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NATIONAL ASSEMBLY HANSARD 08 October 2015 42-11
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Thursday, 8th October, 2015
The National Assembly met at a Quarter-past Two O’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE ACTING SPEAKER in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENTS BY THE ACTING SPEAKER
CHANGES TO PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP
THE ACTING SPEAKER: I wish to draw the attention of the House to changes to Portfolio Committee membership as follows:
- M. Mudyiwa will serve on the Portfolio Committee on Environment, Water, Tourism and Hospitality Industry.
- M. Nkatazo will serve on the Portfolio Committee on Information, Communication Technology (ICT).
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
- RUNGANI: Madam Speaker, I move that Orders of the Day Numbers 1 to 4 be stood over until the rest of the orders have been dealt with.
- MUDARIKWA: I second.
MOTION
PRESIDENTIAL SPEECH: DEBATE ON ADDRESS
Fifth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion in reply to the
Presidential Speech.
Question again proposed.
- MPALA: Thank you Madam Speaker for according me this opportunity to present my maiden speech in this august House. I particularly want to thank His Excellency, the President and
Commander-In-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, Cde. R. G Mugabe, who is also the First Secretary of the revolutionary party
ZANU PF, for making it possible for me to be in this House today.
I am humbled by the magnitude of the confidence and responsibility placed upon me by my revolutionary party ZANU PF and the people of Lobengula Constituency. The people of Lobengula
Constituency applaud His Excellency for the Special Economic Zones Bill, which will seek to promote exports, boost industrialization and enhance skills and technology transfer that will be tabled this Session. We have been waiting for this Bill to come and be passed in Parliament in order for it to be implemented. This Bill will ensure the growth of the manufacturing sector and creation of more jobs in the process.
Due to the closure of most industries in Bulawayo, the informal Small to Medium Enterprises sector has shouldered the burden of providing a decent livelihood for the community. However, these noble informal sector efforts are being hampered by the City Council Police as vendors are now selling their wares in undesignated points. I humbly appeal to the Minister of Local Government to facilitate the construction of secure vending bays at affordable rentals to vendors in Lobengula Constituency and Bulawayo as a whole. Furthermore, I urge the Minister to look into and rectify the fact that Lobengula Constituency has a shortage of recreational facilities as the land assigned for such purposes is being misused, with the blessing of the local authorities.
Madam Speaker, I would like to thank His Excellency for presenting this important agenda to introduce a legal framework of the SMEs, through the amendment of the Cooperative Societies Act, which will ensure the sustainability and growth of the sector whilst incorporating the operations of savings and credit co-operative societies.
Let me also take this opportunity to thank His Excellency for prioritizing youths in his speech and making sure that there will be protection of children’s rights in the Bill that will be presented before this Parliament. Of concern is the number of people in Bulawayo who have migrated to South Africa and other neighbouring countries leaving minors behind, which has led to a lot of child headed families, exposing these same children to a lot of criminal activities to earn a living. I hope the Children’s Amendment Bill will address all these matters that affect the underage.
The same migration of parents to greener pastures is also linked to the increase in school dropouts and teen pregnancies. Of late, is the mushrooming of the teen-Vuzu parties being held by these children, which is currently the worst ill affecting them. This has led to a further drop in the pass rate in the province.
Madam Speaker, I appeal to the Minister of Health and Child Care to partner with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education and give behaviour change education in high density community schools. A policy must be put in place and implemented in all our schools. Programmes to influence healthy behaviour, including health promotion and education programmes, and interventions go a long way in benefitting school children and communities. These programmes when done at school level, easily address the intended targets for change and the methods for accomplishing these changes are easily implemented, this also helps, with the aid of teachers, to inform the timing and methods of study to be used.
In Lobengula Constituency, there is only one clinic which operates from Monday to Saturday, forcing people to travel long distances to other areas for daily treatments like the administration of injections and dressings. I appeal to the Ministry of Health and Child Care to look into the construction of more clinics in this area, and to ensure that better service is provided by the staff in our community clinics, especially towards the elderly. Of concern Madam Speaker, is also the fact that there is no medication at all at the clinic, yet patients are made to pay for consultation fees. On the few occasions when medication is available patients are made to bring or buy their own envelopes to package their medication.
Madam Speaker, I applaud the Government for the social welfare programme which is assisting the needy in Lobengula Constituency. Although that programme is meant for the less priviledged, some people who can afford to buy their own food are also benefitting, leaving some of the old, poor, sick and disabled to fend for themselves. I would like to implore the Minister of Public Services, Labour and Social Services to revisit the food for the poor programme so that it can only benefit its intended constituents.
In conclusion Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the
Zimbabwe Parliamentary Women’s Caucus for according me the opportunity to go for training in Kenya at Kenyatta University for a transformational leadership course. This course will not benefit me only, but will empower me to stimulate and inspire others to achieve extraordinary outcomes and, in the process, develop their own leadership capacity. I thank you.
THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND
INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (DR. J.M. GUMBO): I
move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Tuesday, 13th October, 2015.
MOTION
STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS BY HIS EXCELLENCY, THE
PRESIDENT
MRS. MHLANGA: I move the motion standing in my name:
That this House conveys its profound gratitude to His Excellency, the President Cde R.G. Mugabe for addressing a joint sitting of Parliament on the State of the Nation.
Expresses its commitment to and support for the views contained in his address; and that a respectful address be presented to His
Excellency the President, informing him of the sentiments of the House. MS. RUNGANI: I second.
MRS. MHLANGA: Thank you Madam Speaker for affording me
this opportunity. I will begin by thanking His Excellency the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe and Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces, Cde R.G. Mugabe for presenting to the House and the nation at large the State of the Nation Address. My contribution touches on the 10-point plan as enumerated by the President. In the 10-point plan, Government’s objective deliverables are clearly pronounced giving the political direction, Executive action or programme of action that is intended at achieving socio-economic gains through a deliberate thrust of growing our economy, thereby consolidating the four pillars of ZIM ASSET.
Madam Speaker, I will begin by addressing the first point which is on agricultural revitalisation and value chain. Government’s efforts with regards to the COTCO deal are commendable as cotton is grown in the seven provinces of the country. The possibility of converting the
COTCO debt which stands at $56 million to equity is also refreshing. There has been a decline of cotton production in the country whereby at one time we had 30 cotton companies in the country, which have now come down to eight.
Madam Speaker, our ginnery capacity as a country also stands at five times the current production levels given the fact that if this is revived, there could be huge potential for employment opportunities.
Problems that need to be addressed in this sector include lack of inputs, side marketing, poor loan recovery, the meager price of 30c per kilogram that is being given to farmers which is not viable, the awareness of how to grow and control diseases on the plant. As we stand, at its peak production was at 353 000 metric tonnes in 2000. It has now declined to 145 000 and 136 000 metric tonnes respectively in the last few years. In this season, 88 000 tonnes are expected to be delivered against a target of 95 000 metric tonnes, against a target of 95 000 which is a continuous decline of the production of the crop.
INFRASTRUCTURE AND DAMS
Madam Speaker Ma’am, the irrigation realm as a strategy for drought proofing can come in handy in terms of the point/plan number one as presented by His Excellency the President. There is potential in our country to irrigate two million hectares but at the moment, we are only using 153 000 that is what is functional against a backdrop of 220 000 installed capacity.
To achieve food security and nutrition, the infrastructural necessity of irrigation in the provinces cannot be over emphasized, Harare and Bulawayo included for peri-urban agriculture. The low level usage of irrigation affects the farm irrigation output, year-in year-out. A good example is that of the last season in the 2014/2015 period where maize and small grain were expected to do well but ended up declining by 49% and 71% respectively. There is need for change of crop planting dates and crop planting techniques as a mechanisation. New seed varieties, drought resistant crops, a staple food shift from just wanting sadza but to other foods as well that are readily available and water harvesting.
There is need for finance as well.
Madam Speaker Ma’am, by increasing agricultural output, a country can improve the lives of its citizens. It can enhance standards of living. We need therefore, to improve small scale agriculture; increase production; provide new agricultural technologies on farm production. We need to emphasize the use of fertilisers; we also need the
Government to improve on Government credit facilities and not just to focus on large farming communities but also to factor in the financing of the rural communities. We need deliberate financing in this sector as well as micro financing. We must also look at enhancing and empowering women in the agricultural sector by providing women with
credit facilities.
Madam Speaker Ma’am, I speak of Mexico where through improved research, production of wheat went up by 50%; so we can take a leaf from Mexico. India also did well by improving on the technology on agriculture as well as Latin America, Argentina and Brazil.
Madam Speaker, I will move on to the second point which is that of value addition and beneficiation. Facts are stubborn, Zimbabwe has minerals in its belly/womb and it is a fact and not fiction. However, 90% of the minerals are going outside the country in raw form. We, therefore, must advance beneficiation and value addition of our minerals. When we speak of diamonds, we are talking about cutting and polishing. When we speak of platinum, we are talking about coming up with refineries and also ensuring that we know about the other minerals that come from platinum. When we speak of chrome, we would like to have those smelters. It is the same with gold. As we stand, our minerals are going in raw form and fetching lower prices at the world market. It is, therefore, a welcome priority that was presented to us by His Excellency the President that we value add our minerals.
Value addition and beneficiation must also extend to the agricultural sector. We are happy to see that the imports that were coming from Zambia were stopped. We are also happy that we stopped the potatoes that were coming from Zambia as this in turn will ensure that our farmers begin to grow the crops and we stand to benefit from this. The opening of Cairns Foods will ensure that our commodities like potatoes are at least taken at a bigger scale. We prefer the importation of maize in its raw form rather than bringing in stock feed.
Another important point that was presented to us by His Excellency the President is on the anti-corruption drive. It is a well known fact that our officers in Government entities have become predatory as bribes are the norm, fraudulent activities, extortion, intimidation, high profile scandals, financial irregularities, misuse of capital, investment in poor unprofitable projects, accepting of gifts and abuse of public property especially in local authorities, all these things have become a scourge. They are eating on the very fabric of our society.
Madam Speaker Ma’am, we look at the weakness of our culture in terms of refusing to go by this corruption norm. I speak of politicization of advice where when you proffer advice to say this is wrong, the advice is politicised. You are deemed to be on the wrong side if you want to put things right. – [AN. HON. MEMBER: Hear, hear] - We want to conduct business in a clear and widely understood philosophy so that we remove these bad elements and practices from our system. We need to enforce values and norms by putting penalties for those people who divert from the norm. We need to punish or remove those people from key positions if found guilty – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear] - We must also be exemplary and walk the talk.
I am happy that of late, we have seen some arrests and prosecutions. We hope that this will continue to help deter the scourge of corruption.
Madam Speaker Ma’am, another point that came up is that of the implementation of the Special Economic Zones to provide impetus for foreign direct investments. As regards Special Economic Zones, these are the way to go as China has grown against this backdrop. The success of Zambia where it grew to 6% previously was also attributed to Special Economic Zones. We have the same thing in Ethiopia and as we speak, Nigeria has overtaken South Africa as a powerhouse in Africa for pursuing Special Economic Zones. So Madam Speaker Ma’am, we receive these intentions with open arms.
Another point that is important in our economy as we wish to drive it forward is the modernisation of labour laws. With respect to labour market rigidities, the President was spot-on that we need to modernise labour laws. Zimbabwe’s overall labour market efficiency is ranked 137 out of 144 countries. This is according to the World Economic Global Competitive Reports (GCR). The Tripartite Negotiating Forum (TNF) should step up and play its role and both labour and employees should sober up in their approach. Cheap labour on the dictates of the economy as we stand becomes a factor and labour flexibility as well becomes important.
Madam Speaker Ma’am, in the SMEs sector, it is important for us to unlock the potential of SMEs. These SMEs should be well organised and there should be order. We should have a spirit of oneness and not the spirit that prevails at the moment where each man or woman is for himself or herself. There should be order and we need the SMEs to pull together resources and finances. We need them to have membership contributions and access loans. We need local authorities to have easy access to factory shells. In this respect as well, it is important for us to bring back big businesses because when it comes back, we will begin to have our SMEs thriving through buying and selling opportunities.
Madam Speaker Ma’am, focusing on infrastructural development in the key areas of water, energy, transport and ICTs subsectors; the energy that we need in our country is 2 200 mega watts at peak demand. At one time, we had generated a capacity of 1 300 mega watts. In the sphere of power generation, we already understand the importance of a good generation mix. At the moment, we sit at a very suppressed power supply because the power generation is very constrained. Harare, Bulawayo and Munyati are operating at grossly suppressed levels and this is where we should be focusing on. It is either we are repowering or we are refurbishing. With new technologies, I feel that we should be bringing in new technologies as opposed to sticking with the obsolete equipment and methods but it will get worse when we get to the annual maintenance which is mandatory. The energy situation will become worse.
In Zimbabwe, there is potential for solar and to a certain extent, wind. There is also huge potential for thermal and hydro power. So, in order to mitigate against the under generation of power in our country which is also prone to seasonal factors and natural disasters like we now talk of the Kariba low water level, we must explore alternative power sources. Focus should also be at small hydro power thermals. The small hydro power stations have the benefits of lowering costs. We applaud the efforts that Government is making to court the Brazilians to bring in thermal power and the Italians to bring in solar. We also await the Dangote group investment that may come with 630 mega watt power plants.
Madam Speaker Ma’am, we also want to applaud the slashing of fuel prices but these should also come with the reduction of prices of services and goods. The massive plan of housing for 313 000 stands with 30 000 already constructed is a noble idea and a welcome move.
We also want to applaud Government’s efforts in terms of transport – the dualisation of major roads and that is the preliminary works that have started on the Harare-Beitbridge highway. There is need for the intensification on the revamping of our road network to ensure efficient movement of goods and services. We know that we still face challenges in terms of the National Railways of Zimbabwe but we also want to continue to encourage the policy of open skies for Air Zimbabwe. We also need to improve on the urban transport. The quest for a dry port in
Namibia is also a welcome move.
Madam Speaker Ma’am, in the realm of ICT we, would like to encourage ICT learning from primary schools. We have now moved to e-government in terms of our governance, this is the way to go. We also applaud our Government for making sure that we continue to keep pace with other nations in terms of embracing ICT.
Madam Speaker, encouraging private sector investment, the talking that has taken place in terms of our encouragement of the private sector investment is welcome, so is the promulgation of investor friendly policies. Madam Speaker, Zimbabwe Investment Authority has moved a step up by ensuring that the One Stop Shop is now a reality. We applaud the guide book for investors. Once again, Zimbabwe is the Persian Gulf of minerals; we talk of 40 plus types of minerals. In this regard, it becomes important for us to have good investment policy that will bring in investors.
Zimbabwe is also strategically placed as a get away to SADC…
- MAONDERA: On a point of order! The hon. member is
supposed to be referring to her notes but she is reading continuously.
THE ACTING SPEAKER: Hon. Mhlanga you can only refer to
your notes.
MRS. MHLANGA: Thank you Madam Speaker. I think I will
catch up with time, hon. members should allow us to learn, we are learning, it is a learning process. I am trying as much as possible not to refer to my notes but if we continue to be forbidden to read, we will continue to be unconfident, we want to be confident. Please can we be given that chance?
THE ACTING SPEAKER: Hon. member we adhere to the
Standing Rules and Orders of Parliament. So, you may continue your debate by referring to your notes and not reading them.
MRS. MHLANGA: I just want to talk about the positive things that have come out of this effort that has been undertaken by our Government. We applaud the coming in of the French Yeast company that has come in to partner our yeast company in the country. We also want to applaud Astra Holdings partnered with the Japanese company called Kansai. We also want to applaud these efforts through the Blue Ribbon Foods Investment that has come in from Tanzania. We know that the Dangote Group is also coming in the realm of cement. So we continue to applaud these efforts, Madam Speaker. Perhaps, an important note that we want to bring in, is to allow the private sector to also invest in agriculture which is so key to our economy. These efforts will help remove the risky investment destination tag that our country is associated with.
Madam Speaker, I want to touch a bit on the financial services sector stability and the restoration thereof. I would like to applaud RBZ for its restoration as the banker for our banks, the banker for our Government, the lender of last resort and the monetary regulator of credit conditions. We also applaud the fact that the RBZ has come back to its role of supervising banks. We know that as we speak we do not have distressed banks, Inter-market is now functional between banks. I think where we need to revisit is to ensure that banks like POSB are playing their role of lending to our public enterprises. It could be possible that they are also scared and they are not investing in these entities but it is important for it to play that role.
Madam Speaker, we also want to ensure that merchant banks stick to their mandate of trade financing and providing working capital. We applaud the efforts that are being made to lower the interest rates especially to the agricultural sector. We also know that in the financial services sector banks are now complying with capital requirements. The non-performing loans continue to be a problem in our economy, they have since reduced but a further reduction will be most welcome.
Madam Speaker, with these few words, I want to conclude by looking at the corporate governance issues that are inherent in our economy. It is not a matter that is affecting our country alone; I think if we look at other countries like UK, they came up with various reports, 4 to 5 reports to try and address the running of corporates. If we look at America, at one time the Vice President of that country was involved in what has been termed an enron scandal. In South Africa, they had to come up with king’s report to address the various problems that are inherent in the running of corporations and state enterprises. In our country, at one time the RBZ, way back in 2004, had seen the problems that were manifesting in the banking sector and came up with an instrument to try and address the governance of corporation. I therefore, applaud our country for buying into this governance issue and for moving forward to ensure that our enterprises are run in the most desirable way. I thank you
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE ACTING SPEAKER
BURIAL OF HON. MAHLANGU
THE ACTING SPEAKER: I would like to inform the House that
the late Hon. T. Mahlangu will be buried tomorrow, Friday 9th October,
2015 in Bulawayo at Eleven o’clock a.m. Mourners are gathered at number 15053 Nkulumane 12.
- PHIRI: Thank you Madam Speaker. My contribution to this is going to be very short; I want to thank Hon. Mhlanga for a well prepared speech. I also want to thank the President for the 10 points that he brought to this House. However, my question is, are we together with the President on the 10 points?
The Legislature, the Judiciary and the Executive. Are we together or the President is playing a lone wolf?-[Laughter]- The President is playing by himself. My apologies on that. I think there is somebody who is not doing his job. The President is doing his job but the Executive is not doing its job. The President has been voted many times because the people have confidence in him, but what is the Executive doing? In agriculture, we have seen that a lot of tractors came in and recently Brazil brought in irrigation material. Has the Executive distributed these fairly? The President is always talking about feeding the people but we are not promoting peri-urban farming. The President is playing on his own. He talks to the people and promises the people but the Executive is not doing its job.
We need the peri-urban farms to be capacitated. We need to feed the urban people. I had a visit to South Korea the other year. The periurban farms are well capacitated. People feed themselves. Are we doing this? No. State Enterprises Madam Speaker, time and again the Auditor General brings in statements of audit about money that is missing, but are these people arrested? If they are arrested, you find that the charges are preferred charges. As we go along, they appeal and are released from jail. The charges are not strong enough. On corruption, we find corrupt people standing before the people and addressing them. All those we think are corrupt should not be allowed to stand before the people and address them because they are a mockery to the country.
There is a lot of nepotism. Let us have an individual audit on people. Where did the people get the money that they beautiful cars and houses, yet the rest of the people are not getting enough food? In my constituency of Kadoma Central, people are using communal toilets. They have dilapidated houses, why? Let us capacitate the local authorities. Right now, the local authorities are a missing link in the economic growth, but you are not capacitating them. That is where the investment takes place, in the local authorities. Are we giving them money so that they do the roads, provide water, build houses and make roads in the industrial areas? But, the President is always coming up here telling the people that the Executive is going to do this and that, but the
Executive is not doing it. -[Inaudible interjections]-
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order, order.
- PHIRI: Madam Speaker these CEOs who are in State
Enterprises, some of them have overstayed. I have already said local authorities have unfunded mandates in health. We gave them clinics, let us give them the money so that they pay the nurses and buy the drugs. We gave them primary schools, let us give them money so that they build more primary schools. I said I am going to be very brief but once again, I want to say let us help the President.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Hon. Member please address
the Speaker.
- PHIRI: As legislators, when we go out, let us be with the President. Even the opposition, you must from today go out of the country and denounce sanctions, –[HON MEMBERS: Laughter]- because the people are suffering out there because of you. But, when you come here, you want to behave as though everything is normal. Madam Speaker, I need your protection. The Leader of these people has said before tongai tione, they have said that. Do we trust them when they come here and speak flowery language? I am saying as from today…
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order hon. members. Can the
hon. member be heard in silence?
- PHIRI: From today, we want to support the President. He has given us the ten points and we need to support him. He cannot go it alone. Those who are not for it must go. Thank you Madam Speaker.
*MR. MAONDERA: Thank you Madam Speaker. I want to thank
you for the opportunity that you have given me to respond to the State of the Nation Address that was presented by the President of the nation where he mentioned quite a number of issues that look at the welfare of the people. Firstly, the challenge that we have since 1980 is that we have well written documents that have good language, but when it comes to implementation, nothing is done. People enjoy writing economic
Blueprints with complicated English. We had so many economic Blueprints like NAP, ZMPREST even ESAP and now we have a ten point plan and nothing has been achieved. There will be a 30 year plan and nothing will be achieved whilst the masses are suffering. I agree with Hon. Phiri. When he began his debate he was speaking well by saying that there are people who are in the Executive and are not working. The first time he said the correct things when he said the Executive is not doing its work. There is a lot of corruption that is taking place and the reality is that some of them are rewarded to actually engage in corruption. Some of those who are in parastatals embezzled some funds but the surprising thing is that they were not alone but they had some accomplices in Government. When they get arrested, their accomplices are the very same people who go and lobby that these people be released from prison. They only spend three months in prison and they are released and immediately reinstated in different Parastatals. One then wonders whether we are serious about what we talk about here or is it just a talk show. We always say a lot of things and it is very nice for us to talk but we do not have anything tangible of things that we have done on the ground.
On the issue of corruption, I have not seen anyone who works for
Government who has engaged in corruption and has been imprisoned.
We only heard names but nothing was done. Even during the Willowgate scandal which resulted in some people committing suicide, we heard of commissions but the results were not made public. So, I do not know when, as Zimbabweans we are going to be relieved from this suffering. We are the ones who should be representing them. When we come here we say a lot of good words yet there is no result on the ground.
The other thing that I realised at the State of the Nation Address was that this nation is experiencing a lot of challenges, especially those of power outages, food and corruption. I did not quite understand whether the 10- point plan is really tangible. What can be done with this 10- point plan to address the shortage of energy? I am sure even those in the Executive who are serious – we heard from the Minister of Energy yesterday that they realised in April that the water levels in Kariba had gone down. I do not know what Government is doing. Are they waiting for the situation to worsen so that they can act? We have seen that at times they wait for things to worsen, then they act but for us to see what measures have been put in place to avert the catastrophes, we do not see them. When we then look at the issues of dams such as Lake Chivero, these were built by the Smith regime. It has been over 20 years now and no other dams have been constructed and there is no progress at all, which is very embarrassing.
If what we heard from the press is true, Government leaders are asking for facilitation fees from those wanting to come and invest in this country and this is embarrassing. If a person wants to build a dam here in Zimbabwe, it is supposed to be a joint venture with the City of Harare but they have to go through a minister. If it is true that for that person to be awarded that contract in order to engage in that project it is such an embarrassment that ministers are given kickbacks.
On the 10 point plan again, we did not see where the issue of war veterans was addressed. Those who fought for this country are the ones who are suffering and living in poverty. Those who were in America and Britain, working and selling their wares are the very same people who are living luxurious lives. There were some who were in business whilst in hiding out of the country. Those people who experienced hardships are the very people who are suffering. We also did not hear what would happen to people who got farms under the land reform but are not farming. From what I hear, some of them are actually engaged in snake breeding.
- J. TSHUMA: On a point of order Madam Speaker, the hon. member is speaking of things that are not factual. All the things that he is speaking about are not factual. So can he please speak about things that are factual because if he continues what he is doing, it is abuse of his privilege in Parliament.
THE ACTING SPEAKER: Hon Tshuma, can you explain what he said exactly so that we can catch up with your argument?
+MR. J. TSHUMA: What I said was that I think the problem is he said the President is allowing the corruption that is happening in our country, which is not true because he does not have the proof and he will not stand for that kind of statement.
*THE ACTING SPEAKER: Hon. member, did you talk about the
President of Zimbabwe? I did not hear it but we will request that the Administration goes through the tapes and if he has said that, he will withdraw.
*MR. MAONDERA: Thank you Madam Speaker, I do not want to waste my time responding to words that I have not said. On the same note, there were people who were given land but are not engaged in productive farming to avert hunger in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe was known as the bread basket of the SADC region but there are people who were allocated farms and are not making use of those farms. I was happy to hear the First Lady saying those who were given land and are not utilizing it fully will lose part of their land. It is really painful to see people who have been given pieces of land, tractors and diesel but go on to sell the fuel at black market rate. It is disturbing that you fail to engage in productive farming yet you have all the resources.
- J. TSHUMA: On a point of order Madam Speaker, I think it is advisable for the hon. member to stick to facts. Right now he is talking about people that were given farms and failed to be productive but he has no evidence to that. We all know that farming is partnered with natural resources that come from the Lord such as rain. If there have been droughts time and time again, it means there are a lot of contributing factors and what he is talking about is not factual.
THE ACTING SPEAKER: Order hon. member, there is no point of order there. Hon. member, you can continue with your debate. – [HON.
MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections] -
Order Hon Gabbuza and Hon. Tshuma. Can you please behave yourselves? If you have something important to debate, I will give you a chance.
*MR. MAONDERA: The other issue I want to talk about is the issue of transport. We have companies such as ZUPCO and NRZ. These companies have failed to render services in terms of transportation to the public. If you look at the areas that we reside in, for example here in Harare, I come from Glen Norah and am a Member of Parliament for Glen Norah. The people in Glen Norah are experiencing challenges and complain that they have to pay exorbitant fares for them to go to work, but we have companies such as ZUPCO which have been in existence for a number of years now that used to assist workers. When we grew up, they were so many ZUPCO buses and people were paying very little to be transported.
The NRZ is also failing to provide services even to transport minerals like coal from Hwange. The contracts are being taken up by other transport service providers and yet, they are the ones who have the capacity to carry things in bulk. So in the 10-point plan, I did not get the fact that pointed out as to how these companies, including Air Zimbabwe, will be assisted or what will be done about these companies that are not doing well such that they cannot give anything to the shareholder, which is the Government. So it is quite disturbing that we always come across such challenges.
I will repeat that writing documents is good but when there is nothing happening on the ground, it becomes a concern. So, I want to thank you Madam Speaker for the time that you have given me to contribute on the debate and request that we do things that are evident, and implement them on the ground. I thank you.
* MR. R.N.S. MAWERE: I also want to add my voice to the motion introduced by Hon. Mhlanga seconded by Hon. Nkatazo. The issues that we are mentioning here are important, including the 10-point plan that we are talking about, but there are issues that disturb me. So many things that are happening in this country are child play.
I think the issue of corruption is now 34 years old and there is a lot of talk. If you go to other countries, the government vehicles have log books. They are monitored and have returns. In this country, nothing is being done. The civil servants are drawing petrol and others sell this petrol such that there is no accountability. So at the end of the day, it is us the parliamentarians whom the people will blame for this corruption that is taking place. If you go to parastatals, whereby you find there is a new general manager; before he even makes profit, he is already driving a Prado that costs $200 000. Where is the money coming from?
What I am saying is that everything that we are doing, we need to go back to the drawing board as an august House, reflect and see what we are doing in this House. If you look at the Manpower and
Recruitment Department, there is nepotism. You will find 15 Katsandes in one department. Long back at independence, you would not find two
Maweres at a company, but today you find there are 15 or 20 Katsandes. So the checks and balances, we are the ones who are not pushing for them. We are responsible and are the custodians of the law.
So whatever we are doing is we are going to continue sitting idle until after 60 years or so. We need to take action and ensure that when we have made a decision that this should not be done, it should therefore not be done. What we are saying is that the MDC-T and us as ZANU PF, let us be nationals of Zimbabwe and have results. Let us look at the challenges and the sticking points. We should address the bad and come up with good measures, and work as a team. The good, yes, we will retain but the bad, we do away with.
Corruption is not only in ZANU PF or MDC. We need to look for the culprits so that they are brought before the law and ensure that they are charged. The youth of today do not want to work anymore because they know that there is corruption. They can actually get an order and deliver nothing. If we have to set up a Commission of Inquiry, let us set one that will investigate companies and expose them. If there are other companies that are not doing anything, they should be exposed. We need to establish commissions that will ensure that Zimbabweans prosper. We cannot be superseded by other small countries. Let us join forces as parties and move with one cardinal point in addressing these issues.
With these few words, I thank you Madam Speaker.
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE ACTING SPEAKER
BURIAL OF THE LATE HON. T. MAHLANGU
THE ACTING SPEAKER: The Chief Whip of MDC-T has just
informed me that there are changes to the burial arrangements of Hon. T.
Mahlangu. It is now on Saturday, 10th October, 2015 at 11 O’clock a.m in Bulawayo.
THE ACTING SPEAKER: I would like to ask the hon. member with a black Ford Ranger ADI 9025 to remove the car because it is blocking other vehicles.
- RUNGANI: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
- J. TSHUMA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Tuesday, 13th October, 2015.
On the motion of MS. RUNGANI seconded by MR. MLILO,
the House adjourned at Twenty Six Minutes to Four O’clock p.m until Tuesday, 13th October, 2015.