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NATIONAL ASSEMBLY HANSARD 09 June 2016 42-64

PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE

Thursday, 9^th June, 2016

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

PRAYERS

(THE ACTING SPEAKER in the Chair)

MOTION

BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE

THE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC

DEVELOPMENT (HON. CHINAMASA):  I move that Order of the Day Number 1 be stood over until Order of the Day Number 2 has been disposed of.

Motion put and agreed to.

CONSIDERATION STAGE

SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES BILL (H. B. 15A, 2015)

Amendments to Clauses 2, 21, 29, 40 and 56, put and agreed to.

Bill, as amended, adopted.

Third Reading: With leave, forthwith.

THIRD READING

SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES BILL (H. B. 15A, 2015)

THE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (HON. CHINAMASA):  Mr. Speaker Sir, I now

move that the Bill be read the third time.

HON. MPARIWA:  Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.  I want to thank the Minister for bringing this Bill. However, I want the concerns that myself and others have raised in not agreeing to the exemption of the Labour Act recorded in the Hansard for the benefit of doubt.   Everyone else should know that we are not in agreement with the provisions, the exemption of the Labour Act, in violation of Convention 98 of the ILO being proffered by the Minister to be considered.  I thank you Mr.

Speaker.

THE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC

DEVELOPMENT (HON. CHINAMASA):  I am sure that the Hon.

Member has recorded her reservations and the Hansard will capture that,

I am sure.

Motion put and agreed to.

Bill read the third time.

SECOND READING

PAN-AFRICAN MINERALS UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND

TECHNOLOGY BILL (H. B. 10, 2015)

Third Order read:  Adjourned debate on motion on the Second Reading of the Pan-African Minerals University of Science and

Technology Bill (H. B. 10, 2015).

Question again proposed.

HON. MATARUSE: Pan-African Minerals University of Science and Technology is one of the four specialised universities on the continent that has the blessing of the African Union.  The institutions are part of the Nelson Mandela Institute of Science Excellence meant to bring excellence in science on the continent.  The four universities will be located in the north, south, east and west of Africa. Currently, one is in Nigeria, the second in Tanzania, the third in Burkina Faso and the fourth will be established in Zimbabwe.  The country won the bid to host the university following stiff competition from regional competitors such as South Africa.

Pan-African Minerals University of Science and Technology will be dedicated to the teaching and training of very high calibre mineral professionals in mineral beneficiation and value addition for the African continent.  This is in realisation that most resource-rich countries on the continent export most of their minerals in raw form, without any value addition, hence loosing potential wealth and exporting jobs to other continents. As such, the Committee on Higher and Tertiary Education,

Science and Technology Development welcomes the introduction of the

Bill since such a development is likely to ensure that the country maintains its high ranking in the region and the continent in terms of high standards of education.

After the gazzetting of the Bill on 22 January 2016, the Bill was referred to the Committee on Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development, the Committee resolved to analyse the

Bill in line with Parliament’s mandate of scrutinising legislation.

METHODOLOGY

This report is a culmination of the Committee’s meetings devoted to the analysis of the provisions of the Bill. In addition to the meetings, the Committee benefitted from the oral and written submissions made by stakeholders and members of the public as provided for by Section 141 (2), which requires that members of the public be consulted on Bills before Parliament. Oral submissions were made during the public hearings conducted from the 16^th to the 20^th May 2016. The Committee is grateful to all the people whose input has been considered in compiling this report.

The following are the views that the Portfolio Committees on

Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development and Mines and Energy gathered when they undertook the Public Hearings on the proposed Pan-African Minerals University of Science and Technology Bill (H.B. 10, 2015).

On top of Page 3

1. After the consultations with the public, the Committee feels that the statement, ‘Presented by the Minister of Mines and Mining

Development’  should read, ‘Presented by the Minister of Higher and

Tertiary Education Science and Technology Development.’ It is not procedural that a Ministry of Mines superintends issues of higher education. Universities provide higher education to human capital for the benefit of all Ministries and the private sector. Doctors, lawyers, agriculturists, et cetera are produced in universities under the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education Science and Technology Development but they graduate to go and work in Ministries which need their services. There will be chaos in universities if each and every Ministry is to oversee issues of a University which trains the Ministry’s own professionals. To avoid this, the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education Science and Technology Development should be allowed to carry out its mandate.

2. Notwithstanding, it must be encouraged in Zimbabwe that each Ministry should support universities, faculties or departments which train its professionals. The help could be financial or in the form of research grants, curriculum review, equipment et cetera; but the running of such universities should be left to the parent Ministry – the

Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education Science and Technology

Development.

4. The same reference to the Ministry of Mines is also on Page 4 under definition of terms on Interpretation.
5. In light of the above, the Committee proposes that the statement beginning with, “Minister,” under definition of terms, should replace

‘Ministry of Mines’ with ‘Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education

Science and Development.’

6. On the statement beginning with “Secretary,” to replace ‘Secretary of Mines’ with ‘Secretary for the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary

Education Science and Technology  Development.’

Page 5 Clause 4(a)

7. As a Committee, we recommend that PAMUST should be

established as a fully-fledged University of Minerals. Limiting

PAMUST’s mandate (Objects) to ‘advanced post graduate training’ would cripple its operations and it is against its own purpose as outlined in Clause 6 (b): under Powers of the University where it is stated that

PAMUST will confer certificates, diplomas and post-graduate degrees.  The public showed much concern and suggested that Clause 4 (a),  could

be amended to read as follows:                          

8. The provision of highly advanced courses and research in minerals value-addition and beneficiation and related minerals studies with a bias towards post-graduate training’.

Such an object does not limit the University’s growth or its influence to society. PAMUST should be allowed to grow and not to limit its training to post-graduate training as this may create a white elephant. There is a feel that it is not right to over-dramatise the importance of post-graduate training as research has already concluded that 95% of any country’s economic activities do not need a postgraduate qualification. Post graduate training which produces researchers should stand on a firm foundation of practitioners who will implement the findings of the researchers. The Committee remains live to the importance of post-graduate training but we feel that a university should not be legislated against offering undergraduate training. PAMUST may fail to get enough applicants with first degrees to enroll in its post-graduate course, given the dwindling rate of return to postgraduate education. PAMUST should be allowed to grow its own brand of undergraduate Minerals Students base who will then be inspired to advance to post-graduate studies. PAMUST cannot survive by expecting other universities to do the lower level training for it while it waits to only get the students at post-graduate level even if it should have a bias towards post-graduate training. If that has worked in other countries, it may not work in Zimbabwe. PAMUST should be free to offer shortcourses, certificates, diplomas and degrees in Minerals which resonate with its mandate so that it has relevance across the board. A participant all over Zimbabwe hopes that the University will be open to all the people despite their educational background. This was emphasised with the belief that those that are already in the Mining sector, who are already working on their experience as small scale and artisanal miners may as well benefit and improve their skills in the field of mining. For instance, PAMUST should feel free to offer courses to artisanal miners so as to have relevance to Zimbabwe, but if Clause 4(a) is left in place, then responding to stakeholder needs such as those of artisanal miners would be illegal, yet it is the role of every university to solve societal problems without undue limitation.

Page 5 Clause 4

The Committee recommends the addition of Item 4(g) under

Clause 4: Powers of the University as follows:

The creation of opportunities for income generation through consultancy work, training and other similar activities, with the ultimate aim of making the University a self-sustaining entity.

Page 5 Clause 5,

9. The Committee recommends the removal of the whole of Clause 5 because it is not necessary to be too prescriptive and to railroad a University by telling it which degrees to offer to a level of doing the role of the Vice Chancellor, the University Senate and the Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education. These individuals and bodies are mandated to look at the suitability and adequacy of staffing, laboratories and Course outlines after doing stakeholder consultation before approving the start of a degree programme and not those who promulgate Acts. It is not the role of a University Act to prescribe to the University what the first degrees should be about. Spelling out the mandate as in the Objects of the University is enough.

 

Page 6 Clause 6 (b) under Powers of the University

It has been proposed that Clause 6 (b) should be re-stated so that it reads as:

10. ‘To hold examinations and confer degrees, diplomas, certificates and other awards including honorary degrees, upon persons who have followed courses of study approved by the Academic Board and additionally, or alternatively, have satisfied such other requirements as may be determined by the Academic

Board.

Page 6 Clause 6(g)

The Committee recommends that Item 6(g) be deleted completely because the world over, it is not the job of a university to accommodate students but to educate them. For instance, students who fail to get university accommodation twenty years from today can sue the University if Item 6 (g) is left to pass through. A University Act should concern itself with the core business of a university and to accommodate students is not core business because that can be done not only by the university but also by relatives, landlords, parents, the private sector and the business community. The Committee proposed that the provision of accommodation should not be legislated. The purpose of a university is to educate and it should seek to be good at that; not to seek excellence in provision of accommodation even if it is a basic need.  We all know that no university the world over accommodates all its students on campus.

While we can legislate the provision of learning space by the university, we cannot legislate sleeping space as this can be provided by any other players/ stakeholders.

Page 6 after Clause 6(o)

A proposal was also made to add another Item under ‘Powers of the University’ which can read as:

‘ to enter into partnerships or joint ventures with individuals, corporate bodies in commerce and industry, the public sector or other tertiary institutions after following due process.’

Page 8 Clause 11 under Pro-Vice Chancellor

The public welcomed and noted that the selection of the Pro Vice Chancellor, Registrar (Clause 21 on page 13), Bursar (Clause 22 on page 13), and Librarian (Clause 22 on page 13), is substantially different from that of the Vice Chancellor. The Committee thinks that is correct and we applaud it; suffice to state that the procedure is a departure from the procedure followed in all State Universities in Zimbabwe. In the current system, all Designated Grades of  Vice Chancellor, Pro Vice Chancellor, Registrar, Bursar and Librarian are selected using the same procedure and there should be uniformity for State Universities. We feel that what has been recommended for PAMUST should apply in other

State Universities to reduce bureaucracy.

Page 9 Clause 12(e),

The Committee, in consultation with the public recommends that Zimbabwe Council of Higher Education (ZIMCHE) representative be removed from the list of Council Members. ZIMCHE is a quality assurance body which should give an independent outside view of the system. If a member of ZIMCHE is a member of Council, it reduces independence to a level that when ZIMCHE visits the University to audit academic programmes, they will be auditing themselves and that compromises quality. It is tantamount to having a referee being one of the players. Universities have adequate internal quality assurance mechanisms and ZIMCHE should continue giving an external independent opinion or audit by not as a member of any of the University structures in accordance with good corporate governance practice.

Page 9 Clause 12: University Council

It was proposed that Item 12 (f) be swapped with Item 12 (d) so that we mention the representative of the parent Ministry first. We cannot start by mentioning a representative from the Ministry of Mines when we are dealing with issues of higher education. Although minor, such little things also matter when drawing up an Act.

Page 9 Clause 12 (l), (m), and (n): University Council

It was noted with great concern that the University Council, with its 24 members, is already too big for productive discussions. As the Portfolio Committee on Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and

Technology Development proposed that representation on Clause 12 (l), (m), and (n) should be reduced to one person. The Committee also proposes that the number of council members external to the university could be trimmed to about 14 and there should be gender balance.

Page 9 Clause 12 (n): University Council

The public proposed the deletion of Clause 12 (n) which proposes

4 members representing regional university councils or commissions. However it is the considered view of the Committee that regional representation is necessary given its regional focus

Page 9 Clause 13(b): Functions of Council

The public did not understand why the Information Technologist should be a Designated Grade. While the appointment procedure of the

Vice Chancellor, Pro-Vice Chancellor,..

[Time limit]

HON. NDUNA:  Mr. Speaker, I move that the Hon. Member be

allowed to continue, seeing he is the Committee Chairperson and that is a Committee report, it is good that it leads those of us who are going to debate, in particular is the artisanal mining issue that I heard him so eloquently talk about.

HON. S. CHIDAKWA: I second.

Motion put and agreed to.

HON. DR. MATARUSE: Registrar, Bursar and Librarian are

covered under Clause 10, 11, 21, 22, and 23; there is nowhere in the whole document where it explains how the Information Technologist is appointed and that leaves us with the impression that the inclusion of an

Information Technologist was an error.

Page 13 Clause 21, 22, and 23

The appointment procedure of the Registrar is substantially different from that of the Bursar and Librarian. For instance, the appointment of the Registrar is approved by the Minister yet such requirement is not stated under the appointment of the Bursar and Librarian who are appointed and approved by Council only. We feel that if they are to be the same Grade, then the appointment procedure should be the same. It is the Committee’s view that the approval by Council should be adequate because legally, the Council is the employer.

Page 13 Clause 22

It was proposed that the Bursar be called ‘Finance Director’. The term Bursar is synonymous with lower level officers in Primary Schools who are called by that title. Bursars in Primary Schools are mere accounts clerks with receipting duties and yet this post as it relates to universities is a very senior designated post with numerous decisionmaking roles and risks associated with it. They superintend over university assets which run into millions of dollars and they handle millions of dollars from the State, students and the donor world, and we feel that the continuous use of the title Bursar misrepresents the executive role and influence of this post.

Page 15 Clause 28: Staff Disciplinary Committee

The whole section on Staff Disciplinary Committee needs re-casting in line with the country’s Labour Laws. It terms of the Zimbabwean Laws, the Labour Act states that it overrides any other Act or law which is inconsistent with it. It has already been decided in the Courts of Law that what is on Clause 28 is wrong or illegal and it was suggested it is corrected as explained below:

11. The University’s Staff Disciplinary Committee is not a court of law and does not need a retired judge to preside over issues, for example, cleaner at a university who was absent for two days. Having a retired judge has been tried in other State Universities in Zimbabwe which have similar Clauses and it has been seen to be impossible to implement because judges by their nature do not retire unless they become senile or sick. Thus we strongly advise the removal of the requirement of a retired judge as on 28 (a). One quality of a good piece of legislation is that it must be practical or implementable. This requirement is not implementable.
12. Item 28 (d) is also not correct. The need for a legal practitioner in a staff disciplinary Committee cannot be legislated. In the Labour Act, a staff disciplinary Committee is a plant level (local committee) and anybody grieved by its verdict is free to appeal. Practice has shown that issues that an institution’s Disciplinary Committee grapples with can be very minor. Even insulting a student can lead to a disciplinary action only to get a written or verbal warning. Bringing a registered legal practitioner of 5 years standing to such issues has proven to be financially crippling to universities which have that requirement because senior lawyers charge per hour and are expensive. It should be left to universities to decide after looking at the gravity of the case, sensitivity, grade of member, et cetera to decide whether a registered legal practitioner is needed. It is the public feeling that such a provision cannot be legislated and the Labour Act does not require it. Legal practitioners of five years standing can be very busy and difficult to get at short notice yet the Labour Act requires that disciplinary issues be expeditiously attended to since justice delayed is justice denied.
13. To achieve natural justice, the Labour Act requires that in the

Disciplinary Committee, there should be a member of the Workers Committee or Staff Association representing the affected member and this should be added. The above changes, if implemented, should make the Staff Disciplinary Committee compliant with the Labour Act.

Page 15 Clause 28 (5) Clause 28 (7)

The Items [Clause 27(5) and 28 (7)] should be removed as they are ultra vires the Labour Act. Once the Staff Disciplinary Committee has made a decision, only the Appeals Committee can vary such decision. The Labour Act does not allow the Vice Chancellor to unilaterally approve or vary the punishment, but the Vice Chancellor can chair the Appeals Committee/ Authority for his/her input. There are cases where the courts have overturned dismissal verdicts at very high cost to institutions simply on the grounds of violating this provision. Courts have pointed out that the Vice Chancellor will have abused his/her powers and that is classified as unfair labour practice. It is also against the laws of natural justice to leave an individual decide the fate of an employee.

Page 11 Clause 16(2)

In accordance with corporate governance best practice, a

Chairperson is defined as ‘one among equals’. A Chairperson should not wield too much power over his/her colleagues as this can destroy productive debate. The job of a Chairman is to chair by facilitating and inspiring free debate. The Committee, in consultation with the public, humbly notes that under Clause 12 (a), the Chairman of Council is appointed by the Chancellor. The best practice should be that in their first meeting, appointed council members should elect one from among themselves to be the Chairman. Such an arrangement is more democratic and creates free debate. Having the Chairman appointed by the Chancellor can cause other council members to view him/her as senior and that has destroyed free debate in many Boards.

Page 20 Appointment of Pro-Vice Chancellor

Under Schedule of Statutes of the University Clause 3; the

Committee recommends that the length of term of a Pro-Vice Chancellor be five years and not three years. A five-year term renewable for another term was recommended as the term of office for the Vice-Chancellor.

The extension of one’s appointment for a second five year term would be based on one’s good performance during the first term. Practice has shown that designated posts have benefits attached to them and if an individual’s term is short, institutions battle to raise funds to buy, for example a Toyota Prado every three years. University Strategic Plans run a cycle of 5 years. If officers are given a term of only three years, they will not have achieved anything.

In the same vein, we propose that the length of term of office for the Bursar, Librarian and Registrar be legislated to four or five years.

Page 25 Section 21: Auditors

The Committee feel that the title should be ‘External Auditors’ not just Auditors because in universities, there are already Auditors whom we term ‘Internal Auditors’.

OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS

14. It was recommended that the University should be located at an area that is naturally rich in mineral and that has some sense of already developed structures. This will make it easy for practical lectures to be undertaken easily and at a local area.
15. Courses that have something to do with Environmental

Awareness have to be provided at the University

16. The Public also recommended that studying at this University should be affordable to all the people in the country despite their economic class.

MINOR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS FOR YOUR ATTENTION

Page (i) Part II,

Page (i), Remove ‘s’ on ‘provides’ on the statements for beginning with;

‘Clauses 3 and 4…’ ;  ‘Clauses 7 and 8…’; ‘Clauses 10 and 11…’;

‘Clauses 14 and 15…’; ‘Clauses 16 and 17…’; ‘Clauses 28 and 29…’

Page 4

• Use capital letters for all the words starting sentences.
• The statement, ‘‘’dean of faculty” means a person elected by the faculty board in terms of the Statutes’ should read, ‘‘’Dean of Faculty” means a person appointed to the post of dean in terms of the Statutes’
• On statement beginning, “mineral science”, to replace ‘is’ with

‘means.’

Page 8

Need to correctly quote the sections on Clause 10(g) as follows:

• Clause 10(g) (i), ‘…..Section 28(7);
• Clause 10(g) (ii), ‘…..Section 29(6).
• Clause 12(a) not best practice for good governance to have the Chancellor appointing the Chairperson of the Council.
• Clause 12(c), Remove ‘every’, to have, ‘Pro Vice Chancellor(s)’

Conclusion

The establishment of a Minerals University in Zimbabwe to serve not only Zimbabwe but Africa was long overdue. The Members of the Public nationwide applauded the Government for this move and we as the Portfolio Committee on Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development, strongly support the same. If our knowledge serves us right, Zimbabwe has the highest diamond reserves in the world; it has the second highest platinum reserves in the world; it is the fourth largest producer of chrome in the world; it has the largest known coal reserves in Sub-Saharan Africa and is the sixth largest gold producer in Africa. Zimbabwe also has 40 other exploitable minerals and it was only right that as a nation, we should have a Pan African Minerals University of Science and Technology to advise on how best to exploit such vast endowment. Thank you very much.

HON. NDUNA: Thank you Mr. Speaker.  I want to add my voice

to this Bill.  In particular, I want to touch on – it must be page 4 of the report on the establishment of this university, where it touches on expertise.   As long as the artisanal miners have been sidelined, that expertise cannot be imported from the informal into the formal sector because as far as I remember, I used to stay close to a Blacksmith’s house and the children of that Blacksmith have never attended university but they taught me that experience is the best teacher.  When we speak of exploration; when we speak of mining and optimal utilisation of our resources, we speak to those that are experienced.

I spoke one time about brown bed exploration which is indulged and engaged in by artisanal miners.  For as long as we leave artisanal miners in the fringes of our mining activities, universities and institutions of higher learning, we are marginalising our own economy, not only now, but for the future because these are the people that are engaged en masse in the resources extraction and in resource mobilisation, which is what our economy is skewed towards.  Why I speak of artisanal miners is because, as long as we leave them in the fringes of our mining activities, we have not done what is called continental integration.  In Ghana, these artisanal miners have been recognised. This is a Pan African University, if we have to follow global best practices, let us follow what has occurred in other African countries, so that we indulge in what is called continental integration.  This is exactly what Africa Union was founded for Mr. Speaker.

Secondly, the establishment of this university should follow where the minerals are.  There is no reason for us to establish this university at Mt Hampden or any other place, save for the place where these minerals reside.  In Chegutu, this is a case in point; Kadoma is a place which is endowed with resources where we should have this university.  Why should we, when we talk of the national university of academic, science   and other issues, talk of Harare, Mount Hampden and all other places? When we now talk of issues to do with gold, diamond and such like, we still want to come to Harare, this should be a thing of the past.  Let us go to where these resources are.  Let us go and establish this university where these resources are.  In particular where there is gold and where it is there in optimum, ubiquitous form; where it is there in large amounts.  Let us go and establish this university, which is Pan African, in Kadoma or Chegutu.  I would not mind in Chegutu West, there are more than 49 gold mines in a 20 km² radius.  So, what a better place to establish such a university than that place?

When we speak of a Pan Africa University, we should speak to SADC industrialisation strategy.  Where do we want to strategise our industrial capability, if we do not go to where our minerals are?  When we speak of this university, let us be all encompassing and also speak to the beneficiation and value addition which is Agenda 2063 of the Africa Union.  Where do we want to go except to where there is a lot of these resources.  Let us not take our people to follow the university; let us take the university to follow where the resources are so that we can beneficiate and value add where these people are; where the gold resources are.

As I conclude, I also want to speak to the issue of making sure that this university removes the tag called makorokoza in total.  We have put it upon ourselves; we have put a tag upon ourselves in the same manner we have sidelined the economy of this country and left it to the other countries to benefit.  Why do I say so, when the Rand fell, South Africa was very clever, they started buying our gold from artisanal miners and our makorokozas, at a premium, 15% more than the value of our gold here in Zimbabwe because they are benefiting from our own people that we are sidelining.  This university should be a university par excellence; that speaks and thinks outside the box.

Mr. Speaker Sir, long back when I was still in higher education,

Chess used to be called the game of high level thinking, and it still is.

When you talk of high level thinking, let us speak to those that are going to be running the higher and tertiary education.  Why should we continue to be regimented in our scope or line of thinking, and still think in the same manner that was used to establish these universities?  Let us follow our economy and our resources; think outside the box and make sure that it is a place that is going to remove the tag totally in terms of marginalizing the formerly marginalised black majority.  Vanhu varikunzi makorokoza ndovanhu vatema.  Hakuna murungu anonzi mukorokoza, asi ndivo varikubata goridhe.  Iyi university ngaiite basa rokutobvisa tag iyoyo zvachose. 

If we continue to do it in the manner that was always done, we are not doing ourselves justice, in terms of economic emancipation.  Let us use it formalise the informal sector.  Mr. Speaker Sir, I want to thank you for giving me this opportunity, and hope that as I make this clarion call, Hon. Members can support my call to say let us establish this university where the gold is; where our minerals are and let us also take, as has been alluded to by the report on Education Portfolio Committee, that let us not sideline our artisanal miners.  Let them go into this university, use their experience and then use the university as a spring board for economic emancipation in terms of resource beneficiation.  I thank you.

HON. MARIDADI: Thank you Mr. Speaker.  I wish to thank the

Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee for this beautiful report.  Let  me talk about the setting up of a university.  Zimbabwe went to bid for it, and there are four of them that are going to be set up in Africa and

Zimbabwe is going to have one of them.  Let me tell you that in Zimbabwe, we have about 20 universities, the majority of them are State universities, and we have three universities which basically teach Science Education. Harare Institute of Technology, Bindura University of Science Education, NUST and above that we have the University of Zimbabwe. The University of Zimbabwe used to be a renowned university during their time before they started giving some these PHDs which we are not quite sure of.

Mr. Speaker Sir, when you look at this report, there are a number of governance issues that come out straight away. One has been flagged by the Portfolio Committee where you have the Zimbabwe Higher Education Council representative sitting on the Council. I have heard occasion to talk to lecturers in many universities and they say the Zimbabwe Council of Higher Education is a referee. So, what is their business sitting on university councils? They must sit there as referees and they must allow the universities to run on their own but you have a referee who is also participating in the game so that is an issue of governance.

Interestingly, in Zimbabwe we have a School of Mines. The

School of Mines has a specific mandate to train specialized people that will work in mines. The School of Mines Mr. Speaker today is a pale shadow of its former self because it is not funded. There is no single State University in Zimbabwe which is properly funded. If you look at the budget of Zimbabwe universities and the amount of money that

Zimbabweans are spending in universities in South Africa, look at the Presidential Scholarship, which alone gobbles so much money from

Treasury in comparison to the money that is spent on local universities. , MSU and NUST, the amount of money that is allocated to those three major universities by Government is far less than the amount of money that is spent on the Presidential Scholarship sending children to South Africa. So essentially what we are doing is that money is taken out of this country to fund the education sector in South Africa. The education here is substandard there is not a single Member of Parliament here, all of us myself included that do not have either a brother, cousin, son or a daughter who is schooled in South Africa.

Some of the degrees they are studying in South Africa are available here. You have somebody studying Political Science in South Africa when the father is a lecturer in Political Science in Zimbabwe. You have a son of a Minister of Primary and Secondary Education who after ‘A’ level goes to South Africa to study Law and when he comes back to Zimbabwe he cannot practice and he must do conversion studies for him to be able to practice. When you study Law at MSU or University of Zimbabwe you go straight into practice. – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.]- I will leave that aside. The money that was spent on education in Zimbabwe, US$866 million was allocated to

Primary and Secondary Education, US$332.7 million was allocated to

Higher and Tertiary Education. What this means Mr. Speaker is that, our

Government anticipates that some children after ‘O’ level must not go to university. The money that is allocated to universities is just a third of the money that is allocated to Primary and Secondary Education. What it means is that our Government anticipates that some children will fail so, it is a bottle neck that is deliberately put by this Government so that our children do not go to university.

If you go to, for you to study Engineering, Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry, you need 15 points, but when you go to the South Africa University of Cape Town, which is regarded as the second best university on the continent, with 8 points you can go and study Electrical Engineering, with 4 points you can also study Electrical Engineering at the University of South Africa. Yet at  you need 15 points Mr. Speaker when you put those two students after graduating onto the market, a graduate from the University of Cape Town is given precedence over a graduate from the  because a university is what it is because of research. There is better research carried out at University of Cape Town than the research carried out at University of Zimbabwe the and there is no question about that. If you go to the University of Zimbabwe, I did a postgraduate in 2007, we could not use the ablution facilities at University of Zimbabwe.  We had to drive to Mt Pleasant shopping centre to use the ablution facilities there because the toilets did not have running water. So we have a University of Zimbabwe here, our flagship university without running water and we are bidding to set up a

University of Minerals, what for.

Let us fund the University of Zimbabwe, let us pay our lecturers correctly, let us give our students grants because most of the children at University of Zimbabwe come from poor backgrounds. My cousin came from Hurungwe with 15 points, to study at University of Zimbabwe but he could not secure a grant because Government does not have that kind of money. It is the same Government which is bidding to set up a university here, what for. Let us take care of what we have first before we want to invite some more problems. What we need in Zimbabwe; the Bill that was brought by the Minister makes a lot of good reading but it is not good reading for Zimbabwe.  It would have made better sense for South Africans. South Africans did not bid for this university because they know that the courses that this university will offer are available in their universities already. What is it that this university is going to offer, which cannot be offered in our universities? Geology, we have Geologists here - Hon. Gabbuza trained at University of Zimbabwe. We have Mining Engineers, the Deputy Minister of Mines trained at the local University of Zimbabwe here. We have so many people, Electrical

Engineers and Civil Engineers so why should we want to set up …

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order!

HON. MARIDADI: Mr. Speaker Sir. May I ask for some water I want to replenish my body fluids. Now, here is another issue. We want to set up a university that is going to train people in mining when we are failing to do the basic things. We are failing to account for resources that are coming from the mining sector, US$15 billion disappeared from the diamond sector. What do you want to set up the mining school for? What we need is to train our people in issues of governance and issues of honesty. What we are going to set up is like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. We should have set up the mining training school before diamonds were discovered in Chiadzwa, may be we would have been able to save those diamonds that disappeared. I will set that aside.

The School of Mines train people that are ready to get into industry. If you go to most of our mines and ask those people where they were educated, they will tell you that after ‘A’ levels they went to the School of Mines to study Geology, Mining Engineering, Metallurgy and most of the courses that are required by mines. So, this university here, we do not need it because firstly, we do not have the money and it is not a secret. We do not have the money in Zimbabwe to be able to set up this university that is number 1. Secondly, we need a lot of expertise and we do not have the expertise. Let us concentrate on the universities that are already existing and not waste out time trying to bid for a university whose functions we do not need in this country. Let us look at the mining sector-the diamond mines in Chiadzwa were consolidated.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order! Hon. Member. Can the

owner of the following car: A3Y3326 go and remove his car – [HON. MEMBERS: We cannot hear you.]-

          THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Okay. The owner of this car

ACY3326, can you go and remove it. We have got workers from City Council who would want to work on the water line. Thank you.

HON. MARIDADI: Thank you Mr. Speaker. I was talking about the turmoil and the confusion in Chiadzwa. There is so much turmoil and confusion. You wake up one day and you hear that the Minister has ordered that all the mining companies come together, they have bundled. You wake up two days later and you hear that the Minister has said those mines should be unbundled. There are so many things that we must expend our energy on, and setting a Pan-African Minerals University of Science and Technology is not one of those things. There are so many things that we must do with the mining sector. This university is far from one of those things that you must do.

Mr. Speaker, I want to go to another issue. We have issues of governance that I was talking about where you have for example, a Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education going to be trained at a university - how do they fail? You have the Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education being trained to be a lawyer and the year that he was admitted into law school, we are told Law School is not admitting students for the next three years. Why is that? For the next three years Mr. Speaker, the Law School at the University of Zimbabwe is not going to be admitting students from outside.

The reason is because in the class where there is the Minister of

Higher and Tertiary Education, there are also two other Ministers, the Minister of Indigenisation and the Minister of ICTs. What it is to me is that they are protecting turf so that they do not get competition from others and that is unfair. That is an issue of governance because for the next three years, the University of Zimbabwe is not taking students into the Law Faculty and that must be investigated.

Mr. Speaker, I think I have said enough. All I want to say is that let us not waste our breath discussing the merits or demerits of this University of Science and Technology. We do not need it. Let us put all our resources at existing universities like the University of Zimbabwe, NUST, Harare Institute of Technology and the School of Mines in the Midlands. I think that is where we need to spend all our energies and get good graduates, put more money, do more research and get better graduates. I rest my case. Thank you Mr. Speaker.

HON. MUDEREDZWA: Thank you very much Mr. Speaker for

giving me the opportunity to make my contribution towards this very important debate. I am not going to waste time. I am going to highlight four issues that are pertinent to this Bill. This Bill is not a concept of the Zimbabwean Government alone. It is a concept of a number of African countries that realise that by geo-location, Zimbabwe is strategically located and that it is in a position to relate with other countries around it in the area of research on mining issues.

It was also noted that Zimbabwe is sitting on the Great-Dyke. We are the richest in the region and this is why this Bill is considering locating a university in Zimbabwe. It is not going to be a baby of the Zimbabwean Government alone, but there is going to be mobilisation of resources from all other countries like South Africa, Namibia, Zambia, Malawi, DRC the entire SADC region and other countries beyond. They will be coming to Zimbabwe. By so doing, there will be an infusion of knowledge and resources towards the growth of Zimbabwe.

Mr. Speaker Sir, the regional integration that is going to come up as a result of the existence of this university is going to cause Zimbabwe and other SADC countries to grow and obviously, because of economies of scale, regional integration and all the other things that are associated with mining activities. It is logical that such a university should be located here. The leaders of these respective countries had taken it as a thoughtful thing to say let us go to Zimbabwe and let us not go to South Africa and Zambia but to Zimbabwe. Ourselves, as people of this country, should be in support of this Bill.

Of course, we have got problems with our own universities. We have problems in terms of location of this university, but it is pertinent that we address the bigger picture of this thing and say this House should support the Bill so that we come up with a university that is centred in Zimbabwe. I thank you.

HON. CHAMISA: Thank you very much Hon. Speaker Sir. I want to thank the Committee and the Committee Chairperson for such a relevant report in the context of the Bill that we seek to pass as Parliament. I acknowledge the fact that I agree with Hon. Maridadi in most of his concerns around our scope, strategy and our approach when we come up with universities and when we come up with institutions of higher learning. Be that as it may, I am fortified by the fact that the World Bank is going to play a very significant role in financing this university. For that reason, we must thank our God that we have won the bid to have this university. –[HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.]-

I genuinely believe that this is the future of Africa, human research and investment and I genuinely believe that we, as Zimbabwe are the House of Stone. You cannot talk about a stone without mining. When you talk about the House of Stone, you also want to acknowledge the centrality and relevance of mining in the future of our country. How do we position ourselves? We must also think beyond and start to see the Great Zimbabwe. The Great Zimbabwe is not going to be great without some key models that are going to leverage the future of our country. What is going to leverage the future of our country? The first is mining and the second is probably agriculture.

We must start to build institutions that are going to mortar and carry the pivot of the future of our investment. When we have big minerals in terms of our resources, we also want to have big institutions so that we are able to portray ourselves in a proper manner for the future.

I totally agree that this is the most important development for Zimbabwe. We must celebrate the victory to have the Pan-African

University on minerals in Zimbabwe.

It is important because when one looks at the future of our country, we cannot have the future of Zimbabwe without the future of the continent. So, we need to begin to portray ourselves as a champion of that future. Mineral technology is a very important element. I agree with Hon. Maridadi that we have a lot of concerns when you look at the university. I have stood and I have taken platform in this Parliament to also argue that we cannot just have universities without the necessary human resource investment, but now because we have the World Bank and the intellectual resources, you can hardly compete with a

Zimbabwean intellectually.

We need to build on that intellectual resource we have and then be able to say when we go forward, when people think about Zimbabwe, they must think great minds. When people think about Zimbabwe they must think about a great university that is going to be giving the best mineral technology.

So, all mining technology must come from Zimbabwe. You can talk about diamonds in DRC or South Africa, but when you want to talk about the technology that diamond or any mineral, let us talk Zimbabwe and we need to start investing in this. We may not be Members of Parliament then, but we must make sure that we lay the framework. Let us plant the seed. We may not enjoy the fruits as Members of

Parliament but we will enjoy the fruits as citizens once we start to invest in this one.

I believe this is a very important Bill which must be supported and I think the findings that have been made are very relevant, but let us begin to think of the future. Let us think of the centres of excellence, what do I see going forward. Let us have the best universities so that in the same way people go to Oxford, Stanford or other Ivy League universities. When people think of education and mining on anything, let them think Zimbabwe and we must start by making sure that we have institutions. When we have strong institutions within SADC and on the African continent, we are then able to be an example across the whole world in terms of doing what we have to do.

We have the climate, intellectual, human and mineral resources. All these minerals are already there. We have complete and perfected artisan miners and we must build on those ones. It is only in Zimbabwe where you find that we use derogatory language to say makorokoza. We must also be giving the necessary incentive to that creativity in our people to be able to run an economy and create the necessary contribution to the Gross Domestic Product. So, I have no doubt in my mind Hon. Speaker Sir, that this is the most important thing that this Parliament can support.

I want to say my voice is something that I will add to this kind of debate. I am not ashamed to be a Zimbabwean when you have a PanAfrican agenda – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] – I am not ashamed to be a Zimbabwean when you are thinking about institutions that are going to even outlive our existence. We need to go that direction and support that kind of effort, particularly if the World Bank is coming in to build on our capital investment in intellectual resources. Having said that, I want to thank you Hon. Speaker Sir, thank you very much.

HON. MANDIPAKA: I am not going to waste the august House’s

time. I just want to make some few observations following the debate by Hon. N. Chamisa. I was really impressed to discover that although he is from the opposite side politically, he has exhibited exploits of a nationalist who is patriotic - [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] –. So, allow me Hon. Speaker to support the entire debate by Hon. Chamisa. It is unfortunate Mr. Speaker Sir, that his colleague Hon. Maridadi is not well informed. When we come here to make Bills …

HON. MARIDADI: On a point of order. My point of order is that this House is a theatre of dreams, debate and engagement. I am not at the centre of discussion, we are discussing the university, not me. What I simply submitted are my submissions and he must make his own submissions. This is a theatre of debate, ideas and not a theatre of throwing insults at each other. He must be guided accordingly. Thank you very much.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER (HON. MARUMAHOKO):

Your concern has been noted Honourable.

HON. MANDIPAKA: Mr. Speaker, it is unfortunate that the member is not quite informed about the statement that I have recently said. What I meant to say is that we come here to Parliament to make laws for the good governance of this country. We do not make laws just for the present generation. We make laws for even generations that will come after us. So, it will be folly for someone to suggest that we have economic problems and we must stop making laws. That is why I am saying my colleague, Hon. Maridadi, is not well informed because we need to make and support these Bills, especially and more so, when these Bills are helpful to the Zimbabwean populace and the generations that will come after us.

Like Hon. Chamisa has rightly pointed out, we are endowed with mineral wealth and once we do not have institutions of higher learning where we have the present day technology to be able to beneficiate on our minerals, then we are a nation doomed to fail. I would also want to support the observations by Hon. Muderedzwa that when we are thinking around this Bill, we are not only looking at ourselves. We are also looking at countries that are around us and the benefits that will accrue from that regional integration. So, we need to be broad in our thinking.

I do not understand when Hon. Maridadi talks about turmoil and confusion in Chiadzwa. I do not know where this turmoil and confusion is coming from. It is unfortunate, and I think he is the one who is confused and in turmoil with his mind because when the Government discovered that we were running loses, the Government had to come up with a strategy to improve accountability. If that can be termed turmoil and confusion, then I am also confused Mr. Speaker Sir, but I want to believe our Government is doing all it can to be able to have these institutions of higher learning to improve the welfare of our populace.

This Bill, vigorously Mr. Speaker Sir, must be supported. This Bill, like Hon. Chamisa has rightly pointed out, needs to be supported by any right thinking Zimbabwean unless one is not a Zimbabwean. I thank you.

HON. MUDARIKWA: Mr. Speaker, I want to thank you very much for giving me the time to contribute on this very important debate. Zimbabwe has a lot of minerals. The Pioneer Column came to Zimbabwe specifically looking for minerals and they knew there was gold in Zimbabwe. Our problem at the present moment is we are failing to understand that institutions like the Pan-African Minerals University must be there to improve the quality of life of our people who are contributing 60% of the gold to Fidelity; 60% of this gold is coming from the so-called makorokoza. 

It is my wish that one day I will come across a faculty of gold panning researching on ways to improve gold panning for the benefit of the larger masses of our people. We talk of democracy but there is no democracy when there is no economic democracy. Our universities, most of them now, are serving the colonial institutions. They are serving institutions which were established by colonialists. They are serving these big multi-national companies which has no direct benefit in removing poverty in the rural areas and in our people.  Mr. Speaker Sir, to assist some of the Hon. Members – what is poverty?  The Oxford dictionary says, poverty is the inability to utilise resources around you for your personal, national and international benefit.  We have this university which we want to establish, it is going to be funded by 60% of the gold because the percentage of the gold is going to come from the korokozas but it does not develop the korokozas.  What a joke.  We want a situation whereby there will be a faculty of gold panning established in Kadoma and in UMP because they are the largest contributors of gold to fidelity.

The other thing we want to look at is that the Munhumutapa Kingdom was the most powerful kingdom ever established in Africa.  It was based on the gold that was produced by individuals.  If people of Munhumutapa benefited from our gold, why are we failing to benefit from the gold because even here, if we go out and dig, there is gold.  It is only that the percentage is not viable to start mining but we have areas where there is plenty of gold and we waste our time training people about engineering of protecting this structure of platinum and all these things.  We must also look at the basic interest of our people.

Mr. Speaker Sir, people are saying there is no money but this university is self-funding because miners are funding it.  A percentage of proceeds from mining is going to fund this university.  Pan-African University is a noble idea.  It is also something that must look at the indigenous knowledge in different areas.  How were we mining before the Europeans arrived in this country?  How were we benefiting from our minerals before Cecil John Rhodes came to Zimbabwe?  These are some of the critical areas we must look at and we must also look at funding of certain institutions like the Pan-African University.  It is getting money from the World Bank and from the sale of mining but as part of our establishment, we must come out to assist the poor.

How do we call ourselves a poor country when we have 74 minerals in the whole world which can be mined at any given time.  You continue to meet very poor people in the roads yet we have all the minerals at our disposal.  Mr. Speaker Sir, this university is not a ZANU PF institution but a national institution.  There is a tendency of certain people to think that because this has been brought by a ZANU PF Minister, I must go against it.  No, there are times, as a nation, we must agree to say, this is right we must do it.  I would also want to recommend Committees, in future, to concentrate on critical issues and not talking about the bursars and so forth.  If there are problems, the Chairperson of the Committee will obviously meet the relevant Minister, discuss with him and see how this thing can benefit our people.

Chrome mining is one area we have skills on.  We were talking to South Africans yesterday – our people have rare skills of extracting chrome which no other nation has got.  We must develop and sharpen the existing skills of our people before we can accommodate anyone

else.

In conclusion Mr. Speaker, I would say today, Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kinyatha, Julius Nyerere, Samora Machel and Ben Bera are celebrating that at least Africans have now waken up.  They have realised where their wealth is.  Their wealth is in the soil.  So the founders of the African Union, on the 26^th May 1963 are celebrating wherever they are, obviously they are with us here.  That is why they have given guidance to Hon. Chamisa to contribute like a ZANU PF person in the whole process.

Hon. Maridadi, your contributions, some of them were valid....

HON. CHAMISA:  On a point of order.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER:  What is your point of order?

HON. CHAMISA:  I am actually surprised Mr. Speaker Sir that he thought that I had left but I was around.  I did not argue like a ZANU

PF member, I argued as a Zimbabwean.  I think we must not

‘partisanise’ the interest and love of our country.  Our country belongs to no political party, it belongs to all of us.  So, I would want the record to be very clear that when I contributed, I was motivated by the spirit of Zimbabwe as opposed to the spirit of a political party.  Thank you very much.

HON. MUDARIKWA:  I want to thank Hon. Chamisa because you are a product of the education development of the Government of Zimbabwe – [HON. MEMBERS:  Taurai nyaya yenyu chete and speak to the motion.] – Mr. Speaker, we are speaking to the motion but in this House, I had seen some people dosing and we had to wake them up.  I want to thank the Chairperson of the Committee for the job well done; the mission has been accomplished.

HON. MUTSVANGWA:  Thank you Mr. Speaker.  I want to commend the Chairperson of the Committee for bringing this matter before the august House.  I have a few remarks concerning our mining capacity as Zimbabwe.  The previous speaker has alluded to our history as a gold mining nation.  It is the basis of the Great Zimbabwe civilisation for more than eight centuries.  People used to come from India, Egypt and from the Middle East to buy gold in Zimbabwe.  That is how we built the Great Zimbabwe Civilisation.  So, we have always been a mining nation even in pre-colonial times.  Most of the gold mines that are now on record used to be called blanket mines because white people who came in 1890s would come and look where Shona and Ndebele people were mining and give them blankets and go and register those mines in South Africa.

The knowledge about gold mining that this country has is a matter of the product of the people of Zimbabwe.  We used to be the greatest gold producer in the 13^th Century.  Therefore, this Bill is timely.  Mr. Speaker, we have the Great Dyke which is one of the seven unique geological formations in the world which have got so many minerals as has been alluded to.  We missed as a country on the mining boom of China when it was modernising its cities.  Now, it is India which is coming on board.  All these countries with billions of people need minerals to build their new cities.  This is the time where we should exploit Zimbabwe’s prowess in the mining sector.  This university will give us not only the scientific knowledge that is needed but also the marketing knowledge because you ultimately want to mine because you want to sell.

This is important to have the university that looks at all aspects of mining.  I want to commend the Minister and the President for having Africa choose Zimbabwe as the centre of this university.  This is something which is a kudo to Zimbabwe because of our expertise, but what is important is to turn expertise into money for our people.  Agriculture will never be Argentina or Canada; we can only be self sufficient.   We are also landlocked so we cannot export like these countries, but in the mining sector we have a unique advantage in some of these minerals.  We are number two in  chrome production; in  gold we are in the top ten, in platinum we are in the top two and we are only two countries - with South Africa.

When the United States made its first Atomic Hydrogen Bomb in

1953, they used lithium from Bikita Minerals.  This is the history of

Zimbabwe’s contribution at a global level and when America was modernizing its Navy against Russia and [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.]- against the Soviet Union, it needed a lot of steel which comes from chrome that is why Kwekwe and Gweru became major chrome smelting centres, because of the American demand.

Our chrome, which is so special, was actually the subject of an

American Law, the Byrd amendment, which said “even if Ian Smith had sanctions imposed on him, we will still import chrome from Zimbabwe against United Nations because the chrome from  Zimbabwe is very special”.  So these are world class minerals which we have and this university will bring the historical knowledge, it will bring the scientific know-how, but it will also bring global marketing expertise so that decisions which are informed by markets can be made so that our minerals can benefit Zimbabweans, because that is the only area where Zimbabwe is world class undoubtedly, in the mining sector.

So, the Bill is timely, I am coming from Norton which is on the Great Dyke, all the way from Gwanda to Shamva, these are minerals which are waiting to be exploited.  The mistake which we made was when we removed the chrome ore exports, saying we want to beneficiate when we had no electricity, no railways, no water and everything.  Once you remove the chrome ore exports, there is no load for the railway lines that is why there is no business plan for the railways because you cannot export beef or wheat with railways, but you can export minerals with railways.

So, I am glad Cabinet and Government have decided to lift the chrome ban.  We need to do it in a clever way because every building in the world is steel and chrome is an ingredient of steel.  So, every building in the world should have something to do with chrome from Zimbabwe, because the other competition is from Turkey and South Africa - but ours is superior.  So, let us open up the chrome ore sector so that we export as much chrome as possible to build all the new building in the world.  Our youths will be taken away from the streets, they will go to the Great Dyke, they will be busy digging chrome, our railways will be developed all the way to Maputo, Richards Bay, Beira, Manakala or to Makudi because only minerals can revive the railways of Zimbabwe.  Anything else is day dreaming – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.]

HON. GABUZZA: Thank you Mr. Speaker, I am only rising for

one point, I am sure all other points have been fairly discussed.  I do not think it is a bad idea to have a university but there are certain things Mr. Speaker that we must understand about university education.  It is all about research, you do not just read text books, you have to do some research and research is practical.  You do not research sitting only in the laboratories, but one has to go physically on the ground and see things and make things happen in the laboratory.

Now, when we were in Masvingo, it reminds me of some woman who said, how you can you locate a university on mining around potato fields and tomatoes in Harare?  It means that after the lectures have been conducted at Mt. Hampden or wherever the Government is proposing to put, the pupils who would have just done the lectures will have to go  all the way to Kadoma, to go underground and do their mining engineering and all those other things including the metallurgy.  If it is going to be done around those potatoes fields, it will have to be laboratory work only.

So, in terms of the location, I do not know why we still have this bambazonke mentality of Harare.  We have to move out and go to where mining is happening, because that is where research is.  If it was going to be done by me, I would have preferred – because we do not have enough resources, World Bank is going to assist but certainly they will not give us all the money that is required of the level of that institution.  So, to reduce cost, I would have definitely preferred to go to a place where similar structures are already there and indeed this is what they have recommended the Committee.  The best place would have been the School of Mines in Bulawayo, simply because they are already training regionally.  At the School of Mines, you will find the whole of Africa there training.

There used to be geologist at the University of Zimbabwe but it is no longer there, Institute of Mining Research is no longer there, they are struggling, but the School of Mines because they are attracting regional students from the SADC region and from all over Africa and from all the other parts of the world, they are able to sustain themselves. They are struggling but with the little resources, we could push up that institution.

However, if that fails because of other considerations, the best would be as what was suggested by other speakers. We could have the administration at SRDC as has been proposed, but the various faculties be certainly along the Great Dyke where the minerals are.  We have the faculty of gold processing in Chegutu where there is gold, something to do with diamonds; we could have it in Mutare; something to do with other minerals like platinum, we have it where there is a concentration of platinum mines.  Then we can safely have our administration at Mt. Hampden or SRDC, but the actual practical field work must be done at the faculties where things are happening.

That would also give us an advantage in that when practical work is being done, our small scale miners, our artisanal miners will benefit because certainly those lectures and experts will have to test run their projects on those small scale miners and boost them up.  To that extent, I think it would help not only Harare but even our small scale miners, our artisanal miners and grow the mining industry.  That is what I thought; I

would wish to contribute to this motion.  Thank you – [HON.

MEMBERS: Hear, hear.]

*HON. MAPIKI: Thank you Mr. Speaker.  Firstly I would like to propose that this university should be set up in Shamva because the town has all minerals, gold, asbestos and all others.  So, I need someone to second that the school be set up in Shamva.

Secondly, I want to thank the Honorable Members who have debated before me especially Hon. Chamisa, his debate reflected that he has natural wisdom.  In his debate he expressed that he is able to separate matters on the ruling and governing of the nation as well as what he learnt in school.  He also realised that these things cannot be isolated.  I realised that if we have two or three people of his caliber we will develop.  Even the money that is being paid by the Government to finance students will not go to waste.

I stood up to support that the university should indeed be established.   I would want people to know that the school will not only benefit Zimbabweans but so many countries are set to benefit because when they want to get technology in terms of mining, they will come to

Zimbabwe and as they come in, they will also bring in foreign currency. I also heard another Hon. Member talking about the misuse and abuse of money especially that from diamond. I can liken this to a woman who has suffered a miscarriage.  What will happen then is that if we take that route, then it means we will never go anywhere because if such a woman says she will not give birth because she has lost a baby, then nothing fruitful will come out.  So, we should not be short sighted but we need to have foresight and hope for the better in the future.   In this country we have so many challenges, I think we saw this challenge in the SMEs sector, we allowed them to do whatever they wanted, thinking that those with huge companies are the only ones who develop the country.

When we sat down and went back to the drawing board, we realised that the Small to Medium Enterprises bring in about US$8 billion.  Most of the revenue right now is coming from the SMEs.  So, likewise we should ensure that artisanal miners also gain education skills and technology to ensure that money comes from them.  If we sit back and think that Anglo American and other multi-national companies will come, we are losing it; we know they will not come here.  So, we need to look at the issue of empowering the small miners.  I think 60% of the gold that is going to Fidelity is coming from them and in six months they are raking in quite a lot of gold.  So, we need to support them by putting universities in this country that will also assist the children of Zimbabwe.

If IMF has committed itself in supporting the universities, other countries will also support.  So, I do not think we should be against this Bill.  We cannot say that once there is one rotten apple, we throw away all apples.  Once we do that, we are failing to reason as Members of Parliament.  I want to say that such issues should be supported by all of us here in Parliament so that the university is built in Zimbabwe.  Cement was discovered here in Zimbabwe and we have been told that we can go for 100 years with this cement.  So, that is why we need such a University so that we have the technology and the skills.  We have a lot of minerals in this country and we need such technology to be able to extract these minerals.

We also want technology to get alluvial gold because others are coming to get our alluvial gold.  Once we have the skills and the technology in mining alluvial gold, we will develop.  Zimbabwe is not poor but sometimes it is because we fail to manage what we have.  So, my request is that this university be set up in Shamva because that is where you find most of the minerals.  It is in the Great Dyke area and therefore Shamva should benefit.  I thank you Mr. Speaker.

HON. HOLDER: This Bill – the Pan African Minerals University which has been brought to Parliament; I stand up to support it, simply because there are 4 countries within African that will have this university.  If you look at Wits University in South Africa, it is one of the best universities as far as mining issues are concerned.  Now, by the time we have won the tender that the university is build here in Zimbabwe, which means that we will have one of the universities here; it is different from a school of mines.  A school of mines is for people who are starting to learn, small scale miners and staff like that.  Having a university here will be a noble idea, simply because it is supported by the World Bank; it will bring revenue into this country as well.

As much as the other Hon. Members are saying I wish it was in Shamva or Great Dyke, parliamentarians that are sitting in here, you find they want to go on field visits.  So, what about the students who will be in the university, they will also want to travel.  Harare is a good place for it to be here, the simple reason is because Harare is good for networking.  It is the capital and airports are here, you cannot have a big airport in Zvishavane or in Shamva, you have to land here in Harare, the airport is there, the infrastructure is there already.

If you are going for practicals, there is Shabanie Mine, Mashava Mine, there are mines that are along the Great Dyke where people will be able to be transported to go and see and understand.  Secondly, this university will also benefit us on beneficiation, where we will improve technology on extraction; we will improve on how to use our minerals.  We know we talk about beneficiation, we talk about mining and how wealthy we are; but having it here is one of the blessings which I think your Ministry has done a good job and His Excellency the President for lobbying for us on that.

I want to say to the other Hon. Member, James Maridadi, he was complaining and saying you know that we have got so many problems; we have got this university that is incomplete, that school, this and that, we all have problems Mr. Speaker.  We have problems to pay even children’s school fees but we have to send the children to school.  So, it is important that irrespective of our problems, we must plan for the future and the future is once we have that university, we will also have a name, as Wits University has that it is one of the best universities, and in Zimbabwe – we will have a Pan African University, where we will understand all the research to do with minerals.  We mine over 32 minerals in this country, platinum, gold, asbestos, chrome, uranium - you name it, there are a lot of minerals but what are that used for.

It will be important if that university is built here in Harare where people will be able to come, fly in, have their courses and fly out after a block release, it is okay.  I want to say to you Mr. Speaker, as much as we as miners, we would have loved it to be near the Great Dyke where there are mines and staff like that but I am sure the research - as far as the university is concerned to say it must be in Harare, it was all to do with the networking as well.   There are a lot of factors that are put into place, although even on the public hearings, the people were saying it should be closer to our mines so that they could do the practicals.

Mr. Speaker, practicals, yes I agree but having it here in Mt

Hampden will be quite good for us.  With those few words Mr. Speaker,

I want to thank and congratulate the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education Science and Technology Development for winning and becoming one of the Pan African Universities here in Zimbabwe, not other places.   As far as he is concerned you find him saying how many of our kids are sent out of country, it is their choice.  I can go to Europe to a university, I can go to America, it is your choice - but having it here shows that we are now very patriotic about country.  So, I think I will support having it here.  I thank you Mr. Speaker.

*HON. MUKWENA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.  I stood up to

support the Bill that was brought by the Defence Minister I said I would like to support the Bill that was presented by the Chairperson - I am sorry Mr. Speaker Sir; we went out as two Committees.  The person who brought the Bill is the Chairperson of Higher Education and I am sorry for the mix up.  I want to thank the coming of this Bill.  It is an important Bill and it is a welcoming development in Zimbabwe.  I think this Pan African University is in the SADC region, meaning that

Zimbabwe also tendered together with other countries in the SADC and Zimbabwe was successful.  That is the first thing and we really applaud the nation for that.

Secondly, the Pan African University, now that it is in Zimbabwe it means that it has to be in the capital city of Zimbabwe, which is Harare.  It is a SADC University and I do not think it should be set up in any other town other than the capital city.  For that reason, we applaud Africa as a continent for setting up such an institution in order to get skills and technology on our minerals.  On that note Mr. Speaker, this university will enable not only the SADC but other countries to develop, which means Zimbabwe is at a better advantage than other countries in the SADC region.

Everything that will be done at the university will benefit

Zimbabwe.  I am delighted by the coming of this Bill on the Pan African

University, which means that coming generations of people in Zimbabwe, SADC and Africa as a whole can have higher education.  It also means that the minerals that we have in this region, we will now be able to extract them and develop our nations, not only Zimbabwe but also the SADC at large.

In short, I want to thank the Hon. Members who stood up in support of this Bill, especially Hon. Chamisa.  Hon. Chamisa has reflected that he is a nationalist and he has also reflected that he is patriotic to the nation at large.  My request is that this august House should be united and should have the same spirit and stand by the same token because Zimbabwe is our country.  All of us need to be patriotic.

My hope is that the university should bring in projects and plans as well as education and technology which will assist artisanal miners whom we call makorokoza in shona.  If we look at the history of artisanal miners that is how the first miners began, they were artisanal miners when the white men came.  So, I think the word makoroza should be done away with.  As a Government; as a nation of Zimbabwe, we need to assist these miners to develop.

There was an issue that was mentioned, of the pioneers who came in through the Pioneer Column.   They used to extract minerals using picks and shovels; traditional methods of mining but today, the Government should ensure that the necessary machinery and implements are made available for our children to use.  Zimbabwe is a blessed country, it has so many minerals and it is rich in gold as well, which means that the small miners and artisanal miners, if we happen to empower them,  in 2/3 years Zimbabwe will no longer have economic challenges because of the amount of gold that we have.

Furthermore, the people of Zimbabwe are hard workers.  I think the Government should ensure that they take it upon themselves to fund and empower these artisanal miners.  So, I would like to thank once again the Ministry for bringing the Bill and I support it.  I also move that if the university is to be set up, it should be in Harare.  I do not think there is anyone who is handicapped to travel to Harare.  Those who are coming from Beitbridge or Binga can come to Harare.  What it means is that Harare it is central.  If we also look at the catchment area in terms of SADC, I think Harare is central.  From Harare to Durban, Port Elizabeth, DRC and Dar es Salaam, it is central even though we cannot use a tape measure to find the distance.  I think it makes economic sense to have the university in Harare.  I thank you Mr. Speaker.

HON. MAJOME: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir for according me

this opportunity to debate on the Pan African Minerals University of

Science and Technology Bill.  I would like to start by commending the Committee on Science and Technology for presenting this report and congratulating ourselves as Zimbabweans for clinching this very important and critical centre of higher learning.  Notably, because we appear to be one of the few countries in Africa that actually recognise Africa Day, which is the day that the African Unity was formed as a national holiday.  We are one of those countries that take seriously our Pan Africanism in Africa.

So, I congratulate our Government for clinching this important facility in Africa – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] – My interest is in governance issues.  I also want to echo the Committee’s observation that in terms of disciplinary proceedings, the Bill has seen it fit to appoint a retired judge to preside over the whole host of disciplinary offences.  I want to agree with the Committee that it does not seem to be proportionate to get a whole retired judge to preside over matters of discipline at a university.

My view is that, the aim here is to ensure that fair hearings are done and that anyone who is charged with disciplinary offences experiences justice.  It does not take a judge necessarily, or a retired judge for that matter, to preside over disciplinary offences.  There are a lot of other ways in which a person who is capable of understanding the administration of justice and the principles of natural justice can be appointed.  I will suggest, with respect Hon. Speaker Sir, that the Bill considers also appointing various people, including even legal practitioners.  They could also liaise with the Law Society of Zimbabwe, which is the board that governs the practice of legal practitioners, which board was established by an Act of this House.  I am confident that it is possible to get a legal practitioner of repute who can serve in this particular event and also dispense justice.  It would also be more cost effective if I may say so.

Having said that, I now move to another issue of corporate governance, I notice that the Committee is concerned with the issue of the Chancellor appointing a chairperson and in particular noting that in terms of the principles of good corporate governance, a chairperson of a board is a first among equals. That is done in order to facilitate free debate and exchange of ideas.  As the Committee notes, I tend to agree with them that having a Chairperson appointed by the Chancellor does tend to scuttle the  equality of the board, stifle debate and might tend to deprive such a board of all the best of its brains and ideas. With that, I do not think it is appropriate to burden the Chancellor with appointing and cherry picking a chancellor, it does not augur well with good governance.

My last point is a point that I have been ruminating on over a long time. It moves from corporate governance to general governance but it also interfaces with good governance. Mr. Speaker Sir, I note yet again that the Chancellor that is proposed to be appointed by this Bill, is His Excellency the Head of State who is also the head of Government. I want to submit to this House because I have been thinking about it for quite a while that does it augur well with the tenets of good governance to provide that in each and every State University the very esteemed and very lofty office of the Head of State is the Chancellor of each and every State University. My considered view is that it is not in fact with that. Firstly, I do not think that it is correct or good for the governance of our country to burden the very weighty and lofty office of the Head of State    with being a chancellor of every State University. Matters of the administration of the Executive that is leading Cabinet and also the State are very weighty, complex and they require a lot of attention. So, to burden the Head of State with being the Chancellor of yet again of another university does not augur well with good governance. I will explain the reason why I say this Mr. Speaker Sir. In saying this, I realise we are creatures of habit. We do certain things, adopt certain traditions and sometimes we keep on doing them again. We do not stop to examine whether we are doing the right thing. Are we doing something that works?

I want to go off on a nostalgic journey. When I finished my Advanced level in 1990, at that point it was a very historic period in the history of tertiary education in Zimbabwe. That was the year that monopoly of UZ ended. In the year that I finished my advanced level, the NUST was launched and it became the second State University in

Zimbabwe. At that time, university meant the UZ. Of course fittingly the Head of State and Government was also fittingly indeed the Chancellor of the university because it was the one and only university in the country. Then in 1990, NUST came into place and the Head of State also become the Chancellor, which I am sure was manageable. Since 1990,

Mr. Speaker Sir, there has been an exponential increase in the number of

State Universities in each and every province. I commend our Government for making sure that Higher and Tertiary Education at university level devolved to all the provinces of Zimbabwe because this is in keeping with Chapter 14 of our Constitution. In each and every province there is now a State University and I  want to commend Hon. Members –[HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.]- because indeed, they are the ones that passed those Bills to establish State Universities in each of the provinces.

So, I now fast forward to the present day where in the year 2016, there are now 10 State Universities. This PAN African University is going to be the 11^th one. I want Hon. Members to seriously apply their minds wonder and think about the fact that the Chancellor of a State University is a very important post and at the apex of decision making of the university. Even from an ordinary human point of view, it is my submission that it is humanly impossible for an individual to able to

have the time and energy to address their min to being a Chancellor of each and every State University unless we intend that the post of a Chancellor is just a ceremonial post and it does not matter. I do not believe that this august House wants to just pass legislation and establish institutions without careful thought.

Mr. Speaker Sir, our Constitution requires that we have good governance in our country and I want to submit here that it does not at all augur with good governance to make the Chancellor of each and every State University  the Head of State. It does not work out. That will mean that the Head of State has a lot of very important work to do especially at these times where our nation is grappling with some of its more serious issues in terms of economic crisis. It is a lot of work. To then also continue heaping upon him another responsibility to be the Chancellor of another university Mr. Speaker Sir, my apologies. It does not do justice to the universities themselves because with respect, I do not think they will be able to have the time. There are only 24 hrs in one day to address their mind to the issues that need guidance at that university.

In all other countries it is not necessary for a head of State to be a Chancellor of a State University but it is good practice, particularly when we had one university. It does injustice to the universities themselves. Mundane matters such as the graduation, I shudder to think and wonder how our head of State copes with annual graduation ceremonies of 10 universities and this will be the 11^th one. It would mean that the business of Cabinet and Government is disrupted because the frequency is a lot, but also for the universities themselves I want to believe that would also wreck havoc and cause difficulties in their calendars in also trying to schedule their graduations to times when the Head of State is available.

Mr. Speaker Sir, it is not necessary to do so as it does not add to the universities and it is also unfair to His Excellency to keep on giving him that burden because he has a lot of work to do. So, I want to urge the august House to start thinking about different models because in other countries universities, even State Universities have Chancellors that are from various posts. Even then, I do not think it is mass education that we want once upon a time when I graduated with my first degree at the University of Zimbabwe, I was capped by the Chancellor. Now, because of the multiplicity of universities, it is almost like mass education enterprise where everybody is told can you stand up; we are now declaring you graduated.

I am not suggesting that it is particularly necessary to be capped and it was one of those traditions that are hallowed and give weight and sentimental value to one’s heart and qualification. Let us re-think and let

us not keep doing things out of habit.

Finally, to support my argument, we are at a time when our Government has decided to withdraw funding to State Universities. I want to say that it is unconscionable to withdraw funding to State

Universities. I am a very grateful and proud product of State funding of

State Universities. When I studied my first degree at the UZ I received a

Government loan and grant from university but now we are in different circumstances. There is hardly any funding for students. So State Universities are becoming State Universities and nothing but name in that there is no funding.  Mr. Speaker Sir, it is unconscionable and immoral to continue also apart from the practical and good governance practical issues about the impossibility of being able to perform that function. When there is not State funding it is not fair and it is not okay or right for there to be chancellorship when the funding is also dwindling but from a good government’s point of view I urge the Hon.

Minister to re think our model…

          [Time Limit]

          THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER (HON. MARUMAHOKO):

Order Hon. Majome, you are left with five minutes.

HON. MAJOME: I thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. With that, I end by saying can Hon. Members of this august House and the Hon. Minister look seriously at enhancing the very good practice of making Higher and Tertiary Education University devolve everywhere by ensuring that we continue to do good governance by appointing Chancellors that are not necessarily the Head of State, because it undermines the functions and efficiencies of the university and also of our Executive. I thank you Mr.

Speaker Sir.

*HON. MACHINGURA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. Firstly, I

want to thank the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Higher and Tertiary Education for his report. I travelled with the Chairperson as we held public hearings. We want to thank him for his conduct in all the areas we travelled because our public hearings were a success. I want to put emphasis on things that will hinge on the life of the ordinary person in the street. Their concern was that to put such a university is a challenge because they will not be able to afford to go to that university. So what they are requesting is to put a mechanism in place for people to be able to access and gain education from this university.

Mr. Speaker Sir, I come from an area where there are miners in Chimanimani. Most children perished because of the poor and dangerous method of farming. We hope that when such empowerment comes, this should not be selective, but should go to everyone who is being affected by mining. What we are requesting now is that the Ministry should also have measures considering that it is not everyone who can afford to go to university.

I remember there was mention of the School of Mines and other schools that look into mining that these should be funded and ensure that these schools are able to empower the different groups of miners that we have especially on using mining methods that are not dangerous and life threatening. Mr. Speaker, as we travelled, everyone wanted the university to be set up in their various areas. I am not really concerned about where it will be set up. What makes me happy is that the university will be set up in Zimbabwe.

On explanations that were made by the previous speaker, I cannot go into technical issues that were being mentioned, but of the Chancellor being for all universities. At one time, I was deeply concerned with the University of Zimbabwe whereby those graduands were not happy and were not pleased because they were not capped by the President himself. So, they felt they had not graduated. Being capped by the Head of State gives some form of honour that they need. What I am saying is that if possible, we would want to have a Chancellor who can accord such honour on the students. I am sure students will be happy. That is my contribution and I thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.

HON. MATUKE: Mr. Speaker Sir, I move that the debate do now adjourn.

HON. KWARAMBA: I second.

Motion put and agreed to.

Debate to resume: Tuesday, 14^th June, 2016.

On the motion of HON. MATUKE, seconded by HON. KWARAMBA, the House adjourned at Twenty Minutes past Four o’clock p.m. until Tuesday, 14^th June, 2016.