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NATIONAL ASSEMBLY HANSARD 11 NOVEMBER 2021 VOL 48 NO 10
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Thursday, 11th November, 2021
The National Assembly met at a Quarter-past Two O’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE ACTING SPEAKER in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE ACTING SPEAKER
INVITATION TO A TWENTY MINUTE THEATRE PLAY BY COMPLETE ARTS PROJECT TRUST
THE ACTING SPEAKER (HON. MAVETERA): I have to inform the House that the Complete Arts Project Trust is inviting all Hon. Members to a twenty-minute theatre play on the death penalty. The performance will be held in the Parliament Court Yard on Wednesday, 17th November, 2021 at 1000 hours. Hon. Members who are able to attend physically should be seated by 0950 Hours and the rest of the Members can follow the proceedings virtually
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
HON. TOGAREPI: Madam Speaker, I move that Orders of the Day, Numbers 1 to 5 be stood over until Order of the Day, Number 6 has been disposed of.
HON. MPARIWA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
PRESIDENTIAL SPEECH: DEBATE ON ADDRESS
Sixth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion in reply to the Presidential Speech.
Question again proposed.
HON. TONGOFA: Thank you Madam Speaker. I would like to add my voice to the motion. Madam Speaker, I would like to start by saying that the President’s crafting of the vision as a starting point is the key and important aspect of our economy. Madam Speaker, a vision is a long-term audacious goal which will make people to rally behind it. Everyone in this country will rally behind that goal. Whether you are in the streets, doing whatever you are doing, you should be able to say I am doing this because I want to realise Vision 2030. That will ensure that everyone in this country will contribute towards one vision which we all make sure that our country will prosper. Madam Speaker, let me move into some of the issues that were raised by His Excellency – the issue of the financial sector.
The financial sector, Madam President, so far we have seen some stability in it. However, there are some issues that need to be looked at such as issues to do with savings. In our economy, we are seeing that most people are not having confidence in savings. They are not depositing their money into the bank accounts. That alone shows that there is no cohesion between the investors and the savers. We need our economy to save the money into their banks so that those people who want to take risks and go into businesses would do that by investing the money in riskier projects.
Madam Speaker, our informal sector will need to be harnessed because we have got a large informal sector. About 80% or more of the people in this country participating in the economy are in the informal sector. Therefore, we need to make sure the informal sector is also included in this agenda of achieving Vision 2030.
Madam Speaker, we have seen that the illegal sanctions have stifled efforts of the people and also crippled most people’s businesses in this country. That alone, is an issue that needs to be looked at. We have seen a lot of businesses running away from this country because they are afraid of the sanctions,
Madam Speaker, I will turn into agriculture. We have seen our agricultural sector providing a lot of hope to the nation. We have seen most people in the rural areas also participating in the agricultural sector. We need to continuously support horticultural projects through solar system driven irrigations. I have seen these working very well in Chivi, one of the driest areas in this country. It is an arid area which is Region 4 and 5 where there is very little rainfall but there are good water tables. Boreholes can be driven by the solar system also. I have seen so many people producing a lot of horticultural projects. I implore the Government to continue providing support on that front.
Madam Speaker, I have seen a lot of support going to the rural areas and recently, I have seen His Excellency the President, Dr. E.D. Mnangagwa opening a processing plant at Tabudirira Vocational Training Centre in Mutoko. That plant will enable a lot of young people and women to get a lot of markets close to their homes. Horticultural projects - most of them are perishable and need a ready market and by having such a plant in Mutoko, they are assured of a ready market which is close to their homes.
I also noted that the support for rural industrialisation is going on well. Recently in Rutenga, the President commissioned a plant for marula, the fruits that we normally do not consider very useful to the economy which we only see as a fruit used by the indigenous people but currently, the presence of this manufacturing plant will ensure that all the people will benefit through getting marula locally.
I also want to say we need to enhance the markets for agricultural products as we have seen that people in the sugarcane and tobacco industries continuously benefit through lead markets but other products in the agricultural sector do not have a ready market. As a result, most people shun going into such ventures but we are happy that this thrust is going to be followed and it will enhance more and more to go into these programmes.
There is need also to increase tillage through tractors in the rural areas because people in the rural areas do not have draught power and want that support. We would expect more and more support to DDF so that they would provide support to our people in the rural areas.
We have seen a lot of infrastructural development happening in the countryside, particularly let me mention the road in my constituency in Chivi District. The road goes from Shurugwi to Beitbridge. That road is very bad but half of it was really maintained and is now tarred, which is quite a commendable job that was done. We have seen the President commissioning that road in Chivi North Constituency.
Let me also talk about the devolution funds thrust which has seen the President commission a water pipeline in my constituency which covers about five wards. Most people are happy that the pipeline is commissioned and providing water to the people. Indeed, most people are relieved.
Let me wind up by talking about the need to look at the Bills in the health sector which will enhance access to health services. We need to have universal health coverage by having a national health insurance so that everybody will be able to access health services. I would not want to continue debating Madam Speaker, because there are so many issues that were covered during the speech, of which some of them have been covered by other speakers but let me say the Vision 2030 agenda is being pursued. We can see a lot of changes; even in our own communities, roads are being maintained. Electricity is not a very big challenge as it used to be before and we have also seen people now using rail to go to work. We have seen that the rail in Mufakose is now operational. The ZUPCO buses are still coming to ease the transport problems in the cities. I thank you.
HON. MADHUKU: Thank you very much Madam Speaker for giving me this time to also contribute to the SONA by His Excellency. I want to begin by thanking His Excellency the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, Dr. E.D. as he is affectionately known. I want to thank him as a great statesman, patriot and a great leader par-excellence. Like the biblical great Sermon on the Mount, His Excellency, in like manner began by exhorting the nation of Zimbabwe and calling for unity, peace, harmony, love and stability which are very critical pillars for national building and development. Without peace, there is no development in any country. So I want to applaud His Excellency for beginning by making a genuine appeal to Zimbabweans to uphold these virtues and values so that we can also achieve Vision 2030 which calls for no one to be left behind.
Like my other colleague Hon. Members who have made debates before me, they have also talked about the most important thing of devolution which is in our Constitution, which we happily applauded His Excellency for making sure that this was taken on board. Very important on this aspect of devolution is that we are talking about the equitable distribution of resources as opposed to equal sharing and this is very important because the resources are reaching the furthest end of the nation which could have been disadvantaged in the past.
By doing this, His Excellency is very much alive to some of the very important points which have been taken by other great scholars. For instance, in this case, Aristotle said that “poverty is the parent of revolution and crime”. So the President is basically making sure that all these vices are avoided by making resources available to many. Also, one author who once said “when wealth is centralised, the people are dispersed and when wealth is distributed, the people are brought together”. So, we applaud His Excellency for making sure that he brings the citizens of Zimbabwe together in unity because of the issue of sharing resources since when resources are not shared properly, equally and equitably, there is bound to be conflict.
Madam Speaker, I also want to applaud His Excellency the President for exerting the nation of Zimbabwe to keep clinging to the ethos, values and the culture of hard work. He appealed to us to ensure that we uphold these virtues of hard work as Zimbabweans, which we are known for worldwide because in the absence of hard work, we will do nothing. So I want to applaud him for preaching to us of all these things.
I would like to zero-in again on the mining sector where His Excellency said that this sector is expected to grow by 11% and we are alive to the call by the President, of the creation of the 20 billion in the mining sector by 2023, of which four billion is on gold production. He attributed this growth to increased exploration, value addition, beneficiation and the opening of other closed mines.
In order to meet this target, we also call for the expeditious conclusion of the Mines and Minerals Amendment Act to solve so many issues which have arisen in the sector. For instance, we have a lot of farmer/miner conflicts because of the absence of the law which protects this. A speaker who spoke before me talked about the EPOs where we have vast tracts of land which are under EPOs and this is depriving other citizens – the artisanal and small scale miners land to do their mining. We are very much cognisant of the fact that in 2020, about 63% of gold production in the country came from these small and medium scale miners. This is a very important group which needs to be supported and capacitated. They also need claims and even tributes.
We are talking of very important people in our society, the youths and the women. Statistics given show that between the ages of 15-35 they make up to 62% of our youths and women 52%. These sectors are very critical in the development of the nation. We are appealing that these people also get their share of the mining claims or tributes.
On the issue of extractive industries, transparency initiative, we are calling upon the Government to expedite the registration and to be part of this very important body to ensure transparency, accountability and also to eliminate some of the vices like corruption and conflicts and also to alleviate poverty. It also deals with the awarding of licences and contracts; gender capacitation and issues of the environment which are very critical.
We are also talking about corporate social responsibility issues whereby if this Act is amended, it would address the issues of communities whose resources are being mined and end up not benefiting anything from the extraction of these resources. We end up having the resources scarce and this is very pathetic.
I would like to move on to the issue of patriotism which the President spoke about. His Excellency encouraged Zimbabweans to deliberately buy ‘proudly Zimbabwean’ products or brands which now dominate our shops. He also urged industrialists to broaden their research and development towards increasing a wide range and variety of ‘made in Zimbabwe’ products. This is very important. This is the clarion call by His Excellency, because the issue has to do with patriotism. We are happy that His Excellency the President is talking about this when we are also busy, like the Ministry of Education is busy with Education 5.0 whereby we have so many innovations in the country. We call for this to be a reality. We are calling upon the Government to continue capacitating industries in the form of their forex requirements so that they are able to produce and also compete against a lot of other goods which are coming into the country. Once they are capacitated to do this, the pricing regime versus the quality of the products is going to be competitive because no one will go and try to buy something produced in Zimbabwe if it is of a lesser quality.
The issue of us Zimbabweans going for our products ‘proudly Zimbabwean’, I have already alluded to the issue that this is patriotic whereby we are being called upon to have a relook into our attitudes, perceptions and mind-sets. Some people tend to value something which is alien, foreign or exotic as opposed to something which is indigenous. Our attitude, which are emotions, beliefs or behaviour which we have learnt in the past due to experience and our upbringing is a major problem here which His Excellency is trying to say that we have to take pride in products produced in our own country. This has nothing to do with bellicosity or xenophobia. These are ills or vices. We are talking about something to do with the pride of Zimbabwe – patriotism or Afrocentrism. These are the issues which His Excellency the President is urging all Zimbabweans to take note of.
On Afrocentrism, we are basically talking about a transformation of attitudes, beliefs and values about Zimbabweans so that we have love in our country. African centeredness - this is what we are talking about. Afrocentrism argues that when colonisation and saving of Africans by Europeans happened, the colonisers emerged and projected themselves as liberators of savages. The success of colonisation and slavery was not physical subjugation but it had to do with the mind – colonisation of the mind and fostering of slave mentality in Africans. Therefore, we took the coloniser as superior and us as inferior. On this note, this explains why we tend to hate ourselves and our country and look with an inferior complex on something which is locally made and going for something which is foreign. This is a result of colonisation.
I would like to applaud His Excellency the President for allowing us as Zimbabweans to introspect, look at our attitudes and perceptions, and do away with all those ills which are non-Zimbabwean and non-patriotic. This explains, as my colleagues have already debated in this House, the issues to do with sanctions. These sanctions were called upon by some of us to inflict harm on us and not knowing that they are actually inflicting harm on themselves and their relatives because of lack of patriotism, which is a great virtue.
My proposal Madam Speaker Ma’am is that for us, in view of what His Excellency the President has said on patriotism, we are calling upon all schools in Zimbabwe and tertiary institutions to ensure that their syllabi encompasses these very critical modules on patriotism. I think if we begin to do that, even from very early stages like Early Childhood Development (ECD), we will end up with a better Zimbabwe where people love their country and themselves even to ensure that where we have two options of products locally and imported, we will simply go for those locally made. Where prices and quality are the same, the President is calling upon us to go for the ‘proudly Zimbabwean’ products. Madam Speaker Ma’am, without further ado, I want to thank you very much for according me this opportunity to also say something in support of our President, a great Statesman and son of the soil. I thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am.
HON. CHIKUKWA: Thank you Hon. Speaker Ma’am. Allow me to add my voice to the motion that was moved by Hon. Mutambisi, seconded by Hon. T. Moyo on the State of the Nation Address by His Excellency, Dr. E. D. Mnangagwa. Allow me Hon. Speaker Ma’am, from the onset, to commend the Government of Zimbabwe through the able leadership of His Excellency the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Cde. E. D. Mnangagwa, for moving swiftly towards transforming our country’s infrastructure, particularly in Harare.
The ongoing Phase 2 of the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme – you know in Harare, most of our roads, especially in the suburbs are not as good as they were before. The programme has seen us having 32 roads being rehabilitated or constructed and it is about 250kms. This has benefitted us a lot and I hope the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development is going to extend that to all the suburbs because we have this problem.
In addition, I want to commend the Government through the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works. They have made efforts to boost the ZUPCO transport which has been dilapidated but the fleet has now been boosted. It has helped in our city and other cities as well. The issue that we have now is that, if they could increase more of these buses because we have the problem of mushikashikas. These mushikashika transport are causing problems in that some women are being raped and men and women are being robbed after having ridden in the mushikashikas on their way home. It is all because of shortage of transport., If ZUPCO could have more buses, I do not think anyone would want to pay more and travel in a small vehicle where you will be packed like sardines. People end up doing that because they do not have anything to use.
On the National Housing frontier, may I commend the Government through the Ministry of National Housing and Social Amenities for advancing the National Human Settlements Policy, which is a blue print for the implementation of the National Housing Delivery. It is my wish that this programme will see us regularising most of the suburbs not only in Harare, there are a lot of informal settlements around cities. It is not that people want to be called squatters or anything Madam Speaker, the issue is that some people will be renting one room and to date maybe they have more children and they are old enough to also have their own houses. What can we do? The only thing we can do is; if there is space, you might think, ‘if I can just construct something so that I can preserve my privacy and I can stay there without any interference.’
So, I am appealing to the Ministry of National Housing and Social Amenities and also our local authorities that they start building houses and not just parceling out land. Of late, I have noticed that all local authorities sell pieces of land instead of building. I think it is their duty as local authorities to make sure that they build houses, even two rooms then they make people live and extend their houses whilst they have somewhere to stay. As it is now, anyone who is just a worker, it is very difficult to own a house these days because when you are given land, you do not even have money to build that land. I am appealing to the Government through local government if they can facilitate that.
Of late, people have been speaking about devolution and I have realised that most councils are already using the money and yet the Bill is not yet here. So, as urged by His Excellency in his speech, that the Devolution Bill must come in among other Bills, I am urging our Local Government Ministry and maybe the Attorney-General to make sure that this Bill comes in. It is not good for us to be using money before the Bill comes.
I was happy because the President also mentioned the following Bills which I think we need to work hand-in-hand with the Provincial Councils’ Amendment Bill. Other pieces of legislation such as the Urban Councils Amendment Bill, Rural District Councils Amendment Bill, Regional Town and Country Planning Amendment Bill, Municipal Courts and Policy Bill, Liquor Licence Bill and the Traditional Leaders Amendment Bill should also be presented to Parliament in the coming year as pronounced by the President.
Finally Madam Speaker Ma’am, we all agree that there is Climate Change and we all know that the rains these days are unpredictable. So I am urging the Government to give more money to the Civil Protection Unit because in Shona they say, Hapana musha unochengetwa nababa vepa next door (you cannot have your household taken care of by a stranger) This means that we must be ready, even if we do not have anything. However, let us show the world that yes, we do not have money but from our National Budget, we have given so much for the civil protection because it is not something that is new. Everyone knows that there is likely to be floods and it is not something new that we might have some eventualities. Madam Speaker, you are well aware of Nhimbe and people always say kubudirira kwenhimbe mwene wayo. This means that if you ask people to help you in your field, you also have to be there, if you just brew your beer and ask people to work then you will get results that you did not want to have. So I am saying, as Zimbabweans and the Zimbabwean Government, I also appeal even to our companies – you know we have companies which only help in disaster situations. I am appealing to those companies to start working with Government before disasters happen so that we have other people helping us but as Zimbabweans, we will be working together. I thank you.
(V)*HON. MAKONI: Thank you Madam Speaker for affording me this opportunity to add my voice to this debate. I also want to thank Hon. Mutambisi for raising this pertinent motion on President Dr. E. D. Mnangagwa’s address which was supported by Hon. T. Moyo. I want to thank the President for uplifting the lives of the Zimbabweans through agriculture. The President of Zimbabwe supports the agriculture sector very much through various projects such as Command Agriculture and Pfumvudza. We also thank His Excellency for opening the tobacco sales floor in Marondera. We now sell our tobacco freely without fearing thieves. We plead with the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development to help women when they are seeking permission, paper work and mining sites. May the Ministry assist women so that they venture into the mining sector?
We thank the President of Zimbabwe for vibrant projects that are being carried out countrywide. Right now, the state of the roads is now good. His Excellency Dr. E. D. Mnangagwa worked very hard during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak which resulted in reduced numbers of mortality rate due to COVID-19 in the country. Even to date, the President is making significant strides in fighting against COVID-19.
Devolution is another significant developmental programme that was started by the President of Zimbabwe. Devolution funds are complementing very well the gap that was being left by the CDF funds. His Excellency is a listening leader who has taken into consideration issues to do with women when he gave them important posts.
On transportation, the President provided ZUPCO buses to ferry people. We plead with His Excellency to increase the number of these buses.
(V)*HON. E. NCUBE: Thank you, Madam Speaker for awarding me this opportunity to add my voice to the motion that was raised by Hon. Mutambisi and seconded by Hon. Moyo on the Presidential Speech. I want to start by thanking the President of our country, Dr. E. D. Mnangagwa.
I want to speak focusing on Masvingo where I come from. This area was known by many people because of accidents that used to happen a lot in this road. Nowadays, people can testify that the state of the roads in our province has greatly improved. Right now, people travel freely from Beitbridge to Harare as the road has been refurbished. People from other countries are praising us because of the state of the roads. Our roads are now much better compared to roads of other countries. May Government erect perimeter security fences along the roads so that wild animals and livestock do not cause accidents? The issue of stray animals roaming on the roads is of great concern.
Still on the issue of roads, in towns, roads are now being refurbished under the Emergency Rehabilitation Road Programme. Many roads in towns were full of potholes. Many roads in locations are now being refurbished and the drainage systems are being cleaned or cleared. There were many water logged areas which ended up being breeding areas for mosquitoes and diseases that are caused by unhygienic environments. The maintenance of roads improved our livelihoods as Zimbabweans. In my constituency, there is a road that was refurbished from Chivi turn off to Shurugwi. People coming from Beitbridge and Masvingo are no longer avoiding this road since it is a short-cut road to Gweru and Shurugwi because the road is now in good state.
On agriculture, I want to thank the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Dr. E. D. Mnangagwa because of the Pfumvudza Programme and provision of agricultural inputs. At first people were a bit skeptical about the programme but once they realised that this programme helps in improving food security in the country, they began to take it seriously. May Government provide herbicides to farmers under the Pfumvudza Programme? These herbicides must tally with the area where the farmer has prepared for Pfumvudza. When rains come and weeds begin to germinate, and when the farmer uses the traditional way of weeding, they fill the pits which are meant to store moisture. May everyone be included in the Pfumvudza Programme? For the programme to be successful, people are supposed to have a certain area where they can dig holes and receive seed on time and also plant on time. There are some people who are just used to receiving, but this no longer requires ox-drawn ploughing but an individual to work. Let us not wait to say this is meant for the poor.
On the same note, I would like to thank the President for the devolution funds. Where I come from in Chivi, we have got a water project. It is called Shongo Piped Water Project. This project transformed the Chivi people so much that they now have a demonstration plot where they have various crops like maize, sorghum and roundnuts. The President actually toured the project and saw them. This demonstration plot is irrigated by this piped water. This water helped us a lot at our health facility in Chivi where we had water problems because now we have plenty of water. So we would like to appreciate that very much. If such projects continue to be implemented, they will transform people’s lives, but where that piped water is not available, I request that the boreholes be drilled in those places because everyone needs water close-by, whether it is from a tap or a borehole.
I would like to refer to the issue of health alluded to by the President. We had COVID-19 which is a very deadly pandemic. This deadly pandemic can only be underestimated by someone who never came across it in real life experience. I experienced it firsthand. It took away a loved one of mine. It is a very bad disease and I would like to applaud the President because he managed to suspend other important national programmes in order to look for medicines to prevent the disease, and protect the citizens of Zimbabwe in order to ensure that it only results in very few fatalities. Of course, it is not possible just like what happened to me, but such things happen. Everyone has their way of dying but when the President goes out of his way to source for medication for such a serious pandemic, I encourage everyone to get vaccinated and listen to what the President is saying and follow his advice so that we will not regret in future.
Finally, I would like to talk about production. I would like to applaud the President who constructed another factory, the Amarula Processing Plant, where drinks that can be consumed by humans are being manufactured. I am not sure how I can put it but we are now innovative. We are thinking about how best we can utilise the available resources that we have. Therefore, we are fulfilling the President’s wish where he is encouraging us to utilise available resources to develop our economy, but I would like to say if resources were available, we have a lot of children in rural and urban areas who need to be trained in vocational skills for free so that if they were to go and look for money, be it at the Empowerment Bank whereby they are required to put forward project proposals, they will be knowledgeable of the venture they want to embark on because if they have knowledge, they will be able to manufacture good products that will be appreciated by many people.
So I would like to say there is need to set up a fund for children’s training centres before they can go and look for funding from banks, not the prevailing situation where they go to look for funding without any entrepreneurial skills. They will not be able to properly make use of those funds. They may end up abusing them because some of them might not have had access to such large sums of money, hence they will fail to fulfil the intended goal, but if they go through training, they will have good knowledge on how to handle a business venture.
With those few words, I would like to thank you very much, Hon. Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to add a few words on these important words delivered by the President in the State of the Nation Address.
(v)+HON. MUDAU: Thank you Madam Speaker. I would like to thank Hon. Mutambisi and Hon. Moyo for moving this motion on our President, Cde. E. D. Mnangagwa. I would like to thank our President because in our province Matabeleland South, they have taught us to farm effectively, especially through ARDA.
Madam Speaker, I would like to thank our President because our town which is Beitbridge, right now if you are to get there, you are likely going to get lost because of the positive changes that are there. The Beitbridge Border looks new because of the good job that has been done by the President in revamping it. Looking also at the Beitbridge-Harare Road, there is a great job that is being done such that if one is to drive along this road now, they are even tempted to sleep when driving because of the good state of the road...(Technical glitch)
THE ACTING SPEAKER: Hon. Mudau. I think we have lost her.
(v)LLHON. NGULUVHE: Thank you Madam Speaker. I would like to air my views on the motion moved by Hon. Mutambisi and the seconder Hon. Moyo on the address by His Excellency, President E. D. Mnangagwa. I will especially speak on a few issues which touch more on my Constituency, Beitbridge. First, I wanted to talk about the issue of Pfumvudza which was not common to us in our culture, especially the people of that area. For the first time, I want to report that we managed to get something. Beitbridge is known to be a very dry place where you will not harvest anything if you plough. However, since the introduction of Pfumvudza last year, we managed to secure something that almost three quarters of the wards did not need food assistance from Social Welfare. It is only now that we need the food. We want to applaud that move. As we are talking, Pfumvudza is on the ground again. They were busy distributing seed last week and I want to say we appreciate that. As our area is dry, I would say let us look at this Pfumvudza, I think it will do on small grains. If you give us maize where there is no irrigation, normally it does not do well. So maybe the Ministry of Agriculture should consider that.
Coming to infrastructure development, I will start with roads. Our main road, the Harare-Beitbridge was a dangerous road where a lot of accidents used to happen, especially as you enter Beitbridge. Now that road is one of the best in Africa. If you go again to the border post, that border is now the best in the world. It matches all other border posts in terms of standard. I want to thank the President that he stressed that nobody should be left behind. As I speak, I have a record that over 300 locals got employment at that border post and this should be accorded to the President.
I would also like to talk a bit about the rural roads. The road from Beitbridge to Chikwarakwara has never been repaired for the past 18 years but right now, through the President’s directive, that road is being repaired. It now makes it easy for people to travel between Chikwarakwara and Beitbridge. The bridge linkingus to Chiredzi South was washed away during Elnino but that road has made people to now travel easily. It used to cost us over R300 but now you can use only R160 to and from. Buses used to shun that road but currently the ZUPCO buses are there. I want to applaud the President for bringing in ZUPCO. The cost of travelling is now affordable in Beitbridge.
I want also to applaud the Government through the President that we had no other irrigation scheme in the entire Beitbridge East. The irrigation scheme in Chikwarakwara was last used 18 years ago but as I am speaking, we have started to plant. It was resuscitated. The Government played a role with an NGO. Again, I would like to thank the President on the issue of devolution. Initially, people did not understand what devolution involves and implies but now we are starting to realise the benefits, the fruits of devolution. What is lacking is for us the legislators to explain to the people the good work being done by His Excellency the President. They are giving us the funds; we identify the projects which must benefit the people.
I will also touch a bit on the issue of health. Beitbridge as an entry point, at one time we were afraid that we were all going to perish because everyone uses the border as they enter or leave the country. I am talking of COVID and I want to thank the Government for moving in quickly and established isolation centres. That has helped us as you are all aware that everyone passes through that border post. However, I want to appeal to the Ministry of Health that the hospital needs to be refurbished. It is not up to standard. There is no generator, the beds are not in good shape and must also remember that everyone uses that hospital, be it from SADC countries or from any part of this country. If you are injured on the bus, you need to be treated in that hospital. I am appealing to the Ministry of Health to look at that hospital and the town in general.
As I said, for the first time, they are building a fire station for us. They are going to put a new water reticulation system which is good. I want to talk on the issue of security. Because of COVID, I met a lot of security challenges at the Beitbridge border. Everyone who is in South Africa is coming down here and they are bringing weapons and the people are failing to travel at night and even during day time. However, I want to thank the security forces. They have quickly moved in and they are bringing in law and order. At least people are now seeing that the President cares for us all. With those few remarks, I want to say we appreciate the vision of the President and I am sure that we will achieve the Vision 2030. Thank you.
HON. KASHIRI: I move that the debate be adjourned.
HON. TEKESHE: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Tuesday, 16th November, 2021.
On the motion of HON. KASHIRI seconded by HON. TEKESHE, the House adjourned at Twenty-Seven Minutes past Three o’clock p.m. until Tuesday, 16th November, 2021.