A st230240 18/06/2013
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Tuesday, 18th June, 2013
The Senate met at Half-past Two
o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENTS BY THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT
SUSPENSION OF COMMITTEE BUSINESS
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: I have to inform the Senate that
due to the primary elections being conducted by various political parties and the high prevalence of no quorums for Committee meetings, the business of all Committees of Parliament will be suspended sine die with effect from Friday 21 June 2013.
SWITCHING OFF OF CELL PHONES
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: May I remind hon. senators to
switch off your cell phones before business commences.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE SENATE
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HIGHER AND TERTIARY
EDUCATION: I move that Order of the Day, No. 1 be stood over since both the mover and seconder of the motion are not here, until the rest of the Orders of the Day, are disposed of.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE 21ST SESSION OF THE ACP-EU JOINT
PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY
Second Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the delegation to the 21st Session of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary
Assembly.
Question again proposed.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HIGHER AND TERTIARY
EDUCATION (SENATOR TAPELA): I move that the debate do now
adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 19th June, 2013.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE 22ND SESSION OF THE ACP-EU JOINT
PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY
Third Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the delegation to the 22nd Session of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly.
Question again proposed.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HIGHER AND TERTIARY
EDUCATION: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 19th June, 2013.
On the Motion of the DEPUTY MINISTER OF HIGHER AND
TERTIARY EDUCATION, the Senate adjourned at Twenty-one
Minutes to Three O’clock p.m.
A ends
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Wednesday, 19th June, 2013
The Senate met at Half-past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT
SWITCHING OFF OF CELL PHONES
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: May I remind hon. senators to
switch off your cell phones before we commence business.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE SENATE
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE PRIME MINISTER’S
OFFICE: I move that Order of the Day, No. 1 be stood over until the rest of the Orders of the Day, have been disposed of.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE 21ST SESSION OF THE ACP-EU JOINT
PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY
Second Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the delegation to the 21st Session of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly.
Question again proposed.
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE PRIME MINISTER’S
OFFICE: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 20th June, 2013.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE 22ND SESSION OF THE ACP-EU JOINT
PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY
Third Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the delegation to the 22nd Session of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly.
Question again proposed.
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE PRIME MINISTER’S
OFFICE: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 20th June, 2013.
On the motion of THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE PRIME
MINISTER’S OFFICE, the Senate adjourned at Twenty-five Minutes to Three O’clock p.m.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Thursday, 20th June, 2013
The Senate met at Half-past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT
SWITCHING OFF OF CELL PHONES
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: May I remind hon. senators to
switch off your cell phones before business commences.
ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
SENATOR CHIEF CHARUMBIRA: I would like to find out
from the Minister sitting next to me and I have just seen that he is also representing the Minister of Finance this afternoon, so he is wearing two hats. Minister, next week we will come to the close of Parliament term and Government still owes Members of Parliament a lot of outstanding payments in the form of travel expenses, coupons and etcetera. What arrangements have you put in place to ensure that before end of the term next week, payments are made? Thank you.
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE PRIME MINISTER’S
OFFICE (MR. TIMBA): I will have to take this specific request to the substantive minister for a substantive response. Thank you.
SENATOR MANDABA: I would like to find out from the
Minister in the Organ for National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration as to how far we are with the healing process? Is it continuing during and after elections? I know that they wanted to have structures in the provinces. Are they still going to decentralise? I thank you.
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE PRIME MINISTER’S
OFFICE (SENATOR. HOLLAND): Mr. President, the question is what will happen with the national healing programme after the elections? The mandate of the Organ for National Healing,
Reconciliation and Integration was to advise the three Global Political
Agreement principals on how the question of peace will be addressed in Zimbabwe. Successfully after four years, the three provided an infrastructure for peace with four elements.
These have been adopted in the COPAC draft which is now a
Constitution. This means the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission is part of whatever enabling Act will be in place after the elections. The code of conduct for and by political parties has been signed by the three Principals. It is operational. Yesterday we were discussing a State occasion launch in conjunction with the history project, which you all have been involved in with the traditional leaders, the academics and grass roots communities. The launch will spell out that this is a programme that the Principals have agreed to and it will be on-going. The history project is at MSU under Prof. N. Bhebhe as part of the Africa History Project in UNESCO. The code of conduct is going on.
The fourth element, which is the programme, is at MSU. There will be launched, in August, a degree programme in the new department of Peace, Economics and Reconciliation, which is the fourth leg of the Infrastructure for Peace and it will be connecting as is done at MSU; academic work with grass roots reality lives for society to learn and continue to learn what peace is about.
With that there is an exhibition centre for peace, where the practical problems facing Zimbabweans in relation to national healing will be put to test. Results will be used by communities to continue with the peace process. Briefly the answer is, the Infrastructure for Peace has been agreed to by the three Global Political Agreement Principals. It is now being implemented, it is operational and yes, it is actually going to be something that will be a result of COPAC.
As I have said in this Senate over and over again, the people who were involved with COPAC, whenever they stand up to speak, lonkenje – mese muno, especially the women, I see people who will be taking their places in the new National Peace and Reconciliation Commission because the structures go from the national four men, four women and a
President for chair; at the provinces four men, four women. At the districts and at the wards, the structures of the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission will be up to village level.
These people who will be part of the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission will be dealing with all transitional justice matters. Into ezibuhlungu – zvinhu zvinorwadza, in relation to what people feel is the injury they have suffered as a result of political conflicts.
As we have said in the organ we have been talking to the traditional leaders – Chief Charumbira and Chief Mtshane Khumalo. We understood from the very first meeting we held with them that in Zimbabwe, people have never departed from their traditional way of resolving conflict, which is in Ndebele ukukhumelena umlotha - as Chief Mtshane and Chief Charumbira told us in the first meeting, kusvutisana fodya.
Embodied in the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission is the appeal from the three organ Principals, our Chair, the late Landa John Nkomo and the late, our colleague Minister Gibson Sibanda replaced by Minister Moses Ndlovu, we appealed to our people to put ukukhumelana umlotha - ku svutisana fodya as the way in which we are going to approach our reconciliation process at every level abantu baxoxisane bazwanane, vanhu vataurirane vanzwanane. It is the Shonas in our country who say kugona ngozi kuiripa. That does not mean exchanging of wives or taking your kraals out to give to the other person but it is people really discovering ubuntu, hunhu hwedu in the process of conflict resolution and really adopting those measures of bringing peace in your heart, in the heart of your family and your community because esintwini sethu - pachivanhu chedu pahunhu hwedu, we recognise ourselves in one another, as indeed the Bible says, “we are all created in the image of God”. It is that image of God which we look for in one another when we do reconciliation. I hope that answers the question. I thank you.
SENATOR MUMVURI: Thank you Mr. President. My question
goes to the Minister of State in the Prime Minister‟s Office. I would like to know what measures Government is putting in place to ensure the smooth holding of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation
Conference (UNWTO), which is going to be held in the later part of August 2013, in view of the lack of consensus on the holding of the harmonised elections this year. Thank you.
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE PRIME MINISTER’S
OFFICE (MR. TIMBA): Let me start by saying that there is full commitment by the Inclusive Government to ensure the holding of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation Conference in Victoria Falls that we are co-hosting with Zambia. It is correct that at this juncture there appears to be uncertainty as to when the country will be holding its elections. Whether that would happen before that conference or after it but hon. senators would be aware that currently, there is a constitutional court judgment which has ruled that such an election should be held by the 31st of July, which is almost a month before that conference is held. Notwithstanding that, Mr. President, hon. senators would be aware that on the 15th of June there was a meeting of the
Summit of SADC Heads of State and Governments and during that meeting, there was an agreement by all the three parties to the Global
Political Agreement and all the SADC leaders that the Government of Zimbabwe should engage the Constitutional Court with a view to seeking an extension of time for the holding of the elections beyond the 31st of July.
Pursuant to that resolution of the SADC Summit, Principals in the GPA met yesterday to deliberate on the same and an agreement was reached that at least representatives from the three parties should meet to come up with a consensus application that should go to the
Constitutional Court to seek for that extension of time. Prior to that Mr. President, it is unfortunate that one of the ministers had prematurely filed an application with the Constitutional Court, whose application was not based on any consensus discussion among the three parties within the GPA. The Principals are now seized with this matter and there will be a second meeting that they will hold on Friday. We sincerely hope that after the Friday meeting, they will be able to come up with a common position with regard to this matter and hopefully, with a common application that will be put before the Constitutional Court to determine when we are likely to be able to have our elections. I think the most important thing is that there is commitment in Government to ensure the successful hosting of this conference that we will co-host with Zambia. I thank you.
SENATOR MUMVURI: In view of the minister‟s response, does
the minister not think that if the extension which is being sought about is now infringing in the days of the holding of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation. Is there a possibility that elections can be held after the conference has been held?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE PRIME MINISTER’S
OFFICE (MR.TIMBA): Mr. President, I would like to avoid, if I may be allowed, to anticipate the discussions that the Principals are due to hold on Friday. I thank you.
SENATOR MARAVA: Thank you Mr. President. My question is
directed to the Minister of State for National Healing. I would like to know - National Healing is a very important issue now in our country.
My question Mr. President is, are we ever going to have an issue like a Minister or Ministry of National Healing since it is so important and we have to put all the weight behind it? Thank you.
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE (SENATOR HOLLAND): Thank you Mr. President. There
are two things. The first one is that the country is faced with the new way of doing things in the whole world where the budget for running governments has to be reduced drastically. I am told Zimbabwe spends 73% of its budget on running government, which is unacceptable. If you are familiar with NGOs, you know that the administrative costs have to be something like 15%, may be 30% but no-more for the NGO to be
viable.
So, the challenge that is faced by Government is that although,
Cabinet approved the recommendation by the three Co-Principals at the Organ for National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration for the formation of a Ministry for National Healing and Reconciliation; and although that was adopted by Cabinet and should be part of the enabling Act so that all policy matters to do with peace in Zimbabwe are directed from a ministry, the recommendation we have now is that in the pulling together of different ministries, perhaps consideration will be given to there being a ministry of something something like National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration which will really lift the profile of the entire area of peace and national healing.
I just wanted to say you will see how important it is. I have just been to Mabvuku, my senatorial constituency and may be this can also help our colleague who is talking about the importance of us following the Constitution; I was trying to get the aliens because I have the highest number of aliens in the country in Mabvuku, Tafara and in Epworth.
People in the mobile unit were saying to the alien people, “why do you want to register”? It was this morning and they did not know that the Senator was around. They retorted back, we want to vote. Why do you want to vote because with your registration card still indicating that you are an alien you can still reside in Zimbabwe. So, these people were going back home.
I am just saying the amount of healing that is required in Zimbabwe is huge because if we are saying we are following the law, we have to follow it from where we are registering people, from where we are checking our names from all that. So, I ended up doing national healing work there, trying to get people to understand that voting is everybody‟s right. If things were moving well with such a ministry and employees were there; they are the ones who should be traveling round the country telling people it is your right to register kuti ah! imi muri mukati tinokudzingai basa kopinda vamwe. But, of course we do not have that at the moment. So those very naughty officers were lying to the people kugara mu Zimbabwe hakudi kuti muchinje hualien hwenyu knowing that they are preventing people from exercising their right to vote. I thank you.
*SENATOR MANDABA: My question is, we have got prisoners,
some of whom got into prison because they fought and killed a person. Some committed various crimes but when in prison, they will be asking themselves why I did this? Where does national healing come in and end? As National Healing, do you not help prisoners including that man in prison whose term is about to end and when he is about to be released, he is likely to meet relatives of the murdered person. Does National Healing go beyond that?
THE MINISITER OF STATE IN THE PRIME MINISTER’S
OFFICE (SENATOR HOLLAND): Thank Mr. President, I am glad
Chief Charumbira has come back because in the issue of National Healing, we have walked with the chiefs, at his presidency and chief Mtshane Khumalos.
*This is a very good question. In some areas, people have copied what Zimbabweans do. If a person has killed someone, there is a victim friendly court and all those things. It will be said to the murderer and the victims‟ relatives, would you like to meet? In Africa we hear that people interact. You do not have to ask that question. You go back home and write a proposal which I would like to look at. I will be looking forward to see it next week if you are not able to do it, come and we can do it together with the head of Unit which deals with prison issues. It is very important in Africa to understand that before the whites came, we did not have prisons as we were told by the chiefs in that we had our own ways and means of solving complex issues. It was good.
If an issue has been discussed the defendant and the plaintiff there comes a breakthrough between conflicting individuals. In these families there will peace both in the area and the country as a whole and the fact that if I made a mishap, there are ways and means of solving such issue.
Whites said it rightly that “to err is human, to forgive is divine”. God is the forgiver of all sins but for black nenyaya yekusvutisana fodya nenyaya ukukhumelana umlotha, vanotora nyaya yekuti vanhu vagone kuregererana nokutaurirana. So I am asking you to have a Prisoners National Healing Programe, then you come with the recommendation to the Organ. We will then start with the issue that is being asked and then we can recruit anaMai Dandajena vese ava vapanana zvigaro muchiita unity ye prison tione kuti zvinhu zvemujere zvanaka. The issue of prison is painful if it happens to you be it mukwasha, muroora, kana chii nokuti hausisina mukana iwe wekupinda uchiona kuti unogadzirisa kuti muroora wako abude. Ku America neku England kunotori neprogramme kuti vanhu vagadzirisane so that the people will reach agreements whilst still inside. So I like your question very much and please I would like to see your programme, Senator Dandajena you should go and help them so that you will bring a programme for us to deal with the issues of national healing in prisons. I thank you.
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT
BILL RECEIVED FROM THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
THE DEPUTYPRESIDENT: I have received the Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Bill from the House of Assembly.
SECOND READING
MONEY LAUNDERING AND PROCEEDS OF CRIME BILL [H.B.4,
2013]
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE on Behalf of THE MINISTER OF FINANCE: Mr.
President, the Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Bill seeks to align the country‟s Anti-Money Laundering and Combating of
Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Legal and Institutional Frame Work, in line with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations. In particular, the Bill seeks to amend the bank use promotion and suppression of Money Laundering Act Chapter [24, 24], the Criminal Matters Mutual Assistance Act [Chapter 9, 06], Building
Societies Act [Chapter 24,02] and the Asset Management Act Chapter 24,26 as well as repealing the serious offences (Confiscation of Profits) Act [Chapter 9,17].
Hon. Senators may recall that, Zimbabwe is one of the founding members of the Eastern and Southern African Anti-Money Laundering
Group (ESALG), which in turn is an associate member of the Financial
Action Task Force (FATF), an International Standard Setting Board on
Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing.
Mr. President, by virtue of its membership to ESAAMLG and indirectly to FATF through ESAAMLG, Zimbabwe is obliged to implement the Standards of Combating Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing developed and adopted by FATF. The FATF standards are built upon a number of United Nations Conventions and resolutions, including:-
- The 1988 UN Convention against illicit Traffic on Narcotic
Drugs and Psychotropic Substances;
- The 1999 UN Convention on the Suppression of the
Financing of Terrorism; and
- The 2000 UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime.
These Conventions are all aimed at promoting International Cooperation in preventing and containing drug trafficking, domestic and cross border organised crime, corruption and the financing of terrorism.
It should be noted that the FATF Standards change from time to time in line with changing cross border crimes and activities.
Mr. President, prior to 2001, there were 40 FATF recommendations/standards on Anti-Money Laundering, which member states were, required to incorporate into their legal and institutional arrangements. In 2001, the FATF Standards were reviewed to bring in the Combating of Financing of Terrorism (CFT), hence there was an addition of 9 Special Recommendations pertaining to CFT. In February 2012, the standards were further reviewed and consolidated to 40 recommendations covering both AML/CFT issues. An additional aspect of combating the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction was added to the AML/CFT issues through the new recommendations adopted in February 2013. Although FATF call them „standards‟, it is an obligation for ESAAMLG member states and other Regional Style bodies to implement such standards.
In 2006, Zimbabwe underwent a mutual evaluation exercise to establish the extent of compliance to the FATF standards. The Mutual Evaluation Report for Zimbabwe, which was published in 2007, indicated that Zimbabwe‟s AML/CFT legislation and other systems were not FATF compliant in 14 out of the 16 Core and Key recommendations. The country was assessed using the 2004 FATF methodology which was based on the 40 plus 9 Special Recommendations. The next assessment of the country which is tentatively scheduled for 2016 will be based on the New FATF 40 recommendations adopted in 2012. The country should therefore be guided by the new FATF standards in order to avoid regular review of the AML/CFT legislation.
Pursuant to the need to address the identified deficiencies, in 2012,
Government received technical assistance from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The Consultant produced a model Law on AML/CFT. Following recommendations by the National Task Force on Money Laundering, an omnibus Bill was produced as opposed to the adoption of one single AML/CFT (Model Law) which had been proposed by the UNODC.
Mr. President, comments on the Bill have been received from the International Monetary Fund, ESAAMLG Secretariat, National Economic Conduct Inspectorate and Board of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, as well as the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).
The following are the Highlights of the Bill:-
The Bill is divided into seven Chapters, of which Chapters 4 and 5 will be administered by the Minister of Justice, whereas the remaining Chapters will be administered by the Minister of Finance. The five chapters that will be administered by the Minister of Finance are meant to strengthen the Bank Use and Promotion and Suppression of Money Laundering (BUPSML) Act in line with the identified deficiencies as well as to the recent changes to the FAFT Standards. A major change that will be incorporated into the BUPSML Act is on the provisions pertaining to financing of terrorism. These provisions were incorporated into the Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Bill in order and Proceeds of Crime Bill in order to come up with consolidated AML/CFT law, currently the AML/CFT law. Currently, the AML/CFT legal framework fragmented since there are two main relevant laws, namely the BUPSML Act and the Serious Offences Act. In addition, the
Suppression of Foreign and International Terrorism (SFIT) Act [Chapter 11:21] which was enacted in 2007 but brought into force in June 2011 did not have measures to combat terrorism financing, hence the need to address this gap. However, the SFIT Act will remain in place as it is meant to comply with Zimbabwe‟s obligations under various African Union Instruments on suppression of terrorist activities.
- Provision aimed at strengthening the BUPSML Act cover the following gaps identified through the Mutual Evaluation Report of
2007:-
- Carrying out ongoing Customer Due Diligence (CDD).
- Enhanced CDD measures for hire risk customers.
- Identification of the ultimate beneficial owner on whose behalf a transaction is being conducted.
- Prohibiting financial institutions from allowing a customer to open an anonymous account or to open an account using a fictitious name.
- Shareholders and directors of financial institutions to pass a „fit and proper‟ test and removal of those who subsequently cease to meet the test.
- The Bill provides for the establishment of a Recovered Assets Fund, wherein proceeds from AML/CFT forfeited or confiscated property will be receipted. This addresses one of the major deficiencies which were identified through the
ESAAMLG Peer Review System.
- Other issues covered include the requirement for all AML/CFT reporting entities to have proper internal controls, record keeping, training of staff, appointment of a Compliance Officer on AML/CFT matters, and obligations to file Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs).
- In terms of the Bill, dealers in precious metals and minerals such as diamonds are now designated entities for AML/CFT purposes. Previously, they were not covered in the BUPSML
Act.
Chapter 4 and 5 of the Bill
- These chapters relate to criminal sanctioning on matters relating to money laundering and terrorism financing. These chapters will replace provisions of the current Serious offenses Act. New provisions creating an Asset Forfeiture Fund were included in the Bill.
- The Bill will explicitly cover as predicate offenses for money laundering, offenses committed in other countries which would constitute predicate offenses in Zimbabwe had they been committed in the country. In addition, the Bill Provides detailed mechanisms and procedures for freezing and confiscation of proceeds of crime. It also makes provisions for civil forfeiture.
Urgency of passing the Bill into law
- It is critical that Zimbabwe passes the Money Laundering and
Proceeds of Crime Bill into Law before the 20th June 2013, a deadline set by FATF at its plenary meeting held in Oslo on 17 June 2013. The implications of Zimbabwe not passing this Bill on or before the set deadlines are far reaching. The country will be down-graded from its current FATF classification of „grey list”, which consists of countries where serious AML/CFT deficiencies have been identified but who have given a high level political commitment to address the deficiencies and are in fact addressing their deficiencies to a „black list‟. The black list is also known in FATF terms as the „Public Statement‟.
- The FATF blacklist, (which currently consists of only two countries namely Iran and the DPRK), is for countries that have refused to cooperate to address their AML/CFT deficiencies and are therefore considered a serious risk to the world‟s financial system. The consequence of being escalated to the FATF „Public Statement” or uncooperative countries is that FATF member countries (who include Zimbabwe‟s major trading partners such as
South Africa, China and almost all Western countries) will instruct financial institutions in their jurisdictions to review and restrict dealings with Zimbabwean financial institutions.
- In most cases, this includes the refusal to extend correspondent banking services to Zimbabwean financial institutions, a development that will make it very difficult for Zimbabwean financial institutions, businesses and even the state, to make or receive international payments. To this end, it can be concluded that the FATF sanctions will make it difficult to allow inward or outward movement of capital from Zimbabwe, thus rendering the country a closed economy.
Conclusion
- President, I humbly submit this Bill for consideration by this august Senate.
SENATOR CHITAKA: Thank you Mr. President. Firstly, I
would like to commend the Minister for bringing this Bill to this august Senate. What I have picked is, first, if we do not pass this Bill, the country will be inviting sanctions on itself. I must underline the word sanctions because we have some of our colleagues who always cry foul when we invite sanctions on ourselves. This is an opportunity for us as a country to avoid inviting sanctions on ourselves so that in future we do not cry and blame sanctions that we impose on ourselves when we are the ones who would have invited them.
The second point is that this Bill is very welcome, especially in view of the fact that Zimbabwe was becoming a haven of some deposit dictators and dubious business persons who are fugitives in some countries. We need to use this Bill to clean up such dubious characters so that they do not soil our financial landscape as well as keep this country free from terrorism. Before I sit down, I want to pose a question to the Minister for his clarification. Minster does this Bill address the issue of those persons, especially civil servants and politicians who appear to live well in excess of their legitimate means? Can such unaccounted for dubious wealth be classified as suspicious and appropriate action taken in terms of this Bill? I thank you.
SENATOR CHIEF CHARUMBIRA: Thank you Mr. President.
I rise to support this Bill because I do understand where it is coming from and the consequences of us not expeditiously passing this Bill. There are meetings currently taking place internationally where I am aware that each country has to present its papers to show that they in fact have passed this Bill. Without taking this debate too far and in the spirit of passing a Bill that will obviously be passed; this is a good Bill. It is combating money laundering and also controlling the financing of
terrorists.
The rebels we have on the continent, for example in Africa, DRC,
Somalia, Darfur, everywhere, we always wonder who is financing them. They are all financed through mechanisms that are being controlled by this Bill. We are only doing the best for Africa but we are coming up with measures to be sure that those financing illegal activities or wars on the continent are not closing those gaps and those loopholes. I am aware that internationally, every country has to sign this, otherwise as Hon. Chitaka is saying, you are put on sanctions are put on sanctions and
these sanctions are a bit different from the Land Reform sanctions. These are sanctions that come for not complying with what is internationally acceptable. So I commend the senators to support this Bill, thank you.
*SENATOR CHIEF CHITSUNGA: Thank you Mr. President
Sir. I want to add my voice in supporting the Bill. It is a good piece of legislation which is helpful to our country and it helps us to sink with the global practices for we benefit from such relationships.
What I did not appreciate or satisfied with is that our Government should do things timeously and not wait for last minute so that we do not have guns pointed on our heads because we only have seen this Bill this afternoon. We did not have enough time to check what is contained in it. That will not make us good leaders. What is more important is that for the past two months, we did not have business in this Senate yet this Bill was there. It should have been brought to this Senate in time rather than to wait for the last minute like this. Someone was sitting on it. In future, this is a national issue which is important for our nation. We are passing it but may accept things that we will cry foul on in future. I thank you.
SENATOR MARAVA: Thank you Mr. President, I also rise to
support this Bill, which I believe is very important. I am especially touched by Part II of Chapter Two of the Bill under which Zimbabwe is reeling under. The problems that are facing Zimbabwe right now especially of cash, we are using currencies that do not belong to us; that problem is solved under Part II of Chapter Two which includes monetary instruments such as cheques, travellers‟ cheques, promissory notes, money orders and other negotiable instruments. All that is dealt with in that section, I think that is a solution to our Zimbabwean problem right now where we are using other peoples‟ currencies. Thank you.
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE PRIME MINISTER’S
OFFICE (MR. TIMBA): Thank you Mr. President, let me start by thanking senators for supporting the Bill. Allow me Mr. President to respond to some questions that have been raised by some senators. Let me start with Senator Chitaka and say that the Bill does enhance “the know your customer requirements”, which you are aware has been implemented by various banks. Therefore, this will allow a situation where banks are able to monitor any suspicious transactions by any individual whether they are politicians or non- politicians or business people.
I want to apologise for the delays in the Bill coming to the Senate, Mr. President, but allow me to say that there was considerable debate on this Bill in Cabinet and we only secured Cabinet Approval for this Bill on the 18th of June, thank you. I now move that the Bill be read a second time.
Motion put and agreed to.
Bill read a second time.
Committee Stage: With leave; forthwith.
COMMITTEE STAGE
MONEY LAUNDERING AND PROCEEDS OF CRIME BILL
(H.B.4, 2013)
Senate in Committee.
THE CHAIRMAN: You will agree with me hon. Senators that
this is a bulky Bill. So I will try and lump the Clauses.
Clauses 1 to 110 put and agreed.
First and Second Schedules put and agreed to.
Senate resumed.
Bill reported without amendments.
House resumed.
Bill reported without amendments.
Third reading: With leave; forthwith.
THIRD READING
MONEY LAUNDERING AND PROCEEDS OF CRIME BILL (H.B. 4,
2013)
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE PRIME MINISTER’S
OFFICE (MR. TIMBA): I move that the Bill be now read the third time.
Motion put and agreed to.
Bill read the third time.
On the motion of THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE PRIME
MINISTER’S OFFICE (MR. TIMBA), the Senate adjourned at
Twenty Five Minutes to Four o’clock p.m. until Tuesday, 25th of June, 2013.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Tuesday, 25th June, 2013
The Senate met at Half-past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(MADAM PRESIDENT in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENT BY MADAM PRESIDENT
SWITCHING OFF OF CELLPHONES
MADAM PRESIDENT: I would like to remind hon. senators to switch off their cellphones before business commences.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE DELEGATION TO THE 21ST SESSION OF THE
ACP-EU JOINT PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY
Second Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the delegation of the 21st Session of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly.
Question again proposed.
+SENATOR MLOTSHWA: Thank you Madam President for
granting me this opportunity to wind off the Motion on the Joint
Parliamentary Assembly which I moved and was seconded by Senator
Chitaka. Senator Chitaka added a point on the tabling of reports of Parliamentary trips. We realise that on all trips, there will always be a secretary to the delegation of which it is his/her job to compile a report.
Hon. senators are not supposed to write the reports.
I do not know how it happens here at Parliament from the Presiding Officers and the Clerk of Parliament; we find that at times reports are written late. I am just trying to highlight to the Senate so that even those who will come back to Parliament would know that it is not their responsibility to compile a report but the secretary to the delegation. I therefore move for the adoption of the motion.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE DELEGATION TO THE 22ND SESSION OF THE
ACP-EU JOINT PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY
Third Order read: Adjourned debate on Motion on the Report of the Delegation to the 22nd Session of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly.
Question again proposed.
SENATOR MLOTSHWA: Thank you Madam President. I wish
to thank all those who spoke in support of this Motion which was moved by myself and seconded by Senator Chitaka. As a way of seeking for the motion to be adopted, I wish to share with hon. senators here that last week we were again at the ACP-EU. There was debate on violence against women and the girl child. We talked a lot about violence on women and elections, and I am one of those who talked on the topic and I made an appeal to all the men. I am making the appeal again to all the men in the Senate today. It happens that you trust us to prepare your food, you trust us even if we are locked in a dark room, you trust us to do everything for you and to bear your children.
However, when it comes to power and governance you never trust us. So, I appeal to men that you should make sure that you trust us so that we have peaceful elections and you do not violate the women’s rights during these forthcoming elections. Madam President, I would like to seek for adoption of this motion. Thank you very much.
Motion put and agreed to.
On the motion of THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF PUBLIC
WORKS, the Senate adjourned at Eighteen Minutes to Three o’clock p.m.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Thursday, 27th June, 2013
The Senate met at Half-past Two O’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(MADAM PRESIDENT in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENT BY MADAM PRESIDENT
SWITCHING OFF OF CELLPHONES
MADAM PRESIDENT: May I remind hon. senators to switch
off their cellphones before commencement of business.
MOTION
ADJOURNMENT OF THE SENATE
MADAM PRESIDENT: May I take this opportunity to wish you well in your future endeavours and to always put Zimbabwe first before anything else? May God bless you? There is no business.
*SENATOR CHIEF CHARUMBIRA: Oh! we are going? We
want to thank you also for the good leadership for all these years. I know it is not on the Order Paper but as the last day, Chiefs do not have Order Papers they just talk. I want to be honest with you; I think it is worthy saying a few words of gratitude to you.
We started off on a very acrimonious, hostile environment after the 2008 elections and the key was leadership during the sittings. You showed good leadership and now we end as one family; certainly we could see that women were now as women whichever party uniting and there are the men united, everybody united. I think we wish you also well in your good leadership. Can I say, a bit of caution in politics, just to say the sky is the limit for you Madam President. You have done very well in that Chair and we wish you the best. Even the Ministers; I know most could not come to this Senate for questions or any proceedings but I want to thank Minister Holland; she is one of those who attended consistently whenever you are around. I appreciate your dedication to duty. Minister Murerwa, I know you had a stint where you were not feeling well but each time you were in good health, you were with us and we wish you better health in the future. Hon. senators, I have to say thank you to Madzimambo for playing their role properly, all the time. Thank you very much.
*SENATOR FEMAI: I want to thank Madam President on the way she handled that position with authority because each time you turned around, it reminded us that we have respectable people. We want to thank you for the way you handled these politicians and for the unity. I also want to thank the Chief Whips. They did well and they were united and for that reason we were one family.
I wish that as we go, if I knew where she stays, I would actually take my grandchildren to her place for them to get some traditional values because she is someone who is respectable, someone with honour. She never took sides but she looked at the law as it is. I want to thank you Madam President for that. That pleased us and she was able to bring us back to our senses. When you said ‘order!’, we all listened to you which shows that your leadership was good. We wish you many more years and we wish you to come back and be the presiding officer again. I think I would be the first one to vote for you if you come back and if I happen to come back, definitely I will vote for you. I thank you so much.
THE MINISTER OF LANDS AND RURAL
RESETTLEMENT: Madam President, I would also want to take this opportunity to thank you very much for the way you have chaired this Senate over the last couple of years. You have chaired it with great honour and dignity and you have provided the much needed leadership, especially when times were difficult and the situation was tense. You were able to move us forward.
I would also like to thank this hon. Senate for playing a constructive role in the oversight of Government business and also providing the much needed unity in the Senate. As an upper House the discussion in this Senate was always constructive and not as partisan as we feared it might be. This showed us that as Zimbabweans, when we are united and focused, we can work together. This Senate was able to show this example and I would like to thank you Madam President for your leadership.
Madam President, with those few words, I would like to move that the Senate do now adjourn.
The Senate accordingly adjourned at Quarter to Three o’clock p.m.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Wednesday, 26th June, 2013
The Senate met at Half-past Two O’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(MADAM PRESIDENT in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENT BY MADAM PRESIDENT
BILLS RECIEVED FROM THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
MADAM PRESIDENT: I have to inform the Senate that the following Bills have been transmitted to the Senate from the House of Assembly: the Electricity Amendment Bill (H.B. 3, 2013) and the Income
Tax Amendment Bill (H.B. 5A, 2013).
SECOND READING
ELECTRICITY AMENDMENT BILL (H.B. 3, 2013)
First Order read: Second Reading: Electricity Amendment Bill [H.B.
3, 2013].
THE MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER
DEVELOPMENT: Thank you Madam President.
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 The passing of the Electricity Act [Chapter 13:19] in 2002 introduced the electricity sector regulation and paved way for the participation of private players in the sector.
1.2 The Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) is now in place following the enactment of the Energy Regulatory Authority Act [Chapter 13:23] in August 2011.
1.3 There is need to separate the electricity transmission and distribution business in order to create an electricity bulk supply market that will facilitate and support Independent Power Producer (IPP) investments. The separation of business will also allow privatisation of the distribution function and consequent improvement in service delivery
1.4 The objective of this amendment is to proffer a power sector restructuring solution that will enhance the investment environment and improve service delivery.
1.5 The proposed restructuring process is in line with the National Energy Policy Implementation strategy.
- JUSTIFICATION FOR RESTRUCTURING THE POWER SECTOR
Fulfilling the Initial Objectives of the Electricity Sector Reform
2.1 The objectives of the electricity reform were to:-
- Remove the ZESA monopoly and increase generation capacity,
- Increase access to available electricity,
- Improve overall efficiency of service delivery through attracting private sector participation and
- Establish regulation of the sector.
2.2 The reform saw the establishment of the Regulator. However, the electricity market structure has not developed to a competitive market.
- The market structure is a single buyer model where competition is only in power generation in which ZPC is currently a natural monopoly due to lack of new investments by other players.
- ZETDC is the single buyer responsible for purchasing power and selling to all customers as well as exporting power. All power producers have Power Purchase Agreements with ZETDC.
2.3 There is need to move to a fully competitive market where there is competition in both power generation and supply.
Creating a conducive environment for Investment
2.4 The sector is dominated by ZESA Holdings companies (ZPC and
ZETDC) who perform all the functions resulting in other players
doubting fairness in services offered by ZETDC. There is need to separate the functions of players in the power sector; particularly, system and market operations to improve investor confidence.
2.5 Restructuring of the power sector will allow it to benefit from the credit-worthiness of large customers who can be counter-parties to IPP as off-takers or direct investors.
2.6 The restructuring will allow participation by the private sector in electricity supply. Participants will have open access to transmission and distribution networks.
Improving Efficiency in Service Delivery
2.7 Separating Transmission from distribution and the supply businesses will streamline the activities of each business and enhance service delivery.
2.8 Private sector participation in electricity supply in other countries has generally resulted in improvements in service delivery and revenue collection thereby attracting investment as investors are assured of returns.
3. RESTRUCTURING PROCESS
- ZESA Holdings is dissolved, the NGSC is formed to carry out the transmission, systems and market operations.
- ZETDC is unbundled and its transmission functions are transferred to NGSC while the distribution functions remain in Zimbabwe Electricity distribution Company (ZEDC).
4. CONCLUSION
I move that the Senate approves the proposed amendments and that the Bill be now read a second time. Thank you Madam President.
Motion put and agreed to.
Bill read a second time.
Committee: With leave; forthwith.
COMMITTEE STAGE
ELECTRICITY AMENDMENT BILL (H.B. 3, 2013)
Senate in Committee.
Clauses 1 and 2 put and agreed to.
Senate resumed.
Bill reported without amendments.
Third Reading: With leave; forthwith.
THIRD READING
ELECTRICITY AMENDMENT BILL (H.B.3, 2013)
THE MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER
DEVELOPMENT: I move that the Bill be now read the third time.
Motion put and agreed to.
Bill read the third time.
SECOND READING
INCOME TAX AMENDMENT BILL (H.B. 5A, 2012) Second Order read: Second Reading: Income Tax Amendment Bill
(H.B. 5A, 2012).
THE MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER
DEVELOPMENT on behalf of THE MINISTER OF FINANCE:
Thank you Madam President, I will not take the time for the Senate. This is a very lengthy Bill but in short, what it is doing is to be able to set out what is taxable income and how income that is earned by people that is supposed to be subjected to taxation is going to be defined.
The big thing that it is doing, from the last one, is to change from a source because the current Act says that any income that has a source to be in Zimbabwe is subject to Zimbabwean tax to putting it to a residence base. This means a person who is resident in Zimbabwe; all the income he or she makes is subjected to the Zimbabwean tax law and is only varied depending on whether we have got double taxation agreements with other countries or not. That is the main change that is being done.
What it is also saying is, in making that income for a business, what are the expenses that are allowed to be deducted so that when you have made your gross income you are allowed certain expenses that are incurred when you create that income. What is then taxed is the net as far as a business is concerned and also that is what we are putting in here. There is a lot more tightening of the expenses that are allowed in terms of making that income. The current one has been a bit loose and therefore a lot more people were finding loopholes. This one tightens up the expenses that are allowed. This means that expenses that are not involved; they might be business expenses that are not involved in creating that income are not allowed.
It also combines capital gains within the Income Tax Act and therefore tries to make sure that some of the requirements of Capital Gains, particularly avoiding people who have been stringing along capital gains; when they sell something they do not declare. This is trying to tighten it up and also making sure more importantly that those who are selling their houses called principal residents, if you are over the age of 55; you are exempt from Capital Gains Tax. To a large extent, this is the bulk of this, so it is really explaining what comes into your tax and what you are allowed as a deduction and to make sure that there is fairness in how it is done. I therefore move that the Bill be read a second time.
Motion put and agreed to.
Bill read a second time.
Committee: With leave; forthwith.
COMMITTEE STAGE
INCOME TAX AMENDMENT BILL (H.B. 5A, 2012)
Senate in Committee.
THE CHAIRMAN: Hon. Senators, this is a very voluminous document, so I will request that we move Chapter by Chapter.
Chapters 1 to 20 put and agreed to.
Schedules 1 to 15 put and agreed to.
Senate resumed.
Bill reported without amendments.
Third Reading: With leave; forthwith.
THIRD READING
INCOME TAX AMENDMENT BILL (H.B. 5A, 2012)
THE MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER
DEVELOPMENT: I move that the Bill be now read the third time.
Motion put and agreed to.
Bill read the third time.
On the motion of THE MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER
DEVELOPMENT, the Senate adjourned at Two Minutes to Three o’clock p. m.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Tuesday, 4th June, 2013
The Senate met at Half-past Two o’clock p. m.
PRAYERS
(MADAM PRESIDENT in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENT BY MADAM PRESIDENT
SWITCHING OFF OF CELLPHONES
MADAM PRESIDENT: May I remind hon. senators to switch
off their cellphones or put them on silent.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE SENATE
THE MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS: I move that Orders of
the Day, Nos. 1 to 3 be stood over until the rest of the Orders of the Day have been disposed of.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
ADJOURNMENT OF THE SENATE
MADAM PRESIDENT: I would like to remind hon. Ministers,
the Executive that you have really let us down. We always have business which is supposed to be cleared by ministers but unfortunately, ministers do not show up. When we were sitting last time, we had to adjourn after twenty minutes because ministers did not show up. May I please appeal to ministers who are here to go and encourage your counterparts - [HON. SENATORS: Hear, hear] - We came prepared to work as people’s representatives but we cannot carry out our work because the Executive decided not to come. Thank you.
On the motion of THE MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS, the
Senate adjourned at Fourteen Minutes to Three o’clock p.m.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Wednesday, 5th June, 2013.
The House of Assembly met at a Quarter-past Two O’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(MR. SPEAKER in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENT BY MR. SPEAKER
PRIME MINISTER’S QUESTION TIME
- SPEAKER: I have to inform the House that the Prime
Minister’s Question Time has been postponed to a later date to be advised.
ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
- MADZIMURE: My question is directed to the Minister of Economic Planning and Investment Promotion. Hon Minister can you update the House on the progress of the effectiveness of the one-stop shop for investment whether it has worked in the positive to attract more investment? If it has not, what could be the reasons for failure?
THE MINISTER OF ECONOMIC PLANNING AND
INVESTMENT PROMOTION (DR. MASHAKADA): I want to
thank the hon. member for asking this very pertinent question regarding the improvement of the investment climate in the country. I can confirm that in 2010, the Government established a one-stop investment centre whose objectives were to try and expedite investment applications and issuance of licences and investment permits.
Previously, it would take 49 days for an investor to get a license. So we tried to establish a one-stop centre so that we could reduce the turnaround time from 49 days to five working days. We managed to achieve this by putting under one roof, eight Government departments that would facilitate the processing of investment applications. These departments include the Registrar of Companies, Department of Taxes which is ZIMRA, the indigenisation desk, the Environment Management Agency and other departments that have something to do with the facilitation of investment. I can confirm that because of this arrangement, it now takes only five working days for an investor to get an investor licence whereas previously like I said, it used to take 49 days.
The challenge still lies in the sense that all these departments that I referred to, that were put under the one-stop shop centre have had the tendency to still want to refer applications to their parent ministries or to their parent departments. This defeats the whole concept of a one-stop shop centre if one is going to rivet to the head office or headquarters instead of making decisions right away. What we are working on is a law that will compel those assigned officers to process or make decisions on investment application rather than refer the applications back.
The other thing we are trying to do is to digitalise the one-stop shop centre so that all application forms offered by these departments can be uploaded electronically and that investment applications can be done from the one-stop shop centre rather than going back to the parent ministry.
- CHINYADZA: I just wanted to find out since the Minister referred to conditions of doing business, where are we, with respect to the investment climate as compared to other countries in the world?
- MASHAKADA: When it comes to the assessment of doing business in Zimbabwe, we depend on the World Bank ease of doing business surveys as well as the World Economic Forum competitiveness indices and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development indicators on the ease of doing business. I can say that when it comes to the World Bank ranking, we are still rated very poorly in terms of our ease of doing business. When it comes to World Economic Forum indices, they still rate us very poorly in terms of our ease of doing business. We are responding to those indices to make sure that we improve our doing business in Zimbabwe.
We have engaged COMESA to assist us in unlocking our investment climate and address those challenges that make us not fare very well in rankings by these international bodies. One of the key issue which was raised is the question of indigenisation. Most investors are very risk averse and they do not want 51% to be seeded. There is still a challenge when it comes to that legislation. The other area which also makes us very difficult as an investment destination is on our visa regime. Most investors consider that it takes quite long to issue visas and that hampers their free entry into the country. There are other laws, like the Environmental Management Laws which also makes it very difficult to do business. For example, EMA would say for every investment project that has been approved, they would claim 10%. That is really hurting investors because suppose an investor puts $100 million worth of investment and then you take 10%. It really, from the onset, affects his investment. We are still trying to address these challenges so that we become a friendly investment destination. If you look at other African countries, they are way ahead of us in terms FDI attraction.
Mozambique is now receiving FDI worth $2 billion annually. Zambia,
$1 billion annually, South Africa, $5 billion and Angola, $4 billion; but Zimbabwe is still around $400 million to $600 million. So, we are still lagging behind when it comes to the attraction of investment; but we have got all the resources and all the opportunities in all the sectors that we will need to tape FDI. It is our doing business culture which is inhibiting investors from doing business in Zimbabwe.
I can say, despite these difficulties, we still have got more investors coming from China. In fact, China’s FDI in Zimbabwe now stands at $600 million per annum and the trade between China and Zimbabwe now stands at a billion United States dollars. So, China over the years has become the first choice of FDI partner when it comes to investing in Zimbabwe. South Africa is also leading the perk in terms of source market of FDI but we are trying to improve the image of the country. I thank you.
- J. M. GUMBO: Mr. Speaker Sir, in the absence of the Prime Minister, I will direct my question to the Deputy Prime Minister, Hon. Prof. Mutambara. What are the implications on the Zimbabwe political scenario, regarding the Constitutional Court’s ruling on the elections?
THE DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER (PROF. MUTAMBARA):
Mr. Speaker Sir, I want to thank the hon. member for that difficult question – [Laughter]-. I will try to be technical and stay at a policy level on that question.
Mr. Speaker Sir, we are a constitutional democracy with three pillars of Government, the Judiciary, the Executive and the Legislature. These three pillars are based on and governed by a Constitution, supplementary laws and statutes. At any point in time, it is important to have the three pillars in existence, the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary. This is important for the three provide checks and balance against each other. As you know, the role of the Executive is running the country using the rule of law within the framework of the Constitution, while the Legislature - here, our role is to make laws and act as oversight to the Executive. The Judiciary has a function of interpretation of the law and resolving any disputes among parties in the country. This is the context in which I want to answer that question.
In our constitutional democracy, only our courts have the power to do the interpretation of our law. Only our courts have the mandate to resolve disputes among Zimbabweans and the final arbiter, the final court of the land is the Constitutional Court.
Now, with respect to the issue you asked me, as I said, I am going to remain very technical, it does not matter how that issue got to the Supreme Court, to the Constitutional Court. It does not matter who is in that Supreme Court or the Constitutional Court. In so far as we are concerned as a country, as a constitutional democracy, the final court in our country is the Constitutional Court. It is the final arbiter. Once the final arbiter has spoken, once the final court in the land has spoken, constitutionalism demands that we respect that judgement and we are bound by it. We must comply with its ruling. Whether we like the decision or not, as people who are creatures of constitutionalism, we are duty bound to at least respect and comply with the ruling of th constitutional court.
The issue we need to ask ourselves as Zimbabweans is as follows, given the deadline given to us by the Supreme Court of 31st July 2013, what is our charge? What is our responsibility and task? What should we do? The first task is that we must make sure that every Zimbabwean who is eligible as a voter is given an opportunity to become a voter. Every Zimbabwean who is eligible to vote must be given an opportunity to vote. That is principle number one.
Principle number two is that we must ensure that this election is free and fair before the elections, free and fair during the elections and free and fair after the elections so that we can deliver a credible and legitimate election outcome in the country. The question we ask ourselves as Zimbabweans is, given the ruling which we must abide with, which we must respect from the Constitutional Court, can we achieve the two principles that is, ensuring that every Zimbabwean who is eligible as a voter is given an opportunity to vote?
Secondly, can we ensure that we deliver a peaceful, free and fair eenvironment before the elections, during the elections and after the elections? Media reforms are part of making the elections free and fair. My answer Mr. Speaker Sir, to the daunting question; can we do all these things before 31st July, 2013 is yes and no.
I will go for the yes first. Yes, we can achieve this in two months. Yes, we can achieve this by the 31st of July but it requires us to have the political will to do the reforms. It requires us to deploy the required resources and more so that we have bonafide voter registration. We open up our media and we create an environment for credible and conducive election. Yes, we can if we work as team Zimbabwe. Yes, we can if we do not spend too much time debating a decision which we cannot correct.
By the way, by definition, the decision of the ultimate arbiter, the decision of the final court, even if it is wrong, it is uncorrectable. Mr. Speaker Sir, if the decision of the Constitutional Court is wrong, unfortunately, it is uncorrectable. So do not waste time discussing the correctness or lack of it or the decision. Let us work together as team Zimbabwe to fulfill the deadline given to us by the constitutional court by mastering the political will, by putting the resources required and by working together so that somehow, we can deliver a credible outcome which is not disputed by those who would have lost in that activity.
The debate Mr. Speaker Sir, about the correctness or lack of it of the judgement is a good exercise for scholars and intellectuals and not for litigants, who were parties to the dispute. No, we do not encourage you as litigants; we do not encourage you as parties to the dispute to be discussing the correctness or lack of it. Obviously Mr. Speaker Sir, when you go to court, you think you are correct and when the court does rule, one or two litigants would be unhappy. Obviously, the loser will feel that the ruling was wrong. So it is not advisable for parties to the dispute to be discussing the correctness or lack of it, of a constitutional court decision. That exercise is for the universities. That is for the scholars. We must now work hard as team Zimbabwe to deliver a credible election, within the confines of the decision of the final court in our land.
Remedies for the future, I am staying technical here. Remedies for the future judgments, if you are strongly offended, if you feel very strongly that the decision was wrong, you can do the following in future, not for the current decision. For other future decisions, go and change the law that you feel was poorly interpreted. Go and change the law that was not clear and led to the ‘wrong’ decision. You are the legislators; change the Constitution so that in future there are no wrong decision and wrong interpretation. Remedy number one, change the law but for now, respect the decision. Future decisions can be influenced by changing the constitution.
Second remedy, if you are in power, if you have authority to appoint, if you have influence on those who do appoint, because when you say the decision was wrong, Mr. Speaker Sir, you are implying that those nine men or seven of them are not very clever or able men and women. That is what you are implying. If that is the implication that there is lack of gravitas, lack of intellectual capacity, in the constitutional court when you do have the power or the opportunity to influence those that appoint, appoint people whom you think are cleverer. Appoint people whom you think have better intellectual aptitude. Those are your remedies for the future, not for now.
Furthermore, remedy number three. We also say to the bench, look when you are the final arbiter in a country, when you are the final court in the country, try to be as judicious as possible. Try to be as thorough as possible so that your final decision does not create acrimony. We are encouraging those on the bench to be thorough and organised to ensure that they do not create unnecessary disharmony in the country through disputable decision. These are issues for the future. Change the law, appoint different judges and the judges must exercise as much as possible their minds and be thorough so that we do not go into these arguments in future. For now, let us work together. In fact we should have started on the 31st of May, 2013 to implement and work together not discussing the correctness or lack of the judgment. We have already lost a week out of the two months we were given. Shame on us.
For foreigners, it is the last message to our friends from South Africa, SADC and AU. Please, whatever we do as Zimbabweans, our differences as parties or different views on this decision, we must not allow foreigners to desecrate and violate our national sovereignty.
Whatever your view on this contentious subject, whatever you think about the judgment, we must all defend Zimbabwe’s national sovereignty. You cannot have a foreigner saying things such as and I quote, “with or without a court ruling, we will do the following…” How dare you stick your foreign head above your hind legs and say that about our country? Respect our sovereignty and constitutional democracy.
You must say “the Constitutional Court in Zimbabwe has made a final and binding determination. We as foreigners are going to respect Zimbabwean laws and legal process and it is within the context of the Zimbabwean laws that we are going to encourage them to work on a roadmap together”. This is the language we expect from the foreign individuals and institutions. I am simply saying, yes to help from SADC, yes to help from South Africa but they must acknowledge the sovereignty of our nation and work within that context. If there is going to be any challenging of our Constitutional Court, if that was even possible, it must come from Zimbabweans, not foreigners. Foreigners must back off. So I urge SADC, the AU and South Africa to respect our national sovereignty. As Zimbabweans, let us not be petty and opportunistic. In spite of our differences, we must work together to defend our national sovereignty. None of us must allow foreigners to disrespect us.
I want to thank the member for that question and say these are trying times for the country. It is the time to try and find each other. Working together we should be able to deliver a free and fair election and ensure that eligible voters are able to participate in our elections.
- MWONZORA: I thank the Deputy Prime Minister for the answers. I just want to ask a supplementary question. Hon. Deputy Prime Minister, we now have a Constitution that makes specific provisions and I just want to cite four of those. Firstly, there must be a voter registration exercise, 30 days compulsory. Secondly, all contesting parties must have equal access to the media – [AN HON MEMBER: Which media?] – State media. Thirdly, Zimbabweans have a right to elections, free from violence. Fourth, in Chapter 11, soldiers, CIO and the police must not interfere with the election. Now the question is; is the date subservient to the constitutional provisions or are the constitutional provisions subservient to the date? Should these provisions be followed or not followed?
PROF. MUTAMBARA: I want to thank the hon. member for that question. He is in total agreement with me and I am in total agreement with him. My view is the four things you raise are very critical. They are so fundamental because they are the ones which will allow us to do the two things I outlined. Allow every Zimbabwean who is eligible as a voter to vote. Secondly, allow for a peaceful, free and fair election which will deliver a credible and legitimate election.
Those four things must be done, but guess what, my view is that those four can be done if there is political will. Those four can be done if Zimbabweans work as team Zimbabwe. Those four can be done if we deploy the resources required. Those can be done if we put Zimbabwe first and stop bickering and trading in insults on a decision which we cannot reverse.
As I am just trying to act as your conscience. I am trying to say to us as Zimbabweans, we are supposed to be masters of our own destiny on this subject. We must, in the remaining four weeks do what we have to do to deliver a free and fair election. None but ourselves will deliver this outcome. I thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
- CHINYADZA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I just wanted to follow up on the issue raised by the Deputy Prime Minister particularly with respect to the means/resources, whether Government has enough resources to ensure that the election is done by the date which he mentioned?
PROF. MUTAMBARA: Mr. Speaker Sir, I am very happy that my job has been made very easy because the Minister of Resources has just arrived. So, I will not go into the details of resources but only to say that there is a thing called resourcefulness which is more important than resources. There is a thing called political will which is more important than resources. Why do we not work on our political will and deploy resourcefulness? Why do we not work on our administrative capacity, our competence, and our organisational skills? Once we have done all those things, we will then go to Finance and say here is our political will, resourcefulness and competence together with our spirit of working together, give us some cash and then cash will come. And beyond that, there is also potential support coming from SADC and also from the UNDP. All these are possible sources of financing. Let us get our act together.
However, as I said, that is a question for the Minister of Finance and he is here.
- S. NCUBE: My question is directed to the Deputy Prime Minister, Prof. Mutambara. If he can enlighten the House about the voter registration vis-à-vis, whether the parties are involved in coming up with the ward centres because we are trying to avoid the situation where the ward centres were sort of biased. What action are they taking now so that we will not cry in this voter registration?
- SPEAKER: Order hon. member, that question is more
specific, I do not think the Deputy Prime Minister will be in a position to respond to that. The co-Ministers of Home Affairs are not in.
THE DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER (PROF. MUTAMBARA):
Mr. Speaker Sir, I will speak on the general policy framework. We have taken an inclusive approach to all the things to do with our elections – all the political parties, all the relevant ministers are involved. Every Tuesday, voter registration is now a standing item on our Cabinet agenda. That shows the extent of our commitment. Of course, in terms of the details, the two Ministers of Home Affairs and the Minister of Justice will be able to answer you in detail but we are committed to an inclusive approach on the way we manage and prepare for our elections. We want to make sure that we carry everyone on board. I would want the hon. member to put the question in writing for the relevant Ministers to give a much more specific response.
- CHIMHINI: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. My question is directed to the Minister of Finance. Minister, we are said to be a very rich country in terms of our mineral resources. Can you explain how much, in terms of contribution from the mining sector, has been given to your Ministry so that it can assist in paying all that is required for us to run either a credible election or running the ministries?
THE MINISTER OF FINANCE (MR. BITI): Thank you Mr.
Speaker. The contribution of mining as a whole to our coffers has left a lot to be desired in the last few years. We have not gotten any assistance for the elections and in the Referendum from mining resources. The most notorious party with omissions has been diamonds.
Mr. Speaker, diamonds exports in 2012 were US$800 million and what only came to the fiscus was US$45 million. In the first quarter of the year, that is to say, January to March of 2012, total diamond exports were US$117 million and what has come to the Treasury is zero. So, diamonds which we co-own, the difference between companies like Anjin, Mbada and Marange Resources is that we own those companies but we do not own Zimplats and we are getting absolutely nothing from diamonds. If we were to get what is due to us from diamonds in 2012, which is at least US$400 million out of US$800 million, then we ought to have been able to fund the census, the Referendum and the election.
On the election Mr. Speaker, I want to say that even though we have secured money for the intensive voter registration exercise that is defined in Schedule 6 of our Constitution and we have disbursed as
Treasury last week on Monday, a sum of $20 million to ZEC via the Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs. We do not have any other resource to fund the election. I want to restate this – we do not have any other resource to fund the election.
As the Hon. Deputy Prime Minister Mutambara has said, there is a lot of good will out there in funding this election but unfortunately, there is a political deficit/kwashiorkor. People are not interested in ensuring that we fund these elections and the person at the epicenter of obstructing resources in this country is the Minister of Justice, Patrick Chinamasa.
On the issue of the United Nations (UN) Mr. Speaker, we reached an agreement. We were asked by the Principals to write a letter to the UN. It is Zimbabwe which requested money from the UN and we wrote a letter on the 14th February, 2013. The UN at that stage put conditions and their conditions were not abnormal. They were simply saying, show us that if we give you money, the money will not go to waste through an unsustainable, illegitimate, violent ridden election. But, be that as it may, Mr. Speaker, Minister Chinamasa and I met on the 14th of April, 2013 and agreed that, to define terms of reference for the UN team and we said they can come into Zimbabwe and we will discuss the issue of election financing and the budget, not the terms of references that they defined in their letter of the 17th of February, 2013.
We also agreed on the persons that they were going to come and see namely, the Minister of Justice, Minister of Finance, Co-Ministers of Home Affairs, Minister of Regional Integration, Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission, Registrar General, Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister
Prof. Mutambara, Chief Secretary to Cabinet, the Ambassadors from the Fish Mongers, and Ambassadors from SADC region. Notwithstanding that agreement, it has been made clear to the UN that if they come here, they will be arrested which is not on - because we reached an agreement in black and white.
People are frustrating the capacity of Zimbabwe to raise money because the UN and its member states are ready and willing to support the election. SADC too is willing to support the election but no one is prepared to finance a process that is not going to work. No one is going to put their tax payers’ money in a hole if there are no reforms. The bottom line is that we have no money for the elections but there is goodwill from the international community. We have to show and demonstrate the goodwill and political will that the Deputy Prime Minister, Prof. Mutambara has talked about which unfortunately is not there.
- KARENYI: I would like the Deputy Prime Minister, Hon
Khupe to enlighten this House about the issue of maternity user fees and I understand some of the hospitals are still charging maternity fees. I understand that the Government’s policy is that women are supposed to go and access it for free.
THE DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER (MS. KHUPE): This is a
very important question and first of all, I would like to give a background to it. Out of every 100 000 live births, 960 women die which translates to 15 women dying every day when they give life. We are saying this is unacceptable. Women are giving life to people like you sitting in this House. Therefore, they cannot be punished for giving life. This is the reason why we advocated for free maternity when women go to give birth. They are not supposed to pay a single cent.
I would like to inform this august House that Government’s policy as we speak right now is that women must not pay a cent when they go to give birth. That is Government’s policy. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our development partners for putting money into the Health Transition Fund. I would like to thank the Government because it also contributed something into the Health Transition Fund so that women do not pay a cent when they go to give birth.
However, what I would like to say is that there are logistical problems on how this money is supposed to be disbursed. What I can say is that, I would request the hon. member to put the question in writing so that the minister can come in with a correct answer on what is stopping Government or the Ministry of Health to make sure that those resources are disbursed to clinics and hospitals. The bottom line is that women should not pay a single cent when they go to give birth.
- J. M. GUMBO: Can something be done urgently to make
sure that the policy is made known to hospitals. Just yesterday, I had two women coming into my office with papers that their household goods were being removed by Harare Hospital. I have the papers that they must go and pay some $120.00, failure which their property will be removed.
Can something be done because if we have to write questions we do not know what might happen, maybe next week we might not be there? It can be too late and women will still continue giving birth. The policy is a good one but can something be done in the meantime.
THE DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER (MS. KHUPE): I am happy
because the Minister of Finance is here. I think he is going to do something about it. I hear you and I thank you very much. As soon as I leave this House I am going to talk to the Minister of Health to make sure that they address this issue as soon as possible. We are definitely going to do something about it.
- CHIMBETETE: Now that we have passed the Constitution into law, what is Government’s position regarding security forces who
do not respect the leaders after an election?
THE DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER (PROF. MUTAMBARA):
To address the question by the hon. member, the most important thing to do is to make sure that we understand what we have in the new Constitution and then respect that Constitution. The Constitution is very clear on the security sector that they must be above party - that they must serve civilian authority. The starting point is to ensure that there is civic education amongst Zimbabweans, security forces and people so that the input and the message from the Constitution is understood because we have tried in that Constitution to address this subject.
The challenge now is on execution and implementation. While we have a good document, we do not walk the talk. That is why I am emphasising the subject of constitutionalism; the behaviour, the tradition, the culture of respecting the Constitution. If our security forces, if our people respect the document we have adopted, that problem will be half solved. Whatever is outstanding and not addressed in the constitution, we can then proceed by way of security sector realignment and other laws or statutes to ensure that our security sector in Zimbabwe is supportive of democracy – and that our security sector in Zimbabwe does not subvert the people’s will.
Remember the objective is to ensure that there is freeness and fairness before the elections, freeness and fairness during the election, freeness and fairness of the counting, freeness and fairness after the elections. Our security forces, soldiers, police and CIO must not work against the interest of the people. They must work for the people and I think we have made an effort in the Constitution to address that matter. If there are outstanding matters, we can then proceed by way of other changes and reforms and may I thank the hon. member for that question that he has given.
MRS. MATAMISA: My question is directed to the Minister of
Health and Child Welfare. Minister, as a matter of policy, what is Government position with regards to the assistance of cancer patients, if there is any?
THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD WELFARE:
(DR. MADZORERA): I want to thank the hon. member for asking about cancer which is a very big problem in Zimbabwe. At the moment we have serious constraints in terms of cancer treatment. We have just started revitalising our cancer treatment institutions at Parirenyatwa Hospital and Mpilo Central Hospital. The state over the last ten years has not been good. We are just in the process of installing new equipment at Parirenyatwa Hospital and Mpilo Central Hospital. In other words, it has not been possible to assist cancer patients. Many patients have been going out of the country for radio therapy and chemotherapy.
Chemotherapy is extremely expensive and Government is struggling. As
Cabinet we are trying to find sources of funds to make cancer treatment free in Zimbabwe. We have realised that the expense is far beyond what ordinary members of the society can afford. So, it is work in progress.
We are looking at innovative financing mechanisms for cancer, but remember that at this stage, we are still struggling to provide the ordinary routine day to day care for our patients. I want to thank all those donors and partners who are assisting us in the procurement of medicines for day to day conditions like malaria, HIV/AIDS and so forth. So we are still a long way from being independent and doing what we as Government, have purpose to do, which is to ensure that cancer patients and other patients with chronic diseases like renal failure are treated free because these conditions are extremely expensive for the individual members of society. So it is work in progress. I thank you.
- MUDARIKWA: My question is directed to the Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development. I want to find out from him whether there is a change this year, when we deliver maize to GMB, is there a time lag whereby if we deliver our maize today, then we get our money tomorrow, next week, next month or next year?
Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, MECHANISATION
AND IRRIGATION DEVELOPMENT (DR. MADE): Thank you
Mr. Speaker. There are two things that are going to happen this year. First of all, it is the introduction of the commodity exchange for the agriculture commodities. We are in the process of setting that up. The agriculture commodity exchange is coming into play. The second aspect is that GMB will also be a buyer along with other buyers. I hope that they will be having resources to do that but at least the farmers will be able to make a choice in terms of the agriculture commodity exchange. I think that is all I can say at the moment.
- ZHANDA: Can the Minister of Agriculture enlighten us, in view of the fact that all the grains and commodities will be traded on that exchange? Can the Minister enlighten us on the current position of wheat?
- MADE: I responded to a similar question some three weeks ago. Certainly, the wheat farmers have got to depend on their bags. I made it clear that Government is constrained this year to support farmers in wheat. Thank you.
- ZHANDA: Mr. Speaker Sir, I must thank the Minister for that answer. My follow-up question is, what is the policy in place now in order to make sure that wheat is grown locally since Government can no longer fund the growing of wheat?
- MADE: Without dialoging with the hon. member, I have made reference to the fact that banks have got to support the farmers. We have been trying to see what we can do in terms of the wheat users, for example, the millers and other traders of wheat particularly the aspect of getting them to support wheat instead of being dependent on import permits. That is work in progress and the hon. member is privy to some of the discussions that we have been having because he has also been contributing to that debate. I think we should continue on that but whatever instruments we come up with, they must be well considered and well debated and discussed. Otherwise the position is that we should try to get farmers supported by those that use wheat products. Thank you.
- TACHIONA: My question is directed to the Minister of
Agriculture. What is the correct position regarding the ban or importation of maize meal or grain?
- MADE: Thank you Mr. Speaker. There is no ban on the importation of anything.
- GWIYO: My question is directed to the Deputy Prime Minister Prof. Mutambara. Can you please update this House with regards to progress at Chisumbanje? Also enlighten the House with regards to drinking water in Zimbabwe? What is the position of the Executive?
THE DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER (PROF. MUTAMBARA):
Mr. Speaker Sir, I think the question on drinking water is better addressed by the Ministry of Water and also the Ministry of Local
Government. On Chisumbanje, without pre-empting our work, I have to say to this House that the Cabinet of Zimbabwe has worked with the developer. They have come up with an agreement after serious negotiations and a final position from Government has been obtained. As of now, the investor has not signed on. We are getting exasperated as a Government because what we have done is to try to reach out, look after the national interest, look at the interests of the community and look at the interest of the investor. We have thoroughly engaged the investor. Now, we have an agreement and what is holding us back is the investor, Green Fuels. They have not signed and we are quickly approaching a point where we are going to say to them, shape up or ship out. The agreement is there on the table and the investor is refusing to sign. This is completely unacceptable.
We have finalised a position and there are no more negotiations. We are simply waiting for a signature from the investor. I will end there to encourage the investor to come through but we are not going to wait forever. It is going to be shape-up or ship-out to the investor. We have a country to run, an economy to develop and a community in Chisumbanje to protect.
Questions without notice were suspended by MR SPEAKER in terms of Standing Order No. 34.
ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS WITH NOTICE
MAINTENANCE WORK ON LOWER GWERU-CROSSROAD
ROAD
- MR MADUBEKO asked the Minister of Transport and
Infrastructural Development to inform the House on when the Ministry intends to carry out maintenance work on Lower Gweru-Crossroads road.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND
INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (SENATOR
KOMICHI): Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. The Ministry is ceased with the challenge that we have on the roads outside the main highway. The road that has been referred to is actually on our programme this year. As soon as we get money from the Treasury, work will just commence.
We have started a bit of some work on the road in the previous years. The road is actually made up of three sections; there is a section from 5.1 to 49.6 which is surfaced. There is a section from 4.96 to 87.6 which is gravel road and a section from 87.6 to 96.1 which is an earth road. We would like to make sure that this road is gravelled. Due to limited funding we will be able to do just grading. So, there is a programme that is there, we are waiting for the money, when the money comes, we will do the work on the road that you have raised.
AVAILABILITY OF ANTIRETROVIRAL THERAPY DRUGS
- MR CHIMHINI asked the Minister of Health and Child
Welfare to inform the House regarding
- the availability of Antiretroviral Therapy Drugs for adults and pediatrics in the country specifying for how many days, weeks and months people on Antiretroviral Therapy can access the drugs;
- the drug stock status for Stavudine and Tenofovir, giving stock levels in days, weeks or months for each regimen, in view of the decision by the Ministry to transit from Stavudine to Tenofovir;
- the distribution status of the above drugs by regimen, for adult and pediatric patients to Provinces, Districts and other Health facilities;
- what practical steps are being taken by Government to ensure that no patients on Antiretroviral Therapy will fail to get the life saving drugs.
THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD WELFARE (DR
MADZORERA): I would like to thank the hon. member for asking this question. On how much therapy we have in terms of days, weeks and months for people on Antiretroviral Therapy, drug stocks are very dynamic, they change every day but we have enough stocks. I would like to confirm for this year and for the next year and up to 2015. By that, I mean we have enough money and enough current stocks to manage everybody on Antiretrovirals at the moment.
If I may read out to you what we have right now. We have at hand for Tenofovir/Lamivudine and Nevirapine regimen seven months of stock. For the Stavudien/Lamivudine/Nevarapine regimen, we have 26 months of stock. For the pediatric ARVs, we have eleven months of stock at hand. Our problem at some instances is running through the stock in good time before they expire because these drugs expire. So, we are currently finding ways of disposing some of our antiretroviral stocks for pediatric patients because we actually know that we will not finish these stocks before they expire. So, what we do in such instances is to collaborate with neighbouring countries who want these stocks and we give them or exchange as we have always done.
Secondly, the hon. Member would like to know drug stocks for Stavudine and Tenofovir. I think I have already answered this. We have adequate stocks for all the antiretroviral. What we are doing at the moment is we are transitioning from the Stavudine based regiments to the Tenofovir based regiments and we are doing it slowly. We are not going to suddenly wake up with everybody on Tenofovir but we will change anybody who reacts to Stavudine or who develops other chronic side effects.
At the moment, 65% of our adults are on the Tenofovir based regiment and 33% are on the Stavudine based regiment. The transition is very slow. We will continue to use Stavudine until we have used all the stocks of Stavudine that we have and then we will transition everybody to Tenofovir. We are not going to throw away good drugs because we have just changed a policy except of course for those who react.
In terms of distribution status of the drugs for adults and children in the districts, we pushed these drugs to the institutions. The National Pharmaceutical Company of Zimbabwe carries out the distributions and every two months they take drugs to the districts. We have always ensured that we have a minimum of five months’ supply of medicines.
Storage of these drugs is decentralised. We have provincial drug stores. In terms of ensuring that our antiretroviral programme does not suffer any setbacks particularly from financial hardships, I am pleased to advise that we have enough money to run the antiretroviral programme until 2015. We have enough arrangements with the Global Fund and we also have our National Aids Council which is contributing to antiretroviral therapy. A lot of our drugs are donor funded and I was going to implore the Minister of Finance to ensure that we, as a country also chip in from the budget beyond what the National Aids Trust Funds is doing. I thank you Madam Speaker.
HIRING OF PRIVATE CONTRACTORS TO DO
GOVERNMENT PROJECTS
- MR MUSHONGA asked the Minister of Public Works – (a) what the policy of the ministry is in hiring private contractors to do
Government projects;
- who is financing the intelligence school being built along the
Harare – Mazowe – Glendale Highway on the 10km peg;
- who is undertaking the construction work at this school of intelligence and;
- how much the Government is going to spend on this project.
THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS (MR. GABUZZA):
Mr. Speaker, with your leave, that is a straight forward question and it has a one word answer. The policy of the ministry is very clear. When we are hiring private contractors, we have to do it through the State Procurement Board and they are given jobs depending on their level of capacity. Those that are able to do complex jobs, we are able to give them bigger jobs and it is the same for those who cannot do complex jobs who we give smaller jobs. Otherwise all the contracting of contractors is done through an objective means by the State Procurement Board.
Secondly, it is the Government that is financing the intelligence school being built along the Harare – Mazowe – Glendale Highway on the 10km peg. It is Government, through the Ministry of Public Works. So the Ministry of Finance is giving us money to put up that school.
Thirdly, this is a direct labour job where we hire our artisans from the private sector but basically, it is the Ministry of Public Works doing the construction. We have no private contractor on site and as of when, we have run out of specific skill, we then hire in those private artisans but they are paid directly and supervised under the Ministry of Public Works.
Lastly, when you are calculating financing of projects, you may not come up with a specific figure but the baseline figure is anywhere in the region of US$21 million. There is what we normally call variation orders depending on various things that we might notice on site. The cost may vary if say, for example, suddenly the cost of bricks increases from wherever we get them. The figure may go slightly higher than what was initially planned but Government is funding it in phases. It is not an amount that has been given to the ministry. So annually, we get some trenches of about US$5 million, US$5 million depending on the availability of resources. Thank you.
POLICY REGARDING RECRUITMENT OF NURSES
- MR MUSHONGA asked the Minister of Health and Child Welfare – (a) whether it is the Ministry’s policy to recruit nurses at
Provincial Governor’s offices and District Administrator’s Offices as happened on Monday, 18th February, 2013, at Bindura’s Governor’s
Office;
- Whether it is the Ministry’s policy to indulge in partisan political recruitment of new nurses as is being done in Mahonaland
Central by the Privincial Governor;
- why the Ministry does not advertise nursing vacancies in the public press as opposed to using ZANU PF’s party structures as is being done in Mashonaland Central.
THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD WELFARE
(DR. MADZORERA): First of all, as to whether it is the Ministry’s policy to recruit nurses at Provincial Governor’s offices and District
Offices as happened on that particular day in Bindura, I do not know. What I can answer is that, as a matter of policy, we do not recruit nurses through the office of the Governor. The Ministry of Health and Child Welfare does its own recruiting through the schools of nursing and through Head Office. I am not exonerating the Governor in any way but this is a matter that we could look into and find out if actually something outside the policies of the ministry took place. Again, it is not our policy to use any political party for recruitment of new nurses. So it is not our policy to indulge in partisan politics in the recruitment of nurses.
Also, when deploying nurses we do not use party political structures. When nurses complete their training, they indicate the places where they wish to be deployed. The lists are sent to the Nursing
Directorate of the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare. The Nursing Directorate identifies institutions where vacancies are available and deploys the nurses.
In terms of advertising for nursing vacancies, we do advertise in the public media in the newspapers. We do not advertise through ZANU PF party structures. Once again, we will look into this Madam Speaker to see whether this incident actually happened. May be, the hon. member will be aware that when we got a little relief from Treasury and we are allowed to employ up to 2000 nurses over the last six months or so, we actually did advertise in the public media and told would be workers to go back to their schools of nursing where they trained and register there so that we can be able us to recruit them and that process, is taking place quite reasonably. I thank you Madam Speaker.
- CHEBUNDO: My follow up question Madam Speaker is for the Minister to inform us whether they are now geared as a Ministry to absorb all the graduate nurses who are not employed; whether they are still pursuing the issue of exporting nurses as a policy; and whether that is rational in his view?
THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD WELFARE
(DR. MADZORERA): Thank you Madam Speaker. The Ministry of
Health and Child Welfare is very well able to absorb all the nurses on the market and all the nurses who are going to train over the next two years or so. Our constraint is not vacancies within the hospitals and clinics, but our constraint is the employment freeze from Treasury. If Treasury today says, employ another 5 thousand nurses, we have got places for them within our institutions because there are people who died, who retired and so forth. So, I think that question should be referred to the Minister of Finance.
In terms of our attempt to “export” nurses, I will put export in quotes because we want to call it some form of human resources for health cooperation with other countries. This is not something unique to Zimbabwe, many countries are doing it. It is a way of helping each other, particularly in the SADC region, we have a key endowment in Zimbabwe which some may not know. Our ability and capacity to train workers is far above the capacity of many countries in the region and we are currently helping them. Some bring their doctors here for training; others bring nurses and so forth. We are already doing it. We have 40 students every year from Lesotho, for example, being trained at the medical school here in Harare.
So, we want to expand that in line with what we call the code of ethical recruitment of health personnel which we adopted at the World Health Assembly, three years ago. That allows us to cooperate with other countries as a way of dealing with brain drain and senseless loss of human resources from the country without any form of compensation.
Health workers will always go outside of the country but what we want is some return from all the training that we do for our health workers. This arrangement will allow us as a country to get something and train more health workers.
- CHIMHINI: My follow up question is, does the freeze also cater for the PCN?
- MADZORERA: Thank you Madam Speaker. The freeze is for everybody, from the general hand to the most highly qualified surgeon in the country. There is no one exempt. So, we cannot employ a general hand, a PCN, an RGN or a physiotherapist without treasury concurrence.
CRITERIA USED IN THE SELECTION OF THE
INDEGENISATION PROGRAMME AND LIST OF ALL
BENEFICIARIES
- MR. GARADHI asked the Minister of Indigenisation and Empowerment to state to the House the criteria used to select beneficiaries of the indigenisation programme and provide a list of all beneficiaries.
THE MINISTER OF INDIGENISATION AND
EMPOWERMENT (MR. KASUKUWERE): Thank you Madam
Speaker. This is the opportunity I have been waiting for. Madam
Speaker, allow me to give the background to the entire Indigenisation, Economic and Empowerment Programme, what we seek to achieve and
then I will go into the criteria, the beneficiaries and so forth.
This programme was conceived by the Government after being discussed in this Parliament in 2007. The objective was to ensure that we build an economy which is driven and for the benefit of the majority of Zimbabweans. In so doing, Madam Speaker, it was seen within the wisdom of Parliament to ensure that 51 percent of our entities, companies, mines and so forth are controlled by the majority
Zimbabweans. It is to ensure as well that we democratize the ownership of our resources. The majority of our people must benefit from these God-given resources, be it the mineral resource, be it our natural resources and so forth.
Further to that, it was also seen necessary that in the same breath, as we talk of indigenisation, we must ensure that we craft empowerment programmes that will uplift the standards of living for our people. That will ensure that the majority of our people become involved in the economy; that will help us build the economy owned by and for the majority Zimbabweans. In so doing Madam Speaker, the empowerment agenda seeks to ensure that we bring down barriers of entry. We make it easy to train our people to participate in the economy, we also make it easy for our people to access resources and we create the necessary opportunities for us to build an economy that is in the hands of majority Zimbabweans.
Pursuant to that, the Indigenization, Economic and Empowerment Programme, with specific regard on the question posed by Hon. Garadhi, has been to ask the Minister to state to the House the criteria used to select the beneficiaries of the indigenisation programme. Madam Speaker, as we implemented this law and the policy, we said, when it comes to the mineral resources of this country; the communities, the employees and the country at large must benefit from these God-given resources; to the extent that we have formed 59 community share ownership schemes across the country. We have also set up employee ownership schemes across the country in all districts where there are mining entities.
Further, the National Indigenisation and Economic Fund shall act as our national sovereign fund which will house on behalf of the majority Zimbabweans the greater part of the shareholding. To that extent, a number of communities across the country have already benefited. Like I am talking about 59, I can give you from the statistics point of view; over a $100 million has been committed in pledges and commitments by the various companies and entities.
To date, over US$24, 5 million has been used in the construction of necessary infrastructure in all our communities across the country. As an example, Madam Speaker, 20 schools are under construction, as I speak to you right now in the Mhondoro District as part of the ZimPlats/Mhondoro/Ngezi/Zvimba Community Share Ownership Scheme.
Further to that, in Matabeleland South, the Gwanda community has just completed the building of about three hospitals and rehabilitation of their irrigation schemes. Once again, this is because of the community empowerment programmes.
Madam Speaker, in the Zvishavane community, I am sure the hon. member from Zvishavane, Hon. Matshalaga, my dear brother can confirm that several schools have been built. Where children had no schools, these have been provided for. Hospitals have been built –
[HON. MEMBER: Arikuramba Matshalaga] – THE DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, order.
THE MINISTER OF INDIGENISATION AND
EMPOWERMENT: Madam Speaker, we have also seen communities
acquire the necessary equipment like borehole drilling equipment. I want to congratulate the communities in the Shurugwi area, the
Tongogara Community Scheme, we purchased one of the state of the art borehole drilling machines. This is benefitting the entire community.
Not only them, we also want to congratulate the Gwanda Community Trust which has gone on to acquire their own necessary borehole drilling machine. You will all agree with me that Matabeleland South is a drought prone region which will require that, of necessity water is proved to our communities. This has being done because of the indigenization programme.
Further to that, even in the Bindura community, boreholes are being drilled, schools built because of these funds. In the Ngezi community, I want to congratulate those two communities who have been able to buy their own motorised graders to ensure that the roads and the necessary infrastructure are maintained through the empowerment programme. The list of beneficiaries comprised of all the people who live in these areas.
Secondly, we are now just at the verge of completion of the Mashonaland East Community Trust that will also ensure that the communities in Mashonaland East province, do benefit and can start benefitting from their resources in the construction of the necessary equipment, necessary infrastructure, buy the necessary equipment and move the process of development further.
Madam Speaker, the second set of beneficiaries are the workers of this great country. We have seen the empowerment of workers at Schweppes. Over 30% shareholding has passed hands into the workers at Schweppes. We have registered a number of worker employee schemes across the country and we are pleased with the support the workers are giving to these initiatives. We are seeing already some of these companies and the workers’ ownership schemes going out there to build necessary housing units that will house the workers.
Secondly, with regards to Zimplats, Unki, Mimosa and all the other companies where we are carrying out our programmes, workers are entitled to a shareholding that will ensure that at the end of their service, workers are not left poor. You will agree with me that our workers are the greatest asset that our nation has. They work underground for years under very difficult conditions and for the first time as Government, we have recognised our workers, hence the empowerment of the workers.
BAT for instance, has just completed a process where the workers have been empowered to the extent of 10%. Workers at BAT now are proud shareholders of their own companies and many of the entities. At Old Mutual, workers are now shareholders to the extent of 10%. Of course, Madam Speaker, we have come across some of the challenges of individuals who want to sabotage the programme but the programme will not fail. I am saying so because we should have completed the empowerment of the workers at Barclays Bank, Standard Bank and et cetera. This afternoon I authorised the setting up of the Barclays Bank Share Ownership Scheme that will allow the employees at Barclays to become proud shareholders to the extent of 10% in the bank. What this does Madam Speaker, is substantially changing the circumstances of the majority of our people.
Apart from that Madam Speaker, I have talked about the structures that we have come up with in the financial service sector. I have talked about the empowerment that we are carrying out for the workers in the mining sector and across industry, Meikles empowerment scheme and et cetera. – [AN HON. MEMBER: Inaudible interjection] – That is one of the beneficiaries of the indigenisation. – [MR. MUSHONGA: Was that indigenization?] –
Madam Speaker – [AN. HON. MEMBER: Tauraka] – through the indigenisation programme, we have further gone to ensure that the youths in the various areas and communities where the empowerment programmes are taking place, the young people become beneficiaries. I will talk about the young people in the Nyanga community who are now benefitting from this programme. We supported the young people to the tune of $250 000 and we are pleased as a Ministry to inform this honourable House that now, over 1 000 of our young people are engaged in productive production of potatoes in the eastern region of our country of Manicaland, Nyanga in particular.
Further to that Madam Speaker, US$10 million was made available through the empowerment initiatives at CABS. This programme, I will be able to give you all the names because I have about 6 000 names of the young people who have benefitted from the programme, I am sure. I will ask the colleagues to bear with me as I give you the 6 000 names – [AN HON. MEMBER: Aah!] – That was the question. The question wants me to answer and give the names of all the beneficiaries and I have got over 6 000. I want to be able to read one by one so that there is no doubt:
1.Rabson Mangwende, Mashonaland East Province, benefitted to the extent of US$3 000;
Madam Speaker, what I think I will do is to leave the details with the officials [list of names not supplied] but I am pleased to say, with the CABS facility, over US$4,7 million has now been disbursed across the country to our young people. On that facility, close to about US$5 million is still available for us to continue empowering our young people. Admittedly, there have been challenges, bureaucratic ones but those we are overcoming. I am pleased to say the quality of the programmes and projects that our young people are coming up with are very encouraging.
Secondly, through this same agreement and arrangement, with Stanbic Bank we were able to structure a transaction with them to the tune of US$20 million and to date over US$5,3 million has been made available and our young people have accessed these resources. There is about US$14,7 million to go. The same also goes for our facility with CBZ where over US$2 million has been made available to our young people across the country. Consequently, in all these facilities, over
5 000 jobs have been created and we are pleased to say that our young people are getting to grips with the responsibility of taking part in running their own economy.
I want to say in conclusion, that as we empower the young people of this country, we are also aware that our women and the disabled must be and should be part and parcel of these structures. To that extent, in the BAT Empowerment Trust, it is going to be benefitting the women and the youth of this country. This speaks to almost about US$14 million worth of stocks that will now be in the hands of our women and the young people. We believe all these will go a long way in uplifting and ensuring that the majority of our people become beneficiaries and are involved in the economy.
Apart from that, Madam Speaker, a special arrangement has been made for the disabled members of our community through an advisory community chaired by one of our young people Mabhaudhi, who has been working very closely with us to structure a disabled facility to support young people in this sector. Apart from that, we believe in general and in total that the empowerment programme is uplifting the spirits of many of our people. It is a programme that will intensify after the elections. It is a programme that will ensure that Zimbabweans take full ownership of their resources.
Madam Speaker, I am pleased also to say entities and companies in this country have realised that there is no way out other than to join the State and ensure that we empower the people of Zimbabwe. What I want to disabuse colleagues in this room from is to undermine a process that will lead to the upliftment of the majority of our people. We must be well aware that there is majority who must benefit from the laws that this country embarks upon. Madam Speaker, on that note I want to thank you very much.
- MUSHONGA: Follow up question Madam Speaker. May
the minister advise this House whether the Brain Works Consultancy which he engaged in his indigenisation enterprises was awarded to him by the State Procurement Board, Tender Board or they are his colleagues? Why did he resist enquiries from the Anti-Corruption Commission when they visited Brain Works? Is the minister hiding a skeleton in his wardrobe?
- KASUKUWERE: When a lawyer talks about hiding
skeletons, I do not understand which university he attended but let me answer. First and foremost, the board has a responsibility of advising Government and they are the ones authorised to sit and ensure that they have a consultancy that works with us and that will ultimately advise the minister. So, that is to do with the Brain Works.
Secondly Madam Speaker, with regards to the Anti-Corruption
Commission, nobody ran away from the Anti-Corruption Commission. If they did come with defective documentation and they have dirty hands, Madam Speaker, our programme is available for scrutiny by anybody.
But, what we will also not entertain is when it is carried out in a manner to try and destabilise the whole agenda, and when it is carried out because individuals want to satisfy their ambitions. We will not allow for the derailment of the national programmes Madam Speaker, to the extent that the Anti-Corruption Commission is still free to come and discuss. But, what we will also not allow is for them to corruptly obtain search warrants. What we will not allow for is that they are allowed to break the laws of this land. No, they must follow the laws like anybody else. Thank you very much Madam Speaker.
- MATSHALAGA: Thank you very much Madam Speaker.
May I take this opportunity to congratulate the Hon. Minister of
Indigenisation for a very comprehensive presentation?
My question is, Hon. Minister, you have pointed out that the youths are engaged in all sorts of business activities, is it possible to inform this House examples of areas in which the youths are involved in? I thank you.
THE MINISTER OF YOUTH DEVELOPMENT,
INDIGENISATION AND EMPOWERMENT (MR.
KASUKUWERE): Madam Speaker, I would like to thank Hon.
Matshalaga for a very good question that he has raised and posed to me. Apart from the entrepreneurial programmes that my ministry is running, we are also carrying out a lot of campaigns around the vocational training programmes. We ensure that young people are given the necessary skills to better themselves and participate in the economy to the extent that the TREE programme, the training for rural and economic empowerment Programme has taken off with the support of our cooperating partners. We have spread this programme to over six provinces to date and young people are being given the necessary skills for them to subsist and look after themselves.
We are pleased in that our young people are showing lots of enthusiasm and it is necessary that we create a base of young people who can be relied upon, a decade from now to run our economy.
Apart from that Madam Speaker, we are also empowering our young people on issues to do with their health, HIV and so on because we believe that a healthy mind and a healthy body are good for the country. These are some of the centres that we believe, as we empower our young people entrepreneurially, we must also look after our young people in terms of their skills and in terms of their health. Thank you Madam Speaker.
- ZHUWAO: Thank you Madam Speaker. I would like to ask
the minister to clarify the conflicting policy positions that seem to be coming from the leader of the opposition, Hon. Tsvangirai that the indigenisation policy will be reversed?
- CHITANDO: On a point of order Madam Speaker. The
hon. member seems to say that we have an opposition in here and as far as I understand, we do not have any opposition political party in this House. The second thing is that he knows correctly that his relative was clearly defeated in an election by ….
THE DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon. member, what is your point of
order?
- CHITANDO: My point of order is that we do not have an opposition party in this House.
THE DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon. Zhuwao, can you withdraw
that?
- ZHUWAO: Thank you Madam Speaker. I will rephrase my
question?
THE DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon. Zhuwao, can you kindly
withdraw what you said about the opposition?
- ZHUWAO: I withdraw Madam Speaker. My question is to
the minister, can he clarify the conflicting message that is coming from the Hon. Prime Minister, that indigenisation will be reversed?
THE MINISTER OF YOUTH DEVELOPMENT,
INDIGENISATION AND EMPOWERMENT (MR.
KASUKUWERE): Thank you Madam Speaker and I want to thank the hon. member for his question. It could be a question of people indicating left and turning right.
Madam Speaker, there is a Government policy position to ensure that the people of this country are empowered. There was a Parliament of this country which sat down to debate and passed the Empowerment Bill. After that, it was signed into law by His Excellency.
- MUNENGAMI: I think the Hon. Minister is answering a
question which is not directed to him. He is not the Prime Minister and that question should have been directed to the Prime Minister of this country. Thank you.
THE DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order hon. member, I think the
minister has a right to answer that question since it is directed to his ministry.
- KASUKUWERE: Thank you very much Madam Speaker
for your wisdom. I indicated earlier on that some of the conflicting policy positions arise because some individuals indicate left and turn right.
Secondly, it might be a difficulty in facing up to reality and advising bankers who might be white or so, that the country has taken a different position. What I can say Madam Speaker is that this policy will not be reversed. This is the national policy, this is the Government policy and this is what we are pursuing. We intend to ensure that the people of this country do benefit from the resources of this nation.
Further to that Madam Speaker, with specific regards to the question posed by my colleague. I am sure it might be a question of two messages for different audiences. When we are in Cabinet with our colleagues, we agree but at night depending on who they will be meeting they disagree.
I do not take seriously the view by the MDC-T, our partners in Government that at night they behave as opposition party and during the day, they behave as ruling party.
- MAVHIMA: I need to find out from the minister, how many
of those have defaulted, if any, and what measures are in place to avoid defaults in future so that this fund can become revolving?
- KASUKUWERE: I would like to thank the question by Hon. Mavhima and provide the following statistics. With regards to the CABS facility, to date we have had about 52% defaults and we are aware of why many of our young people have been defaulting.
I am giving the statistics and if the hon. member across the table feels it is benefiting only ZANU PF nothing stops them from asking their young people to join ZANU PF. With regards to their defaults, it is as a result of young people requiring necessary skills. We are now going through a process of continuous training to upgrade our young people’s capacity to run businesses.
Secondly, with regards to the CBZ facility – that facility has performed to an extent very well, about 45% defaults. We are aware that we must continue mentoring our young people, sitting down with them and ensuring that they pay back the loans. This kind of spirit and attitude – I am sure if we continue insisting on our young people they will be better businessmen. Notwithstanding that, it is an accepted fact that in any business venture that is run, there will certainly be some failures. I am not very disappointed at this point with our young people. I think with the right support and training we will be able to get there.
RECRUITMENT OF SOLDIERS BY ZNA
- MR. GARADHI asked the Minister of Defence to explain and justify why the Zimbabwe National Army keeps on recruiting and training soldiers when the fiscus is under performing?
THE MINISTER OF DEFENCE (MR MNANGAGWA):
Thank you very much for according me the opportunity to respond to
Hon. Garadhi’s question. Mr Speaker Sir, Sections 211 and 212 of the
Constitution of Zimbabwe state that for the purpose of defending Zimbabwe, there shall be Defence Forces consisting of an Army, Air Force and such other branches, if any, of the Defence Forces as may be provided for by or under an Act of Parliament. The existence of the Defence Forces is therefore a constitutional requirement.
The current authorised strength is 40 000 members and currently we stand at only 36 000, falling short by 4 000. Presently, the filled posts are well below the authorised strength. As such, the current engagements are not massive or over recruitment. I also wish to remind Hon. Members that due to deaths and retirements, among other factors, the force’s strength continues to dwindle and we need to replace the retired and dead members by recruiting new members into the system.
More importantly, it should be borne in mind that the majority of the members who founded the ZNA were former freedom fighters who, since 1980, have attained the retirement age. The youngest of such members at Independence was 18 years of age and 33 years down the line, those members are now 51 years old and have to retire according to the regulations.
Any pause in replacing members wasted through retirement, resignations, deaths, court martial dismissals and other causes, creates shortfalls which take time to fill thereby affecting the strength of the ZDF and its effectiveness. The ZDF therefore needs to continuously recruit as part of the replacement process.
For Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) to achieve total defence of the nation and uphold its constitutional mandate, it must always be ready to respond to any threats at any time in the correct strength and correct level of training. It is important to note that security goes beyond physical protection but it also covers other pillars like human, environment, economic and political aspects of national security in order to fulfill the purpose of defending the nation.
Training of the ZDF members is a process and not an event. It takes six months to train a general duty soldier and eighteen months to train an officer cadet. Because of the length of these training cycles, any gaps in terms of recruitment creates lapses in national security.
The ZDF consists of different ranks and the duties of these ranks are commensurate to certain age groups for efficiency. For example, a private soldier must be in a certain age group (18 – 25 years of age) to effectively perform expected duties. As such, there is need for continuous injection of new blood.
Military threats should be understood in the context of an escalation of all other threats. The Defence Forces therefore are the ultimate insurer/guarantors to the survival of any nation. Its existence and preparedness is therefore critical whether or not the economy is performing well. It must also be remembered that for the economy to perform, there is need for peace and stability in the country.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD WELFARE: I
move that Orders of the Day, Numbers 1 to 17 be stood down until
Order of the Day, Number 18 has been disposed of.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
RATIFICATION OF THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION
FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON TOBACCO CONTROL
THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD WELFARE
(DR. MADZORERA): I move the motion standing in my name:
THAT WHEREAS, Subsection (1) of Section 111B of the Constitution provided 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;
AND WHEREAS the World Health Organisation Framework
Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) was opened for signature on 16 June to 22 June 2003 in Geneva and from 29 June, 2003 to 28
June in New York;
AND WHEREAS the Government of the Republic of Zimbabwe is not a signatory to the aforementioned Convention, and is desirous of becoming a party to the Convention;
AND WHEREAS Article 35 of the World Health Organisation
Framework Convention on Tobacco Control provides for the deposition of instruments of ratification or accession with the depository;
NOW THEREFORE in terms of Subsection (1) of Section 111B of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, this House resolves that the aforesaid Convention be and is hereby approved for accession.
Preamble:
Tobacco use is one of the leading preventable causes of death. The global tobacco epidemic kills nearly 6 million people each year, of which more than 600 000 are people exposed to second hand smoke. Tobacco causes disease in nearly every part of the body that you may think of. The major pathology caused is cancer, and this can occur in the lung, the throat, the eyes, the limbs and everywhere. Other diseases caused include peripheral vascular disease, chronic respiratory disease, cardiovascular conditions, tooth decay, hair loss, premature ageing, hearing loss, impotence and stomach ulcers. Tobacco is a major predisposing factor for most non-communicable diseases. Passive smoking is just as dangerous as active smoking.
The WHO FCTC was developed in response to the globalisation of the tobacco epidemic, and is an evidence-based treaty that reaffirms the right of all people to the highest standard of health. The Convention represents a milestone for the promotion of public health and provides new legal dimensions for international health cooperation. Let me underscore once again the fact that the WHO FCTC is purely a health Convention that seeks to promote and protect the health of the public in our countries.
Article 3 clearly states the objective as follows:
“The objective of this Convention and its protocols is to protect present and future generations from the devastating health, social, environmental and economic consequences of tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke by providing a framework for tobacco control measures to be implemented by the Parties at the national, regional and international levels in order to reduce continually and substantially the prevalence of tobacco use and exposure to tobacco smoke.”
The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco control (WHO
FCTC) is the first international treaty negotiated under the auspices of
WHO. It was adopted by the World Health Assembly on 21 May 2003 and entered into force on 27 February 2005. It has since become one of the most rapidly and widely embraced treaties in United Nations history.
As at November 2011, the FCTC had 174 Parties. In Africa, 40 out of 46 WHO Afro-region countries have signed, ratified the FCTC and have become parties. Three countries namely Zimbabwe, Malawi and Eritrea have not signed the FCTC. The other three namely Cote d’voir, Ethiopia and Mozambique have signed but not yet ratified. The deadline for signing was June 2004 but countries like Zimbabwe which did not sign still have an opportunity to be parties to this Convention through accession. Let me now say a little bit about the guiding principles of the FCTC as set out in Article 4:
- Every person should be informed of the health consequences, addictive nature and mortal threat posed by tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke.
- We need strong political commitment to develop and support comprehensive multisectoral measures and coordinated responses, taking into consideration:
- the need to take measures to protect all persons from exposure to tobacco smoke;
- the need to take measures to prevent the initiation to promote and support cessation, and to decrease the consumption of tobacco products in any form;
- the need to take measures to promote the participation of indigenous individuals and communities in all tobacco control programmes;
- the need to address gender-specific issues in tobacco control strategies.
- International cooperation, particularly transfer of technology, knowledge and financial assistance.
- Comprehensive multisectoral measures and responses to reduce consumption of all tobacco products to prevent the incidence of diseases and premature disability and mortality due to tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke.
- Deal with issues relating to liability.
- The importance of technical and financial assistance to aid the economic transition of tobacco growers and workers whose livelihoods are seriously affected as a consequence of tobacco control programmes.
- The participation of civil society as essential in achieving the objective of the Convention and its protocols.
Article 5 sets out the obligations of the State under this protocol, and these include employing effective legislative, executive, administrative and other measures to achieve the stated objective. In particular, the State must protect public health policies so developed from commercial and other vested interests of the tobacco industry according to national law.
The main provisions of the QHO FCTC include demand side and supply side management as follows:
The core demand reduction provisions in the WHO FCTC are
contained in articles 6-14:
Price and tax measures to reduce the demand for tobacco, particularly for the youth, and may include restrictions on the importations of duty free tobacco products by travellers.
Non-price measures to reduce the demand for tobacco, namely:
- Protection from exposure to tobacco smoke in indoor working places, buses, kombis, and other public places.
- Regulation of the contents of tobacco products;
- Regulation of tobacco product disclosures, including disclosure of all toxic constituents and emissions.
- Ensuring that tobacco product packaging and labelling do not promote a tobacco product by any means that are false, misleading, deceptive or likely to create an erroneous impression about its characteristics, health effects, hazards or emissions, including any term, descriptor, trademark, figurative or any other sign that directly or indirectly creates the false impression that a particular tobacco product is less harmful than other tobacco products. These may include terms such as “low tar”. “light”, “ultra-light”, or “mild”. Health warnings describing the harmful effects of tobacco use will also be prescribed for every packet of tobacco product.
- Education, communication, training and public awareness of tobacco control issues, in particular the health risks and the addictive nature of tobacco consumption and exposure.
- Put in place a comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship subject to our legal environment; and,
- Promote cessation of tobacco use and provide adequate treatment for tobacco dependence.
The core supply reduction provisions are contained in articles 1517:
- Combat illicit trade in tobacco products; this includes putting in place a tracking and tracing regime to assist in investigation of illicit trade.
- Prohibit sales to and by minors; prohibit the manufacture and sale of toys, sweets, snacks and other items that appeal to minors, in the form of tobacco products.
- Provide support for economically viable alternative activities for tobacco growers and workers, in cooperation with regional and international organisations.
Article 19 deals with issues of civil and criminal liability, including issues of compensation. State parties are to cooperate with each other through the COP and exchange current information on health effects of tobacco, share information on legislation and regulations, and assist each other in legal proceedings relating to criminal or civil liability.
Mechanisms for scientific and technical cooperation and exchange of information are set out in Articles 20-22. Parties are to initiate and cooperate in research that addresses determinants and consequences of tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke, as well as research for identification of viable alternative crops. National, regional and global surveillance of tobacco should be integrated into the tobacco control programme.
Article 21 sets out the reporting requirements under this Convention, and the information that should be reported on and shared by the parties. The reporting interval has been set at 2 years by the COP.
Article 23 to 27, to establish the institutional arrangements and financial resources of the Convention.
The Conference of the Parties is the governing body of the WHO FCTC and comprises all Parties to the Convention. It regularly reviews the implementation of the Convention and takes decisions necessary to promote its effective implementation. The Conference of the Parties may also adopt protocol, annexes and amendments to the Convention. Its regular sessions are held every two years.
The Convention Secretariat serves the Conference of the Parties and its subsidiary bodies. It supports Parties in fulfilling their obligations under the Convention and translates the decisions of the Conference of the Parties into programme activities. The Secretariat cooperates in its work with relevant departments of WHO and other international organisations and bodies. Both national and international resources shall be employed to achieve the objective of this Convention.
Zimbabwe wishes to accede to the FCTC with the following
interpretive declaration:
- “The Republic of Zimbabwe declares that the national strategy targeted at encouraging tobacco production and exports will continue to be pursued because of tobacco’s critical contribution to the GDP”.
- In addition, Zimbabwe declares it to be imperative that the
Convention be an effective instrument for the international mobilisation of technical and financial resources in order to help developing countries to make economic alternatives to the agricultural production of tobacco viable, as part of their national strategies for sustainable development.
- Zimbabwe also declares that it will not support any proposal with a view to utilising the Framework Convention for Tobacco Control of the World Health Organisation as an instrument for discriminatory practices to free trade and competition.
- The Government of Zimbabwe declares that, in the context of Article 5.3 and noting the chapeau to this declaration, consultations in respect of this treaty will be in accordance with the laws of Zimbabwe.
- The Republic of Zimbabwe declares that its interpretation, in the context of Article 21.1 (e) (4) of the Convention, is that the implementation of Article 13.4 (d) of the Convention, concerning disclosure to relevant governmental authorities of expenditures by the tobacco industry on advertising, promotion and sponsorship not yet prohibited, will be subject to national laws regarding confidentiality and privacy.
- In considering the protection of the country’s interests upon acceding to the FCTC, it should be noted that Article 30 of the FCTC states unequivocally that; “no reservation can be made to this treaty”
In this regard, Zimbabwe, therefore signs the FCTC with the
Interpretative Declaration as per the United Nations Treaty Clause 3.6.2
Interpretative Declaration. This is the essence of the FCTC Madam Speaker and I lay it before the House for approval. Thank you Madam Speaker.
Motion put and agreed to.
On the motion of THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD WELFARE, the House adjourned at Twenty Seven Minutes to Five
th June, 2013. o’clock p.m. until Tuesday, 11
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Tuesday, 7th May, 2013.
The Senate met at Half-past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(MADAM PRESIDENT in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENTS BY MADAM PRESIDENT
NON-ADVERSE REPORT RECEIVED FROM THE
PARLIAMENTARY LEGAL COMMITTEE
MADAM PRESIDENT: I have to inform the Senate that I have received a non-adverse report from the Parliamentary Legal Committee on all the Statutory Instruments published in the Government Gazette during the month of April 2013.
SWITCHING OFF OF CELL PHONES
MADAM PRESIDENT: May I remind hon. senators to switch
off your cell phones or put them on silent.
MOTION
PRESIDENTIAL SPEECH: DEBATE ON ADDRESS
First Order read: Adjourned debate on motion in reply to the Presidential Speech.
Question again proposed.
*SENATOR MANDABA: I want to add my voice to the speech
that was given by His Excellency, the President. I am grateful for the issue of indigenisation that was mentioned. I observed that where there have been community share schemes; there has been evidence of development like the construction of clinics. However, there are certain areas like Masvingo where I come from; we have not seen this development. They are yet to receive funding from the community share scheme.
We would want to thank His Excellency, the President for the job well done in that we want uniformity in terms of the community share scheme so that everyone across the country will be happy. The present scheme was giving fertiliser and other inputs. It was unfortunate that there was drought in Masvingo and as a result people are in dire need of relief. We are hopeful that maize is going to be sourced to alleviate this drought so that people will not starve.
Our major dam which is Kyle Dam is 70% full and we are informed that 7% is the only amount of water which is usable. This means that we do not have enough water in our dams. We urge the relevant ministries to look into these issues so that people do not starve especially when we are now going into the harmonised elections. People should go and exercise their vote whilst they are not being affected by the drought. I thank you.
*SENATOR MUCHIHWA: Thank you Madam President, I
would want to comment briefly on the Presidential Speech –[HON.
SENATORS: Inaudible interjections]- Have I spoken before.
MADAM PRESIDENT: Yes, at least you relieved me because
you realised you have spoken.
*SENATOR MUCHIHWA: It has been long, we have forgotten,
therefore you should have let me continue.
+SENATOR MLOTSHWA: I have not spoken before on the
Presidential Speech; even if you refer to records they will reveal what I am saying.
Thank you Madam President, I stood so that I also add my voice to the speech that was delivered by His Excellency in Parliament. I want to associate myself to the section where he spoke on agriculture and that on drought, especially us who come from Region 5, we realise that there is serious drought.
We have seen the plans that Government has for the people in that region especially due to the fact that this drought is due to lack of rain not that people did not plough. We realise that so many people have managed to plough but, because of lack of rains everything that they had ploughed was destroyed. Therefore, we do not even know how people are going to feed themselves.
He also said that, even though there is drought, there are programmes that are implemented to help people who are faced with drought. We have not really seen it especially in Matopo where I come from and also my neighbour constituency Plumtree-Mangwe. We realise that the food under the DAs; who are chairpersons of the Drought Relief Programmes in order to secure food for their districts, programmes are not implemented well, especially those which deal with feeding people, they are linked to political parties.
His Excellency’s speech clearly outlined that people will be feeding from this scheme. We realised that if it is said President’s donation, it is a food programme that covers everyone in Zimbabwe not a specific party. If you go to rural areas, people are asked to carry party cards so that they can have access to the food that is being distributed. We feel that this food which is distributed under the DAs is supposed to be a programme that is well managed.
Since we have also experienced hail storms that destroyed homesteads and animals, especially in my area you will realise that so many of our livestock was affected by hail storm. In as much as Ministry of Agriculture is trying by all means to put programmes that can help, still it is not enough. Now that the hail storm again has started, I am asking myself what programmes are there that the Government is planning to implement that can help the people who are faced with drought. As I have said that the Drought Relief programmes are not really clear on how they are implemented – I hope the Government will have plans for such areas and be able to help everyone.
On education, the President touched on so many things – I am trying to find a proper term for this. There was a programme that I saw which was talking of the girl child who is unfortunate or a school dropout. We realise that they are not talking of boys but girls only. I have realised that those boys who drop from school are left out and I feel that Government should try to balance the issue of gender not only to a girl child. Most of these boys’ school drop-outs are not assisted and are the same people who will become robbers in most cases for they have nothing to do; in our fields there is nothing that they can do or even try to harvest. Therefore, they end up thinking of being naughty since they would not be having anything to do. This is all I have to say for today.
Thank you Madam President.
*SENATOR KABAYANJIRI: Thank you Madam President. I
rise to speak on the Presidential speech. I was mostly touched by the contributions of the hon. members about the Presidential speech. As peoples’ representatives, we heard what he said. As we leave our different constituencies, our people understood and they understand very well what His Excellency will be saying.
If you were to allow me Madam President, to talk about what people say whenever His Excellency will have given his speech; what are their feelings or response? Madam President I should not be ashamed to say what they say. It is an honour to have a leader of his stature. You will recall that the President’s speech mainly concentrated on the bread and butter issues of the people in the communal lands. He was talking about irrigation, not merely Tokwe-Mkorsi and major dams but he made reference to smaller dams which can support the majority of the people in communal lands and commercial farms. This is the type of intelligence that one can discern from a leader who has the interest of his people at heart. I am not ashamed, especially when we talk about the issue of the Referendum. When His Excellency addresses people, he urges peace in this land. I would like to thank hon. members in this Senate who reiterated the same words of peace. It shows that all of us are in agreement that we have a leader who is principled and have his people at heart. Madam President, we should put our act together, we should bury our differences, despite our political differences, we should have leaders who are upright and leaders who are doing well. His
Excellency, the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Robert Gabriel
Mugabe should have more years added to his life. Thank you Madam President.
SENATOR MARAVA: I would also want to zero in on the
President’s call for peace and security in the country. Madam President, I would like to thank His Excellency for his call for peace and nonviolent conditions in the country. The whole nation is very happy, especially when the President speaks of zero-tolerance to violence. He is supported by everybody. We come from districts where the villagers are all happy when they hear the President speaking of peace and nontolerance to political violence. They are all happy especially now when we are on the road towards elections. Those words by our national President are a pride to every citizen and we would like to thank him very much for that. The only thing that is probably left now is to see to it that all national organisations or organs are dancing to the tune that the President is calling.
Madam President, if I may quote the President’s actual words recently, he addressed the nation and said “faka them – namely violent people – faka them emajeleni. [AN HON. MEMBER: Amajeli] – emajeleni,emajeli whatever! Remember I do not understand Ndebele. He said faka them emajeli, that is what he said, did you hear that? That was a celebrated speech by every citizen in this country because the majority of people want peace, in fact, they need it. Even the violent person also needs peace. Madam President, if we could, as Zimbabweans just tow what the President has asked us to do, we would be a very happy family and happy country. I am only asking that everybody tries to listen and adhere to the President’s speech. Thank you.
*SENATOR CHIEF NTABENI: Thank you Madam President
for giving me this opportunity. I thank His Excellency for what he did. Wherever the President goes, he has the people at heart even when he addresses a meeting, he talks of peace. If there is no peace there is no progress. What makes us happy is that the President want people to eat, even his enemies, he wants them to receive food. That is no mean feat, we thank him for that.
Madam President, my most important message is that the President has a lot of people to care for and the food that is being distributed is little. There should be additional quantities for distribution. This year, especially in the entire Midlands Province, we are going to bury people because we are receiving little food for consumption. We pray for additional quantities of food to be distributed because a lot of people in Midlands do not have food. I have heard that in Matabeleland, cattle are dying, the same applies to Midlands. We do not have sufficient water supplies for people to drink. We would like to send a word to His Excellency the President, that there are too many people and the little rice that was given was not enough. There was only 2 kilograms given per family, which is inadequate. However, we are grateful for the little that we got because it is in our culture to do that. With those few words, I thank you.
+SENATOR A. SIBANDA: I thank you Madam President for
giving me the opportunity to add my voice on the speech by His Excellency, the President, R. G. Mugabe. As an elder person in the nation, who is leading his people, it is very wise to see the President advising his children. He emphasised that we have to keep on improving our nation especially on peace and education. A peaceful nation is blessed by God and when we pray, God will listen to us and what we ask from God, He will always listen. My wish is that, since the
President has spoken of the need for peace in the country - in my opinion, it is more like when the head of the family has spoken to his kids, he would have drawn a red line and no one can dispute the words. I therefore feel that we need to respect our core values like other nations do.
We are a nation that does not discriminate each other. We realise that other people have already started discriminating each other on the basis of political party affiliation. However, when the father of the family has spoken, especially on peace, then there are rumours that people have started acting against that call; it is a sign that they are disrespecting the President. I wish people could follow what the President has said. For a nation without laws or without values is not a blessed nation. Many things may come to us, especially drought, but once we obey what has been said we realize that we will be a blessed nation. If we go back to what used to happen, children used to obey their parents and therefore elderly people should also obey their children. Nowadays the elderly people are the ones who are raping their children and I know in our country there are so many people, most of us Christians, we should try to work hand in hand with the president and assist each other so that whatever has been said should not end here at Parliament but that when we speak, even other nations can listen to what we say.
Zimbabwe is a big nation, but most of the time we ask for small nations to come and intervene, especially when there is disagreement, while Zimbabwe as a nation was supposed to be the nation that is leading other countries. Our nation is the nation that has a big President who can lead all the African nations and I know that there are few Presidents from the African continent who can be like him. Once he has spoken that there is need for peace to prevail within the nation, we should listen to him and not go against him. Once we go against his word, when we go outside our country people will laugh at us. I wish that God could guide us. Even during the referendum, God was with us because there was no violence or any act of misconduct that was recorded. Madam President, I thank you with the words that I have spoken. I also thank you for the words that you have said.
SENATOR CHIEF MTSHANE: Thank you Madam President.
I stand up to wind up the debate on the Presidential Address on the occasion of the Official Opening of the Fifth Session of the Seventh Parliament of Zimbabwe.
First of all Madam President, I would like to thank all the hon. senators who contributed in this august House on the motion that I raised on the speech by His Excellency President R. G. Mugabe, on the 27th of November, 2012. I would like to take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude on the overwhelming response to this motion my hon. senators from all political parties represented in this House. Madam President, most of the members were concerned about the lack of support towards agriculture as the mainstay in our economy. I would like to mention the members who contributed towards that concern. They are Hon. Senator Mumvuri, Senator Manyeruke. Pardon me because I have to refer to my notes because it is almost six months since the members discussed this motion, so it is not easy for me to remember everything that was said six months ago.
There was also present, Senator J. Dube, Senator Dete and Senator
Makunde. They all lamented the lack of support towards agriculture. Senator Chief Chiduku and Senator Muchihwa pointed out the serious challenges facing the chiefs in the communal areas, particularly on lack of food that is supposed to be distributed to the communities. Senator Chimbudzi expressed her gratitude towards the State being granted an opportunity to host the prestigious United Nations Conference that will be held in Victoria Falls on World Tourism Day.
Senator Makamure urged the President to intervene in the issue of the fourth arm of the State that is the media fraternity, in enabling the professional reporting of news. Madam president, Senator Chabuka thanked His Excellency… –(Laughter)-
MADAM PRESIDENT: Order, order.
SENATOR CHIEF MTSHANE: I am sorry if I did not
pronounce the name well. Senator Chabuka thanked His Excellency for preaching the gospel of peace, which has also been mentioned by several members of the hon. senators this afternoon…
*MADAM PRESIDENT: Hon. senators who are laughing, if we were to give you Ndebele names would you be able to pronounce them?
So let us respect that at least he is trying. You may continue hon. Chief.
SENATOR CHIEF MTSHANE: He talked about the gospel of
peace and quite a number of Senators this afternoon have also talked about this gospel, that the President talked about on peace, particularly towards harmonised elections. I think this is important for us so that we can achieve our mission on harmonised elections.
Senator Mtingwende talked about depressed cotton prices, particularly in the area she comes from, that the prices of cotton were depressed and as a result most farmers may not continue ploughing cotton this season. Senator Ncube lamented the revamp of the
President’s curriculum so that it can cater for what we used to call skills training during the regime so that this can be brought back because it is not all students who are bright but that other students could excel well in skills training. Senator Chisunga, also talked about peace and particularly peace in this august Senate that the peace should start in this august Senate and cascade to lower tiers. Senator Mbambo talked about empowerment of our communities in Zimbabwe particularly under the indigenisation and Empowerment Act and said this is not unique in
Zimbabwe and during the regime there was empowerment at that time.
In a nutshell Madam President, almost all Senators talked about lack of funding towards agriculture. Unless and until we subsidise agriculture, the bread basket for Zimbabwe, we will be day dreaming. Indigenisation and empowerment of the communities was also echoed by most senators. It is only reasonable to intensify that in order to achieve meaningful development for our poor communities. Section 14 under Chapter 2 of the Final Draft contributing to Zimbabwe which was applauded by the majority vote in the last referendum talks of empowerment and employment creation and I want to quote what that
Section 14 says, “State and all institutions and urgencies of Government at every level must endeavour to facilitate and take measures to empower through appropriate transparent fair and just affirmative action all marginalised persons groups and communities in Zimbabwe”.
It goes on to say, “at all times, the State and all Institutions and urgencies of Government at every level must ensure that appropriate and adequate measures are undertaken to create employment for all
Zimbabweans, especially women and youth”. Madam President, we endeavour to create as much of employment as we can in this country. I want to refer to one industry in Zimbabwe and that is ZISCO Steel. Where a company comes into partnership with Government, I cannot remember how many years I think it is over a year now. It came up into a partnership with a company in Mauritius to restart ZISCO Steel and ZISCO Steel was employing hundreds of people. I am not sure how many they are including their families? I am just referring to employees they were just in hundreds. But to date Madam President nothing has been done. And we are wondering who is seating on the fence for that company to start after having come to a partnership with another company because those companies; or that company will not wait for Zimbabwe they will move to another country and as a result we shall lose. So, I think we should take up those opportunities as and when they come and utillise them immediately if not yesterday. We can only chew that section of the Draft if we create employment, a good example I have already given of ZISCO.
Madam President, in conclusion, I would like to commend all the hon. members for displaying high levels of political maturity during debate on this motion. I would also like to take this opportunity to urge all of us to continue working together regardless of our political affiliation or inclinations towards rebuilding of Zimbabwe.
Madam President, having said that, I move that the motion be now
put.
Motion that a respectful address be presented to the President of
Zimbabwe as follows:
May it please you, Mr. President:
We, the Members of the Senate 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, - Put and agreed
to.
MOTION
CONDOLENCE ON THE DEATH OF THE HONOURABLE
VICE PRESIDENT JOHN LANDA NKOMO
Second Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Tragic and
Untimely Death of Hon. Vice President John Landa Nkomo.
Question again proposed.
SENATOR KATYAMAENZA: Thank you Madam President, I
would want to add a few words on the tragic death of the late Vice President John Landa Nkomo and his contribution to this nation. I will not say much, a lot has been said already. First and foremost, he was such a hero who freed us from the grip of colonialists. He was a uniter, he wanted the truth. We were ZANU and ZAPU we were trying to look for a way to liberate our selves. He explained to us that we should put our heads together to fight the colonialist so that we can enjoy our independence. Among the people who were with him were those who wanted to bring down the struggle they were traitors. As Zimbabweans we should do that so that we can continue to enjoy the heritage of our nation which was once colonised by the British. Mr. Nkomo was a peace loving man, he did his work whole heartedly and he showed us that he would be a good ruler for Zimbabwe. I say may the soul of the Late Vice President J. Nkomo rest in peace, we shall also follow his path. According to our culture we believe that when a person dies, he will become a spirit medium (mudzimu). I pray that his soul will possess a great son of the soil that will do the same as him and I also pray that the same spirit will lead us as ZANU PF. I thank you Madam President.
*SENATOR MUCHENJE: Thank you Mr. President for giving
me this opportunity to debate. I want to say a few words on the tragic loss of the Late Vice President. The entire nation mourned him and I believe that all the people knew him because of his good works. I
started working with the Late Vice President Nkomo in 1987, when we had the Unity Agreement. He came to work in Mashonaland West though the Unit Agreement originated from Matabeleland. I asked him whether he understood the Shona language and he told me that as son of the soil, the soil has no boundary and that if you are a nationalist, you must speak several languages. He said that he knew a lot of languages.
He continued to say that all those in the party and all those who wish to emulate him should be able to speak many languages and that helped me a lot. When we visited the Tongas, Ndebeles, Shonas and other tribes, he would speak in all those languages because he loved all the people. I was happy when he was working with the Ministry of Lands in the land redistribution exercise; I want to say that during that time a lot of women managed to get land. He gave first preference to women because he wanted to empower them. He believed that women are hard workers, I am a beneficiary of that scheme because he treated women as equal. During the time of the Unity Agreement, we were not united but he was able to bring the parties together throughout his life time up until the time of his death.
He did not look at the age of the person when he was helping people, neither was he partisan, he helped people of all walks of life. He was not selfish and if there was anything to share, he shared it with people. I would want to say that on behalf of my province, some of us managed to go and bury him but there are those who did not because of various reasons, but I say all the people are mourning with the Nkomo family. He was not a member of a party but a nationalist and I say that may his soul rest in peace. I want to send my condolences to Gogo Nkomo, may she find strength to live after the sad loss of his son. I thank you.
THE MINISTER OF LANDS AND RURAL
RESETTLEMENT: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT: No, there is a Senator who wants
to contribute.
*SENATOR CHIEF NEMBIRE: Thank you Mr. President, I
would want to believe that I am the last person. I want to say good things that were done by the Late Vice President. He worked in the Ministry of Local Government and worked with the Chiefs, he worked very hard to make sure that the Chiefs’ lives were improved. He came up with the Traditional Leaders Act and he built a school in his communal lands. The rich and the poor attend that same school and we want to commend him for that work. He participated in reconciliation and national healing where he spread the gospel of peace. There is a place in Panorapa Agricultural Centre called Mutungagore, he came there and assisted that centre which is responsible for tobacco research. He came to Mashonaland Central all the way from Matabeleland and he assisted in raising equipment for tobacco farming.
He told us that people must forgive each other and that people should not fight each other. With those few words, I say may the soul of Vice President Nkomo rest in peace.
+SENATOR K. DUBE: I thank you Madam President. Vice President Nkomo was my nephew born by a madhuve. I remember him so much especially on the tragedy that once happened when I was still a teacher. The two vice presidents John Nkomo and Joshua Nkomo were my nephews. There was a tragedy in 1987 where some teachers from the same school died in a bus accident.
In our region in Umzingwane, it was a good thing that after such a tragedy, the late father Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo and John Nkomo came to pass their condolence messages. They even came to the school that we were teaching. In our origins as the Ndebele or Shona people, we realise that someone who is dead is supposed to be remembered. Even from the Bible, it says that those who are dead are not dead forever. We believe that their spirit is with us and they are seeing everything that we are doing. We know that the Bible says they wake up in another state.
In the African culture we realise that they do memorial services and this weekend on Sunday, it has been said that people will be celebrating the life of the late John Nkomo. We see everything that is happening in other nations and also do that in remembrance of the late by naming streets after their names. I am therefore asking for my nephews to be remembered. I am saddened by what was supposed to be done in remembrance of the late Joshua Nkomo. We wanted to put his statue in Bulawayo; it was not clear and up to now it is not clear what exactly is happening. The late John Nkomo and the late Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo are heroes. In short, I would like to say may the late John Nkomo rest in peace. I thank you.
THE MINISTER OF LANDS AND RURAL
RESETTLEMENT: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 8th May, 2013.
On the motion of THE MINISTER OF LANDS AND RURAL RESETTLEMENT, the Senate adjourned at Twenty Five Minutes to
Four O’clock p.m.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Wednesday, 8th May, 2013.
The Senate met at Half-past Two
o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(MADAM PRESIDENT in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENTS BY MADAM PRESIDENT
NON-ADVERSE REPORTS RECEIVED FROM THE
PARLIAMENTARY LEGAL COMMITTEE
MADAM PRESIDENT: I have to inform the Senate that I have received non-adverse reports from the Parliamentary Legal Committee on all the Statutory Instruments published in the Government Gazette during the months of November and December 2012.
VOTE FOR A WOMAN CAMPAIGN LAUNCH
MADAM PRESIDENT: I also have to inform the Senate that the
Women In Political Support Unit (WIPSU) is inviting all members of Parliament, both males and females to a launch of the „vote for a woman‟ campaign. Its publications will include the gender audit for the political parties‟ baseline study for Binga, Shurugwi, Makoni and
Hwedza on women‟s participation and the 2012 Annual Report. The launch will take place on Thursday, 9th May, 2013 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Harare from 5:30pm to 8:00pm. I know how supportive the male senators are and I am sure they will be there to support this worthwhile cause.
SWITCHING OFF OF CELL PHONES
MADAM PRESIDENT: May I please remind hon. senators to
put their cell phones on silent or switch them off.
MOTION
CONDOLENCES ON THE DEATH OF HONOURABLE VICE
PRESIDENT JOHN LANDA NKOMO
First Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Tragic and Untimely Death of Hon. Vice President John Landa Nkomo.
Question again proposed.
SENATOR MAKAMURE: I rise to add my voice, although I did
not know the late Vice President, what I have heard from fellow
Senators, mainly what was said by the mover of the motion Hon. Senator Moyo, it shows the importance of the late Vice President. He was an important man to this country.
When I first knew of him, he was a Member of Parliament for the First Parliament of Zimbabwe up until the time of his death. The journey that he travelled is emulated, he was a man who worked on different tasks. He was tasked with different responsibilities and most of them were important portfolios like the one on Local Government and other portfolios. In the end, when we came up with the Government of National Unity, he was tasked with a very important task of reconciling the nation and healing; as a Minister of that portfolio. He was an important man. Why was he tasked with such an honerous portfolio; because of his expertise and experience in dealing with such important national issues together with the late Vice President Joshua Nkomo. He was also influential in coming up with the Unity Accord in 1987. Our President because of his wisdom, realised he was the only person to take that particular task of reconciliation.
We realise how important he was because after his death until now there has not been a replacement. Maybe his shoes are too difficult to fill he has proved that his acts are too difficult to follow such that there is no one who has replaced him in his Vice President capacity. The President can never have an able replacement who could be able to make sure that this country can be reconciled and be healed. Our President is wise, he was not just going to give anyone such an important responsibility. The truth is he was a very important man hence he has not been replaced in this position. Therefore, those who wish to follow in his footsteps should behave and humble themselves as the late Vice
President Nkomo. I thank you.
+SENATOR CHIEF NTABENI: Thank you Madam President
for giving me this opportunity. Today I will use Ndebele,...
MADAM PRESIDENT: I have asked the Hon. Senators to keep
quiet.
+ SENATOR CHIEF NTABENI: I thank you Madam
President, I want to add my voice on this motion that was raised by Hon.
Moyo on the late Vice President Nkomo. It is painful that the late Vice President has left us, some of us were so proud of his work. The work of a man that we will always wish to follow. Hon. Nkomo was one of the men who vowed to die for the country and chose to be friends with animals, friends of snakes and mosquitoes for he did not want to go back up until our nation had attained got its freedom.
The late John Nkomo and our President are the ones who have brought the freedom to the country; we salute the work of the late Hon. Nkomo. We say he is a hero; those who were cowards returned from the war but such men like Hon. Nkomo are heroes. I cannot really say a lot for a lot has been highlighted before. This man, we have realised he walked a very hard journey even when he came back to Zimbabwe, there were so many people who were trying to make squabbles but we realise that they were able to stand and restore unity to this country.
Even though there were some disagreements up until when we got to an Inclusive Government, we realise that the late Hon. John Nkomo was also part of the Inclusive Government. He is one man who was not supporting tribalism; he was one man whether you could take him to any other province, he would fit. I, myself cannot fit everywhere. If you take me to Midlands or Matabeleland I can fit but Hon. Nkomo was able to fit anywhere. We salute Hon. John Nkomo and we say rest in peace. I thank you.
*SENATOR CHIEF MUSARURWA: Thank you Madam
President. I would want to start by thanking Hon. Senator Khaya Moyo the mover of the motion on the untimely and tragic death of the late Vice President John Landa Nkomo. As a Chief, on behalf of the entire country, we have fond memories of his work. We are all aware of the good deeds that the late Nkomo did during his lifetime which has led us to what we are today. From the time when he was the Minister of Local Government, he did sterling work by recognising the importance of traditional leaders. It is because of the good work that he did that traditional leaders are now appreciated in Zimbabwe. If you look into countries like Kenya, there are no chiefs as of now, but the late Vice
President Nkomo saw it fit that we should maintain traditional leaders‟ institutions in Zimbabwe because it is part of our culture and it is the foundation of our society, because our society is found on chieftainship.
He humbled himself, a gallant freedom fighter who caused the attainment of independence in this country but he never wanted to blow his trumpet, he never wanted to beat his chest. Hence he realised that there was need for traditional leaders institutions to remain intact and that they should be held with respect. I would want to thank him for his work in that Ministry.
There was a time when he was a Minister of Labour, during his time most of the workers were jubilant. He realised that workers needed to be paid timeously, they needed sufficient wages to sustain themselves and above all their salaries should be able to ensure that workers live comfortably. I am mentioning this because these are the work that he did during his lifetime as a minister. He was also the Minister for Home Affairs, which we are all aware. He distinguished himself as a Minister for Home affairs and there was rule of law during his reign. We support him for the work that he did. He also went on to be a member of the organ on National Healing and Reconciliation. We are all aware that during that time, he came up with a slogan, „peace begins with you, peace begins with me, followed by you‟ and that all of us together will become peacekeepers. The world over, this was well-received and we were peaceful as a nation.
After the attainment of our independence, there was peace but what then happened was that, there was a time when people had to come together and give each other a chance to be able to play a part in terms of governance. I would like to believe that all of us are aware of the work that the late Vice President Nkomo did and was ably led by President Mugabe. I would like to say to this august Senate, in mourning, we should also celebrate the works that the late Vice President did. Above all I urge members to renew the vision of the late
Vice President Nkomo, the likes of Musarurwa and the late Tongogara. Are we able to look after this country as per their vision or we are now disorganised and self centred and losing the foundation which was laid during the liberation struggle?
We urge that there be peace. As the elections are being held, each and every one of us should not misbehave or insult others into violence but should recall the words of the late Vice President, which are being uttered by the President on a daily basis that, „peace begins with me.‟
We do not want to violate these sentiments until we get to the elections. As chiefs, we will ensure that there will be no violence and we are going to uphold the words of the late Vice President that there should be peace.
As leaders of this Senate, whether it is President Robert Mugabe, we all know the works that he has done up to the present time. We have the land, people are now living well, and we have dams in the communal lands because of his work. On the same note of peace, which was preached by the late Vice President Nkomo, we will support him. We all know the works of the Prime Minister whose deeds are quite good, we are aware of that. There should be peace. I am talking about the late Vice President Nkomo and the peace that he urged us to preserve. I am trying to say that no one should be assaulted because everyone knows of the good deeds that we do. I am talking about the peace that was being preached by the late Vice President Nkomo. I thank you.
SENATOR MLOTSHWA: Thank you very much Madam
President. May I also add my voice to the motion moved by Hon. Senator S.K Moyo in this Senate in honouring the departed leader. I really do not have much to say because in my life, I only interacted twice with the hon. Vice President Nkomo.
The first time that we talked to each other was in 2001. There was an occasion at our hospital where Spar was the sponsoring agent and I was invited to attend as secretary for the business community. From the programme, I was not aware that the late Hon. Vice President was coming. I thought that the local Member of Parliament then, Hon.
Lovemore Moyo, would be coming. I want to share this with you because I learnt something from the first and last time I spoke to him. At times, even if people are from opposition parties, you learn something from them and I learnt something from the departed leader.
I was in charge of organising the High Table. When the late Vice President arrived, I do not know how I reacted but and he noticed it. He was supposed to sit somewhere and the nurses came to tell me what I should have done in preparation and I said no, let him sit there. He proceeded and sat there. When we broke for lunch, he said to me in Ndebele „wena mntwana, uyazi ukhangeleka njengo muntu orude okumangalisayo.’ To translate that, he said, I seemed like a very rude person. However, from there we started talking over lunch. From the way he was handling things, it showed that he had been in it for a long time.
The second time that I met the late Vice President Nkomo was at the airport. I think it was during the time of the Inclusive Government in
2009 and he was not well. We sat there waiting for the plane to Bulawayo and he said, kunjani nkazana? I said ngiyaphila baba. He said, “I saw that you were contesting in 2008” and I said, yes. He said,
“she has now joined politics and she has left the business community.” I could see that he was following the events of the area. Anyway, all that I want to say to you colleagues is that, I realise that he did not stop there in 2001 when we met. In 2008 when he saw my name in the newspaper, he said, “oh, she has joined politics,” and he mentioned that to me. I would like to appreciate that Hon. Nkomo observed that point. I do not know about the rudeness, but he observed that I had acted in a disorderly manner and I had shown that I was not happy about something. I really want to appreciate all the works that I also have been reading about and listening to people talking about him, all the works that even Senators here were talking about, of the liberation struggle. We appreciate all the people that contributed to the liberation struggle and we also wish that they appreciate all those that are in the democratisation of the country because it is also very important. The wars have stages and you cannot stick to one stage for centuries, you have to go to a second level. We also appreciate the players that are in the second level of the country.
Madam President, with that little story of how I met Mr. Nkomo, the departed Vice President, I thank you very much.
THE GOVERNOR FOR MATABELELAND NORTH: I move
that the debate do now adjourn. Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 9th May, 2013.
On the motion of THE GOVERNOR FOR MATABELELAND
NORTH, the Senate adjourned at Three O’ clock p. m.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Tuesday, 14th May, 2013.
The Senate met at Half-past Two
O’clock p.m.
(MADAM PRESIDENT in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENTS BY MADAM PRESIDENT
INVITATION BY WOMEN IN POLITICS SUPPORT UNIT
MADAM PRESIDENT: Women in Politics Support Unit are inviting all members of the Women‟s Caucus, to a workshop on feedback from the G20 which will be held at Kadoma Hotel and Conference Centre, from the 29th of May to the 1st of June 2013.
I also wish to thank those male Members of Parliament who were brave enough to come and support us.
VISITORS IN THE SENATE GALLERY
I have to acknowledge the presence in the gallery of hon. members and officers from the Standing Committee on Rules, Privileges and
Discipline from the Parliament of Uganda – you are most welcome.
SWITCHING OFF OF CELLPHONES
May I remind hon. senators to switch of their cell phones or put them on silent.
MOTION
LEAVE TO MOVE SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDERS NO. 22
AND 98
THE MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND
PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (ADV. MATINENGA): I seek leave
of the Senate to move that the provisions of Standing Orders No. 22 and 98, regarding the automatic adjournment of the Senate at five minutes to seven o‟clock p.m. and at twenty-five minutes past one o‟clock p.m. on
Fridays and stages of bills respectively, be suspended in respect of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No.20) Bill [H.B.2, 2013].
Madam President I do not think I need to give reasons why this leave is being sought but if it is required, you will appreciate and hon. senators will appreciate that we are at a historical cross-roads and we need to address this Bill and if possible to move as fast as we can to its final conclusions, that is the reason for this leave.
MOTION
SUSPENSION OF STANDING ORDERS NO. 22 AND 98
THE MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND
PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (ADV. MATINENGA): I move that
the provisions of Standing Orders No. 22 and 98, regarding the automatic adjournment of the Senate at five minutes to seven o‟clock
p.m. and at twenty five minutes past one o‟clock p.m. on a Friday and Stages of the Bills respectively, be suspended in respect of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20) Bill [H.B.2, 2013] Motion put and agreed to.
SECOND READING
CONSTITUTION OF ZIMBABWE (NO.20) BILL [H.B. 2, 2013]
First Order Read: Second Reading: Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20) Bill.
THE MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS: Madam President last week I was
before the National Assembly and I had the pleasure of reading my second speech to that august Assembly. During the process of that speech, I made reference to the rebuilding of Jerusalem by the Jews as recounted by Prophet Nehemiah. Madam President that analogy equally applies to members of this august House. The majority of us know that in the first chapters of this book, the Jews painstakingly rebuild the fallen walls of Jerusalem. Each and every one of them was determined to participate.
For 33 years in this country, the Supreme law has been a ceasefire document negotiated at Lancaster House, England in 1979. The desire by Zimbabweans to write a new Constitution by themselves and for themselves started in 1999, agitated in the main by the National Constitutional Assembly.
The process of writing a Constitution has been long and arduous. We failed to agree on a new Constitution in 2000. We soldiered on nevertheless. The process gathered momentum as the years went by. On 15th September 2008, the three main political parties represented in this Senate and Government signed a Global Political Party to address the many ills facing the country. In my submission Madam President, the cornerstone of the GPA is the provision for the writing of a new Constitution for Zimbabwe by themselves in an inclusive and transparent manner.
In the past four and a half years, the people of Zimbabwe, just like the Jews in the time of Nehemiah, have painstakingly participated in the production of the Bill I present before you today. The crowning achievement in this processing was the „Yes‟ vote in the Referendum on 16th March, 2013. I stand before you Madam President and hon.
senators to ask, in all humility, to transform the Referendum result into law by passing this Bill. A lot of you will be aware of the New Testament story of the colt which was freed and joyously road into Jerusalem with Jesus on its back.
The passing of this Bill by this Senate marks our passage into a new Zimbabwe. Madam President, I am not going to traverse the details of each Chapter in this Bill. Hon. senators will be aware of its various provisions. Before I do so, it is proper that I make reference to the very important and critical stages in the process leading to this occasion.
- A Parliamentary Select Committee to spearhead the
Constitution making process was appointed in April 2009.
- A First All Stakeholder Conference was held on the 13th and 14th of July 2009. This Conference set out the parameters of what was going to be followed and what I believe was then critical is the writing of this Constitution.
- Public consultations on the Constitution were conducted from June 2010 for a period of 95 days, what we colloquially refer to as the outreach programme.
Madam President, out of these outreach programmes, a total of 4 943 meetings were successfully conducted and a total of 1 118 760 people attended these meetings. At these meetings 416 272 were males (37%), 441 238 (39,44%) were women, again seeing the ascendants of women in the interest in the political governance of this country, 252 240 were youths and 8 020 or (0.72%) were people with special disabilities. I also wish to mention at this point that special outreaches were conducted for children and Members of Parliament.
There was a special outreach for Parliamentarians, not because that they could not understand what was happening at other meetings, but because Parliamentarians were actively involved in the outreach programmes. It was therefore necessary that a special time is set in order to carry out an outreach specifically for these people.
Madam President, the next stage was then to collect all the views, which had been gathered in the outreach and after collecting all these views and analyse them. The Select Committee produced a draft
Constitution on 17th July 2012. The draft was debated at the second All Stakeholders Conference in October, 2012 and delegates at that Conference made extensive comments to that draft. A series of meetings were then held between November 2012 and January 2013 by COPAC, Management Committee, the Cabinet Committee of Seven and eventually the Principals to the GPA to resolve the outstanding issues.
I point out that the meetings culminated in the successful resolution of all outstanding issues and the production of a draft on 31st January 2013. This draft, again consistent with the GPA, was subsequently adopted by Parliament on 7th February 2013. This was followed by the proclamation of 16th March as the Referendum date by the President. Madam President, after the adoption of the Draft Constitution by Parliament, my Ministry and COPAC embarked on public awareness campaigns to explain the contents of the Draft to the generality of Zimbabweans.
I am sure that the senators in this august Senate were doing the same in their respective areas of influence. A Referendum on the acceptability of the draft was successfully held on Saturday 16th March 2013. The people of Zimbabwe overwhelmingly approved the draft Constitution.
I then go to look at selected chapters in this Constitution. I am not going to address chapter by chapter in this Senate or verse by verse, but I will obviously speak to certain important chapters and make reference to certain important provisions which need to be spoken to.
Madam President, hon. senators, you are all aware that the current Constitution which we have, the Lanchaster House Constitution, does not contain a preamble. This draft which is before you contains a preamble and this is not just about form, this is about substance because a preamble is important. It tells us where we are coming from, where we are and where we are heading. I just want to say a few words about the preamble in this particular draft. This preamble tells us that we are a diverse society, we are a rainbow nation of some sort but we are one country.
It tells us that we recognise our history shared by our heroic resistance to all forms of domination and oppression; it tells us that we want good transparent government, respecting fundamental human rights and the rule of law. When one looks at this preamble which is at page 15 of the draft, it speaks to fairness. What the people of this country want Madam President, is fairness. But importantly this preamble, as it should and properly so, puts God first. It recognises the supremacy of God.
Madam President, I go to Chapter 1. For those who have got the
Draft before you, Chapter 1 is on Founding Provisions or Founding Principles and it is on pages 16 and 17.
Importantly, let us look at Sections 1, 2 and 3. When you look at all these three sections and you go back to the Preamble, you may well agree with what I said earlier that the Preamble sets the stage for everything which is set out in our Constitution.
We go to the issue of languages in Section 6, at page 17. This is one of the most important introductions in a Constitution in our country in this era. Madam President, there is nothing as beautiful as one who reads a Constitution in his or her own language. What this Constitution does is to recognise this basic element that you need to understand your Constitution but before doing so, you need to read that Constitution in a language that you understand. This Draft makes provision for that.
Madam President, later on I will be talking about the culture of constitutionalism. In Section 7 of Chapter 1, there is an obligation placed on the State to promote public awareness of this Constitution. Madam President, it is only when people become aware of their Constitution that they begin to respect it. It is important that we place this squarely on the State as one of its obligations.
The second chapter deals with National Objectives. What are the values of Zimbabwe? What do we wish to do? What do we aim to do? The Chapter on National Objectives, again taking from the Preamble, addresses the issue of good governance, national unity, peace and stability, foreign policy, national development, empowerment and employment creation. It sets a stage on which Zimbabwe must perform. It sets a stage on which us Zimbabweans must be able to say, we have set this task on ourselves and we are going to perform in accordance with these principles.
Madam President, I go to citizenship. The issue of citizenship in this country is an issue which has caused some considerable problems. Sometimes we say this has not been because we did not have the laws but it has been about the implementation of that law. Be that as it may, we have sought in this Draft to make sure that the law is made as clear as possible so that we do not have any persons alleging that there is no clarity in that regard. The first point to make is that this Draft recognises that citizenship is in three parts; by birth, descent and registration. Let me refer briefly to some of the important details in our citizenship law.
- Citizenship is now gender neutral. You do not have to wait for Mr. X if you are Mrs. X to go and exercise your citizenship or the citizenship of your children.
- Importantly, we have also introduced a provision which caters for abandoned children. You see a lot of children running around, some of whom can no longer be able to say where they come from. Therefore, we have said that if someone is below 15 years, that person is a citizen of Zimbabwe by birth.
- Citizenship is not lost through marriage or dissolution of marriage.
- Citizenship cannot be revoked if it makes one stateless and this is important. A citizen by birth cannot lose his citizenship no matter the circumstances. If you are a citizen by birth in Zimbabwe, go and have a good time in America, South Africa and wherever but kana wafunga dande tinoti dzokera kumba umwe. Your citizenship is not lost no matter what.
Importantly, Madam President and hon. senators, let me refer to Section 43. This section is important. It refers to the continuation and restoration of previous citizenships. It touches on the issue of those people who were sometimes described in very derogatory terms, sometimes as totemless. Most of them are people who were born in Zimbabwe and who know no other home but Zimbabwe. Section 43 of this Bill regularises their position as citizens by birth in Zimbabwe.
Let me now go to the Bill of Rights. Madam President, for those of us who have tried to make a comparative analysis of the Bill of Rights in this Bill and other constitutions, it is quite clear without any shadow of doubt that this Bill of Rights is one of the best. This Bill of Rights compares with any other in this world. Why do I say so? Madam President, the Bill of Rights in the current Constitution addresses what we call political and civil rights. The current Bill of Rights which we have introduced in this Bill is very expansive. It addresses what we call socio-economic rights, cultural rights and environmental rights. Wherever you go in any civilised country, you can move around with your Zimbabwean Constitution and feel proud that my Bill of Rights compares to any in the world.
Madam President, I want to address the religious sector. I believe there is some misconception as to what this Bill says about two things; about abortion and same sex marriages. This Bill does not allow abortion on the take. Currently, we have got legislation, the Termination of Pregnancy Act. This legislation is addressing the very same issues which are being raised by the persons in the religious sector. Their position is fully covered.
Let me go to the issue of same sex marriages. Madam President, this issue is addressed in Section 78 of this Bill. Importantly, when one looks at Section 78 of this Bill, one must also look at Section 56, which is the equality and non-discrimination clause. It is important because when people argue that this Bill seeks to legalise same sex marriages,
they have not gone to Section 56
which is the equality and non discrimination section and then compare it with the South African Provision. The critical difference between our Section 56 when one does read and the South African Provision is that in the South African Provision, the issue of sexual orientation is protected. This is not our Section 56. A reading of Section 56 and then 78 of our Bill, which clearly outlaws same-sex marriages, in Section 78:3, put the concerns raised safely to rest.
Madam President I come to Chapter Five, which is the Executive and Executive Authority. I want to say five things on this Chapter and I want to particularly refer to two very important new aspects introduced in this Chapter. The first one is that, now we have got term limits. You are voted into power for the first five years; you can be voted into power for another five years. After that, that is the end of the story. No matter how much you can dance in the street, you just do your maximum 10
years.
Number two, there is a novel introduction. It has not yet started but it is good that we introduced it in this Constitution; the provision for a running mate Clause. For some of us, maybe we will not be caught up with this phrase because this running mate Clause will only come into effect after 10 years. However, it is important that we have come to accept it and introduced it in our new Constitution.
When you decide to run, you then decide, who amongst your friends can be your number one and number two as first Vice President and second Vice President. Those are your running mates. When something happens to you there must be some certainty that running mate number one becomes the President. We know, Madam President and hon. senators, how we have had to experience violence in our elections. This particular introduction of a running mate Clause will bring certainty and make sure that we are not then exposed to such issues on a routine basis.
Madam President, depending on which paper you read or where you come from, there is talk about; these people did not address the issue of Presidential powers; imperial powers, they call them. Then we have the other side where they say, well there are no imperial powers to speak about. Yes, we politic on this issue. The truth of the matter is that somewhere in between, we have managed to introduce proper checks and balances so that we clearly are able to say that we are a Government which respects the three arms; the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary. Where do we find this? The declaration of war. The
President can declare war, but when he does so, he must go and report to Parliament. If Parliament is not happy, the President can be forced to withdraw from that unjust war that is number one. Secondly, dissolution of Parliament, you can imagine a situation where the President says, this Parliament is not playing ball, I will dissolve it tomorrow. This particular Bill says, yes you may do so, but a person can take up the decision on review with the Constitutional Court. So the issue of checks and balances has now been taken aboard and provided for.
I come to the Legislature, us, I think, before I even speak to this chapter, there must be a round of applause from the women, supported by their husbands on this particular section and supported by all senators. Madam President, in addition to the 210 National Assembly seats, which again can be contested by women, there is an additional 60 which cannot be contested by men – [HON. SENATORS: Hear, hear]- We go to the Senate, which is made up 80 members, 60 of those are going to be elected through proportional representation. Here is the beauty, it is going to be on party-list system, women first, men following. I also want to say that, it is only this Senate that we have properly provided for two seats, for the disabled. I think it is important that we made a start–[HON. SENATORS: Hear, hear]-
Madam President, our elections. Yes, we know that we hold elections, every five years maybe. Maybe at even shorter periods, but what we have impressed in this document is that our elections must be free and fair – [HON. SENATORS: Hear, hear]- They must be free from violence and importantly; this is an issue which we are discussing, importantly, we have also said there is an obligation on the State to make sure that everybody who wants to be registered as a voter has been facilitated to register as a voter. We all know too well, that it is not about the law but it is about how we implement that law; it is about how we relate to that law. I will speak to the culture of Constitutionalism later in my address.
We come to the Judiciary and the Courts, Chapter eight. The only new introduction in this is the establishment of a new Constitutional Court. The reason was that, we are introducing a new dispensation, and there is therefore need for a Constitutional Court which will interpret this Constitution and seek to uphold those values which we have introduced in this new dispensation. It is important that we look again at Section 180 of this Bill. Section 180 speaks to the appointment of Judges. What is important is that the appointment of Judges is now going to be done in an open and transparent manner. What must be done, I am reading Section 180, „the positions must be advertised, the President and the public can be invited to make nominations –[HON. SENATORS: Hear, hear]- Public interviews will then be conducted of the prospective candidates. Then a list is prepared of the nominees which are then submitted to the President for his formal appointment‟. This same transparency is also shown when you go to look at the manner in which members of our independent commissions are to be appointed. I will not say any more of that, I will say more when I come to that Chapter.
We come to principles of public administration and leadership in Chapter 9, Civil service in Chapter 10. What is important in both of these chapters, is that there is a certain type of behaviour, conduct, professionalism and value system which we have incalcated in persons who man these institutions. There must be a non-partisan approach to one‟s work, competence and professionalism. We say, whatever you do, must not in any way interfer with the freedoms of another person.
Whatever you do must be to enhance the rule of law.
We come to Chapter 11, which deals with our security services, it starts at page 84. There is nothing new in respect of what we consider as our security services. However, I think there is something new in Section 208 where we set out the conduct we expect of members of our security services. This is the following, I am reading from Section 208
(2), „Neither the security services nor any of their members may, in the exercise of their functions –
- act in a partisan manner;
- further the interest of any political party or cause;
- prejudice the lawful interests of any political party or cause; or
- violate the fundamental rights or freedoms of any person.‟
Madam President, what I read as applying to the security services equally applies to employees in the public sector. You can see it going back to the very Preamble, which I referred to and read out in the introduction to this address.
We come to what we call institutions which combat corruption and crime, your Anti-Corruption Commission, and a very important introduction, „the National Prosecuting Authority.‟ Madam President, it was important, if not imperative, that a new prosecuting agency is established in this country. We still have the Attorney General‟s office, but it was felt, and properly so in my submission, that when one has regards to where we are coming from, where we are and where we want to go, there is need for us to establish this agency. It is going to be solely responsible for the prosecution of criminal matters. Madam President, this Bill sets out this institution so that, never again must people perceive that there is selective prosecution or arrest for that matter. This institution must also seek to govern this process in a proper non-partisan manner.
We come to Chapter 14, Provincial and Local Government, the
Chapter dealing with devolution. I think it is important for hon.
Members to acquaint themselves with the Preamble in Chapter 14. We have heard so many stories and comments about how Zimbabwe is being balkanised. We are going to have 10 little countries within Zimbabwe, it has been said. When we look at Chapter 14, at that Preamble, you will realize that what is being said is simply not true. The reason why Chapter 14 comes into existence is clearly set out in Section 264. If anything, devolution is meant „…to preserve and foster the peace, national unity and indivisibility of Zimbabwe.‟ I am reading at Section 264(2)(c).
Madam President and hon. senators, there are two issues which are of importance in this devolution Chapter. Firstly, there is the election of the Chairman of the Provincial Council. I use that word deliberately; it is not an appointment, but an election of the Chairperson. Number two, is the provision for the election of 10 members to each Provincial
Council. Yes, hon. Members of the House of Assembly and hon. Senators are Ex-officio members of this Council, but there are 10 elected members, again on a party list system and the rest follows. It means that we have got persons who are directly involved and who directly sit to look at the affairs of that Council and nothing else. To that extend, Madam President and hon. Senators, the issue of devolution will enhance the development in those areas and seeks to enhance unity in the country.
Traditional leaders, I hope Chief Senator Charumbira is here because he has been continuously phoning me on when this debate in the House of Assembly or Senate is going to be done. I hope he is here because Chapter 15 recognises and gives respect to our traditional leaders. One of the difficulties we have had is that, at various stages in our history, traditional leaders have been manipulated. We want to put a stop to that. We are saying, in this Bill, traditional leaders are an integral part of our society, they must be respected. However, we also in turn, ask that they respect their subjects, because for every obligation in law, there is a duty.
Madam President, let me come to Chapter 16, Agricultural Land.
In the current Constitution, the right to agricultural land is contained in the Bill of Rights, so there is no distinction between ordinary property and land. In the current Draft, it was clearly felt and properly so in my respective view, that it is necessary to address the issue of agricultural land separately. However, what is important in respect of this Chapter, is that the entrenchment which is enjoyed by the Bill of Rights Chapter 4, equally applies to Agricultural Land. What is also of importance is that, this Chapter protects the occupier so that the occupier is not willynilly removed from that piece of land.
As with any other Constitution, we have got a Finance Chapter, which deals with how the issues of finance should be dealt with. There is also a Chapter dealing with supplementary provisions and so on. Before I go to the conclusion, let me address the issue of how this Constitution is amended. There is the generally accepted manner of amendment, which is a two thirds majority. This is still part of the law if we are going to amend any other aspect of this Constitution, it is basic. However, there are certain provisions which are entrenched, Chapter 4 provisions, which is the Bill of Rights, Chapter 16 provisions, which is Agricultural Land and provisions which deal with terms of office. Whilst on terms of office, I know I made reference to Presidential terms of office but this is expansive in this Constitution. Your Commanders of
Security Forces have got terms of office, your Independent
Commissioners have got terms of office, your Constitutional Court Judges have got terms of office. The reasoning is simple. If you know that you are going to serve five years and that is it, then in all likelihood you are going to do your work properly without having to look behind you because the person behind you also is going to do a shortened term; he is not going to be there forever.
So, you address the issue of patronage in this regard. In respect of these provisions, firstly, you must have your two thirds majority. That is step number one. Step number two, you must go to a referendum, step number three, when you are seeking to amend, maybe the Bill of Rights, you cannot seek to do that in the same amendment when you amend term limit, nor can you have the same referendum when you are doing that, so, it is seeking to make these provisions as difficult as possible because we appreciated that these are the provisions which are abused most. Madam President, yes, in terms of term limits, you may succeed in going through all these difficult stages but the Constitution says, you are a smart person and you have been able to do that but you will not benefit from that amendment. At the end of the day you realize that it is not worth the effort.
Madam President, let me conclude. I am proud to be associated with this Bill and I am sure that you and all the members in this Senate are also proud. However, having a good Constitution alone is not sufficient. It is of paramount importance that we respect the
Constitution and the laws made in terms thereof. We need to develop a culture of constitutionalism. As all has been said, a good Constitution does not on its own deliver an election free from violence. As I alluded earlier, the passage of this Bill represents a collective triumphant march into a new Zimbabwe. Whilst I may not agree with every aspect of this
Bill, I am one to concede that this is overally a good Constitution, a
Constitution worthy of all our support.
The Constitution process took a long time. Despite the time taken, persons and institutions were committed to its final conclusion. I thank you Madam President and hon. Senators for the part you played in the process. In particular I want to thank the Select Committee, co chaired by the indefatigable Hon. Mwonzora, Mangwana and Mkhosi. I wish to thank members of the Management Committee, for their tireless effort, at no extra pay or remuneration, in the production of this Bill. I extend my sincere appreciation to UNDP and to the many development partners who provided material support to this process. I want to thank the drafters, Judge Chinhengo, Brian Crozier and Mrs. Priscilla Madzonga for a job indeed well done. I want to thank the people of Zimbabwe and the leadership of political parties and government for their continued support.
Last but not least, I want to thank the staff in my Ministry for having been present every time and for the process as well. Finally,
Madam President, we could not be here but for God‟s guidance. In the
Roman Catholic Church there is a Chorus which goes, „Handigone kukutendai zvakakwana’. We simply cannot thank God enough. We need to acknowledge, in humility, that we are where we are today because of His Grace. Madam President I thank you.
Madam President, I move that the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20) Bill, be read a second time.
SENATOR S. K. MWOYO: Thank you Madam President, hon.
Senators. Madam President, this is a historic day for our liberated and sovereign State of Zimbabwe. We are about to seal the authorship of a new supreme law of the land, universally called the Constitution. Its passing by this august Senate will pave its way to State House for the President‟s assent. Madam President, this Constitution Bill is a product from the people of this great land. It is home grown and smells of no external ingredients.
The people of Zimbabwe exercised their God given rights to express themselves as per the outreach programme navigated by COPAC as to what type of Constitution they wanted. The people spoke loud and clear, hence this product. In Latin, Madam President, they say vox populi vox Dei. The voice of the people is the voice of God. Who can then challenge God by departing from the terrain people traversed?
The people have spoken, full stop.
The Lancaster House Constitution, as we have all known, has been the supreme law of the land for the past 33 years, albeit with some amendments over the years. It was a compromised document but it is now, as I feel, destined for burial. There will be no mourning period over it for its demise is not untimely but long overdue. Madam President, Hon. Minister Matinenga has eloquently spoken on all the chapters enshrined in this Constitution Bill.
I am very elated that the Constitution Bill enshrines the nobility of our liberation struggle. It also clearly takes cognisance of our land reform programme as irreversible and our march to economic emancipation quite certain which places our women folk in good stead. Madam President, it is not my intention to repeat what we have listened to from Hon. Minister Matinenga. But let me say this, as we debate this
Bill, the nation is anxiously waiting for its speedy passage. We must not allow that anxiety to transform into frustration through uncalled for delays and borrowed procrastination. The destiny of this great land is in our hands and indeed in our heads as well. Let the Bill therefore, pass without any equivocation. Let our names be recorded as part of this historic moment. Hon. Minister Matinenga has indeed done justice to the Bill by manner of presentation. Let us give him full support by ensuring that the Bill sails through today. I thank you.
MADAM PRESIDENT: Thank you for your contribution hon.
S.K. Moyo. We need to pass this so that it can go to the Lower House today.
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE PRIMEMINISTER’S
OFFICE ( MS. HOLLAND): Thank you Madam President, just to say congratulations to Hon. Minister Matinenga, for this brilliant document and to thank you for the work that your ministry has done for the past four years and to actually thank you even more for the inclusion of Part 6, which is the establishment of the National Peace and Reconciliation
Commission, which is the core of the GPA, which brings Zimbabweans together. I want to say to all Zimbabweans, that this Commission, really is one that is there to ensure that Zimbabweans work together and really bring life to the entire document.
I just want to say to our men the way that the women have been put in this document, the entire process of the GPA is the one that attempts to bring us and our culture to life as it is in 2013. And that there is no threat in the process of bringing the numbers of women in the entire political process to be equal. There is no home in shona and Ndebele culture that functions without women. Musha ndi mai. That is what our men have actually made as a proverb in our society. I am appealing to our men to embrace the inclusion of women in many numbers because the most beautiful thing about African culture is the inclusion of everybody in our society; which really got disturbed by the settler colonial process when we got divided up and excluded and marginalised. In this process of post independence, the inclusion of everybody in every process will come to be. I think Minister Matinenga, I really would like to thank you for everything. Madam President, thank you for this opportunity for putting this little bit in the whole process.
MADAM PRESIDENT: I am appealing that we end there
because each one of the people who have spoken were representing their parties. I am assuming Chief Musarurwa will be representing the Chiefs. This needs to go through today so that it can go to the Lower House so that it becomes law tomorrow.
THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION, SPORT, ARTS AND
CULTURE: Thank you Madam President, I can assure you I will be very brief. Madam President, I cannot usefully add much more to what Minister Matinenga has said. I fully subscribe to what he has said regarding the merits of this Constitution and the process which was used to arrive at it. That is why I and all the members of the party I belong to, fully supported it in the Referendum and campaigned rigorously in the Referendum and we will support it today. Having said that Madam
President, I will raise three cautionary remarks with regard to it. Minister
Matinenga has touched on one of them. Madam President, those of us who know the Bible well, I am sure the dictates of Romans 3, which in essence says that “man and ridden to that woman has sadly an inherent bias to do wrong”. It is called the sinfulness of man in Christian terms. Constitutions are there because of that, because man and woman cannot be trusted with power. If you give any person, of any race of any gender unfettered power, sadly history shows that they tend to abuse that power.
That is why the separation of powers, that we have seen in this Constitution, and the balancing of powers, and the greater balancing of powers, are very important. Because the Constitution is not designed to for those of us who are in power today, it is designed for the future. This Constitution does make an advance of what we have got. There is greater separation of powers, there is a better balance of power. If I had any criticism and that is the caution Madam President, it is unfortunately, something I feel that does not go far enough.
With particular regard to this honourable House I would prefer to see more powers given to this Hon. Senate, but we cannot have everything. But it is a cautionary remark Madam President, and I subscribe to what Hon. Matinenga has said that this remains merely a body of words. It now needs our collective role to give spirit to it. To ensure that it does not in fact keep us in check, but future generations as well. That will come through a full interpretation and implementation not just of the letter but of the spirit of this document.
The second cautionary remark I will make regarding the issue of devolution. Devolution is respected in this Constitution and is a very important development in our Constitutional history. Madam President, as you know, I come from the South West of this country, part of the country which is dry in terms of its climate. But it is also Madam
President, an area that is underdeveloped in my current role as the Minister of Education when I see the number of schools and roads in that part of the country compared to other parts of the country. Devolution is an exceptionally important aspect of this Constitution which I think can play a positive role in binding our nation and bringing about better equity. But the cautionary remark I make is that, unfortunately, Madam President, it was a product of the compromise.
The caution is the size of the bodies that we have created and the cost to the fiscus that it is going to entail and we need to be innovative as we implement this to make sure that in achieving this goal of devolution, we do not make it so expensive as to undermine the idea behind it.
Madam President, the final cautionary remark I make is, with the specific understanding that I am the only, I believe, white in this hon. Senate today. Madam President, I am fully aware of the history of this nation and the pain that has been caused to this nation by past discriminatory practices and injustices that flowed from there. Sadly, Madam President, much of the poison created by that injustice persists in our nation today and we need to get rid of that poison and move on to a better dawn, to a new era where we do not look at the colour of people‟s skin or their religious background.
Madam President, I believe this document does make a considerable step forward in drawing a line through that sad history of our nation in that it recognises that - [HON. SENATORS: Inaudible interjections] –
MADAM PRESIDENT: Order, Order hon. senators, a member
has a right to express their opinion on any subject that is to be debated in this Senate.
THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION, SPORT, ART AND
CULTURE: It recognises, Madam President that any person born in this country whose parent was not a citizen, is entitled to a fundamental right of citizenship. In section 289 (2) even regarding the contentious provision regarding land, it recognizes that all people, irrespective of their race or background are entitled to land. That is a very important step Madam President.
The cautionary remark I make and it is a very specific precaution concerns section 723 (c). I have agreed to it and I will be voting for it. Madam President, you know that it is the provision that says
“discrimination cannot be raised as a ground to object to an acquisition of land”. The problem that we face regarding that in the future, can go way beyond discrimination based on race. If you look at section 56, it mentions all sorts of different grounds which you cannot discriminate, including gender, sex and I believe that if there as any serious flow in this Constitution, it is that provision. It is there, it is going to be part of our law but I believe that we need to have a collective war to ensure that our policies in future are not discriminatory, even if that provision is there, that we try to draw a line in the sense of what is happening, that we move on from the crisis of the last fifty or sixty years in our country. And that we use this Constitution as a positive document so that all of us have a future for ourselves and our children.
My children are committed to this country, they support this Constitution and if we look at countries throughout the world, the strongest countries are those where all its people believe in the country, believe passionately in its Constitution, in its national anthem, in its flag and that is what we need to strive to do.
Madam President, with those few remarks in the context of me being a lawyer and politician, I am honoured to be here today to support this law.
*SENATOR CHIEF MUSARURWA: Thank you Madam
President for affording me this opportunity to make my contribution on the new Constitution of the country of Zimbabwe. This is a Constitution which we are going to use from our current position to our next generation.
Firstly, I would like to thank the people of Zimbabwe for putting their heads together and making this Constitution and it is our obligation to see that this Constitution is turned into law and forget about the Lancaster House Constitution. I would like to thank all those who have put their efforts into this. I would also like to thank the Parliament of Zimbabwe for working hard and all those people who worked so hard to draft this Constitution. Above all we have to thank the Lord above who gave us the wisdom to pass this document.
I would like to look at Chapter 15 which talks about the Chiefs, because all along, we have been working under the Traditional Leaders Act, we were not included in the Constitution of Zimbabwe, but this new draft Constitution has now given us authority. If you start looking right at the foundation of this Bill, we are recognised that we are people of substance in this Constitution as Chiefs.
As far as Chiefs are concerned, we are saying we have been empowered, the country is now in the hands of the Chiefs. If you look at Chapter 15 and 16, we found that the Chiefs have been empowered and also have the power to look after the land.
I would to thank Hon. Ministers Matinenga and Hon. Chinamasa because they saw that it was very important that land should not be returned to the few people but should be everybody‟s right in
Zimbabwe. I would like to thank you for a job well done. As far as we are concerned, there is nothing wrong with this Constitution because it was a people oriented and driven Constitution.
The Constitution also embraces people who were fighting us yesterday. We did not think that it was possible for us blacks to debate in Parliament with the white people but the Constitution realises that they are citizens of Zimbabwe and thus should be beneficiaries. Thank you for putting our heads and minds together as citizens of Zimbabwe to draft this Constitution.
To conclude my speech, I urge this august Senate to adopt this draft Constitution so that it goes a step further since our Principals are in agreement with this stance. As the people of Zimbabwe we are looking forward to holding elections anytime. May the powers that be, nominate the date for the elections, we are ready to participate. We should stay as Zimbabweans, as a family. We should not intimidate each other or be afraid of each other, as chiefs, we are supporting this Constitution and we are also saying let us hold with reverence, the month of November. We know that it is a holy month according to our culture and therefore we need to observe some of these holy times. What is happening is that as chiefs, we will be using our powers so that we hold our elections peacefully. What we need to do is to push the nation forward and support the progress of the country. Let us do away with troubles and live in peace, live like Zimbabweans and live in harmony and avoid what we have been doing in the past whereby we have been transgressing because of our ignorance, but now we should not do what
is bad.
Let us do what is right especially when we follow the Constitution of the country and let us not hold elections on sacred days like the month of November, which according to our tradition, is a holy month.
MADAM PRESIDENT: May I remind hon senators that when
we get to the Committee Stage, you will still be debating this Constitution. The whole country has decided women should have preference, I need one more lady. Makazvibvuma mavakuda kurambidza inini.
*SENATOR MUCHIHWA: Thank you Madam President, for
giving me this opportunity to debate as a lady as enshrined in the Constitution. I would like to give my gratitude to this Senate because when we moved around this country, we were seeking opinions and this is what is enshrined in this Draft Constitution. The general populace of Zimbabwe was given the chance to make contributions to the
Constitution and what the people called for was freedom in the country and the Constitution, peace and equality of sexes, both men and women. We say thank you as women because we realised that in the past, we had been discriminated in some of the Acts because we had to source for support from our fellow males.
We realised that from Zambezi to Limpopo, we talked about the women‟s equality with men. We also noticed that in this Draft Constitution there is empowerment and employment creation. It was also said that we need to be empowered as blacks of this country. We also need to create jobs in this country to cut down on unemployment in the country. We thank the people of Zimbabwe for this Draft Constitution. When we look at the other parts of this Constitution we realised that the chiefs have been recognised.
The chiefs have been empowered by this Constitution and they should also respect the people they are leading and do their duties without fear or favour, without partisan because all the people in the chief‟s area are one. We found that the Constitution upholds the fundamental rights of the people in the country and therefore we find that if you are in a certain chief‟s area and you have different opinions you should not be punished but be given the power to do what you think is right according to the Constitution.
Let me now turn to women, you find that the women in both Houses have been favoured because we have been given extra seats so that we can be accommodated. We also have a Gender Commission which is going to look at equality of sex because in the past, we did not have a Gender Commission and therefore there were no checks and balances on the discrimination of women.
Now turning to land distribution, the Constitution says that women should be allocated land in their names not in their spouses‟ names and they should be the owners of that land. What it means is that in my personal capacity, I am able to go to the chiefs and ask for allocation of land which should be put in my name.
I also want to thank Governor Mathuthu who is amongst us, Senator Gaule, Senator Mutsvangwa, Senator Makuyana and I thank myself not forgetting Senator Mohadi because we were working so hard so that we could work on this Draft Constitution. There was an unpleasant situation at that time but that was during the debating time and we had to come through with this. It is a pity because as we talk about this we lost two of our people, Jabulani Ndhlovu and Gladys Dube. May their souls rest in peace, they were part of this process and they left a legacy. May the Lord be with them, I thank you.
THE MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND
PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS: I move that the Bill be now read a
second time.
Motion put and agreed to.
Bill read a second time.
Committee Stage: With leave; forthwith.
COMMITTEE STAGE
CONSTITUTION OF ZIMBABWE AMENDMENT (NO. 20) BILL
(H.B.2, 2013)
House in Committee
THE CHAIRPERSON: Order. In order to expedite the passage
of the Bill, I will put the Bill for consideration chapter by chapter. Hon.
senators wishing to debate should indicate which clause they are deliberating upon.
Short Title, put and agreed to.
Interpretation, put and agreed to.
Repeal of existing Constitution by new Constitution, put and agreed to.
Preamble, put and agreed to.
CHAPTER 1
FOUNDING PROVISIONS
Clauses 1 to 7, put and agreed to.
CHAPTER 2
NATIONAL OBJECTIVES
Clauses 8 to 34, put and agreed to.
CHAPTER 3 CITIZENSHIP
Clauses 35 to 43, put and agreed to.
CHAPTER 4
DECLARATION OF RIGHTS
Part 1, Application and Interpretation of Chapter 4 , Clauses 44 to
47, put and agreed to.
Part 2, Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms, Clause 48 to
78, put and agreed to.
Part 3, Elaboration of Certain Rights, Clauses 79 to 85, put and agreed to.
Part 4, Enforcement of Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms,
Clauses 79 to 84, put and agreed to.
Part 5, Limitation of Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms,
Clauses 85 to 87, put and agreed to.
CHAPTER 5
THE EXECUTIVE
Clauses 88 to 115, put and agreed to.
CHAPTER 6
THE LEGISLATURE
Clauses 116 to 154, put and agreed to.
CHAPTER 7
ELECTIONS
Clauses 155 to 161, put and agreed to.
CHAPTER 8
THE JUDICIARY AND THE COURTS
Clauses 162 to 193, put and agreed to
CHAPTER 9
PRINCIPLES OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND LEADERSHIP Clauses 194 to 198 put and agreed to.
CHAPTER 10
CIVIL SERVICE
Clauses 199 to 205 put and agreed to.
CHAPTER 11
SECURITY SERVICES
On Clauses 206 to 231:
THE MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (ADV. MATINENGA): I move
the amendment in my name specifically: On page 86, Clause 211 (
5), line 17, Page 89, Clause 219 (4) line 2, page 90 Clause 227 (3)
39
You will note Mr. President and hon. senators these clauses are talking to the Three Arms of Security Services and that the amendment that are being made applies to each Arm of the Security Services and that is addition after the word discipline in each instance by the words the promotion and demotion of officers and other ranks.
There are two amendments I seek to make. That is number one, number two, again these are Sections relating to the Security Services.
On page 88, Clause 218 (1a), line 7, page 89 Clause 223 (1a), line 28, page 91, Clause 231 (1a)
In all instances, delete the word appoint and substitute with employ.
Amendments to Clauses 211, 219, 227, 218, 223 and 231 put and agreed to.
Clauses 211, 219, 227, 218, 223 and 231, as amended put and agreed to.
CHAPTER 12
INDEPENDENT COMMISSIONS SUPPORTING
DEMOCRACY
Clauses 232 to 253, put and agreed to.
CHAPTER 13
INSTITUTIONS TO COMBAT CORRUPTION AND
CRIME
Clauses 254 to 263, put and agreed to.
CHAPTER 14
PROVISION AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Part 1, Clause 264 to 279, put and agreed to.
CHAPTER 15
TRADITIONAL LEADERS
Clauses 280, to 287, put and agreed.
CHAPTER 16
AGRICULTURAL LAND
Clauses 288 to 297, put and agreed to.
CHAPTER 17
FINANCE
Clauses 298 to 317, put and agreed to.
CHAPTER 18
GENERAL AND SUPPLEMENTARY PROVISIONS
Clauses 318 to 345, put and agreed to.
Schedule 1, put and agreed to.
Schedule 2, put and agreed to.
THE MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (ADV. MATINENGA): I
move the amendment in my name that:
On page 139 of the Bill, you will notice that in the Order
Paper, we are seeking to substitute the functionary before whom the oath of office is taken by a Member of Parliament or Senate. You will notice in the Order Paper that this oath or affirmation is to be taken before the Clerk of Parliament.
Amendment to Schedule 3, put and agreed to.
Schedule 3, as amended, put and agreed to.
Fourth, fifth and sixth schedules put and agreed to.
Bill reported with amendments.
REPORT STAGE
CONSTITUTION OF ZIMBABWE AMENDMENT (NO. 20 BILL
(H.B.2, 2013)
Amendments to Clauses 211(5), 223(1a), 231(1a), and the 3rd Schedule put and agreed to.
Bill, as amended, adopted.
Third Reading: With leave; forthwith.
THIRD READING
CONSTITUTION OF ZIMBABWE AMENDMENT (NO. 20 BILL
(H.B.2, 2013)
THE MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND
PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS: I move that the Bill be now read the
third time.
MADAM PRESIDENT: Order, Order hon. senators. Subsection 3
of Section 52 of the Constitution provides that; Subject to sub-section 5, a Constitutional Bill shall not be deemed to have been duly passed by the Senate unless at the final vote thereon in the Senate, it received the affirmative vote of not less than two-thirds (2/3) of the total Members of the Senate. In order to comply with the provisions of Section 52, it is necessary that the number of affirmative votes cast by members be recorded. I therefore direct that the bells be now rung, after which the votes of the hon. senators will be counted.
Bells rung.
ANNOUNCEMENT BY MADAM PRESIDENT
PROCEDURE FOR VOTE COUNTING
MADAM PRESIDENT: Order, order. Hon. senators will remain
in their places and the Clerk of Parliament will call out the names of the senators, who in turn will respond by saying „Aye‟ when their names are called out. Thank you.
AYES: Chibagu G.; Chiduku Chief R. M.; Chigwedere A.; Chimbudzi
A.; Chisunga Chief; Chitaka P; Chitanga Chief; Chinamasa P. A.; Coltart D.; Dandawa Chief T. M.; Dete A. A.; Dinha M.; Dube J.; Dube K.; Femai M; Gampu Chief I. V.; Gaule B.; Georgias A. C.; Gumbo R.
- N.; Gutu O. C.; Hlalo M. M.; Holland S. M.; Hungwe J. D.; Jacob E.;
Katyamaenza V.; Khumalo D.; Komichi M.; Mabhiza G.; Mabika Chief
- T.; Machaya J.; Madzorera H.; Made J. M.; Makamure E. K.;
Makhula R. R.; Makore J.; Makunde T.; Makuyana C.; Maluleke T. H.;
Mandaba M. I. N.; Manyeruke J.; Marava M.; Marumahoko R.;
Mathuthu T.; Masaba J.; Masendu Chief; Masuku A.; Matema C.;
Mbambo L.; Mlotshwa S.; Mtshane Chief L. K.; Mohadi T. B.; Moyo S.
K.; Mtingwende T.; Muchenje V.; Muchihwa R.; Mumbengegwi S. S.; Mumvuri D. D. E.; Murerwa H. M.; Musarurwa Chief E. M.;
Mutsvangwa M.; Muzerengwa T. S.; Ncube S.; Ncube W.; Ndlovu N.
K.; Nebiri Chief; Nembire Chief; Ngungumbane Chief; Ntabeni Chief;
Rugara K.; Sekeramayi S. T.; Shana Chief N. Z. J.; Sibanda A.; Sinampande H. M.; Tapela L. A.
NOES: 0
MADAM PRESIDENT: Order, order! Before I make the next
announcement, I just want to thank all the Senators who are here today, for fulfilling your national duty by being here and by being part of the history- making of this country. I feel very proud that quite a good number of the Senators have shown up. It shows the seriousness of the Senators. You are very much appreciated. [Hon. SENATORS: Hear, hear]
The result of the count is that 75 honourable senators have voted in favour of the Third Reading of the Bill and non have voted against the
Bill. [Ululations from Hon. Senators] The number of affirmative votes recorded is not less than two thirds of the total membership of the Senate.
I therefore, declare the final vote in the Senate on the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment No. 20 Bill (H.B. 2, B 2013) to have been in accordance with the provisions of Sub Section 3 of Section 52 of the Constitution.
Bill read the third time
All Hon. Senators broke into song and dance “Zimbabwe Nyika yedu yababa”
MADAM PRESIDENT: May we please take our seats. I do not
think the House has been adjourned.
On the motion of THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE AND LEGAL
AFFAIRS, the Senate adjourned at Nine Minutes to Five o’clock p.m. until Tuesday, 21st May, 2013.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Wednesday, 22nd May, 2013
The Senate met at Half-past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE ACTING PRESIDENT in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE ACTING PRESIDENT
ABSENCE OF MINISTERS AND THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE
PARLIAMENTARY LEGAL COMMITTEE
THE ACTING PRESIDENT: Order, we are we are supposed to
have Hon. Mushonga, the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Legal
Committee to report on two adverse reports from that Parliamentary
Legal Committee but he is not around. We are supposed to have Ministers coming to present Protocols to the House but they are not around.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE SENATE
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF JUSTICE AND LEGAL
AFFAIRS (SENATOR GUTU): Mr. President, I have a request from hon. Minister of Energy and Power Development, Hon. Mangoma to postpone Order Number 2 to tomorrow. The same applies to Order Numbers 3 and 4 for the Hon. Minister of Finance, Hon. T. Biti. We have our own, which I am going to move, the Madrid Protocol.
THE ACTING PRESIDENT: Thank you for that information
which we did not have. We can proceed with the Madrid Protocol now.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
RATIFICATION OF THE MADRID AGREEMENT
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF JUSTICE AND LEGAL
AFFAIRS (SENATOR GUTU): I move the motion standing in my name:
THAT WHEREAS Subsection (1) of Section 111B 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;
AND WHEREAS the entry into force of the aforesaid is subject to accession by the signatory Member States in accordance with their respective constitutional procedures;
NOW THEREFORE, in terms of Subsection (1) of Section 111B of the Constitution, this House resolves that the aforesaid Protocol be and is hereby approved for accession.
Mr. President, let me just emphasise that this motion relates to Intellectual Property and as we know, Intellectual Property these days, that is where the money is and this is a very important protocol.
Mr. President, Parliament of Zimbabwe is called upon in terms of section 111B of the Constitution of Zimbabwe to consider the accession to the Protocol relating to the Madrid Agreement concerning the International Registration of Marks. Cabinet at its 7th meeting held on the 5th of March 2013, approved the accession by Zimbabwe to the protocol relating to the Madrid Agreement concerning the International
Registration of Marks. The protocol relating to the Madrid Agreement, Mr. President, concerning the International Registration of Marks hereinafter referred to as the Madrid Protocol or the Protocol, is administered by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
Zimbabwe is a Member State of the World Intellectual Property Organisation. WIPO is a specialised agency of the United Nations which is responsible for norm setting activities in the field of Intellectual
Property as well as the provision of technical assistance to Member States on how to utillise intellectual property for development. Let me just emphasise that intellectual property is very important, for instance, mostly in Africa, we have medicines collected from Africa, developed in Europe and America and then they are patented in Europe and America.
So as Africans, we do not benefit because the intellectual property will be registered in other countries.
With the adoption of this protocol, all our traditional healers n’anga dzedu dzese and other such people, will suddenly become very rich because they will be able to register their marks, their patency and that will have global recognition.
Mr. President, Zimbabwe is a Member State of the World
Intellectual Property organisation, WIPO is a specialised agency of the United Nations which is responsible for norm setting activities as I have already indicated. The WIPO Madrid Protocol was adopted in June 1989, with a view to simplifying the registration regime of trademarks at the international level by creating a centralised system for transmission of applications to various Contracting States where protection is sought which is administered by the WIPO.
The Protocol provides protection for trademarks by obtaining
International Registration of Marks in the register of International
Bureau of the World Intellectual Property organization. I would just like to emphasise to hon. senators that intellectual property is very important because most of the time when you buy your soap, that is your geisha, you will be surprised that the trademark for geisha is not registered in Zimbabwe, although the ingredients of that geisha maybe from
Zimbabwe. Even when you buy your beer, you will be surprised that the trademark of castle is not registered in Zimbabwe, although maybe the sorghum and everything that manufactures that beer or that coca-cola is sourced or manufactured locally. Trademarks registered at the
International Bureau are published in the periodical gazette and no other publicity is required by the mark holder. So this becomes important for us smaller countries in the world.
So instead of you going to Zambia, Mozambique, South Africa, Switzerland and Tanzania to register, the moment you register your trademark here in Zimbabwe, it is recognised throughout all the United
Nations Member States. It becomes cheaper and easier for small
African countries.
This is a very important protocol Mr. President. In August 2012, the Government of Zimbabwe, with the assistance of WIPO, convened an All Stakeholders Workshop to acquaint stakeholders with the Madrid registration system and to consider the possibility of acceding to the
Protocol. Stakeholders included the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Intellectual Property, a committee which comprises various ministries that deal with Intellectual Property matters in Government, the
Standards Association of Zimbabwe, the Law Society of Zimbabwe, the
Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) and the Zimbabwe Institute of Patent and Trademark Agents (ZIPTA). At this meeting, participants accepted the recommendation that the Government should accede to the Protocol for the following reasons:
I will give the reasons but before I do that Mr. President, let me again emphasise the importance of this Protocol, that it is actually important for us small developing nations. We will be able to register trademarks because most of the major trademarks, most of the medicines we have, if you go and buy paracetamol today because you have a headache, you will be surprised that the paracetamol trademark maybe registered in India or America. But, the medicine that makes the paracetamol will have been sourced from a forest in Africa and Africa loses out.
(a) The Madrid system simplifies the process of making an international registration of a trademark in that the trademark owner has the advantage to file only one application in one of the WIPO official languages which are outlined in Article 16 and the WIPO social languages are English, French and Spanish. At the present moment, a trademark owner in Zimbabwe wishing to register a mark in another jurisdiction has to engage a Trademark Agent in that particular jurisdiction. This is because trademarks, like all intellectual property rights, are territorial rights and their protection is obtained through national registration.
I always want to believe that, that gentleman who has a drumbeat that accompanies the main news hour, if that particular beat had been trademarked, that man would be a billionaire today but because his intellectual property has not been protected, he remains poor. So, this is how important intellectual property is. Therefore, if an applicant intends to have his or her trademark registered in many jurisdictions then he or she has to file separately with the trademark offices of the various contracting parties in different languages and paying a separate fee to each office and hence, increasing the cost of the applicant.
Just again to emphasise, when you buy a computer today or when you buy any product that is an Apple product, Steve Jobs we know he died a few years ago but the moment you buy an Apple i-phone, the moment you buy an Apple laptop or the moment you buy an apple computer, Steve Jobs in his grave automatically gets some money, wherever you are in the world because he has protected his intellectual property. So I think that is the way to move forward Mr. President, as Africa.
(b) The Intellectual procedural mechanism of the
Madrid System offers a trademark owner the possibility to
have his trademark protected in several countries by simply filing one application directly with his own national or regional office for transmission to the International Bureau of WIPO which is established in terms of Article 11 of the Protocol. The International Bureau will then examine the application and transmit it to the designated national offices of the Contracting States. Let me just elaborate. If you are going to file your trademark in Zimbabwe, say you have found a cure for asthma and you register that trademark in Zimbabwe today in Harare or Bulawayo, the moment you register it, it is automatically transmitted to all the Member States of the United Nations and it is also automatically registered. So, you do not have to go to those countries or to engage lawyers in those countries to help you register. It becomes cheap and I think this is time for Africa to make money. International trademark and I believe businessman, Engineer Chitaka agrees with that. An international trademark so registered, is equivalent to an application or registration of the same trademark effected directly in each of the countries designated by the applicant. Further, the trademark owner only pays fees to one office instead of filing separately in the trademark offices of the various Contracting Parties in different languages and paying a separate fee in each office.
Mr. President, you will realise that most medicines are sourced from Africa but I am yet to come across a trademark of a medicine that has an African registered office. You have high-blood pressure tablets, you will be surprised that if you look at the back, they will tell you that the patent is in New York or Atlanta Georgia but that particular nefidepine that controls your blood pressure, maybe it is a herb from Chivi that was extracted and then it was then patented in a different country. Mr. President, the Madrid system also simplifies greatly the subsequent management of the trademark. All changes subsequent to the international registration, such as a change of address by the trademark owner may be recorded and have effect by means of a single procedure through the International Bureau and the payment of one fee as stipulated in Article 9 of the Madrid Protocol. Mr. President, therefore, financial savings are made when obtaining and maintain the protection of one’s marks in other countries.
Some of us look forward to have a day where we are going to have trademarks, major world trademarks registered in Africa because you find that most of the money that Africa pays, we pay in order to buy Intellectual property rights. I gave the example of Steve Jobs who died in his early 50s but you find that already two years after he died, he had made more money in his grave than when he was alive because of his Intellectual Property. The same applies to Michael Jackson, the protection of his music as a trademark; it means that, from my research
Michael Jackson died in 2009, now his estate has made not less than
US$55m since Michael died, simply by protecting his Intellectual Property. This is why I said this is where the money is.
The Madrid system has a database which includes all international registrations that are currently in force or have expired within the past six months. This database called the ‘Madrid Express’ is a free system which is updated daily and provided by WIPO for users to search for international marks. It reflects the situation of the International Register of Marks. So just imagine, if Mutukudzi’s music was going to be patented here and we know that it is played all over the world. I went to
Malawi the other day and the taxi driver was playing one of
Mutukudzi’s songs and I am not too sure whether Mutukudzi is benefiting from that. If it was protected, then Tuku would be a multimillionaire, I am not saying he is a poor man but he would have made more money than what he has.
It also includes data relating to international applications and subsequent designations. Access to this database by the National Intellectual Property Office when examining applications reduces the burden of searching from multiple sources on the part of the office thereby assisting in making informed decisions on all applications. Mr. President, Trademark offices have the advantage that part of the fees collected by the International Bureau are transferred to the Contracting Parties in which protection is sought. Furthermore, if the international registration service closes its biennial accounts with a profit, the proceeds are divided among the Contracting Parties.
The Madrid System is optional and trademark holders can still make use of local agents if they do not wish to make international registrations. This is why you find that even the big law firms today if you go to South Africa or even here in Harare, you do not see them at court holding files because there is no money at court. The money is behind the computer, they register a trademark and they make a big fee then you wonder why perhaps white lawyers are making more money than black lawyers, are they smarter? No, I am not being a racist here, it is simply because they have managed to control the niche market where the big money is and this is the way to go.
Mr. President, one of the greatest advantages of using the Madrid
System for the international registration of trademarks is that the Contracting States retain the flexibility to determine their fees regime as provided for in Article 8. In that regard, the country has to make a Declaration to that effect which has to be deposited with the Director General of WIPO together with the instrument of accession.
The Madrid Protocol also provides another flexibility to
Contracting States in that a Contracting State can opt out of the system if it so decides. This is provided for in Article 15 of the Protocol. If the country so decides, then a notification to that effect has to be sent to the Director General of WIPO.
In conclusion Mr. President, the Madrid System offers businesses and individuals in member States a simple, affordable and efficient way of obtaining and maintaining their trademarks and Zimbabwe stands to benefit a lot from being a party to the Madrid Protocol.
Mr. President, the Parliament of Zimbabwe is, therefore, hon. senators, humbly called upon to approve the accession by Zimbabwe to the Protocol relating to the Madrid Agreement concerning the International Registration of Marks and as they say in Tonga ndalumba kapanxa. Thank you very much.
SENATOR MANDAVA: Thank you Mr. President, mine is just
to seek for a few clarifications;
- It sounds very exciting and the information is that we could have been richer yester year if not in 2006, why was there the delay in bringing up such an important motion to Parliament.
- There are known products that are manufactured from ingredients from Zimbabwe and what is going to happen if we sign the Protocol? Can they be re-registered as Zimbabwean products and if so, how? I believe there is a cost to registering, even if you register in Masvingo as compared to registering in Madrid. Is it affordable? I thank you.
SENATOR CHITAKA: Thank you Mr. President. First, I would like to commend the Minister for bringing this Treaty or Convention to this august Senate for ratification. I would like to pose a few questions. I do not see how this Treaty will help us unless there is massive education in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe has got a culture of being copy cats. I think we are becoming like a country in the Far East, which is very famous for copying other people’s ideas. Just have a look at the music industry in Zimbabwe, before an artist actually releases his latest CD he will be seeing it in the streets already. Now, we can have laws but in Zimbabwe we do not seem to have the mechanism of enforcing those laws.
The challenge will be, are we just adding on more and more conventions to our statute books when we cannot even implement the laws that we have on our books at the moment. Yes, it is a very good idea but unless the local legislation have very prohibitive fines for copycatting; you just have to go even to the informal sector vana siya-so vaya, you find everyone is copying everyone else’s. It looks like it is now accepted that you can copy. Also, there is the fear that being a small country, a lot of inventors who are local feel that it is no use registering a patent in Zimbabwe because the big boys in America and Europe will not recognise it. At least with this Convention, maybe it will put to rest such fears.
Mr. President, how many of our current super brands are actually patented? We know coca-cola is patented throughout the entire world, I think coca-cola is also patented on the moon as well because it is one product that somehow has got a never-ending patent. Patents and copyrights usually last for a certain fixed amount of time but coca-cola lasts forever. Why should products like coca-cola continue to enjoy this monopoly? I think the same has got to apply throughout the country. It looks like no country in the world can abrogate the coca-cola patent. Why is that so? The Government itself; in which ministry does the patent office reside? What is the ministry doing to encourage people to patent their intellectual property and to ensure that infringements are properly policed? Thank you.
SENATOR MUMVURI: Thank you Mr. President. I would like
to start by thanking the Deputy Minister for bringing such an important motion on the protocol relating to the Madrid Agreement concerning the International Registration of Marks. In the same vein, what Sen.
Chitaka has said, I also wanted to express concern on the assurance of the absence of copycats. So, I would not labour much on that one because Sen. Chitaka has put it eloquently.
Apart from that, I think this protocol is very welcome if we tighten the screws as he has said. It is painful to go and buy your product either locally or outside and it is marked ‘made in Russia, or made in London’ and so forth as what the Deputy Minister has said. This gives us an opportunity to interact with other countries if we register. There, I am in support but it is conditional support, provided the Government makes it tight proof that there are no copycats. You feel pity for the musicians, they are not getting much. It is a simple thing which is happening here in Zimbabwe. What about if it happens all over to the other products that we produce? The origins of most of these things are African and Zimbabwean in particular.
However, the advantages which the minister has cited in the presentation are overwhelming and we welcome the protocol. For example, the advantages of voluntary withdrawal if anything goes wrong, we can withdraw after we have registered and we can also change flexible …
THE ACTING PRESIDENT: Order. Minister, I think he is
actually addressing you, he wants you to listen. You can proceed.
SENATOR MUMVURI: Thank you very much Mr. President for
protecting me. I am addressing this to the minister so that you take our concerns. I said one of the advantages is that the charges or the fees can be flexible in order to make them competitive. If you find out that your product has not been selling well, you can reduce the price and then it sells faster. The other concern is that, the languages in which the trademarks are registered seem to be limited; English, French and Spanish only. These should be expanded if we are to trade more as this applies very much so to Zimbabwe as what Sen. Chitaka has already said. We are not a developed country and our people need to be educated on this. Otherwise on the whole, without wasting time, I personally welcome that protocol so that we ratify it. I thank you.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF JUSTICE AND LEGAL
AFFAIRS: Thank you very much Mr. President I would like to thank the three hon. senators who have debated this motion. I am actually impressed by this House because when I moved this motion in the House of Assembly last week, there was hardly any debate. I am surprised by the level of understanding that this House has shown as regards intellectual property.
Firstly, I would want to begin by complimenting hon. Senator
Mandaba, Sen. Engineer Chitaka and Hon. Senator Mumvuri for fully conceptualising what intellectual property entails. That said; let me start by answering Hon. Senator Mandaba. She was asking to say, why did we take so long as Government to ratify this or rather to take appropriate measures for the ratification of the Madrid Protocol? It is actually a pertinent question because this protocol has been in existence since June 1989 that is almost 24 years ago. We have lost out a quarter of a century. Imagine how much we would have made as a country in 24 years. Unfortunately, I was not yet in Government then so I will be unable to really give an answer as to why we took so long to take appropriate measures for the ratification of this protocol.
I can assure Sen. Mandaba that there has been a lot of lobbying from the local legal community, particularly from the Law Society of Zimbabwe. They have lobbied very strongly; they have lobbied so strongly that we had no option but to give in and to agree to the ratification. I am pleased to advise this august Senate that even the hon. Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs, hon. Chinamasa is in support of the ratification of this protocol.
For your information hon. senators, at Africa University in Mutare, very few people know that there is a degree that is being offered at both undergraduate and masters level in intellectual property. When I went there the other time, I was surprised that almost 90% of the students are non-Zimbabweans; they are from Liberia, Uganda, Somalia and Algeria. I was wondering why because everyone realises that this is where the money is but us Zimbabweans, in our own backyard, do not know where the money is. Maybe we should encourage our children to go and study Intellectual Property.
I believe Sen. Mandaba you have been answered. The good thing is we have now taken moves to ratify it and unfortunately it does not operate retrospectively. The law has this funny habit, in legal language it does not operate with retrospectivity; it normally operates going forward and not backwards. Unfortunately, we have lost out in the 24 or so years that we had not ratified. Perhaps it should serve to us as a good lesson to say next time when we have some of these protocols, we should take them seriously and we should also ensure that they are timeously ratified.
Even as Parliamentarians, there is a library here for research and I am sure Parliamentarians have that privilege of being able to research to say how many protocols are there? How many protocols were signed at the United Nations, at SADC or even at African Union (AU) level in 2012 for instance and how many have been ratified? If I ask you that question Sen. Mandaba, maybe a few of us would be able to answer. We have
the SADC Protocol on Gender that we ratified not too long ago but that protocol has not yet been domesticated. In other words, it is not yet part of the Zimbabwean law. You have no one to blame but ourselves. As Parliament these are some of the things that we should be seized with, to say we have ratified the SADC Protocol on Gender as women. We want it as law and you know the relevant Ministries; the Ministry of Gender; there is the Ministry of Justice, lobby the relevant Ministers to bring law that will domesticate the ratification of that protocol.
I believe we have learnt a lot from your submissions and it will obviously benefit us, because from now onwards, it is important for us, maybe as Parliamentarians, even to go out to our Constituencies and just conscientise our people, that lady or that man who is making - varikugadzira ngoma. If you go to Kariba, there is the Nyaminyami walking stick which I bought recently and I really like it. It is a beautiful thing, but imagine if that Nyaminyami walking stick has been patented and whoever originated it has his or her or their intellectual property protected; then they will be sitting pretty.
I have already given the example of Steve Jobs. So I believe it has been a problem of us as a continent just lagging behind. Our musicians, halt the time we have our musicians dying poor and we say why?
Biggie Tembo for instance, Biggie Tembo died a very poor man but Biggie Tembo, it is hard, you all know that the Bundu Boys were sharing a stage with Madonna. At one time they sung before 70 000 people in Wembles Stadium in London; but if you go to Biggie Tembo’s widow now, she is working somewhere; cleaning some beer hall in Mbare. She is suffering but Madonna is a multi-millionaire. Those are some of the things really, that we should be addressing. I am happy that we are now aware of that.
Moving on to Hon. Senator Chitaka; ‘piracy’ – piracy is a real major problem and I wonder why the law is taking so long to be amended. The problem is that, if someone is found selling pirated music; if you are found selling Jeys Marabini’s music, you are maybe fined $100.00. If you go to America and you are found selling pirated copies of Snoop Dogg’s music for instance, you go to prison for a very long time and you would not do it again. So I think it is really a matter of us as Parliamentarians to make sure that we lobby for laws that will make sure that if you are a pirate, those people we find selling pirated CDs; I have made it as my own personal policy that I will never buy a pirated CD, especially if it is of a Zimbabwean musician. I feel very bad to buy a pirated CD of Suluman Chimbetu; of Oliver Mutukudzi or Thomas Mapfumo. By that way, you are literally saying this musician should not benefit from his or her intellectual property.
So, I think it should start with us to conscientise our communities and also to lobby the law enforcement agencies, particularly the Ministers involved to say that the law should be amended, whoever is found selling pirated CDs or DVDs, should go to prison. It does not make sense really to have somebody who steals a cow, send to prison for 20 years; and somebody who rapes a child is send to prison for five years and somebody who pirates is fined $100.00. You see the disconnect there. I think us as Parliamentarians, we really should lobby for change of the laws.
Hon. Senator Chitaka also talked about – like he gave an example of coca-cola; why the monopoly of coke. The monopoly of coke, we all know that and for your information; for the benefit of those who do not know, the coke patent and the coke trade mark has been in existence for 125 years now. That means before all of us here were born. Mr. President, the coke trade mark was protected; so what they are saying is you protect where the money is and if you go to Atlanta Georgia in the
United States today, the head quarters of coca-cola; not even the Chief
Executive Officer of coca-cola knows the formula of making coca-cola. In other words, they make sure that where the money is, they protect it. We should learn to do that. We have our seven days here and if we think that it is a unique beer and we can protect it; why not do the same.
Maybe 100 years from now, seven days will be as popular as coca-cola. I am just giving a practical example. I gave you the example of a gentleman from Hwedza with that drum beat that accompanies the news hour. I met him at the National Sport Stadium and had a chat with him on independence day. When I saw him I felt very – I did not tell him of course but I felt bad. He did not look like he had made money from his intellectual property. Mr. President, that drum beat is unique; it is uniquely his, you cannot get it anywhere else. If it had been properly protected, that man would be a big man now, is it not? So I think we as Parliamentarians should make sure that we advise our people; explain to them the importance of intellectual property.
Senator Chitaka also asked me, ‘which Ministry administers
patents?’ The Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs administer patents. We had actually held a number of workshops where we have hosted – you would be surprised that in Southern Africa we have what is called ARIPO, The African Regional and Intellectual Property Office. It is somewhere there in Belgravia, where all the countries in Africa are represented, but how many of us know that there is ARIPO in Harare? We do not know. I think it is also important, I think it is an indictment on us as a Ministry to conscientise people to say when you discover something, like they say there is no cure for this; there is no cure for AIDS, maybe some n’anga; some traditional healer somewhere, can give you a recipe. I know from a personal experience, I had an aunt who had an operation for cancer four years ago. She was detained at Parirenyatwa hospital, the surgeon said; telling us as a family, forget about this lady, I think she is terminal, she is going to die. Believe you me, that woman is as strong as she can be today and she is working in Bulawayo. Some traditional healer from Warren Park gave her some concoction which cured her cancer. Who knows about that traditional healer? Maybe if we can have conscientisation of people so that they know that, particularly there our traditional healers; there is this secrecy about mishonga. I speak openly about traditional healers because that is where the money is. We should talk openly and say for all you know most of the diseases we are suffering from, they are curable from medicines that are locally available. If we can protect and patents it or trade mark those medicines, we make money as a country.
Last but not least, Hon Senator Mumvuri; assurance of the absence copy cats, it is very difficult. They know there is laxity in the law. If you take a drive down town, if you go along Samora Machel Avenue, you will meet a lot of young men and women, especially young men, selling pirated copies of Chimbetu’s music; of Macheso’s music; of
Lovemore Majaivana’s music and Majaivana does not get anything; Jeys Marabini does not get anything. I remember talking to a certain musician who said before he even had his music formally on the shelves or record bars, already the pirates were selling. So I think what we simply have to do is to make sure that we tighten our laws. Why is it that in other countries there is no problem of piracy? Why is it that in developed world there is no problem, we never hear of Madonna complaining about piracy. We never hear of John Bon Jovie complaining of piracy we never hear of all these so called big artists complaining of piracy but here in Zimbabwe, our musicians, old as they are, some of them, Mutukudzi is in his 60s, he is forced to have three/four live shows a week because if he does not do that, he will starve. Imagine if his intellectual property was protected, he will simply have- ‘I am Tuku music’, ‘I am a brand’, maybe I have one show a year like the Michael Jacksons of this world used to do.
Michael Jackson would have a show once every three years because he knew that money would still come in even if he did not hold live shows. So I believe that it is very important that we lobby the relevant arms of the Government and also the relevant law enforcement agents. So next time you see someone selling to you a pirated CD, call the police and I urge hon. senators not to buy pirated DVDs; not to buy pirated CDs. It should start with us. Government should make sure that there are no copy cats, I think I have already answered that.
How do we ensure that price is competitive, price will be competitive, I believe once we protect our patents; we protect our trade mark, I believe that market forces will determine and they will stabilise. It is only in Africa where there is piracy. Piracy is a big problem because we do not appreciate the importance of intellectual property. Why, because we think something that you cannot touch, that is not tangible is not property? You will be surprised, this is a nokia phone, I do not know who designed the nokia but I think he or she or they, must be long since dead but in their graves, they are still getting money.
Simply by saying nokia because it is a protected brand. In Zimbabwe can you give me one brand that is protected? I cannot think of it. We have Thomas Mapfumo who is 67 years old, staying in Oregon in the United States. He is forced to have shows and is on stage on a daily basis because if he does not do that, he will starve. However, if we have protected and promoted that Chimurenga beat, his distinct sound, which is his creation, we could have helped him preserve it. He blends mbira and guitars to come up with the Chimurenga beat and you cannot deny that it is his creation. Thomas Mapfumo has not benefitted from that because it is not protected. I believe that we should learn from this and go forward so that things will be better.
Lastly, languages, why are there only three languages? It is a pity. Africa should move to have a united nations and make sure that at least one African language is recognis ed. For instance, Swahili is spoken in East Africa, that is in Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Djibouti and so on. We really should move to make sure that we have our own agenda as Africans. The problem with us as Africans is that we wait for others to set the agenda for us, we do not agenda set, we react. I believe that in order to go forward, we should be able to ‘agenda set’, instead of reacting to other people’s agenda. You will not expect Europeans to push for the recognition of Swahili as a language, for the registration of trademarks because there is nothing in it for them. The Spanish pushed for it because they are now saying it is the world’s third largest language, which is true. In the United States, in the Southern parts like in Florida or Texas, there is more Spanish being spoken than English because they have been pushing for its adoption. It is up to us as Africans to push for our own agenda. Hon. senators, at the end of the day, I believe the bus stop is with us. Mr. President, with those words, I move that the Senate resolves that the Protocol be approved for ratification.
Motion put and agreed to.
On the motion of THE GOVERNOR FOR MASVINGO, the
Senate adjourned at Twenty-Five Minutes past Three o’clock p.m. until
Tuesday, 4th June, 2013.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Thursday, 9th May, 2013.
The House of Assembly met at a Quarter-past Two O’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(MR. SPEAKER in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENTS BY MR. SPEAKER
ERROR ON THE ORDER PAPER
- SPEAKER: I have to draw the attention of the House to an error on Notice of Motion No. 5 on today’s Order Paper where sub-
paragraph 4 was erroneously included and should be deleted.
VOTE FOR A WOMAN CAMPAIGN LAUNCH
- SPEAKER: I wish to remind hon. members that the Women
in Politics Support Unit (WiPSU) is inviting all Members of Pcrliament
(both m!les and females) to a launch of the ‘Vote for a woman’ campaign and its publications. The launch will take place on today, 9th May, 2013 at Crowne Plaza Hotel, Harare from 1730 hours to 2000 ho5rs.
WORKSHOP ON FEEDBACK by G20
- SPE@KER: I also have to inform the House that Women in
Politicr Support Unit (WiPSU) is mnviting Women’s Parliamentary Caucus to a workshop on feedback by G20 on the 30th May, 2013, taking place from the 30th May to 1st June 2013 at Kadoma Ranch Hotel.
COMMITTEE STAGE
CONSTITUTION OF Z MBABWE AMENDMENT (NO. 20) B
LL (H.B. 2, 2012)
House in Committee
Short Title – put and agreed to.
Intevpredation – put and aoreed to.
Repeal of existing"Constitution b9 nev Constitution – put and agveed ôo&
Preamble – put aîd agreed to&
Chapteò 1
Cliuse 1, The Repqblic – put and agreed to.
Clause 2, Supòemacy of the Constitution – put and agreed to.
Clause 3,"Founding Values ajd princyples – put and agreed to.
Clause 4, National FLag, ^atiolal Anthem, Xublic Seal and Coat of
Arms – put and agreed to.
Clause 5, Tiers of Government – put and agreed to.
Clause 6, Languages – put and agreed to.
Clause 7, Promotion of public awareness of Constitution put and agreed to.
CHAPTER 2
NATIONAL OBJECTIVES
Clause 8, Objectives to guide State and all institutions and agencies of government – put and agreed to.
Clause 9, Good governance, - put and agreed to.
Clause 10, National unity, peace and stability – put and agreed to.
Clause 11, Fostering of fundamental rights and freedoms – put and agreed to.
Clause 12, Foreign policy – put and agreed to.
Clause 13, National development – put and agreed to.
Clause 14, Empowerment and employment creation – put and
agreed to.
Clause 15, Food security - put and agreed to.
Clause 16, Culture – put and agreed to.
Clause 17, Gender balance – put and agreed to.
Clause 18, Fair regional representation – put and agreed to.
Clause 19, Children – put and agreed to.
Clause 20, Youths – put and agreed to.
Clause 21, Elderly persons – put and agreed to.
Clause 22, Persons with disabilities – put and agreed to.
Clause 23, Veterans of the liberation struggle – put and agreed to.
Clause 24, Work and labour relations – put and agreed to.
Clause 25, Protections of the family – put and agreed to.
Clause 26, Marriage – put and agreed to.
Clause 27, Education – put and agreed to.
Clause 28, Shelter – put and agreed to.
Clause 29, Health services – put and agreed to.
Clause 30, Social welfare – put and agreed to.
Clause 31, Legal aid – put and agreed to.
Clause 32, Sporting and recreational facilities – put and agreed to.
Clause 33, Preservation of traditional knowledge – put and agreed
to.
Clause 34, domestication of international instruments – put and agreed to.
CHAPTER 3
CITIZENSHIP
Clause 35, Zimbabwean citizenship – put and agreed to.
Clause 36, Citizenship by birth – put and agreed to.
Clause 37, Citizenship by descent – put and agreed to.
Clause 38, Citizenship by registration – put and agreed to.
Clause 39, Revocation of citizenship – put and agreed to.
Clause 40, Retention of citizenship despite marriage or dissolution of marriage – put and agreed to.
Clause 41, Citizenship and Immigration Board – put and agreed to.
Clause 42, Powers of Parliament in regard to citizenship – put and agreed to.
On Clause 43: Continuation and restoration of previous citizenship.
THE MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND
PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS(ADV. MATINENGA): I move the
motion standing in my name that on pages 25 – 26 of the Bill, section
43, Substitute “effective date” with “publication day”. Wherever it appears in the section.
Amendment to Clause 43, put and agreed to.
Clause 43, as amended put and agreed to.
CHAPTER 4
DECLARATION OF RIGHTS
PART 1
APPLICATION OF INTERPRETATION OF CHAPTER 4
Clause 44, duty to respect fundamental human rights and freedoms
– put and agreed to.
Clause 45, Application of Chapter 4 – put and agreed to.,
Clause 46, Interpretation of Chapter 4 – put and agreed to.
Clause 47, Chapter 4 does not preclude existence of other rights – put and agreed to.
PART 2
FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS
Clause 48, Right to life – put and agreed to.
Clause 49, Right to personal liberty – put and agreed to.
Clause 50, Rights of arrested and detained persons – put and agreed to.
Clause 51, Right to human dignity - put and agreed to.
Clause 52, Right to personal security - put and agreed to.
Clause 53, Freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment - put and agreed to.
Clause 54, Freedom from slavery or servitude - put and agreed to.
Clause 55, Freedom from forced or compulsory labour - put and agreed to.
Clause 56, Equality and non-discrimination - put and agreed to.
Clause 57, Right to privacy - put and agreed to.
Clause 58, Freedom of assembly and association – put and agreed
Clause 59, Freedom to demonstrate and petition - put and agreed
to.
Clause 60, Freedom of conscience - put and agreed to.
Clause 61, Freedom of expression and freedom of the media - put and agreed to.
Clause 62, Access to information - put and agreed to.
Clause 63, Language and culture - put and agreed to – [HON.
MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections] -
THE CHAIRPERSON: Order, order, hon. members, let us have order in the House. Clause 64, Freedom of profession, trade or occupation - put and agreed to.
Clause 65, Labour rights - put and agreed to.
Clause 66, Freedom of movement and residence – put and agreed
Clause 67, Political rights - put and agreed to.
Clause 68, Right to administrative justice - put and agreed to.
Clause 69, Right to fair hearing - put and agreed to.
Clause 70, Rights of accused persons - put and agreed to.
Clause 71, Property rights - put and agreed to.
Clause 72, Rights to agricultural land - put and agreed to.
Clause 73, Environmental rights - put and agreed to.
Clause 74, Freedom from arbitrary eviction - put and agreed to.
Clause 75, Right to education - put and agreed to.
Clause 76, Right to health care - put and agreed to – [HON.
MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections].
THE CHAIRPERSON: Hon. members, order hon. members. hon.
members who said mom we are not at play here.
Clause 77, Right to food and water - put and agreed to.
Clause 78, Marriage rights - put and agreed to - [HON.
MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections].
THE CHAIRPERSON: Order hon. members, order please. I now
propose that we lump together some of these Parts so as to speed up the process.
Part 3, Elaboration of Certain Rights, Clauses 79 to 84 - put and agreed to.
Part 4, Enforcement of fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms, Clause 85 - put and agreed to.
Part 5, Limitation of fundamental human rights and freedoms
Clauses 86 and 87- put and agreed to.
CHAPTER 5,
THE EXECUTIVE,
Part 1, Executive Authority, Clause 88 - put and agreed to.
Part 2, The president and Vice Presidents, Clauses 89 – 103 - put and agreed to.
Part 3, Ministers, Deputy Ministers and Cabinet, Clauses 104 - 109
- put and agreed to.
On Part 4, Executive Functions, Clauses 110 – 113:
THE MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND
PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (ADV. MATINENGA): Madam
Speaker, in Part 4, Section 110 (6) at page 49, I move the amendment standing in my name, that paragraphs (a), (b), (c) and (d), lines 5-13 be deleted.
Amendment to Part 4, Executive functions, Clauses 110-113 – put and agreed to.
Part 4, Executive functions, Clauses 110-113, as amended, put and agreed to.
Part 5, Clauses 114 to 115, put and agreed to.
Chapter 6, Part 1, Clauses 116 to 117, put and agreed to.
Part 2, Clauses 118 to 119, put and agreed to.
Part 3, Clauses 120 to 123, put and agreed to.
On Chapter 6, Part 4:
THE MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND
PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (ADV. MATINENGA): I move the
amendment standing in my name that; on page 54 of the Bill, Section
124(1)(b), delete the words, “through a system of” and substitute “under a party-system of”, line 24.
Amendment to Clause 124, put and agreed to.
Clause 124, as amended, put and agreed to.
Part 4, Clauses 124 to 127, put and agreed to.
On Part 5:
Part 5, Clause 128, put and agreed to.
On Part 5, Clause 129:
- CHINYADZA: Clause 129, subsection (1)(g) and (h). It is a contravention of Clauses 268 and 269 in as far as the term of membership of Members of Parliament. If you look at Clause 129 (g), it says, “if the member accepts public office as a member of the statutory body, government controlled entity, provincial or metropolitan council….” Otherwise if he is a member of those, his seat becomes vacant and yet on that section, it says they are members of the provincial council and metropolitan councils.
ADV. MATINENGA: Madam Chair, the hon. member is right
and what simply needs to be done is to delete in Clause 129(g), the words, “provincial or metropolitan council”. What needs to be done is to formalise this amendment and this is going to be done later. I therefore move that Clause 129 be deferred and the formalisation will be done later.
Motion put and agreed to.
Clause 129 deferred.
Part 6, Clauses 130 to 134, put and agreed to.
Part 7, Clauses 135 to 142, put and agreed to.
Part 8, Clauses 143 to 147, put and agreed to.
Part 9, Clauses 148 to 154, put and agreed to.
Chapter 7, Part 1, Clauses 155 to 157, put and agreed to.
Part 2, Clauses 158 to 159, put and agreed to.
Part 3, Clauses 160 to 161, put and agreed to.
Chapter 8, Part 1, Clauses 162 to 176, put and agreed to.
Part 2, Clauses 177 to 188, put and agreed to.
Part 3, Clauses 189 to 191, put and agreed to.
Part 4, Clauses 192 to 193, put and agreed to.
Chapter 9, Part 1, Clauses 194 to 198, put and agreed to.
Chapter 10, Clauses 199 to 205, put and agreed to.
Chapter 11, Part 1, Clauses 206 to 210, put and agreed to.
Part 2, Clauses 211 to 218, put and agreed to.
Part 3, Clauses 219 to 223, put and agreed to.
Part 4, Clauses 224 to 226, put and agreed to.
Part 5, Clauses 227 to 231, put and agreed to.
Chapter 12, Part 1, Clauses 232 to 237, put and agreed to.
Part 2, Clauses 238 to 241, put and agreed to.
Part 3, Clauses 242 to 244, put and agreed to.
Part 4, Clauses 245 to 247, put and agreed to.
Part 5, Clauses 248 to 250, put and agreed to.
Part 6, Clauses 251 to 253, put and agreed to.
Chapter 13, Part 1, Clauses 254 to 257, put and agreed to.
Part 2, Clauses 258 to 263, put and agreed to.
CHAPTER 14
PROVINCIAL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Part 1, Preliminary, Clauses 264-266- put and agreed to.
Part 2, Provinces and Provincial and Metropolitan Councils
Clauses 267-273:
THE MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIOINAL AND
PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (ADV. MATINENGA): I move the
amendment standing in my name that:
On page 105 of Bill, section 268 (2), line 39. Delete “subsection
(1) (f)” and substitute “subsection (1) (g).
Amendment to Clause 268 put and agreed to.
Clause 268, as amended, put and agreed to.
THE MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIOINAL AND
PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (ADV. MATINENGA): There are
actually two amendments in my name on page 107. I move the first amendment in my name that
On page 107 of the Bill, section 271, delete “section 268 (1f” and substitute “section 2681) (g), line 17.
Amendment to Clause 271 put and agreed to.
Clause 271, as amended, put and agreed to.
THE MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIOINAL AND
PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (ADV. MATINENGA): I move the
second amendment amendment in my name that:
On page 107 of Bill, section in line 19, delete “272 Chairpersons of Provincial and Metropolitan Councils” and substitute “272
Chairpersons of Provincial Councils”.
Amendment to Clause 272 put and agreed to.
Clause 272, as amended, put and agreed to.
THE MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIOINAL AND
PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (ADV. MATINENGA): I move the
amendment standing in my name that:
On page 108 of the Bill, lines 10-11, Delete subsection 9.
Amendment to Clause 272, put and agreed to.
Clause 272, as amended, put and agreed to.
Part 2 Provinces and Provincial and Metropolitan Councils, Clauses 267 – 273, put and agreed to.
Part 3, Local Government, Clauses 274-279, put and agreed to.
CHAPTER 15
TRADITIONAL LEADERS
Clauses 280 – 287 put and agreed to.
CHAPTER 16
Clauses 288-297 put and agreed to.
CHAPTER 17
Part 1, Financial Management, Clauses 298-301 put and agreed to.
Part 2, Consolidated Revenue Fund, Clauses 302-304 put and agreed to.
Part 3, Authorisation of Expenditure from Consolidated Revenue Fund, Clauses 305-307 put and agreed to.
Part 4, Safeguarding of Public Funds and Property, Clause 308 put and agreed to.
Part 5, Auditor General, Clauses 309-314 put and agreed to.
Part 6, General, Clauses 315 -317 put and agreed to.
CHAPTER 18
GENERAL AND SUPLEMENTARY PROVISIONS
Part 1, General provisions as to Commissions, Clauses 318-325 put and agreed to.
Part 2, General, Clauses 324-329 put and agreed to.
Part 3, Interpretation, Clauses 330-345 put and agreed to.
On Schedules:
THE MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIOINAL AND
PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (ADV. MATINENGA): I move the
amendments standing in my name that:
On page 147 of the Bill, section 3 (1) (d), lines 8-9, delete paragraph (d) and substitute with the following:
“Chapter 6 relating to the election of Members of Parliament, the summoning of Parliament after a general election and to the ascent of
Acts of Parliament by the President”
Page 147 of the Bill, section 3 (3), line 23, delete “subparagraphs
(a) to (1) and substitute “subparagraphs (a) to (i)”
Page 151 of the Bill, section 18(7), lines 19-20, delete “effective date” substitute “publication date”.
Amendment to Sixth Schedule put and agreed to.
Sixth Schedule, as amended, put and agreed to.
THE MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND
PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (ADV. MATINENGA): Madam
Speaker, acting out of abundance of caution…
THE DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, order, hon. members please.
ADV. MATINENGA: Madam Speaker, I should have put all the
amendments to the Sixth Schedule when I last spoke, but acting out of abundance of caution and that I have not made reference to the item on Page 10 of the Notice of Amendment, I now move that amendment in my name.
Amendment to Sixth Schedule put and agreed to.
Sixth Schedule, as amended, put and agreed to.
THE DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, order,
ADV. MATINENGA: Madam Speaker, in order to adequately
look at Section 129, particularly the paragraphs which were referred to by Hon. Chinyadza, with the leave of the House may I ask for a five minute consultation period.
Motion put and agreed to.
THE CHAIRPERSON: Hon. members, we now revert to Clause
129.
ADV. MATINENGA: Thank you Madam Chair and may I thank
you for affording that consultative period which I gather went slightly below five minutes. But, arising out of that consultation, it is by consensus, agreed by everybody in the consulting room that there is nothing wrong with that Clause.
Motion put and agreed to.
Bill reported with amendments.
REPORT STAGE
CONSTITUTION OF ZIMBABWE AMENDMENT NUMBER.20
BILL
Amendments to Clauses 43, 110, 124, 268, 271, 272 and the 6th
Schedule put and agreed to.
Bill, as amended, adopted.
Third Reading: With leave, forthwith.
THIRD READING
CONSTITUTION OF ZIMBABWE AMENDMENT NUMBER.20
BILL
THE MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND
PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS: I move that the Bill be now read the
third time.
THE MINISTER OF FINANCE: On a point of order, where is Jonathan Moyo?
- SPEAKER: Your point of order is over-ruled – [HON.
MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections] -. Order, Order, sub-section 3 of Section 52 of the Constitution provides that subject to sub-section 5, a constitutional Bill shall not be deemed to have been duly passed by
Parliament unless at the final vote thereon in the House of Assembly, it received the affirmative vote of not less than two-thirds (2/3) of the total
Members of the House of Assembly …
An hon. member having walked out.
– [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections] – Order! Order! Honourable members, he is not going to run away. I do not think he would want to miss this historic moment.
In order to comply with the provisions of Section 52, it is necessary that the number of affirmative votes cast by members be recorded. I therefore direct that the bells be now rung.
Bells rung.
ANNOUNCEMENT BY MR. SPEAKER
PROCEDURE FOR VOTE COUNTING
- SPEAKER: To facilitate the counting of hon. members we have divided our Chief Whips into two tellers. We have got tellers A and
- In the category A they are going to count starting from Hon. Baloyi to
Hon. Matibe. The tellers for category A will be Hon. S. Ncube, Hon.
Chinomona and Hon. Gonese. Our tellers for category B will count from
Hon. Matibenga to Hon. Zwizwai. The composition of tellers is Hon. Mkhosi, Hon. D. Sibanda and Hon. J. Gumbo. May you begin the counting process.
- SPEAKER: Our verification process shows that the numbers do not tally. We are therefore, going to ask the Clerk of Parliament to call out each hon. member to stand up in order to do the ticking and confirm the presence of that hon. member.
AYES: Baloyi A., Beremauro Godfrey; Bhasikiti-Chuma Kudakwashe;
Biti Laxton Tendai, Buka Flora; Chaderopa Fungai; Chambati Tall
Severino; Chamisa Nelson; Chanetsa Peter Tapera; Chebundo Blessing;
Chibaya Amos; Chidakwa Walter Kufakunesu; Chikwinya Settlement;
Chimbetete Willard Manyowa, Chimhini David Antony; Chininga
Edward Takaruza Chindori; Chinomona Mabel Memory; Chinyadza
Webber; Chiota Phineas Chivazve; Chitando Jeffryson; Chitima Alice;
Chivamba Kitizo; Cross Edward Graham; Denga Piniel; Dongo Greenbate Zvanyanya; Dube Patrick; Dumbu Festus; Dzirutwe Gift;
Garadhi Stewart; Gonese Innocent Tinashe;
Goto Rosemary; Gumbo Joram Macdonald; Gwiyo Collen Cephas;
Hlongwane Makhosini; Hove Simon Ruwuke; Jembere Eliah; Jiri
Moses; Kachepa Newten; Kagurabadza Misheck Tofamangwana;
Kanzama Fred; Kapesa Rusipa; Karenyi Lynette; Kasukuwere Saviour;
Katsande Aqualinah; Kay James Ian Hamilton; Khumalo Nomalanga
Mzilikazi; Khumalo Thabitha, Kumalo Marvellous; Mabhena Gift;
Machacha Cleopas; Madubeko Josephat; Madzimure Willias;
Madzore Paul; Mafios Itai Dickson; Mahlangu Tamsanqa;
Mahoka Sarah; Majome Fungayi Jessie; Makuyana Meki; Mandebvu
Noel Tarirai; Mangami Dorothy; Mangoma Elton Steers; Mangwana
Munyaradzi Paul; Maposhere Dorcus; Maramba Phase Hakuna; Mare
Moses; Marima Edmore; Mashakada Tapiwa; Matamisa Editor
Erimanziah; Matibe Takalani Prince; Matibenga Lucia Gladys; Matienga
Margaret; Matimba Tangwara; Matinenga Eric Taurai; Matonga Bright; Matshalaga Obert; Matutu Tongai; Mavima Lawrence David; Mazikana
Paul Herbert; Mbwembwe Edgar; Mhandu Cairo; Mhashu Fidelis;
Mhlanga Albert; Mkhosi Edward Tshotsho; Mlambo Mathias Matewu;
Mlilo O. S; Mnangagwa Emmerson Dambudzo; Mohadi Kembo
Campbell Dugishi; Mombeshora Douglas Tendai; Moyo Reggie;
Mpariwa Paurina; Mpukuta Lovemore; Muchauraya Pishai; Muchena
Olivia Nyembezi; Muchinguri Oppah Chamu Zvipange; Mudarikwa
Simbaneuta; Mudau Metrine; Mudavanhu Ernest; Mudiwa Shuah;
Mudzuri Ellias; Mudzuri Harison; Muguti Costin; Mujuru J. T. R.,
Mukanduri Samson Tapera; Munengami Fani; Mungofa Pearson
Tachiveyi; Mushonga Shepherd Lenard; Mushore Luke;
Musumbu Edward; Musvaire Washington; Mutasa Didymus Noel
Edwin; Mutinhiri Ambrose; Mutsekwa Giles Tariyafero;
Muza Isheunesu; Mwonzora Douglas Togarasei; Navaya Eric; Ncube
Siyabonga; Ndambakuwa Franco;
Ndava Ronald; Ndebele Gabriel; Ndhlovu Anastancia; Ndlovu Moses;
Nemadziva Naison; Nezi Ward; Nguni Sylvester Robert; Ngwenya
Busy; Nyakudanga Ordo; Nyamudeza Sibonile; Nyamupinga Biata
Beatrice; Nyaude Bednock; Nyoni Sithembiso Gile Gladys;
Parirenyatwa David Pagwesese; Pasihomusha-Matiza Biggie Joel;
Raradza Edward; Rutsvara Rodrick; Sai Shaddy; Samkange Nelson
Tapera Crispen; Sansole Tose Wesley; Saruwaka Trevor Jones
Lovelace; Shamu Webster Kotiwani; Shirichena Ellina; Shoko Heya;
Shoko Misheck; Sibanda Dorcas Staff; Sibanda Felix Magalela;
Sindi Cephas; Sithole Abraham; Sululu Anadi; Tachiona Mharadza;
Tazviona Rodger; Tshuma Brian; Undenge Samuel; Varandeni Jani; Zhuwao Patrick; Zinyemba Margaret; Ziyambi Wurayayi Zachariah; Zwizwai Murisi.
NOES: 0
- SPEAKER: Order! Can we take our seats. The result of the count is that 156 hon. members have voted in favour of the Third Reading of the Bill and none have voted against the Bill.
All hon. members broke into song and dance “NdiMwari
Wakanaka”
- SPEAKER: Order, order. Hon. members we are still yet to conclude the procedural issues. The number of the affirmative votes recorded – 156 are two thirds of the total membership of the House. I therefore declare the final votes in the House on the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20) Bill (H.B. 2, 2013) to have been in accordance with the provisions of Subsection 3 of Section 52 of the Constitution.
Bill read the third time.
On the motion of THE MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS, the House adjourned at Five
Minutes to Five o’clock p.m. until Tuesday, 14th May, 2013.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Wednesday, 8th May, 2013.
The House of Assembly met at a Quarter-past Two O’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(MR. SPEAKER in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENTS BY MR. SPEAKER
VOTE FOR A WOMAN CAMPAIGN LAUNCH
- SPEAKER: I have to inform the House that the Women in
Politics Support Unit (WiPSU) is inviting all Members of Parliament
(both male and female) to a launch of the ‘Vote for a woman’ campaign
[HON MEMBERS: - Inaudible interjection] - Order, Order hon. members.
I have to take that again. I have to inform the House that the
Women in Politics Support Unit (WiPSU) is inviting all Members of
Parliament (both male and female) to a launch of the “Vote for a woman campaign and its publications which include the gender audit for political parties, baseline study for Binga, Shurugwi, Makoni and
Hwedza on Women’s participation and the 2012 annual report. The launch will take place on Thursday, 9th May, 2013 at Crowne Plaza Hotel, Harare from 1730 hours to 2000 hours.
MDC-T CHANGES TO COMMTTEE MEMBERSHIP
- SPEAKER: I also have to inform the House that the MDC-T Party has made changes to committee membership whereupon Hon.
Mudavanhu moves from the Portfolio Committee on Health and Child
Welfare to the Portfolio Committee on Public Works and National Housing.
MEMBERS’ ATTENDANCE
- SPEAKER: I wish to urge all Party Whips to encourage their members to attend today and tomorrow’s sittings in order to meet the two thirds majority which is 144 members, requirement for the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20) Bill in terms of Section
52 of the Constitution.
HON. MASHAKADA’S ACADEMIC PROFILE
- SPEAKER: I also have to inform the House that Hon. Minister Tapiwa Mashakada recently, successfully completed his research towards a doctoral degree in Economics and was awarded the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Economics of the 13th March, 2013 by the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. I would like…. [HON MEMBERS: Ululations.]- . Order, I would like to lead the House in congratulating the Hon. Minister on his attainment. Please take note of the change in his title to Dr. Tapiwa Mashakada.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
THE MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND
PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS: May I move that Question Time be
stood over until we have disposed of Order of the Day, Number 1.
Motion put and agreed to.
SECOND READING
CONSTITUTION OF ZIMBABWE AMENDMENT (NO. 20) BILL
(H.B. 2, 2013)
THE MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND
PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS: May I particularly thank you for recognising me this afternoon as I proceed to present the Second Reading of this Bill which reading in my submission is of critical historical importance.
For some of us who go to church, we know and are aware of the book of Prophet Nehemiah. In the first chapter of this book, the Prophet describes how Jews coming out of captivity painstakingly rebuild the fallen walls of Jerusalem. Each and every one of them was determined and did participate.
For 33 years, Zimbabwe Supreme Law has been a ceasefire document negotiated at Lancaster House, England in 1979. The desire by Zimbabweans to write a new Constitution by themselves and for themselves started in 1999 agitated in the main by the National
Constitutional Assembly. The process of writing a Constitution has been long and arduous. We failed to agree on a new Constitution in 2000. Nevertheless we soldiered on. The process gathered momentum as the years went by and on 15 September 2008 the three main political parties represented in this Parliament and Government signed the Global Political Agreement to address the main ills facing, in the main – the governance of this country.
In my submission, the cornerstone of the Global Political
Agreement is the provision for the writing of a new Constitution for Zimbabwe. That writing of that Constitution was done in an inclusive and transparent manner. In the past four and half years, the people of Zimbabwe, just like the Jews in the time of Nehemiah, have painstakingly participated in the production of a Bill I present before you today.
The crowning achievement in this process was the “YES VOTE” in the Referendum on 16th March, 2013. I stand before you to ask in all humility to transform the Referendum result into law by passing this
Bill. Again, a lot of you will be aware of the New Testament story of
this colt which was freed and joyfully strode into Jerusalem with Jesus on its back. The passing of this Bill marks our passage into a new Zimbabwe.
There were various stages in the process leading up to the writing of this Bill. I am not going to go through every stage which we encountered and the manner in which this particular Constitution was done or written. Suffice to say that from 2009 up to today, we have traversed a number of stages which has made it possible for us to come to this day.
- SPEAKER: Order! Hon. member, your microphone is off.
THE MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS: I beg your pardon. I was making
reference to the various stages which we followed in this Constitution making process. I do not want to belabour this House by going through each and every stage, suffice to say that the culmination of all these stages was the Referendum of the 16th of MARCH, 2013. I now want
Mr. Speaker with your leave, to address the main features of this Constitution, Amendment Bill No. 20.
Mr. Speaker Sir, one important aspect of this Constitution is the provision of the Preamble. What is of particular importance is that whilst we provide the Preamble in this Constitution, the current Lancaster House Constitution does not have a Preamble. This was a positive development because the Preamble sets out who we are, where we come from and where we are heading. In particular Mr. Speaker Sir, it will be noted that the Preamble of this Constitution which is at page 15 of the Draft which is before you, addresses the issue of diversity in this country.
Whilst addressing the issue of diversity in this country, that same
Preamble again proudly states that we are one unitary country. That Preamble Mr. Speaker recognises our history, the history of the liberation struggle and the many troubles which we went through in order to come to our Independence in 1980. That Preamble says we want good transparent governance, respecting fundamental human rights and the rule of law. The bottom line is that, we want fairness. Importantly Mr. Speaker Sir, this Preamble acknowledges the Supremacy of God. To those honourable members who have taken the trouble to read this whole Draft, it is quite clear that there is a thread which runs through this Draft from the Preamble and all the way to Chapter 18.
The thread which runs through this Draft is the thread of fairness. What the people of Zimbabwe said in this Constitution is that we want good, transparent governance, tinoda kutongwa zvakanaka. I know that some people want to govern but I come from a school of thought which really implores the governing to govern properly. That is all I say; tirikuti muBumbiro iri, tapota titongeiwo zvakanaka. Where is this aspect captured in this Constitution? What I am going to do is to go through the whole document and to identify those aspects or those pages and those chapters where the issue of fairness runs through this whole document.
Mr. Speaker Sir, I want to make reference to Chapter 1. It sets out the Founding Principles of this Constitution. I have already said that, that Preamble proudly describes our nation as diverse but as one. If you go to the Founding Provisions on Chapter 1, at page 16, a very clear statement is made in Section 1 of that Chapter. It says “Zimbabwe is a unitary, democratic and sovereign republic.” That is a carryover from what our Preamble says. This is particularly important Mr. Speaker Sir when we go to the Chapter which deals with the Provincial and Local Governments, your Devolution Chapter.
I want to particularly make reference to that Chapter because there has been a misunderstanding with respect to what Devolution means that Zimbabwe is being split up in different little countries. When we go to our Preamble, when we go to our Founding Provisions, it is quite clear that, that is but a misconception and a misconception only. You will also note that in the Second Chapter which sets out our National Objectives. I am looking at page 18 particularly Section 9. The issue of Good governance is also addressed. You will see that if you go to page 42, the President is obliged to govern properly. This is set out in Section 90.
You will also note that when we go to the powers of the Attorney General at pages 50 – 51, again the issues of good governance are set out. You will also note Mr. Speaker that when we go to page 66, which deals with Elections, the issue of transparency is again set out. You go to page 77, which outlines the principles in respect of which our Justice system must work; the issue of good governance and transparency is set out. You go to the principles involving Public Administration on page
81; again transparency and fairness are set out. You go to page 83 Mr. Speaker, the Conduct of Civil Servants, again the concept of transparency and fairness is set out. You go to the conduct of members of the Security Services on page 85; again the issue of transparency and good governance is set out.
Mr. Speaker Sir, what I am trying to show is that principles set out in the Preamble threads which we see in the whole of this Constitution. It is very important that when one reads this Constitution, he must be able to pick those threads which are in the Preamble and then look at how those threads are actuated in the whole of the Constitution.
Transparency and certainty are principles running through the whole
Constitution. In this particular situation, I want to address the issue of
Term Limits. Term Limits in this Constitution apply to the office of the
President. They apply to judges of the Constitutional Court, to
Permanent Secretaries and to Commanders of our Security Services.
The reason why this thread again which runs through the whole Constitution is that there be transparency and certainty. We are not only looking at transparency and certainty, we say when you are in power there is need to put in a succession policy. As they say Mr. Speaker Sir, a success without succession is not success at all. These Clauses are Clauses which run through the whole Constitution and the various passages which I referred to. When we refer to these threads which run throughout this Constitution, I want to stick to various and specific Chapters in this Constitution. Obviously, I cannot go to each and every chapter for obvious reasons but with respect, I think there is need to pick certain important provisions in this Constitution and speak to those Chapters or to those Provisions.
The first chapter I want to address Mr. Speaker Sir, is Chapter 3; which deals with the issue of Citizenship. Mr. Speaker Sir, we have crafted a chapter on citizenship which, although not perfect, is a chapter which recognises the mistakes we have made in days gone by.
Mr. Speaker Sir, the essential elements of this chapter on citizenship are as follows:
- Citizenship is now gender neutral. It can be obtained through either maternal or paternal side of the family.
- Abandoned children below the age of 15 are entitled to citizenship by birth. This is a brand new innovation in this Constitution.
- Citizenship is not lost through marriage or dissolution of marriage.
- Citizenship cannot be revoked if it makes one stateless.
- I believe this is critically important. A citizen by birth cannot lose his citizenship no matter the circumstances. I always said there is a Shona saying which says, “une benzi ndoune rake kudzana unopururudza”. – [HON MEMBERS: Inaudible
interjections.] I hear the Ndebele version but I also hear that there is another version that, “Ana Chombo ndeane wake”, which is not part of this Constitution. What is important is that no matter what a citizen by birth wants to do, that person cannot lose his/her citizenship.
Another important aspect which has been brought about by this
Constitution is to address the issue of the ‘so called aliens’ and I say the ‘so called aliens’ because most of these people have never been aliens. Most of these people have never known any other home except Zimbabwe and Section 43 of this Constitution specifically addresses this issue and makes it quite clear that the persons who came or who are coming from the ‘so called SADC countries’, ordinarily are resident in Zimbabwe and bear children in Zimbabwe are considered, from henceforth, citizens of this country. I am sure that persons who were so grouped and may be at times described in derogatory terms can now stand as proud Zimbabweans and exercise their right to vote in the coming election.
Mr. Speaker Sir, I come to Chapter 4, The Bill of Rights. Mr. Speaker Sir, the current Constitution recognises two sets of rights: political and civil rights. This is common in just about every country but we have gone far in this new draft. We have expanded this Bill of Rights to include not only political and civil rights but to include socio-economic, cultural and environmental rights.
If there is any attack on this Constitution, surely one cannot attack this Bill of Rights. This is an expansive Bill which makes sure that we are doing in Zimbabwe what is good for us Zimbabweans and what is in the best interests of our country and in what is best international practice.
Again Mr. Speaker, I do not believe it is necessary to go into further detail. Members have looked into this draft and they have poured over it and I want to proceed to the next Chapter. Before I do so, I just want to address two issues particularly to the religious groups.
The first one has been that this Constitution is going to provide abortion on the take. This could not be further from the truth. In this country, we have what is known as the Termination of Pregnancy Act. What these people have said is exactly what is prescribed by this piece of legislation. There is no truth in the allegation that this Bill is granting the termination of pregnancy on the take.
The other issue Mr. Speaker which I want to address, relates to
Section 78 of the Constitution which touches upon Marriage Rights. The argument, again misconstrued, is that this Constitution is going to allow for same sex marriages. Mr. Speaker Sir, when one reads Section 78, one must read it as a whole. Section 78 (3) is very specific in its terms and it says persons of the same sex are prohibited from marrying each other.
One must also read this particular Section with Section 56 of the same Bill of Rights which is the equality and non-discrimination clause. Mr. Speaker Sir, some of us have looked at this clause and have looked at Section 78 and concluded that this Constitution provides for same sex marriages. I want those people, with respect to go back and look at Section 56 (3) and then to go to the South African equivalent which clearly protects sexual orientation as a right. Our Section 56 does not and when one reads Section 56 and Section 78 of the Bill of Rights, one is left to wonder kuti ko vari
kurasika papi… [AN HON. MEMBER: Paimba yeround]- …
because this Constitution, contrary to what they say is not allowing for same sex marriages.
Mr. Speaker Sir, I come to Chapter 5 which deals with the
Executive, Chapter 5 which deals with the Office of the President,
Cabinet and related matters. Mr. Speaker Sir, depending on the paper one reads, we would have read in the paper of your choice that the President’s Powers have gone up in smoke. One paper would say, “President’s Powers still intact”. The truth of the matter Mr. Speaker and according to our Constitution, the true position is somewhere in between. The Constitution addresses both sides of the coin and sees to it that a proper balance is kept. How is this proper balance kept?
Firstly, I have already made reference to the Presidential term limit. What it means is that as a President is going to be in power for a specific time of 10 years and no more, the issue of patronage fall away. What it means Mr. Speaker is that we now have a President who must appoint running mates. The issue of succession is addressed [AN HON. MEMBER: Kwete zvokungoti vana Mai Mujuru nanaNgwena izvo]-. So, we now have a situation where there is certainty. You know very well that when A goes, before his term of office comes to an end, then B must take over. This new innovation of introducing term limits in our Constitution will go a long way to solve our problems in this country. There are issues of the declaration of war and peace and dissolving Parliament and you will notice when you read this particular chapter that the Executive to a large extent is going to report to Parliament and in certain circumstances, the Constitutional Court will have the final say.
I now come to the Legislature, Chapter 6 of our Draft Constitution. Members will know or would like to know that we have not made any changes to the number of Houses which are currently in the current Constitution. Members will also know or would like to know that we still carry the 210 constituencies in the House of Assembly. I do not limit this to women because this positive advancement of women must obviously affect everybody in the country. Members would like to know that 60 seats have been provided for women in the House of
Assembly, women only. This particular arrangement lasts for ten years. Thereafter; we hope that women would have been able then to bring themselves up to the same level as men. Again, these women are not going to be elected on a first come or on a first past the post basis. They will be elected on a partly system, six women per province. We also have retained 80 members of the Senate but of those, 60 members are again going to be elected on a party system, proportional representation.
Two out of the 80 are going to be representing the disabled persons.
Mr. Speaker Sir, some people have argued that because the disabled are represented in the Senate, why do we not represent, a, b, c,
- e. It was important and necessary to start. It is my submission that a good start has been made and as time goes on, if it is found necessary that there is need to provide for class representation, this issue can be looked at into the future.
We come to Chapter 7, the chapter dealing with elections. Mr. Speaker Sir, we say elections must be conducted in an atmosphere devoid of violence. As I shall comment later, the fact that we provided for this in the Constitution does not guarantee a violent free election. We need to do more. We can only do more if we adopt a culture of constitutionalism. It was necessary to set out the State’s obligations in this Constitution so that at no stage, must the state be left unknowing as to what its obligations are. We also provided in this particular chapter that the State has got an obligation to make sure that everybody who must vote is registered as a voter. I am glad that currently, the
Government of this country is putting in various modalities to make sure that this is done.
Mr. Speaker, I come to the Judiciary and the Courts. The important innovation in this chapter is the introduction of the
Constitutional Court. This is going to be a stand-alone court not a court which is part of the Supreme Court as is the current position. The rationale of introducing this court is that we have introduced a new set of values in Zimbabwe. We have introduced a broad Bill of Rights in
Zimbabwe, we have introduced a lot of new concepts and principles in Zimbabwe and we need a court which is going to see or to oversee that those new and broad principles are protected and carried out. Admittedly, there is going to be a transitional period in respect of the persons who are going to sit on this particular court but the principle is that at the end of the day, we should have a stand-alone Constitutional Court in this country.
I have already made reference to the issues of principles of public administration and leadership, the issue relating to the civil service. They are obliged to conduct themselves in a transparent manner and in a manner which emphasizes good governance and the rule of law. With respect, I need not say more about them at this stage.
I come to the issue of the Security Services. Mr Speaker Sir, this Constitution makes the point very clearly that all our Security Services are subservient to civilian authority not vice versa. It is our hope indeed and I believe it is a hope of every Zimbabwean, that as we go through this Constitutional process, this particular aspect of this Constitution will be respected by members of our Security Services. Again, in order to give certainty, transparency and in order to eat into that issue of overstaying, members of the Security Services have been limited in their terms of office. What it means is that you are appointed to a term of five years, after five years and you are entitled to another five year term.
After the ten year period, no matter we all go up in a riot and say that you must be re-appointed, that is the end of you as Commander of that wing of the armed forces. It is a positive development and this is consistent with the term limits which have been imposed in respect of a lot of senior officers recognised in this particular Constitution.
Mr. Speaker Sir, we have been criticized in Africa in that we glorify individuals and not institutions. This Constitution creates independent commissions and these independent commissions have been tasked with supporting our democracy. It is hoped that with this Constitution, with the creation of these independent commissions we can look at institutions and not necessarily at individuals in order to make sure that our country is properly governed. Whilst looking at these institutions, I want to look at the National Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It is on page 99 of the Draft Constitution. I want to disabuse this thought that this Commission was put in place as a witch hunting Commission. It was not. When you look at page 99, you will come to realize the rationale behind the setting up of this Commission.
We do not believe that we are going to be in a permanent state of conflict and this Commission is therefore set for ten years with the rider that if it becomes necessary then the Commission can be put into place again.
Mr. Speaker, let me go to another institution which is again a new innovation but which is critically important in the context in which we found ourselves in Zimbabwe today. This is the National Prosecuting Authority. The National Prosecuting Authority is set up outside the office of the Attorney General’s Office. That National Prosecuting Authority is tasked with carrying out all criminal prosecutions. The reason why this institution was set up is clear; you cannot deny the problems which we have gone through in this country. This National Prosecuting Authority is to address those very issues which we experienced in the past years in our country.
I come to provincial and Local Government. I have already made reference Mr. Speaker, when I addressed the preamble about the diversity of our country. When one looks at Chapter 14, it provides for local and provincial governments. Again it is clear that this particular provision is a provision which seeks to hold transparency and democracy in our country. You notice that this particular Chapter, particularly in the preamble, goes back and marries with preamble. The values in the Preamble and founding principles are repeated on page 264 and page 265, dealing with functions of provincial councils.
Importantly Mr. Speaker, you have a Council at provincial level, a Council which is headed by an elected person. You have at provincial level, ten people who are elected to be members of that Council. Mr. Speaker, ten persons who eventually will become as it were a Cabinet of that Council. They will be tasked with overseeing or with chairing the various committees of that particular Council.
Mr. Speaker, we do not forget our traditional chiefs. We respect them and in Chapter 15, we set out that respect which is accorded to them. Again as I have said, in other respects, we expect these chiefs to be transparent. We expect these chiefs to be democratic, we expect these chiefs to follow the rule of law.
We are aware that we have gone through a Land Reform Programme. This Constitution addresses this issue. In Chapter 16, we have come to realise and we provided that we can no longer go back on the land issue. We have sought to protect whoever is on land so that there is no unwarranted interference with the occupation by that person of that particular piece of land. Obviously, if there is due process, then there is going to be intervention because due process is taking over.
What is important in this particular Chapter is that we have set up the Zimbabwe Land Commission. A Land Commission which will ensure accountability, fairness and transparency in the administration of agricultural land.
The last one Mr. Speaker, we must address the issue of finance. I do not believe that it is necessary for me to go through the details of the financial provisions which are contained in this Chapter because there is not much difference between the current Constitution and the Bill which is before you.
Chapter 18, the last chapter, provides for the general supplementary provisions in this Bill. It provides for the amendment of this Constitution and any migration from the current Lancaster House Constitution to the Constitution which I am sure this House is going to pass after debate. It is important that I address the issue of how to amend or how this Constitution is going to be amended. Mr. Speaker Sir, I am looking at pages 125 and 126 of this Bill. In terms of the current Constitution, this Bill was placed on public display, that is published in the Gazette 30 days before it was presented in this
Parliament. That was the minimum provided for by the current Constitution. What this Constitution says is that if there is going to be any Bill to amend it, then it must be gazetted for not less than 90 days. This particular Bill is aware of certain special provisions which must be protected and these provisions are firstly, the Bill of Rights provision, which is Chapter 4, the Agricultural Bill provision which is Chapter 16.
The position is as follows;
In an ordinary amendment, one needs a two-thirds majority before that particular amendment is passed.
If it is a Bill seeking to amend the Bill of Rights to Agricultural Land and seeking to amend term limits, in addition to two-thirds majority, you also need to submit that amendment to a referendum. More Mr. Speaker Sir, in respect of term limits, the person who is the incumbent at the time, cannot benefit from that amendment in addition to other peculiar provisions which are set out in this particular draft.
Mr. Speaker Sir, I need to come to a conclusion. I am doing so because I am aware that members have thoroughly gone through these documents. Let me say without any fear of contradiction Mr. Speaker, that I am proud to be associated with this Bill just as yourself and hon. members should be. However, as I have said earlier, having a good Constitution on its own is not sufficient. It is of paramount importance that we respect the Constitution and the laws made in terms thereof. We need to develop a culture of constitutionalism. As already said, a good Constitution does not on its own deliver an election which is free from violence. As I indicated earlier, the passage of this Bill represents our collective triumphant march into a new Zimbabwe. Whilst I may not agree with every aspect of this Bill, I want to concede that this is overally a good Constitution.
The Constitution process took a long time. Despite the time taken, persons and institutions were committed to its final and successful conclusion. I thank you Mr. Speaker and hon. members for the part you played in the process. In particular, I want to thank the Select
Committee core-chaired by the indefatigable Hon. Mwonzora,
Mangwana and Mkhosi. I wish to thank members of the Management Committee for their tireless efforts, at no extra remuneration, in the production of this Bill.
I extend my sincere appreciation to UNDP and the many development partners who provided material support to this process. I want to thank the drafters, Judge Chinhengo, Brian Crozier and Mrs.
Priscilla Madzonga for a job well done; not forgetting Professor P.
Makhurane and H. Sadza for chairing both the 1st and 2nd Stakeholders Conferences. I want to thank the people of Zimbabwe and in particular the leadership of political parties and Government for their support.
Last but not least, I want to thank the staff in my Ministry led by Mrs. Mabhiza who is here today, for having been present for me and the process at all times.
Finally, Mr. Speaker Sir, we could not be here but for God’s guidance. In the Roman Catholic Church, there is a chorus which goes Handigoni kukutendayi zvakakwana. We simply cannot thank God enough. We need to acknowledge in humilit, that we are all here today because of his Grace. I thank you Mr. Speaker [HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear] – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections].
- SPEAKER: Order, order.
THE MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I am certainly not debating my speech but members will have picked up a document which reads Notice of Amendments, Constitution of
Zimbabwe Amendment No. 20. I simply seek to give notice to hon. members that I will be moving these amendments during the Committee Stage of this Bill tomorrow. I want to say that all the amendments which are set out are amendments which arise out of full and agreeable consultation of all the parties involved in this process. This particular document is a result of the meeting on Monday of the management committee where everybody was agreeable to these amendments.
THE MINISTER OF FINANCE: Honourable Speaker Sir, -
[HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections] -
- SPEAKER: Order, order. Minister you can continue, I have recognised you.
THE MINISTER OF FINANCE: Honourable Speaker Sir, I
want to thank you for this privileged moment that all of us hon.
members in this House are having. This once in a life-time experience of debating a new constitution for a country. I think, Mr. Speaker Sir, this is a revolutionary moment and a moment that we will treasure that we were there and we were able to contribute to this important step in the history of our country and I will illustrate a little bit further, when I go into the history of our country, why today is such an important step. To be here Mr. Speaker, and for some of us who have been involved in the negotiations, it is actually a miracle and it is a desire and a push of God that we are actually here.
Mr. Speaker, we recall that on the 29th of September, 2007, SADC met in an extraordinary meeting in Maputo and directed through President Mbeki, that the Zimbabweans should dialogue and dialogue on those issues that will bring a legitimate, credible, sustainable Zimbabwe. It was identified even at that meeting that the Constitution will be at the epicenter of this debate around establishing a credible, legitimate and sustainable Zimbabwe.
We started negotiations on the 14th of April, 2007 in Pretoria, South Africa. Those negotiations were not easy. Those debates were acrimonious. The only thing that did not happen in those meetings was actually physical confrontation or altercation. But, anything that can happen where there is attrition, including banging of doors, throwing of water bottles at each other, it actually happened. Particularly the first meeting that set the agenda which was held at Sandton on the 18th of June, 2007.
So, to be able to come here to celebrate this process Mr. Speaker, it is actually a miracle and the grace of God that we are here. Even when we eventually were tasked to meet on the actual Constitution after months and years, it was not easy. Many of us here Mr. Speaker will remember the First All Stakeholders Conference which was held in Harare on the 13th of July, 2009. The meeting was chaotic. It was clear that there were certain sector offers, certain shareholders of the past who did not want to see the actualisation of this Constitution. Water was thrown in that meeting and even bottled urine was thrown in that meeting Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, it had to take the intervention of the three Principals who organised a meeting and a Press Conference on Monday the 13th of July. It had to take the intervention of the three Principals who had to do a Press Conference at 7.00 p.m. on Monday, 13th July, 2009 to force that the All Stakeholders Conference will actually occur.
Those who were at COPAC will also testify to the serious fights that would take place, particularly at the beginning when trust and acceptance had not been laid. I think it is indeed very right Mr. Speaker, to thank the leadership of the co-Chairs of Honn Douglas Mwonzora, Mr. Mulyaradzi Paul Mangwana and Mr."Edward Mkhosi because there was abrimony a those meetings. I also want to remember the two weeks se srent in the bush hidden somewhere at a little cottage,!somewhere in the middle ov mn}ntains in Nyanga trying to resolve some of these issues.
I know that books will be written but I think it is importand tjat it is chro.icled$that those meetings were not easy. Therd were 4imes Mr. Speaker. that one or two of the parties would grab and pack their bags to say I am leaving; I do not want to see you. And, then quietly you would put your tail in the leg and come back. There were times that, on the negotiatinf table, you would not believe that you would actually reach consensus on a particudar thing. So, you would!run away and switch off ymur phone in the fear that Hon. Chinamasa will phone and say come bag+, i have reco~sidered. That used to happen.
So, it was not easy. Even as late Mr. Speaker, as Wednesday, 17th of January, 2013, there were still wars. Mr. Speaker, you will remember that we met with the Principals on Thursday, the 18th of January, 2013. Even on the Wednesday evening that we met at COPAC House in Milton Park, we had such a fight Mr. Speaker, that our elasticity was so stretched that we said look, if this thing is going to die, let it die. We all walked away from that meeting. And to believe that the following day, in a meeting involving our Principals, a thirty-minute meeting, all the issues that were then outstanding at that time – the issue of devolution, was resolved. I think it was a miracle.
So, I want to state that the Constitution and the fact that we are here is a reflection of the maturity of the people of Zimbabwe. I want to remember on the 13th of August, 2012, we were in Maputo at the ThirtyThird Ordinary Summit of SADC. There, our colleagues in ZANU PF brought a document. Remember, each political party took the document to its own Executive or National Council or to its own Central Committee of Politburo. I know that our comrades in ZANU PF had many sleepless nights in those days – 15 hours of debate and they were debating the 18th of July Draft.
The net outcome of that was a thorough revision of the 18th July Draft. So, we were in Maputo when we received from the ZANU PF delegation, a summary of their own revision to the 18th July Draft. Some of us were shocked to the point of a heart attack because what was in that document was a complete negation and revision of the original documents. Fortunately Mr. Speaker, if you compare the document we are debating and the document of the 18th of July, 2012, there is hardly any difference.
So, this is a process that no one could have stopped. I want to say Mr. Speaker, as a Christian, that which God has pre-determined, no one, the opinion columnist, the chaos faction in some political parties; no one can stop this process. So, having outlined the experience Mr. Speaker, I want to define what this Constitution means for Zimbabwe. The first thing that this Constitution does is to establish a new social contract in Zimbabwe. If you will look at the preamble of the GPA, it records a society that is conflicted, a society that is torn by violence, torn by conflict, a society that is torn by the disbursement of the rule of law, society that is torn by the disbursement of dis-cohesion and lack of national unity.
It was the vision of the Global Political Agreement that it sort to bring about a society with shared commitment to re-orient our attitude towards respect for the Constitution and all national laws; to respect the rights of all Zimbabweans regardless of political affiliation to benefit from and participate in all national programs; to recognise, accept and acknowledge the values of justice, fairness, openness, tolerance, equality, non-discrimination and respect of all persons without regard to race, class, gender or ethnicity; to build a society free of violence, fear, intimidation, hatred, patronage, corruption and founded on justice, fairness, openness, transparency, dignity and equality.
Now, these things were being talked about because the social contract in Zimbabwe had broken down. What this Constitution seeks to do at first instance is to restore the social contract in Zimbabwe and to restore trust on those that govern and those that will be governed. To me, if you read the preamble, if you read the founding principles of this document, they are in fact consolidating and codifying the restoration of the social contract in Zimbabwe. We have been an afflicted society suffering from violence, abuse and fear of power. This Constitution seeks to address that.
The second thing which this Constitution does which is very important is to fulfill the unfinished business of the liberation struggle – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] -. Mr. Speaker, it is not enough to have a flag of your own. It is not enough to have a national anthem of your own. It is not enough to have a black President or black Prime Minister when you do not have a Constitution that you can say has been made by us and for us. Zimbabwe has never had a Constitution of its own and by its own until now.
The first Constitution of this country, of modern Zimbabwe, I am talking of modern history, was the Southern Rhodesia Order and Council of 1889. The background of the Southern Rhodesia Order and Council of 1889 was that following the Berlin Conference of 1884, the British Government did not have the money of conquest. They out-sourced conquest to their private capital, in this case the British South African
Company (BSAP) led by that notorious rogue called Cecil John Rhodes. He came into this country, negotiated with King Lobengula and others and the Southern Rhodesia Order and Council of 1889 was enacted.
If you read this Order of 1889, it was an order codifying plunder passing the sovereignty of land that lay in black people to the company, the British South African Company. All that was there was minerals and land. First, they thought that Mashonaland would be the new grant-rant.
Then they were disappointed and they went back to Matabeleland.
The people of Zimbabwe then revolted against the looting that was taking place. In fact, the colonialists where looting so much that amongst themselves, they decided to form a committee that was called the loot committee chaired by one, Thomas Meikles whose capital is still in Zimbabwe. Now, I do not know who is chairing it. When the looting took place, there was war in this country. Black people in this country arose, particularly in the southern parts of the country and a war took place.
However, black people were subjugated and in 1894, a new order and council was created which was the Matabeleland Order and Council. One could say that the Matabeleland Order and Council is the second Constitution of this country. There was a conflict between the crown king, the company, the settlers and the black people. The king or the crown was saying this is our land, you cannot petition it. The company was saying no, no, we are the ones that have colonised this land, this is our land. Of course, the black people were saying, this is our land.
The matter was eventually referred to the Privy Council and the Privy Council was the highest court of appeal in the British Empire. The matter was decided in an infamous case called Inre-Southern Rhodesia: 1919; AC 211. In that court, the Privy Council held that black people had no rights over anything; that the company could not dish out land but that the crown could dish out land. As a result of this judgment, we then had the third Constitution of Zimbabwe which was the Southern Rhodesia Order and Council of 1923.
You can see again that we have never had a Constitution for ourselves. Soon after this, we had the Morris Carter Commission that looked on the issues of land and said they had a matrix of apartheid. There had to be segregation of land and of course, as all of us know, that led to the Land Apportionment Act of 1931. Thereafter, the next
Constitution which we had, which was of significance, was the 1965
UDI Constitution. After the 1965 UDI Constitution, we had the 1978 Zimbabwe-Rhodesia Constitution. After the 1978 Zimbabwe-Rhodesia Constitution, we had the Lancaster House Constitution.
Now, the Lancaster House Constitution was not made or passed in this Parliament. The Lancaster House Constitution was not even an Act of the British Parliament. It was actually a Statutory Instrument. Can you imagine a Statutory Instrument? It is delegated legislation. It is something that the Minister makes without consulting. So, this
Constitution which we call the Zimbabwean Constitution which we have pretended to call the Zimbabwean Constitution, is not and has never been our Constitution despite the abuses we have made on it, the nineteen (19) patches, ill patches that we have made in thirty three (33) years of our independence. For the first time, we now have a document that we can say was written by Zimbabweans and for Zimbabweans.
Amen and Alleluya – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] -.
Mr. Speaker, there are two canons of Constitution making and if a Constitution is not made in that way, it does not pass the test of making a Constitution. The first one is what constitutional jurists call the legitimation component. Has this Constitution been made by the people? This is why if you look at Article 6 of the Global Political Agreement, the issue of public consultation is there in black and white. Who was to do the public consultation? It was the group of persons or individuals that could claim that we have some legitimacy from the people of Zimbabwe. That group of people is only Members of Parliament because they have been chosen by the people.
I say so because there has been a debate and a feeling in some individuals, that if I have got my own NGO, I am people driven. You might be wife driven or whatever but you are not people driven- [Laughter]. I am wife driven, so I speak from experience. I do not apologize for that. Parliament is the only organization in this country that can claim legitimacy and proximation with the people of Zimbabwe.
Therefore, it was important this process be people driven and the only group of people in this country who can claim to have resemblance and accountability are the Members of Parliament. Anyone who says it was not people driven, he is seeking to redefine the concept of peoplehood, the concept of legitimation, the concept of ownership. The process which we did from August 2009 to 2011 of public consultations, where over three million people gave references, - where the public consultations if you collate the books of material was important because a valid Constitution has to be made by the concept of legitimation. Can the people claim ownership to that?
If a document is not proximate to the people, it is problematic. This is why when we were negotiating in Nyanga, COPAC Head Office and some hotels we were going back to what the people said. That is important. The second aspect of constitution making is the negotiating aspect because the Constitution is a power document and the
Constitution is a balance sheet of the power forces that are existing in that particular country. If you consider the UDI Constitution, it shows the power of the minority. If you consider the Zimbabwe-Rhodesia Constitution, it shows the power of the minority but the blacks through the war were beginning to have some say.
If you consider the Lancaster House Constitution, the black man and woman now has more power than he had in 1978. I have been reading opening remarks of people like Lord Carrington and the late Joshua Nkomo at Lancaster House, their opening speeches, it was a power game. If you look at CODESA 1992, Kempton Park they had these two concepts. The one of legitimation and the South Africans defined a concept that would cover the concept of legitimation. The doctrine of sufficient consensus which meant the ANC and its allies agreed because ANC was indisputably the representative of the black people.
Here in Zimbabwe the issue of negotiation and power contestation was resolved by the intra party negotiation that took place. It is not enough to have the legitimation. There has to be the contestation and the negotiation. Whatever Constitution you are talking about be it American Constitution and Declaration of Independence of 1774, there were class and power interests, slave owners, non-slave owners, states that said we want to be independent and others that said we have to have a strong Federal State. It is the issue of contestation.
We have these two Cs in our Constitution. I believe with great respect that we have passed the test of constitution making. The third component which you need in making a Constitution is, do you have certain constitutional principles that bind you because you are not rewriting the Constitution? The principles of separation of power, oversight, accountability and independence - there were 35 principles that were developed by COPAC because you do not just write a Constitution in the bush. I am pleased to say they were there which is why we have this document.
I have spoken about three things, the first one is that this document is restoring the social contract, so it is dealing with our past. The second one is fulfilling the unfinished business of the liberation struggle. The third one is establishing a new paradigm shift for Zimbabwe. All constitutions are dealing with a certain mischief and they seek a departure from the past. The Constitution of South Africa of 1994 was a departure from an oppressive and repressive Apartheid past. It was a new paradigm from an ugly past of repression. The 1979 Constitution of Zimbabwe was a new paradigm from the past of repression and oppression into an era past of democracy, one-man one-vote, onewoman one-vote. The 1965 UDI Constitution was also a departure from a hazy situation where the Crown had some control to a situation where Ian Smith was now saying, “I am a self governing colony and I am not accountable to the United Kingdom”. All Constitutions are a departure from the past.
I am pleased to say that this Constitution is fundamentally a departure from our ugly past. I have already referred to that past. It is the past of violence, monopolization of power, privatization of power and the state, aggrandizement, patronage and neo patrimonialism, subjectivism, that what matters is the colour of your political card. Even that is not enough, which region do you come from. That is the past that we are seeking to run away from in this Constitution. This Constitution seeks to establish a new legal and constitutional order. I want to touch on four things that define that this is a new and irreversible order that is being created in this Constitution.
The first one relates to the provisions that I would call the value system. That values of this Constitution are found in the Preamble,
National Objectives and Founding Principles – [AN HON MEMBER:
You are now campaigning] – I am not campaigning. I am talking about what this Constitution means. I suggest you take notes on what I am saying. Those three chapters are underscoring, underpinning, codifying a new value system. If you look at the Preamble, it has one thing that has never existed in our body politic which is the concept of putting God in front. It is a new paradigm from the past which has been lacerated and arrested with lack of love, deficit of love and kwashiorkor of love. If you look at the Preamble Hon. Speaker, it speaks of recognising the need to entrench democracy, good transparent and accountable governance and the rule of law. That is a value system. If you go again to the Preamble, we resolve by the tenet of this Constitution to commit ourselves to build a united, just and prosperous nation founded on values of transparency, equality, freedom, fairness, honesty and the dignity of hard work.
I love the phrase the “dignity of hard work”, because a lot of us here think that money can be obtained without hard work and without surplus. A lot of us here think that money can be rigged because of deals, corruption and so forth. If this Constitution says the dignity of hard work, it is making a departure, a paradigm from the current chaos of corruption, self aggrandisement and self enrichment.
- SPEAKER: Order, the member is left with five minutes.
THE MINISTER OF FINANCE: Thank you Hon. Speaker. I am
talking about values here. I have said there are three issues that define the values of this Constitution. If you look at the Founding Principles, they are about eight. supremacy of the Constitution; we have lived in a country for 33 years that has not known the Supremacy of the Constitution but the Supremacy of an individual. – [HON. MEMBERS: inaudible interjections] - So this Constitution, those that came before us from 1965 – 1979 knew the Supremacy of an individual called Ian Douglas Smith. So, this is a country that has been dominated by the supremacy of an individual and not the supremacy of the Constitution.
Another value Mr. Speaker is the rule of law, fundamental rights and freedom, and the nation’s diverse culture. I want to come to this; as the Founding Principle and there is no Constitution in the world which has this provision. It is a defining provision. I want to read it with your permission. “The principles of good governance which binds the state and all institutions and agencies of Government at every level include a multi-party democratic system, an electoral system based on the following: universal adult suffrage, free, fair and regular elections and adequate representation of the electorate.” Listen to this Hon. Speaker,
“the orderly transfer of power following elections”, - [HON. MEMEBRS: inaudible interjections] – So, as I said, you will not find this in any other Constitution. This is true and this is a departure from our murky, our ugly, our contested, our viral, our quagmiring past and this is key.
I want to come to another second thing which this Constitution does which is a paradigm and this is to have a permanent, clear, unambiguous, unequivocal definition of a Zimbabwean. The issue of citizenship, over the years Mr. Speaker, we have had the concept of citizenship and the definition of Zimbabwean citizenship being played along like pin ball or table tennis. One time you are a Zimbabwean, another time you are not a Zimbabwean.
[Time Limit]
An hon. member having passed between the Speaker and the member speaking.
- SPEAKER: Order. May I remind the hon. member that his time is up and may I also remind the hon. member who passed here that you bow down as you pass through the Speaker and get into the House.
- CHIBAYA: Mr. Speaker, I move that the hon. member’s
time be extended.
- KARENYI: I second.
THE MINISTER OF FINANCE: Mr. Speaker Sir, a country
needs to have a constant metrics of who is a citizen and that concept of citizenship must be defined in the most superior document of that land which is the Constitution. If you have a situation like we have codified in Section 5 or our current Constitution, that Parliament and anyone else can pass a law to define who has a Zimbabwean citizenship, you have got a disaster because you then have a continuously moving, a continuously evolving concept of citizenship and that is not proper.
Now, for the first time in the history of this country, we have got a permanent definition of citizenship. The first one is that you are a citizen of Zimbabwe by birth. If at the time you are born in Zimbabwe and one of your parents is a Zimbabwean or alternatively you are born out of Zimbabwe but one of your parents was on national duty, it is clear, it is unambiguous and it is unequivocal.
The second concept of Zimbabwean citizenship is that you are a Zimbabwean citizenship by descent, if your grand parent, your great grand parent was a Zimbabwean. So, even if you have got one molecule of blood of Zimbabwean blood in you and you are born out of Zimbabwe, you are a Zimbabwean citizen. If you are born out of Zimbabwe, you are a Zimbabwean citizen.
The third category is Zimbabwean by registration, whether you marry or you get married to a Zimbabwean and you stay here for ten years, you are a Zimbabwean. Most importantly, is that Zimbabwean citizen as it pertains to the so called aliens. If you are born here, whether your parents came from SADC countries and so forth, you are a Zimbabwean and a Zimbabwean by birth. If you are a Zimbabwean citizenship by birth, no law can take away your Zimbabwean citizenship by birth. You can have multiple citizenship of China, Timbuktu, Gibraltar, no law can take away your Zimbabwean citizenship and this is clear. If you are a citizen by descent or registration, a law may take away that citizenship but I want to see which Parliament will have the audacity of creating discrimination between citizenship by birth, citizenship by descent and citizenship by registration. You would have to be a fool to try and create this discrimination.
The fourth thing Hon. Speaker, I have mentioned two things so far, the definition of citizenship. Now I am talking about the Bill of Rights
Hon. Speaker. The Bill of Rights Hon. Speaker …
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order, Order, Hon. Bhasikiti-
Chuma Order!
THE MINISTER OF FINANCE: I want to restate Hon. Madam
Speaker. I want to restate out of an abundance of caution, the point I am making. The point I am making is that this Constitution is creating a new paradigm from our past. So I have pointed out the issue of our values, the citizenship and now I am pointing on the third issue which is a paradigm.
A Bill of Rights Madam Speaker, is the most important Chapter in a Constitution, for only in the Bill of Rights do you actually find the people. The modern Bill of Rights trace their history as way back as
1215AD where some Barons and Knights met a certain British King in a Forest called Run mate and said Mr. King we are tired of your power, we need to be protected against you. Some of the practices that were put in the Magna Carter were practices against taxation; practices against practices such as, if you marry your wife the king has the right of entrance on the first night. All those things were addressed at the Magna Carter. So this Bill of Rights Madam Speaker, for the last 33 years and I have practiced law under this most frustrating situation; a situation where you go to Court and you win a case – a Constitutional case and the minute you win the Constitutional case, the ZANU PF Parliament then moves a Constitutional Amendment to repeal the gains of the Constitution.
So we have had a Constitution Hon. Speaker; we have had a Bill of Rights that took with the left what it gave with the right. In other words, there were too much derogation from that. We have also had a Bill of Rights that has not been protected. It has been amended here by a 2/3 majority and also we have had a Bill of Rights that was very narrow. This is a very extensive Bill of Rights from social rights to individual rights and from primary rights to secondary rights. Most importantly Madam Speaker, this Bill of Rights, no one can willy-nilly amend it. To amend Chapter 16 you have to have 2/3 approval of Parliament and you have to go for a referendum. So I submit that the Bill of Rights is the third thing that reflects a paradigm shift from our past.
The fourth thing Hon. Speaker is the Executive. Mr. Speaker, I am a Constitutional lawyer myself. If you were to ask me to write one provision in an African Constitution that is more important than any other, it is the provision that limits the term of office of the Chief Executive Officer of the country. To have a situation that as has been the case across Africa, that some of our leaders behave as if they are hammered on to the Chair is not on, Hon. Speaker. So the most important thing that this Constitution has done is to ensure renewal of the State by ensuring that you go for an election. If people like you, they give you your five years.
THE TEMPORARY: Order, Order, Order, the Member’s time
has expired.
THE MINISTER OF DEFENCE: Madam Speaker, I rise to add my voice to colleagues who have spoken before me and in particular to the Minister of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs who has captured the entire process and roadmap which we walked both as political parties and as Government, as a country and as a nation to reach this day. The Minister ably articulated that process and I will be redundant if I repeated that process.
Secondly Hon. Speaker, we are sitting here as the legitimate legislative House of this country to make the laws of this country for the purpose of governing this country. Madam Speaker, the journey was not easy and I feel that we should congratulate ourselves. Not only on both sides of the House but also to the people of this country who have various backgrounds but at the end of the day, realising that after a bitter armed struggle, where sons and daughters of this country perished and were maimed, to liberate this country. Time came in 1979 when there was choice to continue to prosecute the war or avail ourselves to discuss the possibility of shading blood in order to come to the table and find a platform to produce a process that would give us independence.
At that particular juncture in history, we chose the possibility of achieving the goal of independence by going to Lancaster but of course it is on record that Lancaster gave us a window of opportunity to achieve two things: one, the cessation of the armed struggle and the ushering in of independence. The major grievance of that war which we fought and many of our people perished was the issue of land. So we made sure in 1979 that that issue be attended to.
I am glad to say on the issue of land, all political parties represented in this House as well as those outside are agreed that the land belongs to the people of Zimbabwe. I am also happy Madam Speaker that the Constitution that we are granting unto ourselves as people also takes cognisance of the fact that, land shall never again part from the people nor the people part from their land. So today Madam Speaker, I am so delighted that all of us are speaking with one language and one vision on the Constitution we are granting unto ourselves. The speed by which we should execute to do this job shows the commitment as to how we love the Constitution. I thank you.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF WOMEN’S AFFAIRS,
GENDER AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: Madam Speaker,
I am thankful for this opportunity that I have been afforded to add my voice to this historic debate, the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment
No. 20 Bill that will bring in a totally new dispensation into Zimbabwe.
I feel the weight of history and the great responsibility that has been placed on our shoulders, this 7th Parliament of the Republic of Zimbabwe. This is because, as has been said by speakers before me which I associate with, this day in the history of Zimbabwe is a day that will forever remain in the annals of Zimbabwean history. We are privileged to be members of this august House today and also even participating not only in this august House but also across the hills and valleys of Zimbabwe because indeed, the people of Zimbabwe themselves did have a say in the making of this charter.
Madam Speaker, allow me to quote from a speaker who once said,
“If you like sausages, you should never watch either being made “.
That was Otto von Bismarck, a Prussian Prince of the 19th century. Indeed, the process of making this Constitution, which is a law making process, might have been uglier because it was indeed the making of the supreme law of the land. Happily, it is most heartening to note that this process might have been ugly and indeed painful and took longer than it should have taken but it resulted in the prize. Maybe possibly more so, apart from the very wonderful provisions that it has, the very process might be the greatest process and the greatest thing that Zimbabweans have done after the 2008 elections, that is to conduct national healing. This process, even if it were meant not to yield this very good product, it did cause us Zimbabweans across the political divide to sit down, to work a way through, to set the rules of this process and indeed to go about together in the countryside sitting in teams, side by side and speaking to the people of Zimbabwe who saw for themselves that Zimbabweans are able to sit together and put their differences aside. I am really glad as a Zimbabwean that we achieved this process.
Madam Speaker, as a member of this 7th Parliament, I feel extremely privileged and extremely blessed to be part of this, also for the reason that the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment No. 20 does indeed usher in freedom to Zimbabwe. In 1980, our country attained its independence but, what is independence without freedom? One might say that it is more or less like a body without a soul. In 1980, the country and the nation did attain independence. In the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20) Bill, the people of Zimbabwe are finally attaining freedom for themselves as people which together with the independence that we have, we can rise to stella heights as a great nation not only in Southern Africa but also of the world. I insist in saying that the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20) Bill is ushering freedom because as has been said, it confirms a Declaration of Rights that is not only the envy of many a country in Africa but the world over. It is the broadest, deepest and the widest and the most expansive declaration of the rights and freedoms of Zimbabwe and beyond.
Madam Speaker, speaking as a woman, I am extremely heartened and feel the moment of history because in 1984 when the Legal Age of Majority was passed by this august House, I was thirteen years of age. The Legal Age of Majority Act was able to be passed because of the war of liberation that brought in independence. That was of particular significance to the women of Zimbabwe. Before this august House passed the Legal Age of Majority Act in 1984, black women like me were condemned to a life of perpetual minors. They could not open bank accounts; they could not vote alongside a men, they could not buy property. They were literally children in the eyes of the law but indeed, the independence that was ushered in 1980 allowed that process of truly liberating the African women to full freedom because the Legal Age of Majority Act was passed. Alas, that was not enough because as black women, we continued to live under a constitutional dispensation that denied us full equality of the person. Thanks to the liberation war and thanks to the Legal Age of Majority Act, we could now be adults in the eyes of the law but could still not live as full and equal citizens, it is a shame, 33 years after independence. I am glad that that shame is going to end very soon with the adoption of this draft Constitution. We do not have an equality clause in the Constitution that Zimbabwean women have been labouring under for the last 33 years. That same Constitution gives licence to discriminate against women including black women who are no longer minors.
Madam Speaker, it is most exhilarating and most note worthy that the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20) Bill has an equality clause. The Women of Zimbabwe will be treated as full and equal citizens when this Bill passes. They will no longer be discriminated against in the name of custom, also in matters of personal law, that is marriage, divorce and inheritance, issues of children and also matters of the application of customary law. Domestic violence is unlawful as of now because this august House passed the Domestic Violence Act. It will be now also unconstitutional because this Declaration of Rights guarantees the right to the security of a person and protection from violence even from public and public sources. That is something that is worth celebrating. There are also economic, social and cultural rights that will allow the men and the women, but the women of Zimbabwe in particular to lead lives of a high standard particularly as we happen to be in a country with some of the highest rates of maternal mortality.
Madam Speaker, we sit in this august House today deliberating upon the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20) Bill, by the time we finish the day today, 10 women of Zimbabwe will have died today giving birth.
I am heartened and encouraged to note that this draft will indeed guarantee Zimbabwean women the right to reproductive health and the right to heaìthcare in general and also even ushering in a gender sensitive national budgeting process. I am sure the women of Zimbabwe will qlso be heartened to know that Clause!298 requires that one of the principles of the management and public financing requires that public disbursement of funds shall be for the duvelopment of Zimbabwe. Not only that, that in additiof and I quote, “Special provision must be made for marginalized groups and areas.” Marginalised groups Madam Speaker, are iîdeed women and t`is is indeed lost exciting ás we bring changes betwe%n!the present Draft and the mne we have had before. It is most encouraging and uplifténg fos women and others that viïlence and political violence itself will be uncolsti|qtional. `This is mowt
wedcome.
Madam Speiker, I wish to aló/ proceed to emphAsise and allow also my voice to go in celebration of the freedoms that have been ushered by this Draft Constitution. Because indeed, it is said that “good years lead to the making of better ones, but bad ones bring worse laws.” I am most encouraged that once you pass Constitution Amendment No. 20, this august House will now be liberated from the shackles of having to pass unfree, unfair and unjust laws. Freedoms of expression and freedoms of association will flow like mighty rivers in Zimbabwe because this Parliament would never again be able to pass such heinous laws such as the restrictive measures in AIPPA, and the Public Order and Security Act. Those will be unconstitutional.
Madam Speaker, it is indeed true that as one famous writer once said, “woman throughout the ages has been mistress to the law as men ahas been its master. This was an educator called Freda Adler. Madam Speaker, Constitution Bill No. 20, will indeed totally put an end to this very sad chapter in the lives of the women and the men of Zimbabwe.
Freedoms have been opened to all of us. More so, it is extremely exciting and rewarding that these freedoms are guaranteed throughout the Draft Constitution which brings checks and balances. Indeed there is freedom for one to express themselves, and freedoms from sexual harassment and freedom of expression in dress and in fashion and in whatever sense, this is guaranteed to the women of Zimbabwe. I am encouraged by that.
Madam Speaker, it should be celebrated loud and with clarions and with trumpets that indeed we have departed from the present
Constitution where we have Section 27 that says that the President shall take precedence over all other persons to move to a dispensation where in Clause 89 the President is actually, instead, the person who has the key and chief responsibility to uphold, defend and obey, (and I underline the word “obey”) and respect the Constitution as the supreme law of the nation. This Madam Speaker, will indeed guarantee that the people of Zimbabwe, the men and the women, do enjoy checks and balances to the powers that may be.
Madam Speaker, allow me to end on a note that hopefully will encourage honourable members as well as all Zimbabweans that took part in this very auspicious process to remind ourselves that it is said that that, “the law will never make men and women free. It is men and women who have got to make the law free, this was by another famous philosopher called Henry David Thoreau. As we pass this historic Draft Bill, we must remember Madam Speaker that the work is only just beginning. This Draft, no matter how beautiful it may be, will never mean anything to Zimbabweans, will never mean anything in our lives as long as not only us legislators who are privileged to be here today, but also Zimbabweans across the country-side take ownership of it and demand that the promises that we have made to ourselves as
Zimbabweans in this Bill are fulfilled. It will only be our fault if we fail to utilise this to the yield.
I want to end by saying that if the people of Zimbabwe voted a thundering and resounding 93% in favour of the Draft, who would we be the humble servants Members of Parliament to refuse? I want to thank you for this opportunity.
THE MINISTER OF REGIONAL INTERGRATION AND
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION: Thank you Madam Speaker. I
also stand up to speak on this historic day. I will not take too much time because I think my colleagues that were both in the Management Committee and in the Select Committee must have done a good job. I think it is important that one also adds their voice to this process.
Madam Speaker, I just want to perhaps emphasise two issues. As we celebrate this day, I think it is important that we look at two issues. The first issue is the process itself that got us where we are. The second one is the content. I think Madam Speaker, there is so much that has been said about the process. I think one thing that is lost to many Zimbabweans is that for the first time, this process allowed
Zimbabweans to sit under trees, in the bush and begin to speak and to map out what they wanted as a future for themselves. A child born today will have a completely different life from the life that any of us have had before. This is not as a result of anyone writing it for us, this is not as a result of someone from outside coming in and speaking to us, this is as a result of the Zimbabweans themselves sitting down and defining what is it they want for themselves. I think there are many countries that have not been given this opportunity.
Madam Speaker, this process comes out of a time where we had to negotiate as different political parties. Many countries haveng been so unfortunate that they have ended up in war, but Zimbabweans have refused to go to war and say it is possible for us to sit down and dialogue and come up with something that we are proud of. So, today this process brings to me, not only a Constitution, but it brings to me something that says I can proudly stand up as an African, I can proudly stand up as a Zimbabwean but most importantly, I can proudly stand up as a woman.
Madam Speaker, I think my colleagues did speak about the difficulties in the process, but today I want to celebrate the people that I do not usually celebrate, which are men. I sat as perhaps one woman in the Management Committee and many times I am asked how difficult it was to sit around the table with men because the assumption and what we have known of men normally is that they are a difficult species. Let me speak about these men that I sat around the table with. Much as they were difficult sometimes, much as they were led by ego but I think finally, even after you have had a hard day of fighting, whether it were the women in their lives that spoke to them or whether it was God that spoke to them, but it was always surprising that after a big fight, the very next day, you will find that they still want to sit down and make sure that they find a solution to the problems that we have had. That is the number one celebration.
The second celebration to these men is that when you look at all these provisions that we celebrate that are around women; it would have not been possible to get them. This is because whether we were in the Select Committee or in the Management Committee, the women were always in the minority; but we had these men sitting with us and agreeing. In some instances they were the ones who would have in fact proposed some of the most progressive clauses that we do have in the Constitution. [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear].
Like I said, this may be the last time I will speak well about them but I think it is important that the people of Zimbabwe get to know that this was not just a fight that women brought to the table. This was a fight that brought both genders onto the table because people understood that the women’s issues were not just women’s issues but they were issues of justice.
Having spoken around the issue of process, Madam Speaker, let me speak around the issue of content. Like I said, just a very few things are in there. Again, so many people do speak around the issue of this Constitution and I do not think will have an appreciation of how good this Constitution is. Many times, some of us, because we have to go and debate and also have to go and defend, we have had to literally go and google, look around and try to do a comparison of Constitutions; not just in Africa, Madam Speaker, but in the world. I can proudly and confidently stand here and say the Constitution of Zimbabwe is one of the best Constitutions in the world.
Let me explain why this Constitution is one of the best
Constitutions and why it is different from most of the Constitutions. Let us look at one issue which is the cornerstone of any Constitution. The one issue which you find in this Constitution is the one around the issues of Bill of Rights. When you look at most Constitutions in the world, the Bill of Rights are very limited. They are limited to issues of human rights but in this Constitution, the Bill of Rights comprised of the human rights issues, the socio issues and the economic issues. So I think we need to celebrate the fact that we probably are one country that has the best Constitution in terms of the issues around the Bill of Rights.
The second issue that is in our Constitution which needs to be celebrated is the whole issue of devolution. Madam Speaker, not all
Constitutions in the world are very clear around issues of devolution. Not only do we have devolution in the Constitution, but it is very clear what kind of devolution that we need. Not only is it just a principle that is found in that Constitution, but we proceeded and continued to define how that devolution would be implemented. I want to challenge a number of people to go back to try and look at the Constitutions that we have and see whether they have a Constitution that has such clarity around the issue of devolution.
The reason why devolution is revolutionary is that one of the biggest problems that we have had all over the world about how people exercise power is that power is usually centralised. Power is usually over people and not with people. The devolution that we defined in this Constitution is a devolution that gives power to people. It is a devolution that says for a woman who is in Chiendambuya, Tsholotsho or in Binga today, she is the one who decides where the borehole is going to be sunk. This is because she is the person who knows what is needed in that particular area and I think that is a celebration that we need to give.
The third one and which you can find in most Constitutions, but we celebrate it because we never had it before, is the whole issue around term limits. For the first time, we are going to have a situation where anybody who gets into power makes sure that at the end of the day, during the time that you are in power, you are in power and you will go away. We should never have a situation where anyone believes that they will be in power in perpetuity. So, I think we need to celebrate that particular aspect.
Madam Speaker, my colleague who has just left right now, Hon. Jessie Majome did spend a lot of time speaking around women; but I think as a feminist it would be wrong for me to leave this place without speaking also around issues that are for women. On the revolutionary part, you can look at all the Constitutions and find things that talk about equal rights for women. You can find issues that put women around issues in the Bill of rights but you rarely can find a Constitution that went as further as we did around issues of representation. Madam Speaker, we do have a Constitution today that forces political parties to make sure that when they are nominating or putting people on the list, they have to consider that the first person on that list is a woman. This is amazing and revolutionary.
In fact, that clause is one clause that would have gotten me to take off my shirt and dance on top of this table because it is an unbelievable clause – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections] – I know vatete kufara ehe-e. I am not going to do it, I know. This is so amazing and unbelievable and I think that particular clause, we need to celebrate it. I know that we gave ourselves a particular period of time but I am sure that during that particular time we should have been able to empower women to then go in and run. Madam President, I know that some of the men that are screaming right now are part of those men who are making it difficult for women to run in some of these elections. Primary elections, right now are the worst for women. They are struggling and they are fighting to be able to survive. That is an indication of how it is problematic for women to be able to access some of these positions. So,
I think we need to celebrate those particular areas – [HON. MEMBERS:
Inaudible interjections] – Mukarega kurova amai ava, vanonzi ani vamakarova vaye vaye. Madam Speaker, I think it is critical and it is important that we celebrate this particular Constitution.
Finally, Madam Speaker, again to just follow through the words that my colleague has said, a Constitution is like a piece of paper. A
Constitution is just like a marriage certificate. You stand up and say, “I do, till death do us part”. We will be together in sickness and in health but many are left in that sickness and health when people have declared. I am saying even as we have this piece of paper, it will take the political commitment and the political will to be able to make sure that we are able to implement the ideals and values that we have set for our people in this Constitution. It does not take any other person but it takes those people that are sitting in this very House to be able to make it a reality for the people of Zimbabwe.
Like I said, let us celebrate, let us pray and just say God has been good to us because today, we are able to put something out there for people and a legacy that will follow us throughout our lives. I thank you
Madam Speaker.
- MADZIMURE: Thank you Madam Speaker. I am also
privileged to be in this House today where the people of Zimbabwe are looking back at what they have done for themselves and be able to say a few things.
Madam Speaker, a Constitution is a very important piece of document that every country should have and celebrate on. Like what other speakers who have spoken before me have said, it is to do with how people will respect their Constitution that makes it a good Constitution. Madam Speaker, we really need serious commitment to this document. We really need to understand what a Constitution means to us and we need political will to make sure that this Constitution is observed.
I have got a few issues that I would want to raise Madam Speaker. Of particular concern to me is Chapter 12 that has to deal with the independent commissions. Madam Speaker, on Chapter 12 we have a list of independent commissions and on Chapter13, we have the provision that creates the Anti-Corruption Commission.
Madam Speaker, I am baffled because a number of sections in
Chapter 12 apply to Chapter 13 that enables the establishment of the
Anti-Corruption Commission. But, you find Madam Speaker, that the Anti-Corruption Commission has not been listed as an independent commission. That commission is one of the most important commissions that can ensure that we preserve good governance. Madam Speaker, all the other sections that have to do with the appointment, the establishment, also to do with the issue of recruitment of the commissioners, the retirement of commissioners or how they are removed from office, are the same as other commissions.
So, my question is why did we not make an independent commission? That Commission is one of the most important because the biggest threat we now have here in Africa which impedes our development is corruption. Therefore, I strongly feel that, that commission should have been made an independent commission.
I also want to speak on Chapter 15 which is to do with the traditional leaders. Madam Speaker, this Constitution has done us well because as Zimbabweans, we were running into a danger where we were slowly starting to politicise the system of our traditional leadership to an extent where it was becoming very difficult for any Zimbabwean to have a safe place to live. So, it is important that the Constitution now$deals specifically wIth the functions of our traditional leaders. !It is going to preserve our chieftainship status and also ald the other stfuctures that follo7 below the chief. It is impoztant and I thank the people of Zimbabwe who contributed towards the making of t`at párticular Constitution.
LAstly Madam Spe!ker, I want to deal w`th the Cill of Rights. If as Zimbabweans, we are going to abide by this Constitution, what we have0as our Bill of Rights is one of the best. We look at how the people’s rxghts were being trample` upon, how our people were being arrested and being tortur%d.0 I think because of this Co.stitution, the p%ople of Zimbabwe are going to be treated wath dignity.
The`institutions that are there to protEct the rights of the peop|e will take a good leaf from the Constitution and make sure that the people of Zimbabwe are well protected. I thank you.
- T. KHUMALO: Thank you Madam Speaker. I would also
want to add my voice to the previous speakers on this child that we have given birth to.
One thing that we all know is that when one gives birth to a child, that child does not know anything. They do not know how to fight; they do not know what is called a fight. They do not know how to swear at people or how to steal. Those kids are then trained by the adults to commit whatever good or bad that they are meant to. Madam Speaker, when we went to the liberation struggle, one of our mottos was, we are our own liberators.
When we all went to war, that is what we were told – we are our own liberators. We liberated ourselves but we forgot to free ourselves. We are talking of establishing a new paradigm shift. Old habits die very hard and I sincerely hope that as a country, this Constitution, this child that we have given birth to, we will implement it in letter and spirit.
Sadly Madam Speaker, what we need to look at now is, what are we to depart from in order for us to implement this Constitution in letter and spirit? In the same Constitution, we are talking of the promotion of the public awareness of this Constitution to every Zimbabwean. I think the time is neigh that each and everybody in this country takes it upon himself or herself to make sure that every Zimbabwean knows this Constitution from the first page to the last page. It will then be very easy for us to be challenged for the violation of this Constitution. As long as people are not aware of what the contents of this document are, it might be very difficult because we have learnt to lie to people in order for them to follow us.
Madam Speaker, talking of citizens, we have national objectives in this Constitution where we are talking of peace and stability. Sadly Madam Speaker, here in this august House yesterday, I want to believe that at Cabinet they met and agreed on what was supposed to have been done yesterday. But, sadly when we watched ZBC last night, we were already squabbling where one Minister is saying something else, the
next Minister is saying something else but they were all in the same Cabinet. That alone then confirms to say we are lacking the political maturity that is needed for us to implement this document in letter and spirit. But, I pray because God is now in our Constitution. So, those that go to masowe, vanhu vamwari handei kumasowe because we need a miracle for us to respect our own laws.
The same Constitution speaks about the work and the labour relations. In this country every worker has been turned into a flea market or a flea. Unemployment rate, the figures differ every time depending on what paper you read. Some are claiming the unemployment rate is sitting at 90%, others are claiming it is sitting at 70% but the Constitution is now, telling everybody that is unemployed that as soon as we adopt this Constitution, the issue of unemployment will be a thing of the past.
We need to look also at the living wage. As we speak Mr. Speaker Sir, the money that everybody is earning at this point in time is not taking them home but it is taking them to their graves.
Again, we want to commend this Constitution because now there is a right for people to demonstrate and handover petitions. As we speak, we are being haunted by laws which I totally believe are ultra vires to the supreme document. The POSAs of Zimbabwe and the AIPPAs of Zimbabwe, the Criminal Codifications of Zimbabwe, and I think the time has come that these laws respect the supreme document.
On education, there are some of us that are in this august House who are beneficiaries of the funding that came from this, our own kids are failing to achieve that because as parents we are unable to pay the school fees. I am glad and I feel humbled that this Constitution is now guaranteeing that education from primary right up to tertiary.
On legal aid, these are the things that I looked at Mr. Speaker, from the beginning that what is it that we need to depart from in order to implement this Constitution. In this country, we are all guilty and we are proven innocent when we appear in court and incarcerated at remand prison. And, this Constitution is now guaranteeing legal aid. There are some people who have been rotting in jail for years just because that individual could not afford a lawyer. It meant to say those that are poor and cannot afford lawyers, they will rot in jail for the rest of their lives and that is going to come to an end. We have women that have been married, whether customary or 5.11, who have lost properties and they are unable to claim them because they did not have the money to engage lawyers but this time that is guaranteed in the Constitution.
Preservation of Traditional Knowledge; I want to remember our grandfathers were able to treat epilepsy using herbs. Today, doctors have failed to treat epilepsy but they control it. That information, I want to believe, went with our grandparents. If at all they shared with us, some of us have forgotten because we thought it was not a style to be seen to be a herbalist because we are now professors and engineers but that, they managed to treat and the Constitution is now guaranting that. I hope those of us that were humbled enough to listen to our grandparents will be able to share that.
The Right to Shelter; Operation Murambatsvina de-stabilised
Zimbabweans to untold suffering. We were all promised Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle, to this date no one has benefitted but the Constitution is now guaranteeing that and I sincerely hope that there will be no Zimbabwean that is not accommodated.
Talking of Citizenship; we have called aliens names that undignified them, mabwidi but these same people, today we are boasting as Zimbabwe, of a beautiful railway line that was built by those people. Those people were in our farms feeding Zimbabweans but these people today are called mabwidi and are denied the right to go and vote. I am happy that the Constitution is now guaranteeing that they are now Zimbabweans. It is so unfair today that as Zimbabwe we are throwing them away because they are now old and useless and uneducated as we claim them to have been. They have given birth to Zimbabwean kids who are, as I speak now, some of them are stateless because they were given birth to amabwidi.
I sincerely hope that this idea that an alien must go to a mobile voting station, produce a long birth certificate that states that either of his/her parents was a Zimbabwean so that they must be upgraded to be a Zimbabwean, to me I think it is adding salt to injury. To me, that is xenophobia that is taking place in South Africa. I expected that the mere fact that that alien has got an I.D that states that they are alien, all what we need to do is change from Nokia to Samsung. Take the alien, give them the Zimbabwean I.D and let him go on as far as I am concerned.
The Declaration of Rights; the Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms; in this country you are proven guilty before you have been taken to court. The Constitution is now guaranteeing that people will not be detained without trial. We have comrades that are rotting at Remand Prison for the past two years. The courts are failing to find them guilty or innocent. Comrades, those of you that are going to visit them, tell them that the moment we adopt this Constitution, their days of incarceration are over.
Right of the Arrested and Detained; you know you get arrested and you get to law and order, you are asked to take off your shoes and blah, blah. The next thing you are told you have no rights anymore. A lawyer comes looking for you and that lawyer is told, aa-a no, no, the people that you are looking for are not here when she knows that you are there and they do not even know where you are detained.
Sadly, the lawyer knowing that Tabitha is there, demands to see me and the lawyer is detained. Those are the things that we need to change if we want to implement this Constitution. You are forced to admit to be guilty when you are not. How do they force you? Pane imwe inonzi pasi petsoka, baya kukharabha ngesiNdebele. They will beat the hell out of you that by the time they are through with you, you will accept that crime even if you did not commit it. That will come to an end because this Constitution is saying no to that.
Human Dignity; in this country in 2000, we were denied our dignity as women of Zimbabwe – [AN HON MEMBER: Usuqalisile] – . Aiwa, that must be said because we are saying what are we departing from. You know, issues of women when they are spoken in public, in Parliament and in decision making offices, men will always say, ah izinto zabafazi. Ah, usucwalisile. Handisati ndatanga. Mr. Speaker, I will be a woman and I cannot change to be a man. There are some issues of dignity that as a country we need to respect because you dignify a woman, you dignify a country. You dignify a woman, you dignify the world. I am glad to know that as women we are now covered.
We also have the Criminal Codification Act, Section 8.11 that states that the police have a right to arrest any woman that walks the streets at night because it is perceived they are soliciting for prostitution purposes. Surely, are we now saying every woman in this country is doing that? I now believe that the Constitution will throw that away.
Freedom from Torture; I saw a picture of one woman that went to look for her clients and she was beaten up until she was blue-black. The Constitution is now denying that. Let us remember and let us depart from the issue of beating up people that we perceive do not agree with what we do and punish them because the new Constitution is saying no
to that.
Freedom of Assembly and Association; some people are being forced to attend pungwes because they are in a constituency that belongs to a party that they do not belong to. The Constitution is saying no, everybody has got a right to associate and attend a meeting of their choice and a party of their choice. Let us depart from the issue of forcing people to attend meetings that they do not want.
Demonstration in this country meant to say you will be faced by two things, a prison or a hospital. That is going to be a thing of the past because now we can demonstrate and handover petitions as per the Constitution that we are going to adopt.
Coming to the issue of Access to Information, I have been sitting here and I saw the camera guys sticking to one side. You will see the camera zooming Makhosini Hlongwane, zooming Didymus Mutasa and
when it comes to this side, it just speeds and I think you switch it off. We are saying that must stop. I want to bet every Member of Parliament that is in this august House, go and watch the 8 o’clock news tonight and see the disaster that will come out of this Parliament. We are saying the new Constitution says I have the right to information. It is not an obligation, it is a right.
Stop airing things where some of us, surely we cannot all be farmers and surely we cannot all be aligned to one party. Let people hear every party so that each and every one of us can make a decision on where to go and where not to go. We are being bombarded by propaganda day-in and day-out and the same people that are giving us that propaganda are coming back to our homes and demanding licences.
What licence when you are feeding me poison. That must stop.
Security Services; security personnel, let me reiterate what my other colleagues said, they are not supposed to act in a partisan manner. They are working for Zimbabwean people. They are paid by the taxes that are paid by each and every Zimbabwean in this country. Their employers are the people of Zimbabwe. They should not act in a partisan manner. Furthermore, they should not support a certain political party and when another political party comes, all hell breaks loose. They must remember and underline that their salaries are coming from our taxes. Each and every Zimbabwean that pays VAT is paying the security forces, be it the army, prisons, CIO, you name it. It is my salary and I will set the pace on how they are supposed to work, not them setting the pace because they are earning my money. Lastly, Mr. Speaker they must not violate the fundamental rights and freedoms of any person in this country. They must respect each and every Zimbabwean because that Zimbabwean is their employer and I think as Zimbabweans one thing that we need to change is what we call the “chef” syndrome. Mr. Speaker, I have googled and googled, the word chef means somebody that cooks muhotera. There is no one called a chef, because we are here because we were voted for by the people and the owners of this House are the people and we must deliver to them.
I want to end up by talking about devolution. We are glad to know that the Constitution now says my cousin in Zaligwa there in Nkayi, if she gives birth to a child in a clinic, she will walk out of there with a birth certificate. Gone are the days when we were supposed to travel from Zaligwa to Lupane, from Lupane to Bulawayo, from Bulawayo to Harare just because we did not have a birth certificate. Those are going to be things of the past but what is important is that we need to change maitiro edu kuitira kuti bumbiro rifambe. Nxa singa guqulanga izenzo zethu ilesisikelelesi sizaba iphepha elilotshiweyo.
Mr. Speaker go global, in every decision making organization there is a Zimbabwean, be it a scientist, UN, RMS, ABSA Bank or the Global Stock Exchange, there is a Zimbabwean there. We are the most educated people but for some unknown reason we are very good at writing papers, beautiful papers. We wrote a Global Political Agreement; a masterpiece, but one of our weakest links is the implementation of the documents that we write, where we assent our own signatures because we preach peace and practice war. Mr. Speaker Sir, I thank you.
- S. NCUBE: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir, firstly I would like to thank the Minister of Constitution and Parliamentary Affairs for bringing this Amendment No. 20. I would like to thank the three co chairpersons, Hon. Mangwana, Hon. Mwonzora and Hon. Mkhosi for giving us the guidance on how to come up with this Constitution. I will only talk about the languages but before I go to the languages I would like to challenge people who think that when we were campaigning for a yes vote, we were opposed to this.
If you want to oppose what the majority want, like the three parties who are in this Global Political Agreement, they agreed that it is time up, let us come up with our Constitution, then there are people who think that they were born to come up with the Constitution. They must have MPs in this august House so that their plans will sail through but if they do not have the members of Parliament then they do not have the mandate from the people. We have the mandate from the people because we were elected and that is why we are driving this Constitution.
I would like to say to the Minister of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs and the three co chairpersons, that what we have done here, a lot of countries will be phoning you for some advice on how you went about this and how you did this and in the next, maybe one or two years, you end up leaving the Parliament building to work as a consultant for other countries because of what you have done. It is not easy for three political parties to come together. Of course there are quarrels here and there, even if your opponent comes up with a good idea, you are supposed to oppose it because your political party will say why did you support him. It was difficult although, hon. Minister, you ended up introducing the management, which in this House we did not agree to. It was straight from the Minister of Constitutional and
Parliamentary Affairs and co chairpersons and then straight to the Principals but you ended up adding another structure, which I will not dwell much upon.
Mr. Speaker Sir, there is the issue of languages with this new Constitution. It allows someone in Binga to speak in their language. I think it gives us the opportunity that when you go to Binga and you go to a hospital, you expect to see a nurse who speaks Tonga. When you go to Beitbridge we need to see people there who speak Venda, so that we know that we are in their area. With the issue of this controversial council, it gives us that advantage and for someone to oppose; of course, we cannot come up with a 100% document but we have tried our best under these difficult conditions.
Mr. Speaker Sir, with this Constitution, especially the women in Zimbabwe, I think they must support it 100% because it favours women but we were believing in 50/50 but now I think it is 40/60. We will give them that, I think, for the next ten years, so that we see that the women are equal to men but they must not also take advantage of that and then start abusing men. There are other countries here in Africa where there was war and now there are more female MPs than male MPs, for example Rwanda. Here in Zimbabwe we did not want to go to war, it was there in the 70s and it was over.
Mr. Speaker Sir, now everyone is free with this Constitution to speak Shona, Ndebele, Kalanga, all those languages, and not say I do not understand your language. When I am in Harare I must understand the language in Harare, when I am in Mutare I must understand their language and when I am in Chipinge I must understand their language.
That is what the Constitution says, not to say they are a minority because they are Ndau people. No, they are a majority because they are in their area. I think with this new Constitution, it allows them to be the majority there. Why do you want to dominate other people? We had the struggle because the whites were dominating us. We do not want to see under this Constitution another tribe trying to dominate other people, whether we call it regionalism or whatever, we do not expect it in this Constitution.
Coming to the issue of term limits, members of Parliament are a bit clever because we had Hon. Mangwana and our Minister of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs; they managed to jump the term limit of Members of Parliament, they only limited to the judges and the President. I think, for a change, Mr. Speaker Sir, there was supposed to be a limit. We believe in democracy but nevertheless we have agreed that we will just leave it open so that the people will judge us. The concept is that people cannot judge a Member of Parliament because a Member of Parliament is not an executive, they do not have a budget.
He cannot do anything besides to come to Parliament here and make
laws and do the oversight role. That is the other thing which we need to explain to the people. We must not go around and promise people that we will build dams and so on as Members of Parliament. Our job is different; we need to tell them the truth. We have the new Constitution which states the duties of the Members of Parliament. I would like to thank you Mr. Speaker Sir, for affording me this opportunity.
- HLONGWANE: Thank you Mr. Speaker for affording me
the opportunity to contribute to this very historical debate on the new Constitution. I just want to start by making reference as other speakers before me have done. I will begin with the path that we have walked in order to arrive to this day, the drama that became part of the
Constitution-making-process. During the First All-Stakeholders- Meeting, I was chairing the Media Committee and I remember that colleagues in the MDC-T changed their Chairperson three times. That was before we finally got into the deliberations and discussions that were meant for that day in order to put together the basic framework that was going to be used for the discussions or the deliberations during the COPAC outreach programme. We also famously recall that during the
First All-Stakeholders’ Conference, Comrade Chinotimba lost his phone. It is worth noting that, that kind of drama was part of the Constitutionmaking-process and is something that we are not going to forget. [AN HON. MEMBER:Asi noise ndiyo yawakanganwa] – I am addressing the Speaker hon. member.
It is also important Mr. Speaker, to recall that some amongst us wanted to depart from the collated views by the people during the COPAC outreach programme. What the people said was very clear, but some among us wanted to depart from what the people had said. I recall, as you might do, that there was quite some sustained national debate and conversation around that. That as it may, today is a very historical moment for us as Zimbabweans. As Members of Parliament, we were cheered and buoyed by what has happened as a result of the effort of every Zimbabwean to bring together their thoughts in what has to become the supreme law of the land. We are happy because today we are discussing a Constitution that is made by Zimbabweans and for Zimbabweans. We are happy because of the diversities in our various languages, cultures and political differences. We have been able to come together to bring about this important document that we call the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
Today, in a symbolic sense, the second Union Jack is coming down in the continuation of the liberation struggle of our country. For a long time, for 32 years, we have been hamstrung by a Constitution that was made in Britain, which was basically a compromise document arrived at in order to stop the war, seize the fire and conciliate the various contradicting political opinions of that time. Today, we are liberating ourselves completely and disconnecting ourselves from the intravenous connections that were brought upon us by the Lancaster House Constitution. We are beginning a journey in which we are going to walk by ourselves, governing ourselves fully in terms of the legal regime and legal apparatus that binds us within our jurisdiction.
Let me walk through a few important points that I just want to highlight within the Constitution. The first is the Preamble, which states the acknowledgement of Zimbabwe’s ability to resist colonialism, racism and all forms of domination and oppression. The idea of liberating oneself or liberating a country like Zimbabwe is clearly a continuous process. It started way back at the beginning of the last century when our ancestors took up arms to fight the British South African Company in resistance to the annexation of their land by Cecil Rhodes and his cronies.
The Second Chimurenga war was a war led by the current veterans of the struggle who decided to take up arms to liberate themselves from the yoke of colonialism. That is what then resulted in the Lancaster House Constitution that we now have. However, liberation is a continuous process and we have to liberate a lot of various facets of our life and society, one of which is land. As you may know, since 2000, Zimbabwe has been engaged in a very important historical activity of reclaiming its land, which was the reason why our ancestors in the late 1800 fought hard against colonialism and domination by the Settler
Regime in order to reclaim the sovereignty of their land. We have realised that, by the continued liberation ethos that was demonstrated by Zimbabweans in 2000, in this mark of the century in order to reclaim our land – the dividend that comes out of that is for everyone to see that the Land Reform Programme was a worthwhile activity. We are happy that the Constitution does endorse the Land Reform Programme in Chapter 16 which I am going to make reference to later on as I continue.
Mr. Speaker Sir, it is important in this Preamble that Zimbabweans agree and have consensus to the fact that, we have to continue to resist domination by anybody. We are a sovereign nation and we have to continue to resist any form of oppression and subjugation by anybody and it is important that it is highlighted within the Preamble. The other point is the commitment to safeguard and defend fundamental human rights and freedoms. During the war, there are laws that have to be obeyed and you know very well that during the liberation struggle, a lot of Zimbabwean sons and daughters who participated were bombed in Chimoio, Nyadzonia, Zambia, Tembwe, Tanzania and various stations where they were deployed. A lot of them died enmasse and there are mass graves in those places and other places in Southern Africa. That was a serious violation of human rights. You also know that during the Apartheid fight of Ian Smith, we were unable to exercise certain rights as human beings. What this Constitution does in the Preamble is to entrench that commitment to continued freedom and fundamental human rights. It is very important that Zimbabweans are able to agree on this very important thing.
The Preamble also speaks of acknowledging the supremacy of Almighty God. This is very important because as Zimbabweans, we are able to agree on the importance of the supremacy of Almighty God. We are able to pray for our country, seek wisdom and guidance from Almighty God in everything that we do. This is a very important factor in our Constitution. The issue of languages within the founding provisions is also very important. I will not belabour the point because every speaker has spoken about this but it is a very important point that we are now able to bring all the languages to the same level to become national languages, regardless of the size of population of the people that do speak that particular language. These languages are now recognised, which means that they are now going to be able to be learnt in schools. We are also going to be able to debate in this House, in courts and every other public place using the various languages that people are able to understand.
It is also important Mr. Speaker, going on with the Constitution, on the national objectives that we recognise the role played by veterans of the liberation struggle. It is very important; especially the fact that we now broaden the definition of what a war veteran is to include wana chimbwido, wana mujiba and others that did participate in the struggle to liberate our country. This is important because for a long time we have not really paid enough attention to the role played by these cadres except for the pay outs that those that actually participated by way of firing the guns receive. We left out a whole broader definition of who a liberator could be and I am glad that in this new Constitution this is taken care of. The role played by the veterans of the liberation struggle and the fact
that we include other people that had been left out of the bracket of liberation veterans.
I want to finish by looking at Chapter 16, which is very important for this country. Mr. Speaker, we all know that all the wars that have been fought in Zimbabwe have been around the issue of Chapter 16, the issue of land. These wars were around how do we liberate our land, how do we reclaim the sovereignty of our land, how do we give freedom to our land? This was at the centre of the second liberation war and this was at the centre of the first liberation war of the late 1800.
I want to make reference to Section 289 which says land reform is necessary to redress the unjust and unfair pattern of land ownership that resulted from colonialism. This is very important that as Zimbabweans we can agree on this fundamental fact that colonialism did not only mean subjugation. From a political point of view, colonialism also meant disempowerment in the sense that Zimbabweans were removed from their fertile land. They were taken away from vast tracts of fertile land and this was parceled and shared amongst the settler regime.
What Chapter 16 does is to restore that ownership by
Zimbabweans to their land and this is very important. Not only that; it is also important in the sense that Chapter 16 is one of the Chapters like the Bill of rights in Chapter 4. One would need two-thirds majority and a referendum inorder to change what is contained in Chapter 16. I want to speak on the last issue as far as land is concerned and this is a warning.
Section 291 states that the rights of people using or occupying agricultural land are not affected by the new Constitution. The general fear among all patriotic Zimbabweans has been that the new Constitution will affect negatively the dividends of the land reform programme. There was a projection in the negative sense that whatever will happen during the land reform programme, the parceling out of land back to its rightful owners was going to be reversed by the new Constitution. What this section does is to protect the gains of the land reform programme. In other words, we cannot change the status quo in any way.
Section 294 is a warning. An owner who occupies agricultural land has the right to transfer, hypothecate, lease or dispose of his or her right in agricultural land subject to any condition imposed by law. We risk Mr. Speaker to reverse the land reform programme if we come up with a land tenure system which will result in a disempowerment process or in a disempowerment of those that have been empowered by way of gaining from the land reform programme. We need to enact a law that introduces a land tenure system that further protects the gains of the liberation struggle, not a land tenure system that will disempower the people of Zimbabwe. Otherwise this is a good document, it is important that we must all celebrate its coming to being. I thank you.
- E. MUDZURI: Thank you Mr. Speaker. I really want to congratulate all Zimbabweans, congratulate the COPAC Committees, the Parliament and everybody who contributed to end up with this document. However, from what I have listened, everything has been touched on which praises the law. The law can only be good if all nationals who come to leadership follow the law and please the community they serve. A nationalist is one who defends his people through the law that is provided and I hope we will not have personalities who defy the same law we have created today.
I want to touch on the area where I think the legislature must work hard before we even move far. This is the area of local government. The law has changed; there is now creation of councils, that is, provincial councils where MPs are going to be part of the provincial councils headed by a chairperson other than a Governor. There is need to have definitive laws that guide this decentralised venture. We need to study what is happening elsewhere to ensure that we are not going to get lost and give people power who are not going to work properly.
Also, we must ensure that no one takes away the devolution process which has been created through the introduction of these provincial councils. Everything has been defined that the law will be provided through this august House. I am not sure whether we have enough time Mr. Speaker to introduce the relevant laws that will touch on the devolution aspect. Otherwise we can talk about all the other things that have been said. I want to congratulate all the speakers for praising this Constitution. We must work on it. It only takes virtuous people to applaud their own country and raise their flag high when they are respected in their own country. When we do that, we shall be proud of this Constitution and move together as Zimbabweans. I thank you.
- HOVE: Thank you Mr. Speaker. Firstly I would like to appreciate and acknowledge the efforts of all Zimbabweans who contributed towards the crafting of this very important document, the Constitution of Zimbabwe. It was not an easy task, nevertheless, when you look at the final product; it is a reflection of the quality and resilience and capacity of Zimbabweans to deliver themselves from every negative situation they find themselves in. Indeed, as Zimbabweans, we have put our detractors to shame. The process was very long and arduous.
I recall I was assigned in Mashonaland West Province. We did traverse Mashonaland West Province right from Harare to the shores of Kariba. The process accorded Zimbabweans an opportunity which I want history to take note. It was the first national healing programme. It afforded Zimbabweans, irrespective of political persuasions or beliefs, an opportunity to interact reflecting the different opinions over the same subject. It did afford us the opportunity of speaking to Zimbabweans from our various political backgrounds, that in itself history has to take note. It gave us an opportunity which we need to build upon as we move forward. The process as well required Zimbabweans to gather at places unseemingly for a national discourse. I know one earlier speaker said it allowed Zimbabweans to sit under trees, on farm fields just to lay the framework on how this country is to be governed. When I look at the numbers of people who attended those meetings, it shows a reflection of how important this Constitution making process was viewed. We need to appreciate and acknowledge Zimbabweans in their generality over the positive contributions that they made by attending such meetings, notwithstanding the positive contributions. I also recall the negative contributions some sections of Zimbabwe made. I remember there were incidences whereby people would want to stop people they were claiming not to know from speaking their views because they thought they had no right to speak or to have their voices heard.
Nevertheless, we soldiered on and we captured every statement that was coming from every Zimbabwean whether we knew them or do not know them. I also appreciate the ones who gave their resources even if they were getting financial rewards. Some gave their cars and equipment to facilitate in the gathering of views. We need to thank our hoteliers though at times they were locking us out for providing us with accommodation during those difficult times. We need to acknowledge the ones who fed us, some of the areas that we went to, some of us never set foot in those areas. I want to thank all those Zimbabweans who contributed extensively and diligently to this cause.
I will now come to the content. It showed the richness of the diversity of Zimbabweans which we need to celebrate. I recall in instances where we were dealing with a chapter on citizenship. There were indeed people who wanted to show their “patriotism” who thought the exercise sought to disenfranchise certain people of certain beliefs, people they perceived as threats to what they believed, such as denying people dual citizenship. I recall some heated arguments, some saying that they do not want dual citizenship, as if the provision will force every Zimbabwean to have a dual citizenship. I want to appreciate the drafters who threw away such statements, people who were being denied dual citizenship.
Dual citizenship is of importance to Zimbabweans who are in diaspora, they want the benefits or to have better benefits in the foreign lands they are working in. Surely we would not want to deny Zimbabweans the best opportunities there. I want to acknowledge the issue of dual citizenship in Chapter 3.
The other important milestone in terms of context that I want to touch on is the Declaration of Rights Chapter 4. It is very important because for the first time in the history of this country, we have in the supreme law, a chapter that gives importance, respect, honour and some integrity to a common man. Every law that is going to come, if it touches on any of those rights, that law is declared to be void. It is not justiceable. It needs to be amended or repealed altogether. It opens a plethora of opportunities for Zimbabweans to excel in their social endeavors, such as the freedom of association and assembly. If the freedom of association and assembly produced this document we are having before us today, what more can you expect from future gatherings that this Constitution will permit.
I look forward to living in an era whereby I no longer have to ask any authority to gather or associate. I look forward to era an whereby I have access to information that I want to hear. I remember during the outreach programme whereby someone would say I want Studio 7 to be banned, as if by mere switching on of your personal radio, Studio 7 turns itself on. For one to access Studio 7, you ought to have left other stations that are being broadcasted on your radio station. For someone to desire the banning of Studio 7, is like saying we do not want the technological advancement that has taken place up until now. There are many radio stations. You are not forced to listen to Studio 7. Why are you zeroing in on Studio 7? Access to Information is commendable.
The other important point I want to bring at this juncture is the issue of devolution, I know there are certain interests that wanted to misconstrue what devolution stood for. Devolution did not stand for the breaking up or partitioning of Zimbabwe as a unitary State. It came quite clear despite the coaching that some political persuasions wanted to coach people to say, but when we later on heard people speak from their hearts especially the issue to do with natural resources, you would hear quite clear, voices irrespective of which part of Zimbabwe you were in. People would say we want a portion of our natural resources to be used in developing our own areas rather than have it all go to one area. Such a clamoring should be applauded in that people want also to receive benefits from their natural resources to develop their own areas as well. So I find this Constitution quite progressive in as far as granting devolution its constitutional status, notwithstanding the choice of leaders who will be superintending issues of development in the area they have been elected to represent. The coming in of provincial and local authorities, will again bring to the fore the issue that some of us have sought to delay, the issue of the amendment of the Urban Councils Act, like what Hon. Mudzuri who spoke before me stated.
The other points in terms of content I want to bring to the fore are issues to do with qualifications of voters in the Forth schedule. It is important to have such section included in the Constitution to ensure that if someone dream of introducing a law that seeks to disfranchise Zimbabweans from enjoying his/her suffrage right. I can take that person or authority or that Act to court and have it declared null and void. Lastly, I want to say the passing of this Constitution of Zimbabwe Bill sets us some future business which I will term the way forward.
The passing of this new Constitution demands that those legal reforms that were supposed to have been enacted during the life of the Government of National Unity, that we had deliberately omitted, now have to be done as a matter of urgency. We need those legal reforms. I would have preferred those legal reforms to be carried out before 29th June 2013 so that we are delivering a complete composite set of laws that would propel this country to join other respectable nations. We need those electoral reforms, media reforms, security sector reforms to ensure that they come into line with the new Constitution and to ensure that we do not clog our court system with legal challenges.
I foresee disaster if we continue with the current laws without bringing in other amendments or repealing those Acts. I want to ask the Minister of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs to bring in as a matter of urgency, legal reforms in most areas so that we bring in those Acts in line with this new Constitution in order to enjoy the benefits of this new law otherwise it will remain a pipe dream because it will always be in confrontation with certain laws that are currently in existence.
With these few remarks I want to thank you for the opportunity to add my voice in the making of history of a new Zimbabwe.
MS MANGAMI: I also want to add my voice in congratulating Zimbabweans for the product which is before us. We went through a rigorous process and everybody participated. When we started, one would think that we were not going to come to an end because there was a lot of noise in the beginning and later on, people converged to actually agree on a process to continue and for a product to be realized. Now, we are having a Constitution in front of us.
With all the stakeholders meetings which we had, the first and the second one, of course we were improving stage by stage, when we held the Secondt All Stakeholders Conference, we had actually improved compared to First All Stakeholders Conference, thereby leading us to this day which we are having to celebrate on the successful product.
So many things have been said and I will look at a few things that I feel I have to look at, that is the Agricultural Land Rights, whereby every man and woman are expected to register their names if they have the same plot. There are also rights to food and water in the Constitution. I am happy to see that they have included not only clean water but also portable water. I was thinking of the portable water and I said to myself is it the mineral water or it is something else? I am not sure but I am happy that we have all those rights which are in front of us.
There are economic rights as well and we hope that all these rights are going to be exercised on. I also want to look at the inclusion of the disabled persons in the Senate. It is a very much positive idea for us to have everybody included – the seats for men, women and chiefs. You can see that all people are included. The profile for every person has been included.
Now that this document is there like the previous speaker has said, let us have it passed since everybody has voted for a “YES VOTE”. I think ours here is to augment on what the rest of the people have said.
- F. M. SIBANDA: Thank you for giving me this privilege to speak. I thought I was not going to speak on this historical event. Since you went to recess, I have been standing throughout and I thank you very much to have honoured me to speak.
If I heard well, Hon Matinenga said that the process of
Constitution making process started in 1999 under the banner of
National Constitutional Assembly. This might be partially correct but constitutionalism of Zimbabwe has been as long as 1890 when our forefathers were subdued by Rhodes BSAP in Mbembesi in 1896.
The historians say the first Chimurenga started in 1896 which is very wrong. It started in 1893 when our forefathers fought with spears while the whites had sigwagwas. The constitutional dispensation and process started long as I would say. Honestly, Hononourable Matinenga was correct that in 1999 civil society, students, churches and trade unions, particularly the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions and many others found it fit that modern constitutional process should start.
I am happy to mention that the Prime Minister was the first Chairman of the National Constitutional Assembly, Thoko Matshe was the second and then the last was Dr Lovemore Madhuku. I am happy to say that I served under their leadership when the Prime Minister resigned and became the political leader. I became the Vice Chairman of NCA for two terms where I worked very well in publicizing the constitutional issues of this country.
I am happy to say that some of the members that we had at NCA taskforce are hon. members of this current Parliament and these are Hon.
Biti, Hon. Mwonzora who was the spokesperson then, Hon. Majome,
Hon. Reggie Moyo, Hon. Prof. Ncube, Hon. Thabita Khumalo and Hon. Chimhini. If I have left some, it is not deliberate. I want to emphasize that this Constitution making process was not an individual issue but a collective issue. More importantly, I want to say those that are still clamouring that NCA says “NO” to this Constitution, they are individuals, two or three people but the rest of the Members are now representing this Parliament. Notwithstanding that Dr. Madhuku wants to form his own party but there is a time that he worked so hard with the people I have mentioned in this House. So we should applaud him for that and Thoko Matshe and Hon. Prime Minister because this was the genesis of the constitution making process. I need now to dwell on very few issues. On thePreamble, I only commend and acknowledge the Supremacy of God. That is a mark on its own. On the Bill of Rights, I am agreeable to it but I want to also quote the Bill of Rights on a very vulnerable people starting from the application …
- SPEAKER: Order hon. member. At this stage you may not directly refer or quote any provisions of the Constitution because this is a general debate. You will do so when we get to Committee Stage tomorrow where you are at liberty to talk direct on a specific clause or provision of the Constitution that you are deliberating on. So you may just speak generally on the principles.
- SIBANDA: Thank you Mr. Speaker. I need to commend the expanded human rights. These are justifiable at law particularly the protection of the vulnerable, the rights of women, rights of children and rights of the elderly. I need to emphasise that everybody grows. It would appear the youths and women have been highlighted very much in other documents but this Constitution captures also the elderly people. I do not know where the elderly starts but I think those who are fifty years and above or sixty and above. So hon. members, this Constitution has captured very well that even the elderly people should be guarded as vulnerable people.
The rights of the disabled was also highlighted and also the war veterans as war liberators, the detainees, the combatants, freedom fighters and the assistants. So this Constitution to me is second to none when you analyse the Bill of Rights that is very expanded to include social, economic, cultural, environmental, civic and political rights. This Constitution needs to pass without any doubt. I need to talk about Security matters.
It is quite clear in Chapter 11 that security officers should be none partisan, should be apolitical hence this is now a new paradigm shift where we have had commanders of the army taking political stance. It is taboo as soon as we hear anybody after this one, they will be charged under treason. It should be treasonous because up to now some certain commanders in the police, army, boast that they are above law.
So henceforth after we adopt this, any statement that is treasonous, they will be judged according to what they have done. So I applaud that Section. Section 12 talks about Independent Commissions to facilitate democracy. I cannot go to those Commissions but we are seeing a new paradigm shift in this Constitution where democracy has to be enhanced by institutions that are constitutional. We come to Chapter 13. I am not going to read it but understand that it is against corruption where people have been making ill gotten riches. This Chapter will deal with those people and it is going to enhance anti-corruption tendencies.
Lastly but not the least, we have to talk about Devolution where many people in Zimbabwe particularly Midlands, Zvishavane and Gweru and Gokwe where I went, 90% of people endorsed devolution but I was alarmed to see that this constitution making process nearly failed because of differences politically. My colleagues that have spoken earlier put it clearly that devolution is power transfer to regions, to people so that they exercise their power politically and in decision making. So this is a progression and progress from the old Lancaster Constitution. I would love to implore this House that we have to deal with constitutionalism.
Constitution and constitutionalism are two different concepts.
Constitutionalism means we have to live by the implementation and do things according to the book. We have to accept the rule of law as it should be. This to me is second to none and it is very critical that this Constitution is second to none in Africa because I have analysed a lot of constitution making processes.
I need to thank the negotiators, the principals, Management Committee, the co-chairs, the MPs in their entirety for the outreach programmes, the rapporteurs, COPAC staff, the Speaker of Parliament and the staff of Parliament and the people of Zimbabwe to have made this possible. I do not forget Magwegwe Constituency. They voted overwhelmingly for the draft and I am here to represent them and congratulate Zimbabweans to have voted wisely because after voting, we are going to have a new dispensation.
I worked in all phases of team leader, as rapporteur and as a draft person. I enjoyed all that. I was in Masvingo. I know what happens. So I am very lucky that I participated in the all levels of the constitution making process. I thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
- MAHLANGU: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I am standing up adding my voice on the amended Constitution No. 20. I think we have made history as the Seventh Parliament of Zimbabwe. Being one of the members of that Parliament, I stand here to speak on behalf of Nkulumani the constituency that I represent. I also want to thank the people that took part in this process. Unfortunately I was not part of the Outreach Programmes for the MPs because by the time when the MPs were going out, that is the time when I lost my mother and I could not be part of the Outreach Programmes.
I just want to thank you Mr. Speaker, the Parliament of Zimbabwe, the Clerk of Parliament, the staff of Parliament and also the members of Parliament here and the Minister Mr. Eric Matinenga for driving this process in his ministry. People are not mentioning those things but I think this was a Parliament driven process where we must allude and thank the job that was done by your Parliament under your leadership Mr. Speaker. We thank you so much. No one will thank you except us. I think things have been mentioned here. You have made history in this country for the first time and this history means that Zimbabwe will never be the same again. Things that used to happen yesterday, it is actually a paradigm shift. It was mentioned by Minister of Finance that there is a paradigm shift in this country.
Things are never going to be the same again but what we need to do is respect and observe the culture of constitutionalism whereby we do not have to just have the document alone. We need to observe and respect that document. What we need also as a country is to make sure that our children also know about this document. I think in this country there is a tendency whereby when there is a Constitution, we think that the Constitution is for adults only. I think in our schools we need to introduce a subject on the Constitution so that as our children grow up, they should know what is in the Constitution
so that tomorrow these are future leaders, they will know what it means to follow the Constitution.
Mr. Speaker Sir, I also want to thank the people of Nkulumane who I represent for voting overwhelmingly. I think in terms of the ‘yes vote we had about 12 000 votes from the people of Nkulumane and also the people of Matabeleland as a whole. They voted in their numbers to give a ‘yes vote’ to this Constitution. It shows that the people of Matabeleland were happy to see the issue of devolution of power coming to them as you know Mr. Speaker Sir, Matabeleland was one of the marginalised provinces, but through devolution, I think things are going to change and the people of Matabeleland are now going to be given the power and authority to be able to decide their own destiny.
Mr. Speaker Sir, without much ado, I just want to thank everyone. I want to thank the COPAC especially Mwonzora, Mangwana and Mr. Mkhosi the Co-Chairpersons and the Select Committee of COPAC as a whole. I can see Jessy Majome here as one of the Select Committee Members here in this Parliament. Also, Mr. Navaya, aah Navaya you have not been in the Committee you are lying. Mr. Gonese, I have mentioned you and I also want to thank the Management Committee of the COPAC, Mangwana, Tendai Biti and also is it Mzila or Priscila Misihairambwi from the Ncube faction. Also, the Minister, I have mentioned you. I want to thank the Principals themselves. The Principals are the President of the Government of Zimbabwe, Mugabe; the PrimeMinister of the Government of Zimbabwe, Mutambara and Welshman Ncube for the job well done and for ensuring that this document comes before Parliament today.
What I always wish is that tomorrow or any other time from now, this Constitution becomes the law of Zimbabwe which will decide the future of this country.
*MR. MACHACHA: I want to thank you Mr. Speaker for the time that you have given me. I might be the last person to speak. The time that you have given me to congratulate those who were involved in the process is a time of happiness. We used to hear that in South Africa they had made their Constitution and in Kenya they also embarked on a constitution making process.
Today it is our time in Zimbabwe and we are hoping that we have been able to follow this process to its end. The people in Kariba where I come from, are happy that they contributed to this Constitution. Zimbabwe is also happy that we have come up with our own Constitution and Africa we are happy here in Zimbabwe because we have succeeded in coming up with our own Constitution.
With this Constitution, I think this has given us respect and value and has made us to be recognised as a country that can come up with its own law and how our country should be governed. I feel happy for the short time that you have given me Mr. Speaker and I want to say congratulations to Zimbabwe. We now have our own Constitution that entrenches our values and traditions. I am also happy that Africa as a whole is one of the continents that have shown that we are able to come up with our own laws that we are comfortable and happy to work with and that that we have crafted on our own.
I want to say that this Constitution Mr. Speaker was crafted through a united nation. It was not done by another organisation. I also want to thank the President of this nation, given that we had been in a difficult economic era, for example, we were chased out from hotel rooms and actually travelled on difficult roads especially in Kariba where the road network is bad.
I want to say that we were able to access all those areas using roads. There are some places which needed helicopters but we managed to get there. I want to end up by saying this Constitution Mr. Speaker, will never be forgotten by me because I lost my vehicle during the Constitution Making Process. I know that my grandchildren will remember me one of these days that one of our grandfathers who crafted this Constitution lost a vehicle in the process. I want to thank you Mr.
Speaker.
*MR. HURUBA: Thank you Mr. Speaker for giving me this opportunity to express my gratitude. I was looking at the way the debates have progressed. When we went out through the Constitution Making Process, we went as a united front. We indeed had the same mind but what I am happy about is that we consulted and people told us what they wanted. After they told us what they wanted, that is what we captured and we are doing what they want.
I think we should not have wasted time talking because we are repeating what the people have said. We are expressing gratitude that was expressed by the people.
I want to thank the freedom fighters and when I say freedom fighters, I mean the war veterans like me and you including the
Mujibhas, and the Chimbwidos and those who died in the prisons and went to the prisons such as Jaison Moyo, Joshua Nkomo and all those who made us to be where we are today.
I think when the Constitution Making Process was embarked on, it was their hope that we would have freedom in Zimbabwe and now as we proceed, I believe there will not be any violence and conflict. We are now a people who will go and campaign and win in all fairness because of what was done by the people of Zimbabwe. I thank you.
THE MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND
PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS: Mr. Speaker Sir, this has been a long
afternoon, going well into the night but this is what it should be because we are gathered today witnessing this historic event.
I am humbled Mr. Speaker Sir, by the comments made by hon. members who have contributed to this debate. Not a single member has sought to attack any provision of this Bill and this just goes to show how coming of age we have become as Zimbabweans. How we have come to appreciate that there are certain things that do not need money but we can achieve as a country as long as we are all being inclusive.
Mr. Speaker Sir, it is not necessary for me to go through the very kind words which were made by each and every contributor to this debate.
I just however, want to say one thing and this does not arise out of the debate but Hon. Misihairabwi-Mushonga was so excited about the provision of devolution in this draft and she did say in her contribution that if ever she had wanted to remove a shirt and dance on the table here because of the devolution provision. I heard members in the background mostly male saying, “Misihairabwi, Misihairabwi”, they obviously wanted to do more, not only to take off the shirt but everything else as well. – (laughter) - Thanks to the presence of Minister Muchena who was on the front bench who disapproved of anything which she wanted to do.
Mr. Speaker, yes, there are certain persons who may feel that they have not been thanked enough in the address that I gave. I know that I had left out the very long suffering service providers who did a lot of work during COPAC, the majority of whom are still to be paid for the services that they provided. I wish to thank them. I also wish maybe to add that in my initial thanking conclusion, I had left out Professor Makhurane and Prof. Hope Sadza. I want to thank them for the diligent work that they did in chairing the 1st and the 2nd Stakeholders Conference.
I just want to address the issue raised by Hon. Mahlangu about the need to educate our children on the values and the content of this Constitution. I want to thank the hon. member for bringing out that contribution but I want to lay his mind to rest. Section 7 of this draft clearly answers the concerns which the hon. member raised. Section 7 of the Constitution places an obligation on the State to promote the awareness of this Constitution by translating it into officially recognized languages and disseminating it widely.
Secondly, it requires that the Constitution be taught in schools as part of the curricula for the training of members of the Security Services, the Civil Service and members and employees of public institutions. It also encourages all persons and organizations including civic organizations to disseminate awareness and knowledge of this Constitution throughout society. So Hon. Mahlangu, the concern that you raised is fully recognized by this Constitution and it is fully addressed. On that note, may I thank all members who contributed to this debate. I thank you.
Mr. Speaker Sir, I move that the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20) Bill, be read for the second time.
Motion put and agreed to.
Bill read a second time.
Committee Stage: Thursday, 9th May, 2013
On the motion of THE MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS, the House adjourned at Twenty
Minutes past Six o’clock p.m.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Tuesday, 7th May, 2013.
The House of Assembly met at a Quarter-past Two O’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(MR. SPEAKER in the Chair)
MOTION
LEAVE TO MOVE SUPENSION OF STANDING ORDERS NO. 22,
33 (2), 34 (5) AND 205 (5)
THE MINISTER OF FINANCE on behalf of THE MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS: I seek leave of the House to
move that the provisions of Standing Orders No. 22, 33 (2), 34 (5) and 205 (5) regarding the automatic adjournment of the House at Five minutes to Seven o’clock p.m. and at Twenty-five minutes past One o’clock p.m. on Fridays, private members motions taking precedence on
Wednesday after question time and that question time shall be on Wednesdays and stages of Bills respectively, be suspended in respect of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20) Bill [H. B. 2, 2013].
This is in order to facilitate debate on the historic Constitution Bill. You are aware Mr. Speaker, that this is the first time that Zimbabwe has had a Constitution for itself and by itself. The current Constitution is a Statutory Instrument of the British Parliament so this is a very happy occasion. To facilitate that, let us have an open uninterrupted debate on this important document. I thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
MOTION
SUPENSION OF STANDING ORDERS NO. 22, 33 (2), 34 (5) AND
205 (5)
THE MINISTER OF FINANCE on behalf of THE MINISTER
OF CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS: I move that the provisions of
Standing Orders No. 22, 33 (2), 34 (5) and 205 (5) regarding the automatic adjournment of the House at Five minutes to Seven o’clock
p.m. and at Twenty-Five minutes past One o’clock p.m. on a Friday, private members motion taking precedence on Wednesday after question time and that question time shall be on Wednesdays and stages of Bills respectively, be suspended in respect of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20) Bill [H. B. 2, 2013].
Motion put and agreed to.
FIRST READING
CONSTITUTION OF ZIMBABWE AMENDMENT (NO. 20) BILL
(H.B. 2, 2013)
THE MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS presented the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20) Bill.
Bill read the first time.
Second Reading: Wednesday, 8th May, 2013 –(HON. MEMBERS:
Inaudible interjections)-
THE MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND
PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS: The reason why Mr. Speaker is, this is an important Bill which must be afforded enough opportunity and hon. members must be seen to be debating this fully. With your leave, I move that the Second Reading be done tomorrow –(HON. MEMBERS:
Inaudible interjections)-
- SPEAKER: Order, order in the House. I have given you
sufficient time to consult on this matter. I would now like to hear from the Minister whether you are agreeing on any one position on that matter?
THE MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND
PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS: Thank you Mr. Speaker. The position is motivated by consultations which commenced yesterday. This issue was raised at Management Committee Meeting yesterday and the consensus amongst members of the Management Committee was that the introduction would be done today as I have done, and that the Second Reading would be done tomorrow and thereafter, debate will follow. As soon as debate is finished, the matter will eventually go to the Senate. I can confirm Mr. Speaker –[HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible
interjections]-
- SPEAKER: Order hon. members, order!
THE MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND
PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS: I can confirm that at half past One
o’clock today, I left Cabinet early in order to attend to a number of issues which I thought should be attended to before I make the final touch to the Second Reading Speech. I want to state as a fact that because of the agreement brokered yesterday, I came here simply to do what needed to be done today and my Second Reading Speech is still to be polished and I will do it tomorrow. I thank you.
SECOND READING
MICRO-FINANCE BILL (H.B. 2, 2012)
First Order read. Second Reading: Micro-Finance Bill (H.B. 2,
2012).
THE MINISTER OF FINANCE: Mr. Speaker Sir, Mr. Speaker
Sir, Mr. Speaker Sir! –[HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections]- MR. SPEAKER: Order, order in the House! I have recognised the
Minister of Finance.
THE MINISTER OF FINANCE: Mr. Speaker Sir, the MicroFinance Bill shall provide for the regulation and supervision framework for the Micro-Finance Sector including minimum requirements in respect of rules and regulations, licencing of the different classes of Micro-Financing institutions, credential supervision and institutional arrangements, roles of various stakeholders and a framework that promotes fairness and equity in the provision of micro-finance service. The major reference point for the Bill is the National Micro-Finance Policy of Zimbabwe. Lessons have also been drawn from experiences and legislation of other jurisdictions to ensure adherence –[HON.
MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections]-
- SPEAKER: Order, order in the House, Order! Hon. Minister may you continue.
THE MINISTER OF FINANCE: At the core of the proposed
Bill is the recognition of the Micro-Finance Sector in the economic development of Zimbabwe and the need to put in place a framework that promotes the development of the sector in line with developments in the country and in the global arena.
As you are aware Hon. Speaker, with the collapse of formal credit in this economy, micro-finance has become so critical and central in this economy but the challenge we have however is that the current MicroFinance Act is outdated, it does not recognise the changing dynamics and mobility and fungibility in this sector. We seek through this amendment to modernise our Acts and we also seek through this amendment Hon. Speaker, to deal with some of the nefarious practices that are being practiced by a few money lenders in this country. Some of them are charging extortionate usurious rates of interest that are crippling households in Zimbabwe, so we seek to regulate that.
Third Hon. Speaker Sir, there are many people who are operating the business of micro-finance without being registered - people who are outside the loop. This Act is making it very clear that if you lend money and if you carry out the business of micro-financing and you are not registered, that transaction is void and not voidable and the legal effect of it is that if I borrow money from you and you are not registered, I have no obligation to repay it because the transaction is void. So that is one of the things that we are doing. We are also creating in this country Hon. Speaker, many of the capital requirements to have a banking licence which are US$12 million and which is a lot of money for the majority of our people.
There are a group of Zimbabweans who are rich but not rich enough to start a bank but sufficiently rich enough to lend money to people. So we are creating, for the first time in the history of this country, deposit taking micro-finance institutions. They will be half bank with lower capital requirements, although that does not mean that there is a lower fiduciary standards - lower corporate standards - no it does not mean that. That is what we are trying to do in this. Having gotten your attention, I now proceed to my prepared speech.
In recent years throughout the world, there is a growing recognition of the critical role of micro-finance in economic development and poverty alleviation through the provision of financial services to low income groups which are normally unable to access financing from the traditional banking system. Improved access and efficient provision of savings, credit and insurance facilities enable the poor to be self sufficient by providing them with self employment opportunities.
This is particularly pertinent to Zimbabwe Mr. Speaker where 57% of our people are in either agriculture or the informal sector and with only 22% in the formal sector. It is critical that we have a sound microeconomic framework that is the mainstay of the support to financial services and to the informal sector. It is also consistent with financial inclusion Hon. Speaker. Only 19% of Zimbabweans have access to banking services and only 77 000 people share a one bank branch in Zimbabwe. Micro-finance are low capital businesses which can be located anywhere in communal lands, in Growth Points and even in townships, so the promotion of a sound micro-finance framework Hon.
Speaker, is part of the democratisation of access to financial services in Zimbabwe which is as long overdue as it is desirable.
The rapid growth of the micro-finance sector and its size relative to the formal financial markets calls for adequate regulatory systems and structures to close regulatory gaps and foster orderly development of the financial sector.
Regulation also provides micro-finance with legitimacy and confidence to the customers and investors given those benchmarks of acceptable behaviour increase certainty, transparency and levels the playing field.
Regulation also promotes consumer protection as it deals with abusive and reckless lending by some microfinance institutions. Mr. Speaker, there are agreements which have been brought to our attention at the Ministry of Finance where the monthly rate of interest was 35% and therefore the capitalised interest was 400% per annum. Something that is totally unacceptable and this is one of the things that we are looking at.
Furthermore, the 2008 Global Finance crisis resulted in the realisation of the importance of adequate regulation of financial institutions to ensure financial stability and Hon. Speaker this does not just pertain to regulation of the micro-finance industry. It also pertains to regulation of the formal brick and mortar banking sector. As I have just indicated one of the key failures that were a causer to the global economic crisis of September 2008 was the lack of regulation and the lassez faire approach adopted by regulators across the world from New York to Sandton. So in this particular law, we are dealing with microfinance institutions to ensure financial stability but in a few weeks time, I will be bringing to this hon. House substantive amendments to the Banking Act that will ensure the experiences of the bank failures we have seen in the last 18 months in this country do not happen.
The micro finance sector in Zimbabwe basically has the following players:
- Banking institutions and building societies. These are licensed under the Reserve Bank Act and the Banking Act, Chapter 24:20 and the Building Societies Act Chapter 24:02. We have not had a problem in this sector.
- The non bank micro finance institutions MFIs. These are institutions conducting micro finance business in terms of the Money Lending and Rates of Interest Act, Chapter 14:14. They usually have more than one branch and lending is mainly for business activities though during hyper inflation, lending changed to consumption. In other words, most of these registered people were lending to the productive sector. With the advent of hyper inflation, many people were borrowing for school fees, hospital bills and so forth. In fact, a frightening statistic is that, 88% of domestic lending in Zimbabwe is actually for health services and health related industry which is quite frightening.
- Money lenders – these are small companies with usually one branch and are generally owner managed. 93% are consumption loans and 7% are business. This tends to be characterised by high interest rates. Speaker, this is where the bulk of the mischief is, where you have a one man operation, operating from some
smelly office and charging absolutely usurious rates of interest. Obtaining all kinds of malicious security, bicycles, beds, mobile phones, cars and so forth and selling those assets without court judgements. Absolute laws unto themselves and this is one category of people, your ‘Merchant of Venice’ type of lender that you are trying to deal with.
- The Savings and Credit Cooperatives Societies, SACCOS. These institutions are registered under the Cooperatives Societies Act, Chapter 24:05. They take deposits and lend to members. They are generally membership owned institutions that offer savings, new interest rates, significant outreach in peri-urban and rural.
I need to mention Hon. Speaker that apart from these formal ones that are covered by the Co-operatives Societies Act, we have another fifth category. These are what I can call for lack of a better word, Community Lending Micro Finance institutions. They tend to be organisations like burial societies that lend to their members. There is also another form of this community based lending. This practice of friends lending to each other called mukando. It is also another category of micro financing. Mai Chibadura throws to Mai Dube, Mai Dube throws to Mai Gwenya, that is mukando. We have no problem with this sort of money lending which is as old as our people.
Another category is the Government managed finance programmes, the main one being SEDCO which was established by the Small Enterprises Development Act Chapter 24:12. It has been lending to small and medium scale enterprises at concessionary rates.
You know Hon. Speaker that under the current Budget, we allocated US$50 million to this sector.
I just want to talk about the regulatory framework, prior to 2004, the micro finance institutions were registered by the Ministry of
Finance in terms of the Money Lending and Rates of Interest Act, Chapter 14:14. Although this Act is still applicable, the licensing and regulation functions were transferred to the RBZ. The RBZ regulates and prudentially supervises all categories of MFIs with the exception of SACCOS whose supervision falls under the Ministry of SMEs headed by Hon. Nyoni. However, the legislation currently applicable in governing the activities of micro finance institutions and micro finance in Zimbabwe is very fragmented. There are currently more than five pieces of legislation being applied. The degree of fragmentation is high and not in the interest of developing the micro finance sector.
The legislation was not drafted with micro finance in mind but rather to address different interests altogether. A case in point is the Money lending and Rates of Interest Act which provides for the licensing of micro finance institutions. However, the main substance of it is to control the practice of usury by capping interest rates chargeable. Elsewhere, it has been proven that interest rates controls are not effective instruments of consumer protection but rather it results in more limited access to financial resources by low income households. The point that I am making is that this country has never paid attention to micro finance. As a result, we have got this eclectic balkanised approach where different pieces of legislation cover micro finance, the Banking Act, the Building Societies Act, the Consumer Contract Act, the Contractual Penalties Act, the Cooperative Societies Act and the Money Lending and Rates of Interest Act.
What we are seeking to do Hon. Speaker is to have a one stop legislative instrument that deals with micro finance. So you will see in this Act a definition of micro finance, a categorisation of different micro finance activities particularly the issue of deposit taking and non deposit taking micro finance. This is a best practice. Before we prepared this Bill, we sent people to Kenya, Ethiopia and other African countries where deposits taking micro finance institutions are now in the scene, but they also have to have their own capital requirements which will be defined by regulations. At the present moment we are debating whether it will be US$1 million or US$2 million but they certainly have to have some capital requirements because if you proffer yourself out as someone who can lend money to people, we must be convinced as regulators that you have got the money. If you do not have the money, you are going to take people’s money and use it to buy the kind of funny things that we see parked at Sam Levy’s Village.
The policies have been followed up with formulation of Microfinance Acts, other consumer protection related legislation or regulations giving guidelines on the following areas:
- Definition of microfinance
- Categorisation of the different microfinance activities, e.g. deposit taking and non deposit taking MFIs
- Licensing and registration of MFIs
- Minimum capital and entry requirements
- Supervision and regulatory framework – tiered approach to We are proposing here a tiered approach, the RBZ, the Government and then a combined intra regulatory approach. You will see this approach when we come with the amendments to the Banking Act which I am going to bring in a few weeks time.
I want to underscore Hon. Speaker, the fact that what we are doing is based on a precedent. We have sent out teams. I just want to give you – this is for hon. members that are interested, the comparative empirical approach that we took. We sent people to Kenya, the supervision is done by the Central Bank and they have got a Micro Finance Act there. The Central Bank does the licensing. In SA there is what is called the National Credit Regulator which is an independent body that does the regulation and there is a National Credit Act. However, in South Africa, the National Credit Act covers not just microfinance, but also higher purchase, durable consumer lending for cars and so on. So, it is a much more comprehensive Act than ours which is having a narrow definition of microfinance.
In Tanzania, the regulators are Central bank but they have got what is called microfinance companies and micro credit activities Act of 2005. In India, the regulator is the Central bank but microfinance is regulated under the Reserve Bank Act of 1934 but I want to say that when we sent our team there, they are actually moving towards a model of having a separate Act of microfinance to deal with microfinance.
In India, they also have a National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development that deals specifically with lending to the agricultural sector. So, I make this point to illustrate the point Mr. Speaker that we did not pluck this Bill from thin air; we plucked it after research, after experiences, particularly experiences from the pocket of microfinance lenders who are really abusing our people.
I also want to talk about shareholding. The Bill shall prescribe the maximum shareholding in the MFI by any single person. One of the mischiefs we have seen in individually owned banks or microfinance institutions is the total decimation of corporate governance. This is particularly between management which lies in management and then policy making which lies in the board and then the shareholding component. In the one man owned shares, he is the shareholder, he is the board of director, he is the Managing Director, this is not consistent with good corporate governance. So, we are proposing limits of ownership particularly in deposit taking finance. This old business of saying ndini Museyamwa, ndini Gushungo, ndechangu is not good and this is what we are trying to deal with in this Bill.
The Bill shall prescribe the procedures to be followed in granting of loans. As I have said, what we are proposing here is very drastic. If you lend money and you do not have a licence, it is a void transaction. Akwereteswa mari haadzorere, the law will not assist an illegal transaction.
On disclosure of financial statement, the Bill shall prescribe the submission of the following to the RBZ by deposit taking MFIs.
-An audited balance sheet, showing assets and liabilities
-An audited profit and loss account
-A copy of the auditor’s report.
These are really low scale.
We are also going to insist on the appointment of both an internal auditor and external auditor. We are doing this in the interest of good corporate governance.
The RBZ will provide prudential supervision to deposit taking MFIs to ensure protection of the safety of deposits and protection of the financial system as a whole. For non deposit taking institutions, the RBZ will provide non prudential supervision. Certain sections of the Banking Act are going to cover deposit taking MFIs. That means that where there is corruption and so forth, the RBZ will have the power of placing that bank under curatorship.
Most importantly, the Bill shall provide for Deposit Taking MFIs to make contributions to a Deposit Protection Scheme to ensure protection of depositors in the event of a failure of the institution. The provision shall give details on liquidation of failed institutions and compensation of depositors. So there will be a form of insurance.
Mr. Speaker, this is a revolutionary Bill in terms of enhancing and deepening financial inclusion and organising the role of the informal sector in this country, the role of small monies to finance small business in this economy. I therefore humbly commend this Bill to hon. members and move that the Bill be read a second time.
- CROSS: I am speaking as the Acting Chairperson of the Budget and Finance Committee, which is the Committee of Parliament responsible for the three Bills that are scheduled for second reading this afternoon, the first which we have just heard. When these Bills were given the First reading in the previous Session of Parliament, we requested as a Committee, the opportunity to conduct public hearings for those three bills. We were denied that facility because of financial reasons. We met yesterday for the first time since the Parliament was adjourned and we decided unanimously as a Committee that we wanted to conduct the public hearings before these Bills were in fact considered for a second reading.
The reason for this is that these three Bills Mr. Speaker, are both complex and important from a national point of view. The second Bill is the Income Act which is of profound interest to every Zimbabwean.
- SPEAKER: Order, order, restrict yourself to the Bill that has just been read.
- CROSS: In terms of this particular Bill, we have had written recommendations from several institutions, raising serious issues regarding the way this Bill has been drafted and requesting amendment. We do not feel competent as a Committee, having held only one short meeting on this particular subject, to pass judgment one way or another or to make recommendations to the House as to what should be our procedures from there on. What we would like to request Mr. Speaker, is that the debate on this Bill be held over until your Committee has conducted public hearings and make its position known to the Minister prior to the Second reading. Thank you.
THE MINISTER OF FINANCE: I think the learned hon. member should have been fair with me and had this discussion with me before standing up. This Bill, I gave notice of it in November of last year just before the Budget. I think for the Committee to say we have not had time to consult, I think the hon. member also needs to be alive to the thing that there is an election this year, so the luxury of public consultations with great respect, it is a sui generis here. What I would suggest Mr. Speaker, in the interest of fairness; I defer debate to next week. I move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Tuesday, 14th May, 2013.
SECOND READING
SECURITIES AMENDMENT BILL (H.B. 1, 2012)
THE MINISTER OF FINANCE: Mr. Speaker Sir, this is a very
important amendment that we are making to our law. It is consistent with international best practices and it is consistent with some of the lacunas and gaps we have seen in our present law, particularly around issues of insider trading. There has been a lot of insider trading on our Stock Exchange but our law is not allowed to deal with the intricacies of white collar crimes, particularly as it pertains to dealings on the capital markets.
We are also trying to re-visit the regulatory framework. As you are aware Hon. Speaker Sir, the Securities Commission is full of fulltime commissioners. The Securities Commission oversees markets but there is only one market in Zimbabwe which is the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange. So there is no justification at all of having full time Commissioners regulating one market which markets itself and has also its own internal regulations which are:
- The Committee of the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange; and
- The Board of Directors of the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange.
I am aware Mr. Speaker Sir, that we are going to set up a Commodity Exchange very soon. So there will be two markets but that does not justify the existence of full time commissioners. We hope the
Commodity Exchange Market will be operational in the next two weeks. The main reasons for this is tightening up where there have been gaps particularly, omissions and commissions by stock brokers, tightening up the regulatory framework, tightening up the issues of corporate governance and the issue on structure of the market. So it is a very important Bill.
I want to justify the amendments Mr. Speaker and summarise what is in my lengthy prepared statement. In the call of the amendments to the Securities Act is the recognition of inadequacy and shortcomings of the current Act which has resulted in compromising supervision and the regulation of the Securities Market. The inadequacy of the Act has seen the regulator, the Securities Commission being challenged in the courts by some players in the market particularly the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange. Almost every change that the regulator tries to put in place ranging from charging fees to corporate governance issues has been challenged and resisted by the market.
One of the omissions that took place when the Act was made was that if you look at the original Act itself, it is very narrow and very small but a lot of the regulation was now purportedly done in regulations like in a Statutory Instrument. That is a problem because much of the things that are in the Statutory Instrument and the regulations are not mothered or fathered in the actual Act. Therefore, they are ultra-vires the principal Act. The stockbrokers have got money, they are at the Stock Exchange and they are rich people, so they have been taking the Zimbabwe
Securities Commission to court and we have been unable to function. We want to put some things that are not in the regulations and the Act so that no one can challenge the decisions of the Zimbabwe Commissions on the basis that their decisions are ultra-vires to the Act. That is one of the main reasons why we are coming here.
The other thing that we are also dealing with is the question on intra-sectoral challenges that have been happening. I want to give an example of a situation we once had and it is of the Rennaisance
Merchant Bank. The Rennaisance Merchant Bank was owned by Rennaisance Holdings and the Rennaisance Holdings owned 35 percent shares of Affre, the insurance company. The Affre owned a significant share in the Rainbow Tourism Group (RTG) which owns among other things the Sheraton.
So when there is a collapse at the bank, it had collateral and multiple effect on all the other sectors like the banking sector, the insurance sector and the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange. This is because the Regulator, the Securities Commission had no power to go to the insurance component. They had no power to go to the RTG component and they had no power to go to the banking sector. So we are now giving sweeping powers that if it is a company and it is listed, it does not matter when the commission can come into it, but notwithstanding another super regulator like the insurance regulator. That is one of the things that we are trying to do.
Mr. Speaker Sir, we are also democratising the appointment of the commissioners to ensure that the Minister does not have the right of nominating commissioners or board members. That they are sector generated, so the banking sector will nominate their representative, the insurance sector will nominate their representatives and the agricultural sector will nominate their representatives. So we are diluting the serious powers of the Minister. The bonapetite powers of the minister of appointing willy nilly the board of commissioners and allowing the sector to appoint the men and women of their choice.
However, the Minister and the Ministry will be there to ensure that there is no conflict of interest. We have had massive conflicts of interests, just to give you one example, we had someone who was working for a listed company OK and was sitting on the board. We kindly asked her to retire and she did not take that kindly and we have been taken to the Supreme Court.
The reality is that you cannot be a regulator and work for a company that is on the Stock Exchange. So in this Bill we want to ensure that conflict of interest does not happen.
In short, we have a law that was designed for a very small boys club capital markets but as we saw in America with people like Madoff, the kind of shenanigans that can take place on markets are so great, so intricate, so sophisticated and our law was not equal to that. We are now trying to modernise our law so that we can also play the games that these crooks are playing and this is what we are doing among other things.
We are also establishing sub-committees of the board. At the present moment the Commission does almost everything. So we are now establishing committees of the board like the Human Recourses Committee, the Audit Committee and other various committees consistent with good corporate practice. This is the same as we did a few years ago to the Central Bank and to the Revenues. We are also establishing an investor protection fund. There are many companies that are listed on the stock exchange which due to our difficulties are actually collapsing. Yesterday, we were reading the story of a company
Gulliver’s whose assets were sold. So anyone who is a shareholder in that company stands to suffer if the company gets defaced. So we are establishing an investor protection fund to protect anyone who is going to buy shares and participate on our Stock Exchange. We are very proud that we are going to do that.
As we are living in an ICT era, we are also making it compulsory that any market that will under the supervision of the Securities Commission will have its trade automated. In other words it will have its trades computerised. There are huge challenges arising out of non automation of trades in Zimbabwe. In fact without ICTs the whole issue for insider trading can take place and automation can reduce that. We are insisting on compulsory automation of trades and I am glad to say that the Commodities Exchange that is coming in is already automated.
We are also re-visiting the licence system. The current licence system for a stockbroker of a market is one year. So, we are proposing to issue a licence in perpetuity. In other words, once you get a licence, you get your licence but, this will not be subject and will continue to be subject to the payment of an annual fee. However, if you commit any omissions and commissions, that licence will be cancelled.
Mr. Speaker, we are also providing for a standardised form of listing requirements. At the present moment, listing requirements are so bificated and they are scattered across all the landscape and one of the problems which we have had in the country Mr. Speaker is that if you look at the Stock Exchange Act before it was amended in 1997, it basically provided for very minimalist conditions. The rest was left to internal regulations of the Stock Exchange which sometimes were unevenly and unequally applied. So, what we are now doing is that we are making it clear that if anyone wants to float a company, these are the minimum requirements that you go through – your prospectus, your AGM, the underwriting and so forth. We are proposing to standardise
that.
I have already referred to the issue of insider trade. This is something that we are coming down very hard on.
Hon. members, I know you have had 18 months of reading this Bill. It is a very important Bill in terms of modernising the Act and to anticipate Hon. Cross’s argument, I am prepared again to defer debate to next week on Tuesday. I thank you Mr. Speaker. I now move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Tuesday, 14th May. 2013.
SECOND READING
INCOME TAX BILL (H.B. 5, 2012)
Third Order read: Second Reading: Income Tax Bill.
THE MINISTER OF FINANCE: Mr. Speaker Sir, this is a very important piece of legislation which is fundamentally changing the structure, the process, the substance and the output of our income tax in Zimbabwe. I want to concede that unlike the other two Bills, this is something that consultations should have taken place and if they have not taken place, I would have no objection in deferring debate on the Second Reading to the end of May or first week of June because of its importance. This Bill Mr. Speaker, I do concede that this is a very important Bill. It is different from the Micro-Finance Bill and the Securities Commission Bill. This is a revolution.
It is changing fundamentally the way that the Income Tax Act is structured in Zimbabwe. So, I will do my Second Reading but I would like workshops to be held in which our experts, some of whom are here, will participate. We can explain what we are trying to do here. I want to say Mr. Speaker that the basis of any tax law must be based on three principles. The first one is that it must be simple. Unfortunately, our current Income Tax Act is not simple at all – [AN HON. MEMBER: It was written by lawyers]- The hon. member says it was written by lawyers. I think it was written by accountants because lawyers would have simplified things. So, it is not simple at all. In fact, if lawyers and accountants say it is understandable, they are not telling the truth. It is only a few selected accountants and lawyers who understand it. It is not simple. If you look at the current Income Tax Act and the draft, it is very simple. We have tried to simplify the language.
The second principle of good Income Tax law is that it must be equitable in the sense that it must treat all tax payers equally or equitably. Now, our current Income Tax Act is very much in favour of capital and big business in particular, very much in favour of the mining industry. So, just to give you an example, for an individual like you and me, the upper rate of tax is between 35 and 42%. In fact that is the effective rate. In other words, there is no difference between the nominal rate and the effective rate but if you look at the mining sector, the nominal tax rate is 25%, but the effective tax rate is 80% because there is a huge category of tax expenditure – this allowance, this deduction and this rebate. So, the current Income Tax Act is not equitable and we are trying to do that.
The third principle is the progressiveness of a tax regime. By progressive, if you take the VAT or the sales tax, it is 15% and it does not matter whether you are Standard Chartered Bank, OK Bazaars, John Chibadura or Peter Dotito. It does not make a difference. So, the principle of progressivity is another principle that we are trying to deal with in this Bill.
Before we drafted this Bill, I announced in the 2010 Budget Statement the appointment of a Steering Committee on Tax Reforms comprised of tax experts from Treasury, the Zimbabwe Revenue
Authority and the private sector to oversee the drafting of the new
Income Tax Act. I am pleased to advise that in 2010, we set up this Steering Committee which comprises of some of the biggest tax minds in this country in our jurisdiction. They have worked from 2010, 2011 and 2012. For virtually three years, they have been working on this.
Hon. Chibaya your phone is ringing. – (Laughter) -. They have been working on this Bill.
Let me, on behalf of the Government of Zimbabwe and the Ministry of Finance, thank the men and women who were in this steering committee. Some of the talent that we have in this country is absolutely frightening and I had the pleasure of working with some of these people, very young people for that matter, who worked on this very complex and difficult piece of legislation. I also want to say that we were indebted by offers from so-called experts. Maybe they are real experts, across the world from Washington, Beijing, Timbuktu, people who offered to craft this Act for us and we refused. What is before you is a genuine Zimbabwean driven, Zimbabwean made and Zimbabwean crafted new Income Tax Bill. – [AN HON. MEMBER: Indigenous.] - It is very indigenous but without the application of the Indigenisation Act.
We intend to achieve the following and when honourable members debate, they must check whether any of the provisions is loyal to the following that is what we are trying to do. The first thing, as I have already said is, we are trying to simplify the language for easy of understanding on the part of tax-payers and administration by the revenue authority. Tax administration, tax practice and tax application cannot be the preserve of an elitist group of people namely; accountants, auditors and lawyers. We are trying to simplify it so that my grandmother from Dotito, my grandfather from Chiendambuya and my aunt from Nkayi can understand what we are trying to do.
We are also reviewing existing legislative provisions in line with regional and international best practice. Most importantly, we are also expanding the tax base. The essence of the current Income Tax Act where principles that were developed in 1932, that is the essence. Since then capitalism has evolved and evolved and evolved, the capacity and I dare say, the capricious capacity of business to both evade and avoid tax is unbelievable. That is why lawyers and accountants are hired to both avoid and evade tax. So it is a growing industry. The law has to catch up with the many things that are now considered normal but that are in fact either tax avoidance or tax evasion.
Part of the things that we are doing is that we are expanding the tax base by looking and revisiting some of the many loopholes that are existing in the current legislation, including the over 33 schedules of tax expenditure, in other words, deductions that are contained in the current Income Tax Act which are very complicated if you read them. They are full of formulas, full of what. In this Bill, we have tried to reduce them as much as possible and have left technical formulas in a few sections that are unavoidable, for instance, capital allowances and so forth.
We are also introducing new principles and I am now moving to that. Hon. members this is very key to understanding that. The current income tax law is based on the source principle where taxes levied on income originated in Zimbabwe, that is very clear from Section 14 of the current Income Tax Act read together with Section 7. However, in certain circumstances income was deemed to be from a Zimbabwean source especially income of a passive nature such as foreign interest and dividends, hence subject to tax in Zimbabwe.
The proposed legislation provides for residents based tax system, whereby the taxable income of a taxpayer resident in Zimbabwe is the taxpayer’s income from all geographical sources less any deductions allowed under the Act. The proposed legislation also defines what constitutes a resident company, resident and temporary resident individual, resident transit, resident partnership and non-resident. Below is a summary of selected definition.
A company is a resident company if it is incorporated or formed under the laws of Zimbabwe or its effective management and control is exercised in Zimbabwe at any time during the year of assessment, undertakes the majority of its operations in Zimbabwe during the year of assessment. This is a revolutionary thing comrades and friends. It is best practice. You are trying to deal with the many shenanigans where, and I will not mention companies by name but they are there in the banking sector. They are notorious in the mining sector, some are even bigger than Mbada, where taxes manipulated purely on the basis of source and we are dealing here with the issue of residents, the effective control.
In other words, where is the income? Where is the wealth and where is the surplus being generated? That is what we are working on. I know when you start consulting, you are going to receive representations that; ah well, if I go to the diaspora and stay three days, am I now being punished. Those are pedestrian arguments that are being made by people who have not closely read what we are doing. When you do come across such pedestrian arguments, please ask the relevant comrades to actually read the Act.
You are also going to come across very powerful interests. My mail inbox is full of mail from some of these powerful interest groups in our country who are going to be hard hit by this revolution. Some of them have got money and can use this money very capriciously. I hope comrades, you will be very careful because this is something that is going to affect a lot of people. I know that towards an election zviwanikwa zvinenge zvave kutsvagwa, kwete nenzira idzi hama dzinodikanwa. This is very important and it is best practice. Anyone who says that the graduation from source to residents is not in the best
interest of Zimbabwe, examine what he is. He owns a big multi-national or something like that. We will not accept that.
The second thing is the movement from gross income to income, Section 22. Again the interest among other things of simplification is that we are making a clear distinction between the different types of income. We are making a clear distinction between employment income, what you earn. It is a category of income. We are making a clear distinction. Business income, in particular, net gains on the disposal of business property. Put differently to the experts in this House, we are creating a very thin line between the capital gains arising out of the disposable of a business. We are treating that as income.
Naturally, we are going to revisit a number of Acts such as the Finance Act, Estates Act, and Capital Gains Act. We are doing it because a lot of shenanigans take place on disposal of assets. We are just saying it is income. We are also making a separate distinction on property income - net gains on disposal of investments property and then of course other income. Business income now includes previous untaxed gains from the disposal of certain assets used primarily in the production of income, mainly business property and investment property.
We are also making a restriction in allowable deduction. The New Income Tax Act proposes to restrict allowable deductions to expenses incurred in the production of income. I want to underline this because this is possibly, the Section where you are going to get more representations more than any other. The current law states that any expense occurring in business is deductable. That is a very wide definition. Some can include curtains, lunches bought for small-houses. It is a very wide provision.
What we are seeking to do is that we are saying, show us that this particular expense was incurred in the production of surplus. So wages are there, raw materials are there. There is a fear which is unfounded that we are going to discount certain things that are not directly but indirectly involved. For example, the motor vehicle allowance of a chief executive is not directly engaged but in our view it is so proximate that it can be allowed in the profit and loss account. We are not seeking to create income tax revolution but we are seeking to curb the many excesses that are being done by our people.
This particular provision has been interpreted and there are countless tax judgments that will be able to guide between that which is excessive and that which is not excessive. I want to assure you Hon. Cross and others that this one Section you are going to have a disproportionate number of alarmist representations. Our intention is not to kill business. Our intention is to ensure that what belongs to Caesar gets to Caesar. It is a very important provision.
The Bill also seeks to provide clearer distinction between deductions from income that of a technical nature closely related to the production of income in question and those that are tax expenditures. The Bill will also deal with the issue of double taxation. The normal provisions for avoidance of double taxation will continue to apply so that a resident of one contracting party will not be taxable in the other contracting party, on business profits unless it operates in that other contracting party through a permanent establishment.
In instances where no avoidance of double taxation agreements exist, companies are taxed in the country of actual residence and in Zimbabwe. However, the tax in the country of actual residence will be allowed as a credit. In instances where the tax rates are equal, that is in the country of residence and in Zimbabwe, no tax liability arises in Zimbabwe.
Here, we are addressing the biggest fear of the migration from source to residence, that you are going to tax us double. We are very clear that there are instances where there are double taxation agreements like we have got agreements with South Africa, Mauritius, Kenya and we are currently negotiating with Seychelles and so forth. Where there are not there, the standard thing applies that is to say, in instances where we allow actual residents as a credit. That is what we will do.
Another area I want to deal with is the income tax base. The income tax base has been rearranged in terms of taxable income earned by a resident, non-resident, company, miner, trust, insurer, and petroleum operator for ease of reference. If you are in any of these categories, it is actually easy to go and see what the law says in respect of your industry.
All businesses other than life insurance will be taxed on the same principles. However, Special Mining Lease Operators will continue to be taxed on the basis of special provisions contained in the respective agreements. The reason why we did this is that with mining, the President issues special grants in terms of the Mines and Minerals Act and this special grant by operation of law normally contain certain special provisions that are in there. We have not interfered with that.
Allow me Mr. Speaker Sir, to speak in greater detail on taxation of net gains from the disposal of business and other assets. Under the current legislation, taxation of capital gains or losses is restricted to specified assets, that is, immovable property and marketable securities which are taxed under the Capital Gains Tax Act. However, under the proposed Income Tax legislation, all capital gains or losses on the disposal of business assets will be subject to income tax unless specifically excluded by the regulations. Disposal of assets includes sale, donation, loss or destruction of an asset.
The capital gain on disposal of an asset shall be the difference between the proceeds from disposal and the cost base of an asset. A capital loss on the other hand is equal to the amount by which the cost base of the asset exceeds the proceeds. This eliminates provisions relating to recoupment and scrapping allowance.
The cost base of an asset (Income Tax Value) is generally the expenditure actually incurred on acquiring the asset including the expenditure directly related to the acquisition or disposal of that asset or to improve the asset. A new concept on the taxation of gain and deduction of losses arising from the disposal of business and investment assets has been introduced. Previously, any gain above recoupment was disregarded for income tax purposes.
It is not Greek what I am saying. If you read the provisions, you will see how simple we have tried to make some of these principles. The Bill will also abolish the Special Court for Income Tax Appeals while retaining the Fiscal Appeals Court which will now become the Appellant Court for first instance of income tax appeals. This is very important because of the delays.
We have also tried to reduce instances because the Fiscal Appeals Court is almost on par with the High Court. We have reduced instances of delays where the internal system is adjudicating which often at times causes delays and abuse because so much discretion is given in the tax administrators. That is why we are doing that.
Generally, we are updating and modernising of outdated terms to take account of contemporary developments in the field of income taxation such as the change over to the accrual basis of accounting. Over and above the new concept, the Draft Income Tax legislation retains most of the provisions of the current Income Tax Act save to say that we have reworded the language to make it simpler, sexed it up, if you like. However, the Draft Income Taxation modernises the money taking into account the relevance of existing cases which form the basis for interpretation of some of these provisions. Hon. Speaker, I intend to introduce some amendments during the Committee Stage after the Second Reading which takes into account some of the representations which I have already received. I want to say that on some of the key principles, we cannot accept because it will destroy the essence of what we are trying to do. For instance, trying to persuade us to retain the current source based method of calculating tax.
There are also other areas Hon. Speaker which will come with amendments in the Second Reading. This is the area in particular of Insurance Taxation. Insurance Taxation is very complicated. What we deliberately did was to retain the current status quo because we got to a stage that if we were waiting for this bill to be perfect, we were not going to present it. We have experts working on that and we hope that by the time of the Second Reading, we will come with a schedule that is going to deal with the complicated issue of taxation of the insurance sector.
There are one or two other areas Hon. Speaker that we are also working on which when you start your consultations, they will become self evident to you. My failure to mention them here is not an accident. It is deliberate understanding that because of the complexities of this Bill, consultations have to take place and certain amendments will be made in the Second Reading. As I said, there are certain things that we will not compromise on, which are the issues around Section 35 and the issues around the sacrosanct principle of residence based taxation. With those few words Hon. Speaker, I respectfully and humbly move that the Bill be now read a second time, subject to the consultation issue.
Motion put and agreed to.
THE MINISTER OF FINANCE: I move that the debate do now
adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Tuesday, 3rd June, 2013.
On the motion of THE MINISTER OF FINANCE, the House
adjourned at four o’clock p.m.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Wednesday, 8th May, 2013.
The House of Assembly met at a Quarter-past Two O’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(MR. SPEAKER in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENTS BY MR. SPEAKER
VOTE FOR A WOMAN CAMPAIGN LAUNCH
- SPEAKER: I have to inform the House that the Women in
Politics Support Unit (WiPSU) is inviting all Members of Parliament
(both male and female) to a launch of the ‘Vote for a woman’ campaign
[HON MEMBERS: - Inaudible interjection] - Order, Order hon. members.
I have to take that again. I have to inform the House that the
Women in Politics Support Unit (WiPSU) is inviting all Members of
Parliament (both male and female) to a launch of the “Vote for a woman campaign and its publications which include the gender audit for political parties, baseline study for Binga, Shurugwi, Makoni and
Hwedza on Women’s participation and the 2012 annual report. The launch will take place on Thursday, 9th May, 2013 at Crowne Plaza Hotel, Harare from 1730 hours to 2000 hours.
MDC-T CHANGES TO COMMTTEE MEMBERSHIP
- SPEAKER: I also have to inform the House that the MDC-T Party has made changes to committee membership whereupon Hon.
Mudavanhu moves from the Portfolio Committee on Health and Child
Welfare to the Portfolio Committee on Public Works and National Housing.
MEMBERS’ ATTENDANCE
- SPEAKER: I wish to urge all Party Whips to encourage their members to attend today and tomorrow’s sittings in order to meet the two thirds majority which is 144 members, requirement for the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20) Bill in terms of Section
52 of the Constitution.
HON. MASHAKADA’S ACADEMIC PROFILE
- SPEAKER: I also have to inform the House that Hon. Minister Tapiwa Mashakada recently, successfully completed his research towards a doctoral degree in Economics and was awarded the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Economics of the 13th March, 2013 by the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. I would like…. [HON MEMBERS: Ululations.]- . Order, I would like to lead the House in congratulating the Hon. Minister on his attainment. Please take note of the change in his title to Dr. Tapiwa Mashakada.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
THE MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND
PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS: May I move that Question Time be
stood over until we have disposed of Order of the Day, Number 1.
Motion put and agreed to.
SECOND READING
CONSTITUTION OF ZIMBABWE AMENDMENT (NO. 20) BILL
(H.B. 2, 2013)
THE MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND
PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS: May I particularly thank you for recognising me this afternoon as I proceed to present the Second Reading of this Bill which reading in my submission is of critical historical importance.
For some of us who go to church, we know and are aware of the book of Prophet Nehemiah. In the first chapter of this book, the Prophet describes how Jews coming out of captivity painstakingly rebuild the fallen walls of Jerusalem. Each and every one of them was determined and did participate.
For 33 years, Zimbabwe Supreme Law has been a ceasefire document negotiated at Lancaster House, England in 1979. The desire by Zimbabweans to write a new Constitution by themselves and for themselves started in 1999 agitated in the main by the National
Constitutional Assembly. The process of writing a Constitution has been long and arduous. We failed to agree on a new Constitution in 2000. Nevertheless we soldiered on. The process gathered momentum as the years went by and on 15 September 2008 the three main political parties represented in this Parliament and Government signed the Global Political Agreement to address the main ills facing, in the main – the governance of this country.
In my submission, the cornerstone of the Global Political
Agreement is the provision for the writing of a new Constitution for Zimbabwe. That writing of that Constitution was done in an inclusive and transparent manner. In the past four and half years, the people of Zimbabwe, just like the Jews in the time of Nehemiah, have painstakingly participated in the production of a Bill I present before you today.
The crowning achievement in this process was the “YES VOTE” in the Referendum on 16th March, 2013. I stand before you to ask in all humility to transform the Referendum result into law by passing this
Bill. Again, a lot of you will be aware of the New Testament story of
this colt which was freed and joyfully strode into Jerusalem with Jesus on its back. The passing of this Bill marks our passage into a new Zimbabwe.
There were various stages in the process leading up to the writing of this Bill. I am not going to go through every stage which we encountered and the manner in which this particular Constitution was done or written. Suffice to say that from 2009 up to today, we have traversed a number of stages which has made it possible for us to come to this day.
- SPEAKER: Order! Hon. member, your microphone is off.
THE MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS: I beg your pardon. I was making
reference to the various stages which we followed in this Constitution making process. I do not want to belabour this House by going through each and every stage, suffice to say that the culmination of all these stages was the Referendum of the 16th of MARCH, 2013. I now want
Mr. Speaker with your leave, to address the main features of this Constitution, Amendment Bill No. 20.
Mr. Speaker Sir, one important aspect of this Constitution is the provision of the Preamble. What is of particular importance is that whilst we provide the Preamble in this Constitution, the current Lancaster House Constitution does not have a Preamble. This was a positive development because the Preamble sets out who we are, where we come from and where we are heading. In particular Mr. Speaker Sir, it will be noted that the Preamble of this Constitution which is at page 15 of the Draft which is before you, addresses the issue of diversity in this country.
Whilst addressing the issue of diversity in this country, that same
Preamble again proudly states that we are one unitary country. That Preamble Mr. Speaker recognises our history, the history of the liberation struggle and the many troubles which we went through in order to come to our Independence in 1980. That Preamble says we want good transparent governance, respecting fundamental human rights and the rule of law. The bottom line is that, we want fairness. Importantly Mr. Speaker Sir, this Preamble acknowledges the Supremacy of God. To those honourable members who have taken the trouble to read this whole Draft, it is quite clear that there is a thread which runs through this Draft from the Preamble and all the way to Chapter 18.
The thread which runs through this Draft is the thread of fairness. What the people of Zimbabwe said in this Constitution is that we want good, transparent governance, tinoda kutongwa zvakanaka. I know that some people want to govern but I come from a school of thought which really implores the governing to govern properly. That is all I say; tirikuti muBumbiro iri, tapota titongeiwo zvakanaka. Where is this aspect captured in this Constitution? What I am going to do is to go through the whole document and to identify those aspects or those pages and those chapters where the issue of fairness runs through this whole document.
Mr. Speaker Sir, I want to make reference to Chapter 1. It sets out the Founding Principles of this Constitution. I have already said that, that Preamble proudly describes our nation as diverse but as one. If you go to the Founding Provisions on Chapter 1, at page 16, a very clear statement is made in Section 1 of that Chapter. It says “Zimbabwe is a unitary, democratic and sovereign republic.” That is a carryover from what our Preamble says. This is particularly important Mr. Speaker Sir when we go to the Chapter which deals with the Provincial and Local Governments, your Devolution Chapter.
I want to particularly make reference to that Chapter because there has been a misunderstanding with respect to what Devolution means that Zimbabwe is being split up in different little countries. When we go to our Preamble, when we go to our Founding Provisions, it is quite clear that, that is but a misconception and a misconception only. You will also note that in the Second Chapter which sets out our National Objectives. I am looking at page 18 particularly Section 9. The issue of Good governance is also addressed. You will see that if you go to page 42, the President is obliged to govern properly. This is set out in Section 90.
You will also note that when we go to the powers of the Attorney General at pages 50 – 51, again the issues of good governance are set out. You will also note Mr. Speaker that when we go to page 66, which deals with Elections, the issue of transparency is again set out. You go to page 77, which outlines the principles in respect of which our Justice system must work; the issue of good governance and transparency is set out. You go to the principles involving Public Administration on page
81; again transparency and fairness are set out. You go to page 83 Mr. Speaker, the Conduct of Civil Servants, again the concept of transparency and fairness is set out. You go to the conduct of members of the Security Services on page 85; again the issue of transparency and good governance is set out.
Mr. Speaker Sir, what I am trying to show is that principles set out in the Preamble threads which we see in the whole of this Constitution. It is very important that when one reads this Constitution, he must be able to pick those threads which are in the Preamble and then look at how those threads are actuated in the whole of the Constitution.
Transparency and certainty are principles running through the whole
Constitution. In this particular situation, I want to address the issue of
Term Limits. Term Limits in this Constitution apply to the office of the
President. They apply to judges of the Constitutional Court, to
Permanent Secretaries and to Commanders of our Security Services.
The reason why this thread again which runs through the whole Constitution is that there be transparency and certainty. We are not only looking at transparency and certainty, we say when you are in power there is need to put in a succession policy. As they say Mr. Speaker Sir, a success without succession is not success at all. These Clauses are Clauses which run through the whole Constitution and the various passages which I referred to. When we refer to these threads which run throughout this Constitution, I want to stick to various and specific Chapters in this Constitution. Obviously, I cannot go to each and every chapter for obvious reasons but with respect, I think there is need to pick certain important provisions in this Constitution and speak to those Chapters or to those Provisions.
The first chapter I want to address Mr. Speaker Sir, is Chapter 3; which deals with the issue of Citizenship. Mr. Speaker Sir, we have crafted a chapter on citizenship which, although not perfect, is a chapter which recognises the mistakes we have made in days gone by.
Mr. Speaker Sir, the essential elements of this chapter on citizenship are as follows:
- Citizenship is now gender neutral. It can be obtained through either maternal or paternal side of the family.
- Abandoned children below the age of 15 are entitled to citizenship by birth. This is a brand new innovation in this Constitution.
- Citizenship is not lost through marriage or dissolution of marriage.
- Citizenship cannot be revoked if it makes one stateless.
- I believe this is critically important. A citizen by birth cannot lose his citizenship no matter the circumstances. I always said there is a Shona saying which says, “une benzi ndoune rake kudzana unopururudza”. – [HON MEMBERS: Inaudible
interjections.] I hear the Ndebele version but I also hear that there is another version that, “Ana Chombo ndeane wake”, which is not part of this Constitution. What is important is that no matter what a citizen by birth wants to do, that person cannot lose his/her citizenship.
Another important aspect which has been brought about by this
Constitution is to address the issue of the ‘so called aliens’ and I say the ‘so called aliens’ because most of these people have never been aliens. Most of these people have never known any other home except Zimbabwe and Section 43 of this Constitution specifically addresses this issue and makes it quite clear that the persons who came or who are coming from the ‘so called SADC countries’, ordinarily are resident in Zimbabwe and bear children in Zimbabwe are considered, from henceforth, citizens of this country. I am sure that persons who were so grouped and may be at times described in derogatory terms can now stand as proud Zimbabweans and exercise their right to vote in the coming election.
Mr. Speaker Sir, I come to Chapter 4, The Bill of Rights. Mr. Speaker Sir, the current Constitution recognises two sets of rights: political and civil rights. This is common in just about every country but we have gone far in this new draft. We have expanded this Bill of Rights to include not only political and civil rights but to include socio-economic, cultural and environmental rights.
If there is any attack on this Constitution, surely one cannot attack this Bill of Rights. This is an expansive Bill which makes sure that we are doing in Zimbabwe what is good for us Zimbabweans and what is in the best interests of our country and in what is best international practice.
Again Mr. Speaker, I do not believe it is necessary to go into further detail. Members have looked into this draft and they have poured over it and I want to proceed to the next Chapter. Before I do so, I just want to address two issues particularly to the religious groups.
The first one has been that this Constitution is going to provide abortion on the take. This could not be further from the truth. In this country, we have what is known as the Termination of Pregnancy Act. What these people have said is exactly what is prescribed by this piece of legislation. There is no truth in the allegation that this Bill is granting the termination of pregnancy on the take.
The other issue Mr. Speaker which I want to address, relates to
Section 78 of the Constitution which touches upon Marriage Rights. The argument, again misconstrued, is that this Constitution is going to allow for same sex marriages. Mr. Speaker Sir, when one reads Section 78, one must read it as a whole. Section 78 (3) is very specific in its terms and it says persons of the same sex are prohibited from marrying each other.
One must also read this particular Section with Section 56 of the same Bill of Rights which is the equality and non-discrimination clause. Mr. Speaker Sir, some of us have looked at this clause and have looked at Section 78 and concluded that this Constitution provides for same sex marriages. I want those people, with respect to go back and look at Section 56 (3) and then to go to the South African equivalent which clearly protects sexual orientation as a right. Our Section 56 does not and when one reads Section 56 and Section 78 of the Bill of Rights, one is left to wonder kuti ko vari
kurasika papi… [AN HON. MEMBER: Paimba yeround]- …
because this Constitution, contrary to what they say is not allowing for same sex marriages.
Mr. Speaker Sir, I come to Chapter 5 which deals with the
Executive, Chapter 5 which deals with the Office of the President,
Cabinet and related matters. Mr. Speaker Sir, depending on the paper one reads, we would have read in the paper of your choice that the President’s Powers have gone up in smoke. One paper would say, “President’s Powers still intact”. The truth of the matter Mr. Speaker and according to our Constitution, the true position is somewhere in between. The Constitution addresses both sides of the coin and sees to it that a proper balance is kept. How is this proper balance kept?
Firstly, I have already made reference to the Presidential term limit. What it means is that as a President is going to be in power for a specific time of 10 years and no more, the issue of patronage fall away. What it means Mr. Speaker is that we now have a President who must appoint running mates. The issue of succession is addressed [AN HON. MEMBER: Kwete zvokungoti vana Mai Mujuru nanaNgwena izvo]-. So, we now have a situation where there is certainty. You know very well that when A goes, before his term of office comes to an end, then B must take over. This new innovation of introducing term limits in our Constitution will go a long way to solve our problems in this country. There are issues of the declaration of war and peace and dissolving Parliament and you will notice when you read this particular chapter that the Executive to a large extent is going to report to Parliament and in certain circumstances, the Constitutional Court will have the final say.
I now come to the Legislature, Chapter 6 of our Draft Constitution. Members will know or would like to know that we have not made any changes to the number of Houses which are currently in the current Constitution. Members will also know or would like to know that we still carry the 210 constituencies in the House of Assembly. I do not limit this to women because this positive advancement of women must obviously affect everybody in the country. Members would like to know that 60 seats have been provided for women in the House of
Assembly, women only. This particular arrangement lasts for ten years. Thereafter; we hope that women would have been able then to bring themselves up to the same level as men. Again, these women are not going to be elected on a first come or on a first past the post basis. They will be elected on a partly system, six women per province. We also have retained 80 members of the Senate but of those, 60 members are again going to be elected on a party system, proportional representation.
Two out of the 80 are going to be representing the disabled persons.
Mr. Speaker Sir, some people have argued that because the disabled are represented in the Senate, why do we not represent, a, b, c,
- e. It was important and necessary to start. It is my submission that a good start has been made and as time goes on, if it is found necessary that there is need to provide for class representation, this issue can be looked at into the future.
We come to Chapter 7, the chapter dealing with elections. Mr. Speaker Sir, we say elections must be conducted in an atmosphere devoid of violence. As I shall comment later, the fact that we provided for this in the Constitution does not guarantee a violent free election. We need to do more. We can only do more if we adopt a culture of constitutionalism. It was necessary to set out the State’s obligations in this Constitution so that at no stage, must the state be left unknowing as to what its obligations are. We also provided in this particular chapter that the State has got an obligation to make sure that everybody who must vote is registered as a voter. I am glad that currently, the
Government of this country is putting in various modalities to make sure that this is done.
Mr. Speaker, I come to the Judiciary and the Courts. The important innovation in this chapter is the introduction of the
Constitutional Court. This is going to be a stand-alone court not a court which is part of the Supreme Court as is the current position. The rationale of introducing this court is that we have introduced a new set of values in Zimbabwe. We have introduced a broad Bill of Rights in
Zimbabwe, we have introduced a lot of new concepts and principles in Zimbabwe and we need a court which is going to see or to oversee that those new and broad principles are protected and carried out. Admittedly, there is going to be a transitional period in respect of the persons who are going to sit on this particular court but the principle is that at the end of the day, we should have a stand-alone Constitutional Court in this country.
I have already made reference to the issues of principles of public administration and leadership, the issue relating to the civil service. They are obliged to conduct themselves in a transparent manner and in a manner which emphasizes good governance and the rule of law. With respect, I need not say more about them at this stage.
I come to the issue of the Security Services. Mr Speaker Sir, this Constitution makes the point very clearly that all our Security Services are subservient to civilian authority not vice versa. It is our hope indeed and I believe it is a hope of every Zimbabwean, that as we go through this Constitutional process, this particular aspect of this Constitution will be respected by members of our Security Services. Again, in order to give certainty, transparency and in order to eat into that issue of overstaying, members of the Security Services have been limited in their terms of office. What it means is that you are appointed to a term of five years, after five years and you are entitled to another five year term.
After the ten year period, no matter we all go up in a riot and say that you must be re-appointed, that is the end of you as Commander of that wing of the armed forces. It is a positive development and this is consistent with the term limits which have been imposed in respect of a lot of senior officers recognised in this particular Constitution.
Mr. Speaker Sir, we have been criticized in Africa in that we glorify individuals and not institutions. This Constitution creates independent commissions and these independent commissions have been tasked with supporting our democracy. It is hoped that with this Constitution, with the creation of these independent commissions we can look at institutions and not necessarily at individuals in order to make sure that our country is properly governed. Whilst looking at these institutions, I want to look at the National Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It is on page 99 of the Draft Constitution. I want to disabuse this thought that this Commission was put in place as a witch hunting Commission. It was not. When you look at page 99, you will come to realize the rationale behind the setting up of this Commission.
We do not believe that we are going to be in a permanent state of conflict and this Commission is therefore set for ten years with the rider that if it becomes necessary then the Commission can be put into place again.
Mr. Speaker, let me go to another institution which is again a new innovation but which is critically important in the context in which we found ourselves in Zimbabwe today. This is the National Prosecuting Authority. The National Prosecuting Authority is set up outside the office of the Attorney General’s Office. That National Prosecuting Authority is tasked with carrying out all criminal prosecutions. The reason why this institution was set up is clear; you cannot deny the problems which we have gone through in this country. This National Prosecuting Authority is to address those very issues which we experienced in the past years in our country.
I come to provincial and Local Government. I have already made reference Mr. Speaker, when I addressed the preamble about the diversity of our country. When one looks at Chapter 14, it provides for local and provincial governments. Again it is clear that this particular provision is a provision which seeks to hold transparency and democracy in our country. You notice that this particular Chapter, particularly in the preamble, goes back and marries with preamble. The values in the Preamble and founding principles are repeated on page 264 and page 265, dealing with functions of provincial councils.
Importantly Mr. Speaker, you have a Council at provincial level, a Council which is headed by an elected person. You have at provincial level, ten people who are elected to be members of that Council. Mr. Speaker, ten persons who eventually will become as it were a Cabinet of that Council. They will be tasked with overseeing or with chairing the various committees of that particular Council.
Mr. Speaker, we do not forget our traditional chiefs. We respect them and in Chapter 15, we set out that respect which is accorded to them. Again as I have said, in other respects, we expect these chiefs to be transparent. We expect these chiefs to be democratic, we expect these chiefs to follow the rule of law.
We are aware that we have gone through a Land Reform Programme. This Constitution addresses this issue. In Chapter 16, we have come to realise and we provided that we can no longer go back on the land issue. We have sought to protect whoever is on land so that there is no unwarranted interference with the occupation by that person of that particular piece of land. Obviously, if there is due process, then there is going to be intervention because due process is taking over.
What is important in this particular Chapter is that we have set up the Zimbabwe Land Commission. A Land Commission which will ensure accountability, fairness and transparency in the administration of agricultural land.
The last one Mr. Speaker, we must address the issue of finance. I do not believe that it is necessary for me to go through the details of the financial provisions which are contained in this Chapter because there is not much difference between the current Constitution and the Bill which is before you.
Chapter 18, the last chapter, provides for the general supplementary provisions in this Bill. It provides for the amendment of this Constitution and any migration from the current Lancaster House Constitution to the Constitution which I am sure this House is going to pass after debate. It is important that I address the issue of how to amend or how this Constitution is going to be amended. Mr. Speaker Sir, I am looking at pages 125 and 126 of this Bill. In terms of the current Constitution, this Bill was placed on public display, that is published in the Gazette 30 days before it was presented in this
Parliament. That was the minimum provided for by the current Constitution. What this Constitution says is that if there is going to be any Bill to amend it, then it must be gazetted for not less than 90 days. This particular Bill is aware of certain special provisions which must be protected and these provisions are firstly, the Bill of Rights provision, which is Chapter 4, the Agricultural Bill provision which is Chapter 16.
The position is as follows;
In an ordinary amendment, one needs a two-thirds majority before that particular amendment is passed.
If it is a Bill seeking to amend the Bill of Rights to Agricultural Land and seeking to amend term limits, in addition to two-thirds majority, you also need to submit that amendment to a referendum. More Mr. Speaker Sir, in respect of term limits, the person who is the incumbent at the time, cannot benefit from that amendment in addition to other peculiar provisions which are set out in this particular draft.
Mr. Speaker Sir, I need to come to a conclusion. I am doing so because I am aware that members have thoroughly gone through these documents. Let me say without any fear of contradiction Mr. Speaker, that I am proud to be associated with this Bill just as yourself and hon. members should be. However, as I have said earlier, having a good Constitution on its own is not sufficient. It is of paramount importance that we respect the Constitution and the laws made in terms thereof. We need to develop a culture of constitutionalism. As already said, a good Constitution does not on its own deliver an election which is free from violence. As I indicated earlier, the passage of this Bill represents our collective triumphant march into a new Zimbabwe. Whilst I may not agree with every aspect of this Bill, I want to concede that this is overally a good Constitution.
The Constitution process took a long time. Despite the time taken, persons and institutions were committed to its final and successful conclusion. I thank you Mr. Speaker and hon. members for the part you played in the process. In particular, I want to thank the Select
Committee core-chaired by the indefatigable Hon. Mwonzora,
Mangwana and Mkhosi. I wish to thank members of the Management Committee for their tireless efforts, at no extra remuneration, in the production of this Bill.
I extend my sincere appreciation to UNDP and the many development partners who provided material support to this process. I want to thank the drafters, Judge Chinhengo, Brian Crozier and Mrs.
Priscilla Madzonga for a job well done; not forgetting Professor P.
Makhurane and H. Sadza for chairing both the 1st and 2nd Stakeholders Conferences. I want to thank the people of Zimbabwe and in particular the leadership of political parties and Government for their support.
Last but not least, I want to thank the staff in my Ministry led by Mrs. Mabhiza who is here today, for having been present for me and the process at all times.
Finally, Mr. Speaker Sir, we could not be here but for God’s guidance. In the Roman Catholic Church, there is a chorus which goes Handigoni kukutendayi zvakakwana. We simply cannot thank God enough. We need to acknowledge in humilit, that we are all here today because of his Grace. I thank you Mr. Speaker [HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear] – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections].
- SPEAKER: Order, order.
THE MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I am certainly not debating my speech but members will have picked up a document which reads Notice of Amendments, Constitution of
Zimbabwe Amendment No. 20. I simply seek to give notice to hon. members that I will be moving these amendments during the Committee Stage of this Bill tomorrow. I want to say that all the amendments which are set out are amendments which arise out of full and agreeable consultation of all the parties involved in this process. This particular document is a result of the meeting on Monday of the management committee where everybody was agreeable to these amendments.
THE MINISTER OF FINANCE: Honourable Speaker Sir, -
[HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections] -
- SPEAKER: Order, order. Minister you can continue, I have recognised you.
THE MINISTER OF FINANCE: Honourable Speaker Sir, I
want to thank you for this privileged moment that all of us hon.
members in this House are having. This once in a life-time experience of debating a new constitution for a country. I think, Mr. Speaker Sir, this is a revolutionary moment and a moment that we will treasure that we were there and we were able to contribute to this important step in the history of our country and I will illustrate a little bit further, when I go into the history of our country, why today is such an important step. To be here Mr. Speaker, and for some of us who have been involved in the negotiations, it is actually a miracle and it is a desire and a push of God that we are actually here.
Mr. Speaker, we recall that on the 29th of September, 2007, SADC met in an extraordinary meeting in Maputo and directed through President Mbeki, that the Zimbabweans should dialogue and dialogue on those issues that will bring a legitimate, credible, sustainable Zimbabwe. It was identified even at that meeting that the Constitution will be at the epicenter of this debate around establishing a credible, legitimate and sustainable Zimbabwe.
We started negotiations on the 14th of April, 2007 in Pretoria, South Africa. Those negotiations were not easy. Those debates were acrimonious. The only thing that did not happen in those meetings was actually physical confrontation or altercation. But, anything that can happen where there is attrition, including banging of doors, throwing of water bottles at each other, it actually happened. Particularly the first meeting that set the agenda which was held at Sandton on the 18th of June, 2007.
So, to be able to come here to celebrate this process Mr. Speaker, it is actually a miracle and the grace of God that we are here. Even when we eventually were tasked to meet on the actual Constitution after months and years, it was not easy. Many of us here Mr. Speaker will remember the First All Stakeholders Conference which was held in Harare on the 13th of July, 2009. The meeting was chaotic. It was clear that there were certain sector offers, certain shareholders of the past who did not want to see the actualisation of this Constitution. Water was thrown in that meeting and even bottled urine was thrown in that meeting Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, it had to take the intervention of the three Principals who organised a meeting and a Press Conference on Monday the 13th of July. It had to take the intervention of the three Principals who had to do a Press Conference at 7.00 p.m. on Monday, 13th July, 2009 to force that the All Stakeholders Conference will actually occur.
Those who were at COPAC will also testify to the serious fights that would take place, particularly at the beginning when trust and acceptance had not been laid. I think it is indeed very right Mr. Speaker, to thank the leadership of the co-Chairs of Honn Douglas Mwonzora, Mr. Mulyaradzi Paul Mangwana and Mr."Edward Mkhosi because there was abrimony a those meetings. I also want to remember the two weeks se srent in the bush hidden somewhere at a little cottage,!somewhere in the middle ov mn}ntains in Nyanga trying to resolve some of these issues.
I know that books will be written but I think it is importand tjat it is chro.icled$that those meetings were not easy. Therd were 4imes Mr. Speaker. that one or two of the parties would grab and pack their bags to say I am leaving; I do not want to see you. And, then quietly you would put your tail in the leg and come back. There were times that, on the negotiatinf table, you would not believe that you would actually reach consensus on a particudar thing. So, you would!run away and switch off ymur phone in the fear that Hon. Chinamasa will phone and say come bag+, i have reco~sidered. That used to happen.
So, it was not easy. Even as late Mr. Speaker, as Wednesday, 17th of January, 2013, there were still wars. Mr. Speaker, you will remember that we met with the Principals on Thursday, the 18th of January, 2013. Even on the Wednesday evening that we met at COPAC House in Milton Park, we had such a fight Mr. Speaker, that our elasticity was so stretched that we said look, if this thing is going to die, let it die. We all walked away from that meeting. And to believe that the following day, in a meeting involving our Principals, a thirty-minute meeting, all the issues that were then outstanding at that time – the issue of devolution, was resolved. I think it was a miracle.
So, I want to state that the Constitution and the fact that we are here is a reflection of the maturity of the people of Zimbabwe. I want to remember on the 13th of August, 2012, we were in Maputo at the ThirtyThird Ordinary Summit of SADC. There, our colleagues in ZANU PF brought a document. Remember, each political party took the document to its own Executive or National Council or to its own Central Committee of Politburo. I know that our comrades in ZANU PF had many sleepless nights in those days – 15 hours of debate and they were debating the 18th of July Draft.
The net outcome of that was a thorough revision of the 18th July Draft. So, we were in Maputo when we received from the ZANU PF delegation, a summary of their own revision to the 18th July Draft. Some of us were shocked to the point of a heart attack because what was in that document was a complete negation and revision of the original documents. Fortunately Mr. Speaker, if you compare the document we are debating and the document of the 18th of July, 2012, there is hardly any difference.
So, this is a process that no one could have stopped. I want to say Mr. Speaker, as a Christian, that which God has pre-determined, no one, the opinion columnist, the chaos faction in some political parties; no one can stop this process. So, having outlined the experience Mr. Speaker, I want to define what this Constitution means for Zimbabwe. The first thing that this Constitution does is to establish a new social contract in Zimbabwe. If you will look at the preamble of the GPA, it records a society that is conflicted, a society that is torn by violence, torn by conflict, a society that is torn by the disbursement of the rule of law, society that is torn by the disbursement of dis-cohesion and lack of national unity.
It was the vision of the Global Political Agreement that it sort to bring about a society with shared commitment to re-orient our attitude towards respect for the Constitution and all national laws; to respect the rights of all Zimbabweans regardless of political affiliation to benefit from and participate in all national programs; to recognise, accept and acknowledge the values of justice, fairness, openness, tolerance, equality, non-discrimination and respect of all persons without regard to race, class, gender or ethnicity; to build a society free of violence, fear, intimidation, hatred, patronage, corruption and founded on justice, fairness, openness, transparency, dignity and equality.
Now, these things were being talked about because the social contract in Zimbabwe had broken down. What this Constitution seeks to do at first instance is to restore the social contract in Zimbabwe and to restore trust on those that govern and those that will be governed. To me, if you read the preamble, if you read the founding principles of this document, they are in fact consolidating and codifying the restoration of the social contract in Zimbabwe. We have been an afflicted society suffering from violence, abuse and fear of power. This Constitution seeks to address that.
The second thing which this Constitution does which is very important is to fulfill the unfinished business of the liberation struggle – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] -. Mr. Speaker, it is not enough to have a flag of your own. It is not enough to have a national anthem of your own. It is not enough to have a black President or black Prime Minister when you do not have a Constitution that you can say has been made by us and for us. Zimbabwe has never had a Constitution of its own and by its own until now.
The first Constitution of this country, of modern Zimbabwe, I am talking of modern history, was the Southern Rhodesia Order and Council of 1889. The background of the Southern Rhodesia Order and Council of 1889 was that following the Berlin Conference of 1884, the British Government did not have the money of conquest. They out-sourced conquest to their private capital, in this case the British South African
Company (BSAP) led by that notorious rogue called Cecil John Rhodes. He came into this country, negotiated with King Lobengula and others and the Southern Rhodesia Order and Council of 1889 was enacted.
If you read this Order of 1889, it was an order codifying plunder passing the sovereignty of land that lay in black people to the company, the British South African Company. All that was there was minerals and land. First, they thought that Mashonaland would be the new grant-rant.
Then they were disappointed and they went back to Matabeleland.
The people of Zimbabwe then revolted against the looting that was taking place. In fact, the colonialists where looting so much that amongst themselves, they decided to form a committee that was called the loot committee chaired by one, Thomas Meikles whose capital is still in Zimbabwe. Now, I do not know who is chairing it. When the looting took place, there was war in this country. Black people in this country arose, particularly in the southern parts of the country and a war took place.
However, black people were subjugated and in 1894, a new order and council was created which was the Matabeleland Order and Council. One could say that the Matabeleland Order and Council is the second Constitution of this country. There was a conflict between the crown king, the company, the settlers and the black people. The king or the crown was saying this is our land, you cannot petition it. The company was saying no, no, we are the ones that have colonised this land, this is our land. Of course, the black people were saying, this is our land.
The matter was eventually referred to the Privy Council and the Privy Council was the highest court of appeal in the British Empire. The matter was decided in an infamous case called Inre-Southern Rhodesia: 1919; AC 211. In that court, the Privy Council held that black people had no rights over anything; that the company could not dish out land but that the crown could dish out land. As a result of this judgment, we then had the third Constitution of Zimbabwe which was the Southern Rhodesia Order and Council of 1923.
You can see again that we have never had a Constitution for ourselves. Soon after this, we had the Morris Carter Commission that looked on the issues of land and said they had a matrix of apartheid. There had to be segregation of land and of course, as all of us know, that led to the Land Apportionment Act of 1931. Thereafter, the next
Constitution which we had, which was of significance, was the 1965
UDI Constitution. After the 1965 UDI Constitution, we had the 1978 Zimbabwe-Rhodesia Constitution. After the 1978 Zimbabwe-Rhodesia Constitution, we had the Lancaster House Constitution.
Now, the Lancaster House Constitution was not made or passed in this Parliament. The Lancaster House Constitution was not even an Act of the British Parliament. It was actually a Statutory Instrument. Can you imagine a Statutory Instrument? It is delegated legislation. It is something that the Minister makes without consulting. So, this
Constitution which we call the Zimbabwean Constitution which we have pretended to call the Zimbabwean Constitution, is not and has never been our Constitution despite the abuses we have made on it, the nineteen (19) patches, ill patches that we have made in thirty three (33) years of our independence. For the first time, we now have a document that we can say was written by Zimbabweans and for Zimbabweans.
Amen and Alleluya – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] -.
Mr. Speaker, there are two canons of Constitution making and if a Constitution is not made in that way, it does not pass the test of making a Constitution. The first one is what constitutional jurists call the legitimation component. Has this Constitution been made by the people? This is why if you look at Article 6 of the Global Political Agreement, the issue of public consultation is there in black and white. Who was to do the public consultation? It was the group of persons or individuals that could claim that we have some legitimacy from the people of Zimbabwe. That group of people is only Members of Parliament because they have been chosen by the people.
I say so because there has been a debate and a feeling in some individuals, that if I have got my own NGO, I am people driven. You might be wife driven or whatever but you are not people driven- [Laughter]. I am wife driven, so I speak from experience. I do not apologize for that. Parliament is the only organization in this country that can claim legitimacy and proximation with the people of Zimbabwe.
Therefore, it was important this process be people driven and the only group of people in this country who can claim to have resemblance and accountability are the Members of Parliament. Anyone who says it was not people driven, he is seeking to redefine the concept of peoplehood, the concept of legitimation, the concept of ownership. The process which we did from August 2009 to 2011 of public consultations, where over three million people gave references, - where the public consultations if you collate the books of material was important because a valid Constitution has to be made by the concept of legitimation. Can the people claim ownership to that?
If a document is not proximate to the people, it is problematic. This is why when we were negotiating in Nyanga, COPAC Head Office and some hotels we were going back to what the people said. That is important. The second aspect of constitution making is the negotiating aspect because the Constitution is a power document and the
Constitution is a balance sheet of the power forces that are existing in that particular country. If you consider the UDI Constitution, it shows the power of the minority. If you consider the Zimbabwe-Rhodesia Constitution, it shows the power of the minority but the blacks through the war were beginning to have some say.
If you consider the Lancaster House Constitution, the black man and woman now has more power than he had in 1978. I have been reading opening remarks of people like Lord Carrington and the late Joshua Nkomo at Lancaster House, their opening speeches, it was a power game. If you look at CODESA 1992, Kempton Park they had these two concepts. The one of legitimation and the South Africans defined a concept that would cover the concept of legitimation. The doctrine of sufficient consensus which meant the ANC and its allies agreed because ANC was indisputably the representative of the black people.
Here in Zimbabwe the issue of negotiation and power contestation was resolved by the intra party negotiation that took place. It is not enough to have the legitimation. There has to be the contestation and the negotiation. Whatever Constitution you are talking about be it American Constitution and Declaration of Independence of 1774, there were class and power interests, slave owners, non-slave owners, states that said we want to be independent and others that said we have to have a strong Federal State. It is the issue of contestation.
We have these two Cs in our Constitution. I believe with great respect that we have passed the test of constitution making. The third component which you need in making a Constitution is, do you have certain constitutional principles that bind you because you are not rewriting the Constitution? The principles of separation of power, oversight, accountability and independence - there were 35 principles that were developed by COPAC because you do not just write a Constitution in the bush. I am pleased to say they were there which is why we have this document.
I have spoken about three things, the first one is that this document is restoring the social contract, so it is dealing with our past. The second one is fulfilling the unfinished business of the liberation struggle. The third one is establishing a new paradigm shift for Zimbabwe. All constitutions are dealing with a certain mischief and they seek a departure from the past. The Constitution of South Africa of 1994 was a departure from an oppressive and repressive Apartheid past. It was a new paradigm from an ugly past of repression. The 1979 Constitution of Zimbabwe was a new paradigm from the past of repression and oppression into an era past of democracy, one-man one-vote, onewoman one-vote. The 1965 UDI Constitution was also a departure from a hazy situation where the Crown had some control to a situation where Ian Smith was now saying, “I am a self governing colony and I am not accountable to the United Kingdom”. All Constitutions are a departure from the past.
I am pleased to say that this Constitution is fundamentally a departure from our ugly past. I have already referred to that past. It is the past of violence, monopolization of power, privatization of power and the state, aggrandizement, patronage and neo patrimonialism, subjectivism, that what matters is the colour of your political card. Even that is not enough, which region do you come from. That is the past that we are seeking to run away from in this Constitution. This Constitution seeks to establish a new legal and constitutional order. I want to touch on four things that define that this is a new and irreversible order that is being created in this Constitution.
The first one relates to the provisions that I would call the value system. That values of this Constitution are found in the Preamble,
National Objectives and Founding Principles – [AN HON MEMBER:
You are now campaigning] – I am not campaigning. I am talking about what this Constitution means. I suggest you take notes on what I am saying. Those three chapters are underscoring, underpinning, codifying a new value system. If you look at the Preamble, it has one thing that has never existed in our body politic which is the concept of putting God in front. It is a new paradigm from the past which has been lacerated and arrested with lack of love, deficit of love and kwashiorkor of love. If you look at the Preamble Hon. Speaker, it speaks of recognising the need to entrench democracy, good transparent and accountable governance and the rule of law. That is a value system. If you go again to the Preamble, we resolve by the tenet of this Constitution to commit ourselves to build a united, just and prosperous nation founded on values of transparency, equality, freedom, fairness, honesty and the dignity of hard work.
I love the phrase the “dignity of hard work”, because a lot of us here think that money can be obtained without hard work and without surplus. A lot of us here think that money can be rigged because of deals, corruption and so forth. If this Constitution says the dignity of hard work, it is making a departure, a paradigm from the current chaos of corruption, self aggrandisement and self enrichment.
- SPEAKER: Order, the member is left with five minutes.
THE MINISTER OF FINANCE: Thank you Hon. Speaker. I am
talking about values here. I have said there are three issues that define the values of this Constitution. If you look at the Founding Principles, they are about eight. supremacy of the Constitution; we have lived in a country for 33 years that has not known the Supremacy of the Constitution but the Supremacy of an individual. – [HON. MEMBERS: inaudible interjections] - So this Constitution, those that came before us from 1965 – 1979 knew the Supremacy of an individual called Ian Douglas Smith. So, this is a country that has been dominated by the supremacy of an individual and not the supremacy of the Constitution.
Another value Mr. Speaker is the rule of law, fundamental rights and freedom, and the nation’s diverse culture. I want to come to this; as the Founding Principle and there is no Constitution in the world which has this provision. It is a defining provision. I want to read it with your permission. “The principles of good governance which binds the state and all institutions and agencies of Government at every level include a multi-party democratic system, an electoral system based on the following: universal adult suffrage, free, fair and regular elections and adequate representation of the electorate.” Listen to this Hon. Speaker,
“the orderly transfer of power following elections”, - [HON. MEMEBRS: inaudible interjections] – So, as I said, you will not find this in any other Constitution. This is true and this is a departure from our murky, our ugly, our contested, our viral, our quagmiring past and this is key.
I want to come to another second thing which this Constitution does which is a paradigm and this is to have a permanent, clear, unambiguous, unequivocal definition of a Zimbabwean. The issue of citizenship, over the years Mr. Speaker, we have had the concept of citizenship and the definition of Zimbabwean citizenship being played along like pin ball or table tennis. One time you are a Zimbabwean, another time you are not a Zimbabwean.
[Time Limit]
An hon. member having passed between the Speaker and the member speaking.
- SPEAKER: Order. May I remind the hon. member that his time is up and may I also remind the hon. member who passed here that you bow down as you pass through the Speaker and get into the House.
- CHIBAYA: Mr. Speaker, I move that the hon. member’s
time be extended.
- KARENYI: I second.
THE MINISTER OF FINANCE: Mr. Speaker Sir, a country
needs to have a constant metrics of who is a citizen and that concept of citizenship must be defined in the most superior document of that land which is the Constitution. If you have a situation like we have codified in Section 5 or our current Constitution, that Parliament and anyone else can pass a law to define who has a Zimbabwean citizenship, you have got a disaster because you then have a continuously moving, a continuously evolving concept of citizenship and that is not proper.
Now, for the first time in the history of this country, we have got a permanent definition of citizenship. The first one is that you are a citizen of Zimbabwe by birth. If at the time you are born in Zimbabwe and one of your parents is a Zimbabwean or alternatively you are born out of Zimbabwe but one of your parents was on national duty, it is clear, it is unambiguous and it is unequivocal.
The second concept of Zimbabwean citizenship is that you are a Zimbabwean citizenship by descent, if your grand parent, your great grand parent was a Zimbabwean. So, even if you have got one molecule of blood of Zimbabwean blood in you and you are born out of Zimbabwe, you are a Zimbabwean citizen. If you are born out of Zimbabwe, you are a Zimbabwean citizen.
The third category is Zimbabwean by registration, whether you marry or you get married to a Zimbabwean and you stay here for ten years, you are a Zimbabwean. Most importantly, is that Zimbabwean citizen as it pertains to the so called aliens. If you are born here, whether your parents came from SADC countries and so forth, you are a Zimbabwean and a Zimbabwean by birth. If you are a Zimbabwean citizenship by birth, no law can take away your Zimbabwean citizenship by birth. You can have multiple citizenship of China, Timbuktu, Gibraltar, no law can take away your Zimbabwean citizenship and this is clear. If you are a citizen by descent or registration, a law may take away that citizenship but I want to see which Parliament will have the audacity of creating discrimination between citizenship by birth, citizenship by descent and citizenship by registration. You would have to be a fool to try and create this discrimination.
The fourth thing Hon. Speaker, I have mentioned two things so far, the definition of citizenship. Now I am talking about the Bill of Rights
Hon. Speaker. The Bill of Rights Hon. Speaker …
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order, Order, Hon. Bhasikiti-
Chuma Order!
THE MINISTER OF FINANCE: I want to restate Hon. Madam
Speaker. I want to restate out of an abundance of caution, the point I am making. The point I am making is that this Constitution is creating a new paradigm from our past. So I have pointed out the issue of our values, the citizenship and now I am pointing on the third issue which is a paradigm.
A Bill of Rights Madam Speaker, is the most important Chapter in a Constitution, for only in the Bill of Rights do you actually find the people. The modern Bill of Rights trace their history as way back as
1215AD where some Barons and Knights met a certain British King in a Forest called Run mate and said Mr. King we are tired of your power, we need to be protected against you. Some of the practices that were put in the Magna Carter were practices against taxation; practices against practices such as, if you marry your wife the king has the right of entrance on the first night. All those things were addressed at the Magna Carter. So this Bill of Rights Madam Speaker, for the last 33 years and I have practiced law under this most frustrating situation; a situation where you go to Court and you win a case – a Constitutional case and the minute you win the Constitutional case, the ZANU PF Parliament then moves a Constitutional Amendment to repeal the gains of the Constitution.
So we have had a Constitution Hon. Speaker; we have had a Bill of Rights that took with the left what it gave with the right. In other words, there were too much derogation from that. We have also had a Bill of Rights that has not been protected. It has been amended here by a 2/3 majority and also we have had a Bill of Rights that was very narrow. This is a very extensive Bill of Rights from social rights to individual rights and from primary rights to secondary rights. Most importantly Madam Speaker, this Bill of Rights, no one can willy-nilly amend it. To amend Chapter 16 you have to have 2/3 approval of Parliament and you have to go for a referendum. So I submit that the Bill of Rights is the third thing that reflects a paradigm shift from our past.
The fourth thing Hon. Speaker is the Executive. Mr. Speaker, I am a Constitutional lawyer myself. If you were to ask me to write one provision in an African Constitution that is more important than any other, it is the provision that limits the term of office of the Chief Executive Officer of the country. To have a situation that as has been the case across Africa, that some of our leaders behave as if they are hammered on to the Chair is not on, Hon. Speaker. So the most important thing that this Constitution has done is to ensure renewal of the State by ensuring that you go for an election. If people like you, they give you your five years.
THE TEMPORARY: Order, Order, Order, the Member’s time
has expired.
THE MINISTER OF DEFENCE: Madam Speaker, I rise to add my voice to colleagues who have spoken before me and in particular to the Minister of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs who has captured the entire process and roadmap which we walked both as political parties and as Government, as a country and as a nation to reach this day. The Minister ably articulated that process and I will be redundant if I repeated that process.
Secondly Hon. Speaker, we are sitting here as the legitimate legislative House of this country to make the laws of this country for the purpose of governing this country. Madam Speaker, the journey was not easy and I feel that we should congratulate ourselves. Not only on both sides of the House but also to the people of this country who have various backgrounds but at the end of the day, realising that after a bitter armed struggle, where sons and daughters of this country perished and were maimed, to liberate this country. Time came in 1979 when there was choice to continue to prosecute the war or avail ourselves to discuss the possibility of shading blood in order to come to the table and find a platform to produce a process that would give us independence.
At that particular juncture in history, we chose the possibility of achieving the goal of independence by going to Lancaster but of course it is on record that Lancaster gave us a window of opportunity to achieve two things: one, the cessation of the armed struggle and the ushering in of independence. The major grievance of that war which we fought and many of our people perished was the issue of land. So we made sure in 1979 that that issue be attended to.
I am glad to say on the issue of land, all political parties represented in this House as well as those outside are agreed that the land belongs to the people of Zimbabwe. I am also happy Madam Speaker that the Constitution that we are granting unto ourselves as people also takes cognisance of the fact that, land shall never again part from the people nor the people part from their land. So today Madam Speaker, I am so delighted that all of us are speaking with one language and one vision on the Constitution we are granting unto ourselves. The speed by which we should execute to do this job shows the commitment as to how we love the Constitution. I thank you.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF WOMEN’S AFFAIRS,
GENDER AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: Madam Speaker,
I am thankful for this opportunity that I have been afforded to add my voice to this historic debate, the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment
No. 20 Bill that will bring in a totally new dispensation into Zimbabwe.
I feel the weight of history and the great responsibility that has been placed on our shoulders, this 7th Parliament of the Republic of Zimbabwe. This is because, as has been said by speakers before me which I associate with, this day in the history of Zimbabwe is a day that will forever remain in the annals of Zimbabwean history. We are privileged to be members of this august House today and also even participating not only in this august House but also across the hills and valleys of Zimbabwe because indeed, the people of Zimbabwe themselves did have a say in the making of this charter.
Madam Speaker, allow me to quote from a speaker who once said,
“If you like sausages, you should never watch either being made “.
That was Otto von Bismarck, a Prussian Prince of the 19th century. Indeed, the process of making this Constitution, which is a law making process, might have been uglier because it was indeed the making of the supreme law of the land. Happily, it is most heartening to note that this process might have been ugly and indeed painful and took longer than it should have taken but it resulted in the prize. Maybe possibly more so, apart from the very wonderful provisions that it has, the very process might be the greatest process and the greatest thing that Zimbabweans have done after the 2008 elections, that is to conduct national healing. This process, even if it were meant not to yield this very good product, it did cause us Zimbabweans across the political divide to sit down, to work a way through, to set the rules of this process and indeed to go about together in the countryside sitting in teams, side by side and speaking to the people of Zimbabwe who saw for themselves that Zimbabweans are able to sit together and put their differences aside. I am really glad as a Zimbabwean that we achieved this process.
Madam Speaker, as a member of this 7th Parliament, I feel extremely privileged and extremely blessed to be part of this, also for the reason that the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment No. 20 does indeed usher in freedom to Zimbabwe. In 1980, our country attained its independence but, what is independence without freedom? One might say that it is more or less like a body without a soul. In 1980, the country and the nation did attain independence. In the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20) Bill, the people of Zimbabwe are finally attaining freedom for themselves as people which together with the independence that we have, we can rise to stella heights as a great nation not only in Southern Africa but also of the world. I insist in saying that the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20) Bill is ushering freedom because as has been said, it confirms a Declaration of Rights that is not only the envy of many a country in Africa but the world over. It is the broadest, deepest and the widest and the most expansive declaration of the rights and freedoms of Zimbabwe and beyond.
Madam Speaker, speaking as a woman, I am extremely heartened and feel the moment of history because in 1984 when the Legal Age of Majority was passed by this august House, I was thirteen years of age. The Legal Age of Majority Act was able to be passed because of the war of liberation that brought in independence. That was of particular significance to the women of Zimbabwe. Before this august House passed the Legal Age of Majority Act in 1984, black women like me were condemned to a life of perpetual minors. They could not open bank accounts; they could not vote alongside a men, they could not buy property. They were literally children in the eyes of the law but indeed, the independence that was ushered in 1980 allowed that process of truly liberating the African women to full freedom because the Legal Age of Majority Act was passed. Alas, that was not enough because as black women, we continued to live under a constitutional dispensation that denied us full equality of the person. Thanks to the liberation war and thanks to the Legal Age of Majority Act, we could now be adults in the eyes of the law but could still not live as full and equal citizens, it is a shame, 33 years after independence. I am glad that that shame is going to end very soon with the adoption of this draft Constitution. We do not have an equality clause in the Constitution that Zimbabwean women have been labouring under for the last 33 years. That same Constitution gives licence to discriminate against women including black women who are no longer minors.
Madam Speaker, it is most exhilarating and most note worthy that the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20) Bill has an equality clause. The Women of Zimbabwe will be treated as full and equal citizens when this Bill passes. They will no longer be discriminated against in the name of custom, also in matters of personal law, that is marriage, divorce and inheritance, issues of children and also matters of the application of customary law. Domestic violence is unlawful as of now because this august House passed the Domestic Violence Act. It will be now also unconstitutional because this Declaration of Rights guarantees the right to the security of a person and protection from violence even from public and public sources. That is something that is worth celebrating. There are also economic, social and cultural rights that will allow the men and the women, but the women of Zimbabwe in particular to lead lives of a high standard particularly as we happen to be in a country with some of the highest rates of maternal mortality.
Madam Speaker, we sit in this august House today deliberating upon the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20) Bill, by the time we finish the day today, 10 women of Zimbabwe will have died today giving birth.
I am heartened and encouraged to note that this draft will indeed guarantee Zimbabwean women the right to reproductive health and the right to heaìthcare in general and also even ushering in a gender sensitive national budgeting process. I am sure the women of Zimbabwe will qlso be heartened to know that Clause!298 requires that one of the principles of the management and public financing requires that public disbursement of funds shall be for the duvelopment of Zimbabwe. Not only that, that in additiof and I quote, “Special provision must be made for marginalized groups and areas.” Marginalised groups Madam Speaker, are iîdeed women and t`is is indeed lost exciting ás we bring changes betwe%n!the present Draft and the mne we have had before. It is most encouraging and uplifténg fos women and others that viïlence and political violence itself will be uncolsti|qtional. `This is mowt
wedcome.
Madam Speiker, I wish to aló/ proceed to emphAsise and allow also my voice to go in celebration of the freedoms that have been ushered by this Draft Constitution. Because indeed, it is said that “good years lead to the making of better ones, but bad ones bring worse laws.” I am most encouraged that once you pass Constitution Amendment No. 20, this august House will now be liberated from the shackles of having to pass unfree, unfair and unjust laws. Freedoms of expression and freedoms of association will flow like mighty rivers in Zimbabwe because this Parliament would never again be able to pass such heinous laws such as the restrictive measures in AIPPA, and the Public Order and Security Act. Those will be unconstitutional.
Madam Speaker, it is indeed true that as one famous writer once said, “woman throughout the ages has been mistress to the law as men ahas been its master. This was an educator called Freda Adler. Madam Speaker, Constitution Bill No. 20, will indeed totally put an end to this very sad chapter in the lives of the women and the men of Zimbabwe.
Freedoms have been opened to all of us. More so, it is extremely exciting and rewarding that these freedoms are guaranteed throughout the Draft Constitution which brings checks and balances. Indeed there is freedom for one to express themselves, and freedoms from sexual harassment and freedom of expression in dress and in fashion and in whatever sense, this is guaranteed to the women of Zimbabwe. I am encouraged by that.
Madam Speaker, it should be celebrated loud and with clarions and with trumpets that indeed we have departed from the present
Constitution where we have Section 27 that says that the President shall take precedence over all other persons to move to a dispensation where in Clause 89 the President is actually, instead, the person who has the key and chief responsibility to uphold, defend and obey, (and I underline the word “obey”) and respect the Constitution as the supreme law of the nation. This Madam Speaker, will indeed guarantee that the people of Zimbabwe, the men and the women, do enjoy checks and balances to the powers that may be.
Madam Speaker, allow me to end on a note that hopefully will encourage honourable members as well as all Zimbabweans that took part in this very auspicious process to remind ourselves that it is said that that, “the law will never make men and women free. It is men and women who have got to make the law free, this was by another famous philosopher called Henry David Thoreau. As we pass this historic Draft Bill, we must remember Madam Speaker that the work is only just beginning. This Draft, no matter how beautiful it may be, will never mean anything to Zimbabweans, will never mean anything in our lives as long as not only us legislators who are privileged to be here today, but also Zimbabweans across the country-side take ownership of it and demand that the promises that we have made to ourselves as
Zimbabweans in this Bill are fulfilled. It will only be our fault if we fail to utilise this to the yield.
I want to end by saying that if the people of Zimbabwe voted a thundering and resounding 93% in favour of the Draft, who would we be the humble servants Members of Parliament to refuse? I want to thank you for this opportunity.
THE MINISTER OF REGIONAL INTERGRATION AND
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION: Thank you Madam Speaker. I
also stand up to speak on this historic day. I will not take too much time because I think my colleagues that were both in the Management Committee and in the Select Committee must have done a good job. I think it is important that one also adds their voice to this process.
Madam Speaker, I just want to perhaps emphasise two issues. As we celebrate this day, I think it is important that we look at two issues. The first issue is the process itself that got us where we are. The second one is the content. I think Madam Speaker, there is so much that has been said about the process. I think one thing that is lost to many Zimbabweans is that for the first time, this process allowed
Zimbabweans to sit under trees, in the bush and begin to speak and to map out what they wanted as a future for themselves. A child born today will have a completely different life from the life that any of us have had before. This is not as a result of anyone writing it for us, this is not as a result of someone from outside coming in and speaking to us, this is as a result of the Zimbabweans themselves sitting down and defining what is it they want for themselves. I think there are many countries that have not been given this opportunity.
Madam Speaker, this process comes out of a time where we had to negotiate as different political parties. Many countries haveng been so unfortunate that they have ended up in war, but Zimbabweans have refused to go to war and say it is possible for us to sit down and dialogue and come up with something that we are proud of. So, today this process brings to me, not only a Constitution, but it brings to me something that says I can proudly stand up as an African, I can proudly stand up as a Zimbabwean but most importantly, I can proudly stand up as a woman.
Madam Speaker, I think my colleagues did speak about the difficulties in the process, but today I want to celebrate the people that I do not usually celebrate, which are men. I sat as perhaps one woman in the Management Committee and many times I am asked how difficult it was to sit around the table with men because the assumption and what we have known of men normally is that they are a difficult species. Let me speak about these men that I sat around the table with. Much as they were difficult sometimes, much as they were led by ego but I think finally, even after you have had a hard day of fighting, whether it were the women in their lives that spoke to them or whether it was God that spoke to them, but it was always surprising that after a big fight, the very next day, you will find that they still want to sit down and make sure that they find a solution to the problems that we have had. That is the number one celebration.
The second celebration to these men is that when you look at all these provisions that we celebrate that are around women; it would have not been possible to get them. This is because whether we were in the Select Committee or in the Management Committee, the women were always in the minority; but we had these men sitting with us and agreeing. In some instances they were the ones who would have in fact proposed some of the most progressive clauses that we do have in the Constitution. [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear].
Like I said, this may be the last time I will speak well about them but I think it is important that the people of Zimbabwe get to know that this was not just a fight that women brought to the table. This was a fight that brought both genders onto the table because people understood that the women’s issues were not just women’s issues but they were issues of justice.
Having spoken around the issue of process, Madam Speaker, let me speak around the issue of content. Like I said, just a very few things are in there. Again, so many people do speak around the issue of this Constitution and I do not think will have an appreciation of how good this Constitution is. Many times, some of us, because we have to go and debate and also have to go and defend, we have had to literally go and google, look around and try to do a comparison of Constitutions; not just in Africa, Madam Speaker, but in the world. I can proudly and confidently stand here and say the Constitution of Zimbabwe is one of the best Constitutions in the world.
Let me explain why this Constitution is one of the best
Constitutions and why it is different from most of the Constitutions. Let us look at one issue which is the cornerstone of any Constitution. The one issue which you find in this Constitution is the one around the issues of Bill of Rights. When you look at most Constitutions in the world, the Bill of Rights are very limited. They are limited to issues of human rights but in this Constitution, the Bill of Rights comprised of the human rights issues, the socio issues and the economic issues. So I think we need to celebrate the fact that we probably are one country that has the best Constitution in terms of the issues around the Bill of Rights.
The second issue that is in our Constitution which needs to be celebrated is the whole issue of devolution. Madam Speaker, not all
Constitutions in the world are very clear around issues of devolution. Not only do we have devolution in the Constitution, but it is very clear what kind of devolution that we need. Not only is it just a principle that is found in that Constitution, but we proceeded and continued to define how that devolution would be implemented. I want to challenge a number of people to go back to try and look at the Constitutions that we have and see whether they have a Constitution that has such clarity around the issue of devolution.
The reason why devolution is revolutionary is that one of the biggest problems that we have had all over the world about how people exercise power is that power is usually centralised. Power is usually over people and not with people. The devolution that we defined in this Constitution is a devolution that gives power to people. It is a devolution that says for a woman who is in Chiendambuya, Tsholotsho or in Binga today, she is the one who decides where the borehole is going to be sunk. This is because she is the person who knows what is needed in that particular area and I think that is a celebration that we need to give.
The third one and which you can find in most Constitutions, but we celebrate it because we never had it before, is the whole issue around term limits. For the first time, we are going to have a situation where anybody who gets into power makes sure that at the end of the day, during the time that you are in power, you are in power and you will go away. We should never have a situation where anyone believes that they will be in power in perpetuity. So, I think we need to celebrate that particular aspect.
Madam Speaker, my colleague who has just left right now, Hon. Jessie Majome did spend a lot of time speaking around women; but I think as a feminist it would be wrong for me to leave this place without speaking also around issues that are for women. On the revolutionary part, you can look at all the Constitutions and find things that talk about equal rights for women. You can find issues that put women around issues in the Bill of rights but you rarely can find a Constitution that went as further as we did around issues of representation. Madam Speaker, we do have a Constitution today that forces political parties to make sure that when they are nominating or putting people on the list, they have to consider that the first person on that list is a woman. This is amazing and revolutionary.
In fact, that clause is one clause that would have gotten me to take off my shirt and dance on top of this table because it is an unbelievable clause – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections] – I know vatete kufara ehe-e. I am not going to do it, I know. This is so amazing and unbelievable and I think that particular clause, we need to celebrate it. I know that we gave ourselves a particular period of time but I am sure that during that particular time we should have been able to empower women to then go in and run. Madam President, I know that some of the men that are screaming right now are part of those men who are making it difficult for women to run in some of these elections. Primary elections, right now are the worst for women. They are struggling and they are fighting to be able to survive. That is an indication of how it is problematic for women to be able to access some of these positions. So,
I think we need to celebrate those particular areas – [HON. MEMBERS:
Inaudible interjections] – Mukarega kurova amai ava, vanonzi ani vamakarova vaye vaye. Madam Speaker, I think it is critical and it is important that we celebrate this particular Constitution.
Finally, Madam Speaker, again to just follow through the words that my colleague has said, a Constitution is like a piece of paper. A
Constitution is just like a marriage certificate. You stand up and say, “I do, till death do us part”. We will be together in sickness and in health but many are left in that sickness and health when people have declared. I am saying even as we have this piece of paper, it will take the political commitment and the political will to be able to make sure that we are able to implement the ideals and values that we have set for our people in this Constitution. It does not take any other person but it takes those people that are sitting in this very House to be able to make it a reality for the people of Zimbabwe.
Like I said, let us celebrate, let us pray and just say God has been good to us because today, we are able to put something out there for people and a legacy that will follow us throughout our lives. I thank you
Madam Speaker.
- MADZIMURE: Thank you Madam Speaker. I am also
privileged to be in this House today where the people of Zimbabwe are looking back at what they have done for themselves and be able to say a few things.
Madam Speaker, a Constitution is a very important piece of document that every country should have and celebrate on. Like what other speakers who have spoken before me have said, it is to do with how people will respect their Constitution that makes it a good Constitution. Madam Speaker, we really need serious commitment to this document. We really need to understand what a Constitution means to us and we need political will to make sure that this Constitution is observed.
I have got a few issues that I would want to raise Madam Speaker. Of particular concern to me is Chapter 12 that has to deal with the independent commissions. Madam Speaker, on Chapter 12 we have a list of independent commissions and on Chapter13, we have the provision that creates the Anti-Corruption Commission.
Madam Speaker, I am baffled because a number of sections in
Chapter 12 apply to Chapter 13 that enables the establishment of the
Anti-Corruption Commission. But, you find Madam Speaker, that the Anti-Corruption Commission has not been listed as an independent commission. That commission is one of the most important commissions that can ensure that we preserve good governance. Madam Speaker, all the other sections that have to do with the appointment, the establishment, also to do with the issue of recruitment of the commissioners, the retirement of commissioners or how they are removed from office, are the same as other commissions.
So, my question is why did we not make an independent commission? That Commission is one of the most important because the biggest threat we now have here in Africa which impedes our development is corruption. Therefore, I strongly feel that, that commission should have been made an independent commission.
I also want to speak on Chapter 15 which is to do with the traditional leaders. Madam Speaker, this Constitution has done us well because as Zimbabweans, we were running into a danger where we were slowly starting to politicise the system of our traditional leadership to an extent where it was becoming very difficult for any Zimbabwean to have a safe place to live. So, it is important that the Constitution now$deals specifically wIth the functions of our traditional leaders. !It is going to preserve our chieftainship status and also ald the other stfuctures that follo7 below the chief. It is impoztant and I thank the people of Zimbabwe who contributed towards the making of t`at párticular Constitution.
LAstly Madam Spe!ker, I want to deal w`th the Cill of Rights. If as Zimbabweans, we are going to abide by this Constitution, what we have0as our Bill of Rights is one of the best. We look at how the people’s rxghts were being trample` upon, how our people were being arrested and being tortur%d.0 I think because of this Co.stitution, the p%ople of Zimbabwe are going to be treated wath dignity.
The`institutions that are there to protEct the rights of the peop|e will take a good leaf from the Constitution and make sure that the people of Zimbabwe are well protected. I thank you.
- T. KHUMALO: Thank you Madam Speaker. I would also
want to add my voice to the previous speakers on this child that we have given birth to.
One thing that we all know is that when one gives birth to a child, that child does not know anything. They do not know how to fight; they do not know what is called a fight. They do not know how to swear at people or how to steal. Those kids are then trained by the adults to commit whatever good or bad that they are meant to. Madam Speaker, when we went to the liberation struggle, one of our mottos was, we are our own liberators.
When we all went to war, that is what we were told – we are our own liberators. We liberated ourselves but we forgot to free ourselves. We are talking of establishing a new paradigm shift. Old habits die very hard and I sincerely hope that as a country, this Constitution, this child that we have given birth to, we will implement it in letter and spirit.
Sadly Madam Speaker, what we need to look at now is, what are we to depart from in order for us to implement this Constitution in letter and spirit? In the same Constitution, we are talking of the promotion of the public awareness of this Constitution to every Zimbabwean. I think the time is neigh that each and everybody in this country takes it upon himself or herself to make sure that every Zimbabwean knows this Constitution from the first page to the last page. It will then be very easy for us to be challenged for the violation of this Constitution. As long as people are not aware of what the contents of this document are, it might be very difficult because we have learnt to lie to people in order for them to follow us.
Madam Speaker, talking of citizens, we have national objectives in this Constitution where we are talking of peace and stability. Sadly Madam Speaker, here in this august House yesterday, I want to believe that at Cabinet they met and agreed on what was supposed to have been done yesterday. But, sadly when we watched ZBC last night, we were already squabbling where one Minister is saying something else, the
next Minister is saying something else but they were all in the same Cabinet. That alone then confirms to say we are lacking the political maturity that is needed for us to implement this document in letter and spirit. But, I pray because God is now in our Constitution. So, those that go to masowe, vanhu vamwari handei kumasowe because we need a miracle for us to respect our own laws.
The same Constitution speaks about the work and the labour relations. In this country every worker has been turned into a flea market or a flea. Unemployment rate, the figures differ every time depending on what paper you read. Some are claiming the unemployment rate is sitting at 90%, others are claiming it is sitting at 70% but the Constitution is now, telling everybody that is unemployed that as soon as we adopt this Constitution, the issue of unemployment will be a thing of the past.
We need to look also at the living wage. As we speak Mr. Speaker Sir, the money that everybody is earning at this point in time is not taking them home but it is taking them to their graves.
Again, we want to commend this Constitution because now there is a right for people to demonstrate and handover petitions. As we speak, we are being haunted by laws which I totally believe are ultra vires to the supreme document. The POSAs of Zimbabwe and the AIPPAs of Zimbabwe, the Criminal Codifications of Zimbabwe, and I think the time has come that these laws respect the supreme document.
On education, there are some of us that are in this august House who are beneficiaries of the funding that came from this, our own kids are failing to achieve that because as parents we are unable to pay the school fees. I am glad and I feel humbled that this Constitution is now guaranteeing that education from primary right up to tertiary.
On legal aid, these are the things that I looked at Mr. Speaker, from the beginning that what is it that we need to depart from in order to implement this Constitution. In this country, we are all guilty and we are proven innocent when we appear in court and incarcerated at remand prison. And, this Constitution is now guaranteeing legal aid. There are some people who have been rotting in jail for years just because that individual could not afford a lawyer. It meant to say those that are poor and cannot afford lawyers, they will rot in jail for the rest of their lives and that is going to come to an end. We have women that have been married, whether customary or 5.11, who have lost properties and they are unable to claim them because they did not have the money to engage lawyers but this time that is guaranteed in the Constitution.
Preservation of Traditional Knowledge; I want to remember our grandfathers were able to treat epilepsy using herbs. Today, doctors have failed to treat epilepsy but they control it. That information, I want to believe, went with our grandparents. If at all they shared with us, some of us have forgotten because we thought it was not a style to be seen to be a herbalist because we are now professors and engineers but that, they managed to treat and the Constitution is now guaranting that. I hope those of us that were humbled enough to listen to our grandparents will be able to share that.
The Right to Shelter; Operation Murambatsvina de-stabilised
Zimbabweans to untold suffering. We were all promised Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle, to this date no one has benefitted but the Constitution is now guaranteeing that and I sincerely hope that there will be no Zimbabwean that is not accommodated.
Talking of Citizenship; we have called aliens names that undignified them, mabwidi but these same people, today we are boasting as Zimbabwe, of a beautiful railway line that was built by those people. Those people were in our farms feeding Zimbabweans but these people today are called mabwidi and are denied the right to go and vote. I am happy that the Constitution is now guaranteeing that they are now Zimbabweans. It is so unfair today that as Zimbabwe we are throwing them away because they are now old and useless and uneducated as we claim them to have been. They have given birth to Zimbabwean kids who are, as I speak now, some of them are stateless because they were given birth to amabwidi.
I sincerely hope that this idea that an alien must go to a mobile voting station, produce a long birth certificate that states that either of his/her parents was a Zimbabwean so that they must be upgraded to be a Zimbabwean, to me I think it is adding salt to injury. To me, that is xenophobia that is taking place in South Africa. I expected that the mere fact that that alien has got an I.D that states that they are alien, all what we need to do is change from Nokia to Samsung. Take the alien, give them the Zimbabwean I.D and let him go on as far as I am concerned.
The Declaration of Rights; the Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms; in this country you are proven guilty before you have been taken to court. The Constitution is now guaranteeing that people will not be detained without trial. We have comrades that are rotting at Remand Prison for the past two years. The courts are failing to find them guilty or innocent. Comrades, those of you that are going to visit them, tell them that the moment we adopt this Constitution, their days of incarceration are over.
Right of the Arrested and Detained; you know you get arrested and you get to law and order, you are asked to take off your shoes and blah, blah. The next thing you are told you have no rights anymore. A lawyer comes looking for you and that lawyer is told, aa-a no, no, the people that you are looking for are not here when she knows that you are there and they do not even know where you are detained.
Sadly, the lawyer knowing that Tabitha is there, demands to see me and the lawyer is detained. Those are the things that we need to change if we want to implement this Constitution. You are forced to admit to be guilty when you are not. How do they force you? Pane imwe inonzi pasi petsoka, baya kukharabha ngesiNdebele. They will beat the hell out of you that by the time they are through with you, you will accept that crime even if you did not commit it. That will come to an end because this Constitution is saying no to that.
Human Dignity; in this country in 2000, we were denied our dignity as women of Zimbabwe – [AN HON MEMBER: Usuqalisile] – . Aiwa, that must be said because we are saying what are we departing from. You know, issues of women when they are spoken in public, in Parliament and in decision making offices, men will always say, ah izinto zabafazi. Ah, usucwalisile. Handisati ndatanga. Mr. Speaker, I will be a woman and I cannot change to be a man. There are some issues of dignity that as a country we need to respect because you dignify a woman, you dignify a country. You dignify a woman, you dignify the world. I am glad to know that as women we are now covered.
We also have the Criminal Codification Act, Section 8.11 that states that the police have a right to arrest any woman that walks the streets at night because it is perceived they are soliciting for prostitution purposes. Surely, are we now saying every woman in this country is doing that? I now believe that the Constitution will throw that away.
Freedom from Torture; I saw a picture of one woman that went to look for her clients and she was beaten up until she was blue-black. The Constitution is now denying that. Let us remember and let us depart from the issue of beating up people that we perceive do not agree with what we do and punish them because the new Constitution is saying no
to that.
Freedom of Assembly and Association; some people are being forced to attend pungwes because they are in a constituency that belongs to a party that they do not belong to. The Constitution is saying no, everybody has got a right to associate and attend a meeting of their choice and a party of their choice. Let us depart from the issue of forcing people to attend meetings that they do not want.
Demonstration in this country meant to say you will be faced by two things, a prison or a hospital. That is going to be a thing of the past because now we can demonstrate and handover petitions as per the Constitution that we are going to adopt.
Coming to the issue of Access to Information, I have been sitting here and I saw the camera guys sticking to one side. You will see the camera zooming Makhosini Hlongwane, zooming Didymus Mutasa and
when it comes to this side, it just speeds and I think you switch it off. We are saying that must stop. I want to bet every Member of Parliament that is in this august House, go and watch the 8 o’clock news tonight and see the disaster that will come out of this Parliament. We are saying the new Constitution says I have the right to information. It is not an obligation, it is a right.
Stop airing things where some of us, surely we cannot all be farmers and surely we cannot all be aligned to one party. Let people hear every party so that each and every one of us can make a decision on where to go and where not to go. We are being bombarded by propaganda day-in and day-out and the same people that are giving us that propaganda are coming back to our homes and demanding licences.
What licence when you are feeding me poison. That must stop.
Security Services; security personnel, let me reiterate what my other colleagues said, they are not supposed to act in a partisan manner. They are working for Zimbabwean people. They are paid by the taxes that are paid by each and every Zimbabwean in this country. Their employers are the people of Zimbabwe. They should not act in a partisan manner. Furthermore, they should not support a certain political party and when another political party comes, all hell breaks loose. They must remember and underline that their salaries are coming from our taxes. Each and every Zimbabwean that pays VAT is paying the security forces, be it the army, prisons, CIO, you name it. It is my salary and I will set the pace on how they are supposed to work, not them setting the pace because they are earning my money. Lastly, Mr. Speaker they must not violate the fundamental rights and freedoms of any person in this country. They must respect each and every Zimbabwean because that Zimbabwean is their employer and I think as Zimbabweans one thing that we need to change is what we call the “chef” syndrome. Mr. Speaker, I have googled and googled, the word chef means somebody that cooks muhotera. There is no one called a chef, because we are here because we were voted for by the people and the owners of this House are the people and we must deliver to them.
I want to end up by talking about devolution. We are glad to know that the Constitution now says my cousin in Zaligwa there in Nkayi, if she gives birth to a child in a clinic, she will walk out of there with a birth certificate. Gone are the days when we were supposed to travel from Zaligwa to Lupane, from Lupane to Bulawayo, from Bulawayo to Harare just because we did not have a birth certificate. Those are going to be things of the past but what is important is that we need to change maitiro edu kuitira kuti bumbiro rifambe. Nxa singa guqulanga izenzo zethu ilesisikelelesi sizaba iphepha elilotshiweyo.
Mr. Speaker go global, in every decision making organization there is a Zimbabwean, be it a scientist, UN, RMS, ABSA Bank or the Global Stock Exchange, there is a Zimbabwean there. We are the most educated people but for some unknown reason we are very good at writing papers, beautiful papers. We wrote a Global Political Agreement; a masterpiece, but one of our weakest links is the implementation of the documents that we write, where we assent our own signatures because we preach peace and practice war. Mr. Speaker Sir, I thank you.
- S. NCUBE: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir, firstly I would like to thank the Minister of Constitution and Parliamentary Affairs for bringing this Amendment No. 20. I would like to thank the three co chairpersons, Hon. Mangwana, Hon. Mwonzora and Hon. Mkhosi for giving us the guidance on how to come up with this Constitution. I will only talk about the languages but before I go to the languages I would like to challenge people who think that when we were campaigning for a yes vote, we were opposed to this.
If you want to oppose what the majority want, like the three parties who are in this Global Political Agreement, they agreed that it is time up, let us come up with our Constitution, then there are people who think that they were born to come up with the Constitution. They must have MPs in this august House so that their plans will sail through but if they do not have the members of Parliament then they do not have the mandate from the people. We have the mandate from the people because we were elected and that is why we are driving this Constitution.
I would like to say to the Minister of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs and the three co chairpersons, that what we have done here, a lot of countries will be phoning you for some advice on how you went about this and how you did this and in the next, maybe one or two years, you end up leaving the Parliament building to work as a consultant for other countries because of what you have done. It is not easy for three political parties to come together. Of course there are quarrels here and there, even if your opponent comes up with a good idea, you are supposed to oppose it because your political party will say why did you support him. It was difficult although, hon. Minister, you ended up introducing the management, which in this House we did not agree to. It was straight from the Minister of Constitutional and
Parliamentary Affairs and co chairpersons and then straight to the Principals but you ended up adding another structure, which I will not dwell much upon.
Mr. Speaker Sir, there is the issue of languages with this new Constitution. It allows someone in Binga to speak in their language. I think it gives us the opportunity that when you go to Binga and you go to a hospital, you expect to see a nurse who speaks Tonga. When you go to Beitbridge we need to see people there who speak Venda, so that we know that we are in their area. With the issue of this controversial council, it gives us that advantage and for someone to oppose; of course, we cannot come up with a 100% document but we have tried our best under these difficult conditions.
Mr. Speaker Sir, with this Constitution, especially the women in Zimbabwe, I think they must support it 100% because it favours women but we were believing in 50/50 but now I think it is 40/60. We will give them that, I think, for the next ten years, so that we see that the women are equal to men but they must not also take advantage of that and then start abusing men. There are other countries here in Africa where there was war and now there are more female MPs than male MPs, for example Rwanda. Here in Zimbabwe we did not want to go to war, it was there in the 70s and it was over.
Mr. Speaker Sir, now everyone is free with this Constitution to speak Shona, Ndebele, Kalanga, all those languages, and not say I do not understand your language. When I am in Harare I must understand the language in Harare, when I am in Mutare I must understand their language and when I am in Chipinge I must understand their language.
That is what the Constitution says, not to say they are a minority because they are Ndau people. No, they are a majority because they are in their area. I think with this new Constitution, it allows them to be the majority there. Why do you want to dominate other people? We had the struggle because the whites were dominating us. We do not want to see under this Constitution another tribe trying to dominate other people, whether we call it regionalism or whatever, we do not expect it in this Constitution.
Coming to the issue of term limits, members of Parliament are a bit clever because we had Hon. Mangwana and our Minister of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs; they managed to jump the term limit of Members of Parliament, they only limited to the judges and the President. I think, for a change, Mr. Speaker Sir, there was supposed to be a limit. We believe in democracy but nevertheless we have agreed that we will just leave it open so that the people will judge us. The concept is that people cannot judge a Member of Parliament because a Member of Parliament is not an executive, they do not have a budget.
He cannot do anything besides to come to Parliament here and make
laws and do the oversight role. That is the other thing which we need to explain to the people. We must not go around and promise people that we will build dams and so on as Members of Parliament. Our job is different; we need to tell them the truth. We have the new Constitution which states the duties of the Members of Parliament. I would like to thank you Mr. Speaker Sir, for affording me this opportunity.
- HLONGWANE: Thank you Mr. Speaker for affording me
the opportunity to contribute to this very historical debate on the new Constitution. I just want to start by making reference as other speakers before me have done. I will begin with the path that we have walked in order to arrive to this day, the drama that became part of the
Constitution-making-process. During the First All-Stakeholders- Meeting, I was chairing the Media Committee and I remember that colleagues in the MDC-T changed their Chairperson three times. That was before we finally got into the deliberations and discussions that were meant for that day in order to put together the basic framework that was going to be used for the discussions or the deliberations during the COPAC outreach programme. We also famously recall that during the
First All-Stakeholders’ Conference, Comrade Chinotimba lost his phone. It is worth noting that, that kind of drama was part of the Constitutionmaking-process and is something that we are not going to forget. [AN HON. MEMBER:Asi noise ndiyo yawakanganwa] – I am addressing the Speaker hon. member.
It is also important Mr. Speaker, to recall that some amongst us wanted to depart from the collated views by the people during the COPAC outreach programme. What the people said was very clear, but some among us wanted to depart from what the people had said. I recall, as you might do, that there was quite some sustained national debate and conversation around that. That as it may, today is a very historical moment for us as Zimbabweans. As Members of Parliament, we were cheered and buoyed by what has happened as a result of the effort of every Zimbabwean to bring together their thoughts in what has to become the supreme law of the land. We are happy because today we are discussing a Constitution that is made by Zimbabweans and for Zimbabweans. We are happy because of the diversities in our various languages, cultures and political differences. We have been able to come together to bring about this important document that we call the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
Today, in a symbolic sense, the second Union Jack is coming down in the continuation of the liberation struggle of our country. For a long time, for 32 years, we have been hamstrung by a Constitution that was made in Britain, which was basically a compromise document arrived at in order to stop the war, seize the fire and conciliate the various contradicting political opinions of that time. Today, we are liberating ourselves completely and disconnecting ourselves from the intravenous connections that were brought upon us by the Lancaster House Constitution. We are beginning a journey in which we are going to walk by ourselves, governing ourselves fully in terms of the legal regime and legal apparatus that binds us within our jurisdiction.
Let me walk through a few important points that I just want to highlight within the Constitution. The first is the Preamble, which states the acknowledgement of Zimbabwe’s ability to resist colonialism, racism and all forms of domination and oppression. The idea of liberating oneself or liberating a country like Zimbabwe is clearly a continuous process. It started way back at the beginning of the last century when our ancestors took up arms to fight the British South African Company in resistance to the annexation of their land by Cecil Rhodes and his cronies.
The Second Chimurenga war was a war led by the current veterans of the struggle who decided to take up arms to liberate themselves from the yoke of colonialism. That is what then resulted in the Lancaster House Constitution that we now have. However, liberation is a continuous process and we have to liberate a lot of various facets of our life and society, one of which is land. As you may know, since 2000, Zimbabwe has been engaged in a very important historical activity of reclaiming its land, which was the reason why our ancestors in the late 1800 fought hard against colonialism and domination by the Settler
Regime in order to reclaim the sovereignty of their land. We have realised that, by the continued liberation ethos that was demonstrated by Zimbabweans in 2000, in this mark of the century in order to reclaim our land – the dividend that comes out of that is for everyone to see that the Land Reform Programme was a worthwhile activity. We are happy that the Constitution does endorse the Land Reform Programme in Chapter 16 which I am going to make reference to later on as I continue.
Mr. Speaker Sir, it is important in this Preamble that Zimbabweans agree and have consensus to the fact that, we have to continue to resist domination by anybody. We are a sovereign nation and we have to continue to resist any form of oppression and subjugation by anybody and it is important that it is highlighted within the Preamble. The other point is the commitment to safeguard and defend fundamental human rights and freedoms. During the war, there are laws that have to be obeyed and you know very well that during the liberation struggle, a lot of Zimbabwean sons and daughters who participated were bombed in Chimoio, Nyadzonia, Zambia, Tembwe, Tanzania and various stations where they were deployed. A lot of them died enmasse and there are mass graves in those places and other places in Southern Africa. That was a serious violation of human rights. You also know that during the Apartheid fight of Ian Smith, we were unable to exercise certain rights as human beings. What this Constitution does in the Preamble is to entrench that commitment to continued freedom and fundamental human rights. It is very important that Zimbabweans are able to agree on this very important thing.
The Preamble also speaks of acknowledging the supremacy of Almighty God. This is very important because as Zimbabweans, we are able to agree on the importance of the supremacy of Almighty God. We are able to pray for our country, seek wisdom and guidance from Almighty God in everything that we do. This is a very important factor in our Constitution. The issue of languages within the founding provisions is also very important. I will not belabour the point because every speaker has spoken about this but it is a very important point that we are now able to bring all the languages to the same level to become national languages, regardless of the size of population of the people that do speak that particular language. These languages are now recognised, which means that they are now going to be able to be learnt in schools. We are also going to be able to debate in this House, in courts and every other public place using the various languages that people are able to understand.
It is also important Mr. Speaker, going on with the Constitution, on the national objectives that we recognise the role played by veterans of the liberation struggle. It is very important; especially the fact that we now broaden the definition of what a war veteran is to include wana chimbwido, wana mujiba and others that did participate in the struggle to liberate our country. This is important because for a long time we have not really paid enough attention to the role played by these cadres except for the pay outs that those that actually participated by way of firing the guns receive. We left out a whole broader definition of who a liberator could be and I am glad that in this new Constitution this is taken care of. The role played by the veterans of the liberation struggle and the fact
that we include other people that had been left out of the bracket of liberation veterans.
I want to finish by looking at Chapter 16, which is very important for this country. Mr. Speaker, we all know that all the wars that have been fought in Zimbabwe have been around the issue of Chapter 16, the issue of land. These wars were around how do we liberate our land, how do we reclaim the sovereignty of our land, how do we give freedom to our land? This was at the centre of the second liberation war and this was at the centre of the first liberation war of the late 1800.
I want to make reference to Section 289 which says land reform is necessary to redress the unjust and unfair pattern of land ownership that resulted from colonialism. This is very important that as Zimbabweans we can agree on this fundamental fact that colonialism did not only mean subjugation. From a political point of view, colonialism also meant disempowerment in the sense that Zimbabweans were removed from their fertile land. They were taken away from vast tracts of fertile land and this was parceled and shared amongst the settler regime.
What Chapter 16 does is to restore that ownership by
Zimbabweans to their land and this is very important. Not only that; it is also important in the sense that Chapter 16 is one of the Chapters like the Bill of rights in Chapter 4. One would need two-thirds majority and a referendum inorder to change what is contained in Chapter 16. I want to speak on the last issue as far as land is concerned and this is a warning.
Section 291 states that the rights of people using or occupying agricultural land are not affected by the new Constitution. The general fear among all patriotic Zimbabweans has been that the new Constitution will affect negatively the dividends of the land reform programme. There was a projection in the negative sense that whatever will happen during the land reform programme, the parceling out of land back to its rightful owners was going to be reversed by the new Constitution. What this section does is to protect the gains of the land reform programme. In other words, we cannot change the status quo in any way.
Section 294 is a warning. An owner who occupies agricultural land has the right to transfer, hypothecate, lease or dispose of his or her right in agricultural land subject to any condition imposed by law. We risk Mr. Speaker to reverse the land reform programme if we come up with a land tenure system which will result in a disempowerment process or in a disempowerment of those that have been empowered by way of gaining from the land reform programme. We need to enact a law that introduces a land tenure system that further protects the gains of the liberation struggle, not a land tenure system that will disempower the people of Zimbabwe. Otherwise this is a good document, it is important that we must all celebrate its coming to being. I thank you.
- E. MUDZURI: Thank you Mr. Speaker. I really want to congratulate all Zimbabweans, congratulate the COPAC Committees, the Parliament and everybody who contributed to end up with this document. However, from what I have listened, everything has been touched on which praises the law. The law can only be good if all nationals who come to leadership follow the law and please the community they serve. A nationalist is one who defends his people through the law that is provided and I hope we will not have personalities who defy the same law we have created today.
I want to touch on the area where I think the legislature must work hard before we even move far. This is the area of local government. The law has changed; there is now creation of councils, that is, provincial councils where MPs are going to be part of the provincial councils headed by a chairperson other than a Governor. There is need to have definitive laws that guide this decentralised venture. We need to study what is happening elsewhere to ensure that we are not going to get lost and give people power who are not going to work properly.
Also, we must ensure that no one takes away the devolution process which has been created through the introduction of these provincial councils. Everything has been defined that the law will be provided through this august House. I am not sure whether we have enough time Mr. Speaker to introduce the relevant laws that will touch on the devolution aspect. Otherwise we can talk about all the other things that have been said. I want to congratulate all the speakers for praising this Constitution. We must work on it. It only takes virtuous people to applaud their own country and raise their flag high when they are respected in their own country. When we do that, we shall be proud of this Constitution and move together as Zimbabweans. I thank you.
- HOVE: Thank you Mr. Speaker. Firstly I would like to appreciate and acknowledge the efforts of all Zimbabweans who contributed towards the crafting of this very important document, the Constitution of Zimbabwe. It was not an easy task, nevertheless, when you look at the final product; it is a reflection of the quality and resilience and capacity of Zimbabweans to deliver themselves from every negative situation they find themselves in. Indeed, as Zimbabweans, we have put our detractors to shame. The process was very long and arduous.
I recall I was assigned in Mashonaland West Province. We did traverse Mashonaland West Province right from Harare to the shores of Kariba. The process accorded Zimbabweans an opportunity which I want history to take note. It was the first national healing programme. It afforded Zimbabweans, irrespective of political persuasions or beliefs, an opportunity to interact reflecting the different opinions over the same subject. It did afford us the opportunity of speaking to Zimbabweans from our various political backgrounds, that in itself history has to take note. It gave us an opportunity which we need to build upon as we move forward. The process as well required Zimbabweans to gather at places unseemingly for a national discourse. I know one earlier speaker said it allowed Zimbabweans to sit under trees, on farm fields just to lay the framework on how this country is to be governed. When I look at the numbers of people who attended those meetings, it shows a reflection of how important this Constitution making process was viewed. We need to appreciate and acknowledge Zimbabweans in their generality over the positive contributions that they made by attending such meetings, notwithstanding the positive contributions. I also recall the negative contributions some sections of Zimbabwe made. I remember there were incidences whereby people would want to stop people they were claiming not to know from speaking their views because they thought they had no right to speak or to have their voices heard.
Nevertheless, we soldiered on and we captured every statement that was coming from every Zimbabwean whether we knew them or do not know them. I also appreciate the ones who gave their resources even if they were getting financial rewards. Some gave their cars and equipment to facilitate in the gathering of views. We need to thank our hoteliers though at times they were locking us out for providing us with accommodation during those difficult times. We need to acknowledge the ones who fed us, some of the areas that we went to, some of us never set foot in those areas. I want to thank all those Zimbabweans who contributed extensively and diligently to this cause.
I will now come to the content. It showed the richness of the diversity of Zimbabweans which we need to celebrate. I recall in instances where we were dealing with a chapter on citizenship. There were indeed people who wanted to show their “patriotism” who thought the exercise sought to disenfranchise certain people of certain beliefs, people they perceived as threats to what they believed, such as denying people dual citizenship. I recall some heated arguments, some saying that they do not want dual citizenship, as if the provision will force every Zimbabwean to have a dual citizenship. I want to appreciate the drafters who threw away such statements, people who were being denied dual citizenship.
Dual citizenship is of importance to Zimbabweans who are in diaspora, they want the benefits or to have better benefits in the foreign lands they are working in. Surely we would not want to deny Zimbabweans the best opportunities there. I want to acknowledge the issue of dual citizenship in Chapter 3.
The other important milestone in terms of context that I want to touch on is the Declaration of Rights Chapter 4. It is very important because for the first time in the history of this country, we have in the supreme law, a chapter that gives importance, respect, honour and some integrity to a common man. Every law that is going to come, if it touches on any of those rights, that law is declared to be void. It is not justiceable. It needs to be amended or repealed altogether. It opens a plethora of opportunities for Zimbabweans to excel in their social endeavors, such as the freedom of association and assembly. If the freedom of association and assembly produced this document we are having before us today, what more can you expect from future gatherings that this Constitution will permit.
I look forward to living in an era whereby I no longer have to ask any authority to gather or associate. I look forward to era an whereby I have access to information that I want to hear. I remember during the outreach programme whereby someone would say I want Studio 7 to be banned, as if by mere switching on of your personal radio, Studio 7 turns itself on. For one to access Studio 7, you ought to have left other stations that are being broadcasted on your radio station. For someone to desire the banning of Studio 7, is like saying we do not want the technological advancement that has taken place up until now. There are many radio stations. You are not forced to listen to Studio 7. Why are you zeroing in on Studio 7? Access to Information is commendable.
The other important point I want to bring at this juncture is the issue of devolution, I know there are certain interests that wanted to misconstrue what devolution stood for. Devolution did not stand for the breaking up or partitioning of Zimbabwe as a unitary State. It came quite clear despite the coaching that some political persuasions wanted to coach people to say, but when we later on heard people speak from their hearts especially the issue to do with natural resources, you would hear quite clear, voices irrespective of which part of Zimbabwe you were in. People would say we want a portion of our natural resources to be used in developing our own areas rather than have it all go to one area. Such a clamoring should be applauded in that people want also to receive benefits from their natural resources to develop their own areas as well. So I find this Constitution quite progressive in as far as granting devolution its constitutional status, notwithstanding the choice of leaders who will be superintending issues of development in the area they have been elected to represent. The coming in of provincial and local authorities, will again bring to the fore the issue that some of us have sought to delay, the issue of the amendment of the Urban Councils Act, like what Hon. Mudzuri who spoke before me stated.
The other points in terms of content I want to bring to the fore are issues to do with qualifications of voters in the Forth schedule. It is important to have such section included in the Constitution to ensure that if someone dream of introducing a law that seeks to disfranchise Zimbabweans from enjoying his/her suffrage right. I can take that person or authority or that Act to court and have it declared null and void. Lastly, I want to say the passing of this Constitution of Zimbabwe Bill sets us some future business which I will term the way forward.
The passing of this new Constitution demands that those legal reforms that were supposed to have been enacted during the life of the Government of National Unity, that we had deliberately omitted, now have to be done as a matter of urgency. We need those legal reforms. I would have preferred those legal reforms to be carried out before 29th June 2013 so that we are delivering a complete composite set of laws that would propel this country to join other respectable nations. We need those electoral reforms, media reforms, security sector reforms to ensure that they come into line with the new Constitution and to ensure that we do not clog our court system with legal challenges.
I foresee disaster if we continue with the current laws without bringing in other amendments or repealing those Acts. I want to ask the Minister of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs to bring in as a matter of urgency, legal reforms in most areas so that we bring in those Acts in line with this new Constitution in order to enjoy the benefits of this new law otherwise it will remain a pipe dream because it will always be in confrontation with certain laws that are currently in existence.
With these few remarks I want to thank you for the opportunity to add my voice in the making of history of a new Zimbabwe.
MS MANGAMI: I also want to add my voice in congratulating Zimbabweans for the product which is before us. We went through a rigorous process and everybody participated. When we started, one would think that we were not going to come to an end because there was a lot of noise in the beginning and later on, people converged to actually agree on a process to continue and for a product to be realized. Now, we are having a Constitution in front of us.
With all the stakeholders meetings which we had, the first and the second one, of course we were improving stage by stage, when we held the Secondt All Stakeholders Conference, we had actually improved compared to First All Stakeholders Conference, thereby leading us to this day which we are having to celebrate on the successful product.
So many things have been said and I will look at a few things that I feel I have to look at, that is the Agricultural Land Rights, whereby every man and woman are expected to register their names if they have the same plot. There are also rights to food and water in the Constitution. I am happy to see that they have included not only clean water but also portable water. I was thinking of the portable water and I said to myself is it the mineral water or it is something else? I am not sure but I am happy that we have all those rights which are in front of us.
There are economic rights as well and we hope that all these rights are going to be exercised on. I also want to look at the inclusion of the disabled persons in the Senate. It is a very much positive idea for us to have everybody included – the seats for men, women and chiefs. You can see that all people are included. The profile for every person has been included.
Now that this document is there like the previous speaker has said, let us have it passed since everybody has voted for a “YES VOTE”. I think ours here is to augment on what the rest of the people have said.
- F. M. SIBANDA: Thank you for giving me this privilege to speak. I thought I was not going to speak on this historical event. Since you went to recess, I have been standing throughout and I thank you very much to have honoured me to speak.
If I heard well, Hon Matinenga said that the process of
Constitution making process started in 1999 under the banner of
National Constitutional Assembly. This might be partially correct but constitutionalism of Zimbabwe has been as long as 1890 when our forefathers were subdued by Rhodes BSAP in Mbembesi in 1896.
The historians say the first Chimurenga started in 1896 which is very wrong. It started in 1893 when our forefathers fought with spears while the whites had sigwagwas. The constitutional dispensation and process started long as I would say. Honestly, Hononourable Matinenga was correct that in 1999 civil society, students, churches and trade unions, particularly the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions and many others found it fit that modern constitutional process should start.
I am happy to mention that the Prime Minister was the first Chairman of the National Constitutional Assembly, Thoko Matshe was the second and then the last was Dr Lovemore Madhuku. I am happy to say that I served under their leadership when the Prime Minister resigned and became the political leader. I became the Vice Chairman of NCA for two terms where I worked very well in publicizing the constitutional issues of this country.
I am happy to say that some of the members that we had at NCA taskforce are hon. members of this current Parliament and these are Hon.
Biti, Hon. Mwonzora who was the spokesperson then, Hon. Majome,
Hon. Reggie Moyo, Hon. Prof. Ncube, Hon. Thabita Khumalo and Hon. Chimhini. If I have left some, it is not deliberate. I want to emphasize that this Constitution making process was not an individual issue but a collective issue. More importantly, I want to say those that are still clamouring that NCA says “NO” to this Constitution, they are individuals, two or three people but the rest of the Members are now representing this Parliament. Notwithstanding that Dr. Madhuku wants to form his own party but there is a time that he worked so hard with the people I have mentioned in this House. So we should applaud him for that and Thoko Matshe and Hon. Prime Minister because this was the genesis of the constitution making process. I need now to dwell on very few issues. On thePreamble, I only commend and acknowledge the Supremacy of God. That is a mark on its own. On the Bill of Rights, I am agreeable to it but I want to also quote the Bill of Rights on a very vulnerable people starting from the application …
- SPEAKER: Order hon. member. At this stage you may not directly refer or quote any provisions of the Constitution because this is a general debate. You will do so when we get to Committee Stage tomorrow where you are at liberty to talk direct on a specific clause or provision of the Constitution that you are deliberating on. So you may just speak generally on the principles.
- SIBANDA: Thank you Mr. Speaker. I need to commend the expanded human rights. These are justifiable at law particularly the protection of the vulnerable, the rights of women, rights of children and rights of the elderly. I need to emphasise that everybody grows. It would appear the youths and women have been highlighted very much in other documents but this Constitution captures also the elderly people. I do not know where the elderly starts but I think those who are fifty years and above or sixty and above. So hon. members, this Constitution has captured very well that even the elderly people should be guarded as vulnerable people.
The rights of the disabled was also highlighted and also the war veterans as war liberators, the detainees, the combatants, freedom fighters and the assistants. So this Constitution to me is second to none when you analyse the Bill of Rights that is very expanded to include social, economic, cultural, environmental, civic and political rights. This Constitution needs to pass without any doubt. I need to talk about Security matters.
It is quite clear in Chapter 11 that security officers should be none partisan, should be apolitical hence this is now a new paradigm shift where we have had commanders of the army taking political stance. It is taboo as soon as we hear anybody after this one, they will be charged under treason. It should be treasonous because up to now some certain commanders in the police, army, boast that they are above law.
So henceforth after we adopt this, any statement that is treasonous, they will be judged according to what they have done. So I applaud that Section. Section 12 talks about Independent Commissions to facilitate democracy. I cannot go to those Commissions but we are seeing a new paradigm shift in this Constitution where democracy has to be enhanced by institutions that are constitutional. We come to Chapter 13. I am not going to read it but understand that it is against corruption where people have been making ill gotten riches. This Chapter will deal with those people and it is going to enhance anti-corruption tendencies.
Lastly but not the least, we have to talk about Devolution where many people in Zimbabwe particularly Midlands, Zvishavane and Gweru and Gokwe where I went, 90% of people endorsed devolution but I was alarmed to see that this constitution making process nearly failed because of differences politically. My colleagues that have spoken earlier put it clearly that devolution is power transfer to regions, to people so that they exercise their power politically and in decision making. So this is a progression and progress from the old Lancaster Constitution. I would love to implore this House that we have to deal with constitutionalism.
Constitution and constitutionalism are two different concepts.
Constitutionalism means we have to live by the implementation and do things according to the book. We have to accept the rule of law as it should be. This to me is second to none and it is very critical that this Constitution is second to none in Africa because I have analysed a lot of constitution making processes.
I need to thank the negotiators, the principals, Management Committee, the co-chairs, the MPs in their entirety for the outreach programmes, the rapporteurs, COPAC staff, the Speaker of Parliament and the staff of Parliament and the people of Zimbabwe to have made this possible. I do not forget Magwegwe Constituency. They voted overwhelmingly for the draft and I am here to represent them and congratulate Zimbabweans to have voted wisely because after voting, we are going to have a new dispensation.
I worked in all phases of team leader, as rapporteur and as a draft person. I enjoyed all that. I was in Masvingo. I know what happens. So I am very lucky that I participated in the all levels of the constitution making process. I thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
- MAHLANGU: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I am standing up adding my voice on the amended Constitution No. 20. I think we have made history as the Seventh Parliament of Zimbabwe. Being one of the members of that Parliament, I stand here to speak on behalf of Nkulumani the constituency that I represent. I also want to thank the people that took part in this process. Unfortunately I was not part of the Outreach Programmes for the MPs because by the time when the MPs were going out, that is the time when I lost my mother and I could not be part of the Outreach Programmes.
I just want to thank you Mr. Speaker, the Parliament of Zimbabwe, the Clerk of Parliament, the staff of Parliament and also the members of Parliament here and the Minister Mr. Eric Matinenga for driving this process in his ministry. People are not mentioning those things but I think this was a Parliament driven process where we must allude and thank the job that was done by your Parliament under your leadership Mr. Speaker. We thank you so much. No one will thank you except us. I think things have been mentioned here. You have made history in this country for the first time and this history means that Zimbabwe will never be the same again. Things that used to happen yesterday, it is actually a paradigm shift. It was mentioned by Minister of Finance that there is a paradigm shift in this country.
Things are never going to be the same again but what we need to do is respect and observe the culture of constitutionalism whereby we do not have to just have the document alone. We need to observe and respect that document. What we need also as a country is to make sure that our children also know about this document. I think in this country there is a tendency whereby when there is a Constitution, we think that the Constitution is for adults only. I think in our schools we need to introduce a subject on the Constitution so that as our children grow up, they should know what is in the Constitution
so that tomorrow these are future leaders, they will know what it means to follow the Constitution.
Mr. Speaker Sir, I also want to thank the people of Nkulumane who I represent for voting overwhelmingly. I think in terms of the ‘yes vote we had about 12 000 votes from the people of Nkulumane and also the people of Matabeleland as a whole. They voted in their numbers to give a ‘yes vote’ to this Constitution. It shows that the people of Matabeleland were happy to see the issue of devolution of power coming to them as you know Mr. Speaker Sir, Matabeleland was one of the marginalised provinces, but through devolution, I think things are going to change and the people of Matabeleland are now going to be given the power and authority to be able to decide their own destiny.
Mr. Speaker Sir, without much ado, I just want to thank everyone. I want to thank the COPAC especially Mwonzora, Mangwana and Mr. Mkhosi the Co-Chairpersons and the Select Committee of COPAC as a whole. I can see Jessy Majome here as one of the Select Committee Members here in this Parliament. Also, Mr. Navaya, aah Navaya you have not been in the Committee you are lying. Mr. Gonese, I have mentioned you and I also want to thank the Management Committee of the COPAC, Mangwana, Tendai Biti and also is it Mzila or Priscila Misihairambwi from the Ncube faction. Also, the Minister, I have mentioned you. I want to thank the Principals themselves. The Principals are the President of the Government of Zimbabwe, Mugabe; the PrimeMinister of the Government of Zimbabwe, Mutambara and Welshman Ncube for the job well done and for ensuring that this document comes before Parliament today.
What I always wish is that tomorrow or any other time from now, this Constitution becomes the law of Zimbabwe which will decide the future of this country.
*MR. MACHACHA: I want to thank you Mr. Speaker for the time that you have given me. I might be the last person to speak. The time that you have given me to congratulate those who were involved in the process is a time of happiness. We used to hear that in South Africa they had made their Constitution and in Kenya they also embarked on a constitution making process.
Today it is our time in Zimbabwe and we are hoping that we have been able to follow this process to its end. The people in Kariba where I come from, are happy that they contributed to this Constitution. Zimbabwe is also happy that we have come up with our own Constitution and Africa we are happy here in Zimbabwe because we have succeeded in coming up with our own Constitution.
With this Constitution, I think this has given us respect and value and has made us to be recognised as a country that can come up with its own law and how our country should be governed. I feel happy for the short time that you have given me Mr. Speaker and I want to say congratulations to Zimbabwe. We now have our own Constitution that entrenches our values and traditions. I am also happy that Africa as a whole is one of the continents that have shown that we are able to come up with our own laws that we are comfortable and happy to work with and that that we have crafted on our own.
I want to say that this Constitution Mr. Speaker was crafted through a united nation. It was not done by another organisation. I also want to thank the President of this nation, given that we had been in a difficult economic era, for example, we were chased out from hotel rooms and actually travelled on difficult roads especially in Kariba where the road network is bad.
I want to say that we were able to access all those areas using roads. There are some places which needed helicopters but we managed to get there. I want to end up by saying this Constitution Mr. Speaker, will never be forgotten by me because I lost my vehicle during the Constitution Making Process. I know that my grandchildren will remember me one of these days that one of our grandfathers who crafted this Constitution lost a vehicle in the process. I want to thank you Mr.
Speaker.
*MR. HURUBA: Thank you Mr. Speaker for giving me this opportunity to express my gratitude. I was looking at the way the debates have progressed. When we went out through the Constitution Making Process, we went as a united front. We indeed had the same mind but what I am happy about is that we consulted and people told us what they wanted. After they told us what they wanted, that is what we captured and we are doing what they want.
I think we should not have wasted time talking because we are repeating what the people have said. We are expressing gratitude that was expressed by the people.
I want to thank the freedom fighters and when I say freedom fighters, I mean the war veterans like me and you including the
Mujibhas, and the Chimbwidos and those who died in the prisons and went to the prisons such as Jaison Moyo, Joshua Nkomo and all those who made us to be where we are today.
I think when the Constitution Making Process was embarked on, it was their hope that we would have freedom in Zimbabwe and now as we proceed, I believe there will not be any violence and conflict. We are now a people who will go and campaign and win in all fairness because of what was done by the people of Zimbabwe. I thank you.
THE MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND
PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS: Mr. Speaker Sir, this has been a long
afternoon, going well into the night but this is what it should be because we are gathered today witnessing this historic event.
I am humbled Mr. Speaker Sir, by the comments made by hon. members who have contributed to this debate. Not a single member has sought to attack any provision of this Bill and this just goes to show how coming of age we have become as Zimbabweans. How we have come to appreciate that there are certain things that do not need money but we can achieve as a country as long as we are all being inclusive.
Mr. Speaker Sir, it is not necessary for me to go through the very kind words which were made by each and every contributor to this debate.
I just however, want to say one thing and this does not arise out of the debate but Hon. Misihairabwi-Mushonga was so excited about the provision of devolution in this draft and she did say in her contribution that if ever she had wanted to remove a shirt and dance on the table here because of the devolution provision. I heard members in the background mostly male saying, “Misihairabwi, Misihairabwi”, they obviously wanted to do more, not only to take off the shirt but everything else as well. – (laughter) - Thanks to the presence of Minister Muchena who was on the front bench who disapproved of anything which she wanted to do.
Mr. Speaker, yes, there are certain persons who may feel that they have not been thanked enough in the address that I gave. I know that I had left out the very long suffering service providers who did a lot of work during COPAC, the majority of whom are still to be paid for the services that they provided. I wish to thank them. I also wish maybe to add that in my initial thanking conclusion, I had left out Professor Makhurane and Prof. Hope Sadza. I want to thank them for the diligent work that they did in chairing the 1st and the 2nd Stakeholders Conference.
I just want to address the issue raised by Hon. Mahlangu about the need to educate our children on the values and the content of this Constitution. I want to thank the hon. member for bringing out that contribution but I want to lay his mind to rest. Section 7 of this draft clearly answers the concerns which the hon. member raised. Section 7 of the Constitution places an obligation on the State to promote the awareness of this Constitution by translating it into officially recognized languages and disseminating it widely.
Secondly, it requires that the Constitution be taught in schools as part of the curricula for the training of members of the Security Services, the Civil Service and members and employees of public institutions. It also encourages all persons and organizations including civic organizations to disseminate awareness and knowledge of this Constitution throughout society. So Hon. Mahlangu, the concern that you raised is fully recognized by this Constitution and it is fully addressed. On that note, may I thank all members who contributed to this debate. I thank you.
Mr. Speaker Sir, I move that the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20) Bill, be read for the second time.
Motion put and agreed to.
Bill read a second time.
Committee Stage: Thursday, 9th May, 2013
On the motion of THE MINISTER OF CONSTITUTIONAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS, the House adjourned at Twenty
Minutes past Six o’clock p.m.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Tuesday, 21st May, 2013
The House of Assembly met at a Quarter-past Two O’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(MR. SPEAKER in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENT BY MR. SPEAKER
DISTRIBUTION OF T-SHIRTS
- SPEAKER: I wish to inform the House that the Election Resource Centre, through the Public Relations Department is distributing t-shirts to Members of Parliament. The t-shirts are aimed at encouraging young people to vote. Public Relations Officers will be outside the Members’ Dining Hall today and tomorrow issuing out the t-
shirts.
MOTION
PRESIDENTIAL SPEECH: DEBATE ON ADDRESS
First Order read: Adjourned debate on motion in reply to the
Presidential Speech.
Question again proposed.
+MR. P. SIBANDA: I want to thank you Mr. Speaker Sir, for the opportunity that you have given me to contribute to the speech that was delivered by the President. When we take a look at the President’s Speech, we realise that the President highlighted several ways that we can use to improve our country. The President indicated that his desire is for this country to have a vibrant economy. He also highlighted that we should not be a violent nation, especially during the campaigns and elections periods. One thing that I was not happy with Mr. Speaker, is that when the President was addressing the House, some people outside were busy engaging in violent, beating each other.
The President also alluded to the fact that, in as much as the Constitution took so long to be brought to this House for debate and for it to become a lawful document, the people of Zimbabwe worked together. Now, everyone is happy about the Constitution, especially after the House of Assembly passed it.
The President again touched on how we can improve our economy, the infrastructure and also upgrading some ministries. He talked about provision of medication and the understaffing of nurses and doctors in our hospitals.
Coming to my constituency, I have 15 wards. When I highlighted
the infrastructures that are there, especially on roads, we realise that it is difficult to move because of potholes especially on the Binga-Bulawayo Road or Kamativi. When you pass through Tinde and Kariyangwe, one is forced to drive at a speed of between 0 - 20 km per hour. It is difficult to travel along that road because of potholes.
Siyabuwa – Gokwe road is a big road that is supposed to be developed if there was money. Construction of this road should have started long back, but because of our economy, nothing has been done so far. However, what I did not understand is the stament that was said by the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development, Minister Goche, when he said that Binga has no market whilst Binga is a holiday resort area and there are many safaris surrounding that area. This country gets so much money from Binga even though Minister Goche said there is no income that he gets from Binga, which is not true.
When we come to education, the Ministry of Education - we have a shortage of teachers and there are few professionally qualified teachers in that area. There are few colleges also that offer such qualifications for teaching practice around Binga. There are few children who pass their studies although they would have used the little resources that they have.
In the schools, there are no benches and chairs. Practically, there are no materials to use. Some of the children write sitting on their chairs without desks, while others sit on rocks. We are therefore, asking the Ministry that is responsible for giving the Ministry of Education funds, to allocate adequate funds to the Ministry. I also realise that even the District Office is having difficulties in travelling to such areas because of our poor roads. Most of the schools are far from each other and the roads are so bad that they cannot even use public transport.
When it comes to ZRP, I realised that many people are committing crimes, especially those who are taking cows to Zambia but nothing is being done to them. Is it not possible for the Ministry of
Home affairs to put up offices along the Zambezi Valley so that people who are poaching or engaging in cattle rustling will not be able to do so because of tight security. May the responsible Ministry try to allocate enough resources to the police so that they would be able to do their routine patrols.
We also realise that in the District Administrator’s office there are a few cars that were allocated to their office, making it difficult for the District Administrator to move around checking or to even visiting the chiefs.
The prisons, I am so happy that they have been allocated cars although it is only one car that they were given. We were expecting that they will be given more cars. We realise that even the blankets that were allocated to the prisoners are not enough. The blankets are few especially in this cold season.
In hospitals, there will be only one doctor or one nurse whilst we have so many sub-clinics. I would want to urge that we have more doctors in such areas to assist the Binga people. Additional vehicles will also be of assistance to the District Administrator in making their routine check in clinics. In Binga there is a malaria outbreak. Malaria is a disease that is common in Binga but there is nothing that the Ministry of Health has done as a preventive measure. We are therefore requesting that the Ministry allocate us enough funds for equipment in all the clinics.
National Parks were not given enough boats so that they can patrol along rivers. They also do not have vehicles to move around checking for poachers who move from Zambia so as to control this problem of poachers coming from other countries to our country. It is so difficult for them to implement control measures because they do not have the resources to use. The only resource that they were given were computers and there is nothing much that thay can do with computers. They can be able to see that there is a poacher coming in but there is nothing that they can do practically. When we look at the Zambezi River, we realise that it is one of the major rivers that we have in Binga. The Zambezi River is where we get most of our resources. Also we would be happy if most of the camps that were closed could be opened.
I also want to touch on CMED, we realise that it is the only distributor of fuel that we have in Binga and it is the only company that is fixing Government vehicles, but most of the times, CMED does not have fuel to fuel our cars. It has been three months now without fuel in Binga and people are not able to move due to lack of fuel. People have to walk for long distances because of lack of transport. Therefore, I would like to urge the Government to allocate enough fuel to CMED.
When it comes to the Registrars’ Office, we ralise that there is only one registrars’ office. If only we could have more registry centres in different wards so that people can get birth certificates and national identity documents.
The Government Ministry that looks at the issue of civil servants, especially the teachers and policemen who work in rural areas also do not have cars and have to walk long distances or those who are trying to monitor the working systems in rural areas will have to walk long distances too, especially in Government institutions like police, registry and AREX. We therefore urge the Government to allocate enough vehicles to all ministries. AREX does not have cars or motorbikes that they can use as their mode of transport when they are monitoring the farmers’ performance on fields. We are therefore, urging the Government that if they get resources they should allocate them accordingly and equally to all ministries.
When it comes to cotton farmers, Binga is an area where cotton is planted but the money that they get is 35c which is Grade D. I therefore urge the Ministry to try and help so that they can get at least 85c or $1 which is the money that they received last year.
- MUDARIKWA: My contribution to the Presidential Speech is basically based on a few items. The first one is when the President addressed the august House, he thanked COPAC and hon. members for a job well-done. I also want to salute COPAC and the COPAC Management Committee for a job well-done. I also want to salute the people of Zimbabwe for having produced a Constitution and thank
Parliament of Zimbabwe for passing the Constitution.
Mr. Speaker Sir, Zimbabwe is going to have the United Nations World Tourism Organisation General Assembly in Victoria Falls. This will take Zimbabwe to greater heights, but there is need for the Minister of Tourism to come on a monthly basis to inform the august House on the progress that is happening there.
Also Mr. Speaker Sir, encourage hon. members to visit the Victoria Falls so that we have domestic tourism. Yes, some are saying we have no money but we can organise as a group and go and see for ourselves what is there and this will assist us in understanding the value of what we have in Zimbabwe.
Mr. Speaker Sir, the issue of the Constituency Development Bill was supposed to come to the august House. However, it did not come, but the little bit that we got for the Constituency Development Fund, in my Constituency, Uzumba, we managed to establish Dr. Gurney Irrigation Scheme. We also had Mutize Primary School. Kids were walking 15 kilometres and this school is now assisting in that area. We have Nyaitenga Irrigation Scheme where our farmers are now producing vegetables to Mbare Musika. We have Chidodo Clinic which is still under construction. We have Chimodzi Dip Tank and last week the cattle started dipping there. We have Rukariro Secondary School, Nyaruchera Primary School and Nyashonjwa Primary School.
What we are facing Mr. Speaker Sir, is a situation where there is a need for the Constituency Development Fund because development in Zimbabwe always follows where there is a Mercedes Benz. So, there is need for the hon. Members of Parliament to be directly involved in the development of their Constituencies. I hope the Hon. Minister Matinenga will bring in the Bill for the Constituency Development Fund.
The issue of our agriculture Mr. Speaker Sir, is the element of no credit lines for agriculture. Also, we are facing a very difficult situation. Importation of vegetables has destroyed our agriculture. Our priorities need to be prioritised. There is need to establish irrigation schemes in the communal lands. This year, I will appeal to the august House that if anyone delivers maize to the GMB, he must be paid on the same day because we faced with a situation where it took a year without any payment to the farmers for the maize delivered. We need to allocate more money to AgriBank for it to assist the farmers.
There is need for accountability. Communal lands used to produce
80% of the maize consumed but because they were shortchanged by GMB, they delivered maize and they were not paid. Now, our communal farmers have joined the begging bowl and they cannot develop the agriculture on their own. There is need to start production of stock feeds and deliver them to Matabeleland at a reasonable price for the farmers to benefit.
There is also need for serious control of veld fires. This is destroying our economy because most of our cattle do not have anywhere to graze. The history of our mining industry Mr. Speaker Sir, dates back into the times of Munhumutapa Kingdom, when the people of Zimbabwe were trading in gold with the Portuguese. It is critical that we continue expanding the small scale miners, the so called makorokoza. In other countries like West Africa, gold panning has been declared a poverty alleviation programme so that it gets funding from the international community.
The other most important thing is that Zimbabwe has almost all the minerals but on the ground…
- SPEAKER: Order, Hon. Mudarikwa, I am advised by
Hansard people that they cannot hear you. Kindly move forward and use the microphone on the front.
- MUDARIKWA: Thank you Mr. Speaker for the promotion.
Maybe in the next Parliament I will be a Minister.
Mr. Speaker Sir, I was on the history of the mining industry of
Zimbabwe. It dates back to the time of the Munhumutapa Kingdom. The miners that we had during the Munhumutapa Kingdom, there were no engineers and they were simple miners but they managed to attract the Portuguese to come all the way from Beira to Zimbabwe and traded in gold. Our Government must take gold panning as a poverty alleviation programme to remove poverty in the communal lands. The current gold price is unacceptable because the situation is that most of the small scale gold panners are paid 15% less that paid at the London Metal Price. They then pay presumptive tax and royalties. This creates a situation which then encourages smuggling.
Mr. Speaker Sir, our diamonds – we are very rich in diamonds. In the whole of the SADC Region, we are a country where we can move around and get the diamonds and just put them in your pocket. But, there is no income to the economy because most of the agreements that were signed in the diamond industry were not brought to the august House. There is need for people to realise that all agreements to be signed, they must be brought to the august House for verification, then we offer a free service to these people so that the nation can have a benefit.
The issue of exploration is critical for any development of the mining industry, but it is critical that we engage the relevant international organisations that are involved in the actual exploration and not the current situation where we try to drill a borehole as if we are drilling a borehole for water. We must move with times like what I am doing. I am now debating using my iPad. We must move with technology because it is critical Mr. Speaker Sir that as we move, we must never continue to be BBC which means those born before computers.
Staff retention Mr. Speaker Sir, is very critical. The Ministry of Mines needs to give incentives to the workers, engineers and everybody to remain in the Ministry of Mines.
Computerisation of mining title is critical Mr. Speaker Sir. Other countries as we talk now, just mention a name and they give you on the computer the mining title, GPS Coordinates and everything. We are developed and we are educated. We have a Minister of ICT but when you go to most of the Ministries, you see people carrying bundles and bundles of files. We must always continue Mr. Speaker, to move with times. We must also increase the mining districts in the Ministry of Mines. Just as an example, the mining district of Harare goes up to
Nyamapanda and to Mukumbura. It is one mining district. We need to have more mining commissioners and also, there is need for transparency.
Mr. Speaker Sir, on the issue of chrome production, it is a sorrowful sight when you go to the chrome dyke. We are the only country that was given a mountain of chrome dyke – from Mtorashanga to Bulawayo and up to Lalapansi. All those areas are full of chrome but we are not exporting the chrome. Even the chrome that has been dug is sitting there in mountains and mountains of chrome and we have the skills of our people. They have the capacity to dig the chrome, but now the chrome is not being exported and our brothers are using those skills now in digging mice. This has no value to the nation. We must continue to appreciate the value of the minerals. A poor man, when you go into the history of poverty – poverty is the inability to utilise the resources around you for your personal, family and international benefit; but Zimbabwe, we are missing this point. We need to continue to realise that all the minerals are there for us. There is need for value addition.
When we talk of value addition, we are transforming. If you look around in this august House most of the suits we are wearing are from China and that shows there is something wrong in our way of doing business. Why should we be wearing a suit made in China when cotton is produced in Muzarabani and Gokwe? It is critical that we value add, produce our own suits even if they are of poor quality but “yours is yours”. You must be always proud of your product.
There is a need of setting up a Mining Development Bank. When we have a Mining Development Bank, it is going to assist Zimbabweans in the creation of employment. It is going to assist Zimbabweans in mining. Last week when I was in Johannesburg, it was a sorrowful sight to see a graduate in Mathematics working in a hotel as a waiter. This is unacceptable. We must never allow such a situation where our intellectuals are being misplaced, misused, abused and any other name that will suit the type of work they are doing.
We need to develop our railway system. Our railway line now needs urgent development for the benefit of the mining industry. There is need for consultations with the Chamber of Mines. When you go into the history of coal, we are sitting on the best type of coal in the whole world. We must take a leaf from Mozambique. What the Mozambicans have done is that they have billions and billions of investments. We have many people who are sitting on the mining claims for the purpose of speculation.
For any mine or industry to develop, there must be energy available. Our situation is that the little bit of energy we have got must be managed properly. The issue of prepaid meters is our national responsibility. If we are putting prepaid meters it must be for everybody. Our situation is that prepaid meters are being put to my house and other people’s houses. There are no prepaid meters in Government institutions and yet Government is the largest consumer of electricity. There is a need to make sure that there is no discrimination in the installation of prepaid meters. It must be for everybody.
The issue of demand side management is critical. We must learn to save the little bit of what we have. You go to any Government building in the middle of the night, electricity is on and air conditioners are on, they do not care. It is free for all. This must be addressed.
The Gokwe Thermal is one area which shows our total ignorance. Gokwe Thermal was pegged in 1972 but up to now nothing is happening. It is going back and forth to the minister, back to Rio Tinto and back again to the minister. One day they say it will happen but we will all be dead. We want these things to happen when we are still alive. There is also need for us to pay our electricity bills. It is critical that we assist ZESA to move forward.
There is need to bring in duty free vehicles that run on 100% blend. These will reduce the national energy bill for Zimbabwe. We need to have vehicles that are 100% blend, tractors that are 100% blend and then we manage our economy in the interest of everybody. Chisumbanje Project is not a project for one Province or District. It is a national project because the construction of Kondo Dam is going to affect the people in Buhera, Wedza, even up to Seke. Kondo Dam is one of the dams that is going to feed into Chisumbanje Irrigation Scheme. It is critical that we manage these national projects in the interest of Zimbabwe.
There is an urgent need for dualisation of our national highways. The carnage on the road has reached an unacceptable level. We must not think that all is well when we hear that everyday there is an accident. It is luck for some of the people with modern vehicles with airbags, they can survive. Also, some people with big tummies, they have what are called natural airbags. After an accident they can survive but for people who do not have airbags and vehicles without airbags, they face a very difficult time.
There is need for ZINARA to just put the money they want for vehicle licenses in diesel. Each time vehicles are being licensed, you go to ZINARA offices, it is sorrowful because people will be standing there. The people who are employed there are semi computer literate. People are wasting time. Why do you not just put 2 cents per litre to cover the licensing of all those vehicles and we remove the human hand?
There is need for upgrading the roads in my constituency because they have reached levels that are unacceptable.
There is need for the creation of meaningful youth projects that will assist our youths. Cross boarder traders are critical for the development of our economy and our families. We must make sure that most of our cross boarder traders pay using plastic money. Our cross boarder traders must never be harassed by ZIMRA.
Last week I was in Chivhu, I saw a ZIMRA roadblock. Is there a boundary or have we acknowledged the existence of the Republic of Enkeldoorn where we think that these people are coming in from a new country? If somebody is cleared at the border, that is it. People must move freely. It gives a terrible image for the country.
Our parastatals remain the biggest burden to the Government. They have never paid any dividend. There is a big asset trimming programme where people are saying the parastatals are making a loss every time but nobody is resigning. It is critical that we implement what is in the new
Constitution to say that these permanent Chief Executives in parastatals must now go home or must go into agriculture. Parastatlas are national assets. They must never benefit an individual.
E-learning is critical for the development of our economy. The programme that has started must roll out to all the districts in Zimbabwe. It is important that this ministry is funded for the benefit of our young kids so that they go and be accepted because they are computer literate from a young age. It is critical that there is no way that we can continue to concentrate on a calculator. We must move with time.
The Government cadetship programme is now a disaster. We must, as the august House, recommend that all the cadets be paid because our sons and daughters are now suffering. They cannot go back to school.
The money is not there.
Vocational skills are critical for the development of any economy. I can give you just a rough idea of the pass rate of few secondary schools in my constituency. Chipfunde Secondary School in 2010, the pass rate was 0%. What it means is that we have 100% people who have to go to vocational training. Chidodo Secondary School, in 2010, had 6% and in 2011, had 7% pass rate. We have 93% of students needing vocational training. If we go to Chitimbe Secondary School, it had 13% and 25%.
Therefore 75% of the students need vocational training.
If we go to Uzumba High School, it had 45% and 49% pass rate.
So 51% of the students need vocational training. Morris Secondary
School had 0% and so 100% of their students need vocational training. Mr. Speaker Sir, I am highlighting this because we are sitting on a time bomb of our unemployed youth who have no skill. We must give our youth relevant skills for the benefit of this country. It is also for the benefit of our economy.
My recommendation is that all the vocational training centres be given a priority in the funding and staff allocation. We must create a team of builders that will assist in teaching the students. We must assist Jairos Jiri which trains all the disabled people. We must increase their grant so that the nation continues to have skilled people. The Minister responsible for vocational training centres must also continue to come and brief the august House on what is happening.
Mr. Speaker Sir, the nation is going to have elections. We hope and pray that we will have very peaceful elections. Those who will have lost must lose with dignity and those who will have won must also win with dignity. Our Parliament must also assist in training some of our hon. members because there are other hon. members who have not debated since the opening of the august House. These hon. members must be given awards for coming to listen. It means they were listening attentively and that is why they were not debating. So we must salute them for having listened attentively.
Mr. Speaker sir, the challenge I give to all honourable members is to thank those who were listening whilst I was talking. Those who were not listening, I also want to thank you because you were not making noise. Those who were sleeping, I also want to thank you because you did not produce ngonono. It was a smooth sleep, a dignified sleep.
Mr. Speaker, I want to close by this small saying, “the slow motion of a cheetah is not its weakness”. I now lay my report to you Mr.
Speaker Sir and thank you again, for allowing me to debate on this motion. Maybe, it is my last day to debate but I want to thank you Mr.
Speaker Sir. We worked together in a brotherly manner, as comrades, as
Zimbabweans, as SADC members and we worked together as Pan Africanists. Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
- J. M. GUMBO: Thank you Mr. Speaker. I rise to thank Hon. Sibanda and Hon. Mudarikwa for the contributions that they have made today. I also want to thank other members who contributed on this motion. It has been a motion which has been on the Order Paper for a long time. It is a motion that allows members to speak on various issues that affect their constituents and constituencies. So it was an open check to us and all that remains for me now is, to thank those hon. members and request that the motion be adopted and the President be informed of our pleasure for the speech that he was pleased to deliver to us. Mr.
Speaker, having said that, I therefore move that the motion be now put.
Motion, that a respectful address be presented to the President of
Zimbabwe as follows:
May it please you, Mr. President;
We, the members of the House of Assembly 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, - Put and agreed to.
MOTION
VOTER REGISTRATION EXERCISE
Second Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on Mobile Voter Registration Exercise.
Question again proposed.
*MR. CHIMBETETE: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. What
surprised me is that when the day of mobile registration started in Nyanga at Nyatate Centre, I was in Nyanga but unaware of that development until Tuesday. This was on the 29th of April 2013. As I was busy at the communal home, I heard that there was a mobile registration exercise at Nyatate. Upon arrival, I saw a lot of potential voters being turned away because they did not have adequate documentation to register as voters. I then phoned and called the Chairperson to bring the mobile registration staff to Nyanga. From the 29th, they left for Nyanga North and came to St. Monica Primary School. It then went further to Fombe Primary School, Avilla Mission and to Chabatarongo. It returned to Nyanga North on the 14th of May 2013. They worked at Chitombo and then went to Ruchera and ended on the 19th of May, 2013.
You can see that out of 31 wards, only 7 wards were serviced. This means that 24 wards were not attended to until now and the mobile registration exercise stopped. Mr. Speaker, I put my voice that there is need for the programme to be restarted and that this registration exercise be done on a ward basis so as to enable all the wards equal opportunities for registration. We hear that favouritism would come to play based on the people who support a particular party in a particular ward. I deplore such exercises. I urge you Mr. Speaker, to ask the Minister of Finance to provide funding so that the exercise can be re-launched for 30 days. For those 30 days, registration should be based at ward level. There were also logistical problems -people did not have bus fares to travel to the registration centres. There are a lot of people in my area who do not have I.D.s and birth certificates. From my ward to Nyanga, one requires US$10 for the trip. It is difficult for a rural based person to come across US$10. If the registration is ward based, all the people will be able to register.
- MADZIMURE: Mr. Speaker, I totally support the mover of the motion and would expect that the House will support Hon.
Chikwinya’s proposal. The issue of voter registration is very, very important in a democracy because that is the reason why the war of liberation was fought. The war of liberation was fought because we wanted our people to be afforded the opportunity to vote. During the Smith regime, Smith said that for people to vote in an urban area, they should have property so that you put your money where your mouth is. As Zimbabweans, we said no, we are all human beings and we have got a right to decide on our future.
The reason why people vote is not at the benevolence of the
Government or those who are ruling. It is because those people have a stake in the governance of a country. Every individual, in a way, contributes to the running of a country and contributes to the existence of a Government in the form of taxes that we pay. Whenever you buy something, you pay sales tax. If you are employed, you pay Income Tax and if you buy goods outside the country, you pay duty. This is the money that sustains a Government. As a result, the people have a right to decide on the Government that they want. This is done through an election where a party is voted into power by the people who have looked at the manifesto of that political party and say, here is a party that has policies that will see us through as a country and that will enable the country to develop. So it is not a favour for the people to be allowed to vote. People went to war because of that discrimination.
I heard, through rumours that voter registration teams were going to be sent to the districts to conduct voter registration. In my constituency, there was no single poster that informed the people that voter registration had started, not even a signage to point where the registration centres were. There was total blackout even on television and radio as to where the registration centres were situated. To make matters worse, they chose those centres where the least people voted during the Referendum, that is what they did in Harare. The most inconvenient centre was the centre that was chosen. You then ask yourself what the motive behind all this was. In my constituency, they chose Kambuzuma High 2 where we had only 215 people who voted for the Referendum, it is in the periphery of the constituency. I was of the opinion that they would make life easy for people, especially the elderly by having a central place to conduct registration but alas, I found out that they had a mission.
Mr. Speaker, my own reading of the situation is that, it was a well calculated move to make sure that it becomes extremely difficult for people especially in the urban areas to vote. Even at that remote place where the least people went to vote, the people responded because of the means and ways that we used to mobilise them. When the ZEC Chairperson, Judge Rita Makarau visited the polling station, the report which came out was that they found 500 people in the queue at the registration centre but there were more than 1 000 people at any given time for those two days. Of particular concern was the requirements for one to register as a voter. Those requirements were communicated to them by the officers when they were already at the registration centre. If you had a bill in your name, for example, W. Madzimure and your I.D. is Willias Madzimure, they would say, “how do we know that W.
Madzimure is Willias Madzimure, there are many W. Madzimure.” That would be used as an excuse for not registering you. If my child took the bill with W. Madzimure and his name is Lloyd Madzimure, they would turn him back and ask him to bring a letter from the father.
In one of the cases, a child went to register with a water bill.
When she got there, she was told that the mother should write a letter. She went back and the mother wrote the letter. She was turned back again and told to include her mother’s I.D. and her I.D. and she did that. When she came back, the officials told her that the mother was not the owner of the bill but the father. She told them that the father was late and they asked her to go and bring the death certificate. She went back and brought a photocopy of the death certificate and they told her that they wanted an original copy. She refused to go back home and told them that she was not going back home until they registered her. She stood her ground but how many people can do that? This lady is an enlightened girl who has ‘A’ levels. This can only be done by very few people, even hon. members in this House cannot do that. The majority of the people will simply walk away; they do not even understand their rights as well. – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections] – only people like my muzukuru who managed to be a legislator when he was an alien can do that.
Mr. Speaker, you then ask yourself, why we make it so difficult for a Zimbabwean, a citizen of Zimbabwe to register to vote in an area where he or she wants to vote. What is the reason? If it was a byelection, you would say people are being bused from all over but this is a general election. Why do we make it so difficult for our own people? I have just discovered that the oppression that we suffered under Ian
Smith can be understood because he was a white person against the
black but our systems as black people have proved to be the worst. Mr.
Speaker the solution and I believe even the least educated Member of Parliament would understand that as a solution. We do not have a problem Mr. Speaker, the problem is the system of exclusion - A system which believes that that there are people who are more equal than others. What would then happen if you had all the requirements and the requirements were not even complicated? Mr. Speaker, those who are very quick in their thinking - because what they wanted was a letter which showed the identification of the person who is writing and the recipient. People could just write any Identification Number (ID) number which they wanted, they would still get away with it.
What I also discovered was that there are people who are privileged to register. In my Constituency, there is a cooperative called Joshua Mqabuko Cooperative. They had a form which they had to fill for all those people whom they perceive to be aligned to them, and had to use those forms to go and register This was a form from a new association which the Government does not even know. Mr. Speaker Sir, those bona fide people who reside in Kambuzuma did not manage to do that. My own analysis is that this is well calculated to make sure that the first time voter does not register. An alien who was born in Zimbabwe, who should naturally be entitled to vote like my muzukuru, those were also being denied to register on the basis that they are alien but the aliens who were born in Zimbabwe by law should be allowed to vote.
Mr. Speaker Sir, the reason is very simple – [AN HON MEMBER:
Hausati wavamutemo] – It is sad to realise that after all these years in Parliament, hon. members who have been in this House for five years cannot understand how legislation works and what legislation we have especially electoral laws that bring them to this House. It tells you that they came into Parliament through chicanery or by tsvimbo mugotsi.
Mr. Speaker these people do not deserve to be here.
Mr. Speaker, my analysis is very simple. The use of political violence is not going to work in this election. The world will not allow that. So, some people think that they can win this technically by disfranchising Zimbabweans to vote. You can see from hon.
Chikwinya’s analysis that in one province with a population which is a quarter of Harare, they had 100 registration centres compared to Harare which had less than 48 registration centres. Census figures are there for us to see.
The whole idea is to make sure that few people from the urban areas do register at the same time forcing those in the rural areas to register. Mr. Speaker the election before us is not going to be determined by the wishes of a political party, it is going to be determined by the people who have resolved that they will make sure that they choose a party that they believe in. If you also look at the ages that are being forced to register in the rural areas, we are talking about those people who are 40 years old. You ask yourself why a 40 year old was not voting. The person has a reason.
Mr. Speaker, I am of the opinion that ZEC should take charge of voter registration and that voter registration needs to be done again. Mr.
Speaker, voter registration is our right. The issue of Identification Cards (IDs) – [MR BHASIKITI-CHUMA: Takazvisupporter zvose izvo] – for Hon. Bhasikiti-Chuma to claim that he supported this thing so no one else should debate – his position as a Politburo member is of no consequence to this House. It adds no value at all in this House.
Mr. Speaker, when some hon. members came to this House, they looked really pathetic…..
- SPEAKER: Order, order, Hon. Madzimure, refrain from straying from the motion please. Stick to the motion.
- MADZIMURE: Mr. Speaker, I am just asking ZEC to conduct voter registrations where all Zimbabweans are given the opportunity to register. Mr. Speaker, I cannot be in the business of transporting people to the registration centre myself or to the Registrar-
General’s Office myself. I do not have mangoes to sell for me to get the money like other hon. members. I cannot grab a farm because my conscience tells me I cannot do that. The money I have, I worked for and it is not my responsibility to do that.
Mr. Speaker, I totally support Hon. Chikwinya’s resolution that the
Minister of Finance must make funds available – [MR BHASIKITICHUMA: Is that a resolution] – whatever is resolved is a resolution, so if you ended up in Standard Six and went to a teacher’s college, you cannot comprehend some of these issues. Madam Speaker, I totally support the motion and support even what the Chairperson of the ZEC said that it was chaotic and something that should not be seen in a civilised country like Zimbabwe. Let us allow our people to register. Let us allow those people to make their own decisions after all no one can claim that whoever registered is from my party because a person can change overnight. There is no assurance that those who think that the people who are registering from a certain province where they perceive themselves to have a majority, the outcome will be the same. Let us campaign peacefully, let our people register and go to elections. If hon. Bhasikiti-Chuma is going to be elected on that basis, I will congratulate him. Thank you Madam Speaker.
- GUMBO: Thank you Madam Speaker. I rise to just add my voice to this very important motion which was moved by Hon. Chikwinya. I could be repeating what other hon. members have already said because I was not present when he moved the motion. What I want to say is that this is a meaningful motion that should not be confused by people trying to politic because what is stated in the motion is what we support. We have all been affected across the board as Zimbabweans.
My point here is that, we should allow Honourable Chikwinya, because we have no time, to wind up the motion which I think we all support because it is meaningful. This did not affect only one person or only one political party as you will want to portray from the debates that I am listening to. I also come from a rural constituency whereby one chieftain area had just one point only for people to go, register and check for their names. It was pathetic and we all agree that this exercise should be given time. I think it is very clear that in the new Constitution that we have already passed here, which I think is waiting assent by the President, we should be given time as per this Constitution, that is 30 days, for our people to register. That will assist us.
As one of the speakers said, when we look at people going to register, we should not sink so low as to think that those who go to register at a particular point support your political party. You might be very surprised because your vote is your secret. Let us just look at it from the legislative point of view, which I think Honourable Chikwinya has done. Let us support it from that perspective, that this is a very important motion. Maybe we should have moved this motion earlier and resolved as a House what we think affects most of the people in the country, so that they can have the necessary documents and exercise their right to vote.
Without wasting much time, Madam Speaker, I support the motion. All I want to say about the other part that Honourable Chikwinya wants us to resolve on, which is the last point that we bring in the SROC, I do not know whether it is necessary. I believe on the first two points which you made, that is, the involvement of the Ministry of Justice for a repeat of the exercise; and that the Ministry of Finance provides the necessary funding. We know that we have got problems as a country but this is an important exercise. If we are going to have elections, let us push the Government as Parliamentarians that they put their heads together and put some money on the table. This will allow this exercise to be executed properly and also for our people to get the necessary documents.
It is pathetic that there was not even dissemination of information, particularly in the rural areas. They just went around telling the chiefs and you know what chiefs will do. They should have told the politicians who are interested in seeing that people register to vote for them but we were not told. It does not matter. I do not know in other areas but where I come from, not even the MDC guys or the ZANU PF guys in politics were aware of the exercise including myself. We only heard that people had gone to a point and they just had one day in a chieftain area, a constituency where you have got over 26 000 people who might have voted.
We have got many entrances and new people coming. The requirements were not very clear. When they first went out to do the exercise, some of the officers were using a circular which had been passed in April but there was a new circular that had changed the scenario for registration. So, I think we are just wasting time on this issue because we all agree and I think from our side, we agree. Let us have this exercise redone. Let us push the Government to redo it and we support it.
I want to say to Honourable Chikwinya, this is a well meaningful motion and we totally support it. You can move it and it will have our blessings as well. Thank you very much.
ENG. E. MUDZURI: Thank you Madam Speaker. I really want
to support the previous speakers and I feel that we should add another recommendation where ZEC takes charge of its responsibility. I say so because here, we are now asking the Minister of Justice to ensure that the exercise is redone, when it is ZEC that should take its responsibility to ensure that everyone registers. As has been argued elsewhere that there has been poor registration, in my constituency, we ended up sending people back without registering. This was because of the same reasons which were given by Honourable Madzimure that people were turned back several times.
I confronted the registration officers in my constituency, asking about the conditions that are required for someone to register. I noticed that there was a table which Honourable Dr. Gumbo has mentioned, which had the last requirement that says you can use an affidavit for yourself to confirm where you are staying. That was not being applied. The argument that I was told was that they were not given that instruction. I made the effort of phoning the Registrar General’s office, Mr. Muchemeyi. He said this can be handled by Mr. Mudede. I went on to Mr. Mudede’s office and asked what it means and he said it has not yet been gazetted but was likely to be gazetted soon.
In the requirements, there was a clause stating that the registration officer may register a person when there is enough evidence of a person staying at the residence purporting to be. I cannot quote everything that was there but it was either item L or G. When I discussed with the RG to say this item gives someone the right to even say I have got proof of residence which I was given by the owner of the House, now I can go and register and even if with the same surname, he said no, it does not mean you stay there. I then asked him if I should write a letter for my wife, my son and everyone because the mere fact that the person has taken a utility bill from my house means he has authority and has access to that house.
The purpose of the registration is meant for a person to identify where he wants to vote from rather than where he is lodging because this is a national election. Like what Honourable Madzimure has said, you cannot vote in two places. Even if you bus people as much as you want, that person ends up in one station where that person wants to vote from and that is the purpose of registering. Family members are finding it difficult, in case your father is not there or is late to write these letters.
The problem that I had was that the staff wanted to get instructions from Mr. Mudede. So, I took a trip to ZEC offices and when I got there, they were in a meeting. I am still waiting for a call from Dr. Sekeramayi because I told him that I would like to discuss with him about the requirements they have agreed on with Mr. Mudede for people to be able to register. People were being turned away in thousands and were not able to register. People are not that patient because they do not benefit anything other than to say “I want to vote this year” and they need to be in the register.
ZEC seems not to be coming back to us. I also encountered a scenario where people in different political parties thought that kune munhu anogona kufamba nemunhu. It is not true. I can bring in a thousand voters and they might never vote for me. Someone from another political party became so violent at a registration centre and I reported the matter to the police. He wanted to attack me saying that I was not allowed to ask and that I should leave that place. I told him that, I am a Member of Parliament standing for you and I am only asking for these requirements which were gazetted on Friday, whether they were now effective or not. He was saying ibva, wakaita something nezuro, talking all sorts of abusive words and almost assaulting me. I told the gentleman that if you see someone registering whilst smiling at you, he/she may vote for you because that person might be afraid of you or that person might be pleasing you for that time. If I register people zvechitsotsi they might never vote for me.
So what we need is to have this spirit of allowing Zimbabweans to register to ensure that they have a chance to choose their own candidate when the day comes and there are still weeks to come before an election. However, politics changes overnight – you might think you are popular today and you are very unpopular tomorrow and people will have to do that choice. So let us use our respective offices, we are legislators, when we go there, we are not going to choose a side, we are going to represent everyone. Let us also accept that there are landlords who refuse to write letters for others, which mean the aspect of an affidavit, if somebody lies within the affidavit, then it is their problem, they would have determined where they want to vote for and it becomes easier for the registration.
But what came out clearly was that there were no affidavit forms first, and then secondly there was no Commissioner of Oaths to confirm those affidavits. So these things are needed so that some of these officers are allowed to be Commissioners of Oaths to allow people to register on the spot. I want to say we cannot further debate this issue as my colleague says, but we need to consider that all those areas where we have not polished, in the next 30 days, it must be agree by all Parliamentarians and Central Government that we do not wait for an instruction, we wait for instructions that are determined by this august House, that are determined by the law to ensure that people register and they do not wait for instructions, they wait for what is coming from the law.
With these words, I want to reconfirm that let us add the recommendation where Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) becomes fully involved and when ZEC is fully involved, it must be answerable for any mistake that is done by the Registrar General.
MRS. MATAMISA: Thank you Madam Speaker, let me start by
thanking hon. Chikwinya for bringing this very serious motion into this House. Madam Speaker, I will start by registering my descontence to what has been happening through the period of voter registration which is supposed to be an on-going activity because voter registration does not end by elections but it continues on and on, so that people continue to have their names added to the Voters’ Roll.
However, as I am standing now, Kadoma is one of the places where this serious mechanism of trying to remove people from the
Voter’s Roll has been happening and for interest sake, there was not even a single centre put in any single ward in Kadoma. Out of the 13 wards, there was no place where people were supposed to go and register for the forth coming elections. Now, this is a problem, Madam Speaker, because when I went to inquire, before the 29th, I was just visiting the Registry Office and I found what was happening. In
Kadoma, people came in buses from the outside constituencies, Chakari,
Sanyati, Mhondoro Ngezi, that is the Central Registry and those who came in buses, were the only people being attended to. The people from Kadoma do not need to bring buses, but they walk to the Registry because they belong there and these people have never been attended to. They were being sent away and one of the days I even met a Councilor who was sending away these people and we almost fought there.
Madam Speaker, what we are talking here is reality on the ground, this is what is happening. Some of our friends out there, having seen that some of the constituencies are now a no go area for them also because people know their dirty tricks, they have been promised heaven on earth and they have seen nothing, so they now want to show them their true colours that they cannot vote for them. So the best method they are now employing is to make sure that they dis-enfranchise the people of my constituency. They have not yet started registering to become voters.
Hence this very serious motion is promoting what I have come here to debate on, to say that we have to continue this voter registration exercise and on a serious note; every ward must have a centre for people to register and not send the only mobile that we have in Kadoma, Sanyati and Chakari which was made up of the people at the Central Registry and it was sent out. The main Registry was closed for all these days with nothing happening. As from the 29th when they started this mobile registration, Kadoma Central Registry was not functioning because if it went on functioning, it would mean Kadoma people would also register. So I think it is really important for us as Legislators to correct what can be corrected when there is still time and I am saying that the registration process must be started afresh so that all the people can have that platform to register.
I feel, Madam Speaker, that as if it were not enough, as long as we have this Registrar’s Office registering our people to vote, we will never get all our people of Zimbabwe reaching that chance of registering.
Mudede’s office is dis-enfranchising Zimbabweans who have a right to choose their own leaders. Now one questions, what is the role of ZEC? Why did we have to put ZEC in place, if it cannot take its real position and start to do its work which it was set for? It is a problem and I think we are losing out on that, if we do not implement the policies that we put in place, then we are failing the nation. So we must voice together as Legislators to say ZEC must take charge, it is the role of ZEC to make sure all those who are going to vote, all those who are of age must be registered as voters in Zimbabwe before the time for election comes. It may sound sour to other people’s ears but this is the truth on the ground. We want our children, our relatives and everyone who is of age to go and register to vote. Everyone must be given a chance to exercise his or her constitutional right.
In preparation for the coming election, I really feel that as the motion speaks, it is important that the Ministry of Finance does seriously fund this exercise of voter registration, because when I went to our Registry Office, they said they do not have people to work, then I went to ZEC on the 29th when the exercise started, where they were busy playing games on their computers, I asked the ZEC leader why there was nothing happening in the Kadoma Office? She said she had not been given the mandate to recruit people, to keep the Kadoma Registry Office open. So these are problems that are being created by other people who do not want to see people of Kadoma voting. The truth is that they know the results before we have gone for the elections that they will not win Kadoma and so they do not want the people of Kadoma to be registered to vote. Instead they registered them somewhere and bring them in buses so that they vote there and take the seat from us Madam Speaker, let me say that this will be a non-starter, they know it but we are only saying, we cannot go into an election whereby the result or the outcome is already pre-determined, that is why we are saying it must be free for all, everybody must go and registered to vote. People must vote for the people they want, if they want this party or the other, let them vote for the people they want, that is it. Mr. Speaker, Sir with these words, I really and truly support this motion and the demands of the motion; I really recommend that they be met as they are because I see nothing wrong with everything that has been put down in this motion because it ensures that the Zimbabweans are in charge.
Once it is followed the Zimbabweans will be in charge at the end of the day. It is not the workers that we employ that must take charge, we are the politicians and we stand in for the people who voted us into these positions. We must speak out so that things can go the correct way and things must be corrected. Today is the day and this is the time we must correct the voter registration exercise. I thank you Mr. Speaker.
- CHIKWINYA: Thank you Mr. Speaker, I rise to wind up
the debate. I want to appreciate the level of participation by the ten members of Parliament who had their input into this debate which I want to believe is in sync with the process and events currently underway within our country.
I want to thank Hon. Chitando who seconded my motion and emphasized on the need to ease proof of residence so that the process can become easier. Hon Ncube, who encouraged the Executive to migrate to the use of the ICT platform as we move forward with this ICT generation that voter registration, must be done on line. We do not see how we fail to do that when we actually have an internet penetration of around 32% and cell phone penetration of around 96%. I also want to thank Hon. Bhasikiti-Chuma who whilst he is coming from the other
side of the House equally shared the same passion with me that politicians or political parties across the divide, were affected in the manner in which this voter registration was done and equally emphasized on the need for funding required from the Ministry of Finance.
I want to thank Hon. Saruwaka who among all the points he mentioned, emphasized on the issue of how we are dealing with aliens.
Mr. Speaker, it is with regret that we, as a nation have adopted the word
‘aliens’ which in my view is actually a xenophobic phrase meant to alienate others who are actually of third or fourth generation
Zimbabweans. In this House and this nation, there sits hon. Patrick Zhuwao, I see him as my brother, my friend and colleague and as a fellow Zimbabwean. He is a beneficiary of our political system, he and his uncle are the greatest beneficiaries of our political systems but they are aliens.
I also want to thank Hon. Machacha who said whilst he has 24 wards, only two centers were provided and therefore bussing of people became necessary which actually incurred costs. Hon. Chimbetete equally so, had 31 wards and only 7 had centers. I want to thank Hon Madzimure, he emphasized on the issue that citizens must be allowed space and opportunity to participate in matters of who should govern them.
Mr. Speaker, I also want to thank Hon. Dr. Jorum Gumbo for quite a mature debate actually encouraging all of us to be able to adopt this motion. I believe the Executive will be able to support Parliament in this regard. I also want to thank Hon. Mudzuri who shared with us, is experienced and I also want to commend him for the efforts he did in engaging the Registrar General. I would lastly want to thank Hon. Matamisa who shared with us exactly the same experiences which the majority of the constituencies or the nation at large faced.
Mr. Speaker, whilst I am winding up I also want to give credit to Justice Rita Makarau and just to let her know that we celebrated the positives of her efforts but we will continue as Parliament to closely monitor all the events and processes and we will be quick to condemn and act on any acts or omissions contrary to the letter and spirit of the registration exercise.
I am in possession here of Electoral Amendment Regulations number 18 of 2013, under Statutory Instrument 68 of 2013. When members were debating and they were talking of gazetting new regulations which are meant to ease voter registration, the regulations are contained in this Statutory Instrument which was gazetted on Friday. The regulations among other issues actually bring upon that affidavit which Hon. Mudzuri was talking to, the gazetting was done under Statutory 68 of 2013, where upon the registration officer has now been conferred with the Commissioner of Oaths status.
It is only you the intended register or the person who intends to register to vote, you simply fill in the affidavit form and the registration officer present will become the Commissioner of Oaths. The duty is upon the State to prove that you have lied under the affidavit, so I think this is going to become a way of easing out the regulations required for one to register which were actually the proof of residence. I want to commend the Executive and I want to quote the Prime Minister who said on Sunday that the Executive through Cabinet have agreed and without necessarily having gone through Statutory Instrument 68, I want to believe that there will be a circular which will be distributed once the 30 day period has been promulgated at the inception of the Presidential
Proclamation of the elections as contained in our newly adopted Constitution awaiting Presidential Assent.
I says every school in Zimbabwe shall be converted to become a registration centre. I want to believe the Executive met it and are going to enforce it and I have no doubt that that coming from the Prime Minister, is actually going to happen. Every school in Zimbabwe shall be made to be a registration centre. I want to believe that at least there is a school in every ward therefore that makes it easy for every ward to have a centre. In other wards in rural areas you might have two or three schools - that is even better. I want to believe that once that has been put to force we are going to have de-congestion of registration centers and ease of access to registration centers by people who intend to vote.
Mr. Speaker, before I sit today, the Civic Society of Zimbabwe met at the Media Centre at 1000 hrs and 50 organizations were represented. They made a statement with regards to their observations and with regards to their concerns with the voter registration process. I have taken time to respect their communiqué to the nation because as parliamentarians, we have also the legitimate and alter-ego right of representing our constituencies. We work in collaboration with the civic society organizations who also compliment government and our efforts in making sure that the voices of the people are heard.
Mr. Speaker I will just go through their communiqué for the purpose of the members of Parliament and the nation who were not present at their meeting. The civic society members listed said:
Noting the conclusion of the Constitution making process, a key milestone to the implementation of the Global Political Agreement which paves the way for preparations of free and fair elections,
Recognizing the centrality of an inclusive voter registration exercise as a key foundation to a credible electoral process.
Having observed the just ended mobile voter registration exercise that commenced on the 29th of April and ended on 19th May 2013,
Disheartened by the observations of various electoral stakeholders such as Parliament, the Church, Cabinet and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) that the process was inadequate, chaotic, slow and did not capture all those interested in registering voters.
Desirous of seeing a peaceful, free and fair election in Zimbabwe, Do hereby make the following observations and recommendations.
OBSERVATIONS
INADEQUATE EDUCATION AND INFORMATION ON THE
PROCESS - The process was hampered by a dearth of information, publicity and limited voter education. We noted the exclusion of key stakeholders such as the church, civic society which were not accredited to complement the Electoral Commission in providing voter education. Even where civic society sought to legitimately mobilise citizens to participate in the process, they were met with heavy-handedness. As a result, potential voters were largely ignorant of the dates, centres and requirements for registration. I think this simply goes to complement what Members of Parliament were saying.
ACCESSIBILITY - The process was characterised by lack of true decentralisation. The centres were not in proportion to the intended beneficiaries, leaving many communities without the service or citizens having to travel long distances to register as voters. Further, the manner in which the methodology of the exercise was crafted did not reflect any due consideration of the special needs of groups such as women, youths, the elderly, the infirm, workers and people living with disabilities. This resulted in the disenfranchisement of a significant number in these key sectors.
LACK OF PROFESSIONALISM - Some centres did not adhere
to the stipulated opening and closing times. Prospective voters in the queues by closing time were turned away even when the mobile unit was relocating the following day, leaving citizens frustrated in their efforts to register.
INADEQUATE HUMAN RESOURCES - Mobile units and
static centres were plagued with an excruciatingly slow pace of processing applications for registration resulting in long slow moving queues particularly in urban centres.
INCONSISTENCIES IN PROCEDURE AND
REQUIREMENTS - Some centres turned away prospective registrants who were ‘aliens’ or had opted for an affidavit as proof of residence while some centres accepted prospective registrants in similar circumstances. Some centres were not issuing registration slips asking prospective registrants the slips the following day at a different centre.
GENERAL ABSENCE OF FULL SERVICE - Mobile and static
units had limited service. Reports reveal that not all of the units were offering a comprehensive package of birth certificates, national identification papers and voter registration on site. As a result, prospective registrants were unable to benefit fully from a single centre.
Some citizens with waiting passes were asked to produce birth certificates. Upon failure to do so, they failed to register.
FUNDING - There was no clarity in terms of the resources that were disbursed for this exercise, with one Arm of Government claiming to have disbursed funds while the recipients claiming to have received different amounts. As a result, there was lack of accountability and blame games revolving around inadequate funding dominated the narrative for the insufficiencies of the exercise.
In light of the foregoing, it is our overall assessment that the mobile voter registration exercise as implemented by the Registrar
General’s office and supervised by ZEC, has failed to comprehensively reach out to all prospective registrants.
Accordingly, we do hereby make the following recommendations:
- The process must be re-started in line with the new Constitution, which stipulates a 30 day period for registration after enactment. It is our view that the preceding exercise cannot be substituted for this constitutionally mandated process.
- Legal instruments guiding the issue of ‘aliens’ and the use of affidavit as proof of residence put in place recently should be publicised to ensure that citizens are able to benefit fully.
- As a precondition to the aforementioned exercise, the public must be adequately informed of the process, the requirements and the modalities prior to the commencement of the process.
- A comprehensive inclusive process must be undertaken with adequate financial and well trained human resources. This process must be effectively decentralised to the ward level in each constituency. Adequate time must be allocated to each centre in proportion to the population density in the community.
- Stakeholders should have unfettered access to the process, particularly civil society organisations pursuing their legitimate functions of sensitising, mobilising citizens to participate in the process.
- Effective supervision of the Registrar General’s office by ZEC to safeguard the integrity of the process for which ZEC is ultimately accountable to stakeholders.
I have taken time Mr. Speaker to quote this communiqué because the civic society voice is very critical in the determination of a free and fair election. They are a critical component as a stakeholder to the outcome of our elections. Once the civic society condemns the process to which we are intending to hold our elections, we are bound to have the whole world condemning the elections. Therefore we need to take on board all stakeholders for them to be happy with the process for there is nothing to hide and there is nothing to be afraid of. Mr. Speaker, I therefore move that the motion be adopted as it is. Thank you.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
CONDOLENCES ON THE DEATH OF HON. SEISO MOYO
Third Order read: Adjourned debate on the condolence message for the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation, Hon. Seiso Moyo.
Question again proposed.
- CROSS: Mr. Speaker, I want to make my own views because Seiso Moyo was a member who lived in my constituency. He was not only a friend, a colleague but someone I respected; he was a unifier. I think there are very few people in this House who would have really called him anything like an enemy or someone with whom you would have a serious dispute.
What concerns me about his death was the aftermath. When I went to the house to visit the family to express my condolences the day after his death, I found his wife at the house in distress. This is because he had died without a will; he died intestate. The late Seiso Moyo had two wives, one by tradition and one by legal marriage in the church. His family was not protected and there was no guidance to his executor as to what his intentions were with his assets.
The late Deputy Minister died with some significant assets. He had a farm in the Beitbridge area, he had cattle, two hard body vehicles, a home in Bulawayo and he had some significant financial resources. On the day he died, all that was frozen. In addition, the family descended upon him. His wife has been working in Botswana for more than 20 years and she lives in Gaborone. She came back for the funeral.
When I got to the house one of the vehicles had already disappeared and
I had to intervene in the family’s affairs and help his wife to protect herself and the family from the deprivations of Seiso’s extended family.
Mr. Speaker I want to make the point that I wonder how many members of this House have got a will and how many members of this
House have made provisions for their families. In Seiso Moyo’s case, there were two women involved and five children. All five children were going to school or university. His two girls at university had to have their fees paid by the end of January. His estate was frozen and the family was unable to make those payments and we had to assist as a party to ensure that those girls went to university at one time. In addition, if his two girls are absolutely superb, they are both world class students. His eldest daughter, I think is one of the outstanding students of the day in South Africa. Therefore, if their careers had been threatened by this event, it would have been a tragedy.
Mr. Speaker, when I was General Manager of the CSC, when we lost staff, I forced every member of staff in the CSC; there were over 5 000 people, to sign a Will which we drafted. Upon a death, we automatically, stepped into the ring to protect the wife because I sensed, when I was General Manager that we had a woman whose husband died who was on the streets with a suitcase. The family took the car; the family took the house; the family stripped her and she was left literally penniless. So I stepped into the ring on behalf of the people who worked for me with their consent and made sure that every man who worked for us had a Will.
Mr. Speaker, I sincerely wish that we ensure that every member of this House has a Will and that, that Will is executed properly on behalf of their families. I think we should do that in memory of people like Seiso Moyo, who served their country well, who loved their families; loved their kids; brought up their children to be the best kind of people that they could be; but lost sight of the fact that, even though they were young people and Seiso was considerably younger than me, that when the time came they could not judge when he would be called home. Mr. Speaker, with those few remarks, I express my condolences to the family and I hope this House adopts this motion today.
- HLALO: Mr. Speaker Sir, I move that the debate do now adjourn.
- MAHLANGU: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 22nd May, 2013.
MOTION
FIRST REPORT OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON
EDUCATION, SPORT, ARTS AND CULTURE ON THE
ADMINISTRATION OF SOCCER IN ZIMBABWE
Fourth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the First Report of the Portfolio Committee on Education, Sport, Arts and Culture on the
Administration of Soccer in Zimbabwe and issues surrounding the Asiagate Scandal.
Question again proposed.
- KARENYI: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
- CHIMHINI: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 22nd May, 2013.
On the motion of MS. KARENYI, seconded by MR.
MAHLANGU, the House adjourned at Ten Minutes Past Four O’clock p.m.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Tuesday, 5th February, 2013
The Senate met at Half-past Two O’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(MADAM PRESIDENT in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENTS BY MADAM PRESIDENT
MDC-T CHANGES TO THERMATIC COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP
MADAM PRESIDENT: I wish to advise the Senate that the
MDC-T Party has nominated Hon. Senator Masara to serve on the HIV/AIDS and Indigenization and Empowerment Committees. The same Party has also advised of the change in Committees in which Hon.
Senator S Ncube serves. She moves from the Thematic Committee on Peace and Security to the Thematic Committee on Human Rights.
ZIMBABWE WOMEN PARLIAMENTARY CAUCUS STRATEGIC
PLANNING WORKSHOP
MADAM PRESIDENT: I wish to inform the Senate that all members of the Zimbabwe Women Parliamentary Caucus are invited to a strategic planning workshop to be held from the 8th to the 11th of February 2013 at Kadoma Hotel and Conference Centre. The bus leaves Parliament Building at 0900hrs on Friday, the 8th of April, 2013.
SWITCHING OFF OF CELLPHONES
MADAM PRESIDENT: May I remind hon. senators to switch off cellphones or put them on silent.
VISITORS IN THE SENATE GALLERY
MADAM PRESIDENT: I am pleased to recognise the presence
in this gallery of the students and teachers from Mabelreign Girls High School, you are most welcome.
MOTION
PRESIDENTIAL SPEECH: DEBATE ON ADDRESS
First Order read: Adjourned debate on motion in reply to the
Presidential Speech.
Question again proposed.
SENATOR MAKUNDE: Thank you Madam President. First of
all, I would like to say compliments of the new season to all members of the Senate including you Madam President. Since it is the beginning of the year, there is not much to talk about, but there is a Presidential
Speech in front of us and I think I will also add a few comments on it.
Let me begin by thanking you for allowing me this time to address the Senate. Madam President. My speech will rather be a short comment on a few issues in response to the historic speech that was delivered to this House by His Excellency, The President Cde R. G. Mugabe on the occasion of the Official Opening of the 5th Session of the Seventh Parliament of Zimbabwe.
Madam President, His Excellency raised some issues in his address but the first one was an acknowledgement of the work done by our Select Committee on COPAC. In his address, he said the growing mutual collaboration is commendable. The togetherness that was shown by the team that worked on the Constitution should be a role model to all Zimbabweans. I want to thank the Inclusive Government as a whole on this job well done and if other members were from this Senate, it means they also represented us all. It makes us the heroes of our time. I also want to personally share with all Zimbabweans across the political parties that what we have witnessed during the process of the
Constitution making should be maintained and continue to build upon.
I want to thank the COPAC Select Committee and all those who gave them advice and moral support, even if I know it was a tough task. His Excellency also talked about the forthcoming core-hosting of the 2013 United Nations World Tourism General Assembly which will take place on our Zimbabwean soil. Madam President, this event will not only be happening in Victoria Falls, Victoria Falls will only be a venue for the conference, the visitors are going to spread into the country. It will be a time for us as Zimbabweans to prove to the visitors and to the whole world that Zimbabwe is one, peace loving and a development loving nation.
I hope even those who go to churches must pray for this congregation. It is time that the bad propaganda that has been preached across the world is proved to be nothing. If we managed to pull together during these three years of the said COPAC, a long journey of negotiations and compromise, can we not allow this historic event to go on peacefully and happily? We are the makers of our own history. I want to quote the words of His Excellency, the President, Cde, R. G.
Mugabe when he addressed the House, he said “This auspicious world event, should also provide fresh impetous to the growth and development of our tourism industry, I want to hope that everybody looks forward to the successful core-hosting of the event.”
Now I move to agriculture, as usual His Excellency discussed about it as our leading economic sector in Zimbabwe, contributing 15- to 18 per cent of the gross domestic product. He said that this sector will need priority treatment in terms of planning and the provision of resources. Indeed I want to thank the Inclusive Government on this agricultural season. I witnessed this Senate agreeing to give money to banks for agriculture and to recapitalise Agri-Bank and some few banks that deal with farmers. I want to thank them for that move. The President went ahead to say that it is a deliberate move because this is our greatest sector in our economy, it should be a deliberate move for the Government to put resources to that sector.
I want to continue pressing responsible ministries, departments and banks to have fore-sight and focus on the strength of our banks in their support to farmers and the agricultural sector. I want to talk about the small scale farmer who is in the village, these farmers are well organised and they have their village heads, headmen and chiefs. I want to urge the Government to continue supporting these people. My constituency is Murehwa and they grow maize, we have a history of producing a lot of maize and this maize comes from small scale farmers. I want to repeat again, our Government should continue to support these small scale growers because they send all their produce to the Grain Marketing
Board.
Madam President, His Excellency also discussed service delivery by Government, parastatals and local authorities. Service delivery is a key sector that should be looked at. We must have the capacity to generate power. As the President said, we must not only look at the big hydro schemes, we must also start to look at the reports that were made and several researches including solar power irrigation and other purposes. We should focus on those smaller hydro powers so that they become useful.
Still on service delivery Madam President, I am disturbed by the lack of water supply systems in most of our urban areas including small towns and growth points. One of these places is Macheke where I stay. Macheke is in Mashonaland East and is in Murewa constituency and that is where I come from. The water reticulation system that is in Macheke was meant for the small elite group of about fifty whites who came to settle in Macheke. Up to this time, that is the capacity of water we have. The town plans are now bigger, the population is growing bigger. There was one business man during that time and there was one post master during that time but now the population is big. Using that small water pump and small water reservoir is not sufficient. This is not only in Macheke but I think it is across Zimbabwe. We need to manage water systems in towns as these are the causes of diseases as well I cannot over emphasize about their dangers.
In conclusion Madam President, I want to thank our President on his Speech when he said he was willing and he was pushing for the government to introduce e-learning programmes to the rural areas. We remember it was launched at Chogugudza in Goromonzi and e-learning was also introduced and launched at Landa J. Nkomo High School in Tsholotsho. I only want to say the spread of learning is welcome to our society and to our children. May the responsible ministry continue to facilitate our schools with teachers for the betterment of our society. I thank you Madam President.
THE GOVERNOR FOR MATEBELELAND NORTH: I move
that the debate do now adjourn. Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 6th February, 2013.
MOTION
ABOLITION OF THE DEATH PENALTY
Second Order Read: Adjourned debate on motion on the death penalty.
Question again proposed.
SENATOR RUGARA: Madam President, I would like to take part in this debate and only perhaps echoing some of the sentiments that were raised when it first came to the House. Death sentence, should it be repealed or should it continue? I want to premise my remarks on the fact that killing is killing. When you kill as a person you are a murderer and when you kill as a government or an organized group you do not want to call yourselves murderers but you are.
Really, some of the killing is organized and organized killing is what we see when we have on our statutes an eye for an eye, that is, if you kill you better be killed too. What I say, murder therefore is not a form of any punishment because I know for sure that punishment should not be the very final thing you do. You punish to educate, you punish to make someone better for today but can anybody in this House tell me what happens when you have exercised you death penalty. How does a dead person learn? It says for one, either you do not know what you are doing or you do not see the implications or you simply want to exercise your prerogative of punishment and punishment just for punishment’s sake without any implication and without any realization that this one is final punishment, this person’s life is terminated.
I believe we are not here as a society to be an agency of murder or the agency of killing. Therefore, I would like to think enlightened governments have moved away from the death sentence. They have done so because they realize it is wrong. How do two wrongs make a right? They do not. The murderer is himself a wrong doer but then whoever kills him is also a wrong doer of the same type of crime in fact although some of it is organized. Madam President this House or this nation better be enlightened enough to see that death sentence is a primitive way of punishment. Let us live further out of the mud and consider things like permanent residence in confinement. Whereas you keep the murderer away from the society but life termination should be avoided. With these few words Madam President, I would like to ask, plead with this House that if we thought an eye for an eye was an answer, we were wrong, it is like saying two and three make four.
Madam President, I beseech you to move with my kind of thinking and join the rest of the enlightened world where death sentence does not exist. Thank you very much.
SENATOR HLALO: Thank you Madam President, I would also
want to add my voice to this debate which is very pertinent especially this time when we look at ourselves as being in a reconciliation in this country. I will start by saying that as we are a circular Christian country, Zimbabwe should also do what Christians do, and Christians normally forgive others as we all pray every Sunday that we should forgive those who trespass against us.
Part of the speech not recorded due to technical fault
MADAM PRESIDENT: I wish to remind Hon. Senators that our
rules indicate that you may not debate twice on the same motion and Senator Hlalo you actually seconded this motion. So please those who contributed to it give a chance to the others so that we also hear what they have to say on this motion. Thank you
SENATOR MUCHIHWA: Thank you Madam President. I
would like to congratulate this House for meeting in 2013, despite all the challenges we were facing, especially with the loss of Vice President John Nkomo, I would like to say peace to all of you and also our Deputy Minister Seiso Moyo.
Referring to the death penalty, it is very painful when we look at how this law came into our midst. But now that we are civilised, long ago things were just being imposed on us. Even this House was not ours, it was for settlers. Those people would put rules that were good for them in trying to make us suffer as Zimbabweans but looking at how the law was put into place, it was to make us suffer as black people. But now we are civilized, we can stay in this House but we find that we are also putting that law into practice because what you do is what you get as well. Even musicians sing that, which means that God has got his own laws. We know that there are murderers where we grew up in the rural areas, there were so many forests there but you would find that as time goes on you will find that those places were no longer scary because those murders would have met their justice. But I also think that when we look at this law, we see that all the nations in the United Nations agreed that this law is not applicable anymore. Yes there are issues which are very bad, but I think that it is only the Lord who can bring justice. Even if a person kills 20 000 people; that person will meet his own time as well because we all have our time to live on earth. We cannot live forever. So let us bear in mind that it is only God who can revenge.
If one is convicted and proved to have murdered people, I think there should be a place for those people (murderers) where they should be send and they will be quarantined until they meet their time through the Lord who will bring justice on them. This is what I just wanted to say in adding my voice on this motion. Thank you Madam President.
THE GOVERNOR FOR MATABELELAND NORTH: I move
that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 6th February, 2013.
On the motion of THE GOVERNOR FOR MATABELELAND
NORTH, the Senate adjourned at Fourteen Minutes past Three O’clock p.m.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Wednesday, 6th February, 2013.
The Senate met at Half-past Two O’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(MADAM PRESIDENT in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENTS BY MADAM PRESIDENT
DEBATE ON COPAC REPORT
MADAM PRESIDENT: I would like to remind hon. Senators
that the motion under debate is on the report of the Constitution
Parliamentary Select Committee on the progress and outcome of the Constitution making process and not on the accompanying COPAC final draft Constitution which is only for noting. Debate on the motion on the
COPAC Report should be strictly confined to the provisions of the
COPAC report itself and not contents of the Final Draft Constitution. Debate on the contents of the Final Draft Constitution will only be permitted during the second reading and Committee stages of the Constitution Bill. Once it is introduced in Parliament after the Referendum. I therefore urge members to confine their debate to the COPAC Report. I thank you.
SWITCHING OFF OF CELLPHONES
MADAM PRESIDENT: May I please remind hon. Senators to
put your cellphones on silent.
MOTION
COPAC REPORT
THE GOVENOR FOR MATABELELAND NORTH: Thank
you Madam President, I move the motion standing in my name that this House:
COGNISANT of the fact that Article 6 of the Global Political Agreement provides that there shall be set up a Select Committee of Parliament to spearhead the drafting of a people driven Constitution of
Zimbabwe.
ACKNOWLEDGING that the Committee on Standing Rules and
Orders on the 12th of April, 2009 did set up a Committee known as the
Constitutional Parliamentary Select Committee (COPAC);
REALISNG that the said Committee did undertake and complete drafting the new Constitution of Zimbabwe as provided for in terms of article 6 of the Global Political Agreement;
MINDFUL of the fact that Article 6 of the Global Political
Agreement further provides that COPAC must table the Report and draft
Constitution of Zimbabwe before the Hon. House;
NOW THEREFORE, Adopts the Report of the Constitution making process and;
FURTHER NOTES the draft Constitution of Zimbabwe tablked
before it.
HON. SENATOR GAULE: I second.
THE GOVENOR FOR MATABELELAND NORTH: Madam
President, on the 12th of April 2009. The Select Committee on the new Constitution for Zimbabwe was set up to spearhead the writing of a new Constitution for Zimbabwe. The setting up of this Committee was in fulfillment of Article 6 of the GPA signed by the three parties in Parliament on the 15th of September 2008. The Committee was made up of members as listed on page four of my report. Madam President, because of his schedule the Minister of Education Sports Arts and Culture Hon. David Coltart was replaced by Hon. Mkhosi as Co-Chair of the Select Committee. In the course of this exercise Hon. Edward Chindori Chininga was recalled by his party and was replaced by Hon. L. D. K. Dokora.
Your Committee wishes to report that we lost Hon. J.B. Ndlovu in December 2010 following a tragic road accident and that he was replaced by Hon. Innocent Gonese. We also lost Hon. G. Dube in December 2011 in a sudden death that shocked the Committee. May their dear souls rest in eternal peace. Hon. J. B. Ndlovu was not replaced. The Committee concluded the process with one member less.
Madam President, in order to effectively undertake its mandate in cognisant of the many roles, the Parliament staff was engaged. The Select Committee established its own secretariat in December 2009, which was to fully concentrate on the task at hand, as strict time lines had been set up in Article 6 of the GPA. This was to give the Committee unfettered attention in order to comply with the deadlines provided. Regrettably, the process took longer than anticipated for reasons to be outlined later in this report. The secretariat which supported the
Committee Madam President, is listed on page 5 of my report up to page 6. The Select Committee parted ways with Peter Kunjeku in October 2010 as national coordinator and head of the secretariat after his contract was not renewed. Mr Gift Marunda then took over as Acting National Coordinator.
During the course of the process, we lost the following members of staff MR. Clifford Mupande, Mrs Vimbai Chiutsi, Mrs. Grace Fundira Buhera. May their dear souls rest in eternal peace. The Select Committee was also supported by technical team members carefully selected at each stage of the process. A schedule of these team members is attached to the report.
Working modalities of the Select Committee. In order to effectively and efficiently carry out its mandate the Select Committee created sub-Committees made up of its members as follows. Budget and Finance sub-Committee, this sub Committee was chaired by Hon. Walter Chidakwa and deputised by Hon. Gift Chimanikire. The other members of the sub Committee were Hon. T. Mohadi, Hon. E Matamisa, Hon. I Kay, Hon. M. Mutsvangwa and Hon. B Gaule. The purpose of this sub-Committee was to ensure the effective management of financial resources for the select Committee.
Human Resources sub-Committee, this sub-Committee was chaired by Hon. G Chimanikire and deputised by Hon. W. Chidakwa. The other members of the sub-Committee were Hon. M. Mutsvanga,
Hon. A Chibaya, Hon, J Gumbo, Hon, R. Muchihwa, Hon. M Khumalo,
Hon. Chief F Charumbira and Hon. B. Gaule the purpose of this sub Committee was to ensure the effective management of human resources for the Select Committee.
Stakeholders sub Committee, this sub Committee was chaired by Hon. Chindori Chininga at its instance but the chair was then replaced by Hon. F. Buka when he left COPAC. The sub Committee was deputised by Hon. R. Muchihwa. The other members of the sub
Committee were Hon. Amos Chibaya, Hon. Innocent Gonese, Hon.
Cephas Makuyana, Hon. Editor Matamisa, Hon. Thokozile Mathuthu,
Hon. Believe Gaule, Hon. Tambudzani Mohadi, Hon. Lazarus Dokora, Hon. Joram Gumbo and Hon. Chief Fortune Charumbira. The purpose of this sub-committee was to ensure that all programmatic activities of COPAC related to the convening of major activities were managed effectively.
2.4 Information and Publicity sub-committee
This sub-committee was chaired by Hon. Jessie Majome and deputised by Hon. Martin Khumalo. The other members of the subcommittee were Hon. Ian Kay, Hon. Olivia Muchena, Hon. Joram Gumbo, Hon. Flora Buka, Hon. Innocent Gonese, and Hon. Believe Gaule. The purpose of this sub-committee was to ensure the effective management of the media and communications arm of the Select Committee.
2.5 Legal sub-committee
This sub-committee was chaired by Hon. Brian Tshuma. The other members of the sub-committee were Hon. Monica Mutsvangwa, Hon. Innocent Gonese and Hon. Believe Gaule. The four member subcommittee was a late creation after the Select Committee realised that there were a lot of legal issues that needed to be attended to.
3 Terms of Reference of the Select Committee
The terms of reference for the Committee are clearly spelt in Article VI of the GPA:
Acknowledging that it is the fundamental right and duty of the Zimbabwean people to make a constitution by themselves and for themselves; Aware that the process of making this constitution must be owned and driven by the people and must be inclusive and democratic; Recognising that the current Constitution of Zimbabwe made at the Lancaster House Conference, London (1979) was primarily to transfer power from the colonial authority to the people of Zimbabwe; Acknowledging the draft Constitution that the Parties signed and agreed to in Kariba on the 30th of September 2007.
Determined to create conditions for our people to write a constitution for themselves; and mindful of the need to ensure that the new Constitution deepens our democratic values and principles and the protection of the equality of all citizens, particularly the enhancement of full citizenship and equality of women. The Parties hereby agree:
- a) that they shall set up a Select Committee of Parliament composed of representatives of the Parties whose terms of reference shall be as follows:
- to set up such subcommittees chaired by a member of
Parliament and composed of members of Parliament and representatives of Civil Society as may be necessary to assist the Select Committee in performing its mandate herein; ii. to hold such public hearings and such consultations as it may deem necessary in the process of public consultation over the making of a new constitution for Zimbabwe; iii. to convene an All Stakeholders Conference to consult stakeholders on their representation in the sub-committees referred to above and such related matters as may assist the committee in its work; iv. to table its draft Constitution to a 2nd All Stakeholders
Conference; and
- to report to Parliament on its recommendations over the content of a New Constitution for Zimbabwe
- that the draft Constitution recommended by the Select Committee shall be submitted to a referendum;
- that, in implementing the above, the following time frames shall apply:
- the Select Committee shall be set up within two months of inception of a new government; ii. the convening of the first All Stakeholders Conference shall be within three months of the date of the appointment of the Select
Committee; iii. the public consultation process shall be completed no later than
4 months of the date of the first All Stakeholders Conference; iv. the draft Constitution shall be tabled within 3 months of completion of the public consultation process to a second All
Stakeholders Conference;
- the draft Constitution and the accompanying Report shall be tabled before Parliament within one month of the second All
Stakeholders Conference;
- the draft Constitution and the accompanying Report shall be debated in Parliament and the debate concluded within one month; vii. the draft Constitution emerging from Parliament shall be gazetted before the holding of a referendum; viii. a referendum on the new draft Constitution shall be held within 3 months of the conclusion of the debate; ix. in the event of the draft Constitution being approved in the referendum it shall be gazetted within 1 month of the date of the referendum; and
- the draft Constitution shall be introduced in Parliament no later than 1 month after the expiration of the period of 30 days from the date of its gazetting.
In carrying out its mandate, the Select Committee was guided by the following principles:
- That all decisions during its deliberations were to be by consensus.
- That meetings of the Committee or its sub-committees were deemed official only when all the parties in the inclusive Government were represented, provided that in cases were one party was not represented, the co-chair of that party‟s representatives allowed such a meeting to proceed as an official meeting in their absence.That all Select Committee meetings would be co-chaired. Madam President, your Committee also included a representative of the Chiefs Council who sits in Parliament. During the initial period the Select Committee operated within the precincts of Parliament and was serviced by the Parliament secretariat. The Select Committee acknowledges the immense role played by the Clerk and his team during this formative phase of the process. An independent secretariat was then recruited in December 2009 and was based at the COPAC Head Office at 31 Lawson Avenue in Milton Park, Harare.
Before embarking on the stages outlined in Article VI of the Global
Political Agreement, your committee held preparatory meetings and seminars. In this regard your committee benefited immensely from the expertise and experience of Cyril Ramaphosa and Roelf Meyer from
South Africa. Your committee is also indebted to our fellow
Zimbabweans Professor Reginald Austin, Justice Ben Hlatshwayo and Mrs Joyce Kazembe for their input during the initial stages of the process.
The committee also undertook provincial outreach programmes which were meant to introduce the committee to the populace as well as to afford an opportunity to explain the various stages of the process as envisaged in the Global Political Agreement.
1. First All Stakeholders’ Conference
The First All Stakeholders‟ Conference was held at the Harare International Conference Centre on the 1st of July 2009. The conference which was facilitated by Dr. Hope Sadza and Professor Pheneas
Makhurane was attended by about 4 000 delegates. The major product of that conference was the development and adoption of the following thematic areas:
- Founding principles of the constitution
- Separation of powers of the State
- Systems of Government
- Executive organs of the state, PSC, Police and Defence
- Elections, transitional mechanisms and independent commissions
- Citizenship and Bill of Rights
- Land and Natural Resources
- Public Finance and Management
- Media
- Traditional institutions and customs
- Labour
- Youth
- Disabled
- War Veterans/ Freedom fighters
- Local Languages, Arts and Culture
- Women and Gender
- Religion
Madam President, the above thematic areas became a basis upon which the outreach programme was conducted. The First All
Stakeholders‟ Conference also mandated the Select Committee to ensure that in all its processes, political parties would constitute 30%, while civic society would constitute 70%. The Select Committee was also required to ensure that the principle of equal representation of men and women in all its organs was adhered to.
2. Management Committee
In order to expedite the work of the Select Committee, the Principals to the Global Political Agreement established a structure known as the
Management Committee to give policy and strategic direction to the process, as well as serving as a deadlock breaking mechanism. The Management Committee comprised of the two negotiators from the three parties that are signatories to the Global Political Agreement, the
Minister of Constitutional Parliamentary Affairs and the Co-chairs of the Select Committee as follows:
- Tendai Laxton Biti
- Patrick Antony Chinamasa
- Nicholas Tasunungurwa Goche
- Elton Steers Mangoma
- Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana
- Adv. Eric Taurai Matinenga
- Edward Thsothso Mkhosi
- Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga
- Douglas Togarasei Mwonzora
- Prof. Welshman Ncube
During the course of the process Hon. Ncube was replaced by Hon.
Moses Mzila-Ndlovu.
3. Funding arrangements for the process
Madam President, because of the magnitude of the process and the costs involved, the process was jointly funded by the Government of
Zimbabwe and the donors through a basket of funds managed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). In this regard, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed with the UNDP in March
2010 which led to the establishment of the Project Board. The Project Board, which met on a quarterly basis, was responsible for approving budgets and work plans in respect of the usage of donor funds for the process. The Project Board comprised of the entire Management Committee, three representatives of the donors and representatives of civil society in the form of Dr. Hope Sadza and Professor Pheneas Makhurane.
The Select Committee acknowledges with thanks the role played by the UNDP Zimbabwe Resident Coordinator Mr. Alain Noudéhou, the former UNDP Zimbabwe Country Director Ms. Christine Umutoni and their team which included Mr. Mfaro Moyo, Mrs. Noria Mashumba and Mr. Anthony Nyagadza in mobilising more resources for the process.
4. Training of Outreach Team Members
Madam President, pursuant to the directives of the First All Stakeholders‟ Conference, COPAC facilitated the training of outreach team members in December 2009 and early January 2010. Over 700 delegates were trained during this period. Over three quarters of the hon. members of Parliament were involved during this exercise. The purpose of the training was to ensure that the delegates would understand the methodology for conducting the outreach programme. The major output of the workshop was the development and production of „Talking Points‟ from the 17 thematic areas that emanated from the First Stakeholders Conference. The Talking Points were later fine-tuned by legal experts drawn from the three political parties in the GNU. These Talking Points were critical in eliciting responses from participants during the outreach programme. These „Talking Points‟ were translated into various local languages.
5. Training of Rapporteurs
In April 2010 the Rapporteurs who were to be responsible for recording the responses from the outreach were trained. A total of 210
Rapporteurs were trained translating to three per outreach team. These Rapporteurs represented the political parties that are signatories to the Global Political Agreement. It was decided that the three Rapporteurs would produce a report which would have to be adopted by teams as reflecting a true record of what had transpired during each meeting.
6. The Outreach Programme
Before embarking on the outreach programme, COPAC embarked on a process of identifying the meeting points with the assistance of stakeholders such as political parties, Provincial Administrators, District Administrators and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.
COPAC thought it prudent that the outreach be launched by the Principals to give them an opportunity to reiterate their commitment to the process and assure the citizens that their views would be respected.
All the three Principals committed themselves to uphold the views that would emerge from the people. The launch of the outreach programme was done on Wednesday the 16th of June 2010.
On the 21st of June 2010, COPAC embarked on the outreach programme countrywide. 70 teams were dispatched to the different provinces of the country. Each of the outreach teams comprised of the following members:
- Co-chairs as overall supervisors
- 2 members of the Select Committee as provincial supervisors
- 3 Co-team leaders
- 3 Rapporteurs
- 1 Technician
- Drivers
- Ordinary team members
Each of the teams comprised an average of 14 members. 70% of these members were drawn from civil society and 30% from political parties in line with the resolution of the First All Stakeholders‟ Conference.
The outreach process took an additional 30 days over and above the 65 days originally planned. The outreach consultation process was completed and a total of 4 943 meetings were successfully completed in 1 960 wards countrywide as reflected in the table below.
Province | No. of meetings | Total No. of participants | No. of males | No. of females | No. of youths | No. of special needs | Average attendance |
Mash East | 567 | 181 756 | 60 158 | 69 733 | 50 400 | 1 465 | 321 |
Mash West | 509 | 121 647 | 55 034 | 44 148 | 22 119 | 346 | 239 |
Manicaland | 677 | 152 130 | 57 828 | 67 760 | 24 911 | 1 631 | 225 |
Mat South | 477 | 48 211 | 19 248 | 21 602 | 7 142 | 219 | 101 |
Mash Central | 652 | 214 023 | 71 965 | 77 284 | 63 482 | 1 292 | 328 |
Mat North | 614 | 53 077 | 20 905 | 20 605 | 11 246 | 321 | 86 |
Masvingo | 622 | 184 208 | 64 960 | 76 267 | 41 053 | 1 928 | 296 |
Midlands | 672 | 102 453 | 43 842 | 42 690 | 15 515 | 406 | 152 |
Harare | 96 | 49 699 | 17 541 | 17 192 | 14 761 | 215 | 518 |
Bulawayo | 57 | 11 556 | 4 791 | 3 957 | 2 611 | 197 | 203 |
Totals | 4 943 | 1 118 760 | 416 272 | 441 238 | 253 240 | 8 020 | 226 |
In Harare, a total of 44 out of the planned 84 meetings were convened prior to the decision by the Management Committee to suspend outreach programmes in the Capital.
1. National Consultative Outreach for Children
COPAC partnered with UNICEF to convene a special outreach meeting for children from the 22nd to the 23rd of September 2010 at Parliament Buildings. Some of the views raised by children during this and other meetings across the country are captured in this Draft Constitution.
7. Special Outreach for Members of Parliament
Most Members of Parliament were members of the outreach teams that conducted the consultations countrywide. As a result, they did not get an opportunity to air their views for possible inclusion in the Draft Constitution. In this regard, they requested that a special outreach be conducted for them, and this was done on Thursday the 11th of November 2010 at Parliament Buildings. The important views they expressed are captured in this Draft Constitution.
8. Institutional Submissions
COPAC also received 52 written submissions from institutions and other organized groups. These views as expressed by these submissions have been incorporated into the Draft Constitution.
9. Special Outreach for the Disabled
Special outreach meetings for the disabled were carried out throughout the country. These meetings were coordinated by the umbrella bodies for the disabled at selected meeting places in each province. The invaluable contributions by the disabled were factored into the Draft Constitution.
10. Participation by the Diaspora
The COPAC website was launched and groups in the Diaspora were encouraged to use it for their contributions. There was a good response from groups in the Diaspora, with 2,200 responses being submitted. The information was quantified and analysed for incorporation into the main outreach material.
11. Data Uploading
The process of up loading data was conducted from the 10th to the 25th of January 2011. This process was essentially meant to store the outreach data in electronic format. It will be noted that although all outreach teams had laptops, it was not possible to electronically record the responses on the day of the proceedings for various reasons, which include power cuts, which affected many parts of the country. It therefore became necessary to upload the data into a giant sever. COPAC developed software application known as CODACA, specifically for this purpose. Although technical problems were encountered in the initial stages, all the data was successfully uploaded.
12. Sitting of Thematic Committees
The Thematic Committees had the mandate to analyise the data that came from outreach. 425 participants constituted the Thematic Committees. Of this figure, 30% were Members of Parliament and 70% of the membership came from civil society. A decision was also made to allocate 30 and 17 slots to small political parties and Chiefs respectively.
During the sitting of these Thematic Committees disagreements arose on the methodology to be adopted in analysing the data. Specifically, some were in favour of using the “quantitative method”, which entailed using the number of wards in which an issue was mentioned, as a
measurement of the popularity of that issue, while others preferred the “qualitative method”, which entailed using other parameters such as the meeting atmosphere and the spread of acceptability of the issue across all provinces. An agreement was then reached to use both methods in analysing the data.
The major outcome of the Thematic Committees was the production of Ward, District, Provincial and the National Statistical Reports.
13. Interpretation of statistics
Prior to the commencement of outreach, the Select Committee resolved to have specific number of meetings in each ward in order to ensure uniformity and fairness in reaching out to the people across the country. The resolution was to the effect that three meetings were to be held per ward in rural areas while one meeting was to be held per ward in urban areas. The difference in the number of meetings between urban and rural areas was motivated by the fact that most rural wards are vast and people would travel long distances to attend a meeting at a central venue in the ward. However, there were more than three meetings per ward in some rural districts and more than one meeting in some urban wards for various reasons. Because of the differences in the number of meetings held per each ward throughout the country, it was agreed that the ward would be used as the unit of analysis as opposed to the meeting.
The percentages generated in the statistical reports are based on the number of wards in which an issue was mentioned out of the total number of wards. It therefore gives a general indication of the views which came out of the public consultative process. Given the fact that this was not a scientific study, the Select Committee resolved that both the statistics (quantitative) and qualitative outcomes (for example meeting atmosphere and others) must be taken into account in deciding what would eventually go into the constitution. The interpretation of these statistics therefore has to take into account these limitations in methodology. Whilst a high frequency was a general guide that in itself was not the sole determinant of the importance of an issue enough to find its way into the Draft Constitution that has been produced.
14. Preparatory work for drafting
Some of the issues that were raised during the outreach programme were not necessarily constitutional. The Select Committee then undertook an exercise of extracting constitutional issues from the National Statistical Reports. In this regard COPAC engaged 17 legal experts (5 per political party and 2 representatives of Chiefs).
The Select Committee met at various locations which include Pandhari, Masvingo, Vumba and Bulawayo and engaged in the following
processes:
- The extraction of Constitutional issues, all of them, as derived from the outreach process. These are contained in a document entitled „Drafting Instruments‟ which is also attached for the information of this Honourable House.
- The second exercise was to extract, from the list of constitutional issues, the list of Agreed Constitutional issues that would actually go into the constitution These are also contained in the document entitled „Drafting Instruments‟ noted above.
- The Select Committee also developed 26 Constitutional Principles from the National Statistical Report to guide the drafting process.
These are also contained in the document entitled „Drafting Instruments‟ noted above.
- There were gaps in the information that was collected during the outreach programme. In some instances technical questions were not addressed. People answered the question “what”, and did not address the question of “how” they wanted the issues to be effected in the constitution. The Select Committee with the assistance of technical experts then conducted a process of identifying and filling the gaps and produced an agreed Document on Gap Filling.
Some of the gaps identified were in respect of the following areas:
- Qualifications of judges
- Removal of judges from office
- Who can declare a state of emergency
- Acquisition, loss and restoration of citizenship
- Powers of the Senate and the House of Assembly
- Election of President of the Senate
- Election of Speaker of the House of Assembly
- General matters relating to parliament
- Procedure in parliament
The Gap Filling information is also contained in the document entitled „Drafting Instruments‟ noted above.
15. Drafting
The following Principal Drafters were appointed by the Select Committee:
- Justice Moses Chinhengo,
- Brian Crozier and
- Priscilla Madzonga.
These Drafters were chosen for their competence and expertise in drafting. They were assisted by a Drafting Committee comprising of 5 nominees from each of the political parties represented in Parliament and two others nominated by the Chiefs Council. The Select Committee produced Drafting Instructions to guide the drafters in their work. The drafting process was scheduled to be completed in 35 days. Up to the time this Final Draft Constitution was produced, the drafting process had cumulatively taken 102 days.
In January 2012, the Preliminary Draft was produced which was interrogated by the Select Committee culminating in fresh instructions to the Drafters. In order to expedite the work of the Select Committee, the
Co-chairpersons‟ Forum was established to interrogate the draft. It comprised of the following:
- M. P. Mangwana
- D. T. Mwonzora
- E. T. Mkhosi
- Alex Magaisa
- Godwills Masimirembwa
- Josephat Tshuma
The Chairpersons‟ Forum produced a report which was adopted by the Select Committee. The report formed the basis for fresh instructions to the Drafters. A First Draft was then produced at the end of April
- After receipt of comments from political parties the Select
Committee sat to interrogate same and produced a document on agreed and disagreed issues. This document was referred to the Management Committee.
Madam President, during the course of drafting, disagreements emerged on issues relating to Dual citizenship, Devolution, Attorney General, the Executive and the National Prosecution Authority. These matters were referred to the Management Committee for resolution. The Management Committee then met in May, June and July 2012 to deliberate on the First Draft Constitution and the parked issues. The
Management Committee discussions resulted in the COPAC Draft of the
18th of July 2012. The Select Committee formally adopted this Draft Constitution on the 21st of July 2012. This is the Draft Constitution that was then taken to the second All Stakeholders Conference in October 2012.
16. The Second All Stakeholders Conference
The Select Committee convened the Second All Stakeholders
Conference at the Harare International Conference centre from the 21st to the 23rd of October 2012. The conference which was attended by 1 400 delegates had the following terms of reference:
- To receive the Report on the Constitution making process up to the time of the Conference.
- To receive the Draft Constitution from the Select Committee.
- To receive comments and recommendations on the Draft Constitution from the Stakeholders.
- The Select Committee to take note of the comments and recommendations.
- The Select Committee to compile a report for its own use.
The Opening Session of the Second All Stakeholders‟ Conference was officially opened by His Excellency, The President R. G. Mugabe, The Right Hon. Prime Minister M. R. Tsvangirayi and Deputy Prime Minister A. G. O. Mutambara.
The Conference report outlined the following:
- Areas where no changes were recommended to the Draft
- Areas where recommendations for change to the Draft were made
(and not indicated whether agreed or disagreed )
- Areas where recommendations or changes to the Draft were recommended and disagreed
Under item (b), the Select Committee agreed on taking some recommendations proposed as well as dismissing others considered inappropriate. It is on areas covered under (c) as detailed in the report of the conference that challenges on how to proceed arose.
17. The Committee of Seven
Noting the impasse that had arisen on how to proceed with the areas that had not been agreed upon during the Conference, the Principals to the Global Political Agreement established a Committee of Seven on the 25th of November 2012 to try to unlock the deadlock. The committee consisted of three Cabinet Ministers, one from each of the parties to the
Global Political Agreement, the Co-chairs of the Select Committee and the Minister of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs as the convener and chair as follows:
- Adv. Eric T. Matinenga
- Tendai Laxton Biti
- Patrick Antony Chinamasa
- Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana
- Edward Tshothso Mkhosi
- Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga
- Douglas Togaraseyi Mwonzora
After several meetings the committee met with the Principals on the morning of Thursday 17 January 2013 resolved the areas of disagreement. This paved the way for the revision of the Draft of 18
July 2012, which your Committee has done. It is this Final Draft
Constitution that your Select Committee hereby tables before this
Honourable House for its consideration.
18. The need for negotiations
Madam President, this Constitution making process has been a people driven process in both deed and spirit. As indicated earlier, the consultation processes have little parallels in Africa and the world over. The outreach phase attracted over 1,100,000 (One million one hundred thousand) people, roughly the same number of people who voted in the 2008 General Elections. Mr. Speaker Sir, negotiations were necessary because of the diverse views raised by the people. Specifically, negotiations were necessary for the following reasons:
- The inconclusiveness of the data gathered.
- The contradictory nature of the data in some instances.
- The divergent views as raised by delegates at the Second All Stakeholders Conference.
- The need to benchmark the Draft Constitution to international best practice.
19. Adoption of Final Draft Constitution
Madam President, we are pleased to report that the Draft Constitution that is a culmination of all the processes mentioned above was formally adopted by the Select Committee as suitable for presentation to this august House on Thursday the 31st of January 2013.
20. Challenges
Madam President, the process has not been an easy one. The Select Committee encountered several challenges as it navigated its way on the process:
- Delays in funding.
- Serious political polarisation.
- Negative media publicity.
Despite all the challenges, the Select Committee has managed to produce the Final Draft Constitution and its accompanying report. It is this report that we table for your consideration.
We wish to give a special thank you to the Government of Zimbabwe for providing over USD $24.7 million in support of the process. We also remain indebted to our cooperating partners, who, to-date have contributed USD $21 million to the process.
Madam President, particular mention should be made of the Cochairs and members of the Select Committee whose dedication and commitment have made this day a reality. Your Committee wishes to thank the teams that participated in the process from outreach up to the drafting stage. These were committed Zimbabweans, some of whom went without a decent meal as they moved from one meeting to another during outreach.
We also thank the many lodges and hotels and other service providers for the service rendered during the process. They all made a significant contribution to the constitution making process. Some remain ready to assist where possible, despite not having been fully paid their dues.
Finally, we wish to thank the secretariat for working around the clock under very difficult circumstances. Your efforts have not been in vain.
Apart from constitution making, the process has by and large been a platform for national dialogue. It has helped in reducing tension amongst political opponents. Whilst this constitution was being made, a silent revolution was taking place amongst Zimbabweans. When the full story of COPAC is told, it shall reveal a deep sense of patriotism, patience and the need to listen to one another. In the political discourse that follows, Zimbabweans must be guided by the spirit of service to the nation, resilience, and togetherness in order for this great nation to prosper.
Please note that this executive summary is a mere microcosm of the full report. Those who intend to read in detail what transpired at various stages of the process can refer to the full report which is contained below. I thank you.
SENATOR GAULE: Thank you Madam President, I also rise to
support the motion that is before this august House and it is not my intention to drag this House into boredom by repeating what has already been said.
I will therefore start by explaining the meaning of the statistics that you will find in our reports. Madam President, the percentages depicted in our reports are based on the number of wards in which an issue was mentioned out of the total number of wards. Due to the fact that the Outreach Programme was not a scientific study; the Select Committee resolved that both the statistics, quantitative and qualitative outcomes, meeting atmosphere, etcetera, must be taken into account by deciding what would eventually go into the Constitution.
The Outreach Programme was a mammoth exercise which actually generated a mixed bag of views. Allow me to make this point that, not all the views that came out of the Outreach Programme were necessarily constitutional. Your Committee then engaged in an exercise of extracting constitutional issues from the Outreach Report which led to the production of a document on constitutional issues. Madam President, your Committee also engaged in a process of extracting agreed constitutional issues from the list of constitutional issues. These are the issues that eventually found their way into the Constitution.
Your Committee also developed 26 Constitutional Principles from the Outreach Report to guide the drafting process. The data that came from the Outreach contains some gaps as some of the issues required to complete the Constitution were technical and could not be asked during outreach.
I am pleased to report that your Committee successfully filled the gaps. Madam President, the technical part of the drafting process was made by three drafters who are distinguished fellow Zimbabweans. I wish to bring to the attention of the Senate that Justice Moses
Chinhengo, Bryn Desmond Crosier and Mrs Priscilla Madzongwe undertook this daunting task. These drafters were not chosen on partisan basis but for their experience and expertise in drafting. We found their work very fulfilling – we are happy that the work has come to an end. Very often some people thought that we did not want the processes to come to an end for selfish reasons. This process was painful and we all wanted to have it done away with as quickly as possible but circumstances beyond the control of your Committee came into play.
We are pleased however, that the work has now been completed but Madam President I would also want to end by thanking in a very special way, my colleagues in the Select Committee; those whom we work together and also, let me not be selfish and thank all Hon. Members of Parliament who took part in the Outreach Programme and whose cars were damaged in the Outreach Programme. Some of them were left poor, poorer than when they embarked on this Outreach Programme. Madam President, I take this exercise as a Liberation Struggle. I feel some people took up arms to fight to liberate our country and those people who fought to liberate our country were helped by many other Zimbabweans who also took part in that process but at the end of the day, it is the War Veterans and some of the people, maybe those who carried the guns, who were paid gratuities but many others did not benefit.
Madam President, why I am saying this is that, there are so many
Zimbabweans who took part in this exercise for it to become a success.
Those who attended these Outreach meetings and those who went out to gather views, also played a part to make this day a reality. I thank you Madam President.
SENATOR CHIEF MTSHANE: Thank you Madam President,
first of all, I stand to thank the mover Hon Mathuthu; who incidentally who happens to be my resident Governor in Matabeleland North
Province for her presentation and also extent my sincere thanks to COPAC who have achieved a sterling job and all hon. members who I know were involved in the Outreach Programme and other people who were involved who were also mentioned in her report. I think Madam President you will agree with me that Zimbabweans have finally found each other. This programme has dragged for more than three years, I want to believe that at last we have found each other and we should congratulate each other. I do not know if I will offend you but I just want to stick to your instructions. I just want to comment particularly on what transpired at Outreach Programme, particularly about one issue – that one issue is the question of land which people went to war to achieve or accomplish. I am not even sure whether I should not mention what I want to mention but I feel I should mention it. We have had a look at most of these reports and I do not see it offending if we refer to some of them particularly the question which incidentally happens to fall under the Property Rights. The feeling that I have or we have, as Traditional Leaders, is that the disposal of Communal land is going to be taboo in Zimbabwe. What it means is, former Commercial Farmers will come back and buy us all and some of the Zimbabweans who have all the money to themselves can also buy us all. Madam President, I am appealing to these hon. Members – in fact I am giving them some homework during this period between now and the Bill to assist us...
SENATOR MUCHIHWA: On a point of Order, I think the Hon.
Member is now debating issues of the Draft Constitution.
MADAM PRESIDENT: Thank you Hon. Senator. Hon. Chief
Mtshane could you please respect the announcement which was made earlier and stick to the report.
SENATOR CHIEF MTSHANE: Thank you Madam President, I
have already appealed to hon. members to have a look at the draft carefully during the recess so that when we come back after the referendum, we will help each other. I can assure you hon. members that, as traditional leaders, we shall help you 100 percent to achieve a yes- vote in the referendum. Thank you.
*SENATOR MUCHIHWA: Thank you Madam President, I
would like to thank the children of Zimbabwe for the unity that we achieved during the drafting of the new constitution, despite having different parties and churches. It was written from the people and through the people. I would also want to thank the liberators of this country for giving us this opportunity as children of Zimbabwe to write our own constitution and putting aside the Lancaster House Constitution.
I would like to thank all those who were involved, we had so many people, including lawyers, judges and teachers to mention but a few. They left their jobs so that we would help each other to come up with one thing. There was a time when there was a lot of fighting, but because of God and the spirit of our fallen heroes, we were given power so that we stood up and came up with one constitution. Therefore, I would like to thank everyone who was involved in whatever way, be it material or otherwise. We have those who departed, those who are mentioned here are few, but we had so many people whom we worked with during our outreach programme who are now late. I remember one comrade in Masvingo who left us, we would like to think of those people. We would like to thank them all because they left us after we had walked a long way.
This constitution is not just for us, some of us are old, and therefore, I believe that this is for inheritance by our children in the next generation. It will help us to acquire our wealth as Zimbabweans. I just wanted to add my voice to what others in the Select Committee have pointed out, especially Governor Mathuthu. We cannot repeat what she has alluded to because it is complete. I think we will just go and read because it is voluminous. However, I would like to thank the hon. members whom we travelled with to places that we have never been before. I would also want to thank the rural folks like our grandmothers who were brave to cross rivers in order to come and register their concerns for the constitution making. I would also want to urge all the other COPAC members to go out and thank all those people who were involved.
I would also like to thank our President Robert Mugabe, the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister for helping us and giving us this opportunity. They rescued us and sent the army to help us. I would also want to thank our negotiators who also came to our rescue since at one time we were really at each other‟s throats. I would like to thank you because it was for the good of the people of Zimbabwe. Thank you.
*SENATOR MUTINGWENDE: Thank you Madam President, I
would like to thank you for giving me this opportunity to add my voice to this motion which was moved by hon. Senator Mathuthu who is our governor for Matebeleland North and was seconded by hon. Senator Gaule. Madam President, I only have a few words especially concerning the outreach. I would like to think that it was a job well-done and will not waste time repeating what others have said. Madam President, I saw a very good thing during the outreach programme. I was part to this programme and in the committees I was in team number 2 in the Midlands Province.
This came out as a people‟s programme because people gathered to air their views. Firstly, in life, people were asked to air out their views on what they felt needed to be added into the constitution. At first, it was difficult for the rappoteurs to fish out what note and what not to note down as people would just say out whatever they wanted to say even irrelevant things to the question put forward. Madam President, I have an example, that people of Zimbabwe were very happy to air their views in this constitution making process. In some places people would give the example of Ombudsman as if it is a goat. [HON. MEMBERS: Laughter] This suggested that, it was their first time to hear that word and I think it was very pertinent. I hope that with time, the people of Zimbabwe will come to understand what a constitution is.
During this outreach programme, I noticed that people were happy because there was peace, freedom of speech and people would air their views in their own language. I do not know how the situation was in other provinces, but I would like to think that what transpired in the Midlands province would be a reflection of what took place in all the other provinces.
Coming to the representation of women in the constitution, I discovered that it was very important that there is freedom and there was a lesson that was brought about during the meetings. They saw women as part of the spear-heading committee; therefore, they were free to air their views. I would like to thank the views that came out from women who were spear-heading this. I discovered that this is a people driven thing. Even as we go down for our referendum, I think people are in agreement that they were part and parcel to the whole thing because the people feel that they were honoured in being consulted, although it was difficult for the people who were travelling, who were going about. I do not want to dwell much on that but I just want to talk about the outreach.
Although it was difficult, but it was a job well done. Thank you Madam
President.
*SENATOR CHIMBUDZI: Thank you Madam President. I
would like to thank our resident Minister Governor Mathuthu for raising this motion, seconded by Senator Gaule. I would like to add my voice in thanking the Select Committee for a job well done. I have heard what Governor Mathuthu said in her report on the First All Stakeholders which took place in 2009 on the 1st of July. I have seen that there were a lot of people, 4 000 from different political parties, which is the first of its kind because we have never come across this in the history of our country, but this took place. We were given 30 percent as political parties and civic society had 70 percent but we were all together. I would like to thank the Select Committee for a job well done and thank all the Zimbabweans that as Zimbabweans it was our first time to come together and we did our job well. We have seen that the Select Committee, as well, was mandated that on each and every job they are supposed to give precedence to the gender issue. I would also want to thank my ZANU-PF party, starting from our President, Presidium and Politburo because I was also part of that committee. They found it fit that I could support our party and also other ZANU-PF women for we did a job well done representing our party. I would like to thank my party for choosing me.
I would want to say to the Select Committee that the First All Stakeholders Conference was being spearheaded by Dr. Hope Sadza who is a woman and Professor Makhurane. I noticed that these two did a job well done. They were apolitical. They acted professionally. We would like to thank them for that because it is a lesson to us as Zimbabweans that we went there as Zimbabweans, which means that today we can stand with one thing, that is the report, for it came out as a result of our unity as we were all in one accord. I would like to thank the Select Committee for a job well done for they followed all the rules that they were supposed to follow. Thank you Madam President.
+SENATOR SIBANDA: I thank you Madam President for this
opportunity to also support the motion that was raised by Governor
Matutu seconded by Hon. Gaule. I also want to add my voice thanking God for allowing us as children of Zimbabwe to get to a point where we come up with a new constitution and I also want to thank our principals, especially the President, Hounourable Robert Mugabe and the Prime Minister, Hounourable Morgan Tsvangirai for their support for the nation to have a new constitution. I also want to appreciate that I was also part of the members who drafted the constitution. A lot has been said but what I really want to appreciate is the spirit that was behind it from the children of Zimbabwe and all the different parties that were in control. I now realise that God was in control for anyone who was coming to the meetings was going to be surprised that people were working together although they were coming from different political parties. We were all working as a team and we realise that because of the team spirit that was there for us to craft this new constitution, even though there were times when there was hunger because of lack of money, we realised that we were able to share and I believe that this was not in our powers but the powers of God.
The new Constitution that we have, I believe is coming to guide people of God and not our own people. That is why we managed to craft this new Constitution. We realise that even people who were coming for the meetings were coming from different parts of the world and contributing happily. This shows that Zimbabwe is a peaceful nation even our leaders, especially where I was. I also want to appreciate Hon. Jorum Gumbo and Hon. Amos Chibaya. They where good leaders and they also encouraged the team spirit and where we were arguing, they were able to bring us together. I want to urge everyone to thank people who were our leaders especially Jabulani Ndlovu, I would also want to thank those who were also helping us, for example, Cyril Ramaphosa, which shows that everyone was working towards the Constitution. We realise that we come to the end of this and we would go back to our people. I believe everyone is going to agree with this. I realise that everything has been said and I realise that people will agree to the new Constitution that has been drafted. I thank you Madam President.
MADAM PRESIDENT: Thank you Hon Senator Sibanda. Thank
you very much.
*SENATOR DETE: Thank you Madam President, for according
me this opportunity to add my voice. I would like to start by congratulating this House for a job well done. Secondly, I would like to thank Governor Mathuthu for moving this motion which is a very important historical motion. I would like to thank Hon. Gaule for seconding this motion. I would like to say congratulations Hon. for a job well done and for the JOMIC people, they did a good job when we started getting into teams because we did not get along at first. When we started, it was difficult but we now finished as one party but at first, we were people from different parties but as time went by, we become united. I would like to say, as we moved around, there was unity amongst us. I am grateful for the understanding that was amongst us.
Some were not well but we worked together during the outreach programme, we would give ourselves positions on how to work in harmony. After the meetings, we would do a postmortem in one accord in love and in unity. I would also like to thank the drivers who sacrificed to drive us. Some of the roads were bad and there were no roads in some places. We would actually make the roads but we reached the places.
We managed to get to difficult placed and I think the spirit of the Lord was upon us. The cars would travel at high speeds but we did not witness any accidents or breakdowns. We would want to thank the ancestors of this land, country and God as well. There was hunger and at times there was no food but we would share whatever we had even the wild fruits. We fought together like the freedom fighters.
Lastly, I would want to thank our principals especially the President and his colleagues that they were on our side. They did not leave us alone in times of need. They were with us even in spirit. They were interested in how things were going. When we came short of finances they would chip in, we would like to thank them. We would not have achieved much if the President and his colleagues were not by our side. We witnessed some breakdowns but we would not go back and we are very happy with what happened even when we see the cars, we are very happy that it was a job well done, we know that it was a sacrifice. We know that as time goes by, our President is aware that we have representatives of our parties, Governors and all the high ranking people are aware of that. When they have a chance, I think they will sit down and discuss about our car breakdown. I remember in our team we had Hon. Makore, his car became a wreck. I do not know whether he was able to resuscitate the car and all our cars are in a similar state, but we are happy. I would like to thank the spirit of God and the spirit of Mbuya Nehanda that was in our midst. I think we should continue in unity until election time. We know that if we continue in this spirit of unity there will be no violence and our Constitution by black Zimbabweans and not that other Constitution which was shoved down our throats by other people who are not blacks. We want to appreciate the fact that we now have a Constitution which was made by us as the people of Zimbabwe, the youth the women and the men because everyone had a chance to speak their voice. We would like to appreciate that we have come to the end and we now have the baby in our hands. Let us all be united because this country is united and it belongs to each and every one of us. Our principals always preach about peace, our President and the JOMIC is there, already they have joined the band wagon. So, let us continue even the people in the grass roots, we should get into elections as one with no violence. I would like to thank you for that. I am so happy because we met a lot of challenges and at times we were chucked out of hotels and we would leave the hotel at midnight. Some of us now have high blood pressure because of that. I am so happy that that thing has come to an end. Thank you hon. members for a job well done.
SENATOR HLALO: Thank you Madam President for giving me
this opportunity to express my views on the COPAC draft. For someone like me who was born and bred in Bulawayo not having had time to live in the rural areas, I spend 90 days on the outreach programme. I was out of town for almost three months, I remember the first days we started the process we were all suspicious of each other. We would say let us check what ZANU PF is doing and they were also suspicious of us but later, we found each other that what was important was Zimbabwe and its people‟s views, which was more than any one party‟s priorities.
Madam President, I remember the day we travelled to some place called Mujere Fishing Camp which is way out on the Zambian boarder and the distance is about 148 km but we travelled that distance in five hours because there are no roads. There were also a lot of huge mosquitoes which would bite us. However, all this was to sacrifice that today we have this document which will stir our country forward. This very document is the beginning of the going away of sanctions. These sanctions will go without doing anything but if we respect what is in the document, the sanctions will go away.
Madam President, I am very happy today that I can put my head on the block to say yes, to this document unlike the document which was done in 1999, which was condemned by the people. I was at that time a Commissioner as well where I was AAG President with people like
Philip Chiyangwa. I was one of the first people who advocated a „no‟ vote because of the way the document was finally done. With this document I will carry my head high and campaign for a „yes‟ vote. With these words I would want to thank you for this opportunity given to me by this august House. I thank you.
MADAM PRESIDENT: Order, may I remind hon. senators that
we still have other business on today‟s Order Paper.
*SENATOR CHIEF MUSARURWA: Thank you Madam
President, I would also want to add my voice to this report which has been presented by Hon. Governor Mathuthu. I would also want to stand for this report for a job well done by the people of Zimbabwe. All along, this country has been governed by the Lancaster House
Constitution but due to the unity of the people of Zimbabwe, they found it befitting that we should have our own Constitution as the people of Zimbabwe. In this Constitution we can talk of what we want, how we want to be ruled as the people of Zimbabwe without the oppressors because they contributed in the Lancaster House Constitution.
In this Constitution, we find that it was the people of Zimbabwe who were airing their views. Here and there, there were some struggles but through our Principals and traditional chiefs, we helped in bringing people into the track so that we would walk together as one, as the people of Zimbabwe for the betterment of our country. Today I would want to give all my thanks on the report that has been tabled in this
House. We have now come to an end, as we go to the Referendum, we will go together in unity without going back. We do not want to go back to the Lancaster House because in the Lancaster House Constitution you find that there were so many amendments. This one is a Constitution which is people driven.
When such a thing is being done, you find that if you are a leader, you cannot please everyone, some will be happy and some will be grumbling. That does not mean that we should not go forward, as a nation. We should go forward because we captured views of the majority. I would like to thank the Principals, the Co-Chairpersons of the Select Committee and everyone who participated in this programme to get us to where we are today.
When we come back to debate the real Constitution, we would also look at some issues which were not handled well. I think we would deal with them as we debate the Constitution. This is going to come back so that we will look at it when we are debating; therefore I am hopeful that all the loose ends are going to be tied as we are debate. We will do it together as the people of Zimbabwe so that we will have a good Constitution that will protect our country and which will not take us back to where we were before so that the next generations will give us credit as well. We would look at that as one front so I would want to thank you hon. Mathuthu for moving that motion and also thank all our leadership from the political parties, you were all united. As Chiefs we were united as well and we are also happy for the Constitution of Zimbabwe and for including us. People are aware that our country started with the chiefs so it is there in our Constitution and I am happy about that. Yes, I might not be happy throughout, but I think that we are going to look at those issues as well which we are not happy with.
Thank you Madam President.
SENATOR S. NCUBE: Thank you Madam President for giving me this opportunity. First of all, I want to thank the Hon. Governor who tabled the report of the Constitution in this House. It has always been our desire as Zimbabweans to have a Constitution for ourselves, so I think a lot has been said. The final draft of this Constitution we have, we are happy about it so as one of the members, I just want to thank everybody who has been thanked again. I have no words to say and I just want to thank the Hon. Governor who brought this into this House.
I thank you.
SENATOR KABAYANJIRI: Thank you Madam President, the
debates that were going on in this House today have taken me aback. When we went out as a team for the outreach programmes, we met some challenges; we could not agree here and there but today I am happy because everyone in here participated in the outreach programmes. When we came back we put the information together and came up with the results of what we had gathered. Those results showed us that we can live together in harmony as true Zimbabweans.
I am so happy Madam President that all the people who spoke are in support of what our President is doing. Meaning that if we have a President who has the people at heart, yes we can meet challenges here and there but the President is strong and he will support and protect us from our outside enemies, and this shows strong leadership.
I would also want to thank all the leaders in the GPA for their resilience in coming up with a Constitution as Zimbabweans because we had always wished for our own Constitution. I want to thank you all for that unity. I think that this is a sign that if we go out as hon. members in this spirit, it means that we will not meet any challenges concerning our Constitution. Yes we might have challenges here and there but the Constitution of Lancaster was full of amendments, so this Constitution that we have managed to come up with, if there are any loose ends, I think we should come together and sit down and try to tie the loose ends, and be proud at the end of it that we now have our own Constitution.
I would also want to thank the Chiefs and even the headman for the job that they did. We worked with them very well, not forgetting all the Select Committee Members for the job well done. I do not think we can say much but I would like to say thank you, there was unity and there is a sign of unity starting from now henceforth. I thank you. *SENATOR CHIBHAGU: I would like to thank you Madam
President, for this Report which has been tabled by Hon. Mathuthu and being seconded by Hon. Gaule.
I would like to go on saying Madam President, looking at the Report that has been tabled; it has brought us peace in Zimbabwe. If I look at the Chiefs, the Presidency and us, Members of Parliament, we now have one totem as Zimbabweans. I do not know what pushes our
President together with his colleagues in the Global Political Agreement. They came together and came up with this but all of us were not at this stage. We really struggled; I was a team leader in Mashonaland Central in team four. I had hon. members who were very naughty. I even called Hon. Chininga and Hon. Chimanikire to come to my Constituency. However we later united with the naughty members and we were able to agree when they came to Madziva.
You find that the meeting ended very well though the devil had been behind all this. I am so happy because even in that, the Lord‟s presence was there as well. Now, as we look at ourselves we see that we have one totem and we were able to come up with our people driven Constitution. So we have to build our nation together as Zimbabweans from the day that we were voted into power up to this day, there were some bad winds which were blowing, I think we were very stupid, but now we have started what we call capacity building which is very good. I think we should embrace it and look forward to leading the nation as Zimbabweans. From Zambia, Plumtree, and all the boarders we should be one people, without these different totems.
I think we should embrace this report because people spoke their hearts out, and our President was really inspired. He noticed that all these challenges that our Parliamentarians are facing are because they have different views, but I think he came up with a good idea that we should go back and come up with one totem. The hon. members who were there when they came can vouch that we even killed a buffalo for them. They did not want to come because they said there were mosquitoes but after that, they realised that there were no mosquitoes and they ended up crossing borders because they were really happy.
That proved that God was in our midst. So I think now we should look at each other and work together. I just pray that the Lord will be praised.
I would also want to thank the Chiefs for they did not leave us but they were with us throughout. They were not afraid but they were with us. Now we are enjoying ourselves in Zimbabwe. We should move forward with it, we are educated, we know where we are coming from and know where we are going as productive people. Thank you Madam President.
*SENATOR FEMAI: Thank you Madam President, firstly I would like to thank Governor Mathuthu for tabling this Report which was seconded by hon. Gaule.
I would also like to thank all those who spoke before me as they spoke in one spirit which shows that we are now mature and it also shows that this is a good house, a house of peace. I would also want to thank you Madam President for the announcement that you gave us in this House that brought peace. I do not know whether you dreamt about it because out there people had so many questions but you gave a really answer and said the time was not yet up. So I would like to thank you very much, this has showed that all of us have followed the same route. You would see that all people were coming thanking you and speaking with one voice. I would also want to thank the Chiefs, although they have been thanked before.
I was in Mashonaland East, you know in Mashonaland East, before you even get to a place you would know that there was an introduction; you would know that people were pointing fingers at each other; so by the time you got there the tension had already risen because of our parties, but God was within our midst. He would come to our rescue. At the end of the day the people would see us all as Zimbabweans because we were apolitical as we were going out.
I would also like to thank the Chiefs because they were not going there on political basis but they were going there because the Chief President urged them to go and add their voices. So the people who were neutral were many, politicians were very few. Those who would want to be at each other‟s throat were neutralised by people who would have been brought by Chiefs. I would also want to thank the women; you know women bring peace wherever they are. If women were not there I do not think we were going to achieve that much but peace was brought because women were there.
I would also want to thank His Excellency, The President, Cde R.G Mugabe for how he handled this issue; because when we came to a standstill he would come in with his tools and we would go forward at once. This happened at the First All Stakeholders Conference; foreigners came but we did not know where from because they were not Members of Parliament. There were people who came for violence at that First All Stakeholders Conference before God intervened. So God came after we had seen how Satan worked. His Excellency came in and gave a push and said this has to move forward. All of us were silenced and on the Second All Stakeholders there was a tension; people fought before we went to the Second Stakeholders and when we got there the President stood and gave his word. He said there will be onus of the
Constitution, so people were silenced. I do not think the Head of State was wrong in doing that and from there no one said anything bad because we were being led by a good leader.
I am not forgetting our Prime Minister as well; he did a sterling job in our party and in Government too. It means that they were in agreement, the two of them. All that those people agreed upon is what we have today and I would like to thank you all. I would also want to appeal to our youths because this Constitution is not for us but for the next generations to look after it and cherish it; they should not put patches / amendments on it but they should take it as it is. So I urge the next generation to cherish this Constitution for the next generations to come. They should not put so many amendments in it because we were not happy with the last Constitution because of its many amendments. So we are appealing to the next generation not to amend it too much because it would not be authentic. I thank you.
*SENATOR CHIEF CHIDUKU: Firstly, I would want to thank
you Madam President for you have chosen me last, there is no issue here because the work has already been done. Secondly, I would want to thank the Governor for tabling the report, we have all heard even those who were not in the Outreach of COPAC, if they have been listening everything has been said clearly. As Chiefs ourselves, we have realised that all the people of Zimbabwe have now realised how important Chiefs are because all the people who spoke were thanking the Chiefs for helping them to achieve the progress they wanted. I just plead that this should come from the hearts not just a lip‟s pass because it is like when people come with their hoes to help you and when the owner is moving around the field he can see some will not be doing very well because they will be leaving weeds. Some will weed where it has been cultivated, but as Chiefs we are so happy. When we were moving around with you, you would find that there was probably one Chief in each team of the three political parties. You would see that when we were introducing ourselves, we would just say I am a Chief to bring water. So I am appealing to you that as it was it should end like that; If it ends like that I applaud but if it ends with others grumbling I would not be happy. We can see that people are thanking each other because if an outsider comes, they will see that we are one people and we are mature, we have broken history for the record of this country. If you are doing a good thing, people will applaud you, but if you are doing the opposite, the next generation will curse you. We just pray that, whatever we came up with will be cherished and the next generation will thank us.
The chiefs that you are seeing in here are in charge of 52 districts from which the people whom you met during the outreach programme come from. I am not the one who spoke during the outreach, it is the people, your job is just to mark what you were given by the people, cancelling out what you do not want and putting what you want because it is the people who are out there in the grassroots who spoke out. Our job was just to go out and ask people. To conclude, I just want to thank you all. Thank you.
*SENATOR CHIEF CHARUMBIRA: Thank you Madam
President, as a member of the Select Committee, I would like to thank Governor Mathuthu for a good presentation on this report. I would like to thank all those who were involved in this programme. I would like to promise the hon. Senators that the chiefs are the owners of the land and anything that is good, they will get involved; they will not destroy the good work that you have started. We cannot be involved in your squabbles, but we are happy that now you can agree that the challenging issues have been put to rest and the country can move forward.
It was difficult because we came out with qualitative and quantitative, which were just technical issues to confuse us, but in the end, it all went well. Referring to agreed issues, they were just there to bring confusion, I was there, there were three drafts, one for Select Committee, one for 18 July and the one that you have now. We have three drafts, if you look at the drafts, if you look at them you will see that there is a different story that is being brought out. However, I would like to thank the children of Zimbabwe because they said they supported the role played by the chiefs, they wanted their presence and were in agreement with them.
I would like to thank the people of Zimbabwe for that, they listen to us. As chiefs, we also agreed to uphold our women and support them, against that background, the people supported us, though it was not on a 50:50 basis, but some of them are going to get into Parliament. Therefore, the bottom line is that the women are supported. When you get into Parliament you must remember the chiefs because you will be there because of the support given to you by the chiefs, we are behind you and we are so happy about it.
The media has so many reports, but we know that when things like that come out, there is bound to be disagreements; however, we should allow democracy to take place. If chiefs are not happy in certain areas, we should give them an ear as well. Referring to page 8 of the read document, it is written that, “…the draft constitution shall be debated in
Parliament…” I just wanted to remind you on that one. Madam President, I would like to say, as chiefs, we are going to support the yesvote.
*MADAM PRESIDENT: hon. Senator Chief Charumbira, what
we are saying is that we cannot debate something that has not yet been presented, that is why we have put forward that announcement. *SENATOR CHIEF CHARUMBIRA: They misunderstand us
as chiefs, but we are going to campaign for a yes-vote. Senator Chief Chiduku has talked about those gaps that we see. From here we are going out for the referendum and from there we will be coming here on the Committee Stage Clause by Clause. As a democracy there are some weeds which we are seeing in this report and when we come back we will be having amendments on those areas, especially on the land issue. In the draft constitution, it is said, the chiefs will rule on all the land, and not communal land only. Thank you Madam President.
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR STATE SECURITY IN
THE PRESIDENT’S OFFICE: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 7th February 2013.
MOTION
CONDOLENCES ON THE DEATH OF VICE PRESIDENT
JOHN LANDA NKOMO
SENATOR S.K. MOYO: I move the motion standing in my name
that this House:
SADDENED by the tragic and untimely death of the Hon. Vice
President John Landa Nkomo on the 17th of January, 2013;
NOTING that the loss was felt by the whole nation, which mourned a committed and dedicated luminary of our struggle for independence, democracy, freedom and justice;
NOW THEREFORE, THIS HOUSE
Conveys its profound condolences to the family of our departed leader;
Expresses its deep sorrow and sadness at the tragic and unexpected loss of life;
Takes this opportunity to celebrate the life of a man who rendered sterling services to the nation both before and after independence.
SENATOR MANDABA: I second.
SENATOR S.K. MOYO: Madam President, hon. senators, on the 17th of January, 2013, a dark cloud descended on this liberated country, the evil hand of death snatched away one of our liberation icons and Vice President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Comrade Landa John
Nkomo. He was also Vice President and Second Secretary of ZANUPF. He breathed his last at 12 noon on that day whilst admitted at St
Anne‟s Hospital in Harare, following a battle with cancer.
When the devastating news of his demise was officially announced by His Excellency President R. G. Mugabe, the entire nation went numb in bewilderment, shock and exasperation. The people of Zimbabwe retreated into plural mourning for the stabilizer, the inspirator, the unifier, the peacemaker and a visionary, was no more.
Messages of condolence started pouring in from all corners of the world encompassing all sectors of the human race. A great man had departed and even the heavens opened up – rain, rain, rain, across the country.
Hundreds gathered to mourn with the bereaved family at his Milton Park residence in Harare. Hundreds more gathered at his rural home in Tsholotsho and at his state of the art Landa J. High School, to bid him farewell. Many openly wept and his mother Gogo ma Dube, over 100 years old gazed at the sky, obviously mesmerized by the unfolding events.
Hundreds more were to gather at his Worringham residence in
Bulawayo and indeed at the large City Hall to bid farewell to the fallen national hero. The waterlogged White City Stadium had to be abandoned for more secure venues.
Madam President, scenes at Stordart Hall and the National Heroes Acre testify to the fact that the multitudes of people who turned up, were bidding farewell to a great revolutionary of impeccable liberation credentials.
Addressing thousands of mourners at the National Shrine in respect of the late Vice President J. L. Nkomo, His Excellency President
- G. Mugabe underscored the need for peace. I quote “Let us carry that message with us in our daily lives. It was his dear wish to see elections, which are schedules for this year, carry this exhortation of peace, peace and more peace. for it is one way we could honour his legacy and that of others who fought for this country in order to make it the peaceful and tranquil oasis we have today. The overriding common denominator is that we are all Zimbabweans.”
President Mugabe went on to state that the nation derives solace from observing that Comrade J. l. Nkomo died on the day the parties to the GPA resolved outstanding issues that were standing in the way of concluding the draft Constitution. This, the late Vice President would have surely applauded, as his wish was to see the country rising above unnecessary skirmishes and achieve unity.
Madam President, the biography of the late gallant revolutionary fighter from 1934 to 2013 has been authored and indeed his role as chairman of the Organ of Peace, Reconciliation and National healing in the inclusive government, working with Ministers Sekai Holand and the late Gibson Sibanda, who was later replaced by Minister Moses Mzila Ndlovhu. The late Vice President J. L Nkomo is credited with the everlasting message, “PEACE BEGINS WITH ME, PEACE
BEGINS WITH YOU, PEACE BEGINS WITH ALL OF US.”
Madam President, the funeral of the veteran nationalist, we are remembering and celebrating to-day Comrade John Nkomo was attended by thousands from near and far, including SADC leaders, that is South Africa‟s Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, Botswana‟s
Vice President Ponatshego Kedikilwe, Zambia‟s Vice President Guy
Scott, Tanzania‟s Vice President Mohammed Bilal, Namibia‟s Prime Minister Hage Geingob and a representative from the DRC. This speaks volumes of our fraternal and cordial relations in the SADC region and the respectability our late Vice President commanded, among his peers.
Madam President. Let me conclude by stating that I worked with this dedicated patriot for many years pre and post independence, in exile and back home. The experience we gained under the stewardship of
Zimbabwe‟s two greatest sons, President R. G. Mugabe and the late
Father Zimbabwe, Dr. Joshua Mqabuko Nkokmo are immeasurable. I have on many occasions described the late Vice President as a teacher by profession, a trade unionist by circumstances and a politician by design. He was a principled cadre of the revolution and a disciple of the Unity Accord of 22 December 1978 between ZANU-PF and PF-ZAPU, culminating in a unified ZANU-PF. He was never a weather cock and remained a clean politician who shunned factionalism, corruption, tribalism and regionalism. He was always accountable to the people. He belonged to all Zimbabwe. We talked, shared common values of humility, honesty, respect for other people and unity of purpose. In lighter moments I used to call him “John the Baptist.”
Madam President. I believe strongly that men of his caliber never die, they depart for higher responsibility. I dare say if you fear God, give service to your country and have a vision for future generations, you will enter the heavenly kingdom. He had these attributes.
Enter ye gallant son of the soil – Comrade J. L. Nkomo. I pay deepest gratitude to all those who gave him such a befitting send off.
May his family remain united and steadfast for they shall see God.” He was pure in heart. I thank you Madam President.
SENATOR MANDABA: Thank you Madam President, I also
wish to second what Hon. S.K. Moyo has said about this great statesman; our Vice President Hon. Dr. J.L. Nkomo, whom we knew as our national leader. This is an important motion as far as I am concerned and wish to state that. He was a statesman, a respectable and respectful man, a man of many talents whose character can be vividly true from the cradle to the grave. If you hear or read about him, even if you do not know him, you never stop to wonder as to at what period or such a period. It is all straight forward. We heard he was a teacher, he was born in Tsholotsho and never forgot the people of Tsholotsho. He was a politician and he was caught young, he started with politics at the lower ladder, unlike politicians of today who overnight wishes to be politburo members. He started at a very early age. He was driven by the oppressive status quo at that time and that led him to go into politics, trade unionism, as I say, he was a true nationalist.
He was a tough man. He never sought easy options. He really shunned corruption. He shunned all the evils that one would shun if you are to be a true nationalist in the face of man and in the face of God. He was committed to the liberation struggle, committed to the freedom of his people. He was imprisoned, detained but did not give up.
Although he had several high posts locally, nationally and internationally, he remained focused. Madam President, Hon. J. L. Nkomo played his part in shaping the ruling party. He was involved in the Unity accord as you heard, he was a disciple of that accord. He was involved in seeing that the ruling party is being an effective machinery that is able to defend Zimbabweans, hard won independence and sovereignty. He was a disciplined man. He also maintained discipline. He had many talents and it is one of those talents that even earned him the Chair of National Healing and Reconciliation and Integration which we all agree is a must for the Zimbabwean nation. His love for education continued to burn on him in his different portfolios and his busy schedule, hence the John Landa High School is which spearheading E- Learning. The loss of this dedicated man was felt by all friends and foe alike. Let us all remember his words, I quote “piece begins with me, peace begins with you peace begins with all of us.” May his soul rest in peace. I thank you.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HIGHER AND TERTIARY
EDUCATION: Thank you very much Deputy President of the Senate. I also want to extent my thanks to Hon. S.K. Moyo for having introduced the subject about a great man, former Vice President John Landa
Nkomo. It reminds me of these words which were said by Mark
Anthony at the burial of Julias Caesar. “I have come to burry Caesar not to raise him. The evil that men always live after them and the good is often interred with their bones.” Just a small thing that has made me stand up, I know people are tired. I wish this motion had been the first because people are thinking of going home now but please can you bear with me just a minute I mean a minute to hear what I want to say about the former Vice President. To me he was a humble man, just humble and
I am going to say two things about his humbleness. When I was not even an MP anything at all, I attended a funeral of the wife of Edward Nkomo the young brother to the late Joshua Nkomo. When I arrived there, they were short of chairs. I am talking about being humble. The late Vice President was seated and when he saw me he stood up and said Tapela can you seat there. I said no way, he was a Minister then. There was no way I could sit down when he was standing. He said please, I have said please sit down. It was now an order, I obeyed an order, but he was just showing his humbleness; and that despite that I amd younger than him, I am nothing in Government but you deserve this chair and I sat down.
One day when I had gone out in what is my Constituency now to open Sonzuki Bridge, he showed some humbleness again to me. I am sorry, it may be personal but I want to show you how humbleness the man was. One of the Governors was present, he said when he was doing his salutations, oh there is somebody here, I cannot mention the name because to me he is so big and respected. If I say his name something can go wrong with me culturally and they meant me. If you were the one, how great would you have felt that there is a Vice President, he is honouring me so much that he could not even mention my name? To me that is a humble man. Are you as humble as he was out of these two examples? May his soul rest in peace.
*SENATOR DETE: I would like to thank Hon. Nkomo for he gave of himself and he looked at Zimbabwe and loved the nation more than his family. He really suffered just like Jesus when he was crucified on the cross, he went to jail but he did not give up. We know that during the liberation war, some gave up but Hon. Nkomo did not do that, he was happy to suffer for Zimbabwe so that it could be liberated and be independent. He saw how people suffered through the hands of the white settlers when all their wealth was taken and they were resettled in mountains which were not conducive for farming.
The people were used as slaves and that really pained him and it pushed him to go and fight for his country. At one stage he went to Zambia and when he came back he was jailed in different prisons. He was there at Lancaster House and, he wanted peace for the people. He tried to bring unity and he participated when we did our Unity Accord.
It was difficult for the two parties to see eye to eye but he worked hard, together with others to achieve unity. He would move, campaigning for the Unity Accord and he was at the centre of it.
I would want to thank him for a job well done. He was in supported of the liberation of women that there should be gender equality between men and women and this was achieved. I think he was happy before the time of his death because he wanted people to get their land back which they fought for. He had a heart for the youth. He built a school which is still there up to now. He was not greedy because he could have used his money to go for holidays and buy property but he thought of the next generation. If you groom the young people they make better leaders tomorrow, so we want to thank him for his love which was seen even at heroes‟ acre because people came in their thousands. The people even climbed trees so that they could pay their last respects.
We will not get tired of mourning him. He will be part of our history because he is going to be remembered by generations to come.
He was not selective; he was apolitical and full of love. He looked at us as Zimbabweans and was not partisan. Let us emulate his love and plead with the youth to follow his footsteps, If we follow his footsteps we will live in harmony and we will move forward as a nation. May his soul rest in peace, I thank you.
*SENATOR KABAYANJIRI: We know that death is inevitable
because it is the law of God. Mr. President, firstly, I would like to plead with the Nkomo family that they would accept his death. Secondly, I want them to understand that they are not the only ones who have lost a loved. I would like to talk about his heroism. I would want to say that because of the number of people who attended his burial, you could see that he was a man of great works.
Mr. President, I would want to zero in on how he was mourned by people from my constituency, they could not come because of transport but they really wanted to attend the burial because they knew him not through the media but he came to my constituency several times together with Hon. Sekeramayi and Hon. Msika. This is why I am saying we are mourning Hon. Nkomo because of his good works, it is not only the Nkomo family or the ZANU PF party who have lost, but the whole world. I think it was mentioned that many people from different countries attended the burial.
He has departed but the works that he did will always be remembered, I was thinking that this is why our debates show maturity, peace and harmony and I think this is the legacy left behind by Hon. Nkomo. Mr. President, Sir, I would like to say that let us cry but let us have future. I just pray that we would be able to have other leaders who emulate our Vice President. Yes we have lost but there is hope. In the Executive, it was a great loss because he was one of the elders to us Zimbabweans. We are mourning as Zimbabweans from all walks of life remembering the work that he has done. With these few words I say, may his soul rest in peace. Thank you Mr. President.
SENATOR MOHADI: Thank you Mr. President for giving me
this opportunity to say a few words about this national hero, Vice President J.L Nkomo. I want to thank Hon. Senator Moyo for moving this motion and also thank Senator Mandava for seconding this motion.
Before I can say the few words that I want to say, I want to repeat the slogan, the legacy that he left for us that says „peace begins with me, peace begins with you and peace begins with all of us‟. Let these words sink into our hearts and we should follow suit, because he said these words towards his death. We should always remember him whenever we do this slogan.
Indeed, our Vice President was a great man. He was a father of all fathers, he was a comrade indeed, and he was a national leader. Let me commend him for the love that he had for his mother. Whenever he had functions, he was not shy to say out that his mother is old. He would push her to wherever he was, saying that his mother should be near him. That was very important. He has led us by example that we should love our parents. I further say, he preached the gospel and let us all remember these words and this legacy should be for the nation as well as for the Nkomo family. We should always remember him; we should always think of the good things that he did.
Let me tell you that Vice President J.L Nkomo even reached areas where most of our leaders shun; places like Chikwalakwala. He would not come to Beitbridge and leave that place which is said to be a very remote area. He would visit the area as long as he was in the district. I run short of words to thank this national hero. May his soul rest in peace. We will always remember him.
+SENATOR CHIEF GAMPU: Thank you Mr. President. I
would like to thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak about Hon. John Landa Nkomo. He was a great person and the Vice President of this country. I would like to thank Hon. S.K Moyo who brought this motion in this House so that we can express our views on the loss that we have had. When we speak about the liberation of this country, Hon. John Landa Nkomo should not be left out because he suffered a lot for this country.
We are here because they managed to fight for this country. Of course he was not the only one, there are many of them but we are speaking of him today because he is late. I remember when someone said that we should celebrate him when he was alive. I never understood that but now I understand what that person meant. At that time it meant nothing to me but for now it means a lot because I am realizing that we have been left helpless. What that person meant was that we were supposed to use him when he was still alive because right now we cannot do anything about him. We can only marvel at the works that he did when he was alive.
Hon. John Landa Nkomo was a kind man, he was hard working. As his chief from Tsholotsho, since he was born in Tsholotsho, whenever I asked for his help he would come and help me. There is something that once happened near Manz‟amnyama when people‟s land was being taken away by another person. We asked John Landa Nkomo as the Vice President to come over and he came to help us. He looked at the issue and solved it. He was not only a liberator and peace maker; he also liberated and made peace amongst families. So, what I want to say is that we are really saddened and we are mourning the death of John
Landa Nkomo.
As chiefs from Tsholotsho we feel a great loss because he came from Tsholotsho. Of course he was a national leader and led the whole country but we really feel a big loss because he leaves behind the Mance School unfinished. Even though it is now functional and has been officially opened by the President
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Robert Gabriel Mugabe. There are other things that are outstanding that need to be done. This is the school that he started; it helps the people from Tsholotsho a lot and the people from Matabeleland North. I believe that Hon. John Landa Nkomo started this school being mindful of the San people who are near my community. The white people used to call these people the Bushmen, these people are the ones that John Landa Nkomo built a school for. We thank him for that because it helps them a lot. We see them at the school and there are a lot of them at the school.
What I want to say is that he was a kind man and we are really saddened by the loss. We do believe that the Lord is hearing our cries.
The day that he was buried, those days when he passed away, during his funeral it rained a lot, it rained continuously. As Chiefs, we believe that it is a sign from God, we know that God is raining his blessings. Even though we were mourning, we know that God was acknowledging his death. So what we want to say is that we are really mourning him and we are at a loss. Zimbabwe is at a loss, the girl child is at a loss, we have all lost. I thank you.
+THE GOVERNOR FOR MATABELELAND SOUTH: Thank
you Mr. President I would want to thank Senator S.K Moyo and Hon. Mandava who brought this issue to this House. It is one way of respecting the liberator of this country who has followed other heroes who died before him. Most things have been said about the Hon. John Landa Nkomo, I will just add a little on what he has done during his lifetime so that this country would become Zimbabwe.
He did a great job for this country, I would want to say even though the enemies, though they did a lot with the bomb that killed hon. Jason Moyo and hurt hon. J. Ngwenya and hurt John Landa Nkomo and those who were nearby, it was not successful. Even though his life was not the same after that situation, he continued with the liberation of the country on his shoulders working hand in hand with his leaders, therefore I would want to say we thank him.
Secondly Hon. John Landa Nkomo was a peace maker and a liberator. He never flattered people, he only commented where you had done well, where you had done wrong he would say so straight away, he would stress it without fail. Those who wanted to be educated by being told the truth learnt a lot from Hon. Nkomo. Those who did not accept criticism found him as an enemy. I would like to say I learnt a lot from Hon. Nkomo. I want to speak of him as a teacher such that I can speak about how much educated he was. Even though he was over 50 years, after he left teaching, I remember that when he was teaching; I was also teaching. Education was important to him.
Many people will speak about his school, the Mance School. As a
Governor of Matabeleland South, I would want to say Hon. Landa
Nkomo did amazing things for us. As we know, Matabeleland South is one of the Provinces that does not have a university. We know that our country, because of sanctions, cannot have state universities all over the country. There are only three provinces, Matabeleland South, Mashonaland East and Manicaland. We started as a province to look around and fund-raise so that the Government would only chip in after we had done something.
I remember when we invited him to one of our meetings, where we were talking about the fundraising for the Gwanda University, he said to us we would be spoilt if he told us what he would give us. He encouraged us to work hard and reminded us that we liberated Zimbabwe so that we could have it and work for it. He, however, said that he was going to help where he could. I would like to thank him for what he did for us.
As he went for the liberation struggle, Hon. John Landa Nkomo called us as Governors, the Governor for Manicaland was also there and I believe the Governor for Matabeleland North was also there when we went to be shown what Hon. John Landa had for us. As I speak about Gwanda University, I would like to say before it even started, before we even thought that one day we will be recognised, many of you saw the advert in the newspapers. Hon. John Landa Nkomo donated a tipper, a very huge truck, which is the one we started to use. He said that I know that as a University, you will have a farm so I want to give you ploughs so that before you have a tractor you use these ploughs. These ploughs are pulled by small cars. This really encouraged us; here I am saying, when it comes to education, Hon John Landa Nkomo was very active. I would want to say he used to realise issues that have to do with education such as computers and other things that have to be used in education. The University started with the help that we were given by Hon. John Landa Nkomo. When it comes to peace making, many people have talked a lot about him.
Hon. John Landa Nkomo was a person who used to be angry at times, however he was a good listener and he was very quiet. He would listen, understand and then come up with a solution. I know that his family is still mourning up to now but what I want to say is they should comfort themselves by the fact that his wish which has been talked about by Hon. S.K Moyo is that people got together to mourn him at his house in Harare; they got together to mourn him in Tsholotsho; they also got to mourn him at White City Hall – again people came at Heroes Acre which showed that everyone in Zimbabwe was mourning. It is not only his family that has lost; we all have lost.
What have we learnt from him as leaders? As leaders if we are to learn just one thing; the issue of peace making from his life, I am sure that this country would be an example to the whole world; it would be an example as Hon. S. K Moyo said that members from the SADC who came to mourn with us were many. This shows that he was a hero not only to Zimbabwe but also to SADC and to Africa as a whole. His neighbours in Warringham; I am also his neighbour there at Warringham; and we felt a big loss.
During the farming season, Hon. Nkomo‟s tractors were used by the whole community. He used to do it for the elderly; he was not like any of us who make people pay. He used to make them use his tractors for free. They are all mourning his death; they are wondering if his children would take care of them as Hon. Nkomo was taking care of them. At this moment I would like to say that a hero has been lost and he leaves behind us so that we can also be peace builders. He leaves us the people of Zimbabwe; he wanted to live in Zimbabwe and work hard for it, so that it grows economically. With those words I say rest in peace.
+SENATOR GAULE: Thank you Mr. President for giving me this opportunity to speak about Hon. Landa Nkomo. Before I speak about Hon. Nkomo, I would like to thank Hon. S. K. Moyo for bringing this motion to this House. Hon. Moyo, I would like to thank you very much for recognising the elderly who had done great things. We have to thank them because they created history. Therefore, I would like to say that Zimbabwe is at a loss, yes I agree but as I stand, I would like to say I am at a great loss. As I speak I would like to say Tsholotsho has felt the loss more than Zimbabwe because Hon. Nkomo is from Tsholotsho. He grew up in Tsholotsho, he ate okra in Tsholotsho; he got married in Tsholotsho. His home is in Tsholotsho and his parents are in
Tsholotsho. With those words, I would like to say that Tsholotsho will not be the same as it was when Hon. Nkomo was alive.
We were very much respected to have Hon. Nkomo as the Vice President of the country. Therefore, I would like to say if you are a leader and when you come from where the Vice President comes from, you feel very much honoured. In the past Mr. President, when I went to the Monomotapa offices, I would just get there and go straight to his office, however, I can no longer do that. We were very much honoured, he had set goals for us. He made us realise that we can achieve a lot. Hon. Landa Nkomo was a great person. I would want to say that as Tsholotsho we have lost a lot; he raised our flag high. We used to be honoured when people mention that Hon. Landa Nkomo is from Tsholotsho.
When I looked at the work that he has done, I feel honoured because he is an example for the people of Tsholotsho. As the people of
Tsholotsho, we are still proud of him even after his death.
What made me stand up to speak Mr. President is that we worked very well with Hon. Landa Nkomo. That began when I became a Senator, I used to invite Hon. Nkomo to my community whenever there was a function and when I needed his help. I remember at some time when I asked Hon. Murerwa to come and help me. Hon Murerwa was very reluctant, I then asked Hon. John Landa Nkomo. Then Hon. Nkomo came with Hon. Murerwa to help me because we had difficulties in my community. After that issue was solved, I spoke to the people and we did a great feast and we invited Hon. Landa Nkomo to come and celebrate with us; he came and we thanked him for the great job he had done for us.
Hon. John Landa Nkomo was a peace maker, he used to unite everyone regardless of their religion or political affiliation. He once said to the people of Tsholotsho, that he had been told by Hon. Ndiweni that, people have to be united and work together such that there is development regardless of political affiliation and religious background.
He said that Chief Ndiweni had told him that people have to work together, no matter what. From then on, the people of Tsholotsho were brought together by the fact that they are the people of Tsholotsho as Hon. John Landa Nkomo told them.
In my community, there are people whom people call insane, or other different names. Every year, Hon. John Nkomo used to help those people; at times he would slaughter an elephant for them because there are many elephants in our community. Each year he would slaughter a beast for them so that they could eat meat. Hon. John Nkomo made sure that everyone was represented in the community. This development is left for us; we should continue with this great job that Hon. John Landa Nkomo started. He also helped them with their education; some of them were taken to his school.
Hon. John Landa Nkomo worked for this country a lot. People learnt a lot from him, he was a forgiving person, if anyone did wrong, he would come and sit down with the people so that that person understood. I remember that there was a time when we were at loggerheads with
Hon. John Nkomo in the past years, but when we opened Parliament we talked and forgave each other. I realise that he is a forgiving parent who would correct someone for their mistakes. Hon. President, all I want to say is that may his soul rest in peace because he did a lot for this country.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE AND LEGAL AFFAIRS: I
move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 7th February, 2013.
On the motion of THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE AND LEGAL
AFFAIRS, the Senate adjourned at a Quarter To Six o’clock p.m.
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Thursday, 7th February, 2013.
The Senate met at Half past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(MADAM PRESIDENT in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENTS BY MADAM PRESIDENT
SENATORS INVITATION BY ZIMBABWE OPEN UNIVERSITY
MADAM PRESIDENT: I have to inform the Senate that the
Members of the Senate have been invited by the Zimbabwe Open
University to share information on how Members can study through the
Zimbabwe Open University. The meeting will be held on the 14th of February 2013 at 10 am in the House of Assembly Chamber.
VERNACULAR DEBATES
MADAM PRESIDENT: I have also to advise hon. senators to
please speak slowly when you are debating in the vernacular. That will enable the interpreters to interpret and the Hansard Reporters to accurately capture your speeches.
SWITCHING OFF OF CELLPHONES
MADAM PRESIDENT: May I also remind hon. senators to
please switch off your cellphones or to put them on silent.
ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
SENATOR CHITAKA: Thank you Madam President. My
question is directed to the Hon. Minister of Agriculture, Senator Made. Can the Minister give us a status report on the crop situation, especially after the rains and in some cases, too much rain in some areas?
MADAM PRESIDENT: Order hon. senators. May I please
remind hon. senators that the questions without notice have to be questions on policy. However, if the minister wishes to respond to this particular question he may go ahead.
THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, MECHANISATION
AND IRRIGATION DEVELOPMENT (DR.MADE): Madam
President, I am honoured to try and answer that question, even though I am fully aware that it is a specific question. However, it is a subject we are all seized with at the moment. I will oblige the Senate through you. First of all, our season started very late in terms of rainfall. When the rains came, they came late December into January and with a lot of rain, continuously at that time and also as late as may be the past two to three days.
The rains have fallen heavily in Mashonaland West. I think you might have seen on television, Mashonaland Central, with a lot of hail storm. Bindura was quite at an impact yesterday - the hail storm destroyed quite a lot of infrastructure. Other than the state of the crop, the state of roads is very poor, impacting on farmers and sometimes even impacting on electricity pylons. These are issues we have been discussing in Cabinet to say what should be done to infrastructure.
I also want the Senate to note that other than crops, we have also suffered quite a loss earlier on in the season in the livestock sector, with Matabeleland South being the most affected province. As totality, parts of Masvingo, parts of Manicaland, Southern parts of Midlands and Matabeleland North. In terms of loss of livestock, I think I have given the figures already, they are somewhere around 16 000 to 17 000 animals that we have lost in totality due to the drought.
On the other side, we have also had a lot of births, for some reason, whether by nature, animals do compensate, even the wild life. As we are talking, Minister Nhema is preparing the status of wild life as well, to see. Overally, the live stock has increased even though we have realised that overall loss. The interest of the Senate, of course, is specifically on crops status. We are not very far from the total hectrage, at the same time planted to maize as compared to previous season. That is, we are now close to maybe 1.2 million hectares of maize planted. By last week we were below by minus nine percent, but this is not the stage at which we are doing crop assessment to estimate the yield. We are simply recording what has been planted and from what has been planted, some crop has been washed away, some crop is standing. I do not want us to use that as the estimated yield. There is an appropriate time that we are going to come with the estimated crop that we anticipate. I just want that to be noted.
Number two, tobacco is doing very well and we are about to open the auction floors. The biggest problem with tobacco is that there have been heavy rains and those who planted the crop late, particularly our communal people; it has been caught in the heavy rains. We do hope that may be when we assess what will happen next week, we will see. The early planted crop of tobacco is doing fairly well, but it is also caught up in the rains that some farmers, when it rains sometimes it quickens the ripening process, so the farmers are battling with that, but already we are going to open the auction floors so that some farmers who have tobacco that has been cured will be given relief so that they get some cash to keep them going.
The biggest challenge continues to be energy in terms of electricity and I have given you the reason that electricity is impacted on in terms of heavy rains as well, bridges have been washed away and the ZESA people are not able to reach some of the points where they have to repair. Farmers have to do with generators and diesel, so we have to give all our support to the Minister of Energy so that we work together.
The last point is that cotton has been a very difficult crop in tradition areas where we used to see cotton because of the difficulties we had last year, cotton farmers in better rainfall areas have switched over to maize, tobacco and soya beans and I think I can safely speak in terms of Mashonaland West, some parts of Mashonaland Central and Mashonaland East. Farmers found the alternative from cotton, yet cotton is a very vital crop, industrial and even income earning in certain parts. So we will try and work and see what we can do to continue supporting cotton, but for this season, some farmers have opted where there is better rainfall to either plant maize, soya beans or tobacco.
I also want the Senate to know that the tobacco crop is kind of moving south-wards now, with farmers planting tobacco in Midlands and even some farmers are increasing tobacco planting in Masvingo. There are two women farmers in Umguza area in Matebeleland North who have planted cotton and I understand there will be a field day there. We have young farmers, not youth per-se but young families who have also come up now to grow tobacco, I want to say that as Ministry of Agriculture, we continue to monitor that there is food security. We want our people to grow commercial crops, but we must know that we have food crops grown and it is a must. We can buy food but it is very important that we have a balance between our cash crops and our food crops.
We are also going to intensify the support to livestock farmers as well; I know quite a number of Senators come from areas where livestock is critical.
Lastly, small dams, medium sized dams are under threat of being washed away but Senate should also take note of the floods, for example, in Beitbridge, they have been having floods and the greatest impact is on farming communities. I thank you Madam President.
*SENATOR HUNGWE: Thank you Madam President, I thank
the Minister for the explanation that he has given us that he hopes the situation in the country will ease. Can the Minister tell this Senate as he promised that no one will die of hunger when he is still alive. We are coming from the rural areas, people are crying and we are telling them that we are waiting to hear from the minister responsible so that we know the situation of our food security in the country. Thank you.
MR MADE: Thank you very much Madam President I want to thank Hon. Hungwe for raising the question. Firstly, I want to say that as I have already said, the rains came late, it impacted on the early planted crop which had been anticipated that people will be moving towards harvesting. We are already taking note to say in certain areas, we have to continue supplying food because the rains came late, we have no choice; it is by nature that we cannot ignore those areas because the rains came late, so we have to continue with all the food measures that we have under the grain and the overall vulnerable group. Some of those families have even lost the capacity to plant or even to repay grain loans. That is number one. Number two, when we talk of the communal people where the greatest impact is and I want again to emphasize, the southern parts of Manicaland, Masvingo, Matabeleland South, the southern parts of Midlands and low veld areas of Mashonaland. When we go to the escarpment down there, there are also low veld areas where we have to continue assisting people with food.
The lands that are clear with a better situation are Mashonaland West, Mashonaland Central and Mashonaland East. Even by planting it is at least reasonable, I am now talking of maize. There are some pockets where they will start getting crop in another two months. Our gap is very clear, in certain provinces our gap is four months. We must help the people even though they have planted, maybe they will harvest something or they will not be able to harvest something.
The small grains have also had their own challenges and I want to include army worm this time which has gone beyond the traditional areas where we know army worm. Masvingo, Matebeleland South and Midlands were affected by army worm. When we talk of pastures, the hactrage affected by army worm, for example, 70% of the total hactrage which is 27 000 ha was in Midlands. It is for the first time, we have never seen army worm going as far as that. Midlands and Matebeleland North are the two provinces that were largely affected by army worm, not only the crop but also pastures. However, we have moved in, I think they will be able to control the situation. That is the second cause of the problem where we must continue to assist our people.
We now come to the impact of the rain. The early planted crop depending on the type of the soil, if it is a heavy soil, it would be able to stand, if it is sandy soils, the early planted crop might have a challenge here and there. The middle planted crop in some cases will also make it. The late planted crop in the sandy soils, some of it has just sunk with the rains. These are the three areas of assessment that we are doing.
How are we resolving the problem at least to make sure that there is food? We have allowed the private sector to continue importing grain.
Secondly, the Government itself will continue its programme to assist the people. Madam President that is all I can say.
+SENATOR S. NCUBE: Thank you Madam President, I would
want to ask Hon. Minister Made about the loans that were given to people, the money that was borrowed to people inorder to buy cattle. People are still asking about those monies. In your budget last year, did you have that money so that people can manage to buy cattle? Thank you.
+THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, MECHANISATION
AND IRRIGATION DEVELOPMENT: Thank you Madam
President, last year we had a budget that reached seven million dollars which was meant for those people who rear cattle. However, we have not been given that money for the strengthening of restocking. We only had money to help those who have cattle so that they can manage the drought. We are still waiting for the Minister of Finance and then we will update you. Thank you.
SENATOR MARAVA: Hon. Minister, I am so happy I will not
let you go until you answer me. Madam President, I would like to ask the hon. minister a supplementary question. The reason why people have moved southwards planting tobacco is not just because people want to plant tobacco, it is because a lucrative price is being paid for tobacco and maize is fetching very little compared to tobacco prices.
With the nation at heart hon. minister, you have been talking of food security that people must try by all means to remember that to secure the nation you need food. However, I also know that you are facing difficulty in that our local production here of maize is much higher than the cost of imported maize. I would like to know whether you have got an answer to this equation. How are we going to be assured of national food here in Zimbabwe? Thank you.
MADAM PRESIDENT: Before I call upon the minister to
respond, may I please remind hon. senators that you will get a better response if you do not debate first before you put your questions. It is a question and answer period, please just pose the question to the minister.
I am not saying you should not do an introduction but it should not be too long so much that the minister would be in anticipation of the question. I thank you.
THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, MECHANISATION
AND IRRIGATION DEVELOPMENT: I want to thank Senator
Marava, of course the question you have raised raises much broader policy and strategy question. You have given comparison to a cash crop and food crop, when we come to the food crop and we talk of a price as a motivating factor for people to go into that crop. Immediately, I must balance that with the consumer, this is very critical but before we get to that I will also look at the broader factors of production. On the whole they hinge around short term borrowings for buying inputs or
Government intervention with inputs, i.e, seed, fertilizer and land overall that is on the production side and the general problems of the weather and so on. So our situation with food crops is very clear and we have to decide and I am happy because this is in the policy document where we are discussing now and maybe close to resolving that at the Cabinet level. In terms of the document, it is already there. It clearly carries elements that raises the question; at which point should Government intervene? Should Government intervene at the industry level to deal with industry as it produces inputs?
I just want to give you one example, if I take the process of processing cement, I think it is a very good example if you go way back historically, you will find that generally, the cost of cement used to be almost at par with the cost of fertilizer. I want you to take note of that but today the cost of fertilizer is, for example between US$35 and
US$40.00 and the cost of cement maybe at most between US$10 and US$16.00. So you can see right there from an industrial point of view that our cost - and I am not talking about of the element – yes the elements are different. So this is where we must answer the question
first.
Comparatively when we relate to other countries that have inputs; let us say sometimes you hear reference to other countries that the inputs are low. But I must say there are subsidies to the farmers. When we subsidise the inputs, it must be across the entirerity of the fertilizer sect. You must not have a bag that is costing US$20 and another bag costing such and such, they will be arbitraged, and those who get it at a cheaper price some of them might take and sell at a higher price. So once we determine a price it must be the same across the country so that there is no arbitrage. Obviously our fertilizers are different for different crops but I am at least talking of the food crop. Yes you can take some food crop fertilizer and apply it to some commercial crops it is possible, so we must secure that.
So I am hoping that a lot of these issues that you have raised particularly on the food issue how do we resolve it? I also want to say to the Senate very happily as you know now, we have the Food and
Nutrition Committee of Cabinet which is Chaired by the Vice President, Hon. Mujuru, which means we are addressing the question of food security at that highest level and virtually I can say almost three quarters of the Cabinet Ministers are in that Committee to address the issues of water, irrigation and electricity. Virtually almost all the Ministers are in that Committee so that we can try to answer this question.
There are things also that we have done that relate to crop, seed security and I think the seed houses have done very well and even the fertilizer houses. But you can see the challenges that we have to pay them, I think you have heard sometimes we talk of; we owe these companies US$40 million. So when you look at their operations also they are borrowing money at high interest rate so sometimes that is why you see the prices are at such a variance. I think we must determine the short term, the medium term and the long term loan issues when we pay for the services we get from them but they have also tried.
Madam President, I think it is just reflecting also that maybe some of the questions – you know I am taking a little bit longer but I think that is the nature of the questions but really calling for a much deeper debate. I am happy to say that there will be an All Stakeholders Agricultural Committee of Parliament. So some of these issues I am sure they will come up again. Thank you.
SENATOR MUCHIHWA: I have a short question which I want
to ask on the sale of product. Why is it that some of the farmers who sold wheat to you some were given partial payment and yet others were not paid, what was the criteria used in making out the payment?
THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTER, MECHANISATION AND IRRIGATION DEVELOPMENT: Thank you hon. member for
asking that question. Yes it is true that we start making out payments, so we started paying out maize farmers for what they sold us. The next payment will be for wheat sold to us. Yes we do buy our wheat from farmers but we do not sell it there and there to the milers. What we do is overally as a country we are not producing enough food to meet the needs of the country especially for the past 2 years. Our production has been going down as a result we have given permission to millers to import wheat. As a result you find that in the process of buying they will have made contracts of supply which may last them a month or two. As a result the wheat which we buy has to be stored in our granaries, we cannot send it to the millers because they have enough in their stock which will have been imported.
In this farming season I believe that the amount we are offering to farmers, you will find that we are about to wrap up all the payments we owe the farmers who sold us wheat this season. Therefore if we have any farmers who have not yet been paid up, let me promise them that if they go to the GMB they will receive something which we will have stock up for them. Therefore we are now preparing for the next farming season especially wheat.
Let me just give an illustration of what I am saying especially directed to the Parliamentarians. Some farmers are saying with the way we are nurturing up our farmers, we have farmers of tobacco who are doing contract farming of tobacco and also in contract farming there are some problems which encountered in those areas and we are now asking ourselves, now that we have millers who wanted to take up the wheat we allow them to import the wheat to meet the country‟s needs but at the same time we want to encourage these millers to do contract farming with the local farmers. Especially when we look at what is done by Delta Corporation, they do contract farming for wheat and sorghum so that they can use it for brewing and the question we are asking is why is it that millers are not getting into contract farming so that they can assist in the growth of farming with the local farmers because I do not think it is fair for us to keep on giving them permits to import wheat from outside and yet we have enough water for irrigation. Therefore, it is high time they start contract farming with wheat farmers. As a Government, we know we need to have our strategic portion, but this is open to discussion. Therefore, I am giving a warning or advice to farmers on the future plans. We need to work with industrial areas on the wheat farmers. What we now need is to create an enabling environment so that wheat farmers are supported by the millers.
+SENATOR CHIEF NTABENI: Thank you Madam President, I
want to ask the Minister if he has knowledge about the rainfall pattern or are we expecting yet another drought? I do not know about the other regions, but I am talking about Midlands; people from my community get fertiliser from GMB but GMB does not have AN. I am wondering what the Minister has to say about that. The second question Minister is that, in my community, we survive with cattle and maize. However, our cattle have a lot of teaks, we do not have chemicals. I do not know how you can help us Minister because that is how we survive; our maize and our cattle. Thank you.
+THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, MECHANISATION
AND IRRIGATION DEVELOPMENT: Thank you Senator Chief
Ntabeni for bringing up the issue of cattle and maize. However, I am the Minister of Agriculture and there is an issue of money and our Ministry gets money from agriculture. That means if the money is not there then there is no way I can help you.
When it comes to the issue of fertiliser, the AN is not even available. All seed houses and fertiliser companies maybe going to two seasons – that means if they give us fertiliser, they would have borrowed and if we look at the interest rate, they are borrowing against 20% and that is why the Reserve Bank has sat down and talked about the issue of interest rates. It is difficult for someone who does not have money for short term, medium term and long term to support the farmers. I have said that a policy should be put in place on whether we are to subsidise industries? I was speaking about the issue of cost of fertiliser and seed maize, if you get the money yourself to buy fertiliser at $40.00 for 50kg, it is too expensive. This is a strategic question that we must answer collectively.
However, I must thank the farmers because they have tried their best and we should accept that. When it comes to that Senator, I beg you, that is the situation on the ground and things have worsened with the mulching. They have worsened the soils and I would advise the farmers that if they see that there would- not be rains, do not put anything, just wait. That is the situation that the farmers are facing and worse still, small scale farmers.
We should thank the President, he promised us that he will try to get AN for us. So we are looking forward to getting it; the little that the
President will provide us with. If we are to get it, then we will help you, we have to be patient. We hope that it will be soon so that we send the top dressing, but we need to accept that it was worsened by the rains and with the anxiety of demand, the companies are also putting up the prices but that is our key point. I need to say that we are waiting for delivery from the President. A little though, the first delivery, which is top dressing, we will give to small scale farmers, especially in communal areas and A1. We have spoken about that. We will also have those who plant maize in communal areas where you are; not everyone and A1 always. When the fertiliser is delivered, we have only been promised by the Minister of Finance that he will help us with $3 million to $4 million, but I am begging that when you see that the rains are coming, please do not top dress. Otherwise the fertiliser will be washed away.
Secondly, I would want to speak about the issue of cattle. When it comes to dipping chemicals, the President helped us with $1 million. You talked about re-stocking and $7 million, I spoke about that when I responded to Hon. Senator Ncube. We do not have that money yet, but if we do get it, I have heard you on the issue of dipping. On Tuesday, I took the issue up to Cabinet. I talked to them about the dipping situation. What I am saying is, I know about all these that Chief Ntabeni brought up. Prevailing diseases, the teak borne disease this year and it is across all provinces. That is step number one. Step number two, there is anthrax, number three there is lumpy skin disease. Just to give you a bit of knowledge on the disease outbreak nationally, the greatest being teak borne disease, what I want to say is that when it comes to livestock resuscitation, we have to elaborate on the issue of dipping cattle and deworming. Thank you very much Chief Ntabeni, I agree with you. Madam President, what I want to say is that, there is an increase in cattle dying from rabies and there are people who have died because of rabies, it does not only kill dogs but people and cattle as well. The central point, as you have pointed out, is the livestock and the strategies we should take. Thank you.
SENATOR MOHADI: Thank you Madam President. My
question goes to the Minister of Lands and Rural Resettlement. Why is it that the 99-year leases take so long to be obtained?
THE MINISTER OF LANDS AND RURAL
RESETTLEMENT (SENATOR MURERWA): Madam President, I
would like to thank the hon. senator for her question. The reason why 99-year leases take so long is that the process also takes long. It requires that the particular piece of land for which a 99-year lease is being applied for be surveyed and mapped. The challenge we face is that, a lot of farms have been destroyed, they have been demarcated into smaller pieces of land. This means that, instead of surveying and mapping one farm, several pieces of land would need to be surveyed and mapped. They must have their own boundaries. After doing that, it is necessary that these leases be registered properly. The process itself just takes a long time.
We are also constrained by resources to the Ministry in terms of surveyors. This country has very few land surveyors. We have started programmes in universities to accelerate the process of training surveyors. We have limited surveyors and planners. We also have constraints of resources which contribute to the delays in this process. +SENATOR MLOTSHWA: Thank you Madam President, I want
to make a supplementary question to the Minister of Lands. I do not know whether my information is outdated on one-man-one-farm policy. We realise that we now have one-man-twenty farms. What are we going to do to reverse what we have now?
THE MINISTER OF LANDS AND RURAL
RESETTLEMENT (SENATOR MURERWA): Thank you Madam
President. I am sure the hon. senator knows very well that there is no such thing as one-man- twenty farms. It is the policy of Government that it be one farm per family, not even one farm per man. Government has endeavoured to pursue this policy. We have had some cases where there have been some double allocations to same families, but this has been rectified to ensure that we adhere to this policy. Thank you Madam President.
*SENATOR KABAYANJIRI: Thank you Madam President. My
question is directed to Minister Made. My question is in connection with irrigation in terms of the climatic change. As Government, what are the measures that have been put in place to ensure irrigation is there in our farms where we have been resettled? The dams are there, but most of the equipment there was vandalised when people took over the farms. For example, the farm that I settled in is a reflection of the situation in the country. When we got there we were seven. We applied to the Ministry so that we could get help because the dams are there, but the pipes have been vandalised. In the mean time, we do not have the resources to buy new equipment, so, we are appealing to Government to help us so that we can engage in irrigation. Therefore, I want to ask the Minister what measures have been put in place in terms of irrigation in the country?
THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, MECHANISATION AND IRRIGATION DEVELOPMENT (SENATOR D.R. MADE):
Thank you Madam President. I think Senator Kabayanjiri, as a beneficiary of the land reform has characterised it quite adequately. The information we have is exactly the same. Every A2 farm is planned, the hectarage that used to be under irrigation is known by us. The potential irrigation on each of the farms is known. It runs into billions of dollars to even try and restore what used to be there.
From a planning point of view, I am happy that all that information is there. Our battle for the farmers in mechanisation and irrigation is what I have said, short-term loan, medium-term and long- term. As we are speaking, most of the farms have had small streams bursting to the banks. Some farmers who even have pumps did not have the chance to lift those pumps, the motors have been damaged. As we approach the winter crop right now, those motors have been damaged as we are going into the winter crop right now. So I just want to agree with you that the calamity is not as simple as resuscitating, it includes even those farmers whose pump houses got filled with water, that is those that have pump houses near those rivers, the A2 farmers; those are the ones I want to start with…
MADAM PRESIDENT: Time is running out.
SENATOR DR. MADE: Rewiring even on the one you made an effort on your own and repaired centers around that; the issues of money.
The second aspect is small holder irrigation, which is mainly in the communal areas. That is where at least we have tried according to the blue book. Some irrigations schemes we have been able to deal with but those areas have faced the same problem right now as we are talking about the rains. I know you talk of the dams that are there. Some dams actually are under threat right now in terms of the spillways, they are being washed away. So, that is an infrastructure we should resuscitate. Maybe, Madam President, you should just end on this note. When we talk of irrigation and the destruction of the soil, one classical case is that of the Gokwe gully which has continued to collapse as late as seven days ago. This is a well taken question and this is where the focus should be.
Questions Without Notice were interrupted by MADAM PRESIDENT in terms of Standing Order No. 34.
MOTION
COPAC REPORT
First Order read: Adjourned debate on the Report of the Constitution Parliamentary Select Committee on the progress and outcome of the Constitution making process.
Question again proposed.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF JUSTICE AND LEGAL
AFFAIRS: Thank you Madam President for the opportunity you have given me. I just want to make very brief submissions on the importance of the new draft constitution and I would just like to emphasise the need for us as a nation and a country to adopt, going forward, the culture of Constitutionalism. I believe that has been one of our biggest short comings as a nation. It is not so much the quality or the wording of the Constitution as compared to whether or not we are going to be able to respect and to abide by the contents of that Constitution. So, I am very happy that the draft Constitution as it is gives us an opportunity to mark a departure from the Lancaster House Conference. We all know that in 1979, 21 December, a Constitution was literally forced on the nation of
Zimbabwe to end a protracted liberation struggle. That is recorded history and I believe that this has given us an opportunity now to come up with our own Constitution. That did not make everyone happy but the issue is that it is not so much that we are going to have a Constitution that will make everyone happy, that will never happen.
When people talk of a people driven constitution sometimes I get very excited and anxious and I ask myself what a people driven Constitution means. I believe that the document that we have is just about the best document that Zimbabwe could have had at this juncture. I am excited that going forward, we should now make sure that our constitution is something that is dearly adapted to. Just to sum up, we should, going forward, adopt a culture of constitutionalism. I would like to wind up by referring to one famous statement by a celebrated human rights campaigner, Dr. Martin Luther King Junior who said, in some speech in 1967, “an injustice anywhere is an attack on justice everywhere.” So, I believe that it is now important for us to observe, maintain and respect the rule of law. Thank you Madam President.
MADAM PRESIDENT: I thank you Minister for your
contribution, except you gave us your contribution on the constitution. We are debating on the COPAC Report.
SENATOR MANDABA: Thank you Madam President. I know
so much has been said about the report that was eloquently presented by Hon. Governor Mathuthu, seconded by Hon. Gaule. What I want to say is that we are very proud of having been involved in the Constitution making process. Our names, including our drivers, appear in the report and we are going to go down in history as having been involved in this important event. I thought we had left out going into history, of which we should all be happy. The exercise was a unifying one. Members‟ relationships were so good that we shared food as a family and the participants also were so good that they were not showing political differences during the participation of the outreach and that JOMIC and the Organ for National Healing should probably take a leaf of what happened during the outreach. I thank you.
SENATOR MLOTSHWA: Thank you very much Madam
President. I would like to join my colleagues on congratulating COPAC and Hon. Mathuthu for presenting the report, seconded by Hon. Gaule. Everything has been said. I do not have much to say save to say that I thought in the report, maybe since we are making history of our own in Zimbabwe, not so many countries went through the same route we took for our Constitution. We are very proud to have found each other and gone this way, but I am saying for the purposes of making it true history, on page 8, paragraph (b), bullet (i) to (vii), I was thinking that the
COPAC Report was going to have the same time frame because we did not use this one that was laid down according to the Global Political Agreement, but we had our own. So, if another Parliament wants to come and learn from us how much time it took us to agree, disagree, negotiate, politicise, do everything, pray – everything that we did; how long did it take. We want that journey to be in this report again so that at least we have a true history of what exactly transpired. Thank you very much.
SENATOR CHIEF NGUNGUMBANE: Thank you Madam
President, as per our culture the Chief is the last speaker and will have the final word. I hope…
SENATOR CHITAKA: While I respect the sentiments expressed
by the Chief but if my rights are being …
MADAM PRESIDENT: It is your right saka ndakupa floor.
Taurai zvamuri kuda kutaura…
SENATOR CHITAKA: Ndizvo zvandiri kutaura kuti he cannot
be the last speaker because I also want to speak and the rules say I have the right to speak. I am demanding and requesting that you give me the floor.
MADAM PRESIDENT: Thank you very much for your
intervention but the rules also say I should direct debate in this House, right, and that is why I sit here.
SENATOR CHIEF NGUNGUMBANE: Thank you Madam.
President. First and foremost, I would want to thank Parliament led by COPAC for a job well done. I know it was not an easy task putting three bulls in one kraal which wanted to exercise power over the other. I would want to stress that this report that is before us as a House, reflects the unity of purpose, the oneness that our political leaders have shown.
The spirit of Ubuntu, Hunhu has superseded all political interests and I would want to say to our politicians, you have put Zimbabweans first. You have put the people that elected you into power first and for that, I would want to say thank you very much and it is a job well done.
Secondly, there is a common saying in the field of Gestalt Psychology which states that part of a sum is greater than its whole and this is true with the report that has been presented to us. The contributions that people made under trees, in classrooms, et cetera have been reflected. Their contributions are very important. I happened to have been in the Midlands, the participation of the people was fantastic.
They took ownership of this programme and that is why it is called a
„People Driven Constitution‟.
I hope that we will stick to the word „people driven‟ now that we have presented what the people said. It is us the Zimbabweans who have to make sure that what the people have said is contained in the report and is reflected further through until the end of this programme. In closing, I would want to express my disappointment that at the end of the report there are names of people who participated in the various thematic committees. It is disappointing to note that some of us who participated, namely chiefs, the names do not appear. With those few words I would want to air my sentiments over the report.
THE GOVERNOR OF MATEBELELAND NORTH (GOV.
MATHUTHU): I rise to wind up the motion but before I close this motion, allow me to thank the honourable members who contributed.
Sen. Chief Mtshane, your words Hon. Senator and I quote, „finally
Zimbabweans have found each other‟ will continue to ring in our hearts.
Sen. Muchihwa, thank you for acknowledging the contributions from
Zimbabweans across the political divide including war veterans and especially the technocrats and „chaunga’ could not have developed the
process eloquently without assistance from the learned in our society.
Sen. Mtingwende, thank you for your appreciation for the experience you gained through participation in the outreach exercise. Sen. Chimbudzi, your appreciation to the COPAC Committee for bringing together 4 000 Zimbabweans from across the political divide including civil society and also churches, which was a first after our harmonized elections when Zimbabweans were so polarized. Thank you for noting that this marked the historical beginning of new things to happen and unifying the nation.
Sen. Sibanda, thank you for reminding us that it is God Almighty who led the process that is why it has come to an end on a positive note. Sen. Dete for your comment on the unity of purpose which prevailed during outreach and for reminding this august House of the sacrifice by members of Parliament whose vehicles depreciated to marengenya. Sen. Hlalo, thank you for analyzing the lyrics of the National Anthem and I quote, „May all leaders be exemplary‟, which we often sing but fall short of practicing as legislators.
Hon. Katyamaenza, thank you for acknowledging the role of the chiefs as they mobilized their people to participate during the outreach process. Sen. Chief Musarurwa, thank you for congratulating Zimbabwe on coming up with a new Constitution replacing the tattered Lancaster House document which had suffered a lot of patches. Sen. Ncube, you were so brief but to the point. Thank you for celebrating the completion of this process. Sen. Kabayanjiri, thank you for commenting on the peace which brought about the participation of all Zimbabweans in the process and especially the visionary leadership of His Excellency the President of Zimbabwe and his team.
Sen. Chibagu, you related the journey travelled by outreach teams from suspicion to brotherhood and cursed satan for dividing the nation. Sen. Femai, thank you for acknowledging the vision and agility of His Excellency the President and the Prime Minister of our country as they guided the process and the role played by the chiefs. You pleaded to future generations to resist amendments to the Draft Constitution to very critical areas.
Sen. Chief Chiduku, thank you for reminding the House to be sincere when we refer to chiefs and your observation that no one is perfect as there may be areas requiring cleaning to ensure that the Draft Constitution would be without blemish.
Thank you, Senator Chief Charumbira for assuring this august
House that the chiefs would lobby for a “yes vote” even though the Draft Constitution would be debated after the Referendum to correct areas of concern from the chiefs.
Senator Gutu, thank you for encouraging us to adopt a culture of constitutionalism and also encouraging us to move forward with this draft. Senator Mandava, I thank you also for reminding us that all data captured will go down into history. So we have made history as a nation.
Senator Mlotshwa, thank you also for noting the errors which are on page 8. The bullets you mentioned, I am sure they will be corrected.
Senator Chief Ngungubane, thank you for reminding us of ubuntu/hunhu and also quoting that part of the sum is greater than its whole. You also mentioned that there were omissions on Thematic Committees where the names of the chiefs were not captured.
Madam President, I therefore, move that the motion be adopted.
Motion put and adopted.
[HON SENATORS: Ululation].
MOTION
CONDOLENCES ON THE DEATH OF THE VICE PRESIDENT
Second Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the tragic and untimely death of Honourable Vice President John Landa Nkomo.
Question again proposed.
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE PRIME MINISTER’S
OFFICE (MRS HOLLAND): The Organ for National Healing,
Reconciliation and Integration thanks Senator S. K. Moyo for affording us all this opportunity to pay homage to a great son of Africa, a great leader of the 20th and 21st Centuries for the greatest contribution of his life towards the end. The successful production of a sustainable, unique and a first, the architecture or infrastructure for peace in Zimbabwe in exactly four years, a very short time span to invent something so new.
Recognizing His Excellency, the President‟s condolence message and burial speech, very extra-ordinary. Among many others, which appeared in both the electronic and print media, the Organ for National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration would like to add this obituary as the voice of the Organ for National Healing which is still reeling in shock and deep sorrow on the passing on of our very able and extraordinary Chairperson, the Hon. Landa John Nkomo, the Vice President of the Republic of Zimbabwe.
I think people may get confused about the use of the word “Landa” first. Towards the end of his life, he really did make a shift to explaining that when he was young and at school, a white man asked, “what is your name?” It was an inspector. He was sitting next to his sister and he was going to say “Landa”, the sister said “John” and he said “John”. That name stuck but towards the end of his life he named the school which he founded Landa John Nkomo.
The Organ would like to put it on record that this was something that he really did towards the end of his life. The Organ for National Healing is a creation of the three Global Political Agreement principals.
We actually report directly to the three GPA principals.
What we would like to say as the Organ is that the Principal Director, Directors and all staff members, will always remember very fondly our Chair for his unrelenting search for peace in Zimbabwe.
When things really got bad every institution does get to those situations, - wayesithi uVice President, angifuni into iphunyuke. Handidi kuti chinhu ichi chindipunyuke. I do not want this thing to get out of my hand. Holland sit up! Always we pulled up rank and actually moved forward together because he expressed from the beginning that he would never allow this to escape him.
We want really to salute today, the embodiment he had of tactful diplomacy manifested through all the conflict analysis, negotiations, mediations, peace building skills that he displayed whenever anything appeared as if it was going to derail the peace process in Zimbabwe.
Befittingly, we would like to actually repeat again that the Organ for National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration was made up of three senior politicians. We are quoting exactly the words of His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe when he actually nominated the three Co-Principals of the Organ. He really liked that word better than the word “elder” because he thought it left some things out.
The Vice President, our Chair worked hard and was completely committed in his efforts to bequeath the legacy of peace for future generations in Zimbabwe.
I would like to point out very quickly again that the establishment of the Organ is in the Global Political Agreement, Article 7 (1) (c.) and the team that was around the establishment of the peace process - I would like to salute them here because the Chief Secretary, Dr. M.
Sibanda, his staff Dr. R. Ndlukula, Rtd Col. C. Katsande from the very beginning ensured that we would get the technical support as we built the team to where we would actually never fail. I would like to put it on record that the relationship that was built from the beginning by our Chair with the Office of the President and Cabinet, that trio and their staff really sustained what we were able to achieve.
I would like to say that when the three of us met under the leadership of the late Vice President, Landa John Nkomo, the important thing that he wanted us to understand was to succeed, we had to be truthful to one another at all times. When we were discussing peace, no two of us would meet without the third one.
At all times when the three of us met, we convened formally to bring out what came from our political parties as policy on the infrastructure for peace, hence the long name because in the Constitution that came out, we were supposed to be called the Organ for National Healing and Reconciliation but the MDC-T name for national reconciliation is National Reconciliation and Integration. So, quickly I added that word so that it also included our perspective of that. We wanted an inclusive process to really come up with a peace process. So it was to me to the credit of the Chairman that he did not argue, he just wanted that to be put in, although it would make the word very long.
When we met to talk about how we would come up with an infrastructure for peace, it is to the credit of our Chairman that he accepted that after a long, long debate, it was important for us to recognise that the three of us had no idea what we were supposed to do to get this peace process going. So we adopted together, an approach that would be grassroots based, national and inclusive to consult the people of Zimbabwe. The first port of call was to meet with the traditional leaders. I want to salute Chief Charumbira and the Chief‟s Council because from the first day when they came to our offices to meet with us, it was quite instructive what they told us. They said, you know that in Zimbabwe, siyakumela lomulowatathi, tinosvutisana fodya and that is the work that the chiefs are doing everyday in their areas. That today, is the basis of the infrastructure for peace in Zimbabwe from the traditional leaders that the people of Zimbabwe, in establishing the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission, as it is now, which is the legal framework and the adoption of an African way of bringing peace came from the traditional leaders. I would like to salute Chief Charumbira, Chief Mtshane Khumalo and their team for having come at the invitation of our Vice President and our Chairman to advise us.
In going out to talk to the people of Zimbabwe, we talked to everybody and we visited the whole country. I want to thank the people of Zimbabwe for educating us, for telling us truthfully what was in their hearts about what they wanted to see. At the end of 18 months, our colleague, Mr Gibson Sibanda died and to his credit, the Vice President did not stumble or find this a terrible tragedy. We went to ask the
President of the Republic of Zimbabwe when our Chairman became the Vice President that he stay as Chairman because the rapport that we had developed, if it was broken at that time, we would not have come up with what we did. That was agreed, so when our colleague died, we went to Kariba – he died exactly 18 months after we finished the consultative process. In those nine days, when the whole Organ celebrated the life and contribution of our colleague, Minister Gibson Sibanda, we recognised the importance of how we had been set up. At the level of the Principals, was the President himself who had worked very well with Hon. John Nkomo. Hon. John Nkomo who had worked with the Prime Minister, Mr. Tsvangirai in the trade union movement, with Mr. Gibson Sibanda when he was the leader of the trade union movement. The intruder was me, but as the President pointed out, they wanted gender balance and he was very pleased with the gender component that was thrown in, yours truly. So, I would like to say, the fact that the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe used the talents of everybody to bring a team together that produced a document in Kariba, our transformational, transitional strategic plan which was adopted based on our adopting from the traditional leaders, local best practices, kusvutisana fodya based on ubuntu bethu, hunhu hwedu.
Vice President Nkomo always educated us on the relationship that had taken place during the liberation struggle with the other liberation movements. So we adopted the best practice from the region. Also, what was pleasing to me, was that he wanted us to adopt the best practices from the international community that we made use of. I would like to salute Vice President Nkomo, single handedly, from 2009 and this is not known, he actually shielded the whole country from the war that was to descend on us to break the GPA by saying, the people of Zimbabwe have put in a peace process where we would like to be given the time and the space to talk amongst ourselves. He would quote what was happening in COPAC and that the most beautiful stories about what was happening in our country were coming from COPAC. I would like to salute the people of COPAC on behalf of the Organ for your contributions yesterday and today. It has been a very big lesson for me, but I can see what our Vice President meant when he said, we must protect the GPA process as the Organ, by talking about what was happening here. For sure, we did and the international community today knows more about what the Organ has done and what it is doing because we kept them engaged as we did with the traditional leaders.
We have adopted the best practices locally, best practices in the region to capture the positive contributions of the liberation struggle and what the people of Zimbabwe contributed during that struggle, which is yet to be captured. I would like to also say here that the programme that we came up with at the leadership of the Vice President has produced for us, four elements of an infrastructure for peace. It is the first in the world, it is one which people are now coming to visit Zimbabwe to learn about. As I said, it has a legal framework, based on ubuntu bethu, hunhu hwedu, the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission. I would want to say once again – I was talking last night about the beautiful women who presented there about what their experiences were and the men, the staff, the policy makers from the village to the ward, district, province of the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission. The members are the members of COPAC, I do not think we need to go very far because they have really shown us that they captured the spirit of
Zimbabwe and we have to build on that.
I would like to assure our colleague, Senator Mandaba that the Vice President, our Chairman, always used to say, look at what COPAC and JOMIC are doing because those people are going to be the ones who make the input which makes this thing work. So you do not have to worry because we have always been watching and we have always been listening. We have got some of the most excitement programmes that were spearheaded by the Chairman, Vice President Nkomo.
In conclusion, those who were at the funeral, all the arrangements which were made for Tsholotsho, Bulawayo, Harare worked the way the Chairman wanted, mvura, it just made people do what he wanted. What was in Vice President Nkomo‟s heart? I saw him on a Tuesday evening and as always, I was joking with him saying abantu baphela not realising this was good bye. I was telling him that we are launching the Code of Conduct for and by political parties at the end of February, that will take the signing by the three GPA Principals, it has not been signed. What is that Code of Conduct? The Code of Conduct is from political parties, this is a political party document, the GPA. It is an instrument which uses the African approach, kana vanhu vakasanganisa meso, when people‟s eyes meet, you reflect the love, the beauty of humans and the best in you comes out so that you come out with the best. So, the Code of Conduct is the tool that the Chair brought it up. This was his brainchild. I am not saying this because he is gone. From day one when we met, he said we need a Code of Conduct for political parties to meet, so that they actually map down how they will remove all forms of violence from the political playing field. That was his baby.
Madam President, he also came up with the term cyclic political violence because it has always come at times when power is being debated. So, the Code of Conduct will be signed towards the end of this month. It is his baby again, the history project; those are the elements of the infrastructure for peace. The history project, if we break out now as the Senate into isibongo nje or isigava nje you will be shocked about how we are one family and how in fact Zimbabwe is one and how much we all love it because we reflect that.
So the history project is going to be easy. We have held the methodology workshop. It is also going to be launched at the end of February. That was his brainchild that if you got Zimbabweans to talk to one another through the traditional leaders, our academics, the thing would really take off. The history project and the Code of Conduct and the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission are the three elements.
The fourth element is the most exciting one. It is the programme that supports the three elements and you will be hearing more about it. In saluting the Chair of the Organ, may I conclude by saying the legacy of Landa John Nkomo is the manner of his departure. The chanting of the only slogan by the President at Heroes Acre and then in the
Politburo, „peace begins with me, peace begins with you, peace begins with us‟.
This slogan, I need to now record, is the brainchild of Hon. Minister Muchena. In March 2009, when she invited me from the Organ to come and address International Women‟s Day, Vice President Mujuru and Deputy Prime Minister Khupe nearly got kicked out of their parties - they arrived holding their zambias and I addressed them on the Theme given to us by Hon. Minister Muchena which was „peace begins with me, peace begins you, peace begins with us. When I got back Vice President Nkomo said to me selenzeni because he had been told of that scandal of the women. I said no, this is what they had as a theme, he said mfana wami fakani pansi. So, we adopted it as the Organ slogan and it is there, „peace begins with me, peace begins with you, peace begins with us‟ because Nkomo thought those were the most appropriate words to actually have in Zimbabwe.
The other slogan which is very important is the Mahatma Gandhi one “an eye for an eye, makes Zimbabwe blind”. That is an important logo for people to actually adopt because there have to be some people somewhere who say we stop here and we start talking about peace.
Madam President, the one which he really loved most was „all
Zimbabweans, let us together as Zimbabweans walk the talk for peace in
Zimbabwe‟. With those words, I would like to thank Parliament for giving us this opportunity as the Organ to put our words and our sorrow on the table. Thank you.
+THE GOVERNOR FOR MATEBELELAND NORTH:
Thank you Madam President. The Hon. Minister has spoken a lot that I wanted to speak about. If I was not from Matebeleland North, I would have just sat down. Madam President, because Hon. Landa Nkomo was from the Matebeleland province, I will speak slowly since we were told that we should speak slowly. I therefore saw it fit for me to speak one or two things about Hon. J. Nkomo. I would like to thank Hon. Senator S.K. Moyo for raising this motion, seconded by Hon. Senator Gaule.
Hon. President, in this august House, we were born by Hon.
Nkomo, politically, because he used to be our leader in Matebeleland
North. He taught us to respect, he guided us after the Harmonised
Elections, he called us and threatened us. He said that people should be at peace with each other. He said Zimbabwe is for us all. We have to work together with others. We have to guide each other so that we do not embarrass our nation as a whole.
Madam President, as said by Hon. Tapela yesterday, he said when you are amongst people, you have to humble yourself so that the people are the ones who bring you up. He was that kind of a person. You would never know that he was the Vice President. He will just act like one of those people from the community. He told us to be people of peace and he taught us to give. In Matebeleland North, when building Lupane University, we used to go to him and talk to him about the money for building the University. He called us and we went to Holiday Inn all of us. He asked each and every one of us how much we were going to donate towards the University. I did not know that I was supposed to contribute something as well.
We were all there and we all put promises and he said that he does not want fake promises. He said that he needed money. He went after each and every one of us asking for the money, as a result, we all put the money in place. He worked a lot towards development. People donated a lot of things as he taught us to give.
Hon. J. Nkomo also helped us by being the first to work towards the issue of water from the Zambezi for the people in Matebeleland
North down to Masvingo and other areas. I know that what he did in the Government is written down. He is the one who raised the Act that is about Rural Councils and Urban Councils and Traditional Leaders
Council. He never liked the name John, he preferred the name Landa. So, when we spoke about him we said the John is saying that – because he was once a Minister of Home Affairs when he worked for our Government.
It was interesting when he brought fuel to Tsholotsho so that he could help old people by ploughing for them. That is how it is like, the Chief talked about it yesterday. He gave me fuel to give the Chiefs so that they did not plough only for themselves but also for the people. As
Hon. Masuku said yesterday, he brought us gifts from all over the world.
In Matebeleland North, we were given a car that was given to the University. We were also given ploughs that are motorised. We were also given engines to help us with water so that we could give those in the irrigation scheme, so that they cannot just sit around and not work.
Hon. J. Nkomo helped us with a lot of things. He was the first person to bring computers and photocopiers in almost all the schools in Matabeleland North, before those things were popular at that time we did not know that he would end up building us a School of ICT excellence.
Madam President and the august House, I cannot say much more than what Hon. Senator Holland has said. Hon. John Landa Nkomo was a Christian and he feared God. I would want to say to his family that they should be comforted by the fact that Hon. J. L. Nkomo was a Christian and that he walked a Christ-like life. I would also want to say to Hon. President and the Cabinet that they should be comforted by the fact that he fought a good battle. To the people of Matabeleland North, Province I would want to say we should thank him and be grateful for the lessons he taught us. To all Zimbabweans, what I would like to leave with you are some words that are from a song by Lynda Randle. The words are written in English and I will give you a copy. The song says:
The God on the Mountain is the God in the Valley
Life is easy, when you’re on the mountain, and you’ve got peace of mind, like you’ve never known
But things change, when you’re down in the valley – don’t lose faith, for you’re never alone
You talk of faith, when you are up on the mountain oh! But the talk comes easy, when life’s at its best
But it’s down in the valley of trials and temptations, that’s when faith is really put to test
For the GOD on the mountain, is still the GOD in the valley
When things go wrong, he will make it right
And the GOD of good times is still the GOD of bad times
The GOD of the day is still the GOD of the night.
Thank you Madam President.
MADAM PRESIDENT: We also thank you Honourable Governor – [HON. SENATOR S. NCUBE: Tichadebater next week] – [Laughter] – I know and I am so happy to have so many assistants.
THE GOVERNOR FOR MATABELELAND NORTH: I move
that the debate do now adjourn. Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Tuesday, 12th February, 2013.
On the motion of the GOVERNOR FOR MATABELELAND
NORTH, the Senate adjourned at Twenty-Five Minutes past Four
th February, 2012.
O’clock p.m. until Tuesday, 12