Kademaunga, Members of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Delegation; Hon. N. Mlotshwa, Member of the ACPSES-EU Delegation; Hon. H. Chidziva, Member of the Pan-African Parliament Delegation; Hon. Karenyi-Kore, Member of the SADC PF Delegation and Hon. M. Ngwenya, Member of the ACCSCA Delegation.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
HON. TOGAREPI: I move that Orders of the Day Numbers 1 to 20 on today’s Order Paper be stood over until Order of the Day Number 21 has been disposed of.
HON. KARIKOGA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
APPROVAL FOR RATIFICATION OF THE AGREEMENT ON MUTUAL LEGAL ASSISTANCE IN CRIMINAL MATTERS BETWEEN THE REPUBLIC OF ZIMBABWE AND REPUBLIC OF RWANDA
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): I move the motion standing in my name that:
WHEREAS Section 327 (2) (a) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe provides that any convention, treaty or agreement acceded to, concluded or executed by or under the authority of the President with one or more foreign States of governments or international organisations shall be subject to approval by Parliament;
WHEREAS the Republic of Zimbabwe and the Republic of Rwanda signed an agreement establishing Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters on 19 March 2021 at Harare, Zimbabwe, WHEREAS the Republic of Zimbabwe is desirous of ratifying the Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters,
AND WHEREAS in terms of Article 26 of the Agreement, the entry into force of the aforesaid agreement shall be upon 30 days after the date on which the Parties have notified each other in writing that their respective constitutional requirements for entry into force of the Agreement have been complied with.
NOW THEREFORE, in terms of Section 327 (2) (a) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, this House resolves that the aforesaid Agreement be and is hereby approved for ratification.
Motion put and agreed to.
HON. KARENYI: On a point of order!
THE HON. SPEAKER: On the ratification?
HON. KARENYI: No, on the previous announcement.
THE HON. SPEAKER: That has been overtaken by time.
HON. KARENYI: Maybe if you allow me so that you hear my point of order.
THE HON. SPEAKER: I cannot because it becomes procedural.
HON. KARENYI: Mr. Speaker, I think there is a mistake so maybe we can correct it before we leave the House.
THE HON. SPEAKER: No. Any corrections, if any, they can be done administratively if it is a spelling mistake or something like that.
HON. KARENYI: Please Mr. Speaker, can you hear me out?
THE HON. SPEAKER: No, I cannot. You are not being procedural.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): I move that Order of the Day, Number 22 on today’s Order Paper be stood over until Order of the Day Number 23 has been disposed of.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
ABOLITION OF DEATH PENALTY BILL [H. B. 5, 2023]
Twenty Third order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Second Reading of the Abolition of Death Penalty Bill [H.B. 5, 2023]. Question again proposed.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I want to thank you and to thank the Hon. Members for the debate that ensued the last time where Hon. Mushoriwa delivered his second reading speech and thereafter. I made a request that going forward, because of issues in the Bill that require the Executive to exercise its minded authority, I will be leading the Bill going forward. In that regard, allow me to deliver my second reading speech to the Bill.
Mr. Speaker Sir, it is always a solemn occasion when you assemble to do the people’s business, but on this occasion, when a Bill is before you to abolish the death penalty, the gravity of your deliberations is heavier than usual. We are called individually and collectively to examine our consciences and weigh a matter that touches on the right to life of human beings. Not of this or that human being, but of a class of human beings whose crimes are of such a heinousness such that hitherto, our society has seen it fit to legislate that they must die if found guilty by a court of law.
Almost all cultures in the past, and of course even now, have marked out certain crimes to be deserving of the supreme penalty, but it must be said that our indigenous culture has been less culpable and more merciful than many foreign cultures in this respect. As deserving of death as some human beings may seem to be to you and me, yet we must still react with revulsion at some of the methods of execution we hear about. Some of them carried out in the very countries that take it upon themselves to lecture to us and to others about human rights. Imagine executing a human being by the use of a method that is used on farms to euthanise pigs for human consumption. Yet such a method of execution has been legislated or practiced in two states of the United States that I am aware of.
In 2015, the State of Oklahoma passed a law to allow nitrogen gas poisoning or nitrogen-induced hypoxia as a method of execution following difficulties in obtaining the drugs necessary for lethal injection. In January this year, Alabama, a US State with 165 people on death row, carried out the first ever execution by nitrogen hypoxia. The convict in question was killed through an experimental technique that pumps pure nitrogen gas into a person’s lungs instead of the regular air that has the oxygen humans need to breathe.
Not long before this, in 2020, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) issued Guidelines for the euthanasian of animals, in which it recommended giving animals including pigs, a sedative before they are euthanised by means of nitrogen hypoxia. The Alabama authorities did not even follow this recommendation when it smothered the awake and alert convict with nitrogen and they still have 165 prisoners left to execute.
Mr. Speaker Sir, I am not here to advocate for mercy for murderers, child rapists and terrorist on death row. I am here to plead with you in the name of humanity that they can be punished harshly in ways that do not stain our dignity as human beings. When it comes down to it, there is truly no such thing as a humane way of killing human beings. We are not exercising our best human capacities when we are arguing whether animal euthanasia or hanging is a more humane method of executing people. It is better to abolish that debate by abolishing the death penalty in my view.
I will not rehearse to you in detail all the grounds commonly put forward for the abolition of the death penalty. Suffice it for me to list some of these grounds as follows;
- It is inhumane: I do not want to judge other countries that apply the death penalty, but I ask you Hon, Members, to recall, when did we last execute anyone? Can anyone even remember? Many of us advocate for the death penalty, but I assure you there is hardly a person in our country who would seek a job as a professional executioner, however high the reward. Hapana anoda kuita hangman kuti unomuka uchienda kubasa woudza vana kuti ndichambonouraya vanhu.
- It inflicts psychological torment, not only on the person to be executed, but often even on the people involved somehow with the execution. The last time on Tuesday, I gave an account of what His Excellency, our President, Dr. Mnangagwa said that upon execution of the comrades who were on death row, they were given a wheelbarrow with their comrade and told to bury him and then plant a lawn, irrigate it so that it could grow. Imagine the psychological trauma that they went through and this is the reason why we are saying, why do we need as a nation such an inhumane treatment to others.
- It is an open question whether the death penalty actually deters crimes. We have had the death penalty for a long time and nobody would say that since we have had the death penalty on our statute books, we have reduced the number of people who commit murder in aggravating circumstances or terrorists. It does not deter. It is actually a question that is debatable.
- It does not address the root cause of crime and it is biased against people experiencing poverty. History will tell you that the majority of people that have been executed are those in a struggle or in poverty. So, it is biased against those that society must protect.
- Even in our country, the death penalty has a racial bias. When was a white person last executed in our country? If I am not mistaken, the last white person actually sentenced to death and awaiting imminent execution, cheated the hangman by committing suicide in death row in 1978.
- Lastly, let us not forget that the death penalty is irreversible. Our police, prosecutors, judges and witnesses are human beings who make mistakes. Once someone has been executed and when you realise there was a mistake, you cannot restore that life back. How would they feel if evidence later revealed that a hanged person had been framed by an enemy? It does not happen often, but if it does, we cannot bring the innocent back to life.
Mr. Speaker Sir, I commend the original mover of the Bill to abolish the death penalty. I must criticise them on the thoughtless way they have gone about it. Our people may be prepared to contemplate the abolition of the death penalty but they will not tolerate that measure unless the courts are compelled to treat certain kinds of murder committed under aggravating circumstances more harshly than other kinds of murder. To that end, I move certain amendments to that measure to provide for mandatory prison sentences of up to life imprisonment where the murder was committed in aggravating circumstances such as the following:
Murder resulting from any act of insurgency, banditry, sabotage or terrorism;
Murder resulting from the rape or other sexual assault of the victim;
Murder resulting from kidnapping or illegal detention, robbery, hijacking, piracy or escaping from lawful custody;
Murder resulting from unlawful entry into a dwelling house or malicious damaged property -
If the property in question was a dwelling house and the damage was effected by the use of fire or explosives;
Murder that forms part of the sequence of the two or more murders committed by the same accused during the same episode over any period of time; or
Murder that was preceded or accompanied by physical torture or mutilation inflicted by the accused on the victim;
Murder of a victim in a public place or in an aircraft, public passenger transport vehicle or vessel, railway, car, other public conveyance by the use of means (such as fire, explosives or the indiscriminate firing of a weapon) that are caused or involved a substantial risk of serious injury to by-stander;
Murder that is premediated;
The murder of a police officer or prison officer or of a minor or of a pregnant woman or of a person of seven years or more or of a physically disabled person.
In conclusion Mr. Speaker Sir, let me emphasise a point I made earlier, namely that while our people may, in principle, favour the death penalty for extreme crimes, in practice, they are hesitant to see it carried out as shown by the fact that we have more than 60 prisoners in death row as we speak and some of them have been waiting for years to be executed.
Let me add that some of them are under sentence of death for crimes that are less serious than those of other prisoners who have been sentenced to imprisonment instead of death. Our judges are human, so even when they find that a crime has been committed in aggravating circumstances, they prefer to sentence the offender to 20 years or life instead of death. With the leave of the Hon. Members, I now move that the Bill be read a second time.
HON. DR. MUTODI: I rise to present a report from the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs on the Death Abolition Bill [H.B. 5, 2023].
Introduction
The Constitution of Zimbabwe, under Section 141, imposes a duty upon the Parliament to actively engage the general public during its legislative processes and ensure that all interested stakeholders are consulted on Bills under consideration for enactment into law. In fulfillment of this constitutional obligation, the Parliament of Zimbabwe, through the Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs in conjunction with the Thematic Committee on Human Rights, conducted public consultations from the 6th to the 11th of May 2024 to solicit the views of the citizenry on the proposed Death Penalty Abolition Bill. This Bill, which was gazetted on the 14th of December 2023, seeks to abolish death penalty by amending the existing statutes that provide for the imposition of death penalty.
Background
The death penalty is a complex legal process that involves the lawful execution of an individual as punishment for a crime. It requires careful consideration of evidence, mitigating factors, and legal standards to ensure fairness and justice. Ethical and moral deliberations also shape public discourse on the issue. In Zimbabwe, the death penalty has been a longstanding and divisive issue. While enshrined in the Constitution, it has not been carried out since 2004, and a de facto moratorium has been in place since then. Public opinion remains divided, with some advocating for its retention as a deterrent and others arguing for its abolishment on human rights grounds.
In 2020, a Private Member's Bill titled the "Death Penalty (Abolition) Bill" was introduced in the Zimbabwean Parliament. This Bill seeks to abolish the death penalty and replace it with life imprisonment, reflecting a growing momentum towards re-evaluating the use of capital punishment and aligning the country's legal framework with evolving international norms and human rights standards.
Methodology
The Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, in collaboration with the Thematic Committee on Human Rights, conducted a comprehensive public consultation process on the proposed Death Penalty Abolition Bill. The Committee was divided into two teams, with Team A covering Mashonaland West, Midlands, Bulawayo, Matebeleland North, and Matebeleland South, and Team B covered Mashonaland Central, Harare, Mashonaland East, Manicaland, and Masvingo. The consultations involved focused group discussions across 10 venues in the country's 10 provinces, as well as the receipt of written submissions from various stakeholders. This multi-pronged approach ensured that the views and perspectives of the general public were thoroughly captured, in line with the constitutional obligation to engage the citizenry in the legislative process.
Overview of the Consultations
The comprehensive public consultation process conducted by the Portfolio Committee and Thematic Committee reached a total of 866 participants. The demographic breakdown consisted of 56.1% men, 44.4% women, and 1.8% persons living with disabilities. While the turn-out was relatively low in some areas, potentially due to the public's reluctance to participate in such consultations, the Committee nonetheless managed to gather valuable and insightful contributions. These submissions were carefully considered and deliberated upon by the Committee in the development of their comprehensive report.
Public Submissions
The public consultation process undertaken by the Portfolio Committee and Thematic Committee was widely commended, with the citizenry applauding Parliament's proactive approach in soliciting community perspectives on the proposed legislative amendments. The public hearings elicited a broad spectrum of views, with a general consensus emerging that the Bill should align the country's legal framework with prevailing international human rights standards.
Majority of the public in support of the Bill submitted that the principle behind the Bill is noble and just, considering factors such as the vacancy of the Executioner for more than 20 years, and the world view that the threat of the death penalty does not cause any noticeable reduction in capital crimes. It was their opinion that a combination of penal and restorative justice would do recommendable.
In addition to this, it was further submitted that the President of Zimbabwe, His Excellency Dr. E.D. Mnangagwa, has strongly opposed the death penalty for many years stating that it is a flagrant violation of the right to life and dignity. Therefore, it was their opinion that measures should be taken to abolish the death penalty and replace it with alternative sentences like life imprisonment with hard labour. The public also urged Government to abolish the death penalty, saying it is not our culture but a relic of the colonial era. It was their opinion that in our Zimbabwean culture, killing is not an acceptable form of punishment hence compensation is used when a person is killed (kuripa ngozi). Furthermore, the death penalty has no established deterrent effect and it makes judicial errors irreversible.
It was also submitted that most people who are sentenced to death in murder cases comes from poor and under-privileged backgrounds, hence they cannot afford the best lawyers to represent them and often rely on legal aid provided by the Sstate.
Moreover, majority of the men who attended the hearings averred that the application of the death penalty is discriminatory in nature. It was their opinion that gender is certainly a factor in determining whether or not a person convicted of murder will be sentenced to death. They further submitted that section 48 of the Constitution states that only men between the ages of 21 and 70 can be sentenced to death. Therefore, no women can be sentenced to death, hence there is need to abolish capital punishment so as to maintain the gender balance mantra. However, members of the public who were against abolishment of death penalty stated that statistics have shown that in countries where the death penalty is not in force; murder, rape, terrorism, drug abuse and violent crimes are very common because the punishment for such crimes is not deterrent enough. They added that many convicts get out of prison on parole and amnesty then goes on to commit the same crime again. They further averred that the absence of a hangman is not an enough reason to abolish the capital punishment.
Committee Observations
The Committee observed the following:
- The majority of the public were in support of the abolishment of the death penalty
- Some members of the public cited the United States of America as a jurisdiction still applying the death sentence. However, the Committee observed that not all States in the United States of America apply this sentence on offenders.
Committee Recommendations
The Committee, therefore, recommends the following:
- that the death penalty be abolished from all Acts of Parliament,
including the Defence Act which the minister did not address in his address on the death penalty. We also needed the Hon. Minister to address how he was going to tackle provisions in the Defence Act.
- That the death penalty be replaced by the imposition of long jail
sentences or life imprisonment with hard labour and without an option for parole. The Hon. Minister was advocating for 20 years in some cases and so on but as a Committee, we recommend that murder under aggravating circumstances, which was suitable for a death penalty or capital punishment be given life imprisonment without an option for parole.
- That those on the death row be resentenced to life
imprisonment.
However, it is my personal view Hon. Speaker Sir, that Section 48 of the Constitution still needs to be amended. Mr. Speaker, Section 48 of the Constitution talks about the Right to Life and provides that capital punishment maybe imposed for stated crimes that is made under aggravated circumstances and may not be applied to women and adults above the age of 17.
So it still means that the law that we are talking about and saying is discriminatory still exists in our Constitution. We have already spoken about the reason why the death sentence needs to be removed from our law; it is not possible to subject an individual to death without taking them through torture, inhuman and degrading treatment. We also considered the pre-colonial and colonial historical connotations associated with the application of the death sentence or capital punishment, which warrants us to completely remove the death sentence from our Constitution.
Mr. Speaker Sir, after this amendment to the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act and the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act as advocated for by the Private Members’ Bill, it means we are going to remove the death sentence from the provisions of those Acts. Can we call ourselves a country without a death sentence when our Constitution still permits that a law be made? The Hon. Minister stated it very clearly that the Constitution makes it an option. So my question would be; will Zimbabwe be classified as a country without a death sentence after this amendment to the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act and the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act would have been effected?
What it means Mr. Speaker Sir, is that the next Parliament after us can still revive the death sentence, hence the need for the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs to promise this House that he will, during the course of the 10th Parliament, bring a Constitutional Amendment Bill to completely expunge capital punishment from our Constitution – that was my personal note to the Committee.
Conclusion
While the minority voiced dissenting views predicated on the principle of "an eye for an eye," the general consensus appears to be one of cautious optimism. The Bill's provisions, when scrutinised through the lens of international human rights norms and Zimbabwe's own constitutional commitments to rehabilitative and restorative criminal justice reform, demonstrate a concerted effort to realign the penal system with more progressive and humanistic approaches. The legislation's emphasis on rehabilitation, reintegration, and the preservation of human dignity resonates with the public's desire for a criminal justice system that is both just and compassionate. By eschewing a myopic focus on retribution, the Bill signals Zimbabwe's commitment to addressing the root causes of criminal behaviour and empowering offenders to become productive members of society.
HON. KANGAUSARU: Thank you Hon. Speaker Sir, for allowing me to add my voice as a pastor and as a servant of God in Parliament of Zimbabwe. Death sentence is in violation of the right to life and it is absolutely cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and barbaric. Deuteronomy 20:13 says, ‘Thou shall not kill’. It is clear from the biblical point of view that God does not want us to kill. Even Cain himself when he killed, God put a mark. He said, ‘I am a vagabond and whoever shall find me, he shall kill me’ and God said, ‘No, nobody shall kill you, whoever shall kill you shall have seven times punishment’. God then put a mark upon Cain that whoever finds him should not kill him because God does not want to kill.
The Cabinet has approved the abolishment of death penalty, a decision that has been welcome by human rights advocates including myself and if we look at our President, His Excellency Dr. E. D. Mnangagwa who was once sentenced to death himself has been a vocal critic of capital punishment. Even the United Nations has called for the global abolishment of the death sentence and 170 countries have done so, and I pray that we may be among them. Yes, of course, we can talk of others that oppose the death sentence. They say that the death sentence serves as deterrent for serious imprisonment and that life imprisonment is not sufficient punishment for heinous crimes such as murder and ritual murders.
The rise in crime rates in Zimbabwe suggest that the death penalty is necessary to maintain law and order. That is the opinion that other people are giving. The death penalty provides closure and justice for the family of the victim. Mr. Speaker Sir, let me consider the moral implication of the death penalty. Taking of a human life by the State is a grave irreversible act. It goes against the fundamental principles of respect for human dignity, which is enshrined in our Constitution. The death penalty does not serve as a deterrent to crime and has been to be applied to marginalised and vulnerable groups. Section 48 of our Constitution of Zimbabwe protects the right to life, but allows a court to impose the death sentence in limited circumstances for aggravated murder.
This, on its own, is a confusion of the law at its best which gives room for loopholes because what constitutes as aggravated circumstances to someone may not be the same to the other person. Only men between 21 and 70 years can be sentenced to death, creating a gender discrimination, thus it becomes a problematic issue in this gender balance world.
Furthermore, no execution like our Hon. Minister has already alluded has occurred since 2005 hence, the need to abolish it and rather impose life sentences which the State can manage. The death penalty is prone to error because there is no system that has no justice and that is 100% perfect. Despite our best efforts, our justice system is not 100% and there has been cases where innocent individuals have been wrongly convicted. Once a person has been executed, there is no way to rectify such grave miscarriage of justice.
Moreover, death sentence is incompatible with the global trends as well as international law towards abolition. The majority of the countries around the world have either abolished the death penalty in law, or practicably contributing to the death penalty. Zimbabwe risks isolation of itself from the international community and undermining its commitment to human rights. It is important to consider the financial cost of death penalty. Maintaining death from inmates, conducting lengthy appeal processes and carrying out execution, are all costly endeavours.
These resources could be better allocated to improving our justice system, supporting victims of crime and addressing the root causes of criminal behaviour. Vision 2030 aims to create a society with high standard of living and social well-being. Abolition of death penalty aligns with the goal by upholding human rights and the inherent dignity of our people.
Furthermore, Vision 2030 seeks to modernise the justice system. Abolishing the death penalty could be seen as part of the reform by ensuring the justice system focuses on rehabilitation and reducing potential wrongful conviction. Vision 2030 aspires Zimbabwe to become an upper middle-income economy by 2030. Many developed nations do not have the death penalty. Abolishment could improve Zimbabwe’s standing on the world stage.
As I conclude, it is imperative to note that the death penalty abolition represent a progressive and human approach to justice. It is time for Zimbabwe to join the growing number of countries that have abolished death penalty and upholds the values of human justice and respect for human rights. I argue and urge my colleagues to support this Bill to abolish death penalty and to help build a more just compassionate society for all Zimbabweans. Thank you.
*HON. ZEMURA: Thank you, Mr. Speaker Sir. I stand to support what has been done by the Parliament and what it is planning to do in 2024 about the abolishment of the death sentence. The issue regarding the abolition of the death sentence is that indeed, everyone is capable of committing a crime. The death penalty in Zimbabwe should be removed.
We saw this coming when there was no hangman. So I want to appreciate the fact that we do not encourage death sentences even for those who commit abortion. Abortion is a crime to God, killing is killing. Murder is just murder, whether you have killed an old person or an infant who is killed and thrown into the bin like what some women are doing in Zimbabwe. They must be arrested, they must get a life sentence, and they deserve to be incarcerated because they would have committed a crime.
Human life is sacrosanct, the Bible says that no one has the right to kill, so no one should kill. Even young girls and women should stop abortions. When you see a woman who has been raped, there is no need to abort the child because the child did not plan that act. Even when it is a mistake, people would know that it is a mistake instead of killing someone who might grow up to do great exploits, although their mothers would have been raped.
For some of these things, you would find that God does not allow that, 50% of those who commit abortion will also die because God does not allow the killing of people. I support this Bill. Our country is a developing country that cannot practice abortions. You find countries like America where murder is committed every day, and issues of lethal killing are broadcast on television. People are executed in different ways using technology, which is why God the Almighty is dealing with such issues in those countries.
Look at Zimbabwe, we have mountains full of rich minerals, America has mountains but with no minerals. Zimbabwe is indeed blessed. Let us remove laws that take away our blessings from God and negatively affect our performance as a nation.
Even if the death sentence was preserved, you would find that there is no hangman and no one is interested in taking the job of a hangman in Zimbabwe. In Zimbabwe, we have not heard of people applying for the job of a hangman, but in other countries there are hangmen.
If a person is executed, that person would not feel the pain because they would be dead and they would not come back to life, so it is not necessary to do that. It is the law of God that people should die, so even without that law, people are still going to die naturally hence let us remove that law. I believe the Ministry of Justice, Legal, and Parliamentary Affairs will execute this Bill fast so that it sails through. I thank you.
*HON. P. ZHOU: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let me support this issue, Hon. Speaker Sir. I want to appreciate His Excellency because when this Bill went to the Executive, His Excellency did not accept the death sentence. He experienced the pain of the death penalty when Mbuya Nehanda and Sekuru Kaguvi were executed. We see the pictures and it also pains us, that is why we are saying that Zimbabwe suffered during the war of liberation and our people were killed. Executing people is not good, it pains us.
Again, this Bill is segmented stipulating that from 21 years to 70 years, these people could be killed. So because the law selected the young, people felt that it was not good. Women also were not killed because looking at the law, you find that people are saying we do not want the execution, so we need to find alternative ways. Sometimes we might kill a breadwinner; whether it is the father or uncle, it is painful.
Let us talk about these things; churches should intervene, and they must teach people that the death penalty is not a deterrent indeed. This is true because the law was there but still people would continue killing despite the law. It is important to have alternative forms of punishment, some should be punitive enough. For example in Zhombe, a teacher was killed in cold blood and mutilated, and the face was harmed. You ask the question of who kills people because in our culture, we fear the avenging spirit, that is Ngozi. God is the one who created people and He should take the life of a person when the time is ripe. I thank you.
+HON. R. MPOFU: First, let me thank you Mr. Speaker for the opportunity that you have given me to add my voice on the death penalty debate. I would like to thank His Excellency on the way he saw it fit that in this country, we should abolish the death penalty.
How many more people should we count that should be murdered? Many people in Zimbabwe were killed during the struggle by the British. There is an Hon. Member who gave the example of Mbuya Nehanda or Sekuru Kaguvi. Who can hang a woman or man who is old? I would like to thank the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, if Zimbabwe can still continue with this law that people should be killed as what happened during the liberation struggle; we know Smith killed many Zimbabweans, but there was no such law that Ian Douglas Smith should be killed. He died peacefully and that is why I say the spirits of Zimbabwe should not agree because Zimbabwe has its own culture and laws.
Even our chiefs cannot allow this law for people to be killed. A person should be apprehended, incarcerated and sentenced. If a person commits a grievous act, they should be sentenced to life in prison. Even church leaders cannot allow a person to be sentenced to death. The Lord is the one who has the life of a person in His hands. The Holy Spirit would intervene for a person. Some of the people who kill themselves are afraid of killing someone else. Would someone kill a disabled person just because they are ashamed of them? With these few words, this law should be abolished.
*HON. MUNEMO: I want to appreciate the issue that has been raised regarding the abolishment of the death penalty and I want to add a few words. Firstly, I want to thank His Excellency, President E.D Mnangagwa for giving us details of what happened during the liberation war and how he survived death. That only shows that indeed, His Excellency does not want to hear about the death sentence also. If it was someone else, he might not share that and this informs even future developments.
There is an Hon. Member who spoke well about the abortion done by women. In Mt Darwin, there is a case which happened where a woman dumped her baby in a blair toilet but after one day, the toilet was then destroyed and the child was pulled out of the toilet. The child survived, grew up and came to know what had happened when he was still a baby that he was dumped in a blair toilet. The relationship between the mother and the child is not good. So the issue of abortion is a bad thing and damages relationships affecting families where you find people not valuing ethos and values as black people.
There is a penalty which used to happen before Christ, of revenging an eye for an eye, where those who would have stabbed someone with a spear were supposed to be punished the same way. It is not good to take that approach as people and that is why when Christ came, he said that if the first law was powerful, then why not the second testament? This meant that there were faults in the first testament which affected even human values. We thank the coming in of Jesus Christ who said we must not kill.
Hon. Speaker, the desire for someone to die is not right because it is like killing. There are some who say when someone has hurt them; they desire that the other person should die. This is not right. We see wild animals fighting and then showing love, embracing each other. This shows love but for people, it is not right to desire that the other person should die. There is an issue which I want to talk about that you find someone would have stolen from a house, say a pick or wheelbarrow. The person who would have lost their valuables avenges using juju which kills the thief. Let us remove the thoughts of killing. Our hearts should desire not to kill a living human being.
I want to say this about traditional healers and even to the modern doctors, you find some saying you can legally abort or try to abort using modern means, this is not right. Some say the issue of whether a person should be killed or not should be said in courts only, but we must talk about it in churches and different leisure points. My issue is that we need to look at our lifestyles, what we desire and the point that everyone wishes to have quality life because we only live once. When God rules, then that is it.
As we speak, there are some who are on the death row in other countries and after that, you find that the person died in vain because eventually, they are acquitted but posthumously. For example, when we look at the Libyan leader, you find people discussing on social media that he was a great man who did many developmental projects in Libya, but he was executed. He was shot and many families are regretting his death because they know he was going to develop the country. These are touching issues. I do not have much to say, but we must desire not to kill and teach our children that it is not good to kill. I thank you.
+HON. S. SITHOLE: Thank you Hon. Speaker for giving me the opportunity to add my voice to this important motion. I speak as a person who lost a child in 2008. I only attended once at the Magistrate Court for that matter. I made a follow up on that matter as a person who worships and praises God. I want to support the President of Zimbabwe that it is not our right to kill a person. It is in the Lord’s hands. I would like also to thank the Minister of Justice for his expounding this law so that the Lord give him all the knowledge.
Hon. Speaker, the reason why these other people do such acts, I will explain a bit in Shona. Some say nhova on the sculp, I want everybody to get this – that is why this death penalty is being abolished. It is not mending the fontanelle when the child is very young. Those are the spirits that get into the child when the child is very young. That is why we should take note that praying and worshipping is very important. Some of the people die for things which they do not know. The white people are the ones who enacted these laws during the war times to massacre those people who were ruling during those times. That is why I think that as the country of Zimbabwe, that it is not right for somebody to be killed after he has murdered someone. We will say this so many times but the Lord said that the life of a person is in his hands. We do not have power over the life of a person. The Lord is the one who have sovereign power over a person’s life. I think that Hon. Speaker, you are speaking to a person who is affected and has knowledge, someone who lost his two children in 2008. I did not take it to heart into accounting that because I left it into the Lord’s hands up to this day.
I thank the Minister for bringing in this Bill before this august House and we are in full support of that prison term and life prison. The person should be incarcerated for a prison term and the person’s life should be left into the Lord’s hands. I would like to thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
+HON. M. NKOMO: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir for giving me the opportunity to add my voice on this Bill. We have learnt so much as a Committee. We moved around the country from the northern and southern parts of the country. Some of the members of the public were in full support of this sensitive Bill. That is why we have come to this august House to debate on this Bill. We would like to thank the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe for supporting this Bill that this sentence should be abolished, and killing is not human because he passed through that stage hence, he saw it fit that killing is not for a human being. We just leave it into the Lord’s hands.
In the Bible, it says that the person who has killed should also be killed but when Christ came, he said that the person should not be killed. Some of the things that we take note of is that some people are killed for something that they would not have done. The person will have passed through an incident but they will be incarcerated for something they would not have done. The beautiful thing now is that if a person is apprehended, he is incarcerated in prison. You will be given a life sentence until their life is taken by the Lord because if a person is released, is out of custody and is in public, that would not be proper. They will not handle the matter well. That is why we say the person who has murdered somebody should face a prison life sentence. That is why as Zimbabweans, we have not yet had some people who have been incarcerated for not having committed a crime. I thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
*HON. SAMSON: Thank you for giving me this opportunity to add my voice to this motion on the death sentence abolition. Mr. Speaker Sir, firstly, I would like to thank His Excellency the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa because he is a God-fearing man. He fears to go against God’s will, that is why he supported this motion that a person who has committed a crime should not be murdered or killed.
Mr. Speaker Sir, this matter of killing a person is a scary matter. In some homes, a man is even scared of slaughtering a chicken because he feels the pain of killing. What more if it is a matter of killing a person? Even the word of God says that we should not avenge those who have wronged us, if somebody has wronged you, you should not look for somebody to murder that person. We should maintain the spirit of saying, ‘the Lord is the one who knows how to avenge, it is in the hands of the Lord’.
There is some Hon. Member who spoke about the issue of terminating pregnancy - that is equally killing. It does not matter whether the pregnancy is terminated at an early stage, because eventually a child was going to be born. When you talk of this matter of murdering, there are so many matters at hand. If you look at an issue of somebody who has been wronged, they look for other macheteros or robbers to go and kill that person because; if you kill somebody, their spirit will haunt the killer. This is why I thank His Excellency for saying that we should not kill. His Excellency was once given a death sentence but fortunately escaped the killing, this is why he deems it fit for criminals to be committed to life imprisonment. Hanging offenders is very truamatising and very bad. This is the reason why Mr. Speaker Sir, when you pass along the road and come across an accident, you feel uneasy as soon as you notice human blood on the road sides. When you come across a beast that has been hit by a car, you will not feel the same pain as the one you feel when a person is killed.
Mr. Speaker Sir, I would like to thank you once again for giving me this opportunity to add my voice on this issue of the abolishment of a death sentence. The Bible says, ‘Thou shall not kill,’ hence we should not kill. With these few words Mr. Speaker Sir, I thank you.
*HON. GANYIWA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. Let me add my few words to this debate. I will make it fast so that we may be released early. It is important to say the truth. When the Hon. Minister spoke, he touched the hearts of many people, even those who had other thoughts. Sometimes you imagine yourself in someone’s shoes, which might give someone modern thoughts to think that revenge is the best, but when he spoke touching on all sides, I felt content, noticing that there is no crime that calls for someone to be killed.
When we go back to our respective constituencies, we are going to meet people who will ask what we agreed on pertaining to people who murder others. We are going to face those questions. When the Hon. Minister was speaking, there was a word that came to me from the Lord that I should respond to this. When you are cornered, you would say indeed, you have been wronged but if we say that the one who wronged you should also be wronged; and if the court rules that he who kills must also be killed. I saw it prudent because I had the same thoughts. For example, judging by the way Tapiwa Makore was murdered. I could have the same thoughts but if I were to be given a knife and told to kill the person who killed my child, it is not easy. We agree as Hon. Members, together with the President who was exceptionally lucky to escape such a death and this has been explained and elucidated that killing is very wrong. The Bible says, ‘thou shall not kill’. Truthfully, we should all agree that killing is very bad, but I was of the view that if there is a sentiment of killing, as was explained, that some people massacre others in a bad manner, it is so fit that the person should be given a life sentence.
There are different prison cells where such people who would have killed other people should be sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour. They should work for the country because a person should not be killed, only God can do that. I thank you Hon. Speaker Sir.
*HON. MAPIKI: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I would like to thank Hon. Mushoriwa for bringing this motion into this august House. I would like to congratulate him for taking a cue from His Excellency the President, Dr. E. D. Mnangagwa who said that sentencing a human being to death is not morally right. I am further pleased to note that Members on the opposite side are also in agreement with the ruling party on the need to scrap the death penalty. Be that as it may, we should truly examine the issue of people who kill others. For example, if you go to the Avenues, you find some doctors who are acting unlawfully by carrying out some illegal abortions on pregnant women. This practice is also being carried out by traditional healers.
A case in point being the Tapiwa Makore issue where a ritual murder was carried out at the instigation of a traditional healer who went on to assist the culprits in conducting muti related rituals. However, it should be clear enough on the form of punishment that should be visited on people who commit such heinous acts. Some other people drive buses along the roads whilst they are drunk and if such people are involved in accidents that kill people, their penalty should be stiff. Turning to the health sector, we should take note of some people who do not want this country to be assisted with health facilities or medication for some diseases to be treated and food. Such offenders should be sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour. With these few words, I would like to thank you.
HON. J. TSHUMA: Good afternoon Mr. Speaker Sir. Naturally, I was not going to really speak because people have spoken into this matter and justified it accordingly. I would like to thank Hon. Mushoriwa for bringing such a pertinent Bill before us and the Minister of Justice, our President and the Cabinet for asserting to this worthy Bill because God gives life and God is the one who should take life. Nobody else should have the right to do that. The reason why I stood up most importantly is to say we are all in agreement here that we want to abolish the death penalty. In that perspective, I want us to deal with people that take lives as well. There must be some written scripture to deal with them decisively.
We want a scenario whereby if you commit murder whether through the ways that are being said here that someone goes to a n’anga and a n’anga gives you medication and ways of killing somebody, that n’anga should definitely be dealt with. I want to support the idea that those people that do that must be put towards hard and thorough labour for the rest of their lives. They should produce for us the people that are outside here as well as inmates inside, so that their spirit of killing is turned into the spirit of saving the nation.
Those people must definitely make sure that they do not rest for the entirety of their lives. I remember in the bible when Cain murdered Abel, If God wanted to make a precedent, he would have killed Cain instantly but he let him be. To show that if you kill, you do not necessarily have to be killed as well. God made sure that Cain’s life was very difficult. If you go on to read the Bible, that man was always running.
He was always being attacked because of the things that he did of taking somebody’s life. This means that death penalty is out, but to those people who have committed murder, I would love the Hon. Minister of Justice to somehow make sure that for the culprit, punitive laws to avert further heinous acts of killing are enacted. I know that he is a very good crafter and I know if he sits down and thinks about it very well, he will come up with such. This is because when you do so, you will face the consequences of hard labour in prison for the rest of your life.
The only thing that made me stand up was the Hon. Member there who had come up with the issue of saying hard labour and I really wanted to emphasise to say, let us make sure that these people know that you cannot kill and get away with murder. Yes, we will not kill you, but you will work every day of your life nonstop until God decides to take your life. Mr. Speaker, with those few words I would like to thank you very much for giving me this opportunity and say yes, let us abolish death penalty. I thank you.
*HON. CHIBAGU: I am delighted that we are all now focused on national development. My experience in the past Parliaments have shown that most of the time, we were on each other’s necks and I am glad that Hon. Members have now agreed to clean the deck and be national development oriented. I am equally happy that today my children….
*HON. SPEAKER: Order, the correct address for your so-called children is Hon. Members.
*HON. CHIBAGU: I am glad that we are now focused on the work that our constituencies sent us out to perform. I am equally delighted in that our detractors are going to be shammed by us presenting a united fund in tandem with the ethos of our national development. Furthermore, the debate around this HIV is pertinent and should not be treated lightly. As an elderly Member of Parliament, I urge all of us to remain focused and united on national development issues. I am happy if you have been diagnosed with HIV, to some extent you would feel that you are dead. However, I am happy about everything that was discussed in this august House. Although I was quiet, I have heard a lot of debates and I am thankful.
As we are debating, we are in the process of building the nation as we were sent by our constituencies. Let us focus on the development of our nation. As I stand before you as your mother – [ Laughter.]- let, me sit down then because I am troubling you, but I am thankful for all that has been said. I would like to encourage people to talk about the development of the country and not about deaths or killings.
*HON. NHARI: I would like to add a few words on the issue of death sentence. Our Constitution gives us the right to life and not to die, so if someone has committed murder, we should look at what prompted them to kill. We see people going to Sangomas for rituals because people do not want to be killed yet they are killing others. We have seen people going to the relatives of the victim that they would have murdered to ask for forgiveness, which means the causes are usually demons and not deliberate. People should not be killing each other, so death penalty should be abolished.
*HON. NYAKUEDZWA: Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I would like to contribute a few things on the issue of the death penalty that it is not good. This law was placed by our colonisers so that we could not be a free people. Our detractors saw a lot of potential in us and decided to put the death penalty upon us.
If His Excellency the President was not a young man then, he could not have been the President now because of the death penalty. Therefore, this law should be abolished. As Zimbabweans, we should agree that someone who would have committed murder should be sentenced to life in prison, working for the country by doing farming and other activities that empower our economy until God takes them away and not men.
Therefore, I would like to say that this law should be abolished. Hon. Mushoriwa came with a good motion and I would like to thank him for that. I would also like to thank Hon. Chibagu, who has spoken as an elder, that the death penalty should be abolished. I thank you.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER (HON. MACHINGURA): Order! Yesterday during the debates here, Hon. Mushoriwa rose and explained that the Bill which he had started as a Private Bill be now transferred to the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs because there are things there that are of interest to the Executive.
Today, on the 30th of May 2024, he wrote a note which I just want to read to you as a way of informing you of the position that he has taken. It says “The Death Penalty Abolishment Bill [H.B. 5 of 2023], in addressing the letter to the Speaker of the National Assembly, I write to inform you that following the Executive’s interest in the above-stated Bill, we have agreed that the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, should lead the process.”
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr Speaker, the Bill aroused a lot of interest in Members and I will make my response when everyone else has been allowed to debate.
+HON. MATINENGA: Thank you Hon. Speaker for allowing me to add my words on the issue that is very important to us as a nation, the issue of abolishing the death penalty. It has been said by most Hon. Members that killing is only for God and He is the one who brings life.
I support that the death penalty should be abolished, but I would like to add that as Hon. Members we are now obliged that from our families, we teach everyone love and life. Some things that are not being done is not preaching the importance of love and life. We should learn to teach, starting from our families, advancing to the villages so that everyone in the country can know about it. People should live in harmony and we pray that there should not be conflicts which may cause killing each other of people. This issue of killing each other will end after the gospel of love and life has been preached. Thank you, Hon. Speaker. I also thank Hon. Mushoriwa for bringing the motion.
HON. TIMBURWA: I would like to appreciate Hon. Mushoriwa for bringing this Bill before the House and appreciate the Executive and the Minister, and every Member who has debated on this particular issue.
I am rising particularly on the issue of accomplices or people who are part and parcel of a person who ends up committing murder. We know there are different circumstances that can lead a person to commit murder but there is a category that lies to or misleads people that if you slaughter someone and bring a human body part, then you will be successful. During our time and era, we have people who are ignorant to the point that they feel like for one to be rich and be successful, one needs to have a human body part. If there is any accomplice like that, be it a witchdoctor, with the help and indulgence of the Minister, will there be a way that we can have regulation on how people who are under ZINATHA can be regulated in this regard so that we do not have people who are then pushed and induced into ideas of committing murder. If there is anyone who participates and leads someone into committing murder, for whatever reason, let there be punishment that goes to that person if it means he is also going to be secondary degree murderer and they are also given life sentence in prison. That will make ensure our society is safe and people do not believe in get rich quick notions, especially the young generation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker Sir.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): I move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Tuesday, 11th June, 2024.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
HON. TOGAREPI: I move that all other Orders of the Day be stood over until Order of the Day Number 9 has been disposed of.
HON. A. MOYO: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
LEGISLATION TO PROMOTE THE DEVELOPMENT OF
PREVIOUSLY MARGINALISED LANGUAGES
HON. BAJILA: I move the motion in my name that this House:
NOTING THAT Section 6 (1) of the Constitution provides that, “The following languages, namely Chewa, Chibarwe, English, Kalanga, Koisan, Nambya, Ndau, Ndebele, Shangani, Shona, sign language, Sotho, Tonga, Tswana, Venda and Xhosa, are the officially recognised languages of Zimbabwe”;
AND WHEREAS Section 6 (4) of the Constitution also provides that, “The State must promote and advance the use of all languages used in Zimbabwe, including sign language, and must create conditions for the development of those languages”;
NOTING that education is a conduit through which languages can be promoted and advanced;
FURTHER NOTING that the Zimbabwean education delivery programme allows for promotion and teaching of numerous non official languages such as French, German, Portuguese and Mandarin, among others;
DESIROUS to create a more harmonious Zimbabwe where language proficiency is not a barrier to peaceful and progressive coexistence;
NOW, THEREFORE, calls upon the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education: a) To amend Section 62 of the Education Act so as to prescribe for other official languages in schools as recognised in Section 6 of the Constitution in the same manner as Shona, Ndebele and English. b) To come up with legislation which promotes the development of previously marginalised languages by way of teaching such languages outside areas they are commonly used as the mother language in the country.
HON. V. MOYO: I second.
HON. BAJILA: The motion basically seeks to help us as a nation to realise the aspirations we set for ourselves in Section 6 of our Constitution as we adopted in the year 2013.
Mr. Speaker, the Constitution gives effect to 16 official languages of Zimbabwe as set out therein. I wish to start my debate by making some definitions of what we are looking into. Thereafter, I will seek to answer a question that says; where do we come from in terms of language promotion and language development as Zimbabwe since the times of our colonization? I will proceed to assume and make a few summaries of where we are as of today then I will end by seeking to answer the question of what is to be done.
Mr. Speaker, I will define language promotion as an investment in human, social, economic and political resources in the production of literature and artworks of a specific language. We will define previously marginalised languages as indigenous languages of Zimbabwe that were not constitutionally recognised until we adopted our new Constitution in 2013. Where do we come from as a people with respect to language promotion and language development? In 1923, the Government of Southern Rhodesia working with various church missionaries convened what was called the Southern Rhodesia Missionary Conference. The Southern Rhodesia Missionary Conference proceeded to be held again in 1932 and 1950.
These three missionary conferences were for the purposes of codifying numerous languages so that the Government of Southern Rhodesia could be capable of communicating with the natives using their own languages. Also, so that the Christian denominations in their various forms could be able to produce literature and distribute it amongst the natives or the indigenous people. What then happened was that the three missionary conferences agreed that resources should be put together for the support of indigenous languages with isiNdebele and Chishona being prominent ones. Much of the development of these languages emanated from decision of missionary conferences and the Government of Southern Rhodesia in 1923, 1932 and 1950.
Most importantly, in 1931 the Government of Southern Rhodesia hired Professor Clement Dock of the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa where he produced his report titled the ‘Standardisation of Chishona Dialect’, where he sought to bring numerous languages that existed at that point in time and bring together what is now known as standard Chishona. I raise this point as a means of saying the state has a history of linking with numerous partners to develop and promote languages before. This is what we can and we should do with respect to the previously marginalised languages as previously defined.
We move further to 1987. In 1987, our independent Government came up with the Education Act and that Act emphasised further the promotion and development of the languages that the Government of Southern Rhodesia and its partners had established. What we saw post the 1987 Education Act was investments and cooperation in the mass production of literature in English, Ndebele and ChiShona. That mass production of literature produced many books as we saw the cooperation between Government and its partners that included your Longman, Mambo Press, College Press and so forth. There was at that point in time, an addition of sign language into the recognition of the languages of Zimbabwe.
We now move to 1994. In 1994, Zimbabwe moved from Nkosi sikelela iAfrica as its National Anthem to our present-day National Anthem, Phakamisani iflegi yeZimbabwe. What happened at that time was that there was investment in competitions of who was best in singing the National Anthem of Zimbabwe. I am proud as a Member of Parliament for Emakhandeni-Luveve Constituency that Luveve High School won the isiNdebele competition of the national anthem – Phakamisani iflegi in 1994. I am further proud that as part of that choir, there was Juliana Makuvire who was a form 2 student at Luveve High and she is a Member of this Parliament today.
The point I am trying to bring was that even as we built our new national anthem, as we supported it – there was state investment in the official languages that were recognised at that point in time. That is why the competitions were only held in those languages.
In 2013, we then adopted a new Constitution where we made numerous languages, specifically 16 languages to be the official languages of Zimbabwe. Section 6.1 of the Constitution actually says the state must promote those languages. I remember when we met, we first had the debate on the death penalty, there was a serious debate on the difference between the word must and may. That debate was settled on that day when it was established that if the Constitution says something must be done, it means that we do not have an option. It is unlike if the Constitution had said may. It will mean that we have an option whether to do it or not.
Luckily, Section 6.1 of the Constitution says the State must promote those languages. I therefore rise today to say; how then should the state do this promotion of the languages? Today we are at a point where despite the fact that we have 16 official languages, our state infrastructure and our statecraft have serious prominence for only three. Eleven years after the adoption of the new Constitution, if I get to the Court of Zimbabwe in Beitbridge, something that tells me that the court is this direction, none of it is written in ChiVenda. If I am going to visit Government offices in Binga; on my way to the Government offices in Binga, there is no insignia that is written in Tonga. If I go to Chiredzi, there is no insignia that speaks in Shangani. If I go to Chipinge, there is no insignia that speaks in Ndau yet in terms of our Constitution, the importance of Ndau and English are the same, the importance of Ndebele and Venda are the same, yet in terms of our Constitution, all our 16 languages must be given that kind of prominence even as we direct our people in terms of where to go to get Government Services.
A few weeks ago, I got into a shop here in Harare. I received a phone call from my father. We had a conversation on the call in isiXhosa. The shopkeeper who was there gained interest in the conversation until I was done. He got close to me and then started conversing with me in isiXhosa. I was curios to find out how he knows the language. He narrated to me that he lived in the Eastern Cape in South Africa for 10 years and he has a family now that he built there. That is how he got there and learnt the language but here in Zimbabwe where we are, we have a situation that if I am to move from Matopo where I come from and stay in Chipinge as a civil servant or as a business person, I have no interest at all in learning Ndau. I will continue to speak in my language, yet if I am to move just across the border and be in Mozambique where the same language is spoken by some people who stay there, I will immediately develop appetite for learning the same language.
Our people are moving to the Bubi and Umguza area where isiXhosa is spoken, but have no appetite for learning it. If the same people get jobs in Eastern Cape, we find them speaking isiXhosa. People move and get to work in Beitbridge without an appetite to learn ChiVenda but if they get a job in Thoyohandou, they begin to speak ChiVenda. These are our people and today we seek how best we can develop this appetite for learning these languages because they are our languages. Our people must find themselves capable of conversing among one another. At least if I cannot converse in the language, it must be possible to hear what my friend or what the person sitting next to me is saying or speaking about. This essentially stands at the heart of the motion as set out in Order Number No. 9 of today.
Without taking long, I move to say we have languages, we spoke but now, what is to be done? Leftists have read an essay written by Vladimir Lenin of the same title and I do not seek to be another Lenin, but I seek to assist us on some practical things that we can do and that this House can recommend to numerous Government ministries and even to Portfolio Committees of this House on actions that we can take. Why it is important to act is that in 1987, as I have said earlier on, Sign Language was given prominence in terms of the law because the Education Act of 1987 adopted Sign Language as an official language that must be taught and appear everywhere. Today, 37 years later, Sign Language is still unsupported by a lot of things that we do.
Therefore, the fact that our Constitution and statutes say it, does not necessarily mean that we will get somewhere. My wish and the wish of all of us must be to say if somebody goes from anywhere and arrives in Hwange tomorrow and finds the people of Hwange conversing in Nambya, they must be capable of hearing what the people of Hwange are saying. Above all, they must have the appetite to learn Nambya when they eventually get there.
My first suggestion on what is to be done goes to a study visit of what other countries have done in order to respect numerous languages that are official in those countries. This could be done by the Portfolio Committee on Primary and Secondary Education or Sports, Arts and Recreation because some of the issues belong to the National Arts Council. We have some countries that have done extremely well. Here in the global south, we have Ethiopia which designates and promotes 12 official languages and has done extremely well. We can learn from our brothers in Ethiopia.
We also have India who have a Commission on the official languages of India and have a Permanent Committee of Parliament which looks into issues of the official languages of India. We also have the Pan South African Language Board across the Limpopo which also focuses on the official languages of South Africa and does a lot of work around them. Outside the global south, we have Switzerland which has a Federal Act on National Languages of the Swiss People and Finland which has an institute for the languages of Finland wholly supported by the State and doing a lot of things to protect, promote and develop the languages of Finland. A study visit to any or all of these countries by a respective Committee of this House could assist us to develop ourselves further.
Secondly, in 2022, there was a draft policy in Zimbabwe where numerous language organisations – the Ndau Language Promoters Association, the siNdebele Language Promoters Association and so forth met with Government in Victoria Falls at the Elephant Hills and developed a draft Language Policy. That draft Language Policy, I would like to call upon this House to ensure that it is expedited to the stage it becomes the actual policy and not the draft with the view of further developing that draft Language Policy into a National Languages Promotion Act of Zimbabwe. That way, we will have various instruments of acting and developing our languages.
I also propose that we move further to establish a statutory body for the development and promotion of Zimbabwean languages. If possible, consider the promotion of Zimbabwe Indigenous Languages Promoters Association into a statutory status. Those who participated in the Constitution making process like myself, will be aware of the work that ZILPA played in sensitising our communities on the importance of participation in the process, and also in assisting Government to ensure that the new Constitution of Zimbabwe gets translated into our numerous languages. A statutory body for the development and promotion of our languages will be an absolute necessity as we move forward.
We also may need to amend the Education Act of 1987 to improve the recognition of previously marginalised languages. I have to say in 2020, this House made an amendment to that Act. The amendment was to the effect that all schools should find space to teach all languages. I think it was a good aspiration but somehow an impossibility in the sense that we have 16 official languages of Zimbabwe and this means that if we were to be able to satisfy this need of the Education Act, we will have to teach all the 16 official languages in all the schools of Zimbabwe and thereafter, teach other subjects like geography, history, mathematics, physics and so forth. That would give our kids independence on the subjects that they go to school for. We might need to revisit the Education Act of 1987 to make it possible to deliver this necessary development in our country.
One of the tools we may use is an amendment to seek the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education to amend Circular 4 of 2024 which pegged the number of subjects that every ‘O’ level pupil must have to eight. We may seek an amendment to this so that it goes to nine. When it then goes to nine, we make it mandatory that the ninth one becomes a previously marginalised language. The eighth that the Minister sought to put continues to be as it were, then we have the ninth one which becomes a previously marginalised language. In order to do so, we may need to establish a system of consultations, consulting parents and stakeholders as we used to do during the development of CALA, that parents would get consulted on what is to be done and what is not to be done until through consultations with parents we agreed to drop CALA. We might adopt the same system with respect to which previously marginalised language goes where.
The stakeholders and parents in Murewa District need to get consulted over a period of 15 years to say, in addition to the eight subjects that are being taught at secondary schools, which of the previously marginalised languages would you like to be taught in this place? What will then happen is that the people of Murewa decide the marginalised language they want to be taught within Murewa District is Tonga. This will mean that the brotherhood between the people of Murewa and Binga that already exists actually get more cemented by the language commonalities that would have been created by that kind of a policy. This must not be difficult because we are already teaching Portuguese, French, German and Spanish in our schools. How then should it be difficult for us to introduce chiVenda, chiKalanga, Nambya, Tonga in our schools because we already have these languages that are there which are not our own. Mr. Speaker, I also propose that Zimbabwe, in order to bring the international community to our promotion of these languages to hold a multi-stakeholder or a multi-lateral conference on the promotion of the languages of Zimbabwe so that we can tap into international instrument such as Article 27 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights which is sometimes known as the Banjul Charter and Article 19 of the United Nations International Convention of Civil and Political Rights.
Mr. Speaker, it might also be necessary for us to begin to imagine and set up a fund for the promotion of arts in these previously marginalised languages. We have done these arts competitions before we come from the history of biras, we come from the history of ourselves promoting arts in various means. We might need to go back there but this time around with the view of promoting these previously marginalised languages because after all they are our own languages and after all it is us who marginalised them.
Mr. Speaker, I end by saying, in all that we do, I call upon this House and I call upon the Government to put more effort in the official languages of Zimbabwe called Khoisan. It is important for us to focus on Khoisan because whatever we say, however we view the history of Zimbabwe, at the end of the day all of us found the Khoisan people here and today their language is facing extinction. It is incumbent upon us to say in all things that we do when we are focusing on language promotion, we remember Khoisan as the oldest language of our land. Mr. Speaker, I thank you.
*HON. MAPIKI: Thank you Hon. Speaker. I would like to thank the mover of the motion, Hon. Bajila. It is an important issue and it came from far. It started in 1884 during the Berlin Conference in Belgium. They talked about dividing Africa, Zimbabwe was included in a group of what is known as Bantustan - that is where the problem of languages begins. When we look back when we came from in Ethiopia all of us; if you hear a person speaking Swahili, it is similar to what we are saying. If you hear a person who speaks Ndebele, Shona, they are some familiar words. Had it not been for tribalism, we should be speaking one language. I was thinking of the way forward so that everyone can speak the 16 languages. Those who speak Ndebele, the likes of Hon. Bajila knows many languages. If we go to Bulawayo people know the Tonga language but here someone cannot ask ‘where is the toilet’ in another language. So Hon. Bajila has been stating important things because in his area, they know different languages. It is ruining the business in Zimbabwe because people do not speak many languages, people cannot communicate effectively because of language barrier.
The big issue that maybe causing people not to learn other languages is that you cannot get a job when you do not have English language even if you have passed all the subjects. If you want to study Science subjects at the University, you can have an A in Biology or a Science but if you have a D in English, you will not be enrolled. For people to be employed, they must be conversant with at least four indigenous languages. Now it is like mandatory that one must be able to write or speak English for them to get a job. There is nothing that is being done in the education sector to people who do not have English but they will have other subjects.
The education sector will want someone to learn English even though they passed Agriculture or Science, they will still want English even with a C so that you can get a place in the University or get a job. People should also be taught sign language; so the issue brought by Hon. Bajila is an important issue. Sometimes even conflicts are caused by language barriers. It is my suggestion that people in vocational training centers or Chitepo School of Ideology should be taught different languages because if a person only knows English, Ndebele and Shona, he or she will be considered good but that is not enough.
The use of many languages also promotes intermarriages because it will be easy for couples to communicate. If I am courting a woman who knows Venda, I will end up knowing the language. So, inter-marriages may promote infusion of languages among people of different cultures in Zimbabwe. In this Parliament, we have a duty to promote the aspirations of the Zimbabwean people in terms of language use as enshrined in Section 6 of the Constitution which lists 16 official languages that are recognised in Zimbabwe.
I have also observed that in this august House, there are some people who are ashamed of speaking their mother tongue despite the fact that they are not comfortable with the English language. Charity begins at home. To that end, I hereby make this clarion call for Members not to be ashamed of debating in their mother tongue. Debating in one’s mother tongue does not make you a lesser MP. In fact, it does help one to be comfortable and in the end, helps to make meaningful debates as one will be using their first language.
In so encouraging Hon. Members to speak the local languages, let me give a personal experience that occurred to me in Binga when I failed to request for the use of the toilet in the local language. This was an embarrassing moment for me. I saw the importance of being conversant with most of Zimbabwe’s indigenous languages. It will be quite an embarrassment for all Members of Parliament who frequent this House, but fail to communicate with each other in our different mother tongues.
Our biggest predicament is with the school system where English is preferred ahead of all the other languages. It is my considered view that we should place the same weight that we place on the English language to all the other 15 official languages. As Zimbabweans, we should celebrate and honour people that are capable of speaking at least any three of the official languages.
I further advocate for compulsory learning of sign language in our schools as it is important in the communication world, not only the disabled people, but even with able bodied persons. We also learnt during the Land Reform Programme on the importance of knowing a lot of these indigenous languages. I married early – alas! Had I married later on, I would have taken a wife from Chipinge, Masvingo or Binga. By so doing, I would have promoted not only inter marriages, but the integration of multi-culture and multi-language use.
In conclusion, I would like to thank Hon. Bajila for raising this important motion. You will observe that it is going to be supported by everyone as it embraces all ethnic groups. Furthermore, it will foster and promote unity amongst Members on the opposite side of this House. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
HON. TOGAREPI: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. BAJILA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Tuesday, 11th June 2024.
On the motion of HON. TOGAREPI, seconded by HON. MUROMBEDZI, the House adjourned at Thirteen Minutes past Five o’clock p.m. until Tuesday, 11th June 2024.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Wednesday, 29th May, 2024.
The Senate met at Half-past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE HON. PRESIDENT OF SENATE in the Chair)
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
HON. SEN. MUZENDA: I move that Orders of the Day, Numbers 1 and 2 be stood over until the rest of the Orders of the Day, have been disposed of.
HON. SEN. GOTORA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE JUDICIAL SERVICE COMMISSION FOR THE YEAR 2023
Third Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the Judicial Service Commission for the year 2023, presented to this House of Parliament in terms of Section 323 (1) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. MLOTSHWA: Thank you for the recognition Madam President. I rise today to express my appreciation for the significant strides made by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) in its annual report of 2024. Specifically, I would like to acknowledge the progress made in promoting gender equality within the Judiciary. As we all know, gender equality has been a long-standing challenge in our society and it is heartening to see the JSC taking concrete steps to address this issue.
The report highlights the Commission`s efforts to increase the representation of women in the judiciary, including the appointment of female judges and magistrates. This is a crucial step towards achieving a more balanced and inclusive Judiciary. Furthermore, I commend the JSC for its commitment to addressing the gender gap within the Judiciary. The report shows that the Commission has taken steps to ensure that women are paid equally for equal work, which is a fundamental principle of justice and fairness. However, as we celebrate these achievements, I would like to highlight some areas that still require attention. Despite the progress made, women still face significant barriers to entering and advancing within the Judiciary. For example, the report reveals that women make up only 30% of judges and magistrates, which is still below the recommended international standard of 40%.
Additionally, while the Commission needs to increase female representation, there is still lack of diversity among women in senior positions. It is essential that we work towards promoting women in leadership roles and creating a more inclusive culture within the Judiciary. I would like to acknowledge the JSC`s efforts to promote gender equality while there is still much work to be done. I believe that these strides represent a significant step towards creating a more equitable society. I urge my colleagues to continue working towards this goal and to support initiatives that promote gender equality and justice. I would like to highlight the need for greater accountability within the Judiciary. The report shows that there are still many cases pending trial, and I believe that we need to prioritise addressing these issues rather than focusing on gender equality. I would like to emphasise the importance of addressing corruption within the Judiciary. The report highlights several instances of corruption. I believe we need to prioritise tackling these issues.
I would like to express my appreciation to the JSC for their efforts in building courts in Matebeleland South Province. Specifically, I would like to highlight the construction of courts in Kezi, Filabusi and Esigodini, among others. The construction of these courts is a significant step towards ensuring access to justice for the people of Matebeleland South. It is estimated that over 70% of the population in this province live in the rural areas, and these courts will provide the much-needed service in the community. As a woman, I am particularly pleased to see the JSC efforts to improve judicial facilities in Matebeleland South. Women in this province often face significant barriers in accessing justice, and improved judicial facilities can help to address these challenges. Many women in Matebeleland South Province rely on the protection of these institutions for the vindication of their rights. I believe that these courts will play a crucial role in ensuring that women`s rights are protected. I would like to express my gratitude again to the JSC for their efforts in building these courts.
The people of Matebeleland are grateful for this investment and I believe it would significantly impact on the lives of the people of this province. However, I would like to emphasise that more needs to be done despite the construction of these courts. Many people in Matebeleland South still walk long distances to access justice. This is not only a challenge for individuals but has a broader impact on the community as a whole. I urge the JSC to continue working towards improving justice facilities in Matebeleland South. I believe this is critical for ensuring that the people of this province have access to justice and their rights protected. Thank you.
HON. SEN. MUZENDA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. GOTORA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 30th May, 2024.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE ZIMBABWE ELECTORAL COMMISSION FOR THE YEAR 2023
Fourth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission for the year 2023, presented to this
House of Parliament in terms of Section 323 (1) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. MUZENDA: Madam President, I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. GOTORA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 30th May, 2024.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE ZIMBABWE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION FOR THE YEAR 2023
Fifth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the Human Rights Commission for the year 2023, presented to this House of Parliament in terms of Section 323 (1) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. MAVENYENGWA: Thank you Madam President for the opportunity you have given me to debate on the motion presented to this House by the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs on human rights issues. Madam President, Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission is one of the constitutionally constituted Independent Commissions to look into and investigate the rights of all citizens of the country of Zimbabwe.
They were established and have an Act of Parliament which directs that they make sure every citizen of Zimbabwe enjoys his or her rights as enshrined in our Constitution. The Commission in 2023, from January to December, received and investigated 815 human rights violation complaints which were spread across the country. The 440 of them occurred in the Northern region of the country, 157 in the Southern region, 61 Eastern region and 157 again were received and actioned in Masvingo province.
The Commission, under the Administrative justice also received 496 cases during the same period, that is January to December 2023. The Commission carried out about 121 awareness activities in fulfillment of Section 243 (1) (a) of the Constitution, which entails promotion of education, research and advocacy in human rights issues. Some of the places visited are in the Southern parts of the country, which are Matabeleland South, Insiza and Beitbridge districts. In Matabeleland North, we have Nkayi and Bubi districts.
Madam President, the clarion call by the President, His Excellency, Cde. E. D. Mnangagwa of leaving no one and no place behind has seen the Human Rights Commission devolving and opening up offices in provinces. At the moment, it has opened in six provinces: namely Harare, Bulawayo, Masvingo, Manicaland, Matabeleland North and Mashonaland West provinces, with plans to open in the remaining four provinces. This is a good move by the Commission, as citizens will not travel long distances to report cases of human rights abuse. Some fail to report because of distances.
The operationalisation of the Administrative Justice Unit by the Commission which performs duties of the public protector is a positive activity to protect our citizens against abuse of power and maladministration by State, public institutions and its officials. All these moves by the Commission are a sign of good governance and promotion of democracy as we have independent institutions who check and monitor the work by our Government. The 815 cases I earlier on talked about, which were reported is evidence that the people of Zimbabwe are aware of their rights and where to report them.
Most of the cases were as result of the 2023 harmonised elections, infringement of rights, mostly by political parties’ agencies. The clarion call by the Commission is for political tolerance by all citizens, all political parties and everyone in Zimbabwe to make sure that even when it is during campaign period, each and every person has got a right or freedom to associate with any organisation without any infringement.
Madam President, the Commission applauded the Government of Zimbabwe on the provision of food aid to vulnerable groups and also issuance of agricultural inputs to the citizenry, which is a way of fulfilling the NDS1 and Vision 2030 of an upper middle economy. However, there is need for Government to increase the food aid, especially this year, 2024, where we have an El Nino induced drought hovering upon us. It is everyone’s right to food and the announcement by the Government that no one will die of hunger as food will be available. It is something we applaud as the Senate. It is everyone’s right to food and really because of this El Nino issue, I think our Government needs to double its effort and make sure it reaches every corner of the country, giving food especially to the vulnerable people. This time it is not about vulnerable people alone, but everyone as we did not have enough rains to have enough food for our population.
Madam President, we also have old people’s homes, children’s homes and people with disability homes who all need food. In our Human Rights Committee, we received a report from a Ministry Official that they last sent some money or food stuffs to old people’s homes in September 2023, which is a very bad situation. We urge our Government to take serious consideration of these homes as most of them have very vulnerable people like the aged who cannot work to get food for themselves.
Madam President, the Human Rights Commission needs funding to do its mandate which includes awareness and educating the people on their recourse whenever their rights have been infringed. They also need to research and carry out advocacy meetings with the citizens of Zimbabwe. They need to investigate complains given by the citizenry. I urge Government through the Ministry of Finance that they consider this independent board and also give them enough money to make sure they can do all these activities so that they assist the citizens of Zimbabwe and make sure each and every citizen enjoys his or her right as enshrined in our Constitution.
They also want funds to decentralise, especially to the remaining four provinces, and even further to our administrative districts. Madam President, I think this Commission did a wonderful job in 2023, especially during election period when they were carrying out these awareness campaigns for people to campaign and vote peacefully. We applaud what the Commission did in 2023 and hope Government will take it seriously upon them to make sure they fund this Commission adequately so that they can perform their duties as expected of them. With these few words, I want to thank you Madam President for the opportunity and time you have given me to debate this motion. Thank you – [HON. SENATORS: Hear, hear.] -
HON. SEN. MUZENDA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. GOTORA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 30th May, 2024.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE NATIONAL PEACE AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION FOR THE YEAR 2023
Sixth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission for the year 2023.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. MUZENDA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. GOTORA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 30th May, 2024.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
HON. SEN. MUZENDA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON SEN. GOTORA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 30th May, 2024.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
HON. SEN. MUZENDA: I move that Order of the Day, Number 7 be stood over until the rest of the Orders of the Day have been disposed of.
HON. SEN. GOTORA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
CONGRATULATORY MESSAGES TO HON. SEN. CHIEF CHARUMBIRA ON ASSUMPTION OF THE PRESIDENCY OF PAP
Eighth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion that congratulatory messages be conveyed to Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira on his ascendency to the Presidency of the Pan-African Parliament.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. D. M. NCUBE: Madam President, I would like to associate myself with the motion raised by Hon. Senator Chief Siansali congratulating our own Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira on being elected as President of the Pan-African Parliament. This is a momentous occasion for us Zimbabwe and it is an honourous task Mr. President, which has been placed on the shoulders of Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira. The Pan-African Parliament stands for many values and has many mandates, one of which is to unite and integrate Africa as a continent. Generally, our chiefs are unifiers and it is only proper that a chief has been chosen for the post of President to bring Africa together and more-so, taking forward the vision of the founding fathers of Africa from Kwame Nkrumah right through to our own Cde. Robert Mugabe.
The Pan-African Parliament also stands for representation and accountability and Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira has been a Member of Parliament for a long time and he understands the role which is required of him to ensure that governments which are in place all over Africa are represented. Today, our own brothers and sisters down South are voting in numbers to elect their own representatives and as the norm, the Pan-African Parliament has observers to ensure that elections are free and fair and they pronounce themselves on the elections as our voice in the continent. There are also issues of advocacy and accountability. Those have also been placed on our Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira in that there is need within Africa for some of the issues which were raised by my colleague here, Hon. Senator Mavenyengwa on human rights on the rule of law on governance. Those underpin the Pan-African Parliament. Therefore, it is only proper that our own chief superintends over those. There are issues also Mr. President to do with conflict resolution and peace building. There are a number of flash points within Africa and some parts of Mozambique - Cabo Delgado up north in our French speaking countries. Some of those are actually initiated outside Africa. Therefore, there is need for us to come together and know who is our real enemy, hence the position entrusted on our own Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira to make sure that there is peace and tranquility within our continent. Many outsiders think that Africa is only associated with violence and turmoil. Therefore, Pan-African Parliament with representatives right through the continent, chaired by our own Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira, can then sit down and share ideas. There are also issues to do with economic development. Today, our own President Cde. Mnangagwa was speaking in Kenya and I heard this over the radio as I was driving here. He spoke eloquently about issues of connectivity within Africa, issues of integration in terms of services within Africa. Those are some of the issues which can be articulated within the Pan-African Parliament with our own Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira pointing the august House in the right direction.
There are also issues of knowledge sharing and capacity building which are important within Africa because we have got to benchmark among ourselves and make sure we actually lift the standard of our people in terms of poverty alleviation and hunger. We should also be in a position to share not only ideas, but the resources so that we can grow in tandem as African countries which are united. So the post of President of the Pan-African Parliament given to our colleague is very important and should be celebrated - [HON. MEMBERS: Hear hear.] - and ensure that we continue addressing the challenges within Africa. We continue advancing the interests of our people within the continent. With those few words Mr. President, I again congratulate our own Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira.
+HON. SEN. S. MOYO: Thank you Mr. President of the Senate for affording me this opportunity to congratulate Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira on the motion moved by Hon. Senator Chief Siansali congratulating one of our chiefs in this country and also a Senator. I am aware being a chief is something that is very important. I am hopeful that this motion will bring together all Members in this House because we are seated with the chiefs who are Honourable Members and also our fathers of the House because we are subordinates of the chiefs, including our own President. With those words, I congratulate our chief for getting the position of being the President of Pan-African Parliament.
I realised that for someone to be a chief, he should be born in the lineage of chiefs and that person is given the authority to lead the nation, starting from where you come from, going further to national level where he became a Senator. For the few years that I have been here, I noticed that he contributed a lot. I also understand that he was a Deputy Minister of the Local Government. He worked very well and they say we should celebrate someone when he is still alive, instead of waiting for his death to start celebrating. In addition, our nation Zimbabwe will be recognised globally to an extent that everyone will know we have a son who can represent us and get a vote in Africa as a continent because they would have seen him as real leader.
Furthermore, for the few hours that I have worked with him, I have realised that he is a great leader. When the leaders were counselling someone who was about to leave the village, for example when a girl is to marry, they advise her that she should work according to our culture. Here we are talking about our chief who from birth got authority and has no discrimination. I am confident that everyone is optimistic that he will work well representing Zimbabwe.
We also want our chief to lead from the front and to dispel the myth that Zimbabwe is not properly governed. They will realise that through our Hon. Chief, we have good leaders even against what they have been writing in the social media. I am happy that we have a number of chiefs in our midst to carry his duties even when he is not around. He was the President of Chiefs Council, deputised by Hon. Senator Chief Mtshane Khumalo. We are sure that he will meet a lot of chiefs as he interacts with many people. We are hopeful that he will plough back home in terms of teaching what he would have learnt outside the country.
We are saying here at home we have chiefs who were chosen by their ancestors to lead people in the right direction. Right now, we are seeing on social media that some chiefs who are treating their subjects as animals, forgetting that their grandparents and ancestors have given them powers to lead. I am saying that if there are some chiefs here, they should learn from Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira who we are celebrating today because they say he who is good, his good works will follow him.
Lastly, I want to quote from the Bible that respect your leaders. This nation recognises the chiefs and kings and as such, we can prosper if we offer them their due respect. The chiefs are supposed to work well so that we celebrate them tomorrow. This name called Zephaniah is not just a mere name, but it is word given to real man who has done a lot of work. Hence, I say let God give him strength to lead people with wisdom. He should also love those who did not vote for him because what is important is the unity and peace in Africa as we are one nation. I thank you.
HON. SEN. TSHABANGU: Thank you very much, President of the Senate. I must hasten to say this is a great opportunity for the people of Zimbabwe, myself included. It would be a mistake if I do not add a word to this important subject which has changed the political dynamics in the global community.
We are talking about a man whose leadership is identified and not questionable. Even when you cut his blood, it will ooze that leadership because he was born a leader. He was born on 10 June 1962 in Masvingo. What is Masvingo in English? Masvingo in English is a building made out of stones. We have a son who has built a foundation and was born in a foundation which was built of stones. Masvingo has a population of about 1.3 million and Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira comes from that province. Here we are, there is the son whose parents watched him grow, they never thought Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira would rise and raise the flag of Zimbabwe to that extent.
This is the man who was at the helm of one of the most important institutions in this country, the Chiefs’ Council. It is this Chiefs’ Council that incubated the person whom we are talking about today. It is this Chiefs’ Council that has made him to be what he is today. It is this Chiefs’ Council that has nurtured that soul and the potential in him today. The credit must go to the Chiefs’ Council for them to nurture and bring such a son of the soil. It is this Chiefs’ Council that we should admire. They have their own transitional mechanisms and that is a model that we should use. Every institution and country should use this model because their model is something that we can learn from and it is modern. Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira has unfinished business in the African sphere and in African politics. They had to bring him back even if he had served his term. You made it Hon. Sen. Chief and we are proud of the Chiefs’ Council.
Mr. President, Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira is an agent of change, he has changed the Chiefs’ Council during his reign. He is an advocate for change and has changed the welfare of the Chiefs’ Council today. We have no doubt that he is going to promote the welfare for us all at that level. We have got no doubt that he is going to be the champion for human rights, democracy, principles of democracy and human rights because he is an advocate for change. He wants the place where people can come together regardless of their identity, colour, geographical location or language, to come together and speak with one language and one language that is going to change their lives.
So, Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira is a model for change and I debate and affirm that in his election, he was not opposed. That on its own signifies that Zimbabwe has the potential, it has the talent and can change the African politics. Zimbabwe can change the global politics and can still stand and rise in that arena and make things happen. I hope Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira will continue advocating for the welfare of the Chiefs’ Council and the people of Zimbabwe that together, as Zimbabweans we are one. Together as Zimbabweans, we can change the African dynamics of this world and we can change the world dynamics. Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira is going to raise the flag of Zimbabwe very high. I thank you.
+HON. SEN. NDLOVU: Thank you Hon. President for the opportunity you have given me. Firstly, I want to thank the mover of this motion on the election of our Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira to lead the Pan-African Parliament. Mr. President, in Ndebele we say that a real man is chosen from the youngsters, meaning that no matter how many you are, you must be chosen from amongst other men. So it has been noted that the Zimbabwean son is the one who can lead Africa. I also remember that the father of Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira was also the President of the Chiefs’ Council, meaning that the family of Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira are good leaders. The Africa Day will be commemorated with great confidence. We are optimistic that Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira will bring good leadership and he will move Africa from the so-called ‘dark continent’ to a shiny one. We hope that Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira will raise the flag of Zimbabwe and show what type our country is. Everyone in Africa and outside Africa can testify that Zimbabwe and Africa have gone out of darkness.
When I look out at the history of Africa, there was one political party, the African National Congress (ANC), which tried to unite the whole of Africa, speak on behalf of Africans and for the liberation of Africa. We hope that Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira will take it from there that Africa restores its identity. We have hard working people in Africa.
The previous speaker talked about his birth place, which we do not doubt that the good deeds always follow a person. We hope that Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira will be blessed with a number of words that there is a man from Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe being led by His Excellency, President Mnangagwa and when he is being respected by other countries, that is indirectly the respect of Zimbabwe, where he is coming from. What I believe is that let us all celebrate him for his election, and the countries that have chosen him should not be disappointed but would be proud of Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira.
He is born from the chieftainship; he is not a politician, but he is a well-read person who knows that chiefs are supposed to be like this. We have a country like Botswana that was ruled by a chief who became a President, President Seretse Khama who he led the country and there has never been a problem for the people of Botswana. A number of countries have fought for their countries; sacrificing their lives. Here is a son who was born in Zimbabwe; who was born, bred and learnt how to lead a nation. Then, Africa looked at Zimbabwe and looked at him that there is a man whom we should elect to this leadership position.
The growth of Africa is also that of Zimbabwe. For having a son like Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira, I therefore thought I should add my voice on this election of Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira to be the President of Pan-African Parliament (PAP). I hope PAP will help in peace, security and stability in Africa. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. WUNGANAI: Thank you Mr. President. I want to add a few words on the motion by Hon. Senator Siansali. I would like to add my voice on congratulatory messages being conveyed to Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira, a motion that was brought here by the mover. I am grateful to those that helped to have a messenger emanating from Zimbabwe who happens to be among chiefs to represent us in the Pan-African Parliament (PAP). Personally, I have no doubt that Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira is going to do us proud. Ever since I have known him, he is blessed by the Lord. At times these blessings come to a child when they are still young and would not know when a child will get there.
Chieftainship is attained when one is still in the mother’s womb. I am saying I do not doubt the integrity of Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira because I once worked with him and I know that he is learned and intelligent. He is one person who is not jealous. He is someone who can represent others through the chiefs that he leads. My words to Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira today are - our chief, life is a struggle. Do not be stopped by barking dogs. We are black people. Africa belongs to the black people. We all know that this position had been eyed by countries outside Africa and they have always had an interest in this position. Mr. President, we are not British, neither are we Americans. We have to fight for our Africa. Sorry for vacillating from Shona to English. This is an emotional issue and we have never been given the opportunity as African people to lead. This position was only given to those who are not blacks because they would see us as incapable.
Today, we are happy that we have been given this position. Let us show our good leadership qualities as Zimbabwe so that this will put to rest any doubting Thomases who doubted our capabilities. Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira, I may reiterate that he will not fail because of the intelligence or wisdom he has. This wisdom, I would want to believe was God-given at the time when he was born and he was born a chief. I am grateful that the few words that I have said should also be heard by Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira, for him to raise the Zimbabwean flag high. In addition, in PAP, he should also remember the chiefs that he leads so that they can also follow in his footsteps.
Our chiefs are not in that position in PAP because they only required one. Let us also raise the standard of living for our people as Africans so that our future will be bright. You would also receive the honour because as we sit in this august House, you sit with commoners. I would like to congratulate Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira that the work that was given to him should be done and discharged diligently Shumba, the clan name so that we can also be respected out of your good deeds. I thank you.
HON. SEN. CHIEF SIANSALI: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. PHUTI: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 30th May, 2024.
MOTION
ESTABLISHMENT OF PUBLIC HEMODIALYSIS FACILITIES IN DISTRICTS
Ninth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the treatment of chronic kidney disease in Zimbabwe.
Question again proposed.
*HON. SEN. ZHOU: Thank you President of Senate for giving this opportunity to add a few words on this motion that was brought by Hon. Senator Zvidzai. Issue of kidney ailment is now porous, it has become an endemic and it has caused many deaths, death is now too common amongst us. Our lifestyles could also be because of the diet that we have and the use of oil instead of peanut butter. In the morning, one will have jiggies and other such things. It could be another reason. I know this has already been said by others.
If we look at prophets, doctors and traditional healers, they should also be consulted with regards to conventional forms of medicine. We would also want to find out what causes these kidney ailments. If that research is conducted, we will be then be able to map the way forward. In the majority of cases, some people say such herbs are useless because there is no scientific proof, but we know.
Long back, we did not have many cases of the chronic kidney disease as it is nowadays. There is the Abuja declaration that was done in Abuja, Nigeria that a country should set aside 15% of the National Budget annually for the health sector. If that were to be done, we would be in the right direction as a country because we will be putting aside that 15% for the health sector and prioritise kidney treatment.
As a country, you would realise that we were prioritising malaria, cholera, tuberculosis and I am of the view that we should also prioritise the issue of kidney ailment so that it is also at par with other diseases that I have mentioned. There will be few dialysis machines and majority of them might not be working with some being outdated. We need a budget to cater for that so that our hospitals have state-of-the-art equipment to be able to deliver in the fight against kidney ailment. There should be continuous improvement.
We have learnt from other countries that kidneys are not affected at the same time, but one after the other. If one kidney is removed, a person can live 40 or more years using a single kidney. We need to research so that we have expertise in that area so that our people would not easily die due to kidney ailments.
Let me hasten to air that because we have got few dialysis machines and at private healthcare centres, it has become expensive and there will be long waiting lists in Government health institutions. The dialysis patient should undergo treatment once every week so that they can live long. It becomes difficult when there is a backlog and patients cannot be treated at the same period. If one were to become ill, let us say, in Binga, they need to travel 500 km to Bulawayo to receive medical attention or use the dialysis machine. Would that be attainable in this environment where they have to travel this long distance on weekly basis? There should be decentralisation on provision of kidney ailment machines so that those in Binga can access them at Binga District.
I also look forward to the situation where we will have continuous assessment and educate our children that should they have a problem with stomach ailments, they should quickly seek medical assistance. They should be examined by the doctors before the system is affected in terms of the removal of excretion and blood circulation resulting from the malfunctioning of the kidneys. I thank you for affording me this opportunity Mr. President.
HON. SEN. GOTORA: Mr. President Sir, I move that the debate do now adjourn,
HON. SEN. MAKAMBA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 30th May, 2024.
MOTION
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO ZUPCO AND PRIVATE TRANSPORT OPERATORS
Tenth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the inadequacy of public transport in the country.
Question again proposed.
*HON. SEN. ZHOU: Thank you, Mr. President for according me this opportunity to add my voice on this motion which was brought in by Sen. Tongogara which refers to transportation of the public. This is a very pertinent issue because as a country, we are looking forward that our vision 2030 will not leave anyone behind. We also see that when it comes to public transport, it is one of the 14 pillars which are found in the National Development Strategy One (NDS1). Transport is one of the 14 pillars. If there is no vibrant transport, the 13 pillars will not be complete. As Government, through the Ministry of Transport, we should develop our transportation from air, rail transport and even including the road transport. As a country, we are constructing top of the range airports like the Robert Mugabe International Airport, Buffalo Range, Victoria Falls but it is only open to airplanes from other countries but we also want Air Zimbabwe to revive Air Zimbabwe so that the flag will be raised higher.
Air Zimbabwe would also go to regional countries. We were very proud when we used to travel with Air Zimbabwe in Mbuya Nehanda and Matojeni, I think you know these airplanes. I used to be very happy boarding those airplanes when I was going to Oliver Tambo Airport. Now, you find that we have Fastjet. If we go to the Airport, we have a choice of other airplanes like Ethiopian Airways. It would be very beautiful if you board your own airplanes like Air Zimbabwe.
Mr. President, I used to work for a certain organisation of blind people in Kenya. The Director who was from Kenya would say that if meetings were happening in Kenya, Nairobi, he would make sure that he would buy a ticket from Kenyan Airways so that he would support his country. As for us, we are giving business to other airlines like Emirates on a daily basis. We should also compete in the air with other airlines. What I am saying is that it is very important for us as a nation that we should have that dignity so that our airplanes would also fly and we should use them. By 2030, our economy will be improved.
Coming to the railway trains, they can also help when it comes to the shortage of transportation because trucks are damaging our roads. If we have goods trains ferrying coal from Hwange, because the road to Hwange is in a deplorable state, I think that is being caused by trucks which are carrying coal. If we could put that in the goods train, long back we used to have goods trains travelling from Hwange to Bulawayo and Harare and you would find that our roads were being preserved. This issue of transport is very pertinent when it comes to public transport. We should make sure that our trains are moving. You would find that in Bulawayo from Emganwini, Nkulumane, Nketa or Luveve, all those people from the locations in-between would board trains to and from work and it was very easy.
Mr. President, when it comes to buses in the rural areas, if you want to go to Zvishavane like where I come from in Mberengwa, you have to wake up early, 12 midnight for you to catch a bus. If you get there around 2 am, you would find that the bus would be already leaving. So people living in the rural areas have challenges in accessing towns because they travel early in the morning and come back late at night. You find some boarding on top of the buses as if they are luggage because they want all people to get to their place. I think we should do a lot so that we get more buses. When it comes to the kombis, you find that most of them are not roadworthy and some of them do not have the requisite papers. You find that people in Bulawayo will say that this time, it is easy you can put your unroadworthy vehicle on the road. If you just bribe the policemen, you can also bribe the VID people and we end up having accidents. I think we should have strict laws when it comes to VID. They should be investigated.
Lastly, I think we should strengthen the issue of having a road national fund so that buses can be bought. The buses are friendly to people living with disability, especially those in wheelchairs so that they can be able to get in and out of the buses with dignity. Most of the buses, you find that those people on wheelchair will be lifted up in order for them to get access into buses, which is infringing their dignity. I want to thank you for giving me this opportunity. Thank you.
HON. SEN. GOTORA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. MAVENYENGWA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 30th May, 2024.
MOTION
PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT SERVICES FOR TEENAGE MOTHERS
Eleventh Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the effects of teenage pregnancies.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. TONGOGARA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. GOTORA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 30th May, 2024.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE DELEGATION TO THE 80TH SESSION OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE AND THE 45TH CONFERENCE OF APU HELD IN COTE D’IVOIRE
Twelfth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the Delegation to the 80th Session of the Executive Committee and the 45th Conference of APU.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. CHIEF NECHOMBO: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. MAVENYENGWA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 30th May, 2024.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE DELEGATION ON THE ELECTION OBSERVATION MISSION TO RUSSIA
Thirteenth Order read: Adjourned debate on the Report of the Delegation on the Election Observation Mission to Russia on the Russian Presidential Election.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. TONGOGARA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. MAVENYENGWA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 30th May, 2024.
MOTION
MOBILE BIRTH REGISTRATION EXERCISE
Fourteenth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the challenges faced by the people living on the border areas on the issuance of birth certificates.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. MAVENYENGWA: I want to add my voice on the motion moved by Senator R. M. Ndlovu on the difficulties being faced by our citizens staying on the borders of our country like Chiredzi South and Sovelele in Mwenezi for them to acquire birth certificates. The President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Dr. E. D. Mnangagwa has always said that we do not have to leave anyone or any place behind on any services that are being offered by our Government. This includes these remote areas which should be included in services being provided by our Government.
It is a right of every Zimbabwean to have an identity document. For one to be a bone fide citizen of Zimbabwe, one has to have a birth certificate which leads to one acquiring an identity card or a passport. For every child to register for any school examination, one needs to have a birth certificate. Most children in the far away areas of the country are finding it difficult to acquire birth certificates because of different reasons. One such reason is the distance from the Registrar’s Offices where one is required to bring witnesses to have a birth certificate, especially orphans whose parents would have passed on. They are told to come with witnesses and these offices are far away. They need a lot of money to travel to fund and feed these witnesses. It will be difficult for orphans to get these birth certificates.
Most students are dropping out of school because they do not have documents which is a sad story and goes against the mantra of leaving no one and no place behind. In border areas like Chiredzi, some young people will end up crossing the border into neighbouring countries like South Africa, Mozambique and Botswana to work on farms because they would have failed to proceed with school due to lack of birth certificates. Brilliant children are denied a chance to showcase their talents as they fail to finish school because of lack of birth certificates.
I now urge Government to make sure requirements for one to have a birth certificate should be favourable and relaxed so that all disadvantaged children and citizens can have birth certificates without any difficulties. Roads in remote areas should be graded so that citizens can travel easily to Registrar General’s Offices.
Mobile registration teams should be sent to these very remote areas for citizens to be able to access birth certificates. Government should not only wait for election period to send these teams, but should do it even now before we go for elections – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear] -
The Minister of Home Affairs should take heed of this call for assisting our people living in the border areas to acquire birth certificates. Services should go to the people and not for the people to walk or travel long distances to seek services.
The President, Dr. E. D. Mnangagwa always says that people should not walk long distances and all civil servants should practice servant leadership, hence the need for the Ministry to make sure they go and serve the people from their areas. There are vulnerable groups like the disabled, orphans, single mothers and some poor people who live in the remote areas who can live with their children and wives without birth certificates, yet it would be their right to have birth certificates for their children. One can marry and have children with a father who does not have a birth certificate. The mother too would not have birth certificates and how do we expect the child to have that birth certificate?
Government needs to take this issue seriously and serve its people, especially in the border areas since it is everyone’s right to acquire and have a birth certificate. I thank you.
+HON. SEN. PHULU: I was born in one of the border areas and I resided in border towns where there is no radio communication such that when you want to listen to the radio, you listen to the South African channels if you are in Beitbridge. If you are in Plumtree, you listen to radio stations in Botswana and if you are in Binga, you listen to stations in Zambia. After so many years after Independence, we have no reason to say there are other places that can be called remote. Even though they are at the border and far away, but for them to be called remote 40 years after Independence, it is something that is very upsetting. We need to look at it as Government and have a solution to it.
We need to amend NDS1 in order to make sure that for every development that we are mentioning in this House, there is prioritisation of border towns. We can have good roads in Bulawayo, Harare and Gweru, but why is that the budget is insufficient and we remain with no roads that lead to the border towns. If you look at Matabeleland South Gwanda Road is in a bad state – in between there are no roads. We are preparing a motion on roads and we are going to debate that. This is one cause that is making it difficult for people to go and access birth certificates. If you are in areas like Bambadzi and you are supposed to get your birth certificate in Plumtree, there are no roads that lead to Plumtree. The buses cannot make it to these destinations because there are no roads. We are appealing to Government to look into this issue and have accessible roads to service centres.
If we look into decentralisation and devolution policy of this country, which I have never heard us debating that much in this House and I have not heard its implementation. As we are talking right now, there are development officers who were elected by the people who have not made any visible tasks. Devolution makes references of these issues that Government services are supposed to spread countrywide and be present at Bambadzi. There should be electricity and a Registrar Office where people in need of birth certificates go to.
The motion that was brought in by Hon. Ndlovu makes reference to this other silent issue – even in Bulawayo and Harare, there are children that do not have birth certificates. Border towns have more challenges than those found in urban centres like Harare. In these border towns for example, the father is in Botswana and the child grows up to five years. They do not even know how to register this child and it is a long journey to travel to Bulawayo and you will be told that they want the father and also the father’s relatives but the father will be staying in Botswana. This is a challenge which is perpetuating the issue that children are failing to access birth certificates. We need also to look into this issue. The Constitution of this country [Chapter 3] looks into the issues of citizenship.
The Government has amended this section. Before, children without enough documentation were really faced with a great challenge on how to access birth certificates. They end up going to the courts and will just be given any male around the area and told he now belongs to John; he is his son or child. For now, there is no person who is denied citizenship and it is not possible for a Zimbabwe citizen to stay in the country without proper documents. The law permits that people should have citizenship documents, but we are lacking implementation measures on such issues. Those at the Registrar’s office are supposed to be brought for oral evidence by the relevant Committees and be asked their position since the Constitution states that everyone is supposed to have documents. Those with the fathers that are not present, what are the measures that are being done for them to have proper documents? With those words, I support this motion that was brought by Hon. Sen. Ndlovu and I support the recommendations. There must be mobile birth certificate registrations that spread countrywide and targeting the border town areas such that if they are given two to three months intensively, everyone will be able to register. Those who would have missed out, we can now implement other policy measures that can make it easy for those people to be assisted. Officers that are deployed in these areas need to be trained so that they understand that people can go to Botswana and come back to Zimbabwe without going through the border towns. They must be well conversant with the languages of those areas. This is one issue that is causing a hinderance in the allocation and issuance of birth certificates. I want to invite every Senator to come and support this motion in this Senate because this is a motion that will assist the children of Zimbabwe.
HON: SEN. TSHABANGU: Thank you very much Mr. President. I do not know whether the rules will allow me to present the report which was done by the Methodist Church. I just want to pick a few things from that report and flag them out. They were interviewing students in these remote areas who happen to find themselves in this predicament of failing to have national identity cards because of various reasons. For this august Senate to get the sense of what I am trying to put across, I want the august Senate to connect to feelings of the children who are unable to secure these important documents. If Mr. President you will allow me just to pick two, three or four and then we can, as we move…
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Go ahead.
HON. SEN TSHABANGU: Mr. President, the ratio is about 44% of the children who do not have documents in various areas of our communities. One child in a certain school that I am not going to mention, when he was asked about his story, this is what he responded; ‘I do not have a birth certificate because my parents separated when I was very young. I am staying with my grandparents who are very old’. The other one said his father lacks transportation and money to enable him to process the birth certificate despite the fact that this will enable him to access education. The other one said, ‘I am staying with my parents but they do not have the money for me to travel to the Registrar’s office’. The fifth one said, her parents are divorced, ‘I am staying with my mother who does not have a birth certificate and identity card to enable me to process my birth certificate. This is beyond my control, but my wish is to have a birth certificate like other children.’ The other one said, her situation is similar, her father died and she is staying with her grandmother. She does not have money to take her to the Registrar’s offices for her to attain the birth certificate. The other one said, ‘my parents divorced, my mother remarried and left me in the care of my grandparents. When my mother remarried, she never looked back on us and I did not manage to secure a birth certificate which is a pre-requisite for me to sit my Ordinary level of examination. The issue is eating me day and night. I do not know what I should do, whether I am going to write my O’ Level examination, only God knows.’ She continued and said, ‘I am a bright student in school, I am afraid I might fail to sit for the examination and my future will be doomed.’
Mr. President, these were stories of our children today who are living in the outskirts of this country, who cannot access education because without a birth certificate, you may not sit for examination; you may not be enrolled in any school. These are the circumstances of our children who have lost their parents under difficult and different circumstances. They are unable to attain and get proper education. It is my plea, when I listened, the reason why I put this, everyone of us in this House is a father; is a mother; is a grandparent. One way or the other, we have children; great grandchildren, I put this so that we can attach our contributions so that we can attach whatever feelings that we have to those children who are yearning to be heard; to those children who are voiceless; to those children who do not have these important documents to this date.
I am putting across this message to you; to this House so that we make sure that the Government of the day facilitate, put programme institutions that will make it easier for every child who is born on this earth to be identified. It is important, if there is something that anybody can take everything away from us, but nobody can take away our identity – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.]- These children, we are taking away their identity. We are depriving them of their identity, which is enshrined in the Constitution of Zimbabwe which we fought for, which our brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers fought for – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.]-
Mr. President, I know two good friends of mine from the other bench, I have learnt a lot and I will continue to learn a lot. They have voted for this sternly. They have the experience. They have got the wisdom and I admire them. May God bless them on the other bench. I thank you.
HON. SEN. R. M. NDLOVU: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. D. M. NCUBE: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 30th May, 2024.
MOTION
REHABILITATION OF CENTRES FOR CHILDREN LIVING IN THE STREETS
Fifteenth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the plight of children on the streets.
Question again proposed.
*HON. SEN. TONGOGARA: Thank you Mr. President for giving me the opportunity to conclude the motion that I brought to this House, pertaining to the issue of children living on the streets. This motion touched the hearts of all Senators in this House. The way it was debated showed that this problem of children living in the streets is a nationwide problem. I want to express my gratitude on the way the motion was debated because it brought out many issues and a lot of recommendations in order to curb his problem in our country. All Senators showed that they have an interest in seeing this problem over because of the recommendations they shared in this House. This showed oneness. If the recommendations that came from Hon. Senators are taken on board, this problem will be a thing of the past.
My appeal is that if we bring such motions in this House, the responsible Minister should at least read our debates so that he responds – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] – He should come and tell us what they are doing as a Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare in order to curb this problem. We know this problem cannot be solved in a short space of time but at least if the Minister comes and assures us that he has read in the Hansard what we discussed as Senators, we would be happy. He can tell us steps they are taking in order to implement our recommendations. If they remain silent, we would not know whether they value these contributions and whether they are doing anything in order to curb this scourge in our country. We might think that they are saying you debated this motion, but as a Ministry we are doing nothing about it, which makes us unappreciated. This matter touches on the health and well-being of children living in the streets.
There is this motion which was in this House concerning children without birth certificates, who cannot go to school, even those who are intelligent, they are affected if they do not have birth certificates. It is a very important motion which you Mr. President, can take our message to the Minister that Senators are appealing to you that when we bring a motion in the House, can you please come and share with them what you are doing as a Ministry. It was once done when there was a motion on gender. The Minister came and explained to us that he had read our debates and told us what they were doing as a Ministry. This gives us courage to continue crafting motions because we would be aware that those on the helm of this Ministry are also with us. They read and take on board our recommendations and also advise us on what they will be doing in line with the problem at hand. I now move that this House adopts the motion.
Motion that this House –
RECOGNISING Government's commitment to vision 2030 of leaving no one and no place behind;
ACKNOWLEDGING Government's endeavours and initiatives to provide shelter for street children;
CONCERNED about the increasing number of children opting to live in the streets;
DISTURBED that these children are exposed to extreme health hazards, crime and abuse;
NOW, THEREFORE, calls upon:-
a) The Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion to avail more resources to the Department of Social Welfare to enable rehabilitation centres that will accommodate children living in the streets in recruitment of more social workers;
b) The Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Entreprises Development to invest in programmes that improve the livelihood of vulnerable families and reduce poverty at the household level; and
c) The Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare to promote family integration in all its programmes, put and agreed to.
MOTION
PRESIDENTIAL SPEECH: DEBATE ON ADDRESS
Sixteenth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion in reply to the Presidential Speech.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. KAMBIZI: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. MAVENYENGWA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 30th May, 2024.
On the motion of HON. SEN. MUZENDA, seconded by HON. SEN. RUNGANI, the House adjourned at Seventeen Minutes to Five o’clock p.m.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Wednesday, 29th May, 2024.
The National Assembly met at a Quarter-past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE HON. SPEAKER in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE HON. SPEAKER
APOLOGIES RECEIVED FROM MINISTERS
THE HON. SPEAKER: I have received the following apologies from the Executive: Hon. Prof. N. Ncube, Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion; Hon. K. D. Mnangagwa, Deputy Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion; Hon. E. Jesaya, Deputy Minister of Sports, Recreation Arts and Culture; Hon. B. Rwodzi, Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry; Hon. T. Mnangagwa, Deputy Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry; Hon. W. Chitando, Minister of Mines and Mining Development; Hon. P. Kambamura, Deputy Minister of Mines and Mining Development; Hon. E. Moyo, Minister of Energy and Power Development; Hon Y. Simbanegavi, Deputy Minister of Energy and Power Development; Hon. Dr. S. N. Nyoni, Minister of Environment, Climate and Wildlife; Hon. R. Modi, Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce; Hon F. Shava, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade; Hon. S. Chikomo, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade; Hon. M. Mutsvangwa, Minister of Women’s Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development; Hon. D. Garwe, Minister of Local Government and Public Works; Hon. Sanyatwe, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage; Hon. Machakaire, Minister of Youth, Empowerment Development and Vocational Training; Minister T. Moyo, Minister of Primary and Secondary Education and finally, Hon. A. Gata, Deputy Minister of Primary and Secondary Education.
HON. MUTSEYAMI: I have a point of order Mr. Speaker Sir. Good afternoon.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Good afternoon.
HON. MUTSEYAMI: Very well thank you.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Point of order arising from which debate?
HON. MUTSEYAMI: From the announcements that you have just made Mr. Speaker Sir.
THE HON. SPEAKER: It is a point of observation.
HON. MUTSEYAMI: Well noted. I have a point of observation Mr. Speaker Sir, and I hope it is granted. May I go ahead?
THE HON. SPEAKER: Yes.
HON. MUTSEYAMI: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. God bless you.
THE HON. SPEAKER: I am sorry, I do not need that sanctimonious compliment. You may sit down, it is totally out of order.
HON. MUTSEYAMI: Well noted. I apologise.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Can you sit down please? – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] - Behave!
HON. MUTSEYAMI: I withdraw that Mr. Speaker Sir, and I apologise.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Thank you. You may proceed now.
HON. MUTSEYAMI: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. Mr. Speaker, we fully appreciate, with your indulgence, all the apologies that have been put through by Hon. Cabinet Ministers. Mr. Speaker, it is important to note that if you check the record of Parliament on Wednesdays, we have Ministers who have put apologies and it is more like now a cast in stone. They have a consistency of putting apologies. Whilst we appreciate that Mr. Speaker Sir, you need to raise the Office of the Executive to put this challenge of Ministers who are putting apologies continuously and this culture has been happening for quite some time now. Just take note Mr. Speaker, in this House today, we hardly have five Ministers out of a possible of more than 30 Cabinet Ministers. We actually have four Cabinet Ministers, I think we have two here.
So Hon. Speaker, with your indulgence, we appeal to you Mr. Speaker Sir, probably to put note to the attention of Cabinet to address this challenge so that Wednesdays we have a full bench of Cabinet Ministers that we can put our questions to for the good of our country. You have not raised the House with regards to the attention of the Leader of the House for today because we do not have the Leader of the House. I thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Some good observation. However, there are other Hon. Ministers I know who are on duty outside the country like Hon. Prof. Ncube, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hon. Ambassador Shava. Hon. Minister T. Moyo tendered his apology yesterday. He is on national duty. I am not sure of the others. What I will do -[AN HON. MEMBER: Inaudible interjection]- Do not interrupt me. I will bring this to the attention of the Executive that wherever possible, where the substantive Minister is away, the deputy should be there to assist in responding to questions. Yes indeed, the list is rather very long in terms of comparison of the total number of our Cabinet Ministers. So your point is taken, Hon. Mutseyami. We will look into it.
Leader of Government Business, Chief Whip?
HON. TOGAREPI: Hon. July Moyo is there – [AN HON. MEMBER: Anonyepa uyo] –
THE HON. SPEAKER: Who said that? Where is the Seargent-at-Aarms? Can the Hon. Member who said that, because I did not see his face, please own up? If we capture you through the camera you will be in trouble. Can you own up and withdraw that statement?
HON. TSVANGIRAI: I apologise and I withdraw.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Thank you. Question for oral answers, again, the Whips have favoured us with the list. I shall be so directed.
ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
*HON. MUNEMO: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. Good afternoon. My question is directed to the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development. There are two programmes that are being executed effectively and efficiently by the Second Republic. What measures are being put in place by the Ministry so that these two programmes are also extended to other areas in the country? I thank you.
*THE MINISTER OF LANDS, AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES, WATER AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. DR. MASUKA): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. This question is in line with the boreholes that we are drilling in every province, which is a programme which we are executing in various districts. It is a Government programme that each village head should have a place where we will drill a borehole. We put up solar power and Jojo tanks and also have drip irrigation in a one hectare place. We will also have two fish ponds. Thereafter, we get a company for that village. Every villager will be a shareholder in that company and then after that it will be business, going forward.
We have a programme to have 10 000 boreholes before we reach November this year. At the present moment, we have about 36 groups which are in the provinces busy implementing the programme. So far we have created about 429 village units. Before Friday next week, we will have added 535. We believe that if we continue with this projectile, most of the villages in regions 4 and 5 will be covered. We are concentrating on those regions where there is less rain. They can help by giving me the rightful information about what they are referring to so that we can attend. I thank you.
*HON. MUNEMO: My supplementary question is, in Mt. Darwin, as referred to by the Minister, we have seen the audit team coming to check as to how many boreholes have been drilled. We were surprised when they came to audit whereas there is nothing that was done. Minister, if it is possible we have a problem of water and if you may help us. I thank you.
* HON. DR. MASUKA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. The truth is from 1980, there are a lot of groups that went around drilling boreholes in villages. We want to have about 100 drilling machines and each district will have its own drilling machine. We will not go and drill boreholes where they have already been drilled. We will check on some of these boreholes if they have enough water, we will do a capacity test. I am grateful that there were people who went there to check whether there were any boreholes. That means that area is likely to get some borehole drillings.
*HON. KASHAMBE: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. We are grateful for the Government programme. Yes, this programme is now in place but the problem is when they drill, they take their time to come up and set the whole thing such that right now, some of these which have been drilled are now getting dilapidated. So I am asking on what measures Government is putting in place so that we can have these boreholes in place before they are dilapidated or collapse again?
*HON. DR. MASUKA: Hon. Kashambe. The programme of drilling in your area, there are Presidential developmental plans of about 28. We have drilled boreholes throughout the country. So far, we have about 2006 boreholes that have been drilled. Of these boreholes, 229 have been converted into village units. Some of the challenges relate to the disbursement of resources. This is what is affecting these programmes. Sometimes we think of stopping the drilling up until we have managed to source resources so as to put up the village business units and then realise that no, you cannot wait for that. It is better if we have some money, then resources and the relevant machinery. Most of our Members of Parliament are also contributing towards the purchasing of fuel so that we continue with the programme of drilling boreholes. We are grateful for being helped. Please push so that we may be given the requisite resources in order to push this programme. I thank you.
*HON. HWENDE: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. My question is what measures have you put in place to repair those boreholes that you have drilled? What measures have you put in place so that you rectify this problem?
*HON. DR. MASUKA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. Thank you for the question. I am sorry that some of these boreholes are now falling in, but we are happy that you are giving us feedback that we have such a problem. Once you drill some of these boreholes, they then fall in or get dilapidated. We are grateful for the feedback. If the machinery is a problem, we will look into it. If it is manpower issues, then we will get the relevant manpower to attend to that. So give me the rightful information where these boreholes are, so that we can find out as to what exactly is happening on the ground. I thank you.
*HON. MANGONDO: My supplementary to the Minister of Lands, Agriculture is to do with borehole drilling programme which is being affected by the shortage of fuel and the casings. We have a situation where some of these rigs are parked in Murehwa. They are saying once they get the necessary resources in terms of fuel and casings, they will be going to the natural regions 4 and 5, yet in Murewa, we have a lot of areas that do not have any boreholes at all. My question to the Hon. Minister, what is he doing about ensuring that the rigs that are on the ground do have…
THE HON. SPEAKER: Order, order. It is not what is he doing… You say, what is the Hon. Minister doing.
HON. MANGONDO: My apologies Hon. Speaker. My question is; what is the Hon. Minister doing in terms of ensuring that the rigs that are on the ground do have adequate resources in terms of fuel, casings as well as ensuring that those areas that may not be in natural regions 4 and 5 also get priority in view of the fact that they do not have any boreholes at all? I thank you.
HON. DR. MASUKA: I thank Hon. Mangondo for the question. The question is in two parts. The first is that there are idle drilling rigs on account of them not having fuel or casings. This is reflective of the constrained resources in terms of financing that we are getting from the Ministry of Finance. Once resources are made available, I can assure the Hon. Member that we will be able to accelerate the programme. When we do our budgets, we estimate that a drilling rig would ordinarily be able to do between 350 and 450 boreholes in a year, and that is the reason for arriving at the 100 that we needed to do and that is why we felt it was a five-year programme. Initially that we would be able to do 25 000 communal villages in that period and the 9 villages in all the resettlement and new resettlement areas thereafter.
So it saddens all of us if the resources, as in the rigs are unavailable, but we are unable to do more. My appeal to Hon. Members is that under those circumstances, the drilling rigs are under the supervision of Ministers of State. In our last monthly meeting with Ministers of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution, the Ministry gave a go ahead for the Ministers of State to accept requests for Hon. Members and others that have the capacity to fuel these rigs to be able to provide the fuel so that these rigs can do more and if you can do the additional aspect of availing casings, then that is also a very good contribution to a noble call.
The second aspect of this question relates to the redistribution of rigs to regions four and five, especially given the devastating El Nino-induced drought that we are facing. Remember, the Hon. Member worries that we will be withdrawing, re-distributing rigs from a region that ordinarily should have more rainfall than region four and five – that is the fact.
We are redistributing the 28 drilling rigs that the Government has from regions 1 to 3 to regions 4 and 5. This is informed by the amount of rainfall that we received last year which is willfully inadequate in regions four and five. In many instances, 74% of the wards will not have adequate pastures, only 12% of the wards in rural areas will have adequate pastures, and 45% of the wards will have inadequate water.
So we have as the Government, responded by redirecting these rigs so that they can go to these distressed wards to drill there as a priority first in regions 4 and 5. So you will see more drilling rigs in the Midlands and Masvingo. Those are the provinces with the highest number of villages in regions 4 and 5, then of course Matabeleland South and Matabeleland North, parts of Mashonaland Central and parts of Manicaland and less in the other areas where rainfall was higher than in regions 4 and 5. I thank you.
HON. MUTOKONYI: My question is directed to the Minister of Youth, Empowerment and Vocational Training. In his absence, I will direct the question to the Leader of Government Business, Hon. Ziyambi.
I want to applaud the Government for ensuring that the youths are getting empowered by availing the funds with the various banks, particularly the Empower Bank and the Youth Bank. However, we are still witnessing serious challenges regarding access to these funds, in particular in….
THE HON. SPEAKER: Please, can you ask your question?
HON. MUTOKONYI: What is the Government doing to ensure that all places are not left behind, particularly in availing funds for the youths in the district and constituencies because the youths are not accessing such funds? I thank you.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL, AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you, Mr. Speaker Sir. I want to thank the Hon. Member for the question. Mr. Speaker Sir, the Government policy and thrust is to ensure that there is inclusion of youths in terms of political, economic and social activities. In that regard, that is the reason why His Excellency decided that we must have youth representation in Parliament, and that culminated in some of the youth quota Members of Parliament here so that they articulate more effectively issues to do with the youths.
Over and above that, coming to the specific question, His Excellency created a Ministry of Youth and Empowerment to do with issues that specifically will be involved in tackling issues that affect the youths, how they can be empowered and it also resulted in the creation of a bank specifically for the youth. So, all these programmes are tailor-made to ensure that we do not leave the youths behind in every facet of society.
However, what then happens is that in any situation, it then becomes subject to the availability of funds in our endeavour to ensure that we take care of every aspect of our society and the economy. The Treasury then allocates funds that are available depending on the scenario that exists at that particular juncture.
The Government remains committed to ensuring that issues that deal with youths are tackled, and the youth empowerment programme is tackled, hence you will realise that last week, His Excellency launched the National Youth Service that will inculcate that sense of patriotism in youths and the sense to have that appetite to work for their country.
So the short answer is yes, the Government is very much committed to ensuring that the youths programmes are funded and that they are up and about. I thank you.
HON. MUTOKONYI: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker Sir. I am very much aware that the Government is availing the funds to the banks. I was asking if the relevant Ministry could devolve the funds through these banks to the districts. We have a lot of youths with bankable projects but unfortunately, they cannot get the funds.
So there can be a structure that can ensure that the funds have been put into the bank and then evenly allocated further down to the districts so that if any project proposals are coming from the districts, they can access the funds. In particular, the youths from Svosve are very serious about horticulture but if they cannot access the funding, it is a challenge. I thank you.
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: Thank you Mr. Speaker. I want to thank the Hon. Member for the question. Indeed, the general policy is that we want to ensure that all youths access that particular funding. The specific question on the modalities, if there are any issues that are arising because of the administrative structure of administering the funds, then the Hon. Member now needs to put it in writing so that the Minister, because he is also not part of the banking sector, Empower Bank is a bank separate from the Ministry, the Hon. Minster can then request such information on how administratively they are ensuring that all parts of the country can access that particular funding. So with your permission, the Hon. Member can then put that question in writing so that the Minister can then interrogate and request Empower Bank to provide more specific information in that regard. I thank you.
HON. TSVANGIRAI: Thank you very much Hon. Speaker. One of the major challenges that young people are facing in terms of financial inclusion is that banks are lending, the interest rates that the banks are charging to young people are too high. For example, Empower Bank is lending at 30% interest rate. To young people, that is not sustainable. My question is, what measures can be put in place to make sure that young people can get access to loans at a cheaper rate? Thank you.
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. On the contrary, the reason why the Empower Bank was created is to ensure that our youths, because they do not have collateral and we want to empower them, they get funding at a concessionary rate with lower interest rates. I am not aware Mr. Speaker, of any institution that is segregating interest rates, save for Empower Bank that is specifically targeting youths. Their thrust is to give money on terms that are favourable compared to other financial institutions because they are targeting, particular code of people that we want to empower. I thank you.
HON. KUKA: Thank you Hon. Speaker Sir. My question is directed the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education. What is Government’s plan to eliminate hot sittings as well as to reduce teacher to pupil ratio in Government schools?
THE HON. SPEAKER: Technically, you asked two questions. Can you stick to one question, because hot sitting does not relate to pupil to teacher ratio? Which one do you want attended to, Hon. Member?
HON. KUKA: Thank you Hon. Speaker Sir. I want to know the Government plan concerning the hot sitting.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. The aim of Government or the Government policy, is to ensure that no child in Zimbabwe is left out of school. That is the primary aim. We want to ensure that all our children are in school and afforded the same opportunities. What then comes out of that must be anchored on the need to ensure that everyone goes to school. So if we have a scenario that we still have hot sitting, our endeavour is to ensure that we have adequate schools. If the schools are inadequate, we ensure that a low learner is not left behind by having hot sitting. The desire is to ensure that funds are available and we must have schools that cater for all our children.
*HON. MAKUMIRE: Mr. Speaker Sir, I believe that the issue of hot sitting is because of inadequate resources. My question is, what plans does the Government have regarding the construction of new schools in resettlement areas?
THE HON. SPEAKER: Are you suggesting that the hot sitting is found in resettlement areas? Is that what you are suggesting because the original question did not go that far?
*HON. MAKUMIRE: I believe that the issue of hot sitting is universal as it affects all provinces, not necessarily one area but it is prevalent in resettlement areas. What does Government plan to do with that?
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: The Hon. Member is saying especially in rural areas. I come from rural areas, there is no hot sitting. It is not that prevalent. So, the challenge that is facing resettlement and rural areas is that there are areas where people were resettled which had no schools. You find that because Government requires that every child should go to school, there are schools without proper buildings but where children can learn so that children are not left behind.
These are two questions like what you said Hon. Speaker. In rural areas, we want to construct schools, especially in areas where there are no schools. We said that Government is going to construct schools in such areas and Government plans to build many schools. If the responsible line Minister was around, he was going to give you all the statistics as he has the data. From my knowledge, there are so many plans and in other areas there are schools that will be opening soon. The Hon. Minister is saying that we have so many developmental programmes where schools will be built and there will be computers and modern technology so that children are at par with other children. I thank you.
HON. CHINANZVAVANA: My supplementary question to the Hon. Minister is that when we talk of hot sitting, we are talking of crowded schools and when pupils are crowded, it means they are travelling long distances to the school. The situation is that for primary scholars, they should only travel for three kilometres and around five kilometres for secondary scholars. How soon are you to get to the ideal situation so that we have less of the hot sitting and crowding?
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: Mr. Speaker, the Hon. Member did not grasp the concept of hot sitting appropriately. Hot sitting is not crowing. Hot sitting is where you split classes to say you have a morning class and an afternoon class. That is what is termed hot sitting. Overcrowding is when you now have teacher to pupil ratio that is not ideal. So these are two different issues. When I spoke about resettlement areas, I said these areas did not have infrastructure and therefore, we decided that what is better is to create structures but are temporary, but allow our children to access education. I have responded and said subject to availability of resources, the desire and policy of Government is exactly to ensure that our learners do not travel long distances. It is exactly to ensure that teacher to pupil ratio is a ratio that will allow the teacher to give full attention to the learners. However, in a scenario where we cannot do that, where we have competing interest, it is better to have a situation where the learners access education than to deny them.
+HON. NKOMO: Good afternoon Hon. Speaker Sir. My question is directed to the Minister of Environment, Climate and Wildlife. Since we are facing drought in the country, what is Government’s plan in order to prevent veldfires which affect our wildlife, forest and grass?
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Issues of environment and land are closely related and our Minister of Lands here works closely with the Minister of Environment and have interest in the preservation of our environment. With your permission Mr. Speaker Sir, he can actually give a better and more practical answer.
*THE MINISTER OF LANDS, AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES, WATER AND RURAL RESETTLEMENT (HON. DR. MASUKA): Thank you Hon. Speaker. I cannot respond in the language the Hon. Member used. So I will respond in English.
Veldfires are worrisome, not only for the Ministry of Environment, but also for everyone and especially for farmers and especially in a year such as this where whatever pasture we have, we must preserve so that we can mow the pasture and redistribute that to needy areas. The analysis of the major areas that are affected by fires are that A1 and A2 farm areas which are more susceptible to fires than any other land category. The Province with highest number of fires every year is Mashonaland West with between 30 and 40% of the area burnt. Between 500 000 and 1 000 000 hectares are burnt every year to an extent that every Thursday, my Ministry invites the Director General of the Environmental Management Agency, to give an update to farmers on what efforts we can put together to collectively reduce the incidences of fires, including those that are caused by shear incendiarism.
Hon. Minister Nyoni – the Minister responsible launched the fire awareness week last week. This marks the start of the fire season which runs through the dry period until we get to November when we expect some rains and then the fire season gets suppressed. What we need to do and what we have said within the Ministry is that every AGRITEX Officer must be a surveillance officer for purposes of detecting fires at a local level. We have 6 000 of these and we have said we want to partner with the Ministry of Environment and Environmental Management Agency to have village-based fire action committees so that we are able to detect and react to the fires. The biggest impact to any fire is a reaction that takes place within 30 minutes, either households or pastures. This is why the doors to our garages are fire rated to 45 minutes to enable you to respond to those 30 minutes; otherwise you will not be able to react. That is the same situation in pastures.
My response is Government has activated the machinery for fire awareness and fire suppression, but we need a community approach. We need a whole society approach, especially in a season such as this.
HON. KANGAUSARU: My question is directed to the Minister of Health and Child Care. What initiative are they undertaking to reduce mortality; maternal and infant mortality rate in the rural areas?
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON. KWIDINI): Yes, the Ministry and Government at large are very aware that there must be a reduction in the mortality rate in the maternity because what we are expecting now as a Ministry is to increase the number of trained personnel, especially in mid-wifery such that each and every health rural centre must have a qualified midwife nurse to reduce that. In addition, there is increase in the construction of rural health centres such that our people, especially pregnant mothers, will not travel more distances in search of health facilities.
HON. KANGAUSARU: Can the Minister provide us with the details on the availability of maternal and child health services in rural areas, especially in Hurungwe.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Now, you have crossed the boundary Hon. Member.
HON. TSHUMA: Supplementary!
THE HON. SPEAKER: Hon. Member, I am still responding to Hon. Kangausaru. Your question has departed from policy. If you want statistical data, you may put your question in writing.
HON. KANGAUSARU: Hon. Speaker, can I rephrase the question?
HON. SPEAKER: Sorry, I deal with what is before me. Thank you.
+HON. TSHUMA: Thank you Mr. Speaker for giving me this opportunity. Good afternoon. My follow up question is on the issue of these children that die during birth. What is government doing in order to assist the mothers?
+THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON. KWIDINI): What I can say at the moment is that there is nothing that the Government is doing or if there are any ladies who are being asked to pay for delivery, they should let us know which hospitals are charging them because they are not supposed to be paying anything.
HON. MALINGANISO: The shortage of healthcare centres as alluded to by the Hon. Minister results in these increased maternal mortality rates. What is Government position in terms of capacitating or remunerating the rural healthcare workers who sort of cover the gap that is left by the shortage of nurses? I thank you.
THE HON. SPEAKER: You mean midwives?
HON. MALINGANISO: The midwifery is actually being undertaken by these rural healthcare workers.
THE HON. SPEAKER: They do it through experience?
HON. MALINGANISO: Yes.
HON. KWIDINI: Thank you, Mr. Speaker Sir. Yes, it is very true that as I said earlier, the Government has got a shortage of these midwives but as the Ministry, we are targeting to double the health workforce by 2030 such that these challenges that are being faced by our pregnant mothers are reduced. We now have these village health workers who actually now are encouraged to give health education to the expecting pregnant mothers so that they visit or they book with their antenatal care clinics and when they go to these nearest rural health centres, they are attended to by the nurses who are there to advise them properly. In the case that their pregnancies require special attention, they will be advised to go to nearby hospitals where they can get specialised treatment.
In terms of remuneration, yes, the Government is also working towards encompassing each and every health worker or civil servant in Government such that this job is done as a team. So, everyone will be happy with the structures that are being made by the Minister. I thank you.
*HON. MAKUMIRE: Thank you Mr. Speaker. The Hon. Minister shows that Government has plans to increase the health workforce to solve this problem. My question is, what is Government’s plan to ensure that when these workers are increased they are retained and do not leave the country to create another situation where we have a shortage? I thank you.
*HON. KWIDINI: I thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. Indeed, as a visionary Government which is well articulated by the President according to Vision 2030 that by 2030, everyone must be content with their country. We expect that by then, everyone employed in this country will be satisfied with working in this country and serve their nation. I thank you.
*HON. TAFANANA ZHOU: Thank you Mr. Speaker. My supplementary question pertains to payment by expectant mothers who are referred to referral hospitals from clinics and mission hospitals. What is Government’s plan to ensure that expectant mothers are not charged to pay for fuel from the primary centres to the referral hospitals? I thank you.
*HON. KWIDINI: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I am very sorry that such an incident, an unfortunate incident where primary health institutions or hospital where someone is attended to is charged for fuel. Since it will be an emergency situation whereby we need to resolve that problem quickly, according to our policy, it is not allowed. They are not supposed to provide that fuel. They are not supposed to be charged for that fuel. I thank you.
*HON. MAKUMIRE: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker Sir. Mr. Speaker Sir, we have been experiencing quite a number of cases wherein members of the national military have been involved in heinous crimes such as money heists and armed robberies. – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] - In light of this Mr. Speaker Sir, I want to direct my question to the Minister of Defence…
HON. TOGAREPI: On a point of order Mr. Speaker Sir! I think the Hon. Member is not asking questions but is trying to dramatise his question. I think let us - [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] - I think generalising issues about particular sections of our Government is wrong. Let him just ask his question.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Hon. Member, you cannot start by generalisation because you do not have the data to support yourself - it is a general statement. Why do you not ask for policy direction?
HON. MAKUMIRE: Thank you very much Mr. Speaker Sir. Let me go straight to my question without making reference to the facts and data that is available.
It is in light of this Mr. Speaker Sir, that I want to ask the Minister of Defence about Government policy concerning the enhancement of the welfare of military personnel. Thank you very much.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF DEFENCE (HON. RTD. BRIG. MAYIHLOME): Thank you very much Mr. Speaker Sir. I would like to thank the Hon. Member for asking that question. Regarding the welfare of the members of the military and indeed all uniformed forces, the Government does whatever it can within the resources that are available to provide for their welfare. I do not believe that currently members are really not informed because we debated this even during the budget allocations as to what the situation is like. We keep discussing with the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion to ensure that members of the military are catered for.
Unlike the other members of society, they cannot fend for themselves but it is really up to us the Hon. Members so that when the budget for the military, or the uniformed forces is discussed, we all put our hands on the deck and speak the same language to ensure that their welfare is taken care of. As a Government, it is neither our intention nor wish that uniformed forces are neglected. I thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
HON. MAKUMIRE: My supplementary question is, are the military personnel being paid enough to maintain themselves and their families and what are the Government plans to review their salaries and benefits? Thank you very much.
THE HON. SPEAKER: It is the same question unfortunately, which I thought the Hon. Deputy Minister comprehensively answered. Now, if you are going to ask for pay slips here, you are no longer talking about policy. You are talking about pay slips, which is not the issue.
HON. DHANZI: Good afternoon Mr. Speaker Sir. My question is directed to the Minister of Youth Empowerment and Vocational Training. What is the Government doing to make sure that the youth desks are functional and devout in all districts in every Ministry? I thank you.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER YOUTH EMPOWERMENT AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING (HON. MUPAMHANGA): My apologies Hon. Speaker, I did not get the question.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Hon. Member, kindly repeat your questions.
Hon. Dhanzi repeated her question.
HON. MUPAMHANGA: Thank you Hon. Speaker. There are youth desks in every Ministry of Government. They are not in districts but they are in ministries. What we have done is that as the Ministry of Youth Empowerment and Vocational Training, we coordinate efforts of all youth desk officers within the Government to ensure that we provide entry points for young people in all sectors that are relevant to them in the economy. Thank you.
*HON. KASHAMBE: Thank you Madam President. My question is directed to the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education. We would like to thank Government for several programmes meant to assist those that are struggling to pay fees but because of the prevailing drought this year, even those who could afford to pay fees are going to fail to do so. In addition, some of the children that are going to school are facing starvation. What is Government policy to ensure that schools are assisted in enrolling those students, continuously accepting them to ensure that they learn even in light of the limited funds that we have been paid? The other question is, how are they going to avert starvation in schools? I thank you.
* THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Madam Speaker. That question is not for the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education but for Hon. Moyo who is seated here. If you can allow me to defer the question to him because I believe he can adequately tackle the question more than myself. I thank you Madam Speaker.
THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC SERVICE, LABOUR AND SOCIAL WELFARE (HON. J. MOYO): Thank you Madam Speaker. I would like to thank the Hon. Member for the question. Helping school children every year, Government using expertise from ZimLAC (Zimbabwe Livelihood Assessment Committee) where we find a percentage of children in need of assistance.
Two years ago, we assisted 29%. Last year we were assisting 35%. Right now, because of El Nino, we will be assisting learners that are more than 35%. This is because we suspect that it is because of the fact that the parents will not have got any yields from the fields which they sell as surplus to pay fees for their children. So, Government comes in through BEAM.
The money may be transferred late to the schools but the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education as well as Government and the President say that learners should not be turned away from school, but they must be admitted while funds will be sent or paid later. The second thing is, this year we realise that parents do not have adequate food even if we assist our citizens in the rural areas. Government realises that it is important that learners or school children should be able to be fed at their respective schools, working in collaboration with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education as well as the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development.
We hope that the children will be assisted. The agriculture sector will create school business units. If they will be allocated maize for consumption, they also need to grow vegetables and horticulture meant for nutrition to be provided to the children. We will be working together as Government ministries so that a learner will go to school and come back satisfied from school. So, we will assist these learners at school in order for them to continue going to school. Even if there will be drought like this year, we want them to remember later that they went to school and attained better health and get better results. I thank you.
*HON. HAMAUSWA: Thank you Madam Speaker. I understand the Minister says learners should not be turned away from school for not paying school fees. My question is; is it Government policy that all the children that are assisted by Government from primary and secondary education fail to complete university education because of failing to get money?
May I rephrase my question. In other words, I said I appreciate that Government’s plan is that there should not be any child who fails to go to school for not having school fees. My question is; why does the Government carry that programme all the way to university to allow university students to complete their education and pay later? I thank you.
*THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon. Hamauswa, I think you should make a new question and direct it to the Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education.
*HON. TOBAIWA: On a point of Order Madam Speaker Ma’am. If we are here, we are in the House of Assembly and we should not be asking each other debts. May the Hon. Member withdraw the statement directed to Hon. Hamauswa?
*THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Who talked about debts and may we have order in the House? Please specify the Hon. Member so that we ask him to withdraw.
*HON. TOBAIWA: It is Hon. Chokururama.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon. Chokururama, please withdraw?
HON. CHOKURURAMA: I withdraw Madam Speaker.
*HON. MUCHEMWA: Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am. I would like to applaud Government for assisting learners who cannot afford to pay fees, but my question is; what is Government policy to ensure that those learners that are catered for under BEAM should have their money paid on time? This is because those debts actually disturb the smooth running of schools. I thank you.
*HON. J. MOYO: I would like to thank the Hon. Member. I said learners must not be turned away from school. BEAM funds come from the Ministry of Finance. It depends on the cashflow. So sometimes it delays because Government will have other priorities, but Government says, even if it is found late, no learner must be turned away from school. I remember that last year we started paying for 2022 debts and we cleared them.
Right now, we are in the process of clearing the 2023 debt. I know all schools are aware that learners who are catered for under BEAM, the Government will make sure that they are paid for. Indeed, I am aware that schools will face cashflow problems, but we should all understand that the problem affects the child who is not supposed to be affected in such a way. Let us try to find a way to mitigate that to ensure that the learner continues to go back to school. I thank you.
HON. CUMANZALA: How are you Madam Speaker Ma’am? My question is directed to the Minister of Public Service. Given that Zimbabwe is a member of the United Nations and that United Nations in its resolutions 46.182 and 58.114 outline the major principles of humanitarian assistance. My question therefore is; what measures are in place in Zimbabwe for us to ensure that in observance for example, of humanity and impartiality principles, there is no politicisation of food assistance and that the food that we deliver to the vulnerable communities is delivered in the right condition and right quality, meaning that it is suitable for human consumption? Thank you.
THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC SERVICE, LABOUR AND SOCIAL WELFARE (HON. J. MOYO): Thank you Hon. Speaker. I want to thank the Hon. Member for reminding us of our obligations under the United Nations Charter and its Conventions. I am sure that this august House is aware that the President declared a State of Emergency. When he declared that State of Emergency, he did not just ask for assistance from Zimbabweans as they always do when we have a disaster. He also asked for assistance from United Nations Agencies, partners and the NGO communities, both domestic and international.
In doing so, we adhere to UN principles and that is why in our programming, we have said for food, we are going to use the traditional leaderships that we have in this country. My colleague, the Minister of Agriculture has alluded to the fact that we have 35 000 plans and vigilantes. When we did our rapid assessment which ended on the 15th April, we used this traditional leadership. There were others including those who are elected like ourselves because we are concerned that our people should have sustenance and have food.
We are concerned to make sure that those who deserve should be there, but the selection process is led by traditional leaderships. The reason why we are choosing traditional leaderships is because they are apolitical. This is because of the reason that they are traditional and they look after the whole village and the UN works with us. When we did lean period January to March, we allocated the UN system to give food allocations to four of our 60 districts and we were giving in 56 districts.
We jointly programmed the issue of selection process and we went and validated what they were doing. This is because we also want them to follow our traditional leaderships as they select the beneficiaries. We asked them to come and examine and work with us where we were delivering this food. So that validation has given us confidence that working together with UN Agencies in Zimbabwe, and any UN Agency that might want to come and see what we are doing, that we can as Zimbabweans and with the UN system, acquit ourselves that we are giving food to deserving households and to deserving individuals.
When we set up this programme, we have validations where we said wherever you are distributing food, this is the methodology that we are going to use. There is a complaints desk. That complaints desk has the village heads of the area. There are some women who are selected by the community to make sure that they are not left behind. After all, they are the ones who are affected directly in making sure that the household is sustained. We have people with disabilities, they are on the desk, we have old aged people and together with United Nations, we were able to observe how the system works. If a household or an individual says I was left out, they go to that desk to complain and if the complaint is genuine, then they inform the authorities and those people are included on the list. If you have taken a person who does not deserve it and somebody wants to make sure that these people should not have been there but instead this person should have been there, that complaints desk will take care of that. So, wherever we were doing this process, there was this validation process and we will use that same system to make sure we give food to deserving communities.
Fortunately, for us, we have disaggregated now the number of people who need food in every rural ward; 1 620, we now know the numbers. However, knowing the numbers does not give me the right to nominate who is supposed to be given food. So, the village heads will call everyone in their area and say here in this area, we are supposed to give food to the most needy and the number that has been allocated to us is this one. As a community, whom do we put as number one up to 100 if 100 people are supposed to be given food? So, we want to make this as transparent as it is. I invite Members of Parliament in both Houses as well as councillors in every ward, we have asked everyone interested to come and witness this without them interfering. However, if they think some people have been left out, the complaints desk will be there and I think it can be rectified.
This community means testing; we have to validate it by sending people to go and check whether they have not misused it. There will be some misuse here and there but I can tell you that the United Nations especially the World Food Programme, UNICEF, and other agencies that are dealing with food assistance in this country all agreed. I thank you.
HON. CUMANZALA: Hon. Minister, may you talk about the quality of food that is distributed to the vulnerable communities, particularly the maize community. Are there any measures that are taken to check the quality of the food before it is distributed to the beneficiaries?
HON. J. MOYO: Madam Speaker, I should have informed you and requested that the issue of quality be undertaken by the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water, and Rural Resettlement. I am not qualified to say what the quality looks like even when we are getting food from donors, but in some cases, we send it to the Minister of Agriculture so that they can validate it. I can tell you for sure that when I went to Mangwe, using my own naked eyes, I thought there was something amiss from our partners but if you allow, the Minister of Agriculture can talk about quality.
THE MINISTER OF LANDS, AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES, WATER AND RURAL RESETTLEMENT (HON. DR. MASUKA): Thank you, Madam Speaker. I thank the Hon. Member for the question. Quality control is a routine part of the grain value chain, especially that which we grow ourselves and keep within the Grain Marketing Board system for the Strategic Grain Reserve.
I get a daily report from the Grain Marketing Board regarding the quality of the grain storage. In that quality check, the aspects could be three; the first could be the physical quality of the grain wholesomeness. The second is the chemical quality for which the chemistry research institutes conduct very extensive research and the third is the biological side of things that has there been an increase and perhaps contamination by biological agencies such as pests, and diseases. So, there is a very comprehensive way of looking at these things and we share this with the Ministry of Health and Child Care.
For the grain that is held by the GMB, the 426 088 metric tonnes as of midnight, the day before yesterday, just under 9000 metric tonnes is unfit for human consumption, largely maize at Lion’s Den and at Murehwa depots constituting 90% of that maize, that has now been condemned and has been redirected for purposes of feeding livestock. That contamination simply happened because Lion’s Den is more than what it could carry and when it should do the monthly turn because this is a massive silo, so you have to turn the grain and aerate it every month but there was an electricity outage. So the maize that was at the bottom was consequently affected.
For the maize that we import, let us start with the maize that we import and then we go to NGOs. When an import licence application is made, we then request where the maize is coming from and in this case, maize as an example. We list in terms of the plant quarantine requirements of Zimbabwe. Certain diseases might be occurring in the jurisdiction that we are importing from and we state that this maize consignment must be free of the following.
We also state the physical parameters that we want. We then dispatch a team to go to that factory or the source to do a physical inspection and write a report that this maize in terms of Zimbabwe’s quality control system is fit for human consumption before that maize is shipped to Zimbabwe.
Ordinarily, in that process ,we have confidence, however when the maize goes into private sector storage, we are putting in place a statutory instrument that will enable us as the Ministry of Agriculture to get the statistics of what is still in storage and the condition in which it is stored to assure the nation that indeed when they consume, they will consume safe food.
Regarding NGO’s, we have had one or two incidences where that quality assurance system has not been strictly followed. Through Minister July Moyo, we agreed that the quality of the grain that is given to a Zimbabwean must be the minimum quality that we as a country want our people to be fed with. We must not, at any stage, for any expedience, allow substandard grain to be imported and distributed in the country.
Where members are of the view that based on their thorough examination, not professional examination, have reasonable suspicion that this grain might not be fit for human consumption, we urge you to take a sample and submit this to the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement and we will, just like we did with the samples that Hon. J. Moyo brought, expeditiously analyse, take the appropriate measures to ensure that Zimbabweans consume the right food of the right quality. Having said so, we must assure the nation that we have sufficient good quality maize, wheat, rapoko, pearl millet to feed the nation from now until March next year. Everyone in the rural areas who needs food will be able to get good quality food. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
HON. TSVANGIRAI: Thank you very much Madam Speaker. What measures are being put in place to make sure that we deal with unscrupulous legends who intend to distribute the maize through party lines? Thank you.
HON. J. MOYO: I thank you Madam Speaker. Let it be a truthful thing what I have said about our traditional leaders in the eyes of everyone who is here. If there is a deviation from the laid out standard operating procedures, then those should be brought in front of us and we deal with those when it occurs. Thank you.
*HON. MALINGANISO: Thank you Madam Speaker. My question is directed to the Minister of Agriculture. What is Government policy on the allocation of A1 farms to villagers who were not allocated land and were left in compounds? – [AN HON. MEMBER: The question was asked last week.]
*THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Is it true that this question was asked last week? Hon. Malinganiso, you are said to be the person who asked that question last week?
*HON. MALINGANISO: Yes Madam, but it was not answered.
*THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Why was it not answered?
*HON. MALINGANISO: The Minister was not there.
*THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Since that is a policy question, I will allow the Minister of Agriculture to answer that question.
*THE MINISTER OF LANDS, AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES, WATER AND RURAL RESETTLEMENT (HON. DR. MASUKA): Thank you Madam Speaker and thank you to the Hon. Member who asked the question. Maybe you really did not quite understand what type of people we issue land to. We have two models. We have the A1 Model which we call the Decongestion Model. What it means is that when we lost our land to our colonisers a hundred years ago, they removed our forefathers from fertile land where there was enough water, we were all placed in the tribal trust lands which are commonly called reserves. After independence, we then decided to embark on a programme to remove people from the tribal trust lands and place them on farms where they could access water and where there are good soils.
Those who will remain in that place will have enough land. That is what we call the A1 Model, the Decongestion Model. Let us continue with the A1 before we get to the A2. Those people who are placed at A1 farms, you find that there are those who use to work at those places. As Government policy, we said those should remain at the same compounds but we will get to a stage where we will see where we can take them to. If we see that there are other people who can be accommodated at the same farm, then we will then issue them with land there.
We have a policy, what is called the minimum viable unit where we look at how we allocate land to someone, not only looking at what the law says when it says six hectares. If it is in Matebeleland or Manicaland, we say six hectares looking at the minimum viable unit. We look at the area, land and the water to see how many people it can carry and sustain them properly, that is when we look at who can be allocated. That is how I can answer that since the question was with regards to A1 farms.
*HON. MURINGAZUVA: My question is directed to the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare. Before I pose my question, I would like to thank His Excellency the President, Dr. E.D. Mnangagwa. We realise that for his Drought Relief Programme, there are trains and trucks loaded with food relief. We really applaud that. My question is difficult without presenting a background. Last week or previous weeks, we were promised that everyone who was listed by a traditional leader will be given 7,5 kgs per month. Then it was said 22,5 kgs to cover three months. That is very impressive but in some areas for example, there are some 6 209 parents/guardians that look after about 3 044 people who were listed by their traditional leaders. We expect those people to earn 225 tonnes per month, but from the list that I have for the maize that they are supposed to be receiving tomorrow, they are only going to get 100 tonnes. What is Government doing to rectify that mismatch?
*THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you Hon. Muringazuva. May you please put your question in writing so that you get a comprehensive response. I thank you.
HON. MADZIVANYIKA: My question is directed to the Minister of Finance and Economic Development. In his absence, I will redirect it to the Leader of the House. My question relates to the public finance management system, which is a digital payment system being used by the Ministry of Finance all along and has been discontinued from 1 March to date. The digital system provides for efficient, water tight and devoid of abuse and embezzlement of funds. Why did we depart from the use of that system?
THE MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS AND CULTURAL HERITAGE (HON. KAZEMBE): The question is on the technical side and more of an operational question but nonetheless, it deserves an answer. I will ask the Member to put it in writing so that the Hon. Minister of Finance can give a comprehensive answer.
*HON. NYAKUEDZWA: My question is directed to the Minister of Agriculture. What is Government plan with regards to preparations for maize and wheat planted during the winter season in view of the existing drought?
*THE MINISTER OF LANDS, AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES, WATER AND RURAL RESETTLEMNT (HON. DR. MASUKA): On the 3rd of April, His Excellence said according to the Civil Protection, law he declared a state of disaster. He also pointed out the measures that we are putting in place as a country to ensure that we avert and ameliorate drought. We look at what we have in our silos, what we are expecting to harvest here, what we expect to procure outside the country as well as the measures that we are able to take, especially with regards to the crops that we can grow during winter so that we provide adequate food especially to those in the rural areas. There are supposed to be given some maize, sorghum or wheat every month.
Government said 120 000 hectares must be put under winter wheat because wheat gives us a big yield during winter. We expect five tonnes per hectare. We are expecting 3200 hectares for maize and sorghum and that is a yield of 9 000 metric tonnes. These crops are suppressed during winter in terms of output. We also realise that there are some children who want potatoes as well as rice. So 6 700 hectares is expected to be put under winter production, especially in Harare where we expect 130 000 metric tonnes. There are also 7 000 hectares where Delta grows barley to ensure that beer is available. Altogether, it is 137 000 hectares for our winter production, hence we expect just below 800 000 metric tonnes. We have adequate water to irrigate 141 000 hectares. This is Government’s plan to ensure that we get 600 000 metric tonnes from 127 000 metric tonnes.
As a country, we need 360 000 metric tonnes for consumption. This means 240 000 metric tonnes will be excess. That will be put in addition to 236 000 metric tonnes to take us to 650 000 tonnes. As Government, we expect that if we give 6 million from 9.2 million in Harare, we expect to give everyone in the rural areas meaning we need 780 000 metric tonnes to feed. That is Government’s plan for winter production to ensure adequate food.
*HON. NYAKUEDZWA: In this country, we have more than 6 00 dams. In Makoni South, we have an irrigation facility that has 200 hectares. We hear that we need only eight pivots and a few other equipment to ensure that irrigation starts functioning. What is Government plan to ensure that irrigation scheme functions to mitigate drought this season as well as Osborne dam?
*THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: If it is something to do with your Constituency, the Hon. Minister may not have the response offhand. You have to put your question inwriting to ensure that the Minister researches and give you an adequate answer.
HON. JERE: My question is directed to the Minister of Finance, in his absence may be the Leader of Government Business can answer. Madam Speaker Ma’am, I think you are aware that our National team is playing a home game against Lesotho away on the 7th of June. What is the Ministry doing to disburse funds for the refurbishment of the National Sports Stadium?
As a Committee, we toured the National Sports Stadium this morning. We could see the commitment from the Ministry of Sports, that is why I will be directing this question to the Ministry of Finance. Trenches have been dug there, but nothing is happening and they are becoming a danger to people. What is Ministry of Finance’s plan in making sure that the funds are released for this important project in line with President Dr. E. D. Mnangagwa’s call of image building because if we play a match away from home, it is not good for the image of the country?
THE MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS AND CULTURAL HERITAGE (HON. KAZEMBE): Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am. Let me thank the Hon. Member, Hon. Jere and I subscribe to his concerns Madam Speaker Ma’am, also being a football fanatic. I would like to believe that, that particular question is specific to your particular project, that of the National Sports Stadium.
In that case, I would kindly ask but before I do that, maybe with your indulgence, the question could probably be answered better by the Minister of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture who is here, who deals with the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion on a daily basis; maybe she has a response from the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion. Otherwise, I would rather recommend that the question be put in writing because it is specific to a particular project. Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am.
THE MINISTER OF SPORTS, RECREATION, ARTS AND CULTURE (HON. DR. COVENTRY): Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am. Thank you to the Hon. Member for his question. As he mentioned, there was a tour done today and also last week by the Hon. Vice President Mohadi. In terms of how I can proceed to answer, it will be how we shared and what we shared with the Hon. Members today, from the ministries’ point of view, from the Ministry of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture, there were tenders that went up last year. These tenders were signed and agreed to. The Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion agreed to release money and yet today we still do not have money.
As the Hon. Member pointed out, the question has been directed to the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion. I have had numerous conversations, meetings, letters with the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion where the releases have been promised and have yet to date not been released. Hence the contractors that were on site, January, February and sometime in March, have now stopped all works until they are paid.
Hon. Speaker, that is the update that I can give until the Ministry receives adequate funding release from the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion. The Ministry’s responsibilities of tendering, upholding tenders and coming in from a technical expertise, that is open – we now await the releases to ensure that the contractors can fulfil their duties. Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you Hon. Minister. Hon. Jere, I advise you to put your question in writing so that the Hon. Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion will come to this House with the answer.
Questions Without Notice were interrupted by THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER, in terms of Standing Order Number 68.
ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS WITH NOTICE
MEASURES TO CURB THE SPREAD AND ABUSE OF DRUG AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE IN GLENVIEW
- HON. CHIDZIVA asked Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs to apprise the House on the following;
a) Measures being implemented to curb the spread and abuse of drug and substance abuse in Glen View and in the whole country in general;
b) Provide statistical information on drug dealers arrested to date;
c) Outline punitive measures against drug dealers; and
d) When Parliament can expect amendment to the Criminal Law and Codification Act to include other drugs and impose punitive measures for drug dealers.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am. Madam Speaker, this question was addressed by the Minister of Home Affairs. It was actually asked twice to both the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and Minister of Home affairs. So, it was dealt with by the Minister of Home Affairs whose portfolio takes care of all those issues. I thank you.
HON. CHIDZIVA: Point of clarity Madam Speaker Ma’am. Last time when this question was supposed to be answered, the Minister of Home Affairs indicated that he was going to respond to it. So, the Minister is around.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: The Minister of Home Affairs is around? – [HON. CHIDZIVA: Yes.] – He was around but not anymore. – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] - Hon. Minister, did you bring the answer to Question Number 5?
THE MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS AND CULTURAL HERITAGE (HON. KAZEMBE): Madam Speaker Ma’am, if it is the same question that the Leader of Government business is referring to - I submitted the answer some two to three weeks ago, if it is the one on drugs. – [AN HON. MEMBER: Yes!] – Yes, I submitted that response Madam Speaker Ma’am.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you Hon. Minister of Home Affairs. The Clerk is also saying the answer was submitted.
HON. CHIDZIVA: Thank you Madam Speaker, the answer was not submitted because it was the time when Question Time ended, so they did not submit. Even if you check in the Hansard, that response is not there.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: The Clerk is saying the answer was submitted.
*HON. CHIDZIVA: So they did not put it in the Hansard? -[HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.]- It should appear in the Hansard if it was submitted.
*THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: The Clerk is saying it was submitted. The error is going to be rectified Hon. Chidziva.
MEASURES TO CURB CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES IN NORTON
- HON. TSVANGIRAI asked the Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage to inform the House what measures the Ministry has put in place to curb the spike in criminal activities in Norton.
THE MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS AND CULTURAL HERITAGE (HON. KAZEMBE): Madam Speaker, with your indulgence, can I just quickly check outside. I had asked someone to bring it, unless if you want me to give the answer off the cuff, but I thought they wanted a comprehensive answer.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: I will allow you Minister to check outside.
REPAIR OF MEDICAL X-RAY MACHINE AT THE NORTON
HOSPITAL
- HON. TSVANGIRAI asked the Minister of Health and Child Care to inform the House the Ministry’s plans to repair the medical X-ray machine at the Norton Hospital which has not been functional for some time.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON. KWIDINI): Thank you Madam Speaker. Currently, there is no X-ray machine at the hospital. The old one was decommissioned and currently, the Ministry of Health and Child Care is mobilising resources to re-equip our hospitals, including Norton. Thank you.
PLANS REGARDING EQUIPPING NORTON HOSPITAL WITH A DIALYSIS MACHINE
- HON. TSVANGIRAI asked the Minister of Health and Child Care to inform the House what the Ministry’s plans are regarding the equipping of the Norton Hospital with a dialysis machine.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON. KWIDINI): Thank you Madam Speaker. In response to Hon. Tsvangirai’s question, the dialysis equipment is only placed at tertiary hospitals which have the staff to carry out the dialysis as it is a specialised area. Specialist doctors and nurses are required. I thank you.
*HON. TSVANGIRAI: Supplementary question, Madam Speaker. The problem, Hon. Minister, is that Norton residents have to travel almost 40km to access dialysis machines maybe at Parirenyatwa or Harare Hospital. Forty kilometres Hon. Minister, is a big distance just to get access to dialysis machines. What sort of plans can you come up with to ensure that we access that dialysis machine nearer? I thank you.
*HON. KWIDINI: I would like to thank you Madam Speaker for the supplementary question. That question, I am sure affects the whole country outside Norton alone but anyway, as a Government, we have plans. Just like what we said, these machines are supposed to be operated by specialists. We are training our health workforce to ensure that we double the workforce by 2030, but the other problem that has affected us is, I am sure Hon. Tsvangirai is aware, sanctions have caused all these problems. I thank you.
*HON. MATSUNGA: Thank you Madam Speaker. My supplementary question is, what is Government doing with regards to releasing funds to hospitals that is meant to give people who are living with kidney failure ailments? Patients who are living with kidney failure problem and undergo dialysis are supposed to get funding from Government. I want to find out what Government is doing to fulfil those plans that they are supposed to access such health facilities for free. I thank you.
*HON. KWIDINI: I thank the Hon. Member for the supplementary question. As Ministry of Health and Child Care, we do not manage the transactions or the funding part, but all we do is, we treat the patients and we process it to the Social Welfare and Treasury is the one that is responsible for payment. We only deal with treatment of the patients.
*HON. KARENYI: The question of Hon. Matsunga is that we know that their job is not to handle finances, but what we know is that every ministry requests for funds from the Ministry of Finance during budget allocation. So the question is, people who are undergoing dialysis, the problem is that the money required is too much to ensure that they get access to treatment for their kidneys. What is Government plan to ensure that they are treated for free?
*HON. KWIDINI: Indeed, the money that is required is on the higher side because of limited dialysis machines. Like what I said, as a Ministry, we request for finance to ensure that we procure more machines, but for those who are unable to pay for dialysis, they go to the Ministry of Social Welfare and fill in forms where they declare that they do not have the capacity, and they are referred to the hospital. Right now, Government, through the Ministry of Health, we are running around to ensure that we install dialysis machines from districts as well as provincial hospitals so that we increase their number. So because those machines require some consumables that come as a function, that is what we are referring to that we need the extra funding from Treasury to ensure that we alleviate the access of dialysis machines to the citizens. I thank you.
EXCLUSION OF CRYSTAL METHAMPHETAMINE FROM
THE LIST OF DANGEROUS DRUGS
- HON. BAJILA asked the Minister of Health and Child Care to inform the House the Ministry’s plans to ensure that crystal methamphetamine is not listed under schedule of dangerous drugs in Zimbabwe.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON. KWIDINI): Crystal methamphetamine is classified as a special restricted preparation under the 8th schedule in medicines and allied substances control, general regulations of 1991. Furthermore, it can only be found and used in designated centres as defined in the same regulations which are named Public Health Institutions unlike dangerous drugs that may be found in private health facilities. These specially restricted preparations can only be found in named public institutions. I thank you.
HON. BAJILA: Thank you madam Speaker. I want to thank the Hon. Minister for the response. The Minister makes reference to places where crystal methamphetamine is found. Is it the places where it is found or it should be found because in terms of my understanding, he mentions places where it should be found? Crystal methamphetamine is a dangerous drug and it is being consumed outside the places that he says it has to be found. Does Government have a plan to list it as a dangerous drug so that those who are found distributing, possessing or consuming it outside the places where it should be found are deniable?
HON. KWIDINI: It is very true as he is saying that the drug must be a drug which is dangerous and supposed to be under Dangerous Drug Act, but we know that these drugs are being used for the other uses which are not recommended for. Unfortunately, the good part of it now as it has been said is that it falls under the Drug Abusers and Substance Abusers, people who are found in possession of such drugs are going to be charged as this is going to be enforced as a law. I thank you.
PROGRESS TOWARDS THE OPENING OF CHARAMBA CLINIC IN WARD 4, CHIMANIMANI
- HON. KARENYI asked the Minister of Health and Child Care to inform the House the progress made towards opening Chiramba Clinic in Ward 4, in Chimanimani West which was constructed in 2011 using Community Development Funds.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON. KWIDINI): The answer to that is Chiramba Clinic located in Chimanimani District has been operational since 2022 with only one seconded nurse. The Ministry of health and Child Care has recognised the need for additional staff establishment for this clinic and has initiated the bidding process. This is significant state towards improvement of the clinic’s capacity to provide comprehensive healthcare services to the community.
In addition to address staff concerns, the District Executive is actively working on creating a waste zone within the clinic premises. The inclusion of the waste zone is crucial for any health institution as it plays a vital role in maintaining hygiene, infection control and environmental safety. By establishing a dedicated waste zone, the clinic will be better equipped to handle the property disposal of medical waste in minimising the risk of contamination and promoting a safe health care’s environment. Chimanimani has eight facilities with seconded staff. Staff bids were made and Treasury is yet to approve the filling of the posts. I thank you.
MEASURES TO PROTECT REGISTERED PUBLIC TRANSPORT SERVICE PROVIDERS
- HON. BAJILA asked the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development to inform the House on measures being put in place to protect registered public transport service providers from unregistered private transporters who are operating in the sector
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. SACCO): Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am. Allow me to respond to the question raised by Hon. Bajila.
The Hon. Member’s point of interest on the measures being put in place to protect registered public service providers from unregistered private transporters who are operating in the sector is a very pertinent question. The Ministry frequently undertakes joint traffic law enforcement operations comprised of the Zimbabwe Republic Police, the Vehicle Inspectorate Department (VID), Road Motor Transportation and Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TFCZ) to impound unregistered transport operators. These operations also target overloading of vehicles, over-speeding, unroadworthy vehicles, drunk drivers, and other traffic violations that comprise the safety and security of road users.
Joint operations and spot checks are conducted to identify and penalise illegal operations, reckless drivers, and impounding of unroadworthy vehicles. Just to add to that, we currently have an ongoing operation, and if you noticed, a lot of vehicles have been impounded under this operation to ensure that those who are registered and are compliant are allowed to operate without hindrances. I so submit.
HON. BAJILA: Thank you, Madam Speaker. Let me start by thanking the Hon. Deputy Minister that I sent this question on Monday, today it is Wednesday, they have a response. There are Ministers that we sent questions to in February and they are yet to respond to date. I want to thank the Minister for the speedy response to the question.
My supplementary question in that regard is to say, we now have digital platforms for looking for clients in the transport sector and we have some companies and some operators that we see who do not have the red plate and are operating in this sector. The challenge is that those who are registered are now resorting to hiring people to barricade the road so that anyone who is carrying passengers without a red plate is blocked by private citizens who would have been hired by registered transport operators. This subjects the public to a lot of violence in the process.
The question therefore is whether the Ministry has plans which it can use to regulate and enforce registration even for those who are in the online and digital spheres of transport operations. I thank you.
HON. SACCO: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir and thank you Hon. Bajila for your words of commendation. I understand what your concern is, about members of the public obstructing certain vehicles and the eruption of violence in the transport sector. What we would recommend as the Ministry of Transport is for even those online operators to approach the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development, road motor transportation, and become compliant so that they can then get the red plates and be in compliance with the law. However, it is an issue that we have taken note of and that is of utter importance to look into issues around the obstruction of operators resulting in violence. I so submit.
PLANS TO REHABILITATE MHONDORO-MUBAIRA ROAD VIA CHIRUNDAZI AND MHONDORO ROAD FROM HARARE TO MUBAIRA VIA NYAMWEDA
- HON. MUROMBEDZI asked the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development to inform the House on plans being put in place to rehabilitate the following; a) Mhondoro-Mubaira to Chegutu Road via Chirundazi; and b) Mhondoro Road from Harare to Mubaira via Nyamweda.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. SACCO): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir and thank you Hon. Murombedzi for your question.
These roads are under the purview of the recently extended Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP2). As you may be aware, His Excellency, Dr. E.D Mnangagwa has extended ERRP2 up until the end of 2026, which means that all roads that have not been attended to now fall under ERRP.
We will look at these roads and see what is required so that we can do the relevant costing of the roads and put them on the list of priorities going forward. However, this also depends on the availability of funds released to the Ministry by the Ministry of Finance.
Under routine maintenance, one shelvet was constructed under this road, and grading works were done to increase trafficability. However, I would like to assure the Hon. Member that we will look into this request and work on it to the best of our capacity. I so submit.
*HON. MUROMBEDZI: My supplementary question to the Minister is that the roads that we are talking about, there are very big stones like the size of his shoe that are sharp that can damage all the tyres and we cannot wait for 2026. In Mhondoro, we will be left behind which is contrary to National Development Strategy (NDS1) of this country. So, we want to hear from the Hon. Minister as we are facing rain season very soon. Along the Mubaira Road and along Mupfure River, there is a very small low bridge which is located between Bulawayo and Beatrice Roads. That is our main road yet during the rainy season, we cannot cross to Chegutu from Nyamweda, Mubaira to Chegutu. May the Hon. Minister give us a time-frame and even send a grader to remove those sharp stones as we wait for arrival of the funds. Also, I wanted to ask if there is also a possibility of Government engaging with the private public partnerships so that the roads are rehabilitated before the rains season. I thank you.
*HON. SACCO: Thank you Hon. Speaker Sir. I also would like to thank Hon. Murombedzi with that supplementary question. When I referred to 2026, I had not said the road will be repaired in 2026. I was referring to the ERRP programme to last up to 2026 but as you know Hon. Member, our country and all these projects that you are seeing such as the maintenance or repairing of roads in Mhondoro or Beitbridge, even the road that is being worked on coming to Parliament, it is funded by local resources. Funds from the Treasury, no date because our country, - [AN. HON. MEMBER: Inaudible interjections] -
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: There is someone who is shouting which money did you want to be used for the road to be repaired. Who is that Hon. Member? May that Hon. Member who is shouting which money did you want to use for the repairing of that road withdraw that. May that Hon. Member stand up. Do not do that Hon. Member.
*HON. SACCO: What I was explaining is that our country is locally mobilising resources from Treasury which is coming from the tax. We are not getting any loan from any other country especially because of the sanctions that are imposed on our country. So it is very painful and I am surprised when some people say please repair our roads very fast. Yet they know very well that they are the ones who invited for the sanctions up on our country. In English it is called hypocrisy.
You know very well that you called for hunger but may I wind up by saying - [HON. MUROMBEDZI: On a point of order.] -
*HON. MUROMBEDZI: Thank you Mr. Speaker, my point of order is that the Minister wants to apportion blame on non-existing things. We are talking about 44 years and that road has not been worked on and the people are struggling to travel. Pregnant women are failing to get assistance because the road is not usable.
*THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Member, please state your case.
*HON. MUROMBEDZI: He is talking about sanctions. The sanctions were removed a long time ago. That road was made in 1980 before …
*THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Murombedzi, you asked that question to the Hon. Minister and he is explaining his answer. Why do you not allow him to finish and then ask a supplementary question but you stopped him whilst he was in the middle of responding.
*HON. SACCO: I am coming back to my issue…
*HON. TSVANGIRAI: On a point of Order. My point of order is that the Hon. Minister has accused us of bringing starvation to this country.
*THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: We said the Hon. Minister should respond to Hon. Murombedzi’s question then you can now come in with your supplementary question.
*HON. SACCO: Mr. Speaker Sir, may I continue and say the Mhondoro-Mubaira as well as the Mhondoro to Harare roads will be repaired. As you know, the President is concerned about everyone in this country and he has said no one and no place should be left behind. So as Ministry of Transport that is our job that we will look into through PPPs that were referred to. Unfortunately, as Ministry of Transport, we are supposed to procure equipment to put in our maintenance units in provinces and districts.
We are procuring that equipment this year so that we do not subcontract because it is very expensive to us. We also have plans to give fuel to local authorities so that the graders and other equipment may repair such roads. We have Maintenance Units Programme in conjunction with RIDA that is also procuring equipment for road maintenance and repairs. You will see a lot of things and development that will take place in due course. However, I promise you Hon. Murombedzi that you will see progress in accordance with the promise by His Excellency, of leaving no one no place behind.
*HON. MUROMBEDZI: What is Government’s plan to ensure that there is public private partnership to ensure speed repairing of such roads? I heard the Hon. Minister saying your suggestion will be taken into consideration.
* HON. SACCO: As Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development, we realise that BOT and public-private partnerships will be very helpful to us. We will look into such areas to ensure that there be someone interested in that because when they work on the roads, they consider all things of how they will recover their funds, how will they be able to recoup their fund, if they are able to put tollgates on those roads. If we cannot get such partners as Government, we will do that work.
On the expected timelines to work on the road, we are going to sit down and review what is needed in those particular roads. The Hon. Member can ask after a month and we will be having a clear answer.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): I would like to clarify certain issues so that Hon. Members do not leave this august House under a false impression. There is no country in world that can-do capital developments without loans. This country has survived for over 30 years on a cash budget. So it is very difficult for my Minister to answer a question of timelines when we do not have lines of credit.
When we have a line of credit, you will be able to predict definitively when you can complete a project because the funding is secure. Now, we collect taxes and we now have to appropriate those taxes depending on a need basis. This year, we have a drought. It would be very difficult for someone to say give me a specific date, but the commitment that was made by His Excellence is we are going to build our country whether we have lines of credit or not. We even went further and said we will continue engaging. The Hon. Member who said there are no sanctions, I do not know which country he is living in. We are in the middle of negotiating an arrears clearance programme and a re-engagement programme and negotiating with those countries that put us under sanctions. My colleague Minister here – we participate in those meetings to ensure that those restrictive measures are removed and those that imposed sanctions, acknowledge that those sanctions are affecting the poorest in our community.
The United Nations sent in a rapporteur to enquire on the effects of restrictive measures onto the enjoyment of human rights and they concluded that indeed, the poorest are being affected. It is not a secret. That evidence is there, if need be to bring it that the opposition in this country lobbied for the imposition of sanctions. We do not want to say what the Minister said was wrong, but the commitment that the Second Republic has is – we will proceed with or without sanctions, but we know the pain of building a country without a line of credit because you cannot fix a specific date to say I can complete this project in this particular date.
MEASURES TO CURB CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES IN NORTON
- HON. TSVANGIRAI asked the Minister Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage to inform the House what measures the Ministry has put in place to curb the spike in criminal activity in Norton.
THE MINISTER HOME AFFAIRS AND CULTURAL HERITAGE (HON. KAZEMBE): Mr. Speaker Sir, may I start by thanking the Hon. Member for the question. I wish to inform the House that statistics from the Zimbabwe Republic Police indicate that between January and May 2024, crimes of concern that is murder, rape, robbery, unlawful entry and theft as well as assault have been on a gradual decline. Aggregate figures show that in January, a total 275 cases were received while 258 were recorded in February, indicating a 6.18% decline. In March, 239 cases were received, leading to a 13.9% decline. In April, there was a slight increase of 1.25% and 242 cases have not been recorded. In May, 180 cases have been received by Saturday the 25th, indicating 25.6 decline. A total of 588 accused persons were arrested for these offences during the same period, four for murder, 15 for rape, 21 for robbery, 40 for unlawful entry, 297 for theft and 211 for assault.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police has been continuously implementing various measures to suffocate the growth of crime in Norton. These include foot and motorised night patrols targeting night clubs; deployment of crack teams comprising CID and duty uniform police officers for stop and search operations as well as awareness campaigns in collaborations with the business community, church leaders and schools. These efforts have addressed previous issues to do with armed robbery and murder cases.
In addition, the police have strengthened community policing initiatives in the form of neighborhood watch at community liaison committees to assist the police in this regard. I wish to assure the House and the Hon. Member that the police are seized with delivering their constitutional mandate enshrined in Section 219 (1) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe. I am happy to say that there is no fear of crime in Norton. The police however stand ready to work with all stakeholders in their various policing areas to ensure crime free society for our citizens.
CAPACITATION OF THE NORTON REGISTRY OFFICE WITH REQUISITE TOOLS OF TRADE
- HON. TSVANGIRAI asked the Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage to inform the House what measures has the Ministry put in place to equip and capacitate the Norton Registry Office with requisite tools of trade like computers.
THE MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS AND CULTURAL HERITAGE (HON. KAZEMBE): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. The Civil Registry Department in my Ministry, in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), is working towards computerisation of 20 Registry Offices information and communication technology equipment, solar equipment and office furniture. These have already been procured and Norton is one of the sub-offices earmarked for the project and works are currently underway, with IT support infrastructure already installed. Computerisation of Norton sub-office is expected to be completed by end of June 2024. I thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS TO QUESTIONS WITH NOTICE
MEASURES TO CURB DRUG AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE
- HON. CHIDZIVA asked Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs to apprise the House on the following;
a) Measures being implemented to curb the spread and abuse of drug and substance abuse in Glen View and in the whole country in general;
b) Provide statistical information on drug dealers arrested to date;
c) Outline punitive measures against drug dealers; and
d) When Parliament can expect amendment to the Criminal Law and Codification Act to include other drugs and impose punitive measures for drug dealers.
THE MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS AND CULTURALHERITAGE (HON. KAZEMBE): In a bid to curb drug and substance abuse scourge, the country established National Elimination Committee on Drug and Substance Abuse (NECDSA) which has the mandate to come up with systematic and sustainable responses that will assist in ensuring that society is free of drug and substance abuse. National Elimination Committee on Drug and Substance Abuse aimed at soliciting involvement of all citizens to participate in eradicating the drug and substance abuse menace.
Committees are at national, provincial, district and village levels and heir composition.
The Committee comprises of seven pillars of the drug and substance abuse management i.e demand reduction, supply reduction, harm treatment and rehabilitation, communication, psycho- social support and community reintegration, legal policing pillar, resources mobilization pillar.
Each pillar was assigned roles to play in curbing drug and substance abuse and the Supply Reduction Pillar has already put in place the following strategies:-
Police, as mandated by Section 219 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe is carrying out activities as well as joint operations with other Security Services in an endeavour to curtail the supply side.
Disruptive raids are being done to all residential places of known drug dealers and all tip offs which are received concerning those who are implicated in selling drugs are being actioned within 24 hours.
Operational teams are being deployed in various places countrywide with the intention to Conduct Surveillance in all areas monitoring those who are involved in drug dealing activities and make sure they are apprehended.
In Exit and Entry Points the police is deploying its members who work with other agencies such as ZIMRA, Immigration, and those from other Services zeroing in on monitoring, surveillance and law enforcement.
Anti – Drug and Substance Abuse Awareness Campaigns.
The police are joining hands with community members and other stakeholders to promote drug demand reduction principles and raising awareness of the consequences of drug and substance abuse. These campaigns are being done in Government Institutions, Private Institutions, and all public places where gatherings takes place, for example bus termini.
Passenger Profiling
Police Officers are also conducting passenger profiling at all Airports. This Drug Interdiction effort can successfully assist to identify potential drug traffickers through intelligence and analysing travel history of those passengers.
Cargo Profiling
To preserve peace, controlled objects, substances and drugs need to be monitored. The Police are monitoring drugs in cargo and all cargo profiled according to its source, consignee or receipt and the flight it comes aboard. Cargo from known source countries may contain contraband and alert Police Officers can pick it. This can lead to seizure of big contrabands.
Conducting Impromptu/snap roadblocks along Beitbridge- Harare Road, Chirundu – Harare road, Nyamapanda – Harare road, Victoria Falls Bulawayo road and Mutare Harare rood targeting cross boarder vehicles and travelers among others.
Police officers are conducting controlled delivery of identified drugs and substance s with a view of apprehending owners of identified drugs, this is done to try and eliminate the whole chain.
ACHIEVEMENTS MADE BY THE POLICE FROM 01 JANUARY TO 31 DECEMBER 2023
Total accused persons arrested 9291
Total Male 7762
Total Female 1529
Total Accused Persons Referred to Court 1439
Male 1122
Female 317
Total Accused Persons Paid Deposit Fine 7852
Male 6640
Female 1212
Total Accused Persons over 35 years 1687
Male 1302
Female 385
Total Accused Persons under 35 Years 7604
Male 6460
Female 1144
Total Number of Suppliers 1171
Male 867
Female 304
Total number of End Users 8120
Male 6895
Female 1225
Bases Destroyed 119
Total Awareness Campaign 321
A total of 874 accused persons were convicted at court whilst a total of 7852 deposited fines at the stations.
CID DRUGS AND NARCORTICS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF ARRESTS MADE AS FROM 01 JANUARY 2024 TO 28 MARCH 2024
Total Accused Persons Arrested 5364
Total Male 4506
Total Female 858
Total Accused Persons Referred to Court 402
Male 294
Female 108
Total Accused persons paid Deposit Fine 4962
Male 4212
Female 750
Total Accused Persons over 35 years 1037
Male 697
Female 340
Total Accused persons under 35 Years 4327
Male 3809
Female 518
Total number of Suppliers 525
Male 285
Female 240
Total Number of End Users 4839
Male 4221
Female 618
Total Number of Convicted at Court 83
Male 55
Female 28
Bases Destroyed 91
Total Awareness Campaign carried out 153
This Office recommends custodial sentences in all issues to do with drug and substance as a deterrent measure to the scourge. However, our recommendations have been referred to the Attorney General’s Office who have the duty to amend the existing laws.
Recommendations by this office for amendment of all the existing laws to deal with drug and substance abuse are being worked on by the Policy and Legal Pillar to the National Elimination Committee on drug and substance abuse.
MEASURES TO ENSURE ACCESS TO RADIO AND TELEVISION TRANSMISSION FOR AREAS ALONG MOZAMBIQUE BORDER
- HON. C. HLATYWAYO asked the Minister of Information and Publicity and Broadcasting Services to inform the House measures being implemented to ensure that areas in Chipinge South such as Mabee, Chinyamukwakwa, Garawa, Mashubi and Maparadza that are along the Mozambique border have access to radio and television transmission as they are currently relying on transmission from Mozambique.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF INFORMATION, PUBLICITY AND BRODCASTING SERVICES (HON. MARUPI): Transmedia erected a Transmission site at Garawa which would cater for television and telecom services for those border areas. Transmedia is working with the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority to bring power to the tower for it to be operational. However, I am glad to inform the House that a community radio station’ Ndau FM, was operationalised for the Garahwa and surrounding communities. The radio station is currently housed at Garahwa Primary School and its coverage will be expanded once the large tower is powered.
MEASURES TO UPGRADE AND MODERNISE MPILO REFERRAL HOSPITAL
- HON. GUMEDE asked the Minister of Health and Child Care to inform the House what measures the Minister is putting in place to upgrade and modernise Mpilo Hospital in Bulawayo taking into account the increase in the Matebeleland region.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON. KWIDINI): Mpilo Central Hospital has made significant improvements in its diagnostic capabilities with the installation of a new MRI machine, allowing for faster and more accurate diagnostics. The Ministry is also installing a solar system as a back-power solution to ensure uninterrupted healthcare services. An upgrade of tree laboratory is underway to enhance accessibility for patients needing laboratory services.
Efforts to increase the intake of trainees and healthcare professionals are being made, but the challenge of skills migration persists. The Ministry is committed in addressing this issue and exploring strategies to retain skilled professionals within the healthcare system.
Due to the age of the hospital, a new purpose-built facility is needed to meet current and future healthcare needs. While ongoing efforts are being made to repair and maintain machines at the Radiology and Radiotherapy Centre, replacement of these aging machines is not immediate.
More doctors, interns, and specialists have been deployed to Mpilo Hospital, contributing to improved healthcare services and patient care. The Ministry remains committed to addressing infrastructure needs, attracting and retaining healthcare professionals, and continuously improving healthcare services.
Mpilo Central Hospital offers specialist services in various areas, including obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, general surgery, anesthesiology, radiology, oncology, internal medicine, orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, ear, noes and throat, hematology, and nephrology. The Maternity Department has received additional equipment, ensuring quality services for pregnant mothers. Results based financing provides funding specifically for pregnant mothers, offering them free services at hospitals.
The Health Services Commission is actively filling critical posts to reduce vacancy rates. To relieve pressure on Mpilo Central Hospital, efforts are being made to strengthen lower-level healthcare facilities, such as the speedy completion of Lupane Provincial Hospital.
In summary, Mpilo Central Hospital has made improvements in diagnostics and power backup solutions. Efforts are being made to address skills migration, upgrade facilities, and deploy more health care professionals. Strengthening lower-level facilities will help alleviate pressure on Mpilo Central Hospital, and the Ministry remains committed to improving healthcare services for the community.
MEASURES TO IMPROVE SERVICES FOR CANCER PATIENTS AT MPILO AND PARIRENYATWA HOSPITALS
33. GUMEDE asked the Minister of Health and Child Care to inform the House on the following: a) What measures are being put in place to improve services for cancer patients?
b) When the radiotherapy cancer treatment and diagnostic machines at Mpilo and Parirenyatwa hospitals will be repaired?
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON. KWIDINI): The Ministry is developing a National Cancer Control Plan that will guide cancer services in the country in the next five years;
The Ministry of Health is undertaking International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, cancer projects that will train cancer healthcare workers such as oncologists, medical physicists, radiation therapists, et cetera, through fellowships, et cetera;
The Ministry is in the process of applying to the IAEA Rays of Hope Initiative that has been assisting other countries in Africa repairing cancer machines or providing new cancer machines or setting up radiotherapy centres;
The Ministry of Health and Childcare and its partners such as CHAI is quantifying cancer medicines so that it helps in procuring essential medicines to increase access to cancer medicines;
Trainings of health works are ongoing in collaboration with partners to help in early detection of childhood and adult cancer;
The Ministry of Health and Childcare is working with the Ministry of Finance to repair cancer machines at both Mpilo and Parirenyatwa hospitals and the repairs are forex intense. The earlier funds are made available, the earlier all repairs are done and the centres become functional;
The Ministry has taken proactive measures to address the repair of the cancer machines at Parirenyatwa and Mpilo Hospitals by engaging VARIAN, the equipment supplier. I am pleased to inform you that the repair process is currently underway, with VARIAN engineers working diligently to restore the functionality of these crucial machines;
Recognising the importance of ongoing maintenance and support for these machines, the Ministry has established a three-year maintenance contract with VARIAN. This contract ensures regular inspections, preventive, maintenance and prompt repairs, if necessary to sustain the functionality of the cancer machines in the long term.
By partnering with VARIAN and implementing a maintenance contract, the Ministry is demonstrating its commitment to providing continuous and improved cancer care services. Having properly functioning equipment is essential for accurate diagnosis and effective treatment, ultimately leading to better outcomes for cancer patients;
The Ministry will closely monitor the repair progress and implementation of the maintenance contract to ensure that the cancer machines at Parirenyatwa and Mpilo Hospitals are fully restored and maintained to the highest standards. This commitment aims to enhance the quality of healthcare services and support the well-being of patients in need of cancer treatments;
In the comprehensive treatment cancers, early detection plays a crucial role. It is imperative to raise awareness among the population about the importance of regular medical check-ups for early detection and successful treatment of cancers;
Surgical intervention is another treatment option for cancers and this service is available at all referral centres including PGH and Mpilo Central Hospital, providing patients with access to this vital service.
It is worth mentioning that a combination of the treatment methods may be prescribed by doctors based on individual patient needs and the specific characteristics of their cancer; and
The Ministry remains committed to providing comprehensive and accessible cancer care services and efforts are underway to address the challenges faced in delivering radiation treatment options. The well-being of cancer patients is top priority and the Ministry will be working towards ensuring the availability of diverse and effective treatment options.
UTILISATION OF THE MABVAZUVA SATELLITE CLINIC IN
WARD 7, EPWORTH
- 34. MHETU asked the Minister of Health and Child Care to inform the House when the Ministry will utilise the Mabvazuva Satellite Clinic in Ward 7, Epworth North which was commissioned in 2022 with fully stocked medical equipment and medical supplies, which unfortunately may expire in due course if not utilised.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON. KWIDINI): Madam Speaker, let me inform the House that the Ministry of Health and Child Care is aware of the importance of effective utilisation of healthcare facilities and ensuring that medical equipment and supplies are put to use in a timely manner.
To address the issue, the Ministry is committed in taking the necessary steps to operationalise the Mabvazuva Satellite Clinic at the earliest possible time. The Ministry is seriously considering the allocation of adequate staffing, ensuring the availability of essential support services, and addressing any infrastructural requirements that may be necessary for the clinic’s functionality.
Madam Speaker, I want to emphasise that the Ministry acknowledges the urgency of the situation and is actively working on a plan to operationalise the clinic. Efforts are being made to mobilise the necessary human resources, including healthcare professionals to ensure that the clinic can provide quality healthcare services to the community. You might all be aware that we now have a functional Health Services Commission which was sworn in early this year and is mandated to deal with our human resources issues.
EMPLOYMENT TERMS AND BENEFITS FOR PRIMARY COUNSELLORS
- HON. JAMES asked the Minister of Health and Child Care to explain to the House;
- a) What the employment terms and benefits of the primary counsellors employed by the Ministry but funded by the Global Fund are;
- What the number of primary counsellors employed is and where they are stationed; and
- To further give a breakdown of the funding received from Global Fund and how it is disbursed to the beneficiaries.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON. KWIDINI): The following is my response to his question 35 (a);
- Three yearly contracts renewable on annual basis.
- Basic remuneration of US $292.00 per month
- 30 days’ vacation leave
- 12 days annual leave
- 90 days sick leave on full pay
- 90 days sick leave on half pay
- Eight hour (8) working days Monday to Friday
- Detailed terms and conditions as per attached contract
35 (b) A total of 1 098 primary counsellors are on board against an establishment of 1200 and the detailed distribution list is as per attachment.
Province |
No. of PC’s |
Harare |
200 |
Manicaland |
178 |
Mash. Central |
117 |
Mash. East |
134 |
Mash. West |
101 |
Masvingo |
93 |
Mat. South |
89 |
Midlands |
88 |
Mat. North |
53 |
Bulawayo |
45 |
Total |
1098 |
35c) Funding received from GF and how it is disbursed to beneficiaries
Funding received for the HIV grant (1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023), total $ 14, 618, 073.51. For PC allowances, total funding received for 2023 amounts to $4,102,110.00 and is included in total funding received for 2023.
GF 2023 FINANCIAL YEAR
MODULE |
APPROVED BUDGET 2023 |
DISBURSEMENT 2023 |
COVID – 19 |
1,581,812.58 |
584, 167.55 |
Differentiated HIV Services |
4, 205,244,80 |
4,115,049.39 |
Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission |
117,000.00 |
498,167.60 |
Prevention |
110,271,00 |
109.664.60 |
Programme Management |
2,774,638.40 |
3,170.486.19 |
Resilient and Sustainable Systems for Health (RSSH) Community Systems Strengthening |
160,116.00 |
261,910.65 |
RSSH; Health Management Information Systems and M&E |
2,619,924.72 |
3,317,681.65 |
RSSH: Health Products Management Systems |
2,048,629,50 |
2,119,081,36 |
RSSH: Human Resources for Health, including Community Health Workers. |
1,371,600.00 |
6,867.15 |
RSSH: Laboratory Systems |
95,876.16 |
33,773.60 |
Treatment, Care and Support |
680, 748.00 |
400, 863.52 |
Grand Total |
15,765,861,16 |
14.618,073.51 |
The funds are disbursed to provinces PMD Bank accounts following decentralisation.
Provinces have dedicated GF accounts for processing all GF related activities.
Salaries are paid direct into individual Nostro bank accounts.
Suppliers of goods and services are paid directly upon presentation of invoices.
Allowances are paid directly into individual bank accounts.
MEASURES IN PLACE TO OPEN MABVAZUVA CLINIC IN EPWORTH NORTH
- 36. MHETU asked the Minister of Health and Child Care to explain to the House why the Mabvazuva Clinic in Epworth North is not functioning despite that it was officially commissioned two years ago by His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe; and further elucidate the measures the Ministry is putting in place to have the clinic opened.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON. KWIDINI): Mr. Speaker, let me inform the House that the Ministry of Health and Child Care is aware of the importance of effective utilisation of healthcare facilities and ensuring that medical equipment and supplies are put to use in a timely manner.
To address this issue, the Ministry is committed in taking the necessary steps to operationalise the Mabvazuva Satellite Clinic at the earliest possible time. The Ministry is seriously considering the allocation of adequate staffing, ensuring the availability of essential support services, and addressing any infrastructural requirements that may be necessary for the clinic’s functionality.
I want to emphasize that the Ministry acknowledges the urgency of the situation and is actively working on a plan to operationalise the clinic. Efforts are being made to mobilise the necessary human resources, including healthcare professionals to ensure that the clinic can provide quality healthcare services to the community. You might all be aware that we now have a functional Health Services Commission which was sworn in early this year and is mandated to deal with our human resources issues.
COMPLETION OF THE CIVIL REGISTRATION BUILDING OFFICES IN INSIZA SOUTH COSTITUENCY
- HON. S. SITHOLE: asked the Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage to inform the House when the Civil Registration Building Offices in the Insiza South Constituency will be completed.
THE MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS AND CULTURAL HERITAGE (HON. KAZEMBE): Mr. Speaker Sir, the department has planned to complete construction of Insiza Registry Building by December 2024. The project was allocated a total of ZWL$ 2 300 000 000 in the 2024 Budget, which was equivalent to US$ 383 000. However, to date, the funds have not yet been released by Treasury and there is no activity on the site. The Department is therefore, not in a position to give definite time frames for the completion of the building.
MEASURES TO CONSTRUCT THE PROPOSED GWABALANDA POLICE BASE IN BULAWAYO WARD 16
- HON. BAJILA asked the Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage to inform the House the progress made towards the construction of the proposed Gwabalanda Police Base in Bulawayo’s Ward 16.
THE MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS AND CULTURAL HERITAGE (HON. KAZEMBE): Mr. Speaker Sir, may I start by thanking the Hon. Member for the question. I wish to inform the House that the construction of Gwabalanda Police Base in Bulawayo’s Ward 16 was being spearheaded by the local Member of National Assembly through the Constituency Development Fund (CDF). However, the construction could not progress since funding was later diverted to address other community issues. In an effort to address criminal activities in Gwabalanda and surrounding areas, the ZRP established a fully-fledged police station in Cowdry Park.
Mr. Speaker Sir, I wish to inform the House that at present, residents in Gwabalanda can easily access both Cowdry Park and Luveve Police Stations. May I also take this opportunity to highlight that the ZRP will remain committed to partnering different stakeholders to improve access to police services to members of the public. I thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
MEASURES TO CAPACITATE POLICE OFFICERS IN KWEKWE
- HON. MADZIVANYIKA asked the Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage to inform the House what measures the Ministry is taking to capacitate police officers, particularly in Kwekwe where armed robberies are on the increase.
THE MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS AND CULTURAL HERITAGE (HON. KAZEMBE): Mr. Speaker Sir, I wish to thank the Hon. Member for the question as it speaks to legitimate concerns over the security of our citizens. The Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage wishes to inform the House that, indeed cases of armed robbery have been on the increase countrywide. As the police, we have intensified efforts to account for the perpetrators behind most of these cases. Information on hand shows that we have moving groups of armed robbers that are terrorising people. The recent arrest of some of these groups and recovery of firearms attests to ongoing efforts by the police towards riding the country of these criminals. The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) continuously builds the capacity of all police officers for them to be able to respond to criminal activities. More so, our specialised units that respond to cases such as armed robbery receive regular training as part of capacity building. In addition, the ZRP always ensures that these units are well equipped so that they are well prepared to effectively respond to cases of armed robberies countrywide.
Mr. Speaker Sir, I wish to also inform the House that in each of the country’s ten provinces, there are designated special response teams who are well trained and equipped to respond to cases of armed robbery. Our plea to all Zimbabweans is that they should always avoid keeping large sums of money at their homes, offices or school as this is what is attracting armed robbers. We will continue conducting awareness campaigns through our popular crime watch programme amongst other platforms. As law abiding citizens, let us also play our part in supporting the police in policing ourselves. I thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
COMPLETION OF THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
- HON. GUMEDE asked the Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development to explain to the House when the National University of Science and Technology construction will be completed given that it has taken over 32 years to date.
THE MINISTER OF HIGHER AND TERTIARY EDUCATION, INNOVATION, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT (HON. PROF. MURWIRA): The National University of Science and Technology (NUST) has made significant progress on infrastructural development projects. Riding on His Excellency the President, Dr. Emmerson Mnangagwa’s philosophy, “Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo! Ilizwe lakhiwa ngabanikazi balo!” and with financial support from the Government and guidance from the Ministry, the University adopted a new model which has seen NUST taking over all construction projects. The new model of construction adopted saw NUST realising savings of over US$200,000 through the substitution of excessively designed finishes with simple top-class designs. In a space of two years, the University has almost finished constructing the state-of-the-art Prof Phinias-Mogorosi Makhurane Technovation Centre, which took independent contractors 15 years to reach 60% completion before they abandoned the project. Working together with Bulawayo Polytechnic and other sister institutions, NUST has reached 76% completion of the Tech Centre building, which will be finished in time for commissioning by His Excellency, President Dr. Mnangagwa during the University’s graduation on 15 November 2024. Already, Block B of the building is at 95% completion.
Construction of the Central Library stopped when the building was at 30% completion. A Structural Integrity Assessment of the building was conducted by independent assessors in 2023 and it was certified fit for continuing with construction works. Construction is expected to start in 2025 and the building will be completed within 36 months.
Other infrastructural works are at various levels of completion: These are Applied Chemistry Building at 70% completion, the Chemical Engineering Building (75%), and the Students Accommodation (10%). Outstanding works for Applied Chemistry and Chemical Engineering buildings are balustrading, laboratory and fittings, elevator systems, completion of electrical works and fume cupboards. At the Students Accommodation, 10 blocks had foundation completed while brickwork is at 10%. Once construction resumes, these buildings will be completed between 9 and 18 months.
MEASURES TO EDUCATE AND SENSITISE DRIVERS AND OTHER ROAD USERS
- HON. N. MGUNI asked the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development to inform the House on the measures that have been put in place by the Ministry to educate and sensitise drivers and other road users on accidents.
THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA): The Hon. Member’s point of interest is particularly on the measures that have been put in place by the Ministry to educate and sensitise drivers and other road users on accidents. The Ministry’s lead road safety agency, the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ) conducts targeted public awareness campaigns to educate drivers, transport operators and the general public about the dangers of overloading vehicles, over-speeding, drunk driving, distracted driving, etc. These campaigns emphasise on the negative impact of such practices on issues such as vehicle stability, braking distances and road infrastructure.
The TSCZ also conducts public education through various channels, including social media, radio and television, to educate drivers and other road users about the dangers of distracted driving. It emphasises the importance of focusing on the road and avoiding distractions such as mobile phones, eating, grooming or using in-car technologies while driving.
Furthermore, Government through TSCZ, is working with Total Energies Zimbabwe in promoting the use of crush helmets. To date, the project has been rolled out in Nyamapanda, Karoi and Plumtree.
It involves engaging motor cyclists and the communities where motor cycles are mainly used and raising awareness on the need to use the crush helmets. Hon. Members, let me hasten to say the road safety is everyone’s responsibility and all stakeholders in the road traffic ecosystem, including motorists, operators and passengers must be more vigilant against road traffic violations. As such, our TSCZ will continue to educate road users to adopt and implement integrated road transport management solutions anchored on all road safety pillars. I want to thank Hon. Mguni who has requested that I come and make this statement.
Questions With Notice were interrupted by THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER, in terms of Standing Order Number 68.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: I will allow the Minister to submit written answers to questions 52 and 53.
FIRST READING
PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES BILL [H. B. 2, 2023]
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY presented the Persons with Disabilities Bill [H. B. 2, 2023].
Bill read the first time.
Bill referred to the Parliamentary Legal Committee.
On the motion of THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI), the House adjourned at Twenty Minutes past Five o’clock p.m.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Tuesday, 28th May, 2024
The National Assembly met at a Quarter-past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE HON. SPEAKER in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENTS BY THE HON. SPEAKER
ERROR ON THE ORDER PAPER
THE HON. SPEAKER: I have to draw the attention of the House to an error on today’s Order Paper where the date reads as Thursday, 23rd May instead of Tuesday, 28th May, 2024.
SPEAKER’S RULING
ANNOUNCEMENT OF CCC APPOINTMENTS TO VARIOUS PORTFOLIOS
THE HON. SPEAKER: On Thursday 15th February, 2024, I made an announcement in the House on the appointment of several Members of the CCC Party to various portfolios in Parliament. The announcement was based on a letter authored by one Mr. Jameson Timba, purporting to be the interim leader of the CCC Party.
On reflection, I should not have acted upon that letter as facts now thereof before me show that Jameson Timba had no locus standi to represent a party in such a manner as I will outline below;
- Jameson Timba was recalled from the Senate by the CCC Party on 7th November, 2023, the party which he purported to represent as the acting leader and administrator.
- Jameson Timba challenged the recall in the High Court under case number HCH 6684/23 with other former Members of the CCC Party and lost the court case. He was also among the former Members of the CCC Party whom the High Court barred on 9th December, 2023, from contesting the 3rd February, 2024 by-elections under the CCC Party following Sengezo Tshabangu’s application to block them from participating in the polls under the CCC banner.
Considering that Jameson Timba had been recalled by the same CCC Party he was purporting to represent, and that he was also banned by the courts from contesting under the banner of the same CCC Party, his communication to Parliament and the appointments made thereafter, are therefore null and void. Accordingly, I am rescinding the announcement on the 15th of February, 2024 and referring the matter back to the CCC Party to make the appropriate appointments.
SECOND READING
ADMINISTRATION OF ESTATES AMENDMENT BILL [H. B. 3, 2024]
First Order read: Second Reading: Administration of Estates Amendment Bill [H. B. 3, 2024].
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir, and good afternoon. It is a great honour to rise and present my Second Reading speech on the Administration of Estates Amendment Bill. The Bill before you today is necessary as it seeks to provide for the better and autonomous administration of the office of the Master of the High Court to enable the office to better serve the people of Zimbabwe efficiently and in a decentralised manner.
Mr. Speaker Sir, accountability and efficiency are necessary for such an office whose responsibility amongst others is to cater for our widows, widowers and orphans. Clause 3 of the Bill introduces the setting up of a Board which will govern the Office of the Master. This Clause provides that the office is an office or record whereby all records are kept and may be transferred to any other place under the direction of the Master, thus ensuring accountability within the office.
Mr. Speaker Sir, to ensure efficiency through decentralisation, documents which were required to be lodged with the Master can also be lodged with the Assistant Master in provinces, which goes to show that the public outcry has been heard.
The Clause also provides for a new section, Section 4(a), where the aforementioned Board and the appointment is established. To that end, I will move certain amendments to that measure to provide for the incorporation of the Deputy Master and one Additional Master into the Board as ex-officio members given the specialised and technical nature of the office’s functions whereby the incorporation of inside senior and experienced members will certainly add value to the Board’s deliberations due to their better understanding of the organisational culture, technicalities and operational dynamics. Their insight will be valuable to enable better service delivery.
Mr. Speaker Sir, the functions of the Board are also provided for which include administering and supervising the Office of the Master, the appointment of members of staff and dealing with complaints or grievances made by or against members of the office among others. In light of the above, the Board is not subject to the control or direction of any person or authority other than for purposes of auditing. However, the Bill does empower the Minister to give policy directions to the Board in his capacity as a policymaker, but within the scope of the Minister’s Portfolio and subject to the specifications of Section 4D which include the Minister giving the Board general directions relating to the policy, the Board is to observe in the exercise of its functions as the Minister considers necessary in the national interest and not be inconsistent with any provision of the Act and issued in good faith.
The issue of accountability and transparency is also buttressed in the Bill under section 4 (c) which provides that the office shall submit annual reports to the Minister who shall lay the reports before Parliament. As oversight is a constitutionally mandated function of the House, this will allow the House to assess and scrutinise the implementation of the Act once enforced as well as the application of the budget and the effective management and administration of the office. In addition, the appointment of an auditor to examine the office’s books of accounts speaks to the office being held accountable in its operations as failure to produce required documents to the auditor is deemed a criminal offence under the Bill.
Mr. Speaker Sir, for an office to be operational sources of funds are an integral part and the Bill provides that the office’s source of funds will include funds from Treasury and fees that accrue to the office in the course of its operations. As a Government we have found it necessary for the Office of the Maser to be administered autonomously and in a decentralised manner to ensure better service delivery nationwide and that no one is left behind in regards to accessing the services the Office of the Master offers. Thus, within the allocation of funds from Treasury and fees accrued from operations, the burden on the ordinary citizen will not be increased contrary to the general perception.
Mr. Speaker Sir, currently in the principal Act conditions of service of members and employees of the Master’s Office are governed by regulations made by the Judicial Service Commission. However, this Bill will now incorporate and empower the Minister with specific power to make regulations as an autonomous office as it would be necessary were this Bill is passed in the House.
In consideration of the above, I urge the Hon. Members to support the Bill as it is the right step towards innovation and the ease of doing business for better service delivery within the Office of the Master of the High Court. I now move that the Bill be read a second time Mr. Speaker Sir.
HON. DR. MUTODI: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I will present the report of the Portfolio Committee on Justice Legal and Parliamentary Affairs with respect to the public hearings which were carried out in connection with the Administration of Estates Bill.
Introduction
Mr. Speaker Sir, Section 141 of the Constitution requires Parliament to engage the general members of the public in its legislative processes and ensure that all interested parties are consulted about Bills being considered by Parliament. In fulfillment of this constitutional obligation, Parliament, through the Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs together with the Thematic Committee of Human Rights held public consultations on the Administration of Estates Amendment Bill to gather the views of the people from the 6th to the 11th of May 2024.
The Bill which was gazetted on the 1st of March 2024 seeks to amend the Administration of Estates Act to improve the efficiency and independence of the Office of the Master of the High Court, ultimately aiming for a smoother and more streamlined administration process.
Background to the Bill
The introduction of the Bill stems from a desire to address shortcomings in the current system. This Bill proposes a significant reform by establishing a new, dedicated part that introduces a Board consisting of 9 members. This aims to empower the Office with greater autonomy and enhance its administrative efficiency. This transformation will ultimately enable the Office to serve the people of Zimbabwe in a more streamlined and decentralized manner, ensuring a smoother and more accessible process for estates administration.
Methodology
In partnership with SADC Parliamentary Forum, the Committee was split into two teams covering all the country’s 10 provinces making use of 10 venues. Team A covered Mashonaland West, Midlands, Bulawayo, Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South while Team B conducted public hearings in Mashonaland Central, Harare, Mashonaland East, Manicaland and Masvingo. Public hearings were conducted to gather the views from the general members of the public. The Committee also received written submissions from various stakeholders.
Overview of the Consultations
The Committee managed to reach a total of 866 people, with 56.1% men and 44.4% women together with 1.8% of persons with disability. There was low turnout in some places which may be attributed to low willingness of the public to participate during such consultations. However, the Committee managed to get very insightful contributions. The Committee considered and deliberated on the submissions gathered to develop this comprehensive report.
General Submissions
The general public welcomed the Bill as they implored Parliament to continue supporting widows, widowers and orphans. Moreover, the public pleaded for extensive awareness campaigns regarding the mandate of the office of the Master as well as decentralization of the office to all districts to ensure protection of vulnerable groups in cases of inheritance.
Specific Submissions
Memorandum of the Bill
Majority of the people who contributed towards this Bill applauded Government’s efforts towards improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the Office of the Master. However, some raised concerns that it is not clear how taking the Office of the Master out of the Judicial Service Commission will improve its efficiency since the duties of the office will still remain the same. It was further submitted that the Bill does not have any provisions suggesting that the new Board will be any better than the Judicial Service Commission. Clause 3: Office of the Master 3: Name of the Office Veritas highlighted that according to the Bill the Office will continue to be called the Office of the Master of the High Court whilst High Court will no longer have any real connection with the Office. As such, it was their opinion that when the Bill becomes law, the office should be given another name.
Composition of the Board
Concerns were raised over the composition of the Board being established. Some members of the public submitted that, according to the contents of the Bill, there will be no Judge on the Supervisory Board, though the Chairperson will have to be qualified for appointment as a Judge. It was also submitted that the Bill should clearly state a single figure number of women to be appointed to the Board. Furthermore, it was submitted that the composition of the Board should also take into consideration youth and disability representation.
Independence of the Board.
It was submitted that this Clause provides for the Board to be independent except for the Minister’s power to give it policy directives. Some members welcomed this provision and further submitted that ministerial powers under other statutes should be limited in a similar fashion.
Funds of the Master’s Office
Some members of the public submitted that the Office’s running expenses are most unlikely to be funded by donors, so to meet those expenses the Office will probably continue to rely on fees, charges and fiscus appropriations. It was their opinion that, if the intention of the Bill is to make the Office self-funding, then chances are that the office will have to increase its fees and charges. Since the persons who ultimately have to pay those fees and charges are the beneficiaries of deceased estates, mostly widows and orphans the burden of maintaining the Office may fall on the poorest and most vulnerable members of society. The public therefore recommended for the reduction of Master’s fees and charges.
(iii). Clause 4: Powers of the Board and the Minister. It was highlighted that there are some anomalies in the Bill regarding the powers of the Board as provided for by section 4B (1) and the powers of the Minister under section 132 of the Administration of Estates Act. It was submitted that according to the Bill, the Board will be responsible for determining the policies and principles under which the Office is administered and supervised yet the Minister will retain power under section 132 of the Act to make regulations for the management and good conduct of the Master’s Office without even consulting the Board. It was therefore submitted that if this anomaly is left uncorrected it will cause confusion and conflict.
Committee Observations
The Committee observed the following:
(i) The public was in support of the amendments being proposed by the Bill as they seek to improve the efficiency of the office of the Master of the High Court. (ii) The public raised concerns over the number of women in the Board 8.
Committee Recommendations
The Committee therefore recommends the following:
(i) The Bill should be passed by both Houses taking into consideration the submissions from the public
(ii) That the number of women in the Board be 4 The Board should consist of 1 person with disability, 1 youth male representative and 1 youth female representative
Conclusion
In conclusion, the public welcomed the Bill and applauded it as a positive step towards the management and administration of deceased estates. They submitted as well as voiced out their opinions and hoped these observations will assist the Parliament in its assessment of the Bill. The observations which were met are summarised in this Report. I thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
HON. MUSHORIWA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir for giving me this opportunity. I want to thank the Hon. Minister for his Second Reading speech as well as the submissions that have been made by the Portfolio Committee on Justice. My first comment is that these amendments to this Act were overdue. My major worry is that because this is a 1907 Act, and I was hoping that the Hon. Minister, when coming to this august House, was going to come up with a new Bill not a mere amendment. This is primarily because there are quite a number of the provisions of the current Act which are no longer in sync with the reality that we have at the moment.
You notice that in terms of transparency and accountability, the guardian fund for instance, the provision of the current Act says that the guardian fund can be audited by an examiner appointed by the Minister. Whereas the modern and what we need to see happening in Zimbabwe is to have the Auditor-General having access so that she will be in a position to also audit these funds. In respect to the provisions that have been put, the Hon. Minister will need to explain to us the benefits of moving the Master of the High Court from the Judicial to a Board or to create a parastatal. My major concern is that we are creating another layer of expense that may become a burden to the citizens of this nation. I say this, given and aware that there have been some challenges that we have seen accruing even at the Master of High Court.
Tied to that Mr. Speaker Sir, what I would want the Minister to then educate us is that once you remove the Master of High Court from the Judicial service and become a stand-alone, will the name Master of High court still suffice now that there is not any relation with the High Court? Is it necessary or it was meant to make sure that at least we come up with other changes that are important? The other issue that I feel the Hon. Minister will need to clarify to us is in respect of the decentralisation; the current Act as it stands, I did not see any amendment to that. The Master of High Court is domiciled in Harare and Bulawayo and I have not noted any indication in respect to the decentralization, in respect to the other eight provincial headquarters. I have a challenge that I think is key to the management of the Master of High Court Office. Here we have been told by the Hon. Minister that we are setting up a board to run the affairs, but if you go through the amendments, they give the Minister some sweeping powers to make certain directions and directives. The Bill does not contain whether or not the Minister should make those in consultation with the board. I think we need to ensure that there is a provision that speaks to the fact that when the Minister does that, he makes those under the advice of the board. I know in practice, the Minister may say, ‘No that is what happens, I cannot then come up with a directive without getting information from the board’. I think it is prudent that it be contained in this Bill.
Mr. Speaker Sir, I have in principle, no problem in terms of making sure that we clean the Master of the High Court and we make the Master of the High Court efficient and effective. We have had challenges in the recent past where many people have had their money frozen. I know from my constituency, I have had a situation where parents have died because of the corrupt nature and the other things that were happening. So it is important that this Bill is coming before this august House and we will be supporting it, but it is also crucial when the Minister gives his response, to educate us in terms of the issues that I have raised. I thank you.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you, Mr. Speaker Sir. I want to thank the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee for the report of the Portfolio Committee which was quite comprehensive. Allow me to respond first by thanking the Committee for the public hearings and gathering the views of the people. By and large, the majority of those, according to the report, were in agreement that we need the office to be changed from the current structure.
They advocated for the awareness campaigns on the format that the Office of the Master of High Court is going to take in terms of the decentralisation strategy that we want to implement. They raised concerns and indicated that it was not very clear why the office was being taken out of the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) and whether that would improve efficiency and make it better than the JSC.
Mr. Speaker Sir, let me give a bit of background when the new Constitution came into place. The JSC was created and it was separated from being administered directly by the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs. The Office of the Master of the High Court went with JSC, there were several administrative and structural difficulties in that arrangement. The first one is that the JSC has the Chief Justice at the top and the secretariat is headed by a secretariat that administers the JSC and the Office of the Master was reporting to the judges.
Now, if anything happens or any consequence happens along the way, it will go before the same people for resolution. In other words, if anyone within the judicial system manipulates an estate, the report is to the courts, which are again the same people who are administering the Office of the Master. So it was now difficult to say, are these individuals going to get justice in an arrangement where they are complaining to the very same people that are administering the office? I have received individuals who would come and say, ‘Minister, I lost my house, this is what happened’, and you then wonder whether, even if you are to try and solve that issue, there will be justice.
So we decided to come up with a policy where we separate the function of the Office of the Master, and forget about the Master of the High Court. I think we can even choose any word that we want as Zimbabweans to call this, but it is the administration of estates. So, our position was to separate because there is nothing that the courts are doing, the Master is doing everything. Let us separate it so that if there are disputes, these can be taken to courts that are independent and are not conflated by the administrative role that they have been playing.
Therefore, we decided to remove that function from the JSC and it stands alone as an office that will administer estates in Zimbabwe. It will improve efficiency, it will allow for dispute resolution, and if there are disputes, they will go to court just like any other disputes if they arise.
So, that was the motivation that led us to move the office from JSC and we hope that once it is being run by an independent board, it will improve efficiency because members of the public will now be confident to approach the courts should there be a dispute about the conduct of the Office of the Master. After all, the Master will be separate from the Judicial Services Commission.
The other concern was on the composition of the board that there must be a judge on the board. I do not think it is necessary Mr. Speaker. We need somebody who is maybe qualified to be a judge, but a sitting judge being on the board is a waste of resources. Again, it will bring that conflation of roles that we are now taking somebody who is supposed to be an independent arbiter and bringing him again into a system that we are saying we want to separate and ensure that it becomes independent. The proposal was, we have somebody qualified to be a judge and our Constitution is now very clear on gender equality when we appoint boards these days, regard is given to ensuring that we have gender balance.
The other issue was the youths and those living with disability; I think we can leave this to the person who is appointed so that they comply with the requirements of the Constitution.
The other issue that was indicated was on minority section. I am not sure we can realise that in a small board of about four or six people, but regard has been given. The Constitution has directed that in making any appointments, regard must be given to regional balance and to all those issues to ensure that there is a fair representation.
Funds of the Master; the Chairperson spoke about reducing the Master’s fees and in the same vein, indicating that they will not increase resulting in the setting up of this office. Will it not increase fees? We believe that going forward, we have a stand-alone board of the Office of the Master, the fees may decrease because there are lots of funds.
Hon. Mushoriwa spoke about the Guardian Fund, it has a lot of money that is invested, and intelligently enough, the board can have money to run. What we have realised is, the Office of the Master was subsidising the JSC and they were very comfortable having it because of some of the funds that they could play around with and invest and ensure that they do other things. I do not think it is something that is of a major concern that we can have an increase in the fees that are being paid. Rather, we anticipate that going forward, the fees may actually go down if the office is managed efficiently.
There was the issue of board policies being given by the Minister having the power to give policy direction and make regulations. Again, the Bill is very clear, it says that when making policy directions, the Minister must write to the board to say this is what I intend to do and the board must give the written submissions if they have contrary views to say that we believe that if this is done, it will adversely affect our office and again in the Bill, it says the Minister must not do anything that is inconsistent with what the Act provides. So it has several provisions that share the powers of the Minister and ensures that there is dialogue when the Minister wants to make those policy directions.
In terms of regulations, when you have a policy, for that policy to be effective, you now need to turn the policy into law and this process of law-making Parliaments world-wide, including our own Parliament, guard their law-making powers. It is delegated to the Executive to the extent that not everyone out there who is not cloaked with legislative powers can actually legislate. So this provision is standard in almost all jurisdictions that you find out that the powers to make regulations are delegated by Parliament to the Executive and to Ministers to do that and the regulations, just like any other Statutory Instrument Bill, they will pass through Parliament. The Parliamentary Legal Committee on behalf of all of us in Parliament, will then scrutinise it and if they believe that it is okay, then Hon. Speaker will announce that, I have received this, they are okay and then they remain operational, but if there are issues, then we debate that particular Statutory Instrument and the House will now make a decision whether to accept or reject it. The law-making powers of Parliament are then retained in that way. We must always guard against having so many people with legislative powers when they are not cloaked with the authority from the people to legislate.
Mr. Speaker Sir, coming to Hon. Mushoriwa, I want to thank him. I think he went through the Act and I agree. It is a very old Act. I agree that perhaps it will have been prudent to revamp and come with another Act altogether but what we did is, we decided at that juncture to come up with an amendment Bill. We can always have that conversation to look at it and see whether there are issues that need to be looked at, but we believe that the Bill addresses more or less the issues that we felt now needed to be addressed and he pointed out the issue that the Minister can appoint an examiner to look at the books of the guardians funds, why not have the Auditor General. I agree, we can put in there because the thrust is to improve the efficiency in the way the Office of the Master is being run to have accountability and transparencies. So that suggestion is something we can consider when we reach the Committee Stage to see how we can improve it to ensure that there are no loopholes of abusing that particular fund.
Benefits of moving from JSC, I have already indicated that there was conflation of roles. The final arbitrator of all our disputes is JSC. They were administering the Office of the Master and if something happens, it becomes in-house. The persons who suffer are the beneficiaries and they do not have any recourse because they have to appear before the very same people who they are aggrieved against and we believe that the separation will allow the JSC to carry out its functions unhindered or not being burdened by the Office of the Master.
Creating another layer of expense, I do not think so Mr. Speaker. We looked at it and we have realised that when it was with the JSC, they were actually benefitting immensely from the Office of the Master, not the other way round. Hence, we are now saying let us ringfence that fund and functions of the Master so that we do not have them being used for any other purposes.
On decentralisation, the Bill has it I think on Clause 4, it speaks about creating divisions. Those divisions are now decentralisation. I think it is Clause 4 (a) where it talks about creating additional divisions headed by an additional Master. All this is part of the decentralisation that we were talking about.
Hon. Mushoriwa was concerned about the Minister having sweeping powers. I do not agree. The Minister’s powers are actually limited within the Bill to say that even when the Minister decides to issue policy direction, those directions before they are published, he must consult the Office of the Master to say to the board this is what we want to do, what is your take on this. Before regulations are published, the Minister must again do the same and the Act articulates that the Minister cannot issue policy directions that contravene 1, 2, 3 and 4. I think it is articulated in Clause 4 (d).
I believe that the Bill is a progressive one and will enhance efficiencies in the Office of the Master. We are trying to ensure that beneficiaries are well protected. We will increase efficiencies and ensure that it operates so that the generality of our people benefit. I want to thank the Hon. Members. I am not sure, with your leave Mr. Speaker, they are only two that debated, whether I should move for second reading.
Motion put and agreed to.
Bill read a second time.
Committee Stage: Thursday, 30th May, 2024.
SECOND READING
CRIMINAL LAWS AMENDMENT BILL [H. B. 4, 2024]
Second Order Read: Second Reading: Criminal Laws Amendment Bill [H. B. 4, 2024].
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): This is a very short Bill that was occasioned by the need to cure a lacuna that had happened whereby the courts had indicated in a constitutional judgement that children are anyone up to the age of 18. In our Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act it was up to 16 years and there were those children from 16 to 18 who were not protected by our laws and we had to call upon His Excellency to help us by using the powers vested in him under the Presidential Powers to cure that. Mr. Speaker Sir, allow me to present my Second Reading speech on the Criminal Laws Amendment that is protection of young children and young persons Bill.
This is a pertinent Bill which seeks to align Section 61, 70, 76, 83 and 86 of the Criminal Law, Codification and Reform Act with the Constitution of Zimbabwe. It is an alignment Bill. These sections define a young person as a person below the age of 16 whereas the Constitution of Zimbabwe places 18 years as the age of majority.
This Bill seeks to confirm the amendments contained in the emergency decree made by His Excellency under Statutory Instrument 2 of 2024. The Emergency Decree was necessitated by the Judgement of the Constitutional Court in Kawenda vs Minister of Justice and Others. The President’s intervention was rendered more urgent following a Court order release of all offenders convicted of sexual intercourse with a young person.
The Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act Chapter 9.23 contains several sections that protect children from sexual exploitation. The sections refer to children as young persons and that term is defined as meaning boys and girls under the age of 16 years. However, Mr. Speaker Sir, the Constitution fixes 18 years as the age at which one is considered to have attained adult status. Although the Criminal Law Court protects the children under the age of 16, it is imperative to note that it does not provide protection for children between the ages of 17 and 18 in the event of sexual crimes being committed on their persons. As a result, the Constitutional Court has declared the definition of young person in Section 61 as well as Section 70, 76, 83 and 86 of the court to be unconstitutional and void. This Bill therefore intends to extend protection of children up to the age of 18 as enshrined in the Constitution.
The Bill will also amend the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act to make it possible for children and other witnesses who cannot talk due to impairments, to be able to give evidence through other means such as written statements, usage of sign language and other argumentative and alternative communication. This amendment ensures that people with speech impairments are not left out in enjoying their rights to be heard and participate in all our court proceedings.
As I conclude, allow me to encourage Hon. Members to support and pass this important law which seeks to enhance the protection of our children against sexual exploitation. It is also an important law that will promote the inclusion of people with speech impairment in our justice system so that they may be accorded an opportunity to be heard and participate in all court proceedings, thereby giving life to the Government’s mantra of leaving no one behind. I therefore urge Hon. Members to support and pass this Bill and I now move that the Bill be read for the second time. I thank you.
HON. DR. MUTODI: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I rise to present the report on the Public Hearing carried out by the joint Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and the Thematic Committee on Human Rights with regards to the Criminal Law Amendment protection of young children and young persons Bill.
Section 141 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe gives Parliament of Zimbabwe an obligation to engage the general members of the public during its law-making procedures and to ensure that all interested parties are consulted on Bills being considered by Parliament to be enacted into law.
In fulfillment of this constitutional obligation, Parliament of Zimbabwe through the Portfolio Committee on Justice, legal and Parliamentary Affairs in conjunction with the Thematic Committee on Human Rights, held public consultations on the Criminal Laws Amendment Bill to gather the views of the people from the 6th to the 11 of May 2024. The Bill which was gazetted on the 1st of March 2024 seeks to amend the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act Chapter 9 Subsection 23.23 and the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act Chapter 9.07.
BACKGROUND
Two applicants who are young Zimbabwean feminists and human rights activists with a special interest and concern for children, gender and women’s socio-economic rights, filed an application to the High Court of Zimbabwe as a public interest application to protect the rights of children. In their application, they averred that among other things that the current age of sexual consent in Zimbabwe is 16, this age is derived from Section 61 of the Criminal Law Code which defines a young person as a boy or girl under the age of 16 years. However, Section 81 of the Constitution makes it clear that a child is anyone below the age of 18. Therefore, according to them, a young person should be defined in the Criminal Law Code to mean a boy or girl under the age of 18 years.
The Constitution of Zimbabwe being the Supreme law of the land; any law custom conduct or practice that is inconsistent with the same is invalid to the extent of its inconsistency. According to them, the Criminal Law Court is unconstitutional as it fails to recognise that a child is anyone below the age of 18 years; more particularly, the Criminal Law Court is unconstitutional in that it defines the age of sexual consent to be 16 years. That being the case, this Bill will confirm amendments made by the Presidential Emergency Decree that was necessitated by the implementation of the Constitutional Court Judgement in Kawenda Vs Minister of Justice and others where it was ruled that Section 70, 76, 83, 86 of the Criminal Law Code are declared unconstitutional and be set aside. Further, it seeks to recriminalise the deliberate transmission of HIV.
1. Methodology
In partnership with SADC Parliamentary Forum, the Committee was split into two teams covering all the country’s 10 provinces, making use of 10 venues. Team A covered Mashonaland West, Midlands, Bulawayo, Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South while Team B conducted consultative meetings in Mashonaland Central, Harare, Mashonaland East, Manicaland and Masvingo. Public hearings were conducted to gather the views from the general members of the public. The Committee also received written submissions from various stakeholders mainly through email.
2. Overview of the Consultations
The Committee managed to reach a total of 866 people, of which 56.1% of them were men while 44.4% were females and 1.8% were persons with disability. There was low turnout in some places which may be attributed to low willingness of the public to participate during such consultations. However, the Committee managed to get very insightful contributions. The Committee considered and deliberated on the submissions gathered to develop this comprehensive report which I now present.
3. General submissions
The public applauded Parliament in reaching their communities seeking their views pertaining to the Bill which is before Parliament. There was general consensus among the public who expressed that the Bill should seek to protect the rights of all ages in Zimbabwe and leave no one behind. Hence, the majority of the crowd agreed with the alignment of age of consent from 16 years to that of 18 years as provided for in the supreme law of the country, which is the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
4. Specific Submissions
- Clause 3: This clause will amend definitions of “extra-marital sexual intercourse” and that of “young person.”
The public applauded this amendment and agreed to the definitions given in the Bill.
- Clause 4: Repeal of section 70 of the Criminal Law Code
There was a general consensus in support of the provisions of this clause. Various organisations representing interests of children and young women submitted that this clause will provide sanctuary for children and young persons, that is to say boys and girls under the age of 18, with the protection to which they are entitled under section 81 of the Constitution.
It was further submitted that, the introduction of a “Romeo and Juliet” Clause into the Code will make special provision for sexual intercourse between young persons where the age difference between them is no more than three years. It was their opinion that since such cases will be prosecuted, only with the specific authority of the Prosecutor-General, this means that sexual intercourse between children and teenagers will not be brought automatically before the criminal courts.
The majority of the members of the public argued that without curbing religion and traditional issues, child sexual exploitation will not be remedied. They went on to further state that religion sects like Mapositori are still practicing child marriages and labelled them as the most perpetrators of this crime in our society. The public further emphasised on the need for awareness campaigns against sexual exploitation of children and young persons and make it known to the public that the penalty for such actions are hefty for purposes of deterrence.
On Clause 5: Amending Section 73 of the Criminal Law Code to make reference to the new definition of “young person”.
Some members of the public raised concerns on the wording of the clause and recommended for the rephrasing of the clause as follows:
“Section 73 (“Sodomy”) (3) of the principal Act is amended by the deletion from paragraphs (b) and (c) of “sixteen years” and the substitution with “eighteen years”
- Clause 7: Complicity to sexual crimes
There was general consensus in support of this clause. The majority of the public applauded the Bill as it seeks to forbid adults from taking advantage of children and young persons for their personal gains. It was submitted that some parents and guardians are still participating in child marriages, hence they should be brought to book.
- Clause 8: Criminalisation of deliberate transmission of HIV
among the sexually transmitted diseases covered by the Criminal Law Code. Some members of the public were of the opinion that this clause must be supported. It was their submission that the provisions of this clause will correct an anomaly whereby it is criminal to infect someone with a sexually transmitted disease such as Syphilis or Gonorrhea, but not with HIV.
However, some members of the public were against this clause as they argued that during the crafting of the Marriages Act in 2022, the Government agreed to the lobbying of people living with HIV and other support groups and civil society organisations to decriminalise willful transmission of HIV. It was further submitted that there is no method of establishing the period one may have been infected with HIV and who would have transmitted the virus between the two when the statuses of both were unknown before the sexual intercourse happened. I am not sure if I was very clear there. Madam Speaker, what they are saying here is that it could not be easily established who infected who.
It was further submitted that there is need for the drafters of this clause to first explain why they intend to recriminalise the deliberate transmission of HIV, a crime that was repealed just two years ago.
- Clause 11: Amendment to section 319A of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act.
The public applauded this clause as it seeks to be protecting the rights of children and other persons with hard hearing challenges and will be allowed to give evidence in court in writing or by signs or by augmentative and alternative communications. It was submitted that this is a positive step towards the effectiveness of our judicial service system processes.
5. Committee Observations
The Committee observed the following:
- The public was in support of the amendments being proposed by
the Bill as they seek to protect children and young persons below the age of 18 years. So the public was generally in agreement with all the provisions raising the age of sexual consent from 16 to 18 years as well as criminalising the deliberate transmission of HIV.
6. Committee Recommendations
The Committee therefore recommends the following: -
- The Bill should be passed by both Houses taking into consideration
the submissions from the public;
- There should be a provision for abortion where young persons or young girls fall pregnant even when the responsible perpetrator was another minor. This is a very critical one that they actually raised to say, you may have a minor of 13 years who is impregnated by a 16 years old boy. The law is not criminalising as you have seen that there will be a Probation Officer to consider whether the perpetrator must be brought to justice. Now, the 13 year old girl will still have to live with the pregnancy, but according to the submissions and workshops that we had, it was realised that the pregnancy may actually be a risk to the life of the young girl. In this case, the Committee recommends that there be mandatory abortion or abortion be allowed in such circumstances.
- The Committee also recommends that the deliberate transmission
of HIV be penalised as stated in the Bill.
7. Conclusion
In conclusion Madam Speaker, the public welcomed the Bill stating that it is a positive step towards the country’s legal system. Not only does it protect all children from sexual predators, it also protects the boy child using the Romeo and Juliet clause against vindictive parents and guardians who are against adolescent relationships. Further, the public welcomed the re-introduction of deliberate transmission of HIV as a crime as it will deter malicious individuals from getting away with infecting others with the chronic illness deliberately. Be that as it may, the Bill as a whole was welcomed along with a few additions and subtractions. I thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am.
HON. MUSHORIWA: Thank you Madam Speaker. I want to thank the Hon. Minster for bringing the Bill before this House, and I also want to salute the work that was done by the Portfolio Committee on Justice.
I am aware, Madam Speaker, that this Bill was necessitated by the ruling by our courts and accordingly, I understand the position taken by the Executive, starting from the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) and this Bill that the Hon. Minister has brought before us.
I have two issues that I just wanted to raise in respect to this Bill. One of the major challenges, Madam Speaker, is that it is very difficult in a society to come up with a law that actually talks to the relationships that exist between our young children and the adults. Madam Speaker, I come from a high density constituency where I am aware for a fact that some of our young children, those that are below 18 years are actually actively involved in sexual activities. We have a challenge in that we have had a series of incidents that have been reported in the media pertaining to these wild parties that they have been engaging in. It is important that we regulate and make sure that we criminalise especially the old people that want to take advantage of the youngsters.
The major challenge however, Madam Speaker, is that we live in a world and time where even the 17, 18 year olds have actually mastered the art of deception to an extent that even in areas where no under 18s are permitted, you will find them there under disguise doing all kinds of things. Then in this Bill, Madam Speaker, it says that one can raise defence to a charge for having been with someone below the age of 18 if he or she can satisfy the court that he or she has reasonable cause to believe that the young person concerned was over the age of 18 at the time of the alleged crime, but it then says provided that the apparent physical maturity of the young person concerned shall not on its own constitute reasonable cause for the purpose of the section.
I just do not understand, Madam Speaker and need the Minister to educate me in this regard. What other excuse can someone come up with to then think that maybe this child was actually above 18 because normally, we know men who have lied to say no, because we see the physical make-up. Like for instance if you see Mushoriwa’s children, they will be big and then you take advantage of the physical attributes, but this Bill stated it correctly to say that we should not allow people that take advantage of the physical make-up of our children. I want the Minister to clarify to me - can there be any other reason, any basis upon which someone can prove that a person, in their view thought she was above 18 years?
The other issue that I also have a problem with is the question of punishing someone that could have allowed an under 18 person to actually get into a premises. I think that this one, Madam Speaker, needs to be relooked into because the burden now places a lot of energy and the onus on hotels, lodges and even other places. It will create a huge challenge in terms of the administration. I will give you a good example. For instance, you are at Rainbow Hotel, a child comes and goes to a room. The personnel at that hotel may not necessarily know that this child is actually going into Hon. Mushoriwa’s room and that child is actually being abused. I find it a bit tricky, Madam Speaker, to the extent that we could actually punish the owner of a lodge or owner of a hotel. It becomes a bit tricky and I think in that issue, the Hon. Minister needs to then explain to us.
Lastly Madam Speaker, I want to agree with the submissions that were made. In the last session, the previous Parliament approved during the Marriage Bill debate, to decriminalise the spreading of HIV amongst people. My initial reading, and what I thought this Bill meant was that it was going to be an aggravating circumstance where an adult like Mushoriwa sleeps with someone who is below 18 years and then it is found that the person I slept with has actually acquired HIV. That should be an aggravating circumstance, but the manner in which it is coming appears as if even consenting adults are actually affected.
I have a problem even in the question of saying, how do you define deliberately because I do not foresee any court being able to convict a person for behaving been willfully involved in spreading HIV, or even any STI for that matter because I do not see how the deliberate aspect will be determined by the courts. In my view, it is just like the split we had in the last Parliament when we did the Marriage Bill. I think this clause needs to be removed and ought to be restricted to children under the age of 18 because we need to make sure that we punish the perpetrators that want to feed on young kids whilst there are several men and women above 18 who are seeking companionship. I thank you.
HON. MOLEKELA-TSIYE: Thank you Madam Speaker for the opportunity to debate this Amendment Bill. It is with mixed feelings that I debate this Bill. Firstly, I welcome the Bill as a Child Rights Champion. I am a Member of the Child Parliamentary Caucus on Child Rights or Children’s Rights. I am excited at this Bill and also, I am a Member of the Parliamentary Caucus on Disability. So there is a clause in this Bill that makes me very excited. To that extent, I am happy. I have mixed feelings because I am also very shocked and traumatised and disappointed as a HeforShe Champion, as a well-established and passionate Member of the movement that seeks to promote gender equality in this country.
With regards to Section 78 and 79, I will talk to that later on. Let me go back to where we are coming from. Firstly, I would like to congratulate the Minister of Justice for bringing this Bill. We know that in terms of context, last year the Judiciary made a clear ruling with regards to the age of consent, to say that there is an anomaly situation arising where it is no longer possible to include children who are between 16 and 18 years in the definition of age of consent. So they have that legal lacuna needed to be addressed to say that every person who is below 18 years is a child and they cannot have the capacity to consent for sex.
So it is important that the Executive had to respond to the Kwenda judgement that was done and it took time. I know that Statutory Instrument 2, of 2024 seeks to address that legal situation. I am happy that this Bill has come through and it will respond to the ruling. As a child rights activist, I welcome the inclusion of all children up to 18 years. No person who is below 18 years should be able to give consent to have a sexual relationship with anyone and this should align us with the changes that were made to the Marriages Amendment Bill.
We all know that Zimbabwe has been one of the strongest champions, not just in Africa but also in the whole world, in the fight to end child marriages. Zimbabwe was one of the leading countries in SADC that fought and emerged victoriously to make sure that laws in this region are changed to protect our children from marriages. We still have cases of child marriages in this country, but what we know is that Parliament of Zimbabwe has enacted a law that protects all children.
To that extent, this Bill is very important for me as child rights activist to say that we are not leaving any child behind. Everyone who is below 18 years is a child and must not be expected to have a sexual relationship. I fully support the changes that are being made to protect all children and not even one child should be left behind. It is something that I encourage Parliament of Zimbabwe to make sure that everyone below the age of 18 should not be allowed to give consent to sex. As the disability champion, I am very excited at the Clause that seeks to change the law to make sure that there are alternative ways to give evidence in court. We cannot afford to leave people behind, especially persons with disability. I am excited at the least of other alternative forms of giving evidence in court.
I am even more excited as the disability champion that there is now opinion for those with speech impediment and other forms of disabilities to give evidence in court through other alternative means. This amendment aligns with other ongoing processes where we are saying we have a Disabled Person’s Bill and we are trying to repeal the law that is as old as 1992, that addresses issues around disability. As a disability champion, I am very excited that even recently, we endorsed the special charter of protocol on disability, the African one in this very Parliament. It means that this year is already proving to be a very progressive year for those who champion for disability rights. Parliament of Zimbabwe is proving to be a leader in Africa in promoting the rights of people with disabilities. So I welcome this Clause and I look forward to the passing of the Disabled Persons Bill Interim Act.
I also wanted to comment on the Romeo and Juliet Clause, the way it has been framed. It is very important that all of us be very clear that in as much as you say that children cannot be expected to have a consensual relationship in terms of sex, we are also cognisant of the fact that there is overwhelming empirical evidence that in this very country of Zimbabwe, we have a new challenge of teenagers engaging in sex. I am sure that some of us are not aware, but the truth is that Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has an annual report of teenage pregnancies.
We have children who get pregnant at primary schools, secondary schools and also at high schools in this country. That is why the law was changed to protect children who fall pregnant so that they are not left behind. Today in Zimbabwe, the policy is very clear that once a girl gets pregnant, they are supported by the Ministry itself. They are supported by the school to make sure that they are not left behind in terms of education. Annually, thousands of children in this country get pregnant. We have a challenge of teenage pregnancies as a country.
The ending of child marriages seeks to address that partially, but we also know that there is enough scientific evidence that there are actual sexual relationships between pupils or students at school. Teenage pregnancy also involves consenting teenagers. We do not know why but biologically, these days if you go there is a campaign right now about sanitary wear. Some of you are not aware, but we are now seeking to provide sanitary wear support for primary school girls. Their sexual debut has changed. They go on periods when they are less than 10 years old.
It is now possible even at primary school or Grade 6 or Grade 7 children to have consensual sex amongst themselves even though adults do not want to admit. In that instance, where a 13-year-old and a 12-year-old have had a pregnancy, that is where the Romeo and Juliet clause arises to say that the law cannot criminalise such a sexual relationship. If the law of this country were to criminalise such a law, then our prison system will have to be changes, especially when it comes to juveniles because we will need to accommodate hundreds if not thousands of such criminal cases, judging by the number of teenage pregnancies, we are having in this country annually.
Therefore, the Romeo and Juliet Clause seeks to come up with a compromise to say that when it happens, we acknowledge that children have made mistakes but that mistake should not be criminalised. We should rehabilitate those children and make sure that they get their lives back on track because we all believe in second chances, we make mistakes and so we cannot say to a 13-year-old person you are a criminal because you had sex.
Some of this happens because they will be experimenting, they will be reacting to the hormonal changers in their bodies and culturally in this country, parents struggle to talk to their children about sex and most of the information that children have about sex, they get it through the internet. So they are able to experiment. That mistake done because someone is reacting to the hormonal changes in their body system cannot be used as a criminal offence. The Romeo and Juliet Clause is a very important intervention to protect our children from being criminalised at 12 years old, because they had sex and now they are called criminals. It also protects our prison system because how many children will we put in jail if we take this law to its logical conclusion that they need to be arrested and criminalised. So as the Parliament of Zimbabwe, we must support the Romeo and Juliet clause. We must make sure that we use it to protect our children from being sent to jail instead of being sent back to school.
The other issue that I want to comment on is around the clause that seeks to allow girl children who get pregnant before the age of 18 years to be allowed as a special case for termination of pregnancy. It is a very welcome clause, you cannot force a teenager to have a child. It is important, especially after it has been proved that it was a statutory rape and if they need to terminate the pregnancy, they are allowed to terminate so that they have a second chance, be allowed to go back to school and have their career outlook supported by the family and everyone else in society.
My concern about this clause is that it speaks to some other issues that are a big elephant in the room. In this country, we have a law called the Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1977. It is one of the oldest laws in this country that is long overdue. It does not need to be amended; it needs to be repealed. The Termination of Pregnancy Act is one of the biggest hindrances we are having right now in promoting gender equality in this country and promoting the rights of women. It is one of the old patriarchal laws that is hindering the emancipation of women in this country and the promotion of gender equality. It is possibly violating the Constitution of this country in terms of the clauses that speak to the promotion of gender equality.
As Parliament of Zimbabwe, we must use this opportunity to be reminded that we stand guilty every passing day without the Termination of Pregnancy Act being repealed and replaced by much more progressive laws; it means that we are losing a lot of lives.
A young woman is dying because they had an abortion in circumstances that are not conducive. An elderly person or an elderly woman died because of an unwanted pregnancy that they wanted to terminate. This country has enough empirical evidence that there is a lot of termination of pregnancies, especially at high schools and university. At community level, women are not being given a choice, once you fall pregnant, you have to bear the consequences. This excludes a lot of women from having second chances in life.
In other countries, they have moved on, and the same Act is based on the same Act that used to be in Britain and South Africa and they were repealed over 20 years ago. So it is a wake-up call to the Parliament of Zimbabwe that let us not have piece-meal changes to the abortion law of this country. It is time to repeal the Termination of Pregnancy Act and replace it with a brand new Act that recognises the rights of women in this country and negates the patriarchal interest that the old Act has.
Some of us who come from a public health advocacy background know that the conditions that are being given for Termination of the Pregnancy Act are very limiting and they disadvantage women and healthcare services workers. They even criminalise them, so we must change the law on the termination of pregnancy urgently.
I also want to comment as a He-for-She Champion about the bad law that the Parliament of Zimbabwe is introducing. The first thing that I am worried about on Section 83 which talks about procuring; yes we welcome the fact that it seeks to address sex trafficking which is a big challenge we are having in Zimbabwe today. There is a lot of sex trafficking, but I was horrified that we used the word prostitute. This word has been discredited across the world. All people who promote gender equality and women empowerment never use the word prostitute on a fellow human being. It is a derogatory word that the Parliament of Zimbabwe should be ashamed to be associated with. The nomenclature that is accepted now is a sex worker. A prostitute is now called a sex worker. There is no such thing called a prostitute anymore. A woman who practices this model of business is called a sex worker…
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon. Molokela, your time is up.
HON. MOLOKELA-TSIYE: Can I please have another five minutes, I have one more point?
HON. TOBAIWA: I am adding five more minutes to Hon. Molokela.
HON. GUMEDE: I second.
HON. MOLOKELA-TSIYE: I wanted to say that it is an opportunity for the Parliament of Zimbabwe to face another big elephant in the room. Why are you criminalising a huge section of society and calling them prostitutes while the rest of the world recognises them as sex workers, an important social economic structure of this country. We will need the Parliament of Zimbabwe to have an honest conversation outside this Bill to say when we will recognise the rights of sex workers in this country.
We claim that we do not want to leave anyone behind, we claim that we want to end HIV/AIDS by 2030 yet we know that some of the key players in the fight to end HIV by 2030 are sex workers. Sex workers are key players and they cannot be left behind, reduced, and criminalised as prostitutes. It is the responsibility of the Parliament of Zimbabwe to make sure that we have a debate and we have a new law to address the issue around sex workers, which is something that has been recognised in other countries as a key component of the economy. In other countries, sex workers are paying tax and we all know that Hon. M. Ncube is struggling with tax in this country and he is losing a lot of income as I speak to you.
HON. GANYIWA: On a point of order! I think Hon. Molokela is going to the extreme as he has the liberty to debate around the subject matter, but for him to drive to a point where we can also imitate other countries that he keeps referring to that are collecting tax…
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order Hon. Member! Your point of order is overruled.
HON. MOLOKELA-TSIYE: Thank you, Madam Speaker. As a He-for-She Champion, last year I celebrated when the Parliament of Zimbabwe removed a clause called Section 79 that criminalised willful transmission of HIV; it shows that Zimbabwe was serious when it came to promoting gender equality and women's emancipation in this country.
This bad law was repealed because it is not possible socially and legally to prove who in a particular relationship was infected first with HIV. Over the years, many countries have repealed this bad law and Zimbabwe was one of the last countries to repeal this law Section 79 where we said we are no longer criminalising alleged willful transmission of HIV.
Women are the ones who have been prosecuted under this law and it has been difficult to prove that they committed a criminal offence because we all know that in this country, women are the ones who have health-seeking behaviour, they are the ones who are willing to do HIV tests. Most men in this country are scared to do an HIV test. They are less scared of lions and other wild animals than having an HIV test. I can dare a man in this Parliament to have an HIV test in public and you see the reaction. Most of them will look for the nearest exit door.
Women are the ones who go to the hospitals and clinics to get HIV tested, they may be the ones who are first to know officially, but it does not mean they are infected. Most women are being infected because their men are the ones who are infected, but they are not taking tests, they are keeping quiet.
Also, the health care services of this country, say if a woman falls pregnant, they are supposed to have an HIV test in line with the prevention of mother-to-child transmission. It is part of the efforts to end HIV and AIDS. So women get to know their status even when they get pregnant. Most men pretend they do not know their HIV status and then claim later, start to beat up women saying you infected me with HIV when we know that it is not proven who infected who.
What I recommend is that instead of reinstating the bad law that we repealed as Parliament, we are supposed to repeal Section 78 which included the list of other sexually transmitted illnesses. We are not supposed to reinforce section 78 by including HIV. We are supposed to repeal it, that is what I submit. I thank you.
HON. CHIDUWA: Thank you Madam Speaker. I also want to put my voice and welcome the amendments to the Child Amendment Bill which I see is going to be aligned to the Constitution and other laws. Increasing the age of sexual consent from 16 to 18 years, I think this is going to be a positive, especially when I look at it from the economics point of view. This is going to promote efficiency in our education system.
If you look at what was happening, most of our teenagers were now engaging in sex. Some of it because of the drugs that were being supplied even by adults. This negated our education system, especially on the girl-child. I would anticipate now a situation where we are going to see a reduction in child pregnancies and also less school drop-outs, given that the male sexual predators and perpetrators will know that once they are engaged with girls under the age of 18, they will be prosecuted.
Also, what is critical again is criminality is going to be reduced especially on the part of males when they know that there are prosecutions. This is also going to assist us when you look at HIV transmission, criminalising the deliberate transmission will also lower HIV transmission. This is promoting production. As I have said, I will link my arguments to production and economics.
We have also seen cases where from empirical evidence and studies that have been done, aggregate demand is a function of population. If you look at what is in India versus what is here, where we have got higher populations, we also expect high aggregate demand. So we are looking at boosting of our population. I know there are advocacy groups that are saying we need to reduce our population, but for us, studies that we have done have shown that Zimbabwe as a country can accommodate a population of up to 30 million.
So one would say as we navigate towards that figure with a health population where HIV is low, we are looking towards a country that is going to be an investment destination because even for some investors, before they make an investment decision, they also ask what is the population size. Where a country has a very low population size, investors will say there is no demand. So we are looking at that aspect as well.
Then increasing the life expectancy because of low HIV transmission, we have done a lot as a country to lower HIV transmission and I am sure the passage and approval of these amendments will also add to the positives that we have made as a country. We are also looking at improvements in the standards of living of our people as we promote the girl-child; this again is going to add to skills development, and there is going to be a boom for our country. I applaud the Ministry of Justice for bringing this Bill and also the great work that was done by the Committee. I support the amendments to the Child Bill. I so submit.
*HON. TSITSI ZHOU: I want to add my voice to the Criminal Laws Amendment Bill and I support this issue because it is a challenge which we are facing. In order to determine what a child is, some people will propose love to girls with big bodies and try and justify themselves saying that she looks big. The definition of what a child is, which says that a child is someone who is below 18 years of age and this is clear, whether it is the Marriages Act which stipulates that a person can be married after 18 years only. This issue, at one point, spoke about consent at 16 years or dating at the age of 16 or even falling pregnant which becomes a challenge. We know in our culture there are some children or people who are delinquent and who need to be disciplined, but I want to thank the Hon. Minister for bringing this issue to the House. I want to thank His Excellency the President for using his Presidential Powers. Indeed, it was a challenge because people wanted to use the 16 – 18 discrepancy but we thank His Excellency, President E.D. Mnangagwa.
Clause 3 of the Child Marriages Bill says that there is no child marriage because a child cannot get married and a child is just a child as long as they are below 18. This clearly shows that it supports the Marriages Act. For those who say it is Solo and Mutsai when young children fall pregnant or make each other pregnant, then people arrange a marriage; that is criminal. No child can be married off for whatever reason. If that is seen to have happened, it is a crime and there cannot be a marriage and there cannot be a wedding. So I support Clause 3.
I want to go to the Solo and Mutsai clause which is Clause 4, which is a big issue here. The issue is that after children have made each other pregnant, the girl might be pregnant and gives birth but what happens to the child of this girl and boy-child? The Act says they cannot get married but they would have slept together and made each other pregnant. What should happen is that the girl should go back to school, but what happens to all these children? I would like to thank our First Lady for the Gota/Nhanga Programme that she is doing, which tries to recreate our cultural norms and values. The role played by the aunties, uncles and our chiefs should come up with such programmes which educate the young so that they preserve their sanctity before getting married. When they get married, they should do so after preserving themselves. Children should be taught because if we do not do that, once they test such relationships, they cannot be stopped. So, clause number four is quite pertinent.
I implore the House that it should be looked into. We do not encourage the prosecution of children but they should be helped in such a way that we discourage other children so that they will not also experiment. They must get married in a proper way having the white wedding and following due process after preserving themselves going to the honeymoon and people will be celebrating. It is important to have such values where they experience intercourse after marriage.
Clause number six - Section 75 of the Criminal Law prohibits sex for those who are related, incest in related people; in the Marriages Act it is not clearly defined but here it is clear to everyone that it is not allowed to have an incestuous relationship. You find in social media, a father having a child with his daughter and a mother doing the same with the son. This is criminal and such people should be arrested. We know that only animals do that and our culture does not allow that. We try to prevent in breeding, even in our domestic animals because it results in negative results. So we try by all means to have one bull in a kraal to avoid such incest in our domestic animals.
Clause six is quite good because the issue of incest resulting in these relatives having children is quite embarrassing. It is embarrassing to hear that a son has a child with his mother. You become a laughing stock in the village. You cannot procreate with someone who has similar genes because it might result in reproducing a deformed child. I want to thank you Madam Speaker for giving me this opportunity and indeed, I support this Bill and urge my fellow MPs to support it. I thank you.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Madam Speaker, allow me to start by thanking Hon. Mutodi and the Committee for a very comprehensive report that was produced by both the Justice Committee and the Thematic Committee on Human Rights. Allow me also to thank the Hon. Members that have debated the Bill.
Firstly, I just want to respond to a few issues that were raised in the report by Hon. Mutodi. I will start by indicating that this Bill was solely about criminalising sexual intercourse with young persons. Hence, with my team, we will refine the definition of a young person in the Bill so that we separate those children below 12 whereby having sexual intercourse with them is automatically rape so that in the Bill we will remove excess clauses that were put in for the avoidance of doubt. We just need to clean the Bill up. Hence, we clean it and we separate those children that are incapable at all of consenting and then separate them with young persons between the ages of 12 and 18.
Having said that, we are going to delete reference to extra marital sexual intercourse. It has nothing to do with that. What we are criminalising is sexual intercourse with a young person. There is no need to make that reference, extra marital sexual intercourse; so I have already instructed my team to prepare t hose amendments so that when we go to Committee Stage, we will effect them accordingly.
I also want to indicate that we have been caught in a scenario where if you go into our criminal court, young people are criminalised. They have the capacity to commit crimes but we now want to separate general crimes with sexual crimes. So we do not want, per se, to say they do not have criminal capacity. Hence, we played around with words to say that we realise that in the Bill, we also have a clause that speaks about those minors or those young people who are more or less having the same ages and we said what do we do if they have sexual intercourse. We want to refrain as much as possible from legislating issues of morality but we believe that we also want to help the social welfare, the probation officers in the conduct of their duties to deal with these young persons. Hence, you will see that there is reference that there is need to refer those children that have had sexual intercourse among themselves to a probation officer and that probation officer will then inform the Prosecutor-General who is in charge of prosecution on whether they can be any action that needs to be taken. Again, we will have a look at it and have further discussion on how we can refine it but we have taken into consideration that issues of morality - we want to refrain as much as possible from criminalising them and we want to ensure that like what other Hon. Members have said. Hon. Molokele spoke very well that our children experiment and we need to guard against overly legislating and criminalising acts that our children have done. Hon. Mutodi spoke about Clause 8 that spoke about willful transmission of STIs and HIV.
The way it is couched in the Bill is not correct. The policy direction from the Executive was; where you sleep with a young person and you have been convicted, it becomes an aggravating factor if you have willfully transmitted an STI to that particular young person. The assumption that we are coming from is, young persons are not sexually active and it is not very difficult to prove once you have been convicted, medical reports are there to prove that the young person contracted HIV and STIs and it should be an aggravating factor on sentencing.
So again, we are going to change this so that it does not appear like we have generally reintroduced the clause that we repealed the last time when we brought the Marriages Act. Consenting adults, we are not going to criminalise those actions. In fact, those that spoke, did so very well that it is very difficult to prove and worldwide studies have shown that criminalising does not reduce transmission levels. In fact, Madam Speaker, if I may say this from other studies and from my other life. There are several discordant couples and they can stay for years, the other one not seroconverting. So if we say we are criminalising, we are saying, per chance, if you manage to contract, you are a criminal, but that one who has not contracted and nothing has happened, we say they are okay, there is discrimination, scientifically it does not mean that if people sleep together, automatically they will have HIV.
So I want to take it to agree that it is a law that is very difficult to implement, hence the reason why the Executive, the last time when we had the Marriages Act, agreed with the submissions from those within the Ministry of Health and Child Care that we need to repeal it. We now have an assumption that we have a case where somebody has been arrested for sleeping with a young person and medical reports are there that there has been infection. Those reports will indicate whether that particular young person was sexually active or not, and there we are saying it becomes an aggravating factor if you have infected that particular young person with STIs and HIV. Therefore, that particular clause will be amended accordingly and hence we will be bringing those amendments.
Hon. Mushoriwa, I want to thank him very much for his contributions. The other issues, I have indeed responded to. They were also covered by the report that was produced by the Committee. Again, Hon. Mushoriwa spoke about a clause that I agree with. I said we need to have a look at it where it speaks about the defence that if you did not know that it is a young person, it then goes on to say that the stature or body of that particular individual does not matter and we need to make it clearer. We cannot legislate and leave our legislation vague and not specific. It must be specific and hence I have instructed them to say, can we refine this in the manner that it is currently in the Bill. It is very problematic. Therefore, I agree with Hon. Mushoriwa that we need to have a relook at it and ensure that it is corrected accordingly.
I want to go to Hon. Molokela-Tsiye, I want to thank him for his submission. I did not know he is a rights and disability champion. He spoke very well, he indicated about children engaging in sex. I think I have responded to that; age of consent, I have spoken about that.
He spoke also about the Termination of Pregnancy Act. I do not agree Madam Speaker that we need entirely to repeal that particular legislation. Perhaps, we need conversation to say, can we broaden circumstances when termination of pregnancy maybe allowed. Madam Speaker, there are instances when it becomes dangerous even to the mother to terminate pregnancy. So you need to have a look at it and say, let us have situations where you say when the pregnancy is at this particular trimester - those in the medical field indicate that it is not safe even for the mother to terminate that particular pregnancy, but I think we need conversations to update our laws and ensure that they speak to who we are and what is obtaining on the ground, but not necessarily to remove it outrightly.
He also spoke about, why we use ‘prostitute’ not ‘sex worker’? I do not think it is a big problem, we can even use the word ‘sex worker’, to comply with what he believes is what is obtaining. I do not agree that as a country we do not follow sheepishly and blindly what other jurisdictions are doing. We are a country with our own moral values and our own culture. So we want as much as possible, for somebody when they enter our borders, to say that this is who these people are, and not to necessarily follow everything that other people are doing.
Hon. Chiduwa, I want to thank you. I have addressed the other issue which he was passionate about, he was very happy that we have brought back the issue of criminalisation of HIV - that is the beauty of democracy. We have diverging views, but the policy position in this particular Bill was to have it as an aggravating factor when you have sexual intercourse with a young person.
Hon. Zhou was supporting the Bill indicating that there are certain issues in the Bill that have been refined and speaking to us not allowing relatives to have sexual relations. I agree with her that even in our animals like she rightly said, we do not want inbreeding.
Having said that Madam Speaker, I am going to bring amendments to this particular Bill that speak to some of the issues that have been raised. I want to thank the Hon. Members who have debated and move that the Bill be now read a second time. I thank you.
Motion put and agreed to.
Bill read a second time.
Committee Stage: Tuesday, 4th June, 2024.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): I move that Orders of the Day Numbers 4 to 19 be stood over, until Order of the Day Number 20 on today’s Order Paper has been disposed of.
Motion put and agreed to.
COMMITTEE STAGE
RESUMPTION OF CONSIDERATION OF AN ADVERSE REPORT BY THE PARLIAMENTARY LEGAL COMMITTEE ON THE DEATH PENALTY ABOLITION BILL [H. B. 5, 2023]
Twentieth Order read: Resumption of Committee Stage: Consideration of an Adverse Report by the Parliamentary Legal Committee on the Death Penalty Abolishment Bill [H. B. 5, 2023].
House in Committee.
HON. I. NDUDZO: Hon. Chairman, with your leave, allow me to advise the Committee that following my presentation of the Parliamentary Legal Committee’s adverse report on the Death Penalty Abolishment Bill and subsequent discussions in the Committee of the Whole House, the Parliamentary Legal Committee held two meetings on the matter on 23rd and 28th February, 2024. In these meetings, the Committee considered a draft notice of amendments proposed by Hon. Mushoriwa that intends to address the Committee’s concerns.
I must report that on 28th February, 2024 in the Committee, the majority of Members of the Committee voted to withdraw the adverse report. There was one descending opinion. However, the majority of the Members took the view that the adverse report must be withdrawn as all the concerns raised in the adverse report will be incorporated into the Bill as it can be amended at a later stage. I have held discussions also with the Hon. Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs on the issues and he has also taken a view that the Executive does not have issues with the amendments as proposed.
In the circumstances, I have to advise the House that the adverse report issued by the Parliamentary Legal Committee is withdrawn and the Committee has proceeded to issue a non-adverse report. These events were duly communicated but due to some factors beyond my comprehension, they were not announced earlier. I wish to bring this to your attention Mr. Chairman. I thank you.
House resumed.
Progress reported.
HON. I. NDUDZO: Thank you Madam Speaker. I now move, with leave, that this House having considered the matter to take note of the withdrawal of the Adverse Report issued by the Parliamentary Legal Committee on the Death Penalty Abolition Bill, and in its place, the Non-Adverse Report that accords that if the Bill would be enacted, would not be in contravention of the Declaration of Rights or some other provisions of the Constitution. I submit.
Motion put and agreed to.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Madam Speaker. Hon. Mushoriwa brought this Bill as a Private Member’s Bill. So he is going to do a Second Reading speech. Thereafter, I would then be able to make my interventions. I thank you.
SECOND READING
DEATH PENALTY ABOLITION BILL [H. B. 5, 2023]
HON. MUSHORIWA: Thank you Madam Speaker. I do move for a Second Reading of this Bill. The Bill seeks to amend the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act [Chapter 9:07(4) of the Genocide Act [Chapter 9:20]. The Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act [Chapter 9:23] and Section 3 of the Geneva Convention Act [Chapter 11:6] provide for matters connected with or incidental to the foregoing. As you may be aware, what we intend to do is to make sure that we remove from our Statutes, the essence of sentencing people to death so that as a country, we move in the right direction.
Members may be aware as we did during our debate through the motion, the reasons that we forwarded in respect to us in terms of moving forward. We realise that even from a Biblical perspective, Cain was the first murderer when he murdered his brother, but God in his wisdom, did not say that because you have murdered Abel, you should also then die, he did not do that. We are also aware Madam Speaker that historically, in Zimbabwe, the question of death penalty has not been part of our culture. We have a restorative justice system. We are also aware Madam Speaker, that our national heroes and national heroines of the first Chimurenga and second Chimurenga faced this penalty. We lost Mbuya Nehanda because of the colonial masters who came and tried to use the death penalty as a means and mechanism to instill fear into the hearts of our people.
The current President Emmerson Mnangagwa is there today, thanks to a technicality and that talks to the need for us to remove this death penalty. Imagine, we would not be having President Mnangagwa as President of Zimbabwe today had he been hanged that time – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] –
Madam Speaker, the removal of the death penalty
from our statutes is a move in the right direction. At this juncture Madam Speaker, I want to applaud the support that the Hon. Members of this august House, led by the Government Chief Whip, gave during the motion to introduce the Bill. More importantly, Madam Speaker, I also want applaud the Minister of Justice, legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Hon. Ziyambi Ziyambi and His Excellency and Cabinet for adopting the principles of this Bill so that we could actually move.
To that end Madam Speaker, I therefore move that this Bill be read a second time. I thank you. – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] –
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Madam Speaker, I rise to thank Hon. Mushoriwa for taking the initiative as a Private Member to initiate this process and the Hon. Members in this 10th Parliament for rallying behind him. Madam Speaker, I think it is a second and a first to have a Bill that ordinarily must be sponsored by the Executive, to be first sponsored by a Private Member and have all the Members in support – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] - I believe that it lays ground work for closer collaboration in terms of nation building, in terms of telling each other that when there are issues that pertain to building our nation, let us have eyes or lenses that are able to remove things that may be used by our detractors to allow us to fight each other and not focus on issues that will allow all of us to benefit. I want to applaud Hon. Mushoriwa for that.
Madam Speaker, the Bill speaks to issues that His Excellency, the President and his Cabinet must be able to answer and because of that, when I do my second reading speech, I will then take over because some of the responses, when we are debating, will require that I answer on behalf of the Executive and Hon. Mushoriwa will not be able to do that. So, I have agreed with him that he will also debate and support where he thinks that he may answer, but ultimately the responsibility to steer the Bill now rests with me. This is the reason why, when I went to His Excellency and said we have this Private Bill, I want to bring it to Cabinet so that we put our heads together and say what is the policy direction – do we support it and Cabinet duly supported and in that meeting, His Excellency gave a very touching speech about his experiences on the death row.
Madam Speaker, if I may share with the Hon. Members here. He actually indicated that when he was on death row, the responsibility to hang other death row inmates were on those that were on death row. They were ordered to go – you know at Harare Central Prison, there is a place where there is a nice lawn, beneath that lawn lie several comrades that were buried by fellow comrades who were on death row. When he said this, almost all of us in Cabinet were touched.
Like what Hon. Mushoriwa said, I think all of us were saying; ‘thank God for the technicality’, we have a President who is telling us about the inhumane treatment that the comrades who are still buried at Harare Prison went through. I urge Hon. Members to support the removal of the sections in our statutes that allow for the death penalty to be executed. It is not a sentence, it is a penalty, you just take away somebody’s life. You cannot return the life.
Hon. Speaker Ma’am, I want to thank you, thank Hon. Mushoriwa, the Chief Whip, Hon. Members from this side and that side for the show of unity that you have shown in this august House. I thank you. Having said that Madam Speaker Ma’am, I move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 30th May, 2024.
On the motion of THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI), the House adjourned at Five Minutes to Five o’clock p.m.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Tuesday, 28th May, 2024
The Senate met at Half-past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE HON. PRESIDENT OF SENATE in the Chair)
THE PRESIDENT OF SENATE’S RULING
ANNOUNCEMENT OF CCC APPOINTMENTS TO VARIOUS PORTFOLIOS
THE HON. PRESIDENT OF SENATE: I have an announcement to make. On Thursday, 15 February, 2024, I made an announcement in the House on the appointment of several Members of the CCC party to various portfolios in Parliament. The announcement was based on a letter offered by one Mr. Jameson Timba, purporting to be the interim leader of the CCC party. On reflection, I should not have acted upon that letter as facts now before me show that Jameson Timba had no locus standi to represent the party in such a manner as I will outline below:
First, Jameson Timba was recalled from the Senate by the CCC but on 7 November, 2023, the party which he purported to represent as the acting leader and administrator. Secondly, Jameson Timba challenged the recall in the High Court under case number HCH 6684/23 with other former Members of the CCC party and lost the court case. He was also among the former Members of the CCC party whom the High Court barred on 9th December, 2023 from contesting in the 3rd February, 2024 by-elections, under the CCC party following Sengezo Tshabangu`s application to block them from participating in the polls under the CCC banner. Considering that Jameson Timba had been recalled by the same CCC party he was purporting to represent and that he was also barred by the court from contesting under the banner of the same CCC party, his communication to Parliament and appointments made thereafter are therefore null and void. Accordingly, I am rescinding the announcement made on 15th February, 2024 and referring the matter back to the CCC party to make the appropriate appointments.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
HON. SEN. MUZENDA: I move that Orders of the Day, Numbers 1 and 2 be stood over, until the rest of the Orders of the Day have been disposed of.
HON. SEN. GOTORA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE JUDICIAL SERVICES COMMISSION FOR THE YEAR 2023
Third Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the report of the Judicial Service Commission presented to this House of Parliament in terms of Section 323 (1) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. MAVENYENGWA: Mine is not a debate, but we have not received this report, including the Human Rights Reports. They were read here but on our group, we do not have them so that we can read and debate here.
THE HON. PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Do you mean even online you did not see the reports?
HON. SEN. MAVENYENGWA: Yes.
THE HON. PRESIDENT OF SENATE: From now, our Clerk is checking from the office where it is being delayed.
HON. SEN. MUZENDA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. GOTORA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 29th May, 2024.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE ZIMBABWE ELECTORAL COMMISSION FOR THE YEAR 2023
Fourth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the report of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission for the year 2023, presented to this House of Parliament in terms of Section 323 (1) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. MUZENDA: Madam President, I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. GOTORA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 29th May. 2024.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE ZIMBABWE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION FOR THE YEAR 2023
Fifth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the Human Rights Commission for the year 2023, presented to this House of Parliament in terms of section 323 (1) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. MAVENYENGWA: That is one of the motions whose reports we have not seen. It was presented here last week, but it is not yet circulated.
THE HON. PRESIDENT OF SENATE: I hope it is the same answer; the Clerk is checking with the office to see where it has been delayed.
HON. SEN. MUZENDA: Madam President, I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. GOTORA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 29th May. 2024.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
HON MUZENDA: Madam President, I move that Order of the Day Number 6 be stood over, until the rest of the Orders of the Day have been disposed of.
HON. SEN. GOTORA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE NATIONAL PEACE AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION FOR THE YEAR 2023
Seventh Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of National Peace and Reconciliation Commission for the year 2023.
Question again proposed.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF VETERANS OF THE LIBERATION STRUGGLE AFFAIRS (HON. SEN. H. MOYO): Madam President, I move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 29th May, 2024.
MOTION
CONGRATULATORY MESSAGES TO HON. SEN. CHIEF CHARUMBIRA ON ASSUMPTION OF THE PRESIDENCY OF PAP
HON. SEN. CHIEF SIANSALI: Madam President, I move the motion standing in my name that this House:
INSPIRED by the historical achievement of our luminary and visionary icon Hon. Senator Chief Fortune Zephaniah Charumbira on his assumption of the Presidency of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), on Monday 25 March 2024;
COGNISANT that this accomplishment is not only an honour and victory for our proudly Zimbabwean Traditional Leadership and the Nation as a whole, but a defining moment for the entire Sub-Saharan Region;
FULLY EMBRACING the glorious honour bestowed on Zimbabwe as a country, this House profoundly expresses its warmest congratulations to our illustrious son of the soil on this momentous occasion and wishes him well during his tenure at the pinnacle of the Continental Parliament; and
RESOLVES that its congratulatory messages be conveyed to Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira and the august Senate.
HON. SEN. CHIEF NECHOMBO: I second.
HON. SEN. CHIEF SIANSALI: Thank you Madam President. I beg to move that this House congratulates the President of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira, who is also the Deputy President of the National Council of Chiefs for successfully retaining the PAP Presidency with a landslide victory in elections held at the PAP on 25th March, 2024. Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira cruised to victory by garnering 127 out of 166 votes cast, representing 77% affirmative votes by Members of the PAP.
Mr. President, those who have been following events at PAP since August 2023 will appreciate the significance of this victory and the vindication, not just to Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira on a personal level, but also to Zimbabwe and the SADC region as a whole. I will not belabour Hon. Members with the details, save to say that the leadership crisis at the PAP was instigated by the second Vice President of the PAP, Hon. Dr. Ashebiri Gayo, an Ethiopian national under the guise that the rules of procedure that had been amended by the PAP on the 22nd November 2022, to include rotational leadership violated the PAP protocol and should be withdrawn.
Prior to the amendments, PAP was the only organ of the African Union which did not uphold the principle of rotation, with those against it arguing that it was not in the PAP rules of procedure and was therefore unenforceable. Mr. President, as you will recall, this was precisely the reason why Zimbabwe and the Southern Region Caucus had spearheaded the fight for rotational leadership under the ‘no rotation, no election mantra’, resulting in the suspension of the PAP in 2021.
The PAP only resumed business on 29th June 2022 with election of Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira as President after the African Union Executive Council upheld the Southern Region Caucus that the PAP should respect the principle of rotation in all its leadership structures. It is instructive to note that without the principle of rotation, the Southern Region would never have been able to assume the Presidency as Francophone Countries within PAP used the tyranny of numbers to repeatedly vote for their own. The amendment of the rules of procedure by PAP was therefore intended to incorporate the principle of rotation as instructed by the Executive Council.
Mr. President Sir, sadly, the African Union Commission was hoodwinked by Hon. Dr. Gayo into believing that he was spearheading a noble agenda of protecting PAP protocol, yet in essence, the fight was against the codification of the principle of rotational leadership in the Pan-African Parliament Rules of Procedure. The AU Commission Chairperson proceeded to suspend the PAP Rules of Procedure on the 26th of October 2023, thus preventing automatic return of Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira as President after elections in Zimbabwe. In line with the principle of rotation, the AU Commission, on the advice of the Office of the Legal Counsel insisted that elections be held again to elect the President and the rest as they say is history.
Mr. President Sir, if the fight was genuine or genuinely for the protection of PAP Protocol, one would have expected it to end with the suspension of the amended Rules of Procedure by the African Union Commission Chairperson on the 26th October, 2023. Sadly, the fight in fact escalated with Hon. Dr. Gayo and his cabal using mainstream media and social media to demonise Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira with false and malicious allegations of misappropriation of funds and corruption, among others.
Mr. President, every attack on Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira ended up being vitriolic attacks on the ruling party ZANU PF, Zimbabwe and in some instances, African National Congress of South Africa and SWAPO of Namibia. The intention was to unseat Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira and position Dr. Gayo to take over as President after the suspension of the Rules of Procedure, and by extending the suspension of the principle of rotation.
Mr. President, it is in this context that I affirm that Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira’s victory was not just a personal victory, but also a victory for Zimbabwe. It was a victory for Southern Region, a victory for the future of the Pan-African Parliament and indeed, a victory for the institution of traditional leadership in the entire Africa as he emerges to be the first traditional leader to lead the Pan-African Parliament since its creation. On an individual level, Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira’s victory was a reaffirmation of his transformative leadership by the membership of the Pan-African Parliament despite all the lies that had been spilled against him to damage his reputation and standing. His astute leadership and the positive trajectory that PAP had taken prior to the crisis instigated by the Second Vice President has been widely acknowledged, including even by the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of the Republic of South Africa, Hon. Dr. Naledi Pandor and also the Executive Council and the Permanent Representatives Committee of the African Union.
Mr. President Sir, more importantly, Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira’s victory was a victory for Zimbabwe, the Southern Region, the future of Pan-African Parliament in the fight for the observance of the principle of rotational leadership by the Pan-African Parliament. It has tried to mention that the principle of rotational leadership is an abiding value of the African Union and the bedrock of equity, equality and justice in a world in which tyranny of numbers more than morality is often used to decide our fate.
I would like to salute Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira for remaining steadfast and focused despite the malicious vendetta of vilification and character assassination against him. I salute His Excellency the President, Dr. E. D. Mnanagwa for the unwavering support for the candidature of Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira and the principle of rotation, notwithstanding the naysayers – [HON. SENATORS: Hear, hear.] – I salute the Speaker of the National Assembly, Hon. Advocate. Jacob Francis Nzwidamilimo Mudenda for rallying SADC Speakers to mobilise the support of the region for Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira. I salute our very own President of the Senate of Zimbabwe, Hon. Mabel Chinomona, for the unwavering support she gave to the rise of our own Chief. Last but not least, I salute the Deputy President of Senate, Hon. Senator Michael Nyambuya for leading the extended campaign team that worked diligently to ensure Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira’s resounding victory in the elections. We thank you Hon. President - [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] –
To Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira, I say the Pan-African Parliament MPs have spoken vociferously in support of your leadership by their vote. They have spoken affirmatively in support of your vision to revive, renew, reposition and reinvigorate the Pan-African Parliament. They will continue to look to you for leadership in steering PAP to achieve its mandate of enhancing the full participation of the African peoples in economic development and integration of the continent. Zimbabwe in turn has every confidence that you will fly the Zimbabwean flag high as our continental ambassador and use this strategic position to advance Zimbabwe’s foreign policy objectives, including the removal of the illegal economic embargo imposed on Zimbabwe. Also, to remind the continent that Zimbabwe is Open for Business. Congratulations Hon. Senator Chief F. Z. Charumbira. Twalumba, twakatandabala, makorokoto, amhlope! I thank you.
HON. SEN. CHIEF NECHOMBO: Thank you very much Mr. President. I rise to extend my profound, heartfelt congratulations to Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira on his historic election as the President of the Pan-African Parliament. This distinguished honour is a rare and a befitting recognition of his unwavering, unrelenting commitment and exemplary leadership. Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira’s ascension to this esteemed position symbolises a momentous opportunity to guide one of Africa’s paramount institutions which serves as the voice of our collective dreams and aspirations as African citizens. His victory is not just his own, but a victory for our nation and a beacon of pride for all of us.
We express our profound and most sincere gratitude to the Parliament of Zimbabwe, the Members of the PAP and all those who demonstrated their trust and confidence in Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira’s leadership.
As he embarks on this noble journey, we pray that the Almighty continues to bestow upon him, the wisdom and strength to lead the Pan- African Parliament with vision and total integrity. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. GOTORA: Thank you Mr. President. I will debate using the vernacular language. As one of the Chiefs, I do not see anything wrong with congratulating my colleague. I would like to thank Hon. Senator Chief Siansali and Hon. Senator Chief Nechombo for raising such an important issue for us to debate in this Senate. It does not surprise us that Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira was selected to lead PAP because he was supported by the President of the Nation, Cde Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa. He was also supported by the leadership of Parliament, both in this Senate and National Assembly, including you Mr. President Sir. You were supporting him as well. As Zimbabweans, we do not fight where we know we will be defeated, but we fight where we know we will win. What was happening at PAP while Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira was there also happened to me when we were having elections of African Union for local authorities, United Cities and Local Government for Africa. People from Francophone and Maghreb regard themselves as if they are not Africans. They regard themselves as Europeans. They view us as underdeveloped but if we compete with them, we defeat them. I am talking from experience and even the former Mayor of Gweru who is here can support this.
Those people from Francophone countries and those from Maghreb do not want to support someone from Southern Africa. What they do not know is that we come from Southern Africa with the support of our Government and other governments within Southern Africa. This will then make those people from East Africa and parts of West Africa who speak English to support us.
I would also like to congratulate Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira and I really know that he will lead PAP in a unique way, which will make us proud as Zimbabweans. It will also make the President of this country proud. Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira will perform his duties just like he used to do. I would also like to thank all the Chiefs from Zimbabwe who supported their colleague to go and compete for that African top post. Looking at the task ahead of us, those people who will accompany Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira to PAP have to give him maximum support so as not to embarrass our nation.
Lastly, I would like to suggest that it would be good to throw a congratulatory party for him because we work with him and we can each bring something to show him our support. Honestly speaking, those who wanted to vote him out did not want to vote out Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira, but wanted to vote out Zimbabwe from this post. We have to celebrate the victory of Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira because it is victory for Zimbabwe and victory for His Excellency, Cde E. D Mnangagwa. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. MAVENYENGWA: Thank you Mr. President for the time you have accorded me to air my views on this motion on the re-election of Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira to lead Pan-African Parliament.
Firstly, I would like to say congratulations to this august House because those who won is this Senate since Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira is one of us. Therefore, I would like to say congratulations to the Senate of Zimbabwe. I would also like to congratulate Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira for winning the election. We heard that he had other competitors from the northern part of Africa who wanted to continue leading the Pan-African Parliament. However, he won as a representative of Southern Africa and as the Senator Chief from Zimbabwe. He won on the basis of rotation that was agreed upon and the post had to be occupied by someone from Southern Africa. If they had stopped rotation, it was going to prejudice Southern Africa from leading the Pan-African Parliament. Above all Mr. President, I would like to say congratulations to our very own President of Zimbabwe, His Excellency, Dr. E.D Mnangagwa because he was the one who was leading the campaign for the re-election of our Chief. If the Chief had lost the election, we were all going to blame His Excellency for losing since he is the one who was leading the campaign for Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira’s re-election. I would like also to thank our Parliament of Zimbabwe, the Speaker, Adv. J. F. Mudenda, his Deputy, the President of Senate Hon. M. Chinomona and her Deputy for supporting our very own Chief, which shows that whenever we are trying to fight or to acquire a post for Zimbabwe, we can work together so that whoever we nominate from here will go there and succeed. This campaign was not for Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira alone, but we also kept on motivating him by assuring him of a win.
Now, I would like to thank you President of Senate and all those other people from this Parliament for the support you offered to Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira. I thank you very much. I can also say that since Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira has won, it is Zimbabwe which won. Zimbabwe has a lot of opposing nations. You know, even on the sanctions list, Zimbabwe is there. He is also included on the sanctions list. When having such elections, do not expect to say African countries are the only opposing nations, they have other countries from the Western side which will say if you leave a Zimbabwean representative to win, it will mean our sanctions will not be felt. I am of the view that how we won it with Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira shows that Zimbabwe is a country which knows what it does. It is a nation with direction. It is a country which can stand firm, regardless of such sanctions, restrictions, lack of currency or such economical issues. However, we discovered that regardless of all those challenges, Zimbabwe succeeded and came out victorious.
I would like to say SADC did a good thing by supporting or rallying behind Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira because it is their first time to have a member. We remember in his first term, he was being accused of various allegations because he is from Zimbabwe and they wanted to vote him out. They wanted someone from Southern Africa to be eliminated but Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira still succeeded. With these few words, I would like to congratulate Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira. Even if he is there, I want to advise him to keep on maintaining our culture and heritage which was being eroded by those influenced by Western countries. As a Chief, he knows that all countries in Africa should maintain their culture and heritage. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. ZVIDZAI: Thank you Mr. President for according me this opportunity to congratulate Zimbabwe at large for the top post attained within the Pan-African Parliament. Zimbabwe is actually proud on a day like this as we celebrate this very important message for the whole region of Africa, which shows us that Zimbabwe is also one of those important countries.
Today, I would like to congratulate Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira because he came out as the leader of the Pan-African Parliament regardless of all the challenges. Our ancestors and spirits of Zimbabwe, which include Mbuya Nehanda, Sekuru Kaguvi and others fought to say our bones shall arise again. I thank you for standing by Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira. Therefore, I would like to thank God and all those people. I would like to thank Him because he made all things possible. In addition, I would like to thank the Sipambi spirit of the Charumbira clan for not abandoning him. Everything else went on well.
Furthermore, we cannot end there if we have assigned someone to take a task, we expect something as Zimbabweans to say when you go to work with others, do not bully them. You have to work in harmony with others for the country’s development. We sincerely advise the Chief because he is the son of the soil to say whenever you go there, work with others so that our happiness and joy will not be short lived. We do not expect the Chief to embarrass us as a country by not following our culture and heritage. I remember way back when I used to go school, my mother would say, whenever you go to this school, please do not fight or steal. My mother would tell me all those things. That is the same thing which we are saying to the Chief, we do appreciate and expect that you follow the ubuntu, culture and heritage of our nation.
The other thing which is very important in our culture, is to avoid holding grudges. Under the philosophy of ubuntu, you forgive. We have those other people from Francophone countries who were opposing the re-election of Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira. Gone are the days, we have to unite everyone and work with them because in our culture, if somebody pokes you, you do not have to poke back. Therefore, what you have to do is to unite everyone and work in harmony regardless of who voted against or for you. You try your level best to unite them, simply we are all Africans. It is a very important task for Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira to unite Africa, he has to reject division which is being initiated by those foreigners. I kindly request the Chief to work hard to unite all the Africans. Let us all go there and work as Africans. We are all from Africa. Let us stop and reject being divided by the French, British or anyone else. Let us work as Africans. As the Chief, he must work as the new Julius Nyerere. We want him to resemble Marcus Garvey and Thomas Sankara who fought hard to unite Africa; that is what we are expecting from you.
Lastly, I say now that you are there, you are in charge. Kindly take all of them, do not leave any one. Even those from Francophone, take them all so that Africa comes out victorious. We do not want to be oppressed by other countries, but we need to make our country a strong nation. It is the agenda that we have to applaud him for. Yes, we applaud you for what you have done, but we expect you to bring something back home. You cannot be a hunter who goes into the forest and come back empty handed. We want you to come back with those small things for us. I thank you.
+HON. SEN. RITTA NDLOVU: Thank you Hon. President of the Senate. I would like to extend my gratitude to Hon. Senator Chief Siansali, one of our Chiefs for bringing this wonderful motion to this this august Senate. I would also want to congratulate Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira on his recent appointment. I will not debate much as previous speakers have said a lot. What I would like to say is that Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira did not go there to represent his party interests, but he went to represent every Zimbabwean and we have faith and hope that by the time he returns, he will be aware or know that all of us here on this other side, that is said we do not like him, we like him. We want to see a change in him and also to be able to understand that everyone was supporting him as black people. He is there to represent us the blacks and the Zimbabweans though there are people who were not supporting him and were against his appointment. We are supporting our Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira who is a fellow Zimbabwean who has been appointed, and we are saying congratulations to Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira on your recent appointment.
We hope that he will learn a lot. Another issue of concern is that as black people, we are diverting from our own culture and we are no longer following our culture religiously. As a Chief, we are hopeful that he will follow and obey our culture and also be able to teach others about our culture and show them how we live as Zimbabweans. I say to all the Chiefs that we wish them well as our Chiefs and traditional leaders. We know that our Chiefs do not discriminate us and we want the Chiefs to continue loving us and represent everyone in their districts because chiefs are for everyone, they do not discriminate. I hope that Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira will also do the same in his recent appointment.
He has been a Chief for quite a long time. He was born under the chieftainship and up to today, he continues to be a Chief. We hope that where he is, he will preserve and respect our culture. With these few words, I say congratulations Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira. It is unfortunate that we are saying this in his absence and we would have wished that this debate be debated in his presence, it would have been good. We all support him on his recent appointment. I thank you.
+HON. SEN. CHABUKA: Thank you Hon. President for giving me this opportunity. My contribution is that as Senators, we have a lot to do. We are proud as a country and I would like to thank Chiefs, they are recognised and remembered. I would like to say congratulations to Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira. A lot has been said about Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira’s appointment. Positive things have been said and as Hon. Senators, we must continue to work hard to uplift our country. I want to say congratulations to Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira and all the Hon. Senators. I thank you.
HON. SEN. ZINDI: Thank you Hon. President for giving me this opportunity to debate. I am sorry Hon. President, I have got flu. I would like to congratulate Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira on his election at Pan-African Parliament. I am not going to repeat what others have said, but my debate in my congratulatory message and in which I have so much confidence in Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira is that he is going to perform. I have so much confidence that he is going to influence the thinking of the Pan-African Parliament to think the African way.
Firstly, we should build the United States of Africa. It is not a new idea, but this is an idea that has already been spoken but the coming in of Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira, I am sure he is going to influence that Parliament in order to make a topical debate in that Parliament for that idea to be acceptable.
When we are philosophising, we start off with ideas and those ideas have got to be espoused through cross fertilisation and pollination of ideas in order for that idea to be acceptable and come to fruition. I am confident Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira will lead that. We have seen the reincarnation of Thomas Sankara in the newly installed, I would not say elected, newly installed President Traore who seems to have taken that position with the philosophy of ensuring that development is beneficial to the grassroots. It is just about a week or so, I felt like I was actually part and parcel of that deliverance of that speech by this particular individual on the hand-over ceremony of agricultural equipment that has just been bought under the directive of President Traore of Burkina Faso, though of course he came in through a coup, but it was necessary because he is doing something that is beneficial to the people.
In his presentation, he was talking of the need to ensure that Africa should produce its own food. We have the land and the people; we have the climate that is conducive to produce enough food so that there is food security in our country, if not for the whole world; he was saying this making comparison with even Ukraine itself. So, in President Traore, I am actually seeing a reincarnation of Thomas Sankara and that is what we want and what we should support. I am confident Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira will have that influence in the Pan-African Parliament.
Further, we are talking of integration of our economy in Africa. We should have one currency. We should have no visa at all to visit another African country. I got disturbed when I was also reading about Alico Dangote, an African who has set up massive businesses across Africa; that he has got to get close to 35 visas in order to visit within African countries, visiting his businesses. That alone to me, is retrogressive and I have confidence that Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira will have influence to ensure that we remove these boundaries. We remove this gate-keeping tendency in order for Africa to integrate in reality, economically, culturally, et cetera. This issue of Francophone, Anglophone, we need to do away with it because it was brought upon us by the colonialists.
Finally, I want to say once again, congratulations Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira and I repeat, I have confidence that he has the capacity to influence us to actually forge ahead with the United States of Africa. I thank you.
+HON. SEN. PHULU: Thank you Mr. President. I also want to add my voice, showing my excitement over the election of Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira at the Pan-African Parliament (PAP). It brings a lot of excitement when one of you, one who is in the Senate at Parliament of Zimbabwe has gone up to represent us at the regional institution at Pan-African Parliament. When we get there, he was identified as a force to reckon with, to lead the institution which shows that this Parliament is a good institution which produces leaders. Parliament is not for scrambling or for fighting but for building each other. The success of Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira is everyone’s success.
I also want to say our chief, Hon. Senator Chief Sen. Charumbira is a person I know very well. I worked with him at COPAC. We started as people who had a lot of disputes and misunderstandings. It ended up showing that I was having a lot misunderstanding because I did not understand how the chiefs work. By the end of the programme of COPAC, I respected him because of what he had contributed during that phase that the chiefs should be included in our Constitution. Today we are here, and one of our chiefs has gone to show his leadership at PAP. We expect that when he gets there, he should bring Africans together. He should do work that will make Africa progress well, like what Hon. Members said. The issue of passports should be removed. I will not say what other Hon. Members have said. There are some in-fights at PAP concerning Anglophones and Francophones. How can I be Anglophone considering my skin? I am not from England, how do I become Anglophone? That mentality shows that we are still mentally colonised. We may not have physical chains but there is still mental colonisation.
The other thing that forces them to do the way they are doing is that Francophone countries have not been liberated fully. They are still under colonialism. They are still under France, being given instructions by such and most of their Presidents stay in France. The Presidents of Parliament like you Mr. President, fly from France to their Parliaments. I saw how the fight was between SADC and the Francophone. It is because what they are doing does not make any sense. They are still under colonialism. Therefore, Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira should lead well and show them, educate them so that they can be liberated mentally. Once they are liberated, then we can get free visas to travel around. We expect him to show key leadership so that we do not see some squabbles within PAP like what we used to see before. There are a lot of things that I can say about Hon. Senator Chief Charumbira. Right now, let me say Halalala! Congratulations! I thank you.
HON. SEN. CHIEF SIANSALI: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. MAVENYENGWA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 29th May, 2024.
MOTION
ESTABLISHMENT OF PUBLIC HEMODIALYSIS FACILITIES IN DISTRICTS
Nineth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the treatment of chronic kidney diseases in Zimbabwe.
Question again proposed.
+HON. SEN. PHUTI: Thank you Mr. President of the Senate. I also want to thank our Hon. Senator Zvidzai for bringing in this motion which is important about this disease. Hon. President, what we are seeing outside is very difficult, we are finding it very difficult because of this kidney disease problem, it affects all ages. In the past, we used to think that the kidney disease was for elders but right now, that disease is affecting even young children. I am also sympathetic about the patients because you find almost 2 214 people being affected by this disease. This is not a small figure. All of us here, including staff are less than the number of those affected by kidney disease.
I am worried that while we have a challenge of such a chronic disease, we do not have treatment centres. According to the Senator, we only have 16 machines for kidney treatment. Of the 16 machines, 11 are for public hospitals and the five are in the private sector. I then ask myself, where exactly do I go? The Hon. Senator also mentioned that in Matabeleland region, Matabeleland South has no machine. So it means those in Matabeleland who are affected by kidney disease have to travel to Harare for treatment. I then ask myself, is the Government saying, we are properly taken care of?
I now come to the issue that we once debated in this House Mr. President, the issue of devolution. I realise that in Matabeleland, we are still behind. The Hon. Senator mentioned that patients suffering from kidney disease should be treated thrice a week. Given that you are not employed or working, you travel to Harare for medication. Some of the patients will be seriously ill and cannot be able to use public transport, so they require private transport and the transport costs will be high.
The treatment does not only require medication, there is also need for blood transfusion, which is expensive. We are also supposed to donate blood, but we are not donating because we have become stingy. Long back, people used to donate blood even on the roads. Since I came to this Parliament in 2018, I have not been contacted for any blood donation programme by those responsible for blood donations. Blood donors are supposed to be found everywhere, like those vendors along the streets. We realise that people are facing many challenges on the roads resulting in loss of life.
I also heard a certain Hon. Member on my left-hand side talking about causes of kidney problems. What I also realise Mr. President, I am sorry, I am not supposed to say that but I will have to. The issue of dehydration also is a factor that causes kidney problem. With much respect Hon. President, I realise that in this House, the Senate since last week, we have not had water to drink in this Parliament, which can result in dehydration. We can soldier on, but we sometimes tend to forget to bring bottles of water along with us. It is painful that the Minister of Finance is failing to buy water for this House, which only costs 50c. You may think some of us are sleeping but it is not sleeping, we will be dehydrated. I also want to say water for drinking should not be unsafe water. It should be treated water for everyone in Zimbabwe. I realise that we have water challenges here as Senators. We agree we have run out of water because there is no water in the House. We are requesting the Government to look into this issue. If they fail, then they should announce that we should bring our own water into this Parliament. I want to thank the Hon. Senator with his researches that he did for scrutinising and analysing the problems of our kidneys. As I am right now, I do not know if I suffer from kidney ailment because I have not gone for examinations. I am even afraid that I once said as a patient of kidney disease, then where should I go since in Matabeleland there is nothing in terms of machines? They tell us that you go out on Diplomatic Passport. It is like we were being insulted, but that is not the case. That is the reality. I encourage our Government to put more effort, that means Government should concentrate a lot in securing kidney machines so that we can even get one for each province, not what is on the ground that some provinces do not have machines as of now. I also beg that where medication is being offered, let the cost be lowered and also the money for servicing those machines should be lowered. There is nothing as painful as going to Mangwe and be told that the machine is down, then you are told to come back after two weeks. When you go back after two weeks, you are told the person that operates that machines is not around. I therefore ask for your indulgence Mr. President that let us put our effort in equipping our hospital. As I said that I am dehydrated, let me sit down so that I do not suffer from kidneys. I thank you.
HON. SEN. MLOTSHWA: Thank you Mr. President for the recognition. I would like to thank Hon. Senator Zvidzai for this motion which touches most of us. Mr. President, as I stand here, I rise to express my deep concern and disappointment at the deplorable state of the dialysis machines in our country. It is a national embarrassment. We are struggling to provide basic medical assistance for our citizens, especially when these machines are now easily procured. According to statistics, Zimbabwe is prone to chronic kidney diseases which is the equivalence of 34 people per every one million Zimbabweans. This is a staggering figure that highlights the urgent need for us to address this issue. However, our health care system is woefully inadequate to meet this demand.
Mr. President Sir, only 16 health facilities are available throughout the country to provide hemodialysis services, which is a far cry from the number of people who require the treatment, but what is even more disturbing is that these machines are not accessible to many of our citizens who have kidney ailments. Mr. President, even at the provincial hospitals, where they are available, there is hardly a time when the dialysis machine is available. I know for a fact that Gwanda Provincial Hospital in Matabeleland South has no dialysis machine. It is the people of Matabeleland that are condemned to death once they have kidney ailments. It is unacceptable that we have to ask such questions. The prices of these machines are not exorbitant but in fact, they are comparable to the prices of top range vehicles that we can purchase with a plomb regularly. For example, a dialysis machine can cost between USD10 000 and USD20 000, in contrast a luxury car like a Mercedes Benz or BMW can cost anywhere between USD50 000 to USD100 000, yet we are struggling to provide basic machines for our citizens. It is not just a cost of the machines but it is about the human cost of not providing these services.
Mr. President Sir, many of our citizens who have kidney ailments are serving a death sentence because they cannot access the machines. They are forced to rely on private facilities which are often expensive for them. The costs of hemodialysis are extremely high for ordinary citizens. It is a burden that many cannot afford. That is why I urge this House to support this motion. We need to establish one public hemodialysis facility in each district so that our citizens can access these services easily and affordably.
Mr. President, we need to ensure that all public hemodialysis facilities provide free services inclusive of all ancillaries such as blood sample testing and transfusion. We need to subsidise fees charged at private facilities that offer hemodialysis services. We need to conduct public awareness campaigns on the effects of hypertension and diabetes among the chronic diseases on health kidneys. This is not a matter of healthcare policy; it is a matter of human dignity and compassion. We owe it to our citizens to provide access to basic medical services including dialysis machines. We must put an end to this national embarrassment and ensure that our citizens receive medical care they deserve.
I urge my fellow Hon. Members to join me in supporting this motion and demanding action from the Ministry of Health and Child Care. Let us work together to provide better healthcare services to our citizens and ensure no one has to suffer unnecessarily because of lack of access to basic medical equipment. Mr. President Sir, I urge this House to support the motion.
HON. SEN. ZVIDZAI: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. MLOTSHWA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 29th May, 2024.
MOTION
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO ZUPCO AND PRIVATE TRANSPORT OPERATORS
Tenth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the inadequacy of public transport in the country.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. MAKAMBA: I rise to support the motion moved by Hon. Sen. Tongogara on the pressing issue of public transportation, inadequacies and that of unregistered transport operators with a view to implanting robust reforms. The reforms will transform and enhance our public transportation infrastructure. This motion also seeks to fortify regulatory frameworks, to eradicate illegal operators and safeguard welfare of our commuters. Permit me to elucidate the depth of the crisis Mr. President and Hon. Colleagues. As of the latest census data from August 2023, a staggering 72% of our population relies on public transportation to carry out their daily activities yet the infrastructure and regulatory frameworks governing this sector remain woefully inadequate. This has given rise to a proliferation of unregistered transport operators who brazenly flout the laws compromising the safety and well-being of our citizens.
Recent studies indicate that these unlicenced providers now account for over 55% of all public transportation services nationwide. This is alarming, to say the least. Hon. Senators, we cannot ignore the criminal activities perpetrated against innocent commuters by some of these rogue operators. It is important to note that public transport users have experienced theft, assault and other forms of victimisation at the hands of unscrupulous drivers and conductors. Yet, in the face of these daunting challenges, we must acknowledge the vital role that transportation plays in the development of our nation. As enshrined in Section 66 of our Constitution, the citizens of Zimbabwe have a fundamental right to “freedom of movement and residence within the borders of Zimbabwe”. Upholding this constitutional guarantee requires us to take decisive action to improve the public transport system. We must also act in accordance with Section 73 (a) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, which enshrines the right of every citizen to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being and Section 13, which mandates the State and all institutions and agencies of Government at every level to endeavour to facilitate rapid and equitable development. It is incumbent upon us to address these transportation challenges with urgency and resolve.
It is clear that the status quo is unacceptable. We must heed the clarion call of our constituents and implement bold and innovative solutions to address this crisis. Allow me to point out a study by the World Bank report, which indicates that efficient transportation systems can increase GDP growth by up to 1% annually. Conversely, the African Development Bank highlights that inadequate transportation infrastructure costs African economies approximately $170 billion annually in lost productivity. In Zimbabwe, reports from the Ministry of Transport reveal that nearly 40% of daily commuters rely on unregistered operators, thus exposing them to heightened risks of crime and accidents. This situation is made worse as our Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development was then allocated 2.7% of the National Budget.
Mr. President, in considering the dire public transport crisis in Zimbabwe, it is instructive to examine how other nations have grappled with similar challenges. Let us draw valuable lessons from their experiences to inform our own path forward. Closer to home, South Africa has pioneered innovative solutions to address the challenges of inadequate infrastructure and unregulated operators. They have leveraged Public-Private-Partnerships (PPPs) to introduce smart ticketing systems, modernise fleet management and enhance passenger safety. South Africa has implemented a multi-faceted approach to alleviate transport inadequacy, combining infrastructure development, regulatory reforms and Public-Private-Partnerships. These strategies have significantly enhanced the country’s transport system, making it more efficient and accessible. One of the most notable projects is the Gautrain, a high-speed commuter rails system connecting Johannesburg, Pretoria and the OR Tambo International Airport. This project alleviates road congestion and provides a reliable and efficient mode of transport for thousands of commuters daily. Secondly, South Africa has Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system. Johannesburg’s Rea Vaya BRT system provides an affordable, efficient and safe public transport option. The system’s dedicated bus lanes and modern buses have reduced travel time and improved accessibility for residents.
The South African Government allocates a significant portion of its budget to transport and infrastructure development. For the fiscal year 2023/2024, approximately 10% of the National Budget was allocated to these sectors. This substantial investment underscores the Government’s commitment to improving transport infrastructure. It is also important to note that South Africa allocates its transport Ministry that budget as it aligns well with the SADC Protocol on Transport, Communications and Meteorology of 1996 and the SADC Regional Infrastructure Development Master Plan (RIDMP), which Zimbabwe is also a part of.
Concomitantly, Rwanda’s approach also provides valuable insights that Zimbabwe can adopt to ameliorate our own transportation challenges. Through the Smart Kigali Initiative, Rwanda introduced an initiative, which integrated cashless payment systems and GPS tracking across public transport vehicles. This modernisation enhanced operational efficiency, reduced waiting times, and facilitated real-time tracking of buses, ensuring that commuters could plan their journeys more effectively and safely. Rwanda has also successfully leveraged Public-Private-Partnerships to develop and maintain transport infrastructure. Private sector involvement brought in investment and innovation, which complemented public efforts to expand and modernise the transport system. The examples of these two African countries are also instructive. Their public transport sector is renowned for its punctuality, accessibility and affordability. This is underpinned by their commitment to integrating various modes of transport, subsidising fares and empowering commuters through transparent grievance redressal processes.
As I approach my conclusion, I recommend that the budget allocation of our Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development be moved from 2.7% to a minimum of at least 5%. This augmented budget allocation will profoundly ameliorate transport deficiencies in Zimbabwe. The infusion of capital will facilitate the augmentation and modernisation of the public transport fleet, the deployment of sophisticated transport technologies and the fortification of regulatory frameworks. Furthermore, it will advocate for sustainable transport modalities, incentivise private sector investment via Public-Private-Partnerships (PPPs) and ultimately enhance the efficiency, safety and reliability of the transportation infrastructure. This strategic investment is pivotal for catalysing economic growth, enhancing public welfare and ensuring sustainable development in Zimbabwe.
In conclusion, the Senate must act decisively to overhaul the public transportation sector, curb illegal operations and ensure the safety and well-being of our citizens. By adopting these recommendations and leveraging successful international practices, Zimbabwe can aspire to develop a world-class transportation system that supports economic growth and enhances the quality of life for all its people. I thank you.
HON. SEN. TONGOGARA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. RUNGANI: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 29th May, 2024.
MOTION
PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT SERVICES FOR TEENAGE MOTHERS
Eleventh Order read: Adjourned debate on the motion on the effects of teenage pregnancy.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. TONGOGARA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. RUNGANI: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 29th May, 2024.
On the motion of HON. SEN. MUZENDA, seconded by HON. SEN. MAVENYENGWA, the Senate adjourned at Fourteen Minutes past Four o’clock p.m.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Thursday, 23rd May, 2024
The Senate met at Half-past Two o`clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE in the Chair)
HON. SEN. PHULU: Hon. Speaker Sir, I have a point of privilege.
THE. HON. DEPUTY. PRESIDENT OF SENATE: I am not the Speaker.
HON. SEN. PHULU: Mr. President, I apologise. Yesterday I think just as a matter of giving a reminder, you encouraged Senators to remember to return earphones and not walk out with them when business is done. We all took it that it was a reminder but in the media today, it is awash with allegations that you said we stole earphones. l wanted to request your good Chair to clarify that there is no case of Senators stealing earphones and indeed, there is a procedure by which we collect and return the earphones which is very fine. I so request quite humbly, Mr. President.
HON. HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Thank you very much Hon. Phulu for pointing out that very important and unfortunate misinterpretation of reminders which are made in this honourable House. I will ask staff to make the necessary corrections to the media and express our dismay at this very terrible distortion and an attempt to tarnish the image of this Honourable House. Thank you.
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE
APOLOGIES RECEIVED FROM MINISTERS
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Today is a Thursday and as is normal practice and according to our Standing Orders, we have Questions Without Notice. Before we do that, I would like to present a list of Ministers who have tendered apologies. The list is quite long and is as follows;
The Minister of Environment, Climate and Wildlife, Hon. N. Ndlovu; Hon. K. Coventry, Minister of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture; Hon. E. Jesaya, Deputy Minister of Sports, Recreation Arts and Culture; Hon. B. Rwodzi, Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry; Hon. T. Mnangagwa, Deputy Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry; Hon. O. C. Z. Muchinguri-Kashiri, Minister of Defence; Hon. Brig. Gen. Rtd. Mayihlome, Deputy Minister of Defence; Small and Medium Enterprises Development; Hon. J. Mhlanga, Deputy Minister of Women’s Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development; Hon. F. Shava, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade; Hon. S. Chikomo, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade; Hon. C. Sanyatwe, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage; Hon. W. Chitando, Minister of Mines and Mining Development; Hon. P. Kambamura, Deputy Minister of Mines and Mining Development; Hon. Prof. A. Murwira, Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation Science and Technology Development; Hon. S. Sibanda, Deputy Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development; Hon. S. Nyoni, Minister of Industry and Commerce; Hon. R. Modi, Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce; Hon. E. Moyo, Minister of Energy and Power Development; Hon. J. Masuka, Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement, Hon. V. Haritatos, Deputy Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement; Hon. Mombeshora, Minister of Health and Child Care; Hon. D. K. Mnangagwa, Deputy Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion.
In the Chamber today, can I please have the list please? In the absence of the list or whilst it is coming, we have Hon. Minister Ziyambi, Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Hon. Minister J. Moyo, Minister of Public Service Labour and Social Welfare, Hon. Simbanegavi, Deputy Minister of Energy, Minister D. Garwe, Minister of Local Government and Public Works, Minister F. Mhona, the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Development, Hon. Minister Marupi, Deputy Minister of information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Hon. Gata, the Deputy Minister of Primary and Secondary Education. I think we have a fairly sizeable number today.
ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
HON. SEN. PHULU: Thank you Mr. President, I would like to direct my question to the Leader of Government Business in the absence of the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development. In light of the provisions outlined in Section 72 of the Constitution, the Government of Zimbabwe has the right to acquire all the hold, occupy use and transfer lease for disposal to agricultural land, and considering Section 18 of the Land Provisions Act, which empowers the Minister with consultation and approval to lease sale or dispose of State Land, I would like to enquire about the Government’s policy intentions regarding granting of deeds of transfer to individuals with long term leases. If such intentions do not exist, could you please provide information on the Government’s policy regarding making 99-year leases bankable? I am sure it is one of his favourable questions.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Mr. President Sir. I want to thank Hon. Senator Phulu for the question to the Minister of Lands where he made reference to the Constitution and the Lands Acquisition Act. My response is that we agreed that we need to relook the Land Tenure System as it pertains to agricultural land in order to unlock value and ensure that farmers are able to borrow and be able to be bound by the banks in a manner that is better than what is prevailing now.
The majority of our financial institutions have expressed some reservation and work is in progress to look at the Land Tenure System with a view of ensuring that both the interest of the banking sector and the interest of the farmers are protected and also the national interest at large are also protected. You also recall that one of the reasons that the war of liberation was fought, was the question of land and we need to ensure that we protect that particular land from getting back to people who are not supposed to get it.
So, we are at the stage where we are studying various land tenure systems so that we can come up with our own Land Tenure System that will holistically take into consideration all the concerns that we have, given our historical background of where we are coming from. Indeed, the Constitution like he says in Section 72, stipulates that but in the past, we have taken the route that the Constitution allows the State to offer agricultural land on leasehold and that was the route that we had followed. However, we want to refine that process so that we can have a scenario where we will unlock value in the agricultural sector. I so submit Mr. President.
HON. SEN. ZINDI: Thank you Mr. President. My supplementary question to the Hon. Minister is to establish why banks would not accept the lease as a policy of the Government and yet it is the same Government that also sets up policies over these banks. Why is there a hiccup like that? I thank you.
HON. Z. ZIYAMBI: Thank you Mr. President Sir. Banks in general terms, the policy framework, the laws and the regulations come from the Government. Banking institutions are business institutions, they lend their money where they believe they are safe and will be able to get their money back. Ordinarily, you cannot put as surety on something that you know you cannot claim if anything goes wrong. So the contentious issue with banks was, is this collateral that we are getting from this particular instrument in the manner that it is couched covering us up sufficiently. If anything goes wrong, are we able to get that particular piece of lease agreement and be able to transfer it to another person because that is the collateral?
That is the conversations that we are having with banks and Government to ensure that we come up with an Instrument that will allow everyone to be comfortable, banks to be comfortable to lend, farmers to be comfortable and even to develop that particular farm. You should be able to say that I have this lease. Am I secure enough to develop the farm, to put infrastructure there without waking up having that lease being withdrawn?
(Hon. Minister Matuke having passed between the Chair and the Hon. Member speaking).
HON. HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Order, order Hon. Minister Matuke, you may go. Proceed.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): So, these are the conversations that we are having in order to come up with an instrument that will take into consideration our historical concerns where we are coming from, the concerns of the farmers and the concerns of the banking sector. I thank you Mr. President Sir.
HON. SEN. PHULU: We thank you for the policy steps that you have taken to resolve this question, but in view of the fact that we want land to unlock value in line with Vision 2030, how soon can we see this intervention beginning to take off and being resolved so that all farmers across the land can unlock value and contribute to this economy?
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you, Mr. President, Sir. I want to thank Hon. Senator Phulu for that question. When we had conversations with banks, the initial thinking was that let us come up with an Agrarian Law Reform Bill and we started drafting that Bill. However, the new thinking now is that why not have a broad-based land policy and then that policy will inform what we then do in terms of coming up with our Agrarian Laws Reform Bill that we will do.
So, we have shelved the Bill that we had so that we have a broad-based consultation led by the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement. We will then come up with a holistic land policy that will take into consideration all our concerns and we hope that should be concluded very soon because it has a huge impact like you said, on our agricultural sector and our Vision 2030.
Therefore, we want to do it to unlock value, not only in terms of agricultural productivity; we have land that is a dead asset so we need to put in the GDP, at least some value whether it is a lease or whatever value, it should be put there. Everyone including farmers, and bankers should be able to sleep knowing that this is the kind of security that has been offered on that particular agricultural land. Also, the lenders say that I can sleep knowing that I can recover my money because of the following steps that I can do. I thank you.
+HON. SEN. NYATHI: Thank you, Mr. President. I want to direct my question to the Minister of Agriculture, Lands, Fisheries, Water, and Rural Resettlement. In his absence, I will direct it to the Leader of Government Business. What does the Government plan to do with those who were resettled in farms and do not have offer letters, some are in A1, and some are in A2. I thank you.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL, AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you, Mr. President, Sir. From 2000 to 2001, we had people who went to farms without any documentation. We then embarked on a process where we were regularising that. If there are any who were settled in the early 2000s who do not have a permit or an offer letter, then they need to have a conversation within their provinces within the District Lands Offices so that they can regularise, otherwise there will come a time when it will be deemed illegal on the land that they are occupying. I thank you.
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: We have been joined by one more Deputy Minister, that is the Deputy Minister of National Housing, Hon. Musa Ncube. Welcome!
HON. SEN. MAKAMBA: Mr. President, my question is directed to the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development. We all know and are aware of the numerous construction projects going on in the country but mainly in the capital city. Would the Minister be kind enough to give us an update mainly on the roads that lead to Parliament from the various approaches of Harare?
THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA): Thank you Hon. Senator Makamba for such a pertinent question for it allows me to articulate how far we have gone about roads leading to the New City, which is this area where the Parliament is located.
Mr. President Sir. I want to start by commending the Second Republic and in particular, His Excellency, Dr. E. D. Mnangagwa who is a visionary leader, under very difficult circumstances where we had to set aside a special fund to cater for the rehabilitation of our roads leading to this very beautiful place, which is the Parliament of Zimbabwe.
Hon. Senator Makamba has asked how far we have progressed in terms of the road rehabilitation projects. If you remember very well, we have got several detours now up to 20 km that we have opened leading to this place. Starting from the Great City, Harare, and Julius Nyerere we are progressing along Nemakonde Road which used to be known as Lomagundi Road which is part of Harare-Chirundu Road but it is also leading to this place.
We are also doing Harare-Bindura, it is not going to end in Bindura only, but it is proceeding up to Kanyemba which is about a 354-kilometer stretch. We are now seized with the first part of it from Second Street Extension towards Harare Drive.
Mr. President Sir, the goodness of this project is not just earmarking roads leading to Parliament but also roads within the precincts of the Great City. We are talking of feeder roads right from the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport where now even if you were to drive within the Great City, we are touching Samora Machel, we are doing Churchill which we will be starting very soon. We are also earmarking other roads in the northern and western suburbs. So we can talk about every corner of the Great City we attend.
However, the goodness of it is that we have got a target of 30th June 2024 where we are saying we should be flowing on our roads. Two weeks from now, we will be opening part of Harare Drive to part of the Westgate section which we are going to be opening to traffic, and then gravitate towards Lorraine Drive which was not done properly and it is a question that arose from this august House about the quality of that road. So the contractor will be working on that stretch again. We shall be opening again from the Harare Drive toll-gate towards the roundabout along Bindura Road where we are also going to be opening Boulevard Road which is the road straight from this Parliament towards Bindura Road. I can assure the august House that come the SADC Summit, you will be driving on quite remarkable roads not only towards Parliament but several roads within the Great City. However, that is also going to be extending to our communities where we stay where you see us tremendously attending to damaged stretches of roads. I thank you.
HON. SEN. TSHABANGU: Thank you very much. I wanted to kill two birds with one stone. Remember, last week I was given an opportunity to ask two questions, but I was not able to do that. Minister of Public Service should be getting ready for the second question.
Mr. President, to the Minister of Transport, in accordance with targets and indicators outlined in the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS 1), which recognises the importance of robust railway network in facilitating domestic, regional and international trade by connecting major economic centres, I would like to enquire about the progress that has been made by the Government of Zimbabwe in achieving these targets. Could you please provide us an update and give us an indication that is going to ensure that we establish a world-class modern railway system set up in the Government policy, and also that is going to align to the vision 2030 as the Government policy?
My second question goes to the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare. Social contracts have been useful globally to foster national consensus on social economic development of any developing country right across the global. Where are we as a country in terms of making sure that the Tripartite Negotiation Forum is active, efficient and robust so that we can move and as a member of ILO, move with the global union?
THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA): Thank you Mr. President Sir. Let me also thank Hon Senator Tshabangu for the very important question that he has raised relating to the infrastructure and utilities clusters under NDS 1.
Mr. President Sir, I would want to thank him, why, because we know the vibrancy of the railway line. We are now witnessing roads that are being damaged because we are not having a vibrant railway line. The tonnage that is moving along our roads is supposed to be migrating to the railway line. Once again to the Second Republic, the initiatives that we are making through NRZ where we cannot do it alone using the fiscal space Mr. President Sir, we have engaged a number of players in the category and recently, the Chairman of China Railway International Group was in the country where we are going to avail US$500 million towards the resuscitation of the railway line and we are talking of attending to the cautions. We are attending to the bends and having rolling stock, that is wagons and the locomotives that are brand new to navigate our railway line.
The goodness of this is that we have 2 700 kilometres stretch of railway and it is linking us. The fact that we are strategically positioned as a country, it will then link us with Zambia, DRC, and Mozambique and through Chikwalakwala, Maputo and Beira through Forbes. We are saying, having such a network will then enable the economy to perform where we are now going to be having, and we have seen the mushrooming and vibrancy of our mining sector so that the minerals will be now be channelled towards the railway line.
We have this now in the pipeline, not only that, we will also have a US$115 million from Afrexim Bank which is a facility that we are pursuing and we have already done necessary due diligence procedures so that we tap into that facility. These are initiatives to make sure that we resuscitate back our NRZ and I want to assure this august Senate that the initiatives that we are pursuing are just in the near future. We are witnessing that already there are private players who are partaking in the exercise of working closely with NRZ as we speak. They are providing rolling stock and we then deduct from the usage of our railway line and we continue pursuing that. I thank you.
HON. SEN. ZWIZWAI: Thank you Mr. President …
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Your name please?
HON. SEN. ZWIZWAI: You cannot remember me? I am Hon. Zwizwai – [Laughter] –
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Order! You should address the Chair with respect. You may proceed.
HON. SEN. ZWIZWAI: Thank you very much for reprimanding me. My supplementary question is that before the COVID-19 and under the tenure of Hon. Dr. J. M. Gumbo as Minister of Transport, there was a very big hype around the refurbishment of locomotives which was involving South African - Zimbabwean businessmen to the tune of, I am sure US$140 million. The ribbon was cut, but we cannot see those wagons. If the Hon. Minister could just explain to the august Senate as to what happened to that huge amount of money and all what we saw on the television, the cutting of the ribbons and the disappearance of the wagons. I thank you.
THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA): Thank you Mr. President Sir. Let me also thank Hon. Senator Zwizwai for that important question. The Hon. Senator is very right. Yes, we were pursuing a deal through a company known as DIG from South Africa and we were actually very happy as a nation, but if you remember very well, the transaction did not materialise. Again, because of the wise counsel of the Cabinet, the transaction was then cancelled and it then was tabled and became a court case which is sub judice. Apparently, the investors then had to withdraw from the court proceedings trying to pursue an amicable solution towards that transaction and it ended there. So basically, we do not have that transaction anymore, that is why we are pursuing other initiatives, but that deal failed completely. Thank you.
THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC SERVICE, LABOUR AND SOCIAL WELFARE (HON. J. G. MOYO): Thank you Mr. President. I want to thank the Hon. Sen. for asking me about the social contract. It is important to say, we have come a long journey and this journey has taken Government to enact an Act of Parliament called the Tripartite Negotiating Act. This Act enjoins Government, business and labour into a structured way of negotiating for solutions that affect the country. We have sent members of the tripartite committees to other social negotiating councils. They have gone to Greece. Every time we have gone out of the country, we have tried to learn what others are doing.
The learning process has enabled us to come up with a strategic plan where both Government, business and labour set out in January this year and had a strategic plan with actionable targets that we want to meet. This tripartite negotiating council is supported by Government through monies that are voted by this august House. So, they have been funded and we now have a separate Executive secretariat which used to be in the Ministry of Labour. We want it to be separate and independent so that they can serve the three partners.
We are basing our social contract on the Kadoma Declaration which gave both Government, Labour and Business tasks that they are supposed to do. What is the risk that is coming out of Government actions? What is the country risk that is coming out of labour actions? What is the country risk that is coming out of business itself? We are now analysing, coming up with proposals. We believe that once we remove all these risks and come up with solutions to remove those risks, that will form part of the social contract that binds the three partners. We believe that the next meeting that we are going to have, in the Act, we have to meet three times a year and we believe our next meeting will tackle this matter so that we move towards social contract.
In our strategic plan, we say the fourth quarter of this year, we should have a draft social contract that can be debated in Cabinet and ultimately in this august House. We are very happy that we have been working in this manner. Yesterday, we had a viable meeting with the three partners and we think that the tasks that we set ourselves during the beginning of the year in our strategic plan which will be produced as social contract, we are still on course. We are also happy that the ILO as you have indicated, is helping us in many ways. We are also proud as Zimbabweans that this year during the General Assembly of the ILO, we are going to have the Vice President of the General Assembly so that Zimbabwe re-emerges as a contributor to international labour issues because our practice and camaraderie in this country is now recognised as something that we can use to produce a social contract.
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Thank you Hon. Minister Moyo. We have also been joined in the Chamber by the following Ministers: Hon. Kazembe Kazembe, Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage; Hon. Mutsvangwa, Minister of Women Affairs; Hon. Mavhunga, Minister of War Veterans; and Hon. Mupamhanga, Deputy Minister for Youth. We have quite a range of Ministers in the Chamber today.
+HON. SEN. H. MOYO: Thank you Mr. President for giving me this opportunity. My question is directed to the Leader of Government Business, Hon. Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi. We note that we have young children who have gone through different stages of education up to Form 6 and applied for the Presidential Scholarship, especially in Matabeleland South. What surprises us is, what Government policy is used to determine who gets a place? Most of them do not benefit from this Presidential Scholarship. I thank you.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Mr. President Sir. I want to thank the Hon. Member for the question. Mr. President, I am not quite sure that it is a correct representation of the facts on the ground. In fact, I do remember when students that were going to UnZa, the University of Zambia were being sent off; there was one brilliant young lady from Tsholotsho who actually gave a testimony of her life. So, I am not very sure that it is a correct reflection of what is happening. What I know is that applications are received in all provinces and then they are processed, but that there is a policy to deliberately not take others given what is out there in the public, I stand guided. I thank you Mr. President Sir.
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Hon. Senator Moyo, if you have got any particular case which you are aware of, why do you not bring it to the attention of the Minister?
HON. SEN. MOYO: Thank you Mr. President, I will do that, but now Matabeleland South and Matabeleland North are different provinces. I have people that always ask me. They even have 12 points. Matabeleland North is Tsholotsho. Thank you.
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: It is not a question.
+HON. SEN. NDEBELE: Thank you Hon. President of Senate. With due respect, I want to direct my questions to two Ministers. I do not know whether policy allows me to ask two Ministers.
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: You are not allowed to ask two Ministers in one go. I made a special dispensation to that. Hon. Senator, you may ask one question and then if we have got time, you can ask the second question later.
+HON. SEN. NDEBELE: Thank you Senate President.
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: I will allow you since you are a female Hon. Senator to ask two questions.
+HON. SEN. NDEBELE: Thank you Mr. President. My question pertains to road traffic accidents. You will find that there are cars which do not adhere to speed limits. I want to ask the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development whether there are plans to alleviate these accidents which are caused by speeding cars and also to ascertain whether such cars are registered and are allowed to operate on the routes they operate in.
I also want to ask the Minister of National Housing and Social Amenities that when these cars park in bus termini, is it clear that they are registered or not because you find that commuter omnibuses and some pirate taxes also park there? In order to avoid such accidents, my question is, what is going to be done about this? I thank you.
THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA): Mr. President Sir, this week we were actually privileged to be hosting United Nations Special Envoy to road safety, Mr. Jean Todt who was in the country and had to pay a courtesy visit to His Excellency on his last day in Zimbabwe. What is exciting on this particular visit, Mr. President Sir, was the zeal that he demonstrated which is also in tandem with the zeal and passion that is being demonstrated by our great leader, Cde. Emmerson Mnangagwa in championing issues to do with road safety.
The Hon. Senator has raised a very important point pertaining to speeding which is one of the major causes of road accidents that we are witnessing. I am also glad to say with my colleague Minister, the Minister of Home Affairs, we are actually seized with that matter trying to make sure that we enhance awareness programmes.
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Order! Hon. Ndebele, can you please switch off your microphone.
HON. MHONA: Thank you Mr. President Sir. Pertaining to the issues of awareness where we are going to be accelerating road awareness programmes through schools and also making joint operations with the police and VID so that people stick to that, if you would remember very well esteemed Senators at the beginning of this year, I had Statutory Instrument 118 of 2023 which was operationalised on 1st January, 2024 stipulating that we must have gadgets installed for every public service vehicle so as to manage the issue of speeding. People are complying to that particular directive and we will be working closely with the police to make sure that we also have speed control mechanisms. In terms of introducing again the cameras, we are almost at an advanced stage. Above that, we are also having additional mechanisms to mitigate the issues of speeding and make sure that cars are registered.
She also mentioned the issue of registration of vehicles so that before you ply our roads, you must be registered through the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development under the department known as Road Motor Transportation where we give you a permit to operate. It is quite disturbing, Mr. President, that a number of accidents that we were witnessing, some were not registered, some did not have valid permits, which is something that we are also working closely with the police so that it will not continue.
I want to assure again the august House that yes, it is quite disturbing given the numbers that we are close to around 15 million and 16 million within the country. We are losing close to 2000 per annum in terms of fatalities which his not sustainable and when it comes to the monetary element, we are losing close to US$406 million per year towards fatalities, injuries, hospitalisations and even causing unnecessary burden to beneficiaries.
We are saying as a nation, we cannot continue having such numbers where we are losing close to five lives per day and it is not sustainable. It is my humble plea again as we drive, to uphold the sanctity of life in our roads. Thank you, Mr. President Sir.
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: The next question was directed to Hon. Minister Garwe.
THE MNISTER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS (HON. GARWE): Thank you Mr. President Sir. The Government does not condone wayward behaviour by the motoring public. Government does not condone people who park anywhere where they feel like parking or overtaking in opposite lanes but we are also aware that local authorities, particularly City of Harare has got municipal police which, in terms of the by-laws, is supposed to be manning our urban roads and because they are failing to discharge that responsibility through the Ministry of Home Affairs, I think we have witnessed ZRP traffic officers manning all our roads in Harare to ensure that there is no congestion, there is no wayward behaviour by kombi drivers and mushikashika drivers.
The problem, Mr. President, is our motoring public has become so delinquent. They have become moral decadent in terms of observing traffic laws and we are encouraging the municipal police to work very closely with the Ministry of Home Affairs in manning the urban roads so that we avoid the unnecessary accidents or causing unnecessary congestion. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. CHIEF NECHOMBO: Thank you Mr. President. I want to direct my question to the Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage. My question is, what does the law say and what should happen in cases where there are graves in our communities where there might be need to remove the graves for different reasons like mining? The construction of our urban centres and other developments; what is the law regarding building on cemeteries in relation to the local culture which honours our parents and others who might have passed on?
*THE MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS AND CULTURAL HERITAGE (HON. KAZEMBE): Thank you Mr. President Sir. I also want to thank Hon. Senator Chief Nechombo for that question. The law says that cemeteries fall under the National Museums and Monuments. The law also says that when you face such challenges, then you write to the National Museums and Monuments and explain the reason why that should be done and the National Museums and Monuments will give permission. Normally, we work with the Ministry of Local Government to determine whether this permission should be granted or not and how it should be done. I thank you.
*HON. HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Thank you Hon. Minister. I think Hon. Senator Chief Nechombo wanted to ask whether traditional leaders are involved in the process so that we preserve our culture. Is that what you were asking Hon. Sen. Chief Nechombo?
*HON. SEN. CHIEF NECHOMBO: Indeed, that was my question Sir.
* HON. KAZEMBE: Indeed, when I alluded to Local Government, I was referring to the traditional leadership which falls under our Local Government. I thank you.
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE
ERROR ON THE ORDER PAPER
THE HON. PRESIDENT OF SENATE: I want to draw the attention of the House to an inadvertent error on today’s Order Paper, where the Notice of Motion for the Minister of Energy and Power Development was omitted. The Notice of Motion was given last week and has been appearing on the Order Paper until yesterday. I therefore direct that the Notice of Motion be included on the Order Paper as Notice of Motion Number 14.
+HON. SEN. C. NDLOVU: Thank you Mr. President for giving me this opportunity. My question is directed to the Minister of Home Affairs. In Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South and Bulawayo, people do not have electricity. I wanted to know from the Minister of Home Affairs if the Ministry issues copper licences for scrap copper and this results in people stealing copper wires for resale. When such licences are issued, in Zimbabwe, it is called scrap. The question is, where does that scrap copper come from? I thank you.
*THE MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS AND CULTURAL HERITAGE (HON. KAZEMBE): Thank you Mr. President Sir. With your indulgence, I will respond in English. My Ndebele is not yet good, but I am going to get there. I would like to thank the Hon. Senator for that pertinent question. First and foremost, when we issue licences, it is not a licence to steal. Let me explain how one gets that licence. For starters, when you apply, there are a lot of requirements and conditions that you have to meet. You must be a very credible person and you must clearly articulate your reason why you want to have the licence. Having done that, you must also prove that you are capable and you have the capacity to do what you want. There is a Committee that sits, which involves other stakeholders who are normally the victims.
For example, your NetOne, NRZ, ZESA and ZRP sit in that Committee which checks on your suitability to have that licence. Once you are given the licence, there are certain conditions as well. When you are dealing in scrap and copper scrap, there are so many ways that lead to scrap copper. It is not correct that all the copper comes from cables. There are a number of companies that have stopped operating and they have a lot of copper scrap. There are some cables that are no longer usable. It is still scrap given that we do not do mining of copper that much, that copper is recycled and used for further things including some other basic inputs.
So, once you get the licence, there are rules that you have to follow. When you buy the copper, you must buy copper with a certificate of origin. That certificate has some security features on it. If you are buying from a company, that company that is selling the copper to you has to be licenced as well. It has to go through all these conditions that I have spoken about. It has to pass the test.
As you are transporting that copper, the police will ask for that certificate of origin and that certificate of origin works like a title deed. So, when you sell your copper, it is transferred to the recipient. At every given point, that copper must have that certificate and this is to ensure that we know exactly where it is coming from and where it is going. All those three parties, the seller, the dealer and the buyer at the end of the channel, must be registered, and as I said, the registration is not easy.
Over and above that, if you are caught without the certificate, or without meeting those conditions, you get your licence cancelled and secondly, copper is transported using trucks and that vehicle is also confiscated by the State. The owner of the vehicle is also answerable and the sentence I think is now a minimum of ten years. The Minister of Justice can assist me. It is now a minimum of ten years to ensure that it is deterrent. When we issue these licences, it is not a licence to steal, but we allow those who are in the business of using scrap copper to carry on with their business. I thank you.
Questions Without Notice were interrupted by THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE in terms of Standing
Order No. 67.
+HON. SEN. PHUTHI: May you please add fifteen minutes to the time of Questions Without Notice. I thank you.
HON. SEN. MAKAMBA: I second.
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Okay, time for Questions Without Notice is extended by ten minutes from now. It was supposed to go up to 22 minutes, but I am now extending with ten minutes up to four o’clock p.m.
*HON. SEN. MALULEKE: Thank you Mr. President Sir. My question regards issues to do with looming hunger due to the El Nino-induced drought. If you go to the Grain Marketing Board, you are referred to the Social Welfare Department. In our areas, there are a few who have benefited from Social Welfare. So, what are the Government plans regarding social welfare redistribution of food relief aid? I thank you.
THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC SERVICE, LABOUR AND SOCIAL WELFARE (HON. J. MOYO): Thank you, Mr. President, Sir. The question was supposed to be directed to the Minister of Agriculture, Lands, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development…
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Hon. Minister July Moyo, may you respond in terms of drought relief programmes by the Social Welfare department.
*HON. J. MOYO: Thank you, Mr. President. Our Ministry agreed with the Ministry of Agriculture, Lands, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement and we had a Memorandum of Understanding regarding food relief in both urban areas and rural areas. I will start with urban areas.
In urban areas, the Zimbabwe Livelihoods Assessment Committee Report ensured that in big and small towns, there are 1, 7 million people who need food relief, we sat down to discuss what could be done in urban areas. So instead of giving food in urban areas, we agreed to give people money and we are still working on the modalities. We shall give out money which is equivalent to the food relief or aid that is given in the rural areas. The beneficiaries will go to the supermarkets where they will buy food. However, we do not determine the food they will buy.
Furthermore, we are busy working on every ward in the urban areas so that we create a database of 1, 7 million and the information that we got from ZIMSTAT for instance, in Budiriro, we are going to have the number of wards and people who need food relief. We shall be able to determine how many people are going to be assisted so that our figure reaches 1, 7 million.
In small towns, whether it is Gokwe Centre, Nyanga, Gwanda, or Chipinge, all that information is being collated. After that process, we will be working with the United Nations and the World Food Programme as well as other partners we work with who came and registered as private voluntary organisations. However, these partners are supposed to follow the laws of the land, they will work by the Government’s programmes.
In rural areas, some people are going to be given food aid. We have 130 000 tonnes which will be given out to people in different wards and villages. For now, we have 6, 1 million people who need food relief in rural areas. We worked with traditional leaders and village heads who knew the people who were in dire need. We created a database that contains the elderly who are vulnerable, those living with disabilities, orphans and those who lack are all going to benefit.
Due to the drought induced by El Nino, we are going to have a nine million people target in the rural areas alone, which means everyone who lives in rural areas is going to benefit. On the 138,000 tonnes of grain, we will see how we can distribute the grain to different GMB depots because some of them do not have stocks. We went to Chipinge, there are sufficient stocks and even surplus.
We have planned to distribute the grain enough to cover three months, every beneficiary will get 7, 5 kg by three. We are not going to select, whether young or old, they will get the same share of 7, 5 kg. When we give them coverage of three months, it will give us time to plan or gather grain for the next three-month period again.
Transportation is a challenge, for instance, most of our maize is in Lions Den Depot so it has to be transported from there to Kwekwe and other districts. We have noted that with our transportation system, for us to distribute grain to Nkayi which is about 144 km and to Kwekwe, it is only 98 km. The Nkayi Road is also in a bad state, hence it is ideal to move the grains from Lions Den to Kwekwe and then redistribute them to Nkayi and other wards that are in that district. We also need to distribute the grains to Zhombe Depot and Gokwe South. For Gokwe, we will use the Sanyati Depot; every depot will receive its allocation. We shall be using railway line transport, the trains shall go to Concession, Glendale, and Bindura. This is the route that will be taken for the grain to reach Rushinga and Mt. Darwin. We have done a mapping of the logistics and I believe if that is done, we would have covered the rural areas. However, others cannot just receive food relief, but must buy and those who buy should go and buy at GMB depots.
When we discussed with the Ministry of Agriculture, we said that there are millers who have been allowed by the Government since last year, to go and buy maize and other traditional cereals and after noting that there is El Nino, the Government decided to come up with a contingent plan and said those who are in the milling industry should procure grain and they brought 400 000 tonnes in preparation for the mitigation against the effects of El Nino. So, they ordered a lot of wheat because when we anticipated that millers were going to buy wheat, they had flour. So, the millers said they have a lot of wheat and that they do not want to buy it now, but in the near future. The wheat which we thought was going to be bought by millers is in our grain reserves. I believe that all those who are into milling will distribute maize meal to all provinces, districts, urban and rural areas, schools and other areas so that we do not have people going to buy GMB maize meal and other traditional foods because they will be having food after we have empowered those beneficiaries with food relief.
HON. SEN. MAVENYENGWA: My question is directed to the Minister of Transport. I have noted that most of the fatal road accidents occurring in our country are as a result of human error by drivers who seem to be unlicenced by the conduct they are exhibiting on the roads. What is Government policy on retesting of public service vehicle drivers as occurrences of these accidents through human error are on the increase and does the Ministry hold any workshops with transport operators on what to consider when employing or hiring drivers?
THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA): Thank you Mr. President Sir. I also thank you, Hon. Sen. Mavenyengwa for a very important question that I thought I had also touched on when I was addressing a question from Hon. Sen. Ndebele. I will also try to buttress some of the points that I raised. It is disturbing, the carnage that we are witnessing which I do concur with Hon. Senator.
As we speak, we are trying to also see how we can synchronise the age limit of those who would then drive public service vehicles. I am sure the Legal Department in my Ministry is working with the Attorney-General in that regard and we are saying for public vehicles, we were sticking to 25 years and we are advocating to increase. Within the SADC region, the minimum age is 30 years for public service vehicles and that will then address the overzealousness of some of these drivers that are driving our public service vehicles.
To address the question of the Hon. Senator, yes through Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe, we are doing awareness programmes and we continue to educate our people, especially on the benefits associated with driving well on our roads and also to mitigate the carnage that we are witnessing on our roads. So I want to say yes, we are continuously educating our people and in terms of speed monitoring devices that I alluded to under SI 118 of 2023, where we are saying we need to come up with punitive measures to those who are not complying and abiding by the road regulations on our roads, we are saying at the end of the day, if we do not do that or take punitive measures Mr. President Sir, we will continue having these accidents.
Some people are driving while using their phones, some are not observing road regulations and others are even not complying to the dictates of our regulations when it comes to traffic. We cannot continue in that trajectory and we will see us advocating for punitive measures so that we reduce road carnage. Thank you, Mr. President.
ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS WITH NOTICE
POLICY ON MARRIED COUPLES WORKING AT SAME WORK STATIONS
- HON. SEN. MAVENYENGWA asked the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education to inform the Senate on the Government’s policy to permit married couples who are teachers to work at same stations as a way of minimising promiscuity and the risk of sexually transmitted infections.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION (HON. GATA): Thank you Mr. President Sir. Our office checked and we did not have the Questions With Notice but if I can have the Order Paper so I can try to…
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Minister, you have the question on the Order Paper. These questions are delivered to your offices and you must make an effort to respond to the questions. Next week, you must answer the question.
HON. A. GATA: Thank you, I will ask to defer them.
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Question Number 3, it is also deferred I presume. You did not see it as well?
HON. A. GATA: Thank you Mr. President, yes, it is deferred.
SUPPORT TO WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT CLUBS IN RURAL AREAS
- HON SEN. MAVENYENGWA asked the Minister of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development to inform the Senate measures that have been put in place to support women's empowerment clubs in rural areas which are underperforming due to financial constraints.
THE MINISTER OF WOMEN AFFAIRS, COMMUNITY, SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES DEVELOPMENT (HON. SEN. M. MUTSVANGWA): Thank you Mr. President. I would like to thank Hon. Sen. Mavenyengwa for that very important question which he asked the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development as to the measures that have been put in place to support women’s empowerment clubs in rural areas which are underperforming due to financial constraints.
Mr. President, as a Ministry, we have embarked on a programme of establishing, resuscitating and training groups of women to form women empowerment clubs in all the 10 provinces.
Last year, a total number of 609 clubs targeting 7 159 women were trained. These clubs were trained in 10 provinces and to date, over 1 109 clubs have been trained and established. This benefitted over 13 000 women.
These clubs were trained in entrepreneurship, record keeping, business management and development, leadership, group dynamics, group formation and formalisation, conflict management, ISALs management (Transforming ISALs into SACCOs), sources of financing, financial literacy, growth strategies, group constitution making or crafting, Gender Based Violence (GBV) and child marriages prevention. There is also a lot of our staff all the way to the ward level who have gone to train women in importance of hygiene during processing of products, packaging, product certification, marketing, value addition, baking, floor polish, detergents, toilet cleaner and dish washing liquid making.
The training itself was done in collaboration with Zimbabwe Women’s Microfinance Bank and Small and Medium Enterprises Development Corporation (SMEDCO). The thrust of this programme is to economically empower women in order to strengthen the capacity of the clubs and formalise as well as grow clubs into SMEs and cooperatives. This year we will further strengthen the capacity of 500 clubs through training and awareness on registration as cooperatives.
My Ministry issued a call for project proposals for funding of women and community projects in all the ten provinces and we expect women empowerment clubs to apply for funding.
In conclusion, women empowerment clubs are the vanguard of development as all other ministries and stakeholders can channel their development programmes through these clubs. It is also an inclusive approach to development in line with NDS 1 and Vision 2030. I so submit Mr. President.
FOOD DISTRIBUTION PROGRAMME FOR URBAN RESIDENTS
- HON. SEN. ZINDI asked the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare to inform the House on whether urban residents will benefit from food distribution programmes in view of the drought in the country and to further advise how this exercise will be conducted and to state who will be responsible for their registration.
THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC SERVICE, LABOUR AND SOCIAL WELFARE (HON. J. MOYO): The Government of Zimbabwe will ensure that no one dies of hunger as the President has directed. Early this year, an urban Zimbabwe livelihood assessment was done in all urban domains and a total of 1.7 million people were projected to be in need of assistance. The Government and partners will jointly register the vulnerable persons in urban areas and a cash for cereal programme will be implemented in urban areas since cereals are available on the market. Like in rural areas, labour endowed households will also participate in asset creation in their respective communities to ensure that we discourage dependence syndrome among our people.
However, the old aged, people with disability and child-headed families will not be asked to undertake this work. Let me categorically state that the selection process is being finalised and we think once it is finalised, we will announce so that everyone is aware of what we are doing to carry out the selection process because unlike in the rural areas where we are involving chiefs, in the urban areas we will have to come up with a better system than we were doing last time.
WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS TO QUESTIONS WITH NOTICE
REHABILITATION OF FAIRFIELDS AND MANDAMABWE-SHURUGWI ROADS
- HON. SEN. ZVIDZAI asked the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development to inform the House the plans being put in place to rehabilitate the following road:
- a) The road in the Fairfields area just after Mvuma which continues to experience accidents; and
- b) The Mandamabwe to Shurugwi road.
THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. MHONA): a) I wish to thank the Hon. Member for this question. The specific section of the Fairfields area of the Harare-Masvingo road was intentionally left out. The omission of the 1.2 km of road is meant to accommodate the upgrading of the rail/road junction into a grade separated structure.
The 1.2 km will accommodate a road over rail where the road will rise onto a bridge as it crosses over the railway line. The upgrade is being done in anticipation of a revitalized railway sector which will result in more frequent train movement and hence potentially more train/vehicle conflict.
As we speak, the designs for the road-over-rail are at a very advanced stage and the construction of the road-over-rail is expected to be complete by the end of this year.
- b) The Government of Zimbabwe through Cabinet approved a partnership that will result in the upgrading of the Shurugwi-Mandamabwe road. The approval was granted on the 11th of April 2023. The scope for the national project is reconstruction of 43 km of the said road. The ground breaking ceremony was done on the 15th of January 2024.
Progress to date includes the construction and opening to traffic of 25 km of detour. The detailed designs for the project were approved by my Department of Roads in March 2024 and the main road works commenced on the 4th of April 2024. The project completion period is 12 months.
Questions with Notice were interrupted by THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE in terms of Standing Order Number 67.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER DEVELOPMENT (HON. SIMBANEGAVI): I move that Orders of the Day Numbers 1 to 13 be stood over until Order of the Day Number 14 has been disposed of.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
APPROVAL FOR ACCESSION OF THE AGREEMENT AMENDING THE SADC PROTOCOL ON ENERGY AND AMENDMENT OF ANNEX 1
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER DEVELOPMENT (HON. SIMBANEGAVI): I move that this House takes note that;
WHEREAS Section 327 (2) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe provides that any Convention, Treaty or Agreement acceded to, concluded or executed by or under the authority of the President with one or more foreign states or governments or international organisations shall be subject to approval by Parliament;
THAT WHEREAS the agreement to amending SADC Protocol on Energy as well as the amendment of Annex 1 to the Protocol was adopted at the 41st Summit of the Heads of State and Government held in Lilongwe, Malawi in August 2021.
WHEREAS the Republic of Zimbabwe is not a signatory to the aforesaid agreement and;
WHEREAS Article 20 (3) of the Agreement provides for ratification of the agreement by any SADC member after its adoption and;
WHEREAS the Republic of Zimbabwe is desirous of becoming a party to the agreement;
NOW, THEREFORE, in terms of Section 327 (2) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe that this House;
RESOLVES that the aforesaid Protocol be and is hereby approved for accession. I so submit Mr. President Sir.
HON. SEN. PHULU: Mr. President thank you. I always appreciate when these matters are brought before the House for approval so that they are ratified and duly domesticated into our law. We appreciate the Minster for that move and for adopting the said Protocol. However Mr. President, I always worry when these Protocols are enrolled and quickly moved without adequate time for us to debate them having looked carefully at them, but on that note, I would say I move that the Protocol be approved by this House.
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Hon. Phulu notice was given last week.
HON. SEN. PHULU: Yes, I noticed that. I do not see it on the Order Paper.
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: That is why I stated that it was a mistake, but the notice was given last week. So you had ample time.
HON. SEN. PHULU: What normally happens Mr. President and you will guide us on this one, is that it appears on the Order Paper as a notice, remains there for a number of days without being moved, and then it is suddenly moved on a day when the Minister appears and catches us unaware.
THE HON. DEPUTY PRSIDENT OF SENATE: Your point is taken.
HON. SEN. PHULU: Thank you Mr. President.
Motion put and agreed to.
On the motion of THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR PROVINCIAL AFFAIRS IN THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT AND CABINET (HON. SEN. MATUKE), the House adjourned at Thirteen Minutes past Four o’clock p.m. until Tuesday, 28th May, 2024.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Thursday, 23nd May, 2024
The National Assembly met at a Quarter-past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER in the Chair)
HON. TSVANGIRAI: Thank you Madam Speaker and good afternoon to you.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Good afternoon.
HON. TSVANGIRAI: My point of national interest relates to the quantitative evidence increase in the number of children living on the streets of most towns and cities in this country. Madam Speaker, the majority of them, whilst being of school going age, are not going to school. Some of them are now involved in drug and substance abuse, theft in vehicles and girls are now into sex work and are being taken advantage of by paedophiles. Madam Speaker, firstly, I implore the Executive, through your leadership of the Assembly, to execute Section 19 of the Zimbabwean Constitution, which compels the State to come up with a framework to make sure children have shelter, access to education and are protected from all forms of abuse.
Secondly, Madam Speaker, the NDS1 speaks to the idea of not leaving anyone behind, henceforth calls upon the Executive through your leadership, to walk the talk, find solutions to this critical issue and make sure no child is left behind. I thank you.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you Hon. Tsvangirai. Your concerns have been noted.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE NATIONAL PROSECUTING AUTHORITY FOR THE YEAR 2023
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Madam Speaker. I rise that this House takes note of the Report of the National Prosecuting Authority for the year 2023, presented to this House of Parliament in terms of Section 262 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe. I so submit Madam Speaker.
Madam Speaker, I move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Tuesday, 28th May, 2024.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. Z. ZIYAMBI): Thank you, Madam Speaker Ma’am. I move that Orders of the Day Numbers 2 to 8 be stood over until Order of the Day Number 9 has been disposed of. I thank you
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE JOINT PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON BUDGET, FINANCE AND INVESTMENT PROMOTION AND INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE ON THE 2024 MONETARY POLICY
HON. CHIDUWA: I move the motion standing in my name that this House considers and adopts the Report of the Joint Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Investment Promotion and Industry and Commerce on the 2024 Monetary Policy Statement.
HON. MUDEKUNYE: I second.
HON. CHIDUWA: Thank you Madam Speaker.
- Introduction
Section 119 (2) of the constitution obliges Parliament to ensure that the State and all institutions and agencies of Government at every level act constitutionally and in the national interest. Furthermore, Section 9 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe sanctions the State to adopt and implement policies and legislation that develop efficiency, competence, accountability, transparency and financial probity in all institutions and agencies of Government at every level and in every public institution. The Committee on Budget, Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion has the oversight mandate on the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, its agencies and parastatals.
Following the presentation of the 2024 Monetary Policy by Dr. J. Mushayavanhu, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor on the 5th of April 2024, the Joint Committees on Budget, Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion and Industry and Commerce conducted wide consultations to gather views of the public on the 2024 Monetary Policy Statement. The consultation was meant to involve the people in decision making in line with Section 141 of the Constitution.
- The 2024 Monetary Policy
The 2024 Monetary Policy Statement was meant to address the following objectives:
- A solid and stable national currency;
- A stable and sustainable exchange rate;
- Robust policy credibility and restoration of market confidence and
- Macroeconomic stability.
The policy introduced the following policy measures, among others:
- Introduction of a new structured currency.
- Anchoring local currency on reserves backed by gold and foreign currency balances.
- Adoption of a market-determined exchange rate system.
- Review of the interest rate from 130% to 20%
- Efficient and optimal money supply management.
- Exemption from bank charges of accounts that maintain a consecutive daily minimum balance of US$100 and below or its equivalent in ZiG for 30 days.
- Payment of 50% taxes in local currency
- Other support measures and obligations in response to market demands.
- Legislative compliance
The presentation of the Monetary Policy Statement complied with Section 317 (c) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe which broadly gives the RBZ the mandate to formulate and implement Monetary Policy. However, the presentation of the Monetary Policy Statement failed to comply with Section 46 of the Reserve Bank Act in terms of time frames.
- Methodology
Enjoined by Section 141 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe and Standing Order No. 23, the Committees resolved to conduct consultations with stakeholders to gather views on the monetary policy measures introduced through the Monetary Policy Statement. On the 22nd of April 2024, the Committees invited several stakeholders which included Bankers Association of Zimbabwe (BAZ), Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC), Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers (CZR), Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ), Institute of Chartered Accountants of Zimbabwe (ICAZ), Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), Zimbabwe Builders Contractors Association (ZBCA) and Zimbabwe Chamber of SMES. Furthermore, the Committees received oral evidence from the Governor of the RBZ on the 23rd of April 2024 and the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion on the 6th of May 2024.
- Findings on Policy Measures
- Introduction of New Structured Currency
The 2024 Monetary Policy introduced a new structured currency called the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG). The ZiG is backed by foreign currency and a basket of minerals - primarily gold, platinum, lithium and diamond, among others. The Committee was concerned about the convertibility of ZiG to minerals or foreign currency reserves upon demand. The Committees were informed that ZiG was not convertible to gold, since its fiat money backed by gold and other precious metals. However, economic agents who have foreign payments obligation could apply for foreign currency from their respective banks who could then avail the required foreign currency. The Central Bank would ensure that 50% of the foreign currency retention is availed to commercial banks for this purpose.
- Anchoring Local Currency on Reserves Backed by Gold and Foreign Currency Balances.
Upon its introduction, the ZiG was backed by USD100 million in cash and 2.522 tonnes of gold worth US$185 million. The currency in circulation was estimated at ZWL2.6 trillion which was about US$80 million. Going forward, the Government through the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion will be purchasing 25% export surrender requirements from exporters, where 50% of the surrender will boost reserves. Hence, the Committees noted that there was a defined mechanism on the intrinsic value of the currency as opposed to relying solely on confidence in the monetary system. From a purely theoretic perspective, it should bring forth a sense of stability to the currency.
- Adoption of a Market-Determined Exchange Rate System.
The Monetary Policy Statement introduced a market determined exchange rate under a willing-buyer/willing-seller (WBWS) trading arrangement. The committee commended the abolition of the Auction System as it was creating arbitrages in the market, also noting that more than 80% of transactions were made in foreign currency, suggesting that business was realising foreign currency from sales. The willing-buyer/willing-seller (WBWS) model promotes an efficient price discovery mechanism for the market. Stakeholders also commended that if the policy measure is implemented consistently, it would potentially ensure price stability, as exchange rate responds to market forces. Stakeholders concurred that a stable and market-driven exchange rate system could attract foreign direct investment by providing a predictable environment to investors. The idea of transparency and a floating exchange rate has long been requested and if fully implemented could combat the currency volatility.
- Interest Rate Policy
The policy rate was reduced from 130% to 20% per annum, with overnight accommodation interest rate set at 5%. There was a general consensus that interest rates on deposits should be above the inflation level. If interest rates were kept high, they were likely to drive inflation, which would go against the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) objective of a single digit inflation of 3% - 7%, by 2025. Reducing the interest rate spurs demand for credit but capacity to lend might be limited, given the other policy measures announced, which included the increase in statutory reserves. Availability of affordable funding would therefore, improve access to working capital and enhance capacity utilization of businesses, creating growth opportunities, which was in tandem with the NDS1 objectives.
- Efficient and Optimal Money Supply Management.
The Monetary Policy Statement also proposed a tight money supply which will be based on the growth in gold and foreign currency reserves. The Committees noted that the increase in inflation experienced in the recent past was a result of printing of money which was beyond the RBZ’s mandate due to quasi-fiscal activities. The policy stance has moved quasi fiscal activities to the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion. Eliminating quasi-fiscal activities has been a long-term objective of the country. Stakeholders were concerned about the history of the country where money supply was attributed to quasi-fiscal activities by the Central Bank. The stakeholder recommended that the RBZ should walk the talk, and stop the printing of money which is a vehicle for fuelling inflation. Under the new thrust, the increase in money supply would be linked to reserves and productivity.
- Exemptions from Bank Charges
There was a general consensus on streamlining bank charges with the exemption of accounts that holds US100 equivalent and below. Bank charges had been a thorn in the flesh for consumers. For instance, farmers, who only receive payments once in a year, got their accounts charged monthly, thereby accumulating negative balances. This measure, therefore, encourages individuals with lower incomes or savings to keep their money in the banking system, and consequently, promoting financial inclusion. Stakeholders concurred that reducing bank charges would improve deposit retention levels, given the low levels of disposable incomes and savings. Whilst the exemption of bank charges was introduced for balances below USD100, the Committee noted that general level of bank charges for the balances above USD100 is too high to attract depositors into the banking system, hence there is need for rationalisation
- Payment of 50% Corporate Income Tax in Local Currency
The monetary policy introduced a fiscal policy measure to pay 50% of corporate tax obligations in ZiG. In Zimbabwe, corporate income tax is paid on a quarterly basis, often referred to as quarterly payments dates. The requirement for the 50% of the tax obligation to be paid in local currency would create demand for the local currency. The Committees were assured that work was in progress on ways to make all taxes be paid in ZiG. The demand for local currency to pay taxes could impact positively on the exchange rate, especially if a significant portion of tax payments were made in local currency. This was likely to bring the needed stability in the exchange rate. However, the Committees noted that there was a dilemma on implementing the 50% payment of taxes in local currency, given that quarterly payments were estimated at around US$300 million, where 50% (US$150m) should be in ZiG, against the US$80 million of ZiG currently in circulation.
- Currency Switching and Notice
The Committee was concerned about the immediate aborting of ZWL transactions, and the time taken to re-configure the system. The RBZ apologised for the delay in currency switching which disturbed the daily flow of activities for all Zimbabweans. The conversion needed a lot of work, alignment of all contracts and loan agreements, among other things. The RBZ advised that a gradual approach would have given room for economic agents to take positions, some of which may not be desirable to the economy. Theoretically, currency introduction needs 14 days to educate the nation to educate the people about the features of the currency, especially in rural areas. The RBZ confirmed that they were going right round the country educating the public about the new currency and its features. The RBZ also appealed to the Members of the Portfolio Committees to assist in creating awareness so that people from their respective constituencies would appreciate how the new currency was structured.
- Exchange Rate of ZiG
The Committees learnt that the exchange rate of ZiG was not solely determined by the price of gold at International Gold Market but would be determined by the willing-buyer/willing-seller (WBWS) model. The Committees were informed that the WBWS would be benchmarked with the gold price implied exchange rate from time to time. Gold price implied-exchange rate would give checks and balances to the RBZ to determine when to intervene in the market to control the exchange rate. Thus, if the WBWS exchange rate increases, RBZ would intervene by injecting more foreign currency in the market. The Committees were also informed that the movement of gold prices and other precious minerals should not directly affect the prices of goods and services as there was no direct relationship between the exchange rate and inflation.
- Trading in ZiG.
It was noted that at the introduction of the new currency, 85% of the transactions were estimated to be in foreign currency, and only 15% were in local currency. It was therefore envisaged that the low amount of ZiG in circulation could not meet the needed transactions if all goods were to be priced in ZiG. The Committees were worried about the high demand for USD as several transactions such as rentals, school fees, healthcare services, government fees and charges, fuel and transport services were being paid in USD. The exclusive demand for foreign currency in the purchase of such services was to be blamed for the existence black market foreign currency dealers and consequently the instability in currency value. On that note, stakeholders concurred that goods such as fuel could at least remain priced in USD to avoid shortages in the market, although there is a dilemma in commuting public who will need USD. Government fees and taxes were recommended to be solely paid in ZiG so that government could build the needed public confidence to ensure stability in the currency.
The Committees were concerned that the bulk of economic activities which were conducted in the informal sector were trading purely in USD and cash-based. The big risk was that ZiG might further increase the propensity to transact in USD, thereby entrenching a USD-cash based informal economy. A situation may arise in the economy where ZiG may largely be used for smaller transactions, change purposes and compliance to tax obligations. There was therefore a risk that ZiG might not bring the currency stability being sought if these scenarios are not addressed.
- Synchronisation of Fiscal Policy and Monetary Policy
The Committees understood that monetary policy and fiscal policy should speak to each other. The 2024 growth was projected at 3.5%, and the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion believes that the growth rate should be achievable due to the introduction of a stable currency. Several risks, including climate change risks and debt undermined the growth of 5.5% stipulated in NDS1. The 2024 monetary policy was expected to bring investor confidence, promote ease of doing business and enforce broad macroeconomic stability. A stable currency was a sine qua non for economic stability. The Minister of Finance, Economic Development advised the Committees that Government was taking a gradual approach to institute measures that would improve the demand for the ZiG. Some of the measures already in place included the requirement for payment of 50% corporate income tax in ZiG, standardisation of the Intermediated Money Transfer Tax (IMTT), review of Personal Income Tax bands among others.
- 2024 Budget Credibility
The Committee was concerned about the cumulative increase in inflation from the rate of ZWL6000 in November 2023 to ZWL33 000 to 1 USD by April 2024, which had the impact on eroding the value of the budget.
The Committees were informed that when inflation was increasing, revenues and expenditures were also increasing in tandem with inflation rate. Thus, the erosion on the budget was minimal. Treasury was also hopeful that it would still spend within the approved ZWL59 trillion (converted to ZiG) approved by Parliament in December 2023, thus, nullifying the need for a supplementary budget. Again, noting that revenue increased together with expenditure as the exchange rate depreciated, the Committee reiterated that Treasury should not to spend outside the approved budget without authorisation of Parliament. Treasury assured the Committee that they would spend within limit, but would come back to Parliament whenever the need for a supplementary budget arises.
- Payment for Government Contractors
As a developing country, Zimbabwe has the appetite for development with many development projects taking place across the country, particularly road construction. In the past, payment of contractors had a significant impact on the exchange rate, inducing exchange rate depreciation. The Committees were concerned that if such practice continues, it would undermine the value of the ZiG. It was however, noted that the Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion together with the RBZ had put in place a Liquidity Management Committee which would oversee payments to contractors with a view to ensure exchange rate stability. The payment to contractors has an impact of increasing liquidity in the market, thereby directly affecting money supply.
- Budget Tracking
The 2024 National Budget was presented in Zimbabwean Dollars. The Committees were concerned about their budget tracking oversight function in line with Section 32-34 of Public Finance Management Act, as the issue of currency presented some challenges in terms of analysis of budget execution reports. The Committees were informed that the first quarter budgets disbursed will be converted to USD, then to ZiG at an indicated rate of Gold price starting from January 2024. The 2024 National Budget performance will be reported in ZiG.
- Bureau de Change
The Committees further inquired on the availability of bureau de changes to formally provide small amounts to citizens. The Ministry advised that bureau de changes are there, however, they needed capacitation. Government was considering to utilise the 25% realised from the export retention to capacitate the bureau de changes for the general public to have foreign currency for small transactions.
- Capacity of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU)
The Committee enquired on the capacity of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) in enforcing financial discipline within the country and also in other countries considering that some illegal transactions happen at border posts. The Ministry advised that the capacity of the FIU needs to be enhanced.
- Compliance with International Public Sector Accounting Standard (IPSAS
The Committees expressed concern on the difficulty which comes with introduction of new currency on financial report in view of the need to comply with international standards. The need to assist State owned enterprises, local authorities and MDAs to comply with the International Public Sector Accounting Standard (IPSAS 4) in the change of functional currency. The need for a roadmap to ensure that credible financial information is reported was noted.
Financing Drought
The 2024 national budget projected agricultural sector to contract by -4.9%, but the impact was now bigger than what was projected. The Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion was considering expenditure reallocation to support grain import without driving the government into an unsustainable budget deficit, hence financing is deficit neutral. After drought was declared national disaster by His Excellency, the President E. D. Mnangagwa, other measures implemented by Government included opening the borders for private sector to import grain. The Ministry indicated that Zimbabwe has insured for drought with Africa Risk Capacity, but the insurance pay-outs were believed not to be sufficient to cover the demand for maize across the country. Apart from that, there were development partners that were willing to provide drought relief interventions thus, reducing the fiscal burden. Consequently, the drought financing is not envisaged to increase money supply.
- Committee Observations
- There is low amount of ZiG in circulation. This implies that taxes and Government fees and levies cannot be entirely paid in local currency. This can however be done on a gradual basis.
- Bank charges were too high in Zimbabwe, leading to a preference to bank with foreign banks and keeping of money at home;
- Traders were using a relatively higher exchange rate than the official rate as provided for in Statutory Instrument 118 of 2022. This creates an official parallel exchange rate, hence the Statutory Instrument needed to be repealed.
- The need for Financial Intelligent Unit to be capacitated and also collaborate with other security agencies.
- There is need for Treasury to issue guidelines on how to comply with International Financial Accounting Standards.
- It has been observed that in previous years, the loss of currency value was induced by monetisation of the fiscal deficit especially when Government spending exceeds the revenue capacity. This implies that there is need to enhance the taxation of the informal sector, which in most cases is avoiding taxes.
- There was limited inter-bank lending in Zimbabwe, suggesting that the risk perception among banks is relatively high.
- Committee Recommendations
- The Ministry of Finance and Investment Promotion should repeal Statutory Instrument No. 118A of 2022 which allows 10% differential from the official rate, by 20 May 2024;
- The RBZ should facilitate establishment of inter-agency taskforces at district level to enforce compliance given that FIU is thin on the ground, by 20 June 2024.
- There is need for RBZ to continuously engage in aggressive awareness campaigns to educate the public on the new currency.
- The marketing of maize and other grains should be deregulated to ensure that farmers are efficiently paid upon delivery of grain.
- The Ministry of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion should issue guidelines on how to comply with International Financial Accounting Standards by December 2024;
- The Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion should consider relaxing the period for filing of corporate income tax returns from 30 June by one month to 31 July to allow ample time for corporates to make the necessary conversions, by 30 June 2024.
- ZIMRA should devise innovative strategies for collecting revenues from the informal sector, by 31 August 2024.
- RBZ should develop regulations for creating and promoting secondary mortgage market, by December 2024.
- ZiG should, with immediate effect, be designated as the first currency of settlement with an option of paying in foreign currency.
- The Ministry of Finance, Economic Development, and Investment Promotion and RBZ should maintain tight fiscal and monetary policies to create long-term exchange rate stability. (monetary rules- money supply targeting).
Conclusion
The industry indicated that the new currency is a welcome initiative, considering that it is a structured currency with value preservation features. It is, however, critical that the value preservation feature be enhanced by way of implementation of the above-mentioned recommendations. I thank you.
HON. MADZIVANYIKA: Thank you Madam Speaker for the opportunity to debate on this very important submission by the Budget and Finance Committee, sitting together with the Committee on Industry and Commerce on the proposed recommendations with regards to the recently promulgated Monetary Policy Statement which was issued on the 5th of April 2024. I would like to highlight the major points that have been highlighted in the report and then I give my views on that one.
Firstly, the report talks of the issues of convertibility. It is very important that we have what we call local convertibility and foreign convertibility. What do I mean? When a currency is said to be backed by an underlying asset; in our case…
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order Hon. Madzivanyika. Hon. Chiduwa, please may you switch off your microphone? You may proceed Hon. Madzivanyika.
HON. MADZIVANYIKA: Thank you. The point that I was making was the issue of convertibility. What am I saying? When a currency is said to be backed by an underlying asset, what it literally means is that when you are in doubt of the currency itself, you go and redeem the underlying asset from the current financial institutions. So, in our case, the Zimbabwe Gold currency is backed by a basket of minerals which is predominantly gold and other precious minerals such as diamond, as well as the foreign currency, the Unites States Dollar. What it therefore means is that all economic participants in Zimbabwe should, at any material time, if they doubt that the ZiG currency is working, they should go and get the underlying asset - that is what is meant by convertibility. That must happen locally as well as internationally.
It must be easy for people from other countries to appreciate our currency and if they are in doubt, they should get somewhere where they are going to get the underlying asset because the gold standard is applied by countries who are rich, who have got abundant gold reserves and that on its own will stabilise the currency, because at any material time when one will visit the bank and in doubt that he has the Zimbabwean Gold currency, he gets to a bank or a bureau de-change, that person must easily access the underlying asset. If we stay with the underlying asset for one week or so and realise that there is no change; the market fundamentals are the same, that person will go back again and inter-change and then that is how the currency gains its trust. I am sure this must be well emphasised so that the corrective action is taken. It is very important so as to create trust for this currency.
Secondly, the issue of divisibility, it is clear from the Monetary Policy Statement that the reserve Bank Governor introduced low amounts of M1 or notes and coins in low divisions like $10, $5 and so forth, but then the challenge Madam Speaker is that, if you go into the market, you do not get that money. Our people are still struggling to get change in very simple transactions such as in commuter ominibuses and market stalls for tomatoes and whatever. So on those small transactions, we are still having challenges in terms of divisibility.
I wish that report could just get amended to include that very important situation because right now we realise people are now using coupons. It is now money again. Coupons should not take the position of our money. Money should remain, we have got our ZiG which should be working and be supported.
Let me move on to the issue of confidence Madam Speaker. Every currency, for it to work, has to stand the test of confidence. What do I mean by confidence Madam Speaker? Confidence is the trust or the belief that is associated with the generality of the people on its monetary institutions or Government. The issue of confidence or lack of it is a function of expectations. When a currency comes, people make expectations about the future or about that currency. Those expectations Madam Speaker, are as a result or are a function of history. So whenever we talk about confidence, let us look at history. What does history have in place for Zimbabwe in terms of its currency?
In 1980, Madam Speaker, when our country got its independence from British colonial rule, there was what we call the Rhodesian Dollar which was operating. The Rhodesian Dollar was at par with the newly introduced Zimbabwean dollar. So, it was actually stronger than the United States dollar then. As we moved on from 1980, we got to an era of 2003-2008, we saw a variety of currency changes Madam Speaker. We saw the issue of bearer cheques, special agro cheques, traveller’s cheques and at one point Madam Speaker, we got to a point where Zimbabwe produced a 100 trillion dollar note which is notes and coins, 100 trillion not SM1; that was part of our history. These are the best of it that make expectations Madam Speaker.
Moving from 2009, we dollarised the economy of Zimbabwe in 2009 up to 2016. In 2016, yes, we were still using a dollar but we introduced another currency which was called the bond note. Madam Speaker the bond note was said to be backed by a 200 million-dollar Afreximbank fund. I want to assure you that it is backed by this foreign currency. So the issue of backing did not start today, it happened in 2016 when we introduced an exporter support programme through the bond note. We said that these bond notes that we are putting into the market are backed by a USD200 million Afrexim Bank support. So from 2016, the new bond notes went along with the basket of foreign currencies which are the USD, Pula, Rand and other currencies. They went on together as medium of exchange in this country.
Fast forward, in February 2019, through a monetary policy statute, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) came and said all those bond note balances that we had and the ecocash balances which were denominated in bond are now called the RTGs dollar and they are now working along with the USD. From there, fast forwarding again, in June 2019, six months later, the Government of Zimbabwe banned the use of the newly introduced RTGs dollar, the Government of Zimbabwe put a monetary policy statement that banned the use of a basket of currencies to say the foreign currencies have ceased to operate. We are now using a mono-currency by the name RTGs dollar. That happened, a few months down the line, after introducing that mono-currency, the Government introduced Statutory Instrument (SI) 133: 2019. The S.I. came to say the RTGs dollar is now equivalent to the USD 1:1. You know what Madam Speaker, many people lost value in that time because all assets that were denominated in USD, all pensions denominated in USD were reduced to 1:1 with RTGs.
A few months down the line, the exchange rate started to diminish and many people lost their money. So these are the things that create that memory lane of the issue of confidence. On March 2020, about seven months down the line again, the Government came back and said, no, we are now re-instating the foreign currency which we had previously banned. It meant the Zimbabwean dollar was now working along with the basket of foreign currency. So what policy inconsistency is this? We cannot continuously shift policies within months. I think as an advice going forward, whenever we want to introduce an economic policy, let us lecture that currency policy, we think deep about it before we can distribute than to continue flip-flopping in terms of business.
Lastly, on the issue of confidence, from March 2020, we came on to the issue of the new currency, which is the Zimbabwean Gold. This is where we are today and I would also like to add my voice on the issue of the application of the ZiG. This ZiG, as rightly said in the report, must be used in all local services and goods. It must not be selectively applied. For example, to say the fuel service sector is ringfencing and this other sector is not. No, the Government should come back, to say how best can we subsidise the area that we think has problems so that we drill confidence and trust on that currency amongst the people of Zimbabwe? My recommendation is that Government should just say, how best can they subsidise those fuel dealers to buy fuel in USD and those who are willing to buy using the ZiG should be able to do so willingly so that everyone in this country believe and trust that this currency is there to stay. We hope that going forward, it will work.
So, it is important for Government to be a pacesetter in terms of these things so that everyone else can easily follow with a lot of comfort. There is this issue that always gobbles my mind, the issue of involuntary and compulsory change of outstanding allotments. Previously, before the introduction of the new monetary policy, the Government used to have what we call the wholesale forex market and the retail forex market, where businesses could go and approach the RBZ to get foreign currency and then give RBZ local currency.
When you introduced this new currency on the field, the RBZ Governor then said, all the businesses that had outstanding amounts, which were yet to be paid their foreign currency – these businesses had already given RBZ local currency. What was left was for RBZ to give these businesses their foreign currency. That foreign currency was not paid immediately to those companies, which had outstanding allotment from the forex market. They even announced that they wanted to start on a clean slate. The RBZ then, instead of paying those companies their money, the RBZ then created a non-negotiable certificate of deposit, which was at an interest rate of 7.5% for two years,
What it therefore meant was that these companies were temporarily deprived of their money, but their money is then going to be reversed in a two-year non-negotiable certificate of deposit for two years at an interest rate of 7.5% per annum. What is the implication, it gives a false sense of hope because what we are saying is, can the Government of Zimbabwe, through its economic and muscle strength, fail to pay USD172 million in terms of foreign currency allotments? Then they start on a real clean slate. Imagine Madam Speaker, the effect on the liquidity position of those companies. I am a company owner and then my company is deprived of 25% of its export requirements and I am now forced to buy security for two years, without getting my money.
The meaning is it sends a message which is not correct in the eyes of the corporate world because they would be thinking that uri kuda kuvaka dendere rako neminhenga yedzimwe shiri, which is not very good. I thought may be the RBZ should just quickly correct this before it tarnishes its image because these are private companies. With due respect, they do not have any subsidies. They hustle their way to get constant income but then when they are made to be in this Catch-22 situation by a Government, I do not think it is right Madam Speaker. I hope that this Government will correct this as a matter of urgency so that we move on as a country.
Then the issue of the willing buyer, willing seller at banks. Information coming from banks, as it stands right now, information on the ground, is very good to have a willing buyer, willing seller arrangement because that will help to get an optimum or an equilibrium exchange rate which represents what really happens on the market. The idea was perfect. The issue is if you go to banks now, after making your payment in ZiG, it takes time to get your forex allocation. What it means now is that there is shortage of foreign currency in this country. That is also worrying. Since the Government has reserves, can they activate their reserves so that we get money to support?
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER (HON. TSISTSI ZHOU): Hon. Madzivanyika, you are left with five minutes.
HON. MADZIVANYIKA: Okay Madam Speaker. Thank you. Let me highlight this important issue before I sit down. The Government of Zimbabwe, when they introduced S.I. 81:24, in other words, it introduced a price control. In what way? An exchange rate is a price of foreign currency related to the local currency, which means whenever we say we are removing the 10% variance to the 10% premium, we are actually putting a price control on the price which is denominated by those goods we are going to sell. Assuming that the normal inter-bank exchange rate is 13.5, what is really happening is, if we allow all businesses to sell at 13.5 exchange rate, that is exchange rate cost recovery because look at what is happening now, when companies go to banks to get forex as allocation by the RBZ. When we get to banks to get forex, the bank is not going to sell the foreign currency at 13.5, which is the bank rate. They are going to sell at above 13.5 with a margin of about 5%. So right now, the 5% increase is deviating from the interbank rate. Not only that, recently the Minister of Finance increased the IMTT, which is the intermediate tax from 1% to 2% on all forex payments. So, when a company goes to the bank, they are going to have the other 2% of IMTT tax. Not only that Madam Speaker, but the RBZ also charges 1% administration charge to that amount. So, if you add 5% plus 3% plus 1 % you will get to around 8%. That is technically not correct because you know what, those businesses cannot be forced to sell at the inter-bank rate, yet to get the resources, they are bought at an exchange rate which is not cost recovery. So, technically and to be honest Madam Speaker, something must be done as a matter of urgency to correct that situation. Otherwise our companies will end up finding their goods at the black market, which is what we do not want Madam Speaker.
Lastly Madam Speaker, I am left with four points but because of our time, I am going to give one point or two if time allows. The demand for the ZiG is very important for it to succeed. The only thing that I have seen from the Government itself to encourage the ZiG was to allow companies to pay their corporate taxes, which is predominantly known as the PPDs, half of it to pay using local currency. You know what it means Madam Speaker, it sends a very wrong signal. The ZiG is our own local currency. We should express pride in it. Was it not possible, to expand the tax issues to include also Pay As You Earn, to include also the issue of value added tax, even withholding tax so that there is demand for the currency?
Madam Speaker, if the demand for the currency does not matter, then we are not going anywhere. Why am I saying so? Currently, the stability that we are enjoying today is not as a result of the Zimbabwean Gold. It is as a result of the foreign currency that we are using. The Governor, in his Monetary Policy Statement, indicated that Zimbabwe is dollarised up to the tune of 85%. So, it means we are actually close to being fully being dollarised. We wanted a situation whereby we should take advantage of the stability of the ZiG so that we introduce more currency to enable transactions.
Lastly Madam Speaker, the issue of policing a policy with the police is a good idea to some extent, but does not work ultimately. Why do I say so? The informal sector is a beast on its own. We do not have control over what happens there. We try by all means – imagine, do we know where they get their foreign currency to do their business to support their tuck-shops and everything? We do not know. So, the dynamics in that area needs a new approach which should assist…
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Your time is up Hon. Madzivanyika.
HON. MADZIVANYIKA: Thank you Madam Speaker.
HON. MAMOMBE: I move for the extension of his time Madam Speaker Ma’am.
HON. HWENDE: I second.
HON. SAGANDIRA: I object.
Motion put and negatived.
HON. MUKOMBERI: Thank you Madam Speaker for the opportunity granted to add my voice – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] –
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order. Hon. Members on my left, please can you allow Hon. Mukomberi to be heard in silence.
HON. HWENDE: On a point of order Madam Speaker. I think we do not have quorum in the House.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: I had not recognised you yet Hon. Hwende. You can take your seat. Can you switch off your mic? You can proceed with your point of order. What is your point of order?
HON. HWENDE: Thank you very much Madam. There is no quorum. That is my point of order.
[Bells rung.]
[Quorum formed]
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order, Hon. Members, order, can we all take our seats. After a point of order had been raised by Hon. Hwende, we have now ascertained that our numbers are now in excess of 70 Members and we can proceed.
HON. MUKOMBERI: Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am for the opportunity granted to allow me to add my voice on the debate. The Portfolio Committee on Budget and Finance, together with the Portfolio Committee on Industry had a fact-funding interaction with the RBZ and the Ministry of Finance pertaining to the Monetary Policy Statement in relation to the introduction of ZiG, the new currency in Zimbabwe. As the number of questions were raised by the Committees, others were received from RBZ as well as the Ministry of Finance. First and foremost, I want to talk about ZiG as a currency. It was clear in the interaction that ZiG as a structured currency. It is a currency that is backed by gold and other precious minerals together with reserves of foreign currency. That alone was clearly explained by the RBZ Governor that it is that which gives value to our newly introduced currency. It implies therefore that ZiG as a currency, derives its value not only from the paper but from the minerals and forex reserves that back it.
Madam Speaker, this was an answer to the question on whether ZiG is going to maintain value over time or it is going to follow suit the route of Bond Note as well as the RTGs. It was clearly explained that ZiG is a different currency altogether as it is backed by precious minerals that appreciate in value or maintain stability in value. It implies therefore that the introduction of ZiG is a welcome initiative that I feel Zimbabweans should support as was said in the Monetary Policy Statement as this currency is likely to maintain value over time. Therefore, we will allow money to play its function as a strong value. Madam Speaker, it implies that as money will play its function as a strong value, it will be acceptable in the market by traders and money therefore will play fundamental function as a medium of exchange.
Madam Speaker Ma’am, it is clear from the report that there is need for public confidence to allow acceptability of ZiG as it is money. Money should play a function as a medium of exchange but for it to play that function as a medium of change, it should be characterised by acceptability. That acceptability was explained to say if there is need for the RBZ to undertake grassroots campaigns so as to educate the grassroots in terms of the good features of ZiG as well as making it available in the market, they are using the Police to enforce a policy. It is also a fundamental move to allow acceptability not only based on the fact that there is doubt that ZiG is a valuable currency, but there are economic saboteurs in the economy who may intend to devalue ZiG as a currency through some malicious moves that are against any progressive economic initiative.
Madam Speaker, the involvement of the Financial Intelligence Unit to enforce traders to accept ZiG as a medium of exchange from the baskets of multicurrency system, is a fundamental move that will see ZiG being accepted in the market. It is clear that the convertibility feature of ZiG which is characterised by the ability of ZiG to be converted into other currencies, locally and abroad is fundamental. Local convertibility is measured in terms of the ability of people to exchange ZiG for other currencies in the basket of a multicurrency system but the international convertibility question is that recommendation that the Committee gave to say the Ministry and the RBZ should work to allow ZiG being also accepted in the international market.
Madam Speaker, it is a welcome move in the Monetary Policy Statement that the supply of ZiG is going to be maintained at low levels, currently at 15% of the total money is circulation whereas forex constitute 85%. This implies that there will be a shortage of ZiG. Why is it important for money to maintain its value? There is need for scarcity of it as a characteristic of money. So, there was an artificial move by the RBZ to maintain scarcity of ZiG initially so as to create excess demand than supply that will result in the appreciation of ZiG in value.
Fundamentally, what it will mean is, as 50% of tax was said to be pegged in ZiG and 50% to be remitted in forex, the demand for ZiG to meet the tax obligations is going to increase. However, there will be low supply of it in the market. It will mean that the Reserve Bank will accept the ZiG as the traders will be in demand of it so as to meet their tax obligations. So, in lieu of the US dollar values, the Reserve Bank will then print ZiG that will replace the US dollar that will accumulate in their Reserve. Gradually by 2030, we will manage to eliminate multicurrency system and remain with mono currency where ZiG will dominate the market but this should be a gradual process.
Madam Speaker, it should also be clear that as the new currency was introduced, there were also some shocks in the market that resulted in the illegal market going up to around 25 from 13 that was at the date of introduction of ZiG. However, this is acceptable in economic analysis. There is always and everywhere the jay cave effect, whenever a new policy is introduced, it does not yield positive effects in the short term. It shall have short term worsening of the situation whereas adjustments in the long run will allow and stable benefits as is in the case of ZiG. The ZiG demonstrated that it is a currency that can gain value more than what it has now.
Madam Speaker, as it is a backed currency backed by gold, gold is a precious mineral that is subject to appreciation in value or even depreciation on the international market. It implies therefore that the value of ZiG is derived value from the value of what backs it. It means the appreciation in the value of gold will also result in the value of ZiG following suit. This is the reason why soon after the introduction of ZiG, it even appreciated in value to around 12. It later went up to 13.5 thereabouts due to the changes in the values of those minerals and the forex exchange of what backs it. Madam Speaker, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor clearly indicated that to maintain the value of ZiG, they shall not overprint money. Overprinting money was in the context of overprinting it to an extent exceeding the reserves that we have as a nation. So, the Reserve Bank Governor promised not to overprint money. Currently, he clearly stated that we have USD 285 million worth of the reserve basket backing the ZiG in circulation, whereas the ZiG in circulation is only to a tune of USD 80 million value of ZiG. That clearly indicates that the ZiG in circulation is over cushioned by the reserves we have. It means that though it co-circulates with foreign currency in the form of USD, which may be considered by others as good money more than the ZiG, the Gresham effect of bad money chasing away good money shall not apply in this situation. The ZiG will maintain its value over time as it is being backed by a value which is more than the total value of what is in circulation. This implies that the Reserve Bank has room to print some more ZiG up to a tune of 285 million because now we only have USD 80 million value of the ZiG in circulation. So, we still have an over cushion of USD 205 million value of the reserve backing the ZiG in circulation.
Madam Speaker, it was clear that as we interacted with the Reserve Bank Governor, there shall be an outreach programme to educate the grass-roots so that they will properly understand the ZiG as a currency. It was evident last week, I saw the Reserve Bank people in Masvingo, educating the public about the features of the ZiG and how it works. I can say the RBZ is currently walking the talk. It is actually satisfying its promises.
Madam Speaker, the Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion also brought about the motion to repeal S.I 118 that used to allow traders to add a 10% over and above the interbank rate value when they were trading in the market. That is also a welcome move that can see Zimbabwe having uniformity in the exchange rate. This implies that decision making will be made easier for traders as one will be quite aware that with this amount of the ZiG I have, I will manage to acquire goods worth this value of forex because the exchange rate will be uniform. It is therefore pertinent to also understand that this is the reason why we are now using the Police to enforce the policy such that compliance is going to be ensured. Everybody is going to use an interbank rate in the conduct of business transactions.
I want to thank you Madam Speaker for the opportunity granted and I can say at this moment that ZiG bhoo, ZiG bhoo. I thank you. - [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] -
*HON. HUNGWE: Thank you Madam Speaker. I would like to speak a little bit with regards to the report presented by Hon. Chiduwa. I do not have much to say, but the first thing I would want to say is that this currency, which was established on Monday the 5th of April, has brought stability to our local currency. What was happening was that the currency was fluctuating making it difficult for businesses. Business people could put a price in the morning and in the afternoon, the price would have changed. I would like to applaud the Governor for the currency which he gave us. I would like to support and applaud them for introducing the gold to anchor our currency. Our currency does not change its value any more. It is now a bit stable because gold is stable.
We also want to say that when we focus on this currency which was introduced on the 5th of April, it reminds people of the days when they did all the transactions with our local currency and there were always fluctuations in prices. However, if somebody gets a quotation today using the ZiG and then go back a week later, they would still see the same price that was quoted. Even if they receive their funds via their accounts, it is a bit stable now. I would like to say to the whole of Zimbabwe, let us give ample time to the recently introduced ZiG. I foresee our future being good because if we look at it from the 5th of April to date, most people who thought it would have devalued can see it is still stable and it is the opposite of what they thought. It is actually appreciating value. As Zimbabweans, let us unite and support our industry, our banks and our currency. If we support our currency, we will get far. I would also like to support the 50% obligation which was put …
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order! Hon. Member, you are advised to use one language. I thank you.
*HON. HUNGWE: I also want to support what the RBZ said that 50% of VAT should be effected from the 25th of June in the ZiG. They said if 300 million is due by then, 150 million is expected to be taken into the ZiG currency. So, if we look at it closely on the percentage or the amount of the ZiG in circulation, it is around 80 million as we speak. The other one that we are expecting will be around US$150 million, so if we look at it, people will rush for the ZiG to pay for their taxes. In addition, by so doing, I discovered that it is a very noble idea because if we put a lot of money in our transactions, we will have a lot of demand. So, I would like to support that. I will also want to support those in Government departments, even those in local authorities like councils, et cetera.
As Government, they should be the ones to start having swipe machines and all those other devices which can enable people to use local currency so that our local currency continues to gain value when transacting. When we passed our budget last year, it was Z$57 trillion which was difficult to convert to US dollars, but right now, a lot of people can convert the US dollar to the ZiG currency and still be able to know the value. Right now, a lot of people are still experiencing high bank charges when transacting, and I urge Government to look into this issue with a view to rectifying the problem.
In South Africa, it is cheaper to use plastic money when buying goods and services than cash. I am urging the RBZ Governor to put measures in place to make sure that the public opt for plastic money instead of cash. So, we would like to encourage all people and our Governor to do investigations and see what is it that can be done so that people do not ask for cash every now and then when transacting. He has to try to reduce bank charges in the banks. When you go into a shop, they say we have cash discount, but when you say I want to buy using swipe machines, they will simply say it is a bit higher. I think it is simply because of the bank charges. So, he has to look into that as well.
The other thing which I discovered is that for our currency to continue working, we have other people who are importing goods from abroad, those who have free funds or those who are into business of buying and selling. I was of the opinion that if somebody brings something through the border, that person should produce a proof of purchase to show how they paid for those goods. That will help our country to have more foreign currency in circulation. I thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am.
HON. TSVANGIRAI: Thank you very much Madam Speaker for the opportunity that you have given me to air out my views to this critical subject that has been triggered by Hon. Chiduwa, supported by Hon. Madzivanyika.
Firstly, I would like to applaud the direction that was taken, to abort the auction system which was causing huge arbitrage without a true reflection of the market system. The introduction of the willing-buyer/willing-seller was something that we have been crying for, for years. It brings sanity in the market. A market-based pricing system promotes investments and efficient pricing systems which are good for economic growth. The idea of introducing a new currency was noble to do away with galloping inflation and exchange rate instability. We need to be cognisant that the RTGS was facing confidence deficit and as a result, its velocity of circulation was high thereby weakening its value. Now, we have the ZiG that we all wish and need for it to be stable. One of the noble characteristics of the ZiG is that it is backed by gold and other baskets of minerals. One key worrying issue Madam Speaker, is its convertibility. Once you have challenges in converting the ZiG to foreign currency at micro level, it definitely implies the fundamentals are having some exclusive nature.
Any individual in Norton at Katanga or Mashlands who wants a passport which is exclusively charged in US dollars, is forced to look for foreign currency elsewhere to some extent, making a massive lifeline for the informal sector trading. This is against the objective of the monetary policy Hon. Speaker. After the new currency was established, one of the key tenets of creating a strong currency is by creation of demand for the currency and currently, the policy direction is showing selective application of the law where some services are strictly US dollars and others you are forced to have both US dollars and ZiG. One thing to note is that once we have other services charged exclusively in US Dollars which are needed by the bottom one percent, it definitely means that as a country, we will be sponsoring black market to operate.
Madam Speaker, as presented by the Chairperson Hon. Chiduwa taking ZiG particularly in cash is posing a challenge in the economy as individuals are failing to access cash. Currently, consumers are being overcharged by service providers, for instance, the Combi fare which used to be US$0.50, people are now paying US$1. This is a great anomaly Hon. Speaker that there is a challenge in accessing forex and then get overcharged to change issues.
Let me go on the budget feasibility Madam Speaker. The Budget of 2024, in December 2023, with expenditure of 59 trillion RTGs, it is a general theory that when inflation increases, we are likely to see a nominal increase in revenues. At the same time, expenditure till also increases consequently. The Hon. Minister promised the Committee that he will spend within the 59 trillion dollars approved by Parliament without any need of a supplementary budget. I do not know how feasible it is. We are yet to witness that and it is my view that it is a challenge on its own. The informal sector is growing, with much of the transactions happening in cash, further driving confidence deficit in the country. Look at Magaba, look at Mbare Musika, even countrywide. These are the markets where mainly poor people buy and sell. We need to have policies that directly deal with informality. Informal sector, we can agree, is being a thorn in the flesh for the successful implementation of Government policy in Zimbabwe.
Lastly, Madam Speaker, there is a need to promote financial inclusion in terms of access to loans since the vulnerable only account to less than 10% of total share of loans. This has been indicated by the Monetary Policy which was presented by the new Governor. Banks are lending at 30 to 45% and this clearly is not sustainable for young people. So, therefore, there is a need to come up with a framework that promotes financial inclusion which targets the vulnerable of this country. I thank you.
*HON. MANGONDO: Thank you Madam Speaker for affording me this opportunity to air my views with regards to the issue which is being debated. I would like to thank these two Committees for the big job that they did to select and do thorough investigation on the issue to do with the new programme which was brought in by the Reserve of Zimbabwe Governor Dr. Mushayavanhu. I have discovered that from the programme aired by the Governor focusing on the country’s currency, I think this programme will help in the development of our country while focusing on the issue to do with the new currency that we are using right now. It has to maintain its value whenever we are doing transaction in this country. This does help a lot because if a nation does not have its own currency, it will be a disaster.
We discover that as Zimbabwe, if we look at our currency, it is everything that people expect when evaluating the nation’s currency. Whenever they are focusing on the wealth, the richness or the poorness of the country, it has to involve the currency and it maintains the value of our currency which is parallel to the value in the market.
The problem that I foresee is when people start to discuss on the issue to do with US dollars. On the issue to do with US dollars, you remember when the Reserve Bank Governor introduced this currency, people started playing around with the local currency. The issue to do with gambling on the nation’s economy. If we say we have our own currency but other people do not have trust in our local currency; they expect to continue using those American dollars. By so doing, if we still maintain the American currency, those US dollars working in this country together with our local currency, we will see those people running around trying to fluctuate the value of our local currency.
When they get the local currency, they use black market to source US dollars. That problem, we have to be very careful and we need to sensitise people. I would like to thank the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe when they introduced ZiG, they asked people to go on a sensitisation tour on how to use our local currency and that helped a lot of people who are based in rural areas because they do not have a large shopping centre with lots of shops. Some of them might have limited knowledge on what has been organised or planed by the Reserve Bank.
By sending those people to disseminate information or to sensitise people on our local currency, I think it helped a lot. I want to applaud the Reserve Bank and encourage them to continue sensitising people who are in those rural areas, even those people from Mbare, Siyaso, Magaba or even in any other area where they do transactions. People should be sensitised on the importance of using ZiG so that people must not be cheated or they must not be crooked on their hard-earned cash.
Madam Speaker, all of us as a nation have to unite. We have to come together so that we develop our country. We want our economy to gain value. I think by so doing, this can help us a lot for our currency to maintain its value. If I do not have trust in my own local currency, what about those people who are coming from other countries? Will they have trust in our local currency? I will give you an example, if you go to other countries surrounding Zimbabwe in SADC; if you go to Zambia, Malawi or Mozambique, these three countries once had a bigger financial problem, where their currencies were being exchanged on black market.
We discovered that people in Zambia used to carry their Kwachas using wheelbarrows to buy bread, around the 1980s and 90s. We discovered that it also happened in Malawi as well as Mozambique. However, if you look at these countries now, they now have trust in their currency. Even if we look at exchange rate, I think the exchange rate is a bit high, but they do have trust in their currency because as it is, their money can buy whatever they want. They never use the USD. We know our Government has plans, like now, the multi-currency system will stay put up until 2030. That is what we were told by RBZ. However, I think when we reach 2030, a lot will need to be done to sensitise people. People must have trust in our local currency and that is the only way for us to safeguard our local currency. That is the only way we can get credibility for our local currency. I see other people when they speak, despise our local currency. You will hear them saying when we got into independence, our currency used to have a higher value. Yes, if the USD was a bit lower than the British Pound when we got our independence, it was to an extent that it was going for the value of 1 Pound which was equivalent to $USD1.70.
However, if you look at it now, that Pound has devalued. It is far lower in value as compared to the USD. What I am trying to say is, if we look back, we used to have the Rhodesian Pound. We used to call them Pounds and it used to be one is to one. When our currency was changed from Pounds to Dollars, they used to say one mbofana was being equivalent to USD2. When we got into independence, that USD had devalued as one Pound was equivalent to $USD3. What I am trying to say is, the economy within the nation, if it is not that strong, even if people do not have trust in their local currency, it will lead them into such devaluation of the local currency on the market. I am saying this because I would like to encourage our local companies to try and assist by manufacturing more products within the country which we can then export to other countries. If we export those products, we will then earn foreign currency from other countries, which will then help in increasing the value of our local currency. I would like to thank you Madam Speaker Ma`am for the report which I heard right now. I would like to support it very much and for the job well done by the two Committees on the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and the Budget Committee. I would like to support what the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and our Government did, to give new programmes thereby introducing the new local currency ZiG.
I would like to advise all people who are citizens of Zimbabwe to strongly support and have faith in our local currency. Let us use it. I urge all banks to have new ways of using the local currency. We do not only want the hard currency, we can even use plastic money. Let us transact using the money within our bank cards. Let us have swipe machines almost everywhere, for it has to be easy for people who are selling anywhere outside towns so that they have these machines for people to swipe and do their transactions using the point of sale machines. Bank charges which are being charged when transacting have to be a bit lower so that people will be encouraged to use those cards. I see from today going onwards, the future of our ZiG currency will be very good if we all support it. Thank you.
HON. MATINENGA: Thank you Madam Speaker. I would like to add my voice to the report that was presented, which is a joint report of the Budget Committee and the Committee on Industry. The question that was posed by the Speaker is, are you adopting this report? I am saying let us adopt this report with modifications which make the report user friendly to the citizens of Zimbabwe. I would like to buttress on four points which were raised by Hon. Chiduwa. Number one, he mentioned the issue of extending the date for the submission of returns. Yes, it is a task for accountancy in submitting returns, preparing accounts in submitting returns, so the extension is valid and needs to be implemented. Number two, I am also commenting on the standardisation of IMTT. That has been commented by other Hon. Members and in his own words, the Deputy Minister of Finance in this august House mentioned that they will constantly review so that whatever IMTT is charged, it is a charge which is user friendly and encourage the citizens to use the banking sector.
Number three, I am also quoting the Minister of Finance, in this House for where he was debating with the Budget and Industry Committee, he also said, he is not going to bring shock to the market. He is going to monitor the issue for requesting ZiG to be paid so that there is no shock in the market. Lastly, number four, I am also buttressing on the issue of improved access to this ZiG currency that has been mentioned by a number of Hon. Members. So, it is my humble prayer that what the Minister recommended, what the Governor recommended will be implemented. In order to do this, let us move that this report by the joint Committee be supported with modifications as recommended by Hon. Members. I thank you Madam Speaker.
HON. SAKUPWANYA: Thank you Madam Speaker for giving me the opportunity to debate the report that was tabled before this august House. Madam Speaker, I would want to start by reiterating the statement mentioned by His Excellency, the President E. D. Mnangagwa, that a country will be built by its own people. In this sense Madam Speaker, it is impossible for a country to be built by its own people without the necessary and relevant tours produced internally for it to succeed. Having said that, I want to appreciate and thank greatly the Reserve Bank for coming up with the initiative that Zimbabwe has its own currency, the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG).
It is important to note that one of the principles of money is that it should be a store of value. The moment when money loses its sense of being a store of value, it is more or less meaningless. When you look at the Zimbabweans today, and when they see that with the 14 ZiG that we have in our accounts, we able to buy a loaf of bread, the thinking should be that after six months, that same 14 ZiG should still be able to buy a loaf of bread. That Madam Speaker, is store of value. The reason why there is a lot of confidence around the US dollar is because if you look at the price of bread today in US dollar term, it is USD1. Five years ago, to buy a loaf of bread was still USD1 as a result of the maintenance of the store of value. By default, you have built confidence in that currency. As such, I want to appreciate that the Reserve Bank has recognised that our previous Zimbabwean dollar had lost that aspect of store of value and henceforth, introduced the Zimbabwe Gold.
What is important is that we maintain the aspect of store of value so that the 14 ZiG today that buys a loaf of bread, five years from now, ceteris paribus, should still be able to buy a loaf of bread. Madam Speaker, I want to state that when Zimbabweans look at our own currency, it is important that we must support that which is ours. In the same sense, it is important that an ordinary Zimbabwean be able to live whatever kind of lifestyle they want to live without need for any other currency but their own. For this to be practical Madam Speaker, it means to say that the essentials within which we need to survive should be available in ZiG. That means if I want to buy electricity, I need not look for US. If I want to pay my council rates, I need not look for US dollars, even if I want to purchase fuel.
I want to take note of the part in the report where they mentioned some Government fees that are being paid in USD terms. I think it is very important that there must be a deliberate move from Government and parastatals, particularly to create the demand for the ZiG. It is better Madam Speaker, that when we go to ZESA and want to pay for electricity that ZESA says no, we do not want US dollars but instead, we want the ZiG. In doing so, we have created the demand ourselves. If ZESA wants to then introduce some equipment that requires foreign currency, the Reserve Bank has a special amount that is reserved for special parastatals to be able to acquire their machinery and others. This Madam Speaker is important for the sake of maintaining the relevance of the ZiG.
Madam Speaker, I want to also state the willing-buyer/willing-seller approach that the Government has taken up is very much appreciated. I must state that the intention to open up the forex market to the general public is one which should have happened sometime ago. In that sense Madam Speaker, the Reserve Bank should ensure that it has reduced the regulation requirements for the bureau de changes so that we have a number of them opening up in areas where there are no banks such as Chimanimani, areas where it is difficult to access a bank like you would do in Buhera.
Madam Speaker, the opening up of the willing-buyer/willing-seller means to say that an ordinary civil servant should be able to have access to forex; but in doing so, it is important that the RBZ institutes measures that ensure we do not have that system being abused by the so-called money changers. In this sense, I want to give an example of a proposition where the ordinary citizen should be able to access or have the facility whereby they trade in forex through a Bureau de change or even the bank at most once per 90 days. If you want to do more than that, you should go for special application that is approved by the Reserve Bank.
Doing so Madam Speaker, means to say that you will not have people continuously going to the Bureau de changes for forex and becoming money changers themselves. Let us formalise the system by introducing Bureau de Changes. Let us formalise the system by making sure the access of forex is not limited to a few. Madam Speaker, I want to lastly speak to the fact that Zimbabwean Gold is ours and for all of us. Its use, its longevity depends on how as Zimbabweans we take it and use it.
I applaud what has been put in place by the Reserve Bank, but I encourage that they take seriously the fact that we cannot run away from the banking system and sector in the use of the Zimbabwean Gold for our civil servants are paid through that system. The one big problem that has been noted even in the report is that of bank charges, the thinking that banks should earn their money through bank charges.
Our bank charges Madam Speaker, are too high. Yes, we have taken note of the fact that they have put a leeway for those who have account balances below USD100, but it is not enough Madam Speaker. We encourage as per the report recommendations that bank charges really need to be dealt with. Banks should go to that system where they encourage lending as a source of income not to burden the tax payer because otherwise we create no appetite for storing our money in the bank.
Also, to add on to that Madam Speaker, I want to touch on the aspect of cash in the society. The world-over, they have introduced ICT measures where you have economies that are running without cash. Printing cash is an expense Madam Speaker, and our Monetary Policy should be cognisant of the fact that there are technological methods and manners in which we can run as a cashless society. Zimbabwe therefore should gravitate towards those measures. In China for example, they use the social media platform of WeChat to pay for goods and services. Why can we not introduce the same?
There are a lot of youths in Zimbabwe who are able to create social media platforms from here within our own country. Why can we not encourage our RBZ to engage these young people, create the platforms so that when you are in a kombi and need to pay your 50c, you use your ICT platform without the need for cash because cash is a cost. Madam Speaker, let us move with the times. Let us gravitate and accept the technology that is there for all of us. Introduce, inculcate and assimilate the ZiG in a technical and technological way. With this Madam Speaker, I would like to thank you for the time that you have given to me. I would like to thank both Committees of Industry and Commerce and that of Finance, for coming up with a wonderful report. I say that ZiG is here and the ZiG is here to stay. I thank you.
*HON. P. ZHOU: Thank you Madam Speaker. I would like to thank you for the report which was presented in this House. I would like to thank the responsible authorities for the new currency which is being used nationally. Now that everybody is crying to say I need to have ZiG in my hand, look at me, today was my first day to get hold of our local currency and I am happy. I think ZiG was brought to the market whereby everybody knows. The reason why ZiG was brought in was simply because the previous Zim Dollar had lost its value.
Madam Speaker, as we see, ZiG has got a good value. I would like to give an example of ZiG being our new currency which looks like a newly-wed bride whose bridegroom has a lot of girlfriends. By so doing, I am saying ZiG is here but we used different currencies from way back, other currencies like US dollar, Rand, Pula and other different currencies. Now that this newly introduced ZiG has a lot of challenges because some of us are already used to US dollars, Rands, those people try their level best to take back and to maintain the use of US dollar and Rands. For ZiG to continue working, people should use it. Just like somebody who has a newly wedded woman, you have to ensure good safety of the newly wedded lady. If you do not support it, then we will have a lot of problems.
Madam Speaker, for ZiG to have its value, I suggest that it has to purchase things like fuel, farmers should buy fuel for farming. Other people want fuel for travelling from point a to point b, they will have a problem whereby they will receive ZiG, thereby they will try to look around to say where can I get American dollars to buy fuel. I think that gap has got to be bridged. ZiG must be able to do everything, it should be able to buy all commodities in the country like other SADC countries are doing. ZiG should be used even if you want to get a new passport. You must do the transactions using ZiG, using the same exchange rate. Even if I decide to visit a certain place, I must believe that if I have ZiG I must use it wherever I want to go, to have to transact or to exchange ZiG into American dollars.
Madam Speaker, we must be able to pay duty using ZiG. If you are charged USD200, it has to be converted into ZiG and then you pay using that. What I am simply saying is to ensure that we maintain the value of our ZiG gold. I look into this country’s situation, we have 80% or more people who are into small to medium enterprises. They are doing those businesses but a lot of people like vendors do buying and selling, even those motor mechanics and tuck-shops. Those are the people who have a lot of currency circulating in the system. The problem is that the currency is not going through the banks. Also, they want all their things to be transacted using USDs. They do not have those point of sale machines, they do not accept Ecocash transactions, meaning that our Government is losing tax.
Madam Speaker, for ZiG to gain its value, we want such things like swipe machines. They have to start opening bank accounts. Everybody can be assisted. Let me give an example of a market, to say a council must have the names of the vendors. They must have a database for all the vendors which they will then use then for everybody who is into marketing, they must be sensitized to open their bank accounts so that everything goes well and currency flows through the banks. We respect ZiG as it is.
Madam Speaker, there is another issue, that is when people want to travel be it along the roads, people cannot do their transactions even on a distance which is charged 50 cents, people are being forced to pay US$1. I am kindly asking the Reserve Bank to print more ZiG so that people can do their transactions and get their change. A lot of sensitisation should be done to those who receive school fees and even those with private colleges. Most of them do not want to do their transactions using the local currency and even those private schools do not want to tolerate the use of ZiG. They are only demanding US dollars. I would like to applaud the way information on ZiG is being disseminated. I think that will help us a lot.
Madam Speaker, I would like to support what is being said by His Excellency the President to say, let us build our own nation. Our local currency should be supported by us Zimbabweans. Let us all support our local currency. There is no one who is going to come from somewhere and say, let us support ZiG but us as Zimbabweans, you and I can achieve more now that ZiG is here, so let us kindly support it. Let us rally behind ZiG. If we do not abuse it just like other people who do transactions, ZiG is a good currency because it is backed up by gold. A lot of gold will be increased into the market, meaning that focusing on Vision 2030, we will get there. We want to get to Vision 2030. We want to reach there while using ZiG only as the transacting currency. With these few words, I thank you Madam Speaker.
*HON. NYAKUEDZWA: Thank you Madam Speaker. A very good afternoon to you. I would also want to add my voice on the motion before this august House, a report tabled by two joint committees that did a splendid job in furtherance of our country’s interest. The RBZ saw it fit that we have a new currency which will enable our economy to develop. I support what the previous speaker just said that for our country to have a good economy, we should place as a priority, the strengthening of the ZiG currency. The ZiG is going to help us in a lot of things so that the economy of our country is developed. If we have confidence in our currency just as our neighbours; Zambia, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and Mozambique are doing – when you get to Mozambique, the first thing you have to do as you get to the border is to convert your foreign currency into the local currency. So, when we trade with other countries, visitors to Zimbabwe should go to the Reserve Bank and leave their foreign currency in exchange for the local ZiG currency so they purchase Zimbabwean goods using that currency. That will enhance the value of our ZiG.
Our banks should also value our people who will be opening bank accounts or those depositors that have funds in their banks. They should not charge exorbitant bank rates so that people become confident in saving their money with banks. That will also enhance the strength of our ZiG. If we can be able to use plastic money, this will also reduce the bank queues for the people as they seek to withdraw paper money. If the paper money is going to be used in conjunction with plastic money and if our wholesalers have swipe machines, this will further strengthen our currency.
The leader of this country gave us the new mantra that a country is built by its own people and he further stated that Rome was not built in a day but it will be brick by brick and stone by stone as we move along. So, as Hon. Members, it should start with us that we value our ZiG currency. If you did observe Madam Speaker, today people came early in the morning as if they were interested in working but it was because His Excellency, the President is assisting us as Hon. Members to acquire vehicles. But if we value these vehicles as Hon. Members in order to ensure that we discharge our duties properly and we value our vehicles like the moving around we did today, if we were also to apply the same energy in having confidence in the ZiG, our country will be going in the right direction. All the people in all the cardinal points of the campus were united as we went about the business of acquiring motor vehicles. So, I urge all of us to be united in the same mode as we support the ZiG. If we do that, our country will be further developed.
I would want to express my profound gratitude to the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) for the awareness campaigns he is holding all over the country. In fact, the programme is covering urban centers as well as rural areas. He is urging people to use our own currency and also to ensure that it remains strong and in so doing, the Governor of the RBZ is doing a good job.
In conclusion, I would like to say that the joint committees did a splendid job, a very important job indeed, which has led us as Hon. Members, to also place priority and importance on the report. I foresee us getting into Vision 2030 on auto-pilot. I would want to thank the President of this country for his wisdom in leading this country. This wisdom to use our own currency. As Hon. Members, we should also, including you Madam Speaker, be united in thanking him. He is honey. I would want to fortify my words by saying that if you are in your own house, for you to be respected as a father or mother, you should give your children rules that they must follow so that they in turn respect you as their father or mother. The President is doing very well in coming up with rules and regulations to ensure that as citizens we behave properly.
Lastly, I support the report tabled by the joint committees. Let us use our own currency and respect it and have confidence in it so that our country can develop. I thank you.
HON. CHIDUWA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. GUMEDE: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Tuesday, 28th May, 2024.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
HON. KAMBUZUMA: I move that Orders of the Day, Numbers 10 and 11 on today’s Order Paper be stood over until Order of the Day Number 12 has been disposed of.
HON. GUMEDE: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE DELEGATION ON THE ELECTION
OBSERVATION MISSION TO RUSSIA
Twelfth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the Delegation on the Election Observation Mission to Russia.
Hon Shamu having stood up to wind up the debate.
HON. MADZIVANYIKA: I rise on a point of order Madam Speaker. When the debate was adjourned last time, I was having the floor and because of the technical fault that happened in this august House, I was assured that when the debate resumes, I would be given the opportunity to continue as the first debater. I so submit.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: You may proceed Hon Member.
HON. MADZIVANYIKA: Thank you for the opportunity to continue my debate on the report of the delegation that was sent to Russia to make observations of elections taking place there. One of the important points to note from the election observation which took place in Russia was the use of electronic voting. The Central Elections Commissions of Russia introduced a system of voting using digital equipment which was called the SAS-vibro. This system is so autonomous in terms of its connectivity. It is secured from the outside internet world such that it was free from abuse in terms of the electronic voting. Voters could simply just scan their identity documents and then click on their preferred presidential candidate. So, that was the return from the digital voting that I really appreciate. I would like to say if we adopt this as Zimbabwe, that will go a long way to eliminate queues which are normally laborious and monotonous.
In this modern world, people are always occupied with their hustles trying to make ends meet in life and given the opportunity to use electronic voting, we will go a long way in actually helping and smoothening the process of voting. The electronic voting system was supported and was used largely by the youth of that country. That is commendable Madam Speaker. We hope Zimbabwe will take a leaf from that. In our next elections, we hope that we are going to have digital voting to allow people to vote from their homes.
By using electronic voting system, there are no complaints that anyone stood in your way to say there were people who were standing by the road stopping people from voting. There will be no such kind of intimidation because you cannot intimidate someone over his vote. Someone will just use his phone to make a determination of what he wants. That will be very good and there will be no complaints of such in future.
If you look at this form of electronic voting system, it allows people to see results as voting takes place. There is no need for one to announce results. As voting takes place, uploading will be taking place online and everyone else will see and check whether the results which are being declared are in tandem with what was obtained at local levels. That was a brilliant way of doing elections. I would like to recommend that Zimbabwe adopts such from Russia.
The issue of voter registration in Russia through the Elections Commission with their system of SAS-vibro, actually allows a continuous updating of voters list on the website or platform. If you are a member of that platform, you can easily see whether your name has been updated or not, and this is very important. To make things better and comfortable, you do what you call mobile voter registration. There is no need to go to the office. You just use a telephone or send someone to do voter registration on your behalf. It is allowed in the Russian Federation. This gives the impetus to allow people to register in numbers and with ease, which is very important. I want to commend Russia for introducing such a vibrant technological position.
On voter registration again, people were allowed to register to vote even if they do not reside in that country. Those people who are on temporary absence were allowed to vote. I am saying diaspora voting was allowed in Russia. To make the record straight, over 1.8 million Russians were allowed to vote from the diaspora. That was a commendable position. As Zimbabwe, we should learn this because it is very important for people who are citizens of Zimbabwe – if you look at our Constitution, Section 3 on Founding Values of Zimbabwe, has got an issue to do with good governance. One of such is regular elections on the principle of adult suffrage. It means that anyone who is above 18, no matter where one is living, as long as he or she is Zimbabwean, is allowed to vote….
*HON. MUGWADI: On a point of order, I rise to remonstrate with him. For them to come and give their views here in Parliament, it is important that the Hon. Member must be well read and he should check the Constitution of Zimbabwe to see what a Zimbabwean is and appreciate the difference between a Zimbabwean and a temporary resident. Once you distinguish the difference between the two, you will be okay. Only Zimbabweans are allowed to vote. Does he want us to go for a referendum to define what a Zimbabwean is or it means that he is off topic?
HON. MADZIVANYIKA: Thank you Madam Speaker, you can also check yourself, it is there on section III for you to verify. Besides Madam Speaker, every Hon. Member here can be given the opportunity to debate. If he thinks that my position is not correct, he must debate and correct the position so that Zimbabwe will weigh to see which is the correct position. The issue of voter registration in Russia was not an issue, it went on smoothly because of many apparatuses which were put in place to ensure that voting goes on smoothly.
So, we take a very big leaf as Zimbabwe. Under these circumstances, you will find that it is so difficult to get identity documents in Zimbabwe, even birth certificates. I do not know the challenges that are that side, maybe there are genuine economic challenges but I am taking a leaf from Russia to say everyone above the age of 18 is allowed and has the opportunity to have identity documents. As a country, we are learning from Russia to say let us correct them going forward.
If you look on the digital platform that Russia has used on its elections, it allows quick production of election results; within a moment of minutes results will be all over for all and sundry to see. Secondly, you will realise there was high resolution video surveillance on all the poling stations across the Russian Federation. What does this mean Madam Speaker, there will be no complaints to say so and so ran away with the ballot box. There will be no complaints to say so and so did this. So we want to applaud the Russian Federation, the Election Management Board in Russia for holding these elections in a way that allowed all the people in the country to be satisfied. In the case of any problem, they will use evidence on the video evidence that was present at all polling stations. So, Zimbabwe has a lot to learn Madam Speaker.
There was this opportunity that was given to some people who were regarded as having challenges, particularly care givers.…
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER (HON. MAUNGANIDZE): Order you are left with five minutes.
HON. MADZIVANYIKA: I just want to believe that when debate is the other side, time will be kept at both sides.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Are you questioning my judgement Hon. Member?
HON. MUGWADI: On a point of order Madam Speaker.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: What is your point of order?
HON. MUGWADI: Madam Speaker, when you are seated on that Chair, you are the substantive Chair of the House. This side of the House feels great where a Member debating and in the discourse of his debate, seeks or attempts to undermine the Chair by alleging unfairness. It is grossly disallowed in this House and the Hon. Member must withdraw his statement if he is supposed to proceed, otherwise if he is allowed to continue in that narrative, then you have lost the Chair Madam, which I do not think you have. I thank you.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Madzivanyika, I am the Chair and I make decisions, you are not allowed to question me. Can you please withdraw your statement?
HON. MADZIVANYIKA: I withdraw Madam Speaker.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: You may proceed.
HON. MADZIVANYIKA: Let me talk about this special group of people who were given assistance or the opportunity to vote from home, looking at their circumstances. They are care givers, the disabled, the sick and the old. They were given the opportunity to vote from home. What a commendable move. I think Zimbabwe has a lot to learn from this kind of election process. This is because here sometimes we see old people being carried to the polling station and that is not sustainable. So I think going forward as a country, we should also recommend to take on board this very important issue.
My last point, if you look at the Russian election, all major outlets be it on television, radio, newspapers, they all reported the events of campaigns and political activities in a balanced and a fair manner. That is important Madam Speaker. In her set up to enable freedom of choice for people to be informed of their choices, they really need to have this kind of thing taking centre stage in trying to ensure that there is fairness.
So, as Zimbabwe, I think we also have to learn a lot about it, to have multiple radio stations. Also, for them to give information which is free, fair and credible for all people of Zimbabwe to make choices freely. I thank you.
HON. SHAMU: Thank you Madam Speaker, I rise to thank all the Hon. Members who contributed their views on this report. May I also convey the same appreciation to all Members in this august House who listened attentively to the debate. On that note, I now move that this report be adopted.
Motion that this House adopts the Report of the Delegation on the Election Observation Mission to Russia on Russian Presidential Elections led by Hon. Shamu from 13 to 20 March, 2024, put and agreed to.
On the motion of HON. KAMBUZUMA, seconded by HON. N. NDLOVU, the House adjourned at Three Minutes past Five o’clock p.m. until Tuesday, 28th May, 2024.