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NATIONAL ASSEMBLY HANSARD 19 DECEMBER 2017 44-27

A                                               t215225                           19 December, 2017

PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE

Tuesday, 19^th December, 2017

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

PRAYERS

(THE HON. SPEAKER in the Chair)

ANNOUNCEMENTS BY THE HON. SPEAKER

POST-BUDGET SEMINAR

THE HON. SPEAKER:  I have to advise the House that the postbudget seminar will be held on Monday, 22^nd January, 2018 at 0830 hours, at a venue to be advised; while Portfolio Committees will carry out their sector post-budget consultations from 23^rd to 26^th January 2018.

DRIILLING OF BOREHOLES UNDER COMMAND RAIN

WATER HARVESTING PROGRAMME

THE HON. SPEAKER:  I wish to draw the attention of the

House to a letter that came from the Ministry of Environment, Water and Climate requesting you to identify four sites in each constituency where they can drill boreholes under the Command Rain Water Harvesting Programme.

You are advised to sit as the Constituency Development

Committees to identify such sites and advise the Ministry and

Parliament through the Constituency Development Fund Management Committee.  The letter from the Ministry has been distributed in your pigeon holes.

STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS

THE HON. SPEAKER:  I wish to inform the House that His

Excellency the President, Hon. E. D. Mnangagwa will tomorrow, Wednesday 20^th December, 2017 deliver the State of the Nation Address at a joint sitting of the Senate and the National Assembly at the Harare International Conference Centre (HICC) at 1430 hours. Lunch will be served at 1230 hours.  Hon. Members are therefore required to be at HICC by 1215hours.

RE-APPOINTMENT OF PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE

CHAIRPERSONS

THE HON. SPEAKER:  I would like to advise the House that following the cabinet reshuffle by His Excellency President E. D. Manangagwa, wherein Government ministries were streamlined and reduced to 22 ministries, the Committee on Standing Rules and Orders (CSRO) has re-aligned Portfolio Committees accordingly.  There will therefore, now be 15 Portfolio Committees.  The CSRO has appointed chairpersons to Portfolio Committees as follows:

1	Transport and Infrastructural Development	Hon. C. Chitindi
2	Defence, Home Affairs and Security Services	Hon T. Dube
3	Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development	Hon. Dr. Mataruse
4	Public Accounts	Hon. P. Mupariwa
5	Environment, Water, Climate	Hon. Y. Simbanegavi
6	Mines and Energy	Hon. T. Mliswa
7	Finance and Economic Development	Hon. D. Chapfika
8	Labour and Social Welfare	Hon. M. Mudyiwa
9	Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs	Hon. F. Chasi
10	Media, Information and Communication Technology and Cyber Security	Hon. W. Dhewa
11	Health and Child Care	Hon. Dr. Labode
12	Foreign Affairs, Industry and Commerce	Hon. K. Paradza
13	Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement	Hon. J.M Wadyajena
14	Local Government, Public Works and National Housing	Hon. Madanha
15	Women and Youth Affairs	Hon. P. Misihairabwi- Mushonga
16	Primary and Secondary Education, Sports and Arts	Hon. K. Musanhi

Order, order. Hon. Minister Gumbo, I did not see you make abase to the Chair; you belong to the old school, you should know better.

HON. SPEAKER’S ADVICE

HON. GONESE’S POINT OF PRIVILEGE ON DEPLOYMENT

OF DEFENCE FORCES

          Finally, on the 6^th of December, 2017, Hon. Gonese raised a point on privilege concerning the deployment of our security services, particularly the army.  I had promised Hon. Gonese that I would engage His Excellency, the President and come back to this august House to advise accordingly.

His Excellency the President, through the Minister of Defence,

Security and War Veterans has written this letter to inform us:

“Reference: Deployment of Defence Forces in Support of the

Police Service in the Maintenance of Public Order.

“I write to you Hon. Speaker with respect to the above subject matter. As you are aware Sir, in terms of sub Section 1 and 2 of Section 213, deployment of Defence Forces in the Constitution, the Defence Forces maybe deployed in Zimbabwe  in support of the Police Service in the maintenance of public order.  Only the President as the Commander in Chief of Defence Forces has the power to authorise such deployment.  When the Defence Forces have been so deployed to assist in the maintenance of public order, Section 214 which refers to the political accountability for deployment of Defence Forces requires that the President must cause Parliament to be informed promptly and in appropriate detail of reason for their deployment and place where they are deployed.

          In compliance with the above requirement, His Excellency the President of Zimbabwe and Commander in Chief of the Defence Forces has instructed me, that is the Minister of Defence, to inform Parliament as follows:-

As part of the programme to restore order, dignity and rule of law, the Government has launched Operation Restore Legacy, which is designed amongst other objectives to:-

1. Bring thieves and other criminals who have been misappropriating public funds to justice;
2. Restore order and cleanliness in the Central Business District of our towns by removing unlicenced vendors;
3. Bring sanity to our roads by bringing to account drivers of commuter omnibuses, unlicenced pirate taxes and touts;
4. Restore the confidence of the public in the role of the Police

Service in motor vehicle traffic control related duties;

1. Bring order to unallocated State land by evicting those in unlawful occupation thereon; and
2. Restore order at border posts by removing touts, beggars and vendors from the customs controlled areas.

          The President has authorised deployment of the Defence Forces wherever it is necessary throughout the country to assist in the operation.  The deployment will last for as long as it is necessary to achieve the set objectives but will be reviewed by His Excellency at the end of December, 2017.

          Parliament will be advised accordingly as soon as possible thereafter. Signed by Hon. K. Mohadi, Minister of Defence, Security and War Veterans. ”

MOTION

BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE

          HON. MATUKE: I move that Orders of the Day, Numbers 1 to

14, be stood over until we dispose the rest of the Orders of the Day.

          HON. RUNGANI: I second.

          HON. NDUNA: On a point of order!

          THE HON. SPEAKER: What is your point or order and under what Standing Order?

          HON. NDUNA: Standing Order No. 68.  It is basically a matter of procedure which I believe you have not taken care of Mr. Speaker on requesting Notices of Motion.  Not that I have got a Notice of Motion myself, however, procedurally Mr. Speaker, I think you need to ask for

Notices of Motion before you go into any other business – [HON.

MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] -

          THE HON. SPEAKER:   Order, I think it is because there were too many notices - my Headmaster No. 2, I thank you for that observation [Laughter.] –

          The Deputy Minister of Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement [Hon. Marapira], having stood to give a Notice of Motion.

          THE HON. SPEAKER:  Order, Hon. Deputy Minister, can you

approach the Clerk of Parliament please?

          Hon. Marapira approached the Clerk of Parliament. 

          THE HON. SPEAKER: Hon. Deputy Minister, you are guided

accordingly?

          HON. MARAPIRA: Yes.

          THE HON. SPEAKER:  Thank you.

          HON. ADV. CHAMISA: On a point of order Mr. Speaker Sir.

          THE HON. SPEAKER:  Is that an afterthough?

          HON. ADV. CHAMISA: Yes, it is an afterthought, it is not a crime to have an afterthought, zvinobvumidzwa - [HON. MEMBERS:

Inaudible interjections.] -

            THE HON. SPEAKER: Order, including my panelist.

           *HON. ADV. CHAMISA:  Thank you Mr. Speaker.  I have a few

words that I have stood to say, firstly on a point of privilege on Members of Parliament.  This is on what you mentioned Mr. Speaker which was a welcome issue that His Excellency the President of this nation will come tomorrow to address a joint sitting on the State of the Nation Address. We know that in our Constitution, Section 140 (1), and also recognise that in our Standing Rules and Orders, Sections 167 and 168, give the right for Parliament to receive such an address.  Since the President is still new, and as we are also approaching the end of the year, is there any consideration that tomorrow or in future we are allowed to pose questions to the President of the nation in order for us to respect what

the electorate is saying.   That is provided for and if you say it is possible, it can be done.  There is nothing that bars Parliament from posing questions to the President.  It is there in the Constitution so, it is an issue that I want you to clarify.

          Secondly, Mr. Speaker personally as a Member of Parliament I received word last night  that they have been reappointments in the army in order for Gen. Chiwenga to rest a while,...... - [HON. MEMBERS:

Inaudible interjections.] –

          THE HON. SPEAKER: Order, order.

          HON. ADV. CHAMISA:  Mr. Speaker, I have not yet finished.  It

is a point of privilege.

          THE HON. SPEAKER: Order, Hon. Adv. Chamisa, you cannot raise issues as if you are debating – [HON. ADV. CHAMISA: Aaaaa. ]

– Yes, you raise one issue, that is what I will only accept - and not other matters that are not related thereto.  If I may respond to your issue -in terms of Section 140 of our Constitution (3), “The President may attend Parliament to answer questions on any issue as may be provided in Standing Orders”.  So, let us not mix the two, if you want His Excellency to come over and answer questions, let us have that as a separate issue altogether.  You cannot mix it up with the State of the Nation Address. I thank you.

          An Hon. Member having stood up unrecognized by the Hon.

Speaker.

          THE HON. SPEAKER:  Order, I have not recognised you.  Let

us respect the State of the Nation Address to which we shall be privileged to articulate our views subsequently.  Thank you Hon. Adv.

Chamisa.

          HON. MLISWA:  On a point of order Mr. Speaker Sir.

          THE HON. SPEAKER:  What is your point or order?

          HON. MLISWA:  My point of order first of all is to thank you for ensuring that we got our money into our accounts.  It is only proper that when you do good, we must also recognise the good.  We know that before we actually had a break, I did bring the issue of our allowances being outstanding and you did promise us [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible

interjections.] –

          THE HON. SPEAKER:  Order Hon. Members at that corner

there.

             HON. MLISWA: You did certainly guarantee us that you would

ensure that we get our allowances. I would like to thank you for that.

The only outstanding issue is really not your baby, but it is the stands.  We hope that the Minister of Local Government can equally move quicker to ensure that we also get our stands.   Let me also congratulate

Madam Deputy Speaker for being appointed as a Secretary for Women Affairs for the ruling party.  I thank you.         

          THE HON. SPEAKER: Hon. Mutseyami, do you want to take

the Chair?  You are the last Hon. Member on a point of order and please be brief, we want to get into business.

          *HON. CHINOTIMBA: Mr. Speaker, my point of order is that I saw one of my Pastors who went to America, who is also a Member of

Parliament.  He was seeking audience to say soldiers should be removed – he said a lot of things as a Member of Parliament instead of inviting investors to come to Zimbabwe and invest – [HON. MEMBERS:

Inaudible interjections.] – so, I wanted to say to him, as a Pastor, should he move around speaking about the removal of soldiers from one place or the other.  When he stood up he did not even acknowledge that his mission to America was successful.  As a Member of Parliament, we want to know why he visited America, to just hallucinate there. Surely if Members of Parliament continue to hallucinate, the economy will not stabilise.  Thank you very much.

          THE HON. SPEAKER: Hon. Chinotimba, if you want serious

debate on such issues relating to international affairs, you can bring that under a motion.  Thank you.

MOTION

PRESIDENTIAL SPEECH: DEBATE ON ADDRESS

          Fifteenth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion in reply to the

Presidential Speech.

          Question again proposed.

          HON. MARIDADI: Mr. Speaker, I am not rising to debate, but I am saying this motion here…

          THE HON. SPEAKER: Which motion?

            HON. MARIDADI: The motion to give a respectful thanks to the

former President - does it still apply, because I thought it would fall away with his leaving office?  This is a new dispensation; we are expecting the new President to deliver the SONA tomorrow.  We cannot be debating the past, I think we must look into the future and allow Cde. Mugabe and his past to go quietly so that we then look forward to the future.  This is a new era and I think it is a bit demeaning on the incoming President that we still talk about the past, President Mugabe.  We cannot talk about Cde. Mugabe now Mr. Speaker.  I think it is very unfortunate but I think that motion should fall away.  Thank you Mr.

Speaker.

          THE HON. SPEAKER: Thank you for that observation Hon.

Maridadi.  Yes, I think it does create some invidious position for debate and I will kindly ask the mover of the motion to so withdraw the motion from the Order Paper.

          HON. RUNGANI: Thank you Hon. Speaker.  I move that the motion be withdrawn from the Order Paper.

          HON. MARIDADI: Mr. Speaker, for and on behalf of the people of Zimbabwe, I second the withdrawal of the motion.  Thank you.

 Motion that a respectful address be presented to the    

President of Zimbabwe as follows: -

May it please you, your Excellency the President:

We, the Members of Parliament of Zimbabwe, desire to express our loyalty to Zimbabwe and beg leave to offer our respectful thanks for the speech, which you have been pleased to address to Parliament.

          Motion, with leave, withdrawn.

MOTION

BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE

          THE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC

PLANNING (HON. CHINAMASA): Mr. Speaker Sir, with the

permission of the House, I beg leave to revert to Order of the Day,

Number 8 on today’s Order Paper.

          Motion put and agreed to.

SECOND READING

PUBLIC ENTITIES CORPORATE GOVERNANCE BILL [H.B. 5,

2017]

          Eighth Order read: Second Reading: Public Entities Corporate

Governance Bill [H.B. 5, 2017].

          THE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC

PLANNING (HON. CHINAMASA): Mr. Speaker Sir, it is my singular honour to move that the Public Entities Corporate Governance Bill [H.B. 5, 2017 be read for a second time. – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] –

THE HON. SPEAKER:  Order, this is my last warning to call members to order.  If I identify one or two members who continue to disobey my call to order, I will ask them to get out of the House.

Because I could not hear what the Hon. Minister was saying.

HON. CHINAMASA:  Mr. Speaker Sir, Section 195 in which the State has a significant interest must conduct their business in order to ensure commercial viability and they must abide by generally accepted standards of good corporate governance

Hitherto, our State enterprises which could otherwise have been playing a vital role in contributing to the revenue realised by Government, presenting employment opportunities to our citizens, producing exports receipts as well as products for domestic consumption, have instead, been the proverbial albatross around the neck of our national economy.

Previous efforts to encourage compliance with sound corporate governance principles such as the Corporate Governance Framework for State Enterprises and Parastatals in 2010 and more recently, the National Code on Corporate Governance in 2015, have gone largely unheeded by most public entities and in equal extent, by their responsible line Ministers.

Resultantly, the Auditor General’s report on state enterprises and parastals for the year ending 31 December 2016 once again revealed ongoing deep-rooted and far reaching governance problems within the state enterprise sector and self evidently underlined the continuing failure by line ministers to meaningfully address those problems.

That notwithstanding, this Bill signals the latest step in

Government’s ongoing efforts to bring order and rationality to the parastatals sector and to ensure that such entities once again make a positive contribution to national economic growth.

In many instances, management blames poor performance and unsatisfactory service delivery on the prevailing economic situation, even where the company they superintend has a virtual monopoly and

Government support in the sector in which it operates. However, upon closer scrutiny, the reality that invariably emerges is that in a good number of the cases, it is the management itself which is the root cause of the problem bedeviling the company.

While primary responsibility for management of public entities lies with the boards and management of the public entities, it is also clear that line ministers under whose jurisdiction a parastatal falls have been failing to provide effective oversight over the entities which fall under their purview.

The Public Entities Corporate Governance Bill is designed to address these issues by bringing order, structure, transparency and consistency to this important sector of our economy.  It also seeks to further empower line ministries to exercise far stricter oversight of their respective entities and to ensure that those entities operate in line with sound corporate governance principles and practices as enshrined in the Bill.

In essence, amongst other aspects, the Bill gives legal force and effect to the national code on corporate governance which is incorporated into the Bill as the First Schedule.  I will now highlight the key provisions of the Bill.

Scope of Application

As far as the coverage of the Bill is concerned, in terms of Clause

3, as read with Clause 2 (1), the Bill shall apply to all ‘public entities’ which are identified as institutions whose operations or activities are substantially controlled by the State or by a person on behalf of the State, whether through ownership of a majority of shares in the entity or otherwise and these include –

1. a statutory body;
2. a public commercial entity; and
3. an entity established for the purposes of carrying out a project.

Save as otherwise provided for in the Bill, it shall therefore be mandatory, at law, for all institutions falling under this description to abide by the tenets of the corporate governance principles espoused herein.

Corporate Governance Unit

Clause 5 of the Bill will create a new Corporate Governance Unit as a department within the Office of the President and Cabinet whose functions shall be:-

• to provide an advisory and centralised support mechanism for line ministries to ensure strict compliance by all public entities with the provisions of the Act;
• to advise line ministries with regard to the regular evaluation of the performance of public entities and their boards and employees;
• to oversee the discharge by line ministries of their responsibility to monitor compliance by boards and senior management with the performance contracts;
• to establish and maintain up to date a comprehensive directory or database accessible to all line ministers and boards that will enable them to identify suitably qualified candidates for appointment to boards of public entities and
• to advise on the provision by line ministries of programmes for the professional development of board members and senior management of all public entities under their purview, including board induction programmes and corporate governance training for board members, chief executive officers and other senior members of management.

In other words, the Corporate Governance Unit will offer continuing support to the line ministries and the public entities concerned to ensure compliance with the tenets of good corporate governance.

The appointment of board members must be carried out in the most transparent way possible and each appointment must be based purely on merit.

As such, it shall be incumbent upon the appointing authority to furnish the unit with the qualifications of the proposed appointee and to explain what distinguishes that appointee from the rest.  I refer Hon.

Members to Clause 11 (12) on this point.

Board appointees and senior management shall have a duty to declare their assets prior to assumption of office in terms of Clause 37. Declaration of assets will place a duty upon an appointee to explain the source of their income under circumstances in which there is an inordinate accumulation of wealth during, or immediately after their incumbency.

           Remuneration of non-executive members of public entities and conditions of service of executive members of public entities 

Clause 12 of the Bill addresses issues surrounding the payment of non-executive members of public entities. In short, the appointing Minister shall, in consultation with the Minister responsible for Finance, develop a ‘Remuneration Framework’ which shall form the basis upon which payment scales are formulated. That Remuneration Framework is in turn, submitted for Cabinet approval before it is implemented.

Issues such as the experience and qualifications of a member of the State entity, as well as prevalent salary scales amongst their peers will be of a persuasive value, but not in itself a benchmark upon which a board member can lay a demand. The crucial issue here is that the salaries will be paid depending on how a public entity is performing, and how profitable it is at a given time.

Clause 13 provides for the conditions of service of executive members of public entities. Similar to the above, the Minister responsible for the administration of the Public Sector Corporate Governance Bill shall develop model conditions of service for executive members which shall be adhered to and subject to revision where exigencies require so.

Restriction on remuneration of board members of public

entities

Mr. Speaker Sir, Clause 14 is of vital importance in addressing the ludicrous remuneration that members of certain public entities have been awarding themselves. Under sub-clause (10), the Minister assigned the administration of the Act, with the approval of the Minister responsible for Finance, and after consultation with the line Minister concerned, shall by notice published in the Gazette specify the amount that may be received, by way of remuneration, allowances and other benefits, by members of the board of any public entity.

This clause will allow a ceiling to be set on the amount of remuneration board members may receive, or even specify an exact amount payable. If a member breaches the remuneration set in terms of this provision, they will become liable to a surcharge for the purposes of recouping the value of the money improperly paid out to such member.

Strategic Plans of public entities 

Mr. Speaker Sir, each public entity shall be expected to draw up a carefully considered Strategic Plan that maps out their intended objectives over a period of two to six years, and how they intend on achieving such objectives. This is in terms of Clause 22 of the Bill. The strategic plan will include performance indicators against which the company can benchmark its own performance and will ensure that the entity strives for a commonly held and understood objective. These strategic plans will be available for public inspection.

Performance contracts with senior staff of public entities [Closely related to this is the new concept of performance contracts that will be entered into by the Chief Executive Officer or a senior member of a public entity that clearly spell out his or her deliverables. These are provided under Clause 23. Where such CEO or senior member of the public entity fail to achieve the set out goals, they become liable to dismissal in terms of the contract. The motivation to succeed here is apparent, and these officers must ensure that they deliver on their key objectives.

Meetings of boards of public entities 

Clause 23 will require boards to meet at least once every three months and to convene an annual meeting of stakeholders once a year to be known as the “annual general meeting”. They will also have to meet their line Ministers at least twice a year to provide feedback on operations and discuss any other such pertinent issues.

Additionally, in order to ensure that the Board continues to function if the membership of a board falls below a quorum, the board will be allowed to meet for up to 90 days pending the appointment of new members, but any decisions reached by the board during that time will be subject to ratification when a quorum has been formed in terms of sub-clause (2).

Conflicts of interest on part of board members and staff of public entities  

Clause 34 will require members of boards and senior staff of public entities to declare conflicts of interest and prohibit them from taking part in their entities’ business where there is such a conflict. Failure to do so will result in the member or senior staff member ceasing to hold office as such.

Mr. Speaker Sir, with this presentation, it is now my honour and pleasure to move that the Public Entities Corporate Governance Bill

[H.B. 5, 2017] be now read for the second time. I thank you.

HON. CHAPFIKA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I had consulted with the Hon. Minister on the Bill because the Committee had not undertaken the public hearings consistent with the mandate and the Constitution on this Bill and I had requested the Minister to defer debate until such time that the Committee has had public hearings and a report has been presented to the Chamber.  I thank you.

          THE HON. SPEAKER: This Bill has been on the Order Paper for a while, why have you not conducted hearings?

          HON. CHAPFIKA: Mr. Speaker Sir, it was overtaken by budgetary demands because that is the time when we were working on the 2018 National Budget. So, we could not undertake the public hearings on this Bill.

          THE HON. SPEAKER: When do you hope to do this?

          HON. CHAPFIKA: We will give it priority Mr. Speaker Sir.

          THE HON. SPEAKER: Thank you.

THE MINISTER OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC

PLANNING (HON. CHINAMASA): In that case Mr. Speaker Sir, I move that the debate do now adjourn.

          Motion put and agreed to.

          Debate to resume: Wednesday, 20^th December, 2017.

          HON. MUTSEYAMI: On a point of order Mr. Speaker.  It is a

small thing.

          THE HON. SPEAKER:  If it is a small thing, let it die.  Your qualification to a small thing does not persuade me unless you had said it is something big.

          HON. MUTSEYAMI:  It is quite substantial.

          THE HON. SPEAKER:  No, do not contradict yourself.  Can you approach the Chair?

          Hon. Mutseyami approached the Chair.

THE HON. SPEAKER: Order, order.  Hon. Mutseyami was

raising a small but big thing -what a contradiction.  Basically, I think it concerns the issue of stands and we shall engage the new Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing to come up with the list of the stands as requested by the Hon. Members.  We will engage the Minister accordingly.

          HON. MUTSEYAMI:  There is the second one.  Thank you Mr.

Speaker Sir.  First and foremost, Mr. Speaker Sir, is that I wish everyone a merry Christmas but my bigger issue is to do with our clinic here.  Maybe for the Ninth Parliament as we go along, if we could have this clinic well equipped system with regards to managing of stress and all that – the counseling department is not there.

Currently, we have had challenges as Parliament, as the Eighth Parliament whereby we have had people who have been moved from positions and all that and people have gone through a lot of challenges, pressure, stress  and blood pressure.  It is very professional for this arm of Government of Parliament to have an institution which is supposed to deal with these challenges or these kinds of trauma in terms of stress through a counseling department so that people will understand that once they lose positions, they are supposed to be back benchers.

As we speak, there are some people who cannot understand why they are in new positions and they do not understand that they are back benchers due to lack of counseling.  So, it is important to address the counseling department.

          THE HON. SPEAKER:  Order, order.  I think that is a valid point to some extent.  I have a cousin who lost his ministerial position and he became so stressed up that in the end, he could not recover from the stress.  So, we will make some arrangements but there are some very serious stresses that might come when you do not win at your constituencies.  - [Laughter.] –

          Now for that one, unfortunately we may not provide services because you will not be part of the system.

MOTION

BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE

          THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND

PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Hon.

Speaker Sir.  I move that we revert to Order No. 1 on today’s Order Paper.

          Motion put and agreed to.

MOTION

DISAGREEMENT BETWEEN HOUSES ON THE LAND

COMMISSION BILL [H.B. 2A, 2017]     THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF LANDS, AGRICULTURE AND RURAL RESETTLEMENT (HON. MARAPIRA): Mr.

Speaker Sir, the Lands Commission Bill was passed in this august House on the 26^th of January, 2017.  The Senate proposed amendments which received an Adverse Report from the Parliamentary Legal Committee.

Nonetheless, the Bill passed in the Senate with those amendments. This august House rejected the amendments passed by the Senate. In terms of Section 6 (3) of Part 2 of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution, the National Assembly must resolve that the Bill be presented to the President for assent. Since the Bill is very urgent for the operationalisation of the Land Committee, I urge Hon. Members to, as a matter of urgency, resolve that the Bill be sent to His Excellency the President for assent and signature.

          I move that this House pursuant to the disagreement between

Houses on amendments made by the Senate to the Land Commission Bill [H.B 2B, 2017] resolves that the Bill be presented to His Excellency the President for assent and signature in the form in which it was passed by the National Assembly on the 26^th January, 2017 in accordance with the provisions of the Fifth Schedule, paragraph 6 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.

          Motion put and agreed to.

          On the motion of THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. ZIYAMBI), the House

adjourned at Twenty Eight Minutes to Four o’clock p.m. until Tuesday, 9^th January, 2018.