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NATIONAL ASSEMBLY HANSARD 27 SEPTEMBER 2018 45 06
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Thursday, 27th September, 2018
The National Assembly met at a Quarter-past Two O’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE HON. SPEAKER in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMNT BY THE HON. SPEAKER
NON-INTERFERENCE WITH PROCESSIONS
THE HON. SPEAKER: I wish to remind Hon. Members that
when the bells are ringing before the commencement of business and after adjournment of the Houses certain corridors are cordoned off to avoid interference with the processions you are therefore requested to cooperate with police officers manning those corridors.
MOTION
PRESIDENTIAL SPEECH: DEBATE ON ADDRESS
First Order read: Adjourned debate on motion in reply to the Presidential Speech.
Question again proposed.
HON. MASHONGANYIKA: Mr. Speaker Sir, I rise to add my voice to this motion that was moved by Hon. Kwaramba and seconded by Hon. Musabayana. I would also like to thank you for giving me this opportunity to add my voice to this important debate.
Firstly, I would like to congratulate His Excellency the President Hon. E. D. Mnangagwa for winning the 2018 harmonised elections which were free, fair and credible…
HON. SIKHALA: On a point of order Mr. Speaker Sir. The hon. Member is reading from a prepared speech. This is not her maiden speech. The rule says she must only refer to notes, not regurgitation which she is doing. So she is out of order, may she be directed accordingly.
*HON. MASHONGANYIKA: Thank you Mr. Speaker, I want to
congratulate my President Cde. Mnangagwa for winning the 2018 elections that were peaceful as compared to all the other years that elections were held. I have never witnessed such elections since 1980 that were as peaceful as the ones held in 2018. In my constituency we had peaceful and fair elections. There was no intimidation at all during voting in Bindura/Shamva constituency.
Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about the issues that the President highlighted. I was actually surprised when he took it upon himself to go and visit the cholera victims in Glen View. We want to thank him for such a gesture. We realised that the President has the people at heart. That is why he decided to go and see what was happening so he could address the issue. I also want to thank the Minister of Health and Child Care for expressing deep concern on the cholera outbreak and his will to assist people who greatly need the assistance during this pandemic. Let me say to the Hon Members in this House that cholera is a terrible disease which can lead to one’s death in a short space of time. So as Hon. Members we need to prevent cholera in our constituencies, especially here in Harare because the population is very high.
Let me hasten to say that on the issue of agriculture we were thinking that as women, we applaud the appointment of our Minister because he is a farmer at heart. As women, we would like him to give preference to the widows and single women heading households in terms of land allocation. We are proposing that the Minister should relook at the issue of land distribution and the size of land so that all of us as Zimbabweans can get pieces of land. Once we become greedy and grab land, we leave a lot of people living in poverty and we will not have done much in trying to develop our nation. We all know that for our country to develop it is because of the land that we have and that is where our livelihood comes from.
Then on the issue of gender, Section 17 of the Constitution provides for gender balance. We also want to thank the President for remembering us as women. He uplifted the women fraternity and appointed a number of women in Cabinet, although the number has decreased to 35%. There were more women in the Eight Parliament. So, we are requesting the President to continue with his work of uplifting the women. We also want to thank the President, Cde Mnangagwa, for appointing a woman Minister, Hon. Cde Muchinguri to be the Minister of Defence, a Ministry which is key in our Cabinet. I realised that since independence the Ministry of Defence always had male Ministers. Thank you Mr.
Speaker Sir.
THE HON. SPEAKER: I do not remember the Presidential
Speech talking of appointment of Ministers. Can you confine yourself to the speech that was delivered to Parliament by His Excellency and debate on the issues he highlighted?
*HON. MASHONGANYIKA: I thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I
want to conclude my debate by talking about the issue of our own currency which the President talked about. We want to thank the President for his vision on the fact that Zimbabwe should have its own currency and it is an issue that we need to address. For example, the people in rural areas are struggling to get cash. They cannot even get cash from the banks. So, we want to thank the President for what he has done and for his vision on the issue of having a currency. It is an issue that needs to be addressed.
I also want to thank you Mr. Speaker Sir for being elected to the position of Speaker of the National Assembly for the second term. We also want to thank Hon. Gezi for being elected to the position of Deputy Speaker. With these few words, I want to thank you Mr. Speaker Sir for giving me this opportunity to debate.
*HON. CHIPATO: I want to thank you for giving me this opportunity to debate in this august House. Firstly, I want to congratulate the President for winning the election resoundingly. Secondly, I want to thank him for encouraging us as Zimbabweans to be strong and brave. He said that our wealth is in the land and as Zimbabweans if we are to engage in farming, we will not experience poverty. We want to thank him for command farming. Most people in the rural areas are grateful for this programme and they are happy sending their produce to the Grain Marketing Board. It shows that he is a leader with a vision and he wants his people not to wallow in poverty.
We want to thank him for companies that are opening up because he said that Zimbabwe is open for business. He realised that it will be difficult to govern a country where there is poverty. What we really appreciate on what he did was that when he was appointed President there were transport problems and there was no more railway network.
We noticed that he has decided to resuscitate National Railways of Zimbabwe. He maintains his position that Zimbabwe is open for business.
We also saw him in Mutare where he opened up an oil factory which created jobs for a number of children. Most people lost their lives in road accidents travelling to South Africa to go and get cooking oil but he opened the factory and now cooking oil shortages are a thing of the past.
He did not end there – because there was a shortage of soft drinks and Zimbabweans love drinks, he opened up the Pepsi plant. Thousands of Zimbabweans managed to get jobs there. We want to thank Cde Mnangagwa because he knows the challenges that Zimbabweans are facing. We want to thank him as women as well. I have never seen such a good President and who has done so well. He opened the Women’s Bank and the onus is on us to go and get loans from the bank that will give us a sense of livelihood.
I come from Masvingo and the women there are grateful because they actually appreciate what he has done and they see him as a visionary leader. He also mentioned the issue of Parliament in his speech during the Official Opening of Parliament. He showed the whole world that he knows what he is doing as a leader. He went to those areas where cholera is to go and have first hand information on his own. I have never seen such a leader in my life before. He is a person who is approachable and can engage with different people. For those who want to be intelligent and have wisdom, they should copy from President
Mnangagwa. I thank you.
*HON. CHIKWAMA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir for giving me this opportunity to debate on the motion that was raised by Hon Kwaramba and seconded by Hon. Musabayana. I want to thank them for that motion and also to congratulate the President for winning the election. His speech reflected that he is a visionary leader and he said that the first thing that he is going to work on was to ensure that the Zimbabwean economy improves. His vision is to develop the nation economically. He further mentioned a lot regarding the importance of agriculture and that agriculture is part of the backbone of Zimbabwe’s economic success. He committed to further supporting farmers noting that agriculture is the industry that will help develop Zimbabwe.
Mr. Speaker, we come from different constituencies and Command Agriculture Programme farming inputs are already being given out to the people. This shows that the President has a long term vision and commitment to develop the country through agriculture development.
In his speech, he also mentioned about his intention to inject
US$500 million foreign currency to ease cash speculation and ensure easy access to cash by the general citizenry in banks. That will give impetus to economic recovery given that money will accessibly circulate in the economy.
The President advised us as Members of Parliament that there are a number of Bills which shall be brought to this House. Of special note, are the Local Government and Rural District Council Bill and the one on Judges. We were advised to ensure that the laws which were mentioned are aligned to the Constitution. Once laws are aligned, as a representative of Gutu East, I understand that will assist the Rural District Council to have a clear mandate and decisional authority in their councils as a result of devolution. It will also help communities in our various constituencies because those at grassroots will be able to get development support at their respective levels.
The President also mentioned the issue of infrastructural investments such as construction of roads, schools and clinics. He reiterated that we need to build more of these. I also look forward to seeing the clinic in my rural constituency being upgraded too. This indicates the commitment by the Government to improve the lives of people through equitable access to health. Under education, he noted that he is working on improving the system by tasking researchers to work on improving our education system. It is pertinent to state that in the ten months that the President led the country, many schools now are connected to global platforms through wifi networks. People in rural areas can now access a lot of information through the internet. We want to thank him for that and considering what he has promised, he will further achieve it.
We have roads in our areas that need attention. In my constituency, a road which links to Hon. Chinotimba’s constituency in Buhera to Bikita around Madhuku needs to be maintained. We are looking forward to the construction of roads from Gonye to Kurai as well. Therefore, we would want to communicate and also travel to those areas on good roads.
The President also advised that he would get machines to capacitate hospitals to deal with certain diseases which are currently not being treated in Zimbabwe and some other countries. He had the vision to have these diseases treatable in Zimbabwe and anticipates other countries to also visit for medical treatment. This is possible if new machines are brought into our health delivery system.
HON. NYASHANU: Mr. Speaker Sir, I want to contribute to the motion moved by Hon. Kwaramba and seconded by Hon. Musabayana. Mr. Speaker Sir and Hon. Members of Parliament, let me begin by congratulating all Members of Parliament in this august House for making it to the Ninth Parliament of Zimbabwe. Let me also congratulate the great leader of our time Cde Emmerson Dambudzo
Mnangagwa on his victory that bestowed him the presidency of the
Republic of Zimbabwe. May the good Lord bless him and his family.
I will not forget the people of Buhera Central who spent hours on queues under the ravaging sun to cast their vote in electing me as their Member of Parliament. Accordingly, I will commit myself to uphold the trust they have bestowed on me. I am so excited that I am in this House and that I have been able to connect with many Members of Parliament from across our country. I am hopeful I will learn a lot during the period of five years.
Mr. Speaker Sir, during the induction seminar of the Ninth Parliament which took place on Monday and Tuesday this week, I witnessed with excitement the positive manner in which our Hon. Members of Parliament exchanged views and ideas. That alone showed me how rich our country is in human capital. It is possible and true that as a united force we can take our country to another level. Elections came and they are now behind us. The people of Zimbabwe have voted and now they are expecting to see a change. I cannot agree any better with all the speakers who have spoken before me, that Parliament is a revered institution in that in the House of Parliament lays the hope of every progressive Zimbabwean. We are therefore called to duty to deliver a better future for our people and to bequeath a prosperous nation to our children.
In his State of the Nation Address speech, President Emmerson
Mnangagwa spoke of his commitment to economic development. He
said that will be done in line with our national aspirations and this is indeed a critical turning point for our country and, the subject in which every Zimbabwean pins their hopes. I salute the President for prioritising economic development because it holds the key to the progress of our nation.
In one of his famous speeches, the late former Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annan said, “…development is not about quantity but the quality of life lived by our people…” and in his inaugural speech in January 1949, former United States of America
President Harry Truman had this to say, ‘More than half the people in the world are living in conditions approaching misery. Their food is inadequate and they are victims of disease. Their poverty is a handicap and a threat to them and more prosperous areas.’
For the first time in history, humanity possess the knowledge and the skill to relieve the suffering of these people. I believe we should make available the benefits of our store of technical knowledge in order to help them realise their aspiration for a better life. What we envisage is a programme of development based on the concepts of fair dealing. Greater production is the key to prosperity and peace and the key to greater production is a wider and more vigorous application of more scientific and technical knowledge.
Mr. Speaker Sir, it is common knowledge that over the last four decades, our people have been oriented to a receivership mentality. I want to humbly submit in this House that we, as the leadership of this nation in this new dispensation, must begin to orient our people to a self - sustenance and ultimately replace the donor dependency syndrome. This syndrome has alienated our society to realms of impotence and has taken away the creative and hard working spirit which is enshrined in ubuntu philosophy. To restore the dignity of our people which is the dignity of our founding fathers, we must act with speed to correct this vice.
I am thrilled by the President’s speech when he talks about the need to drive a high performance culture within all public entities. I implore that this culture be cultivated across all corners of our society. The President’s mantra that Zimbabwe is open for business is a clarion call for progress. The question is what does Zimbabwe want at this point. The answer is just simple - Zimbabwe needs capital, Zimbabwe needs efficient labour and Zimbabwe needs productivity. As Parliament, we must do our best to open the Zimbabwean space for business. To attract capital, we need to act with speed to repeal certain labour laws which are rigid and retrogressive. This will create a good condition for investment and rapid modernisation and industrialisation of our economy which can then create jobs for our young people.
It should not be business as usual, but we want to see a radical paradigm shift in the work ethics of those in public and private offices. Achieving a per capita income of $3 500 by 2030 is only possible if everyone takes responsibility to commit to the dignity of hard work and in this Parliament, we must work to enforce that. I want to challenge this House to be able to come up with development models that are consistent with our situation. China, for example, was able to move 300 million people out of poverty in 30 years. Something no other country has done in the history of the world and we need to learn from this case study.
Mr. Speaker Sir, my heart bleeds to learn that more than 90% of our health care budget is funded by American and European tax payers. This confirms that as a country, we are sitting on a time bomb in as far as our health care sector is concerned. These statistics should inform this House that we have a huge gap to fill in the sustainable development agenda and that this House has a responsibility to ensure that Zimbabwe is able to fund its own health care system. We cannot sit in this House and watch as if all is in order when our kingdom is in this burning state. I want to remind this House that because of the growing financial challenges in most parts of the world, it is not surprising to wake up in the morning and only to be told that there is no single medicine in all our health care facilities.
During his inaugural speech, our President spoke of developing a market based economy. This is quite encouraging because markets should be our hope and not aid. In her book, Dead Aid, Dr. Dambisa Moyo, a Zambian national, revealed that aid had failed many African countries in a big way. Our Governments have been too reluctant for too long, thinking that aid income is permanent income. An elected government has the duty to deliver public goods like health care, education, security and infrastructure to all its citizens. I want to implore this House to expeditiously look at ways of creating a sustainable health care system in Zimbabwe. Presenting at a world economic forum, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda spoke of the need of African countries to concentrate on the markets as opposed to aid. He said that markets are neutral and aid is political. This is what we need to take note of as Parliamentarians.
Mr. Speaker Sir, it is estimated that 60% of our total populations are youth. Youth employment is a central policy challenge in many countries. Our labour markets have failed to absorb these young people into the formal sector because of the low growth rates in our economic front. Access to finance remains a stumbling block to the entrepreneurial spirits of our youth. The President has taken decisive steps to help these vulnerable groups of our society by introducing the Empower Bank which will help our young people to become masters of their own destiny.
Mr. Speaker Sir, in the month of June 1990, I was in this sacred House to give a speech as a child parliamentarian on the plight of children, particularly rural children. As I stand here today, 28 years later, the living conditions of rural youths have not changed much. I am hopeful that the youth will take up the challenge to use these bank facilities at their disposal and develop self help projects in their communities.
It is no doubt in my mind that women too have lagged behind in the development matrix of our country. We must applaud President
Mnangagwa for heeding to the call. The Women’s Bank will go a long way in emancipating our women. Mr. Speaker Sir, as we set up such banking facilities for the vulnerable groups, let us take conginsance of the errand behaviour of our people in the banking sector. There are elements in the banking sector with high appetite for profiteering, who charge abnormal rates to unsuspecting banking public. How can the banking sector make $200 million profit in an economy where small businesses are closing every day? Banks should be cashing from a growing industry and not to cash from a collapsing industry. Most of the banks in the country are practicing money lending and there is no commercial banking activity, yet they call themselves commercial banks.
Mr. Speaker Sir, Paul Freemen and Ford, 1998 page 43, define banking as the lending of money obtained from depositors. The two authors tried to draw a line between money lending and banking, defining the latter as lending one’s own capital. Is it true that these banks are lending their own capital? The House needs to obtain an explanation.
For those in industry, they can agree with me that banks have caused more harm than good to this economy. The highly celebrated indigenisation programme has been reversed by banks. From the time of dollarisation to date, thousands of small businesses have been closed with properties attached, auctioned and children sent to the streets. This has been the trend in the last 10 years and local newspapers can affirm my assertion. I challenge this House to find ways of protecting innocent borrowing public from these unscrupulous bankers.
Mr. Speaker Sir, although our country prides on high literacy rate, I implore this House to continuously look at ways of improving our education system and infrastructure in order for the country to remain competitive on the global arena. The state of our schools is deplorable and in some cases young people are walking a distance of 3km to 5km to the nearest school and the school facilities are a sad story.
Mr. Speaker Sir, allow me to announce in this House that there are cases of cholera in Buhera Central and so far three people have died. I am pleased to mention that Government has reacted promptly and that there is a team working on the ground. I would like to thank the
President of the Republic of Zimbabwe for fulfilling his promises. When he visited Buhera he promised that Marovanyati Dam would be completed before the end of 2018 and now the dam is almost 80% complete. Buhera is a dry land and receives subnormal rainfall yearly. The facility will go a long way in establishing sustainable livelihood through small holding farming programmes for our people.
During the same visit, the President also promised that the long awaited Murambinda-Birchenough Road would begin to be tarred and as I speak, work is at an advanced stage. When completed, this road, coupled with the rural electrification programme, our community will be transformed. The people of Buhera are grateful. I thank you Mr.
Speaker Sir.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Order, order.
HON. MATARANYIKA: Mr. Speaker Sir, thank you very much
for affording me the opportunity to deliver my speech in response to the motion proposed by Hon. Kwaramba, seconded by Hon. Musabayana. Allow me Sir, to take the opportunity to congratulate President E. D. Mnangagwa for the well deserved victory in the just ended harmonised elections – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] – To my fellow Members of the House, let me say, Congratulations, makorokoto, amhlophe for making it into this august House. I look forward to having a fruitful five-year term working side by side with you.
Let me also take this opportunity to congratulate you too Mr.
Speaker and your Deputy for your election into that lofty seat.
Makorokoto, amhlophe. Looking at the legislative agenda set by the President for this Ninth Parliament, it is apparent that there is a lot of work ahead of us. We have to work around the clock to ensure we deliver and thus, give the necessary impetus to the economic agenda that will see Zimbabwe achieve its vision of a middle-income economy by 2030. We need to be on the driving seat Honourables if we are to conquer this mammoth task ahead of us. Mr. Speaker Sir, some of the Bills on the agenda identify with challenges that my constituency is facing. Take the Consumer Protection Bill for example, consumers in my constituency like anywhere else, need to be protected from unfair trade practices by certain unscrupulous business people and Government agencies. For example, right now, GMB is refusing to set a maize collection depot in the Nzvimbe area of my constituency citing bad roads yet this is the most productive area for maize in the constituency.
Allegations reaching me are that some of the private buyers of maize visiting the area are agencies of some staff members at GMB Rusape and are taking advantage of the desperate farmers to offer sicky prices for their maize. I therefore, implore the Government to investigate this matter and bring to book the perpetrators. At the same time, council must prioritise the maintenance of the roads to this agricultural strategic area of my constituency. Mr. Speaker Sir, the need to increase investment in education and health infrastructure as envisaged by the President is a welcome development. I have in my constituency, children that walk a total of 30 km a day in search of education. Under the circumstance, it does not require rocket science to figure out that children exposed to such a tough learning environment cannot produce good results. The system is condemning these children to a continuous cycle of poverty. This cannot be allowed to continue Sir. In that regard, I am proposing that the envisaged Child Justice Bill must have a provision that clearly express that no child must walk more than 10km a day in search of education. Otherwise, provisions of Section 27, 75 and 81 of the Constitution remain a pipe dream for these children.
There are also a number of wards in my constituency that do not have clinics. This results in patients having to walk up to 40km in search of medical assistance. This Mr. Speaker Sir, makes a mockery of the right to receive health care and medical assistance as enshrined in the Constitution. It is my hope that the State will take the necessary legislative and other measures to achieve the progressive realisation of this right Sir. Another issue of major concern to me Mr. Speaker Sir is that people from the rural areas, that is the villages have lagged behind in terms of the development, especially if you compare them with their counterparts in the resettlement areas. The major difference between the two is availability of water. Water is the major factor lacking in the rural areas. Madam Speaker Maam, without an all year round source of water, it is difficult to carry out any meaningful farming. I therefore, urge the Government to speed up the construction of dams in the rural areas so that the rural folk can also engage in agricultural projects throughout the year. The current practice that is dependent on seasonal rains is both not sustainable and archaic. We need to boost production levels by these farmers and this is one way to do that. In the same vein and linked to the above point, I would like to propose to this august House that in order to help uplift the lives of the rural people, let us deliberately come up with an affirmative policy that favours the rural constituencies in as far as the Constituency Development Fund is concerned. I am therefore, proposing that the allocation of CDF should favour rural constituencies on a ratio of 3:1 to urban constituencies.
In other words, the rural constituencies should get three times the funding given to urban constituencies. This proposition is driven by the realisation that urban constituencies have by far more social amenities than rural constituencies. People in the urban areas have closer proximity to facilities like clinics, hospitals, schools, colleges, stadia et cetera. They also have electricity, piped water, better roads, transport and many other advantages over the rural folk. To give the same amount of CDF to both the rural and urban constituencies is a clear travesty of justice. We need to raise the standard of living of our...
HON. MLISWA: On a point of order Madam Speaker.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order Hon. Member. What
is your point of order?
HON. MLISWA: Madam Speaker, with due respect, we are all equal as Members of Parliament. I think for the Hon. Member to talk about rural constituencies getting more than the urban, I think is divisive. He might as well say that they must even be paid more money in terms of the salary and the package. I think we know of the economic situation and it is best that it does not divide our people. I think we are united and I do not think there is any constituency that is superior to the other. We might as well say that those who got more votes must also get more money. I do not think we want to go there Madam Speaker.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: There is no point of order
Hon. Member.
HON. MATARANYIKA: Madam Speaker, that is why I said we should have an affirmative action. Anyway, once again, thank you Madam Speaker Maam for the opportunity to address this august House and thanking the President for such an instructive legislative agenda.
Thank you so much – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] –
*HON. ZEMURA: Thank you Madam Speaker for giving me this opportunity – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] –[HON.
MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] -
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, order Hon. Members.
*HON. ZEMURA: Thank you Madam Speaker for giving me
this opportunity to debate on the motion. I want to thank the mover of the motion, Hon. Kwaramba and Hon. Musabayana who is the seconder. I want to congratulate the President of the nation Cde. Mnangagwa for his resounding victory in the just ended election and I want to congratulate all Members in this House for winning the election. I also want to applaud Zimbabwe for the peaceful environment that was there before the elections. It was a period where campaigning took place peacefully and it reflected that we were working together as a united people. However, after the elections, my sympathies lie with victims of the violence that occurred thereafter.
We have come here as children of Zimbabwe and we want peace in this nation and we should remain peaceful. The President is always saying, “the voice of the people is the voice of God”. Let us listen and take those words into consideration. There is a lot that is behind those words. So, we should act as children of God. There are others who behave as if they came here on their own, forgetting that they are here because of people’s votes. So we need to respect the people’s vote.
The President in his speech mentioned agriculture, and Zimbabwe is known for its good agriculture. We are all here and no one is experiencing hunger because of the farming activities that we do in this country. There is a lot of wheat, there is maize and there is cotton and if our country develops, all of us are going to develop. We cannot sit here in a poor Parliament. So, we want to support the President and engage in farming so that we can develop our country develop. We want to thank those who are engaged in farming – whether you have joined Command Agriculture or not, we want to applaud you because that is leading the country to recovery.
My sympathies lie with those who have not yet acquired land and I am hoping that when the downsizing of farms is done, those without farms will be able to get them. We also want to thank the President for mentioning the issue of value addition. Zimbabwe has a lot of agricultural produce that needs value addition in order to fetch more prices. For example, our maize can bring a lot of products. The cotton can also produce a lot of products.
We also need to look at our minerals. We do not want our minerals as what His Excellency the President said, that he is going to look for machinery to assist those who are engaged in mining. There are a lot of artisanal miners who use traditional methods of mining. So, if the machinery is brought in, it will alleviate their poverty. Our nation has a lot of minerals even in Uzumba where I come from, there is a lot that is underground but, because of lack of machinery, people are only able to harness a little of those natural resources. If this works out, we will have gold, platinum and other minerals because they are there in abundance in Zimbabwe.
I also want to mention what His Excellency said concerning tourism. He said he wanted to ensure that the tourism industry expands.
There is no province without any tourism. There are tourism projects in every province but if they are not developed, nothing will happen. If they are developed, we will have more tourists like what happened with our Victoria Falls airport which was face lifted. So, we want different areas to have facelifts so that they can attract tourists. We want to acknowledge the fact that the President mentioned it.
I also want to look at the legislation that he talked about. He mentioned a lot of Bills. The Bill that I like most is the Customary Law and Local Courts Bill. That Bill will enable us to do quite a lot of things. The current Bill seems to be discriminatory in favour of men.
So, that Bill will actually uplift us as women and children. The
President mentioned other Bills - the Child Justice Bill and the Marriages Bill. In Zimbabwe we are concerned by people who are marrying children and once that Marriages Bill comes into play, it will assist in ensuring that our children are not married off whilst they are still young. We also have churches that brainwash the children and they get married at tender ages. If these Bills are brought to Parliament, they will improve the lives of other people. We see children who are 14 years being married or 15 year old girls being married. If you look at the age of the person who has married that child, it is a person who is far older and who wants to use and abuse that child. It is taking a child and enslaving her.
So, we want those laws to come into play. We want them to come into Parliament and be debated so that we come up with good laws in order to avoid children being married at a tender age.
There is another Bill known as the Traditional Leaders’ Bill and the Rural Councils Bills. These are some of the Bills that we need to interrogate when they come into this august House. We need to scrutinise them and see how we can address the issue because our wealth is in the hands of councils and chiefs in our different communities. That will improve our livelihood.
I want to thank the President for his speech which is good and it encourages us as the legislators and for being such a visionary leader.
As MPs, we should appreciate this. I thank you.
HON. MUSANHI: Thank you Madam Speaker. I would like to congratulate our President, Hon. E. D. Mnangagwa for winning resoundingly in the elections – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] – that I think was the most democratic election held in this country. I would also like to congratulate the Speaker and his panel for winning resoundingly as well, though I was a bit shamed on the inauguration and swearing in of our Speaker. As Hon. Members, I think it is up to us to behave as Hon. Members.
It is important that as Hon. Members, we have got a lot of work that we are tasked to do by His Excellency, a lot of legislation that we need to line up with our Constitution. I think we need to take our business very seriously as we have been given the trust by the people who voted us to come to this Parliament. Hon. Members, I must remind you that it is very important that when voters look at us and our contribution here, it gives the picture that they have got someone representing them here.
We need to be united, both sides of the House so that we can be able to achieve what our President said. In order for us to achieve the goal that we are tasked for 2030, we need to be united and work together. We need to move together as Parliament and be able to deliver. Madam Speaker, the people of Bindura voted in their numbers and I do not want to be an embarrassing figure when I come here to represent them. I want to represent them so that they can see that they voted for someone who is coming to contribute in this House.
Our President touched on the issue of foreign currency, which I think is very important for our economy in order for industry to start moving. I think that if that intervention that was promised by our President in his address to this House is provided for, we will go a long way in supporting our industry. Our President mentioned quite a number of pieces of legislation that need to be brought to this House so that we can discuss about them and be able to move forward as a nation. I would like to think that as parliamentarians, we are supposed to talk together and be able to come up with a figure that we think is reasonable for our Constituency Development Fund. That figure will be able to sustain our constituencies.
Our President also touched on the issue of …
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order Hon. Members. May
the Hon. Member be heard in silence.
HON. MUSANHI: Our President also touched on the issue of agriculture, mining and – [AN HON. MEMBER: Engineering.] – yes engineering, you like it. We need to look at these strategic ministries so that they can be supported in this House and we can heckle but heckle constructively, not like touts at Mbare. We are Hon. Members and we should show the difference between the touts at Mbare and ourselves.
Madam Speaker, in Bindura we have no sign of cholera. We have done everything possible for our people. We have made water available in every ward. Our people and our schools access clean water. We have put up projects in line with the new curriculum of our education so that people can have projects and learn from those projects they are doing at school. Even when they leave school, they will be able to carry the projects from home. In Bindura, Madam Speaker, we are moving forward with development and alleviating poverty from our constituents. The only thing that is a thorn in flesh in Bindura is the Matepatepa Road that links Mt. Darwin. Whenever I think of that road, I fail to come up with a solution to it. I would like to thank you very much Madam Speaker for giving me time to express myself. I thank you.
HON. KABOZO: Thank you Madam Speaker for giving me this
opportunity to express myself. Firstly, I congratulate His Excellency for a resounding win and to all Members of Parliament who have made it into this august House. I also thank the people of Mt. Darwin South for voting me into this office. In His speech, His Excellency, Cde. E.D Mnangagwa promised that the multicurrency system will remain functional until the economy is stable…
Hon. Mataranyika having passed between the Chair and the Hon.
Member speaking.
HON. MADZIMURE: Madam Speaker, the Hon. Member who has just sat down had passed between you and the Hon. Member speaking.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order Hon. Member. Point of order noted. May the Hon. Member go back?
HON. KABOZO: In his speech, on the opening of the Ninth
Parliament, His Excellency President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa promised that the multi-currency system will remain functional until the economy is stable. He also promised to support small scale miners to boost production. I thank the President for his astute leadership. I thank you Madam Speaker.
HON. ZHEMU: I rise to add my voice to the motion which was moved by Hon. Kwaramba and seconded by Hon. Musabayana to thank the President for the State of the Nation Address which he gave. Let me start by congratulating our President, His Excellency Cde Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa for winning resoundingly on the 30th July, 2018 elections. I would not have done justice by not commending the President for opening a unique democratic space which has afforded us all to be in this august House today. – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] –
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order Hon. Members, Can
the Hon Member be heard in silence.
HON. ZHEMU: In his speech, the President spoke of Command
Agriculture, which to me is a success considering that agriculture achievements through Command Agriculture will lessen the burden which the country has always been grappling with. We have noted in the past that in times of droughts, the nation was burdened by importing food for the whole nation but with the efforts that we have already seen through Command Agriculture, it is commendable that Command
Agriculture continues. Currently, as a nation, we are a net importer but with the achievements of Command Agriculture that will see the nation correcting the Balance of Trade which is already not in our favour. My constituency Muzarabani, is an area in region 5 of the natural regions of the country which receives normal to below normal rainfall year-in and year-out. Now with the efforts of command agriculture, I think we stand to be the most beneficiaries of this intervention because we will stand good chances of having food all the time even when we do not have enough money to import because our silos are full as a result of this Command Agriculture intervention.
The President also spoke of the industrialisation of our economy, rehabilitation of infrastructure and modernising of our economy.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order, Hon. Member. What
is your point of order?
HON. S. BANDA: Madam Speaker, the Hon Member is reading
his speech.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: There is no point of order.
The Hon. Member is new in this House, so he is allowed to read.
HON. ZHEMU: I was saying that the President spoke of
industrialisation of the economy, rehabilitation of infrastructure and modernising the economy. The vision will help to improve the competitiveness of our goods and services on the international market. Currently, our goods are inferior because we are a labour intensive economy which accounts for most of the costs that our industries are incurring.
HON. SIKHALA: On a point of order Madam Speaker. I think
Hon. Deputy Minister Mutodi must understand the rules of this Parliament. He could not simply just walk before the Speaker without paying respect. He must move out, come back and bow before the Speaker.
Hon. Deputy Minister Mutodi having walked to his seat without bowing to the Speaker
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Your point of order has been
noted. Please may you comply?
Hon. Deputy Minister Mutodi walked out of the Chamber
HON. MADZIMURE: On a point of order Madam Speaker, the Hon. Member was asked by the Chair to go back and bow but he then walked out on you. This is total disrespect of the Chair.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! May we proceed? HON. ZHEMU: I was speaking about what the President said concerning modernisation of the economy. Where I come from – Muzarabani is a known cotton growing area and we stand to benefit much through the modernisation of our economy where we expect some investors to come to Muzarabani to do value addition of cotton. We also see opportunities in this drive of the President to modernise the economy because we can now have industries or firms that can come to invest in oil expressing and this will lessen the burden of our local shops who normally travel to big cities to look for oil. The drive will empower our local people to start some businesses whereby they can rebrand and thereby add to the local content of our goods in the economy. The value chain from cotton is actually impressive.
HON. MLISWA: On a point of order! I have been trying to follow the debate but my mind is refusing from a conscience point of view. Hon Mutodi must comply you said and in complying, it means he must come in and bow down. The precedence that you are setting in him not doing that totally renders this institution useless.
The Chief Whip must be implored to go and find him to come back because he is in contempt as you speak. We cannot allow people to be above the rules of Parliament. I know that he is new. I know that you are new but you must stamp your authority because I will equally do the same again without bowing. What does that make this House? The President said this is a sacred institution which has rules which must be followed.
My mind is not at peace sitting in this august House allowing somebody who has been told to comply and does not comply. I think we must have order and we must respect this institution or else Madam
Speaker, you too will not be respected by everyone here –[HON.
MEMBERS: Hear, hear]-.
[Hon. Mutodi entered the Chamber and bowed to the Chair]
HON. P. D. SIBANDA: On a point of order. I want to associate myself with the Hon. Member who just left the podium speaking about the need to respect this House without discrimination. It does not matter whether you were once pictured holding a cup written “I am the Boss” or not. When someone walks into this House, they have to be obedient to the rules of this House without exception. Hon. Mutodi should not try to come and advertise his proximity to the centre of power. He should not do that because the centre of power is not resident in Parliament. The centre of power is resident somewhere else at Munhumutapa Building. But when he walks in here he has to obey. I am sure the band is nowhere near here. This is not a singing platform where Hon. Mutodi can come in and start singing his failed songs. I thank you.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon. Member, you are out of
order. Please, can you sit down?
HON. ZHEMU: I was speaking about the modernisation of the economy and the benefits that accrues therewith. I was speaking of the opportunities that will be created through integration of cotton production in Muzarabani with expressing of oil and other products that can be produced. We will realise opportunities in cattle ranching and abattoirs opening their doors in Muzarabani. All that will culminate in job creation and also promotion of the local content which will reduce imports in the country.
The President also mentioned at length about mining. Yesterday when I was reading The Herald at the front page, it was inscribed
“Muzarabani Oil Imports Confirmed”. To that, I would want to commend the President for his speech to intensify on mining. Let me hasten to say at this juncture that even God himself has confirmed the presidency of Cde Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa. I will quote what the Bible says; 2 Chronicles 7 verse 14 says “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, call unto me and leave their sinful ways, I will heal their land”. This is actually significance or sign that God has started to heal this land as a result of Cde Mnangagwa’s presidency.
Whilst the President champions his mantra that Zimbabwe is open for business, let me also compliment his mantra by saying Muzarabani is also open for business. I thank you.
*HON. MUSAKWA: Thank you very much Madam Speaker. I
would like to add my voice to the motion raised by Hon. Kwaramba on the State of the Nation Address by His Excellency the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe. I would like to commend the mature and sobering speech given by His Excellency, by supporting the issue he raised regarding the need, and his vision to reform parastatals and state enterprises.
It is my submission that this is very important for the growth of our economy. Madam Speaker, our parastatals require urgent re-orientation so that they do not continue to become a drain on the fiscus. This is very important in reducing Government expenditure. I further want to commend the President on his Address regarding the issue of industrialisation and need for import substitution as that will help in reducing the current account deficit of the economy.
In his speech, he went on to raise the issue of plans to invest in establishment of innovation and research centers which will add to the success of the industrialisation thrust adopted by the Government. He mentioned the issue of renewable energy too. That is of much interest to me as it will help my constituency whose economy is partly driven by lithium which is mined in the area. I thank you Madam Speaker.
HON. SIKHALA: Hwavaa, hwavaa.
*HON. SAIZI: Thank you Madam Speaker, my name is Tapera Saizi from Muzarabani Constituency in Mashonaland Central. Let me begin by congratulating our President Hon.. E. D. Mnangagwa for his resounding victory in the just ended election. I also want to congratulate
ZANU PF party for winning the two-thirds majority in this august House.
Madam Speaker, in his speech in this House, he highlighted the plans for Government to focus on infrastructural development in this country. He particularly mentioned roads and buildings among others. In that regard, I want to say as Muzarabani, we appreciate this idea and may I state that we have already started repeating the promised fruits. St. Albert’s Road is already under construction and we already have internet facilities at St. Albert’s. It is the hope held by the people of Muzarabani that the road from St. Albert’s to Dotito would also be tarred. It is also the wish of people of Muzarabani that all people who were resettled in farms there get clean drinking water. Currently they are getting the water from rivers and dams but if possible, the Government should drill boreholes in these areas to improve access to clean water in the constituency as that is very necessary for their health.
It is another desire of the Muzarabani Constituency that they get assistance in building schools. Some of the infrastructure they are using as school classrooms are structures previously used as sheds and tobacco bans. These structures are not fit for such use by school children. I thank you Madam Speaker.
*HON. NYABANI: Thank you Madam Speaker. My name is
Tendai Nyabani from Rushinga Constituency. If you do not mention Rushinga in the history of the liberation struggle, you will not have spoken about Zimbabwe yet. Firstly, I want to congratulate His Excellency Hon. Mnangagwa for his resounding victory in the just ended election. Secondly, I want to further congratulate the Speaker of the National Assembly and his Deputy for being elected the Presiding Officers of this House. I also thank the new dispensation because had it not been for its efforts, some of us might not have been in this House. The President believes in leadership for the people and by the people and that is what has led us to get where we are now.
Madam Speaker, may I congratulate all Members of Parliament in this House for their win during the 2018 elections. In that, I applaud the President for upholding the rights of the people of Zimbabwe and it is my sincere hope that we will follow in his footsteps in respecting the different views of the different Hon. Members in this august House as they shall be debating.
The President has a visionary nature. He noted that his vision is to achieve an individual per capita income index of US$3 500 by 2030. The President articulated measures to achieve that and one of the measures is to facilitate the creation of more jobs for the people. I further want to support his decision to commit Government to build more schools and hospitals in the country. This is important because what is broadly prevailing in most parts of the country is a sad story. If such facilities were already in place, we could not have suffered from the outbreak of cholera the way it has happened at the moment. Be that as it may, it is evident that the President is concerned about the health of the people.
It is unfortunate that many schools at the moment do not have adequate human resources while some children are still travelling for long distances to the nearest schools. I want to thank the President for speaking about education and if he continues to deal with these issues, many challenges against our development will be alleviated.
I want to thank the Rushinga people for choosing me to bring forward their concerns. Let me further raise the issue of information technology mobile broadband. When we come to this House, you see people on their mobile phones and it is not that we want to play around with our mobile phones but it is just that we have broadband network here and we do not have the same facility in some of our constituencies.
The President highlighted the issue of mobile and road network infrastructure in all areas in the country and if that happens, most Hon.
Members will no longer be using their mobile phones in this august House. I want to thank him for that.
I also want to thank the President on the issue of agriculture. The President accedes to the fact that agriculture is the backbone of our economy. In that view, he reiterated that our land will be utilised for the greater benefit of our economy and I want to thank him for that. This will ensure that each and every individual is able to get food. I also want to applaud the President on the issue of availability of clean water to ensure that there is no cholera outbreak. It may sound like a broken record, but we want to thank the people who voted us to be in this House in order to address the challenges that people are facing in our different constituencies and not to come here to fight our own battles. That will not alleviate the poverty in our different constituencies. I want to thank you for this opportunity.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF INFORMATION, PUBLICITY AND BROADCASTING SERVICES (HON.
MUTODI): I move that the debate do now adjourn.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: The owner of the motion is
the one who adjourns the debate.
HON. SIKHALA: On a point of order Madam Speaker. The Hon. Member who is moving for the adjournment of debates did not attend this sitting. He is just in this House for five minutes but he wants to disrupt the business that was going well and he has no right to move a motion to adjourn the House – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.]- He has not been here. He is just here for five minutes just to come and adjourn business.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: There is no point of order. HON. KWARAMBA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. MLISWA: I do not know - in terms of the procedures of Parliament, when you have a Government Minister; I thought they are the ones who are supposed to move and not any Member of Parliament. I think it is important for us to follow the rules. I do not know. I remain guided by you Madam Speaker, but Hon. Mutodi stood up as a Minister and no one questions that. Yes, I think it is the Minister who has to do that – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.]-
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: The mover of the motion will
adjourn the debate and the Minister will adjourn the House.
HON. KWARAMBA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. MUSABAYANA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Tuesday, 2nd October, 2018.
On the motion of THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF
INFORMATION, PUBLICITY AND BROADCASTING
SERVICES (HON. MUTODI), the House adjourned at Eleven
Minutes past Four o’clock p.m. until Tuesday, 2nd October, 2018.