• Version
• Download 38
• File Size 350 KB
• File Count 1
• Create Date October 28, 2015
• Last Updated November 11, 2021

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY HANSARD 28 October 2015 42-19

PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE

Wednesday, 28^th October, 2015

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

PRAYERS

(THE HON. SPEAKER in the Chair)

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE HON. SPEAKER

ATTENDANCE BY MEMBERS IN PARLIAMENT

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

House to a matter of concern relating to attendance by Members of

Parliament. On the 29^th of July 2015, I raised a similar concern where I deplored a very worrying trend by some Honourable Members who only attend sittings for a short time before leaving the House.  Honourable Members have not taken heed of my concerns as evidenced by the fact that for two consecutive weeks, business of the House had to be interrupted due to lack of quorum.

On both occasions, there were less than 70 Members present in the

Chamber. The first incident of lack of quorum was raised on Thursday,

8^th October, 2015. Consequently, the order of the day that was under consideration had to fall off and had to be reinstated the following week. No sooner had it been reinstated, than another point of order drawing the attention of the Chair to a lack of quorum was raised on Wednesday, 14^th October, 2015. This was hardly a week later. As if this was not enough, on Tuesday, 27^th October, 2015 yesterday, the House had to adjourn prematurely as it had become clear that there was no quorum and proceedings under consideration could face the same fate as what happened last week. This is totally unacceptable.

Honourable Members have responsibilities to fulfill in terms of their representative, oversight and legislative roles. I also draw the attention of the House to Section 117 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, which provides for the nature and extent of the legislative authority, specifically that the legislative authority of Zimbabwe is derived from the people of Zimbabwe and is vested and exercised in accordance with the Constitution of Zimbabwe. I implored Honourable Members to recognise and respect the source of their authority, namely, the people of

Zimbabwe.

Honourable Members of this august House have been clamouring for Ministers and Deputy Ministers to attend Parliament. It therefore, follows that as Honourable Members, we should be leading by example through religiously attending sittings of Parliament and Committees. I also appealed to Honourable Members to demonstrate respect and appreciation of their constitutional obligations in serving the nation through parliamentary duties which require respect of the legislative authority that is derived from the people and the Constitution of Zimbabwe.  Hon. Members have been on record stating that Parliamentary business is paramount and needs to be diligently and conscientiously considered.  Criticism has been leveled by Hon. Members at the Executive whenever they fail to attend Parliament to answer questions concerning matters for which they are collectively and individually responsible for.  Your truancy flies in the face of all such criticism and negates your sincerity as it turns out that you are also not that duty conscious, yourselves as Hon. Members.

In taking oath of a Member of Parliament, you solemnly swear that you will bear true allegiance to Zimbabwe, observe all other laws and perform your duties to the best of your ability, but your continued absence from the Chamber constitutes dereliction of duty.  In this respect, you are shortchanging the very people that you purport to be representing.

In view of the foregoing, Parliament will consider directing the Committee on Standing Rules and Orders to come up with penalties to deal with errant behaviour by some Hon. Members.  Should these penalties be enforced, please never cry foul because you would have asked for it through your intransigency.  The Chair must protect the legislative authority of the people of Zimbabwe and our Constitution, the supreme law of the land be, so guided.

HON. MUTSEYAMI:  I have a point of order.

THE HON. SPEAKER:  Based on what?

HON. MUTSEYAMI:  Based on the absence of Ministers – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] – It is important to raise it because we have just faced the music …

THE HON. SPEAKER:  Order, order.  I am not accepting your point of order because you are trying to undermine my statement – [HON. MUTSEYAMI: Not at all.] – Yes, you are not supposed to reply to the Chair when I am responding to your point of order.  Some Hon. Ministers have given their apologies and I have noted them.  Quite a number of Ministers and Deputy Ministers are here to answer questions – [HON. MEMBERS:  Inaudible Interjections.] – Hon. Gonese, could you please take your seat.  Hon. Member, can you get out of the House, there is one Chair here.

Hon. Sithole left the Chamber.

ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

HON. CROSS:  My question is addressed to the Minister of

Primary and Secondary Education.  I would like him to outline to the House the policy of the Ministry regarding the operations of BEAM in 2016.

THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF PRIMARY AND

SECONDARY EDUCATION (HON. PROF. MAVIMA):  Thank you Hon. Speaker Sir.  The issue of BEAM is primarily the responsibility of the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Services.  So, it would be best for that specific Ministry to answer that question.  We only receive BEAM in support of the students but the allocation is actually to the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Services and not to us.

THE HON. SPEAKER:  Perhaps Hon. Cross, you might have to

put your question in writing to the relevant Minister.

HON. CROSS:  I will do so Mr. Speaker Sir.  So, there is nobody in the House who can answer the question?

THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF PUBLIC SERVICE, LABOUR AND SOCIAL SERVICES (HON. ENG. MATANGAIDZE):  Thank

you Mr. Speaker Sir.  The point that Hon. Cross is bringing across is, we have been behind in the disbursements of BEAM.  I am happy to say as we stand right now, we have managed to clear school fees up to the end of 2014 but 2015 is still outstanding.  From the look of things, it will be outstanding to the remainder of the year but the programme as it stands will continue.  You might also need to know that currently, we are running some exercises or audits to verify the authenticity of the beneficiaries of BEAM.  I thank you Mr. Speaker.

HON. CHITINDI:  Thank you Mr. Speaker.  My question is

directed to the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Services.

Minister, there has been instability at PSMAS, what is the Government’s level of engagement with PSMAS to make sure that there is stability at

PSMAS?

THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF PUBLIC SERVICE, LABOUR AND SOCIAL SERVICES (HON. ENG. MATANGAIDZE):  I

would like to thank the Hon. Member for his question.  Before I address his question, it may be important to just highlight the structure of the Board at PSMAS.

Currently, we have nine Board members there, three are appointed by Government; three are elected by the civil service and three are elected at an AGM of PSMAS.  Clearly from that, you will see that six out of the nine are falling directly under Government.  So Government’s fiduciary responsibility there cannot be overlooked.  Yes, Government has a clear interest in the running of PSMAS.

As we speak, there has been some intervention where four arbitrators have been appointed to give some stability to PSMAS.  It is in our best interest that PSMAS runs smoothly and we all look forward to that.  Currently, when we find that there are people who are taking Government Ministers to court; it is rather negative and retrogressive.  I think people should allow due process to happen and clearly there will be stability at PSMAS.  I thank you.

HON. MUNENGAMI:  My supplementary question to the Hon.

Deputy Minister is that recently, you reversed a decision whereby one of the Chief Executive Officers blew more than US$1.6million and the Board suspended him for further investigations.

Instead of doing the correct thing of allowing investigations to take place, you reversed that decision and wrote a letter to the suspended Chief Executive Officer for him to return to work.  May you explain the rationale behind that reinstatement?

THE HON. SPEAKER:  Hon. Deputy Minister, may you confirm that the matter is before the courts now from what we read in the papers?

HON. ENG. MATANGAIDZE:  Thank you Mr. Speaker, yes,

indeed the matter is sub judice.  It is before the courts as we speak.

THE HON. SPEAKER:  Sorry, if the matter is sub judice, we cannot discuss it now.  Let the court process take its course.

*HON. MUTSEYAMI:  Hon. Deputy Minister, we are all aware of the fact that PSMAS is in great financial problems.  As the Deputy Minister, may you please explain to this august House how PSMAS; that is in such financial dire straits can pay a certain amount of money into a

Minister’s personal account for the future free treatment of patients.  Is that the correct procedure of paying before receiving treatment?

HON. ENG. MATANGAIDZE:  You will appreciate that that is rather a specific question in relation to a – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] - specific individual to a specific case.  I would rather the Hon. Member puts that in writing to the specific Ministry that is involved.  I thank you.

THE HON. SPEAKER:  Hon. Minister, the import of the question is, is that Government policy to give loans by PSMAS to individual people?

HON. ENG. MATANGAIDZE:  Thank you Mr. Speaker, no, it is not Government policy.

HON. MUTSEYAMI:  If the Minister says it is not Government policy, how does it arise that the Minister is given a loan to his personal account for his private surgery, is it not corruption?  How does he qualify that; if the Minister can be very generous for the nation to hear the truth?

 HON. ENG. MATANGAIDZE:  It boils down to what I was talking about Mr. Speaker that it now becomes a very specific question because people will then need to delve into the merits of the matter to find out if the incident that he is alluding to actually happened.

I propose that the Hon. Member puts it in writing and investigations will be made.

*HON. MAPIKI:  My question is directed to the Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Hon. Chidhakwa.  May you please explain to this House what you have done with the disbursement of

US$100 billion targeting the small scale miners or artisanal miners?

THE MINISTER OF MINES AND MINING

DEVELOPMENT (HON. W. CHIDHAKWA):  The US$100 billion

facility is a facility that was extended to us by a Chinese bank through a supplier of equipment.  The discussions at the moment are that the facility must be underwritten by Sinosure; we understand that clearance at the provincial level of Sinosure in China has been granted.  We are waiting at the national level for Sinosure to give us the clearances.

At that point, once the necessary underwriting is done, then the facility will become available.  It is a facility that we are very keen about and we hope that it becomes available sooner rather than later.  I thank you.

HON. MAJOME:  My question is directed to the Minister of

Transport and Infrastructural Development, Hon. Gumbo.  Is it Government policy to put unlawful road traffic signals that is road traffic signals that have not been enacted in terms of the Road Traffic Act as well as relevant Statutory Instruments?

THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND

INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. DR. GUMBO):  I

want to thank the Hon. Member for asking that very important question.

Mr. Speaker Sir, it is not Government policy to put signs on the roads which, according to what she is telling me have no information that has to be imparted to the people.  But should that be the case, because this should be something that I can investigate, I would request the Hon. Member to put that in writing indicating the places where we have such signs so that I can investigate and give her a satisfactory response.

Basically, it is not Government policy to have signs of that nature.

I thank you.

THE HON. SPEAKER:  I am not allowing a supplementary question.  The Hon. Minister has been very precise, give him the exact location and the circumstances thereof, he will kindly investigate and correct action.

HON. MAJOME: But Mr. Speaker Sir, they are all over the…

HON. SPEAKER:  I have ruled.

HON. J. TSHUMA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. My question is directed to the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education.  What is your ministry’s policy in terms of conscientising parents and guardians in paying school fees to Government schools, bearing in mind that the Ministry has a very good policy of saying no child shall be sent away for not paying fees.  Now, we have realised that some parents have actually misquoted that to say that they will not pay school fees at all.  What is your policy in terms of conscientising these parents visa-a-visa - if you look at a Ministry like the Ministry of Health and Child Care which vigorously advertised for circumcising male people;  you could hear it from everywhere all the street corners, kuchecheudzva.  We now know kuchecheudzva even in Ndebele.  What is your policy to conscientise parents that they need to pay school fees so that schools do not get crippled in their operations?  Thank you.

THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF PRIMARY AND

SECONDARY EDUCATION (HON. PROF. MAVIMA): Thank you

Mr. Speaker Sir.  We have responded several times in this House on the issue of the non-payment of fees by parents. Basically, we have said that let us take it as a collective responsibility for everyone within the nation to ensure that parents pay the fees so that they do not confuse our push for the rights of the learners to education which is the basis upon which we have said learners should not be excluded from school if the parents have not paid.  We have said it should be a collective responsibility and we have even asked Members of this august House to work together with SDCs and SDAs and also to work traditional leaders within their own constituencies to try and send the message that the responsibility to pay school fees is not removed by the fact that the learners have a right to education.  I welcome his suggestion to say maybe we should do more in terms of public information.  It is something that I will take up with the Ministry to see if we can even go on a campaign to say people should pay the fees.  Thank you.

HON. SPEAKER: There is a part of the question which says, why do you not advertise like the Ministry of Health and Child Care?  You did not answer to that one.

HON. PROF. MAVIMA: Mr. Speaker Sir, this is why I said, I welcome the suggestion, that comparison with the Ministry of Health and Child Care.  This is why I said, I will take it up in the Ministry to see what we can do in terms of doing more social marketing to conscientise people about their responsibility especially, the parents and guardians on their responsibility to pay the school fees.

HON. MUNENGAMI: Indeed it is correct what the Minister has said in as far as conscientising the parents but as we all know, it is the right of every child to have access to education. The contract is between the parents and the school but we have had instances whereby certificates of those who would have finished their ‘O’ level or ‘A’ level would be held by the school authorities until they have paid such an amount.  What is the Government policy regarding those instances?

Thank you.

HON. PROF. MAVIMA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir and I want

to thank the Hon. Member for that question.  Again, it is an issue that we have discussed in this House and we have indicated that it is not Government policy to withhold the results.  It goes back to the contract between the parent and the school. Therefore, it is not Government policy.  Where it has happened, I would appreciate being given the information so that we can address that issue.

HON. J. TSHUMA: Thank you Mr. Speaker. While we were talking about paying fees and exams, Hon Minister what is your policy in terms of the Grade 7 examination fees payments?  I am now meant to understand that parents are made to pay for Grade 7 examinations when a student is in Grade 6 and eventually pay it off when in Grade 7.  Some parents do not understand that, they now think that a Grade 6 is now an examinable class.  What is your policy in terms of the Grade 7 examination fees payment?  Thank.

HON. PROF. MAVIMA: Thank you Mr. Speaker.  Indeed, we have made arrangements for people to start paying the examination fees for learners for their Grade 7 examinations in Grade 6.  We have even said those who prefer to start paying in Grade 5, they can do that.  The idea was to lessen the burden on the parents so that they do not find themselves paying the requisite $3 when the student is in Grade 7.  They can pay a dollar per year until the student is ready to write the examination.

I am happy to say that the response has been very good.  A lot of parents have paid for their learners when they are in Grade 6 and that money is ring fenced in an account and only becomes payable to ZIMSEC as an examination fee in the year in which the student is going to write.  His question also says, we need to give out more information about it so that people are not confused about when the actual examination is going to take place.  Again, it is a matter of just giving our information and publicizing to make sure that Grade 6 is not an examinable class.

HON. MAJOME: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.  My supplementary question to the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education is that, while students and their parents are paying the money for examination and you are ring fencing it, what guarantees is the Ministry putting in place to ensure that those examinations that they will have paid for will be safe and will not have leaked given the fact that apparently the System or mechanism that the Ministry had imported from south Africa has failed to work.  What is the Ministry doing to ensure that examinations do not leak any more when parents are paying for examination fees even for Grade 7?

HON. PROF. MAVIMA: Thank you Mr. Speaker and I would

like to thank the Hon. Member for that supplementary question.  We are happy as a Ministry that we have not had incidences this year, so far of breach of security of examinations -  Grade Seven, Ordinary and Advanced Levels. She is right to say that the technology system has not taken off.  That was mainly because of technical issues with the State

Procurement Board.

However, having said that, we have put in place a very enabling system of monitoring and making sure that the delivery of examination papers from ZIMSEC Head Quarters to the cluster points is thoroughly done through ZIMSEC’s own officers together with our PEDs and our DEOs.  Money has been made available for logistical purposes at the district as well as the provincial levels for this monitoring to take place.  We are seeing that so far it has yielded good results.  We hope that it continues like that until we have finished the examinations season.

Thank you.

HON. HARITATOS: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.  My question is directed to the Minister of Mines and Mining Development.  Hon. Minister, from 2009 up to now, Government has not paid the miners from Zimbabwe dollars up to the United States dollars.  A lot of mines have failed to re-open because of that.  Can the Minister of Mines and

Mining Development tell us when they are going to pay those miners?

THE MINISTER OF MINES AND MINING

DEVELOPMENT (HON. W. CHIDHAKWA): Thank you Mr.

Speaker.  I would like to thank the Hon. Member for asking that question.  I think that question borders between the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.  Fidelity, which is our gold buying company, falls under the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.  They are the sole buyers of gold in Zimbabwe.  All payments therefore, for gold delivered to Fidelity will be done by Fidelity as a subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ).  I think it will be better for the Hon. Member to direct his question to the Minister of Finance and Economic Development so that he can then ask the RBZ and Fidelity itself to provide the answer.  Thank you Mr. Speaker.

*HON. MATAMBANADZO: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir, for

giving me the opportunity to direct my question to the Minister of

Health and Child Care.   In his absence, to the Minister of Public

Service, Labour and Social Services.

THE HON. SPEAKER: Order, the Hon. Member must be clear in

terms of direction of the question.  To who is it directed? Moda kubvunza ani?

         *HON. MATAMBANADZO: Thank you Mr. Speaker.  I will

direct my question to the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Services.  What is Government policy regarding companies which stopped working because they have no money to operate?  I am talking of parastatals such as ZISCO which is in Kwekwe.  This company has closed down, the employees were told to stay put because they have experience in the running of this company.  These workers are not receiving any salaries.  Some of them are sick and others are dying.

As a Member of Parliament of that area, I have been involved in the burial of their relatives, even workers themselves.  I am pleading with the Government to make it easy for these unpaid employees to access medication when they are sick.  That can be done in form of a credit, when their company gets back to operation, they will repay the monies.  I am asking that they be given easy access to Government hospitals so that they can be treated.

*THE HON. SPEAKER: Your question Hon. Matambanadzo can

easily be responded to by two Ministries.  The Ministry of Health and Child Care and the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Services.  As a result I advise you to put your question in writing so that thorough investigation is done and you will get a suitable response.

HON. MUZONDIWA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.  My question

is directed to the Minister of Public Services, Labour and Social Services.  Minister, may I know the outcome regarding the issue of the audit – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] –

THE HON. SPEAKER: Order, can the Hon. Member be heard

please.

HON. MUZONDIWA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.  My question

is directed to the Minister of Public Services, Labour and Social Services.  Minister, may I know the outcome of the staff audit which was carried out in different Government Departments?  May I also know if there were any ghost workers found.  Thank you – [HON.

MEMBERS: Hear, hear.]-

THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF PUBLIC SERVICE, LABOUR AND SOCIAL SERVICES (HON. ENG. MATANGAIDZE): Thank

you Mr. Speaker Sir.  Yes, the Audit Report has been finalised.  From that Audit Report, the staff complement of the Public Service is slightly over 188 000.  Of that people who were physically on the job were about

157 000.  There is a figure of 160 000 that should, on paper, be accounted for – [AN HON. MEMBER: Aaah.] – Yes, the missing figure, the number that could not tally is a figure slightly over 3 500.  Yes, some of those people were not on their posts but have since come forward with proof that for genuine reasons, they were absent from their posts when the audit was carried out.  So, that verification exercise is ongoing as we speak right now.  I thank you.

HON. SARUWAKA:  Thank you Hon. Speaker.  My

supplementary question is that we have seen a lot of effort being put towards the education sector but we are all aware that the Ministry of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment is probably hundred percent occupied by ghosts or people who do not have the qualifications – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] -  So, I wanted to find out when his Ministry is going to do the verification specifically for the Ministry of Youth, Indigenisation and Empowerment and those in the security service sector.  You can see that even here at Parliament, I think there are more security personnel than the clerks, so when are they going to go into the security service sector and the

Ministry of Youth, Indigenisation and Empowerment?  Thank you.

THE HON. SPEAKER:  I have difficulties with that question about ghost workers; perhaps the Hon. Minister can address the question of ghost workers.

HON. ENG. MATANGAIDZE:  Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.  I

think I went at length to give the finer details of the employees and people who were not found on their work stations.  I gave that figure as just slightly over 3 500, if my memory serves me right.  So, the ghost workers that the Hon. Member is alluding to, they are certainly not in the Report we are talking about.  That Report, I can tell you was extremely detailed.

THE HON. SPEAKER:  Is the Hon. Minister saying the ghost workers could not be counted because they are ghosts, chipoko hachiverengeke.

         HON. ENG. MATANGAIDZE:  The point I raised was that 157 000 of the Public Service was accounted for.  The only number that was not accounted for was slightly over 3 500 – [AN HON. MEMBER:

What about 180 000.] – 180 000 those are the posts.  My point is, it is only 3 500 that could not be accounted for and the bulk of whom were in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education. I thank you.

Hon. Saruwaka having stood up to pose a supplementary question.

         THE HON. SPEAKER: That is sufficient; I am not entertaining any further supplementary questions.

*HON. CHIGUDU:  My question is directed to the Minister of

Health and Child Care – [HON. MUNENGAMI:  Minister havamo.] – hanzi varipo – [Laughter] -.  My question is that as mothers you know the challenges we face especially when we visit hospitals. We do not have money but we look after children and grandchildren, men are not there.  People who suffer from diabetics go to hospitals and are told to go and look for drugs from the pharmacy.   Mr. Speaker Sir, I have come from as far as Nyajena and I do not even know what a pharmacy is.  Hon. Minister, there are so many doctors in the urban areas, in the rural areas there are no doctors, can you bring us drugs in our nearby hospitals like Ndanga and Ngomahuru, so that we have drugs.  We are asking for medication – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.]

THE HON. SPEAKER:  Hon. Chigudu, the Minister is not

around.

HON. N. NDLOVU: My question is directed to the Deputy

Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare.  What policy is in place to improve the lives of families especially children born out of child marriages?  I thank you.

THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF PUBLIC SERVICE, LABOUR AND SOCIAL SERVICES (HON. ENG. MATANGAIDZE): Thank

you Mr. Speaker Sir.  The Government, through the Ministry, has some programmes in place particularly targeting the welfare of the disadvantaged children.  The current programmes which are actively running right now, the main one is called National Action Plan for  Orphans and Vulnerable Children (NAP for OVC).  Last year, there was a total disbursement of US$20 million towards that particular sector that you are talking about.

Part of the proceeds came from Government and some of the proceeds came from our partners in looking after the orphans and vulnerable children.  So, the programme, yes, it is ongoing and that is being administered through the Children’s Act.   

HON. SIMBANEGAVI:  We hear that your Ministry provides shelters to the victims of early child marriages and gender based victims.  How many shelters have been established so far and what services are you providing to the victims?

THE HON. SPEAKER: Sorry, that supplementary question does

not arise; it should be a written question.

*HON. MASAMVU: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir, I hope you have

had a nice day.  My question is directed to the Minister of Higher and

Tertiary Education Science and Technology Development. Is it

Government policy….

*THE HON. SPEAKER: He is not around.

*HON. MASAMVU: I am re-directing the question to the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education.

*THE HON. SPEAKER: Hon.  Member, be serious about what

we are doing in this House.

+HON. MISIHAIRABWI-MUSHONGA: Thank you Mr.

Speaker.  My question is directed to the Minister of Energy and Power Development.  Hon. Minister when you came to this House three weeks ago, you told us that the question is supposed to be directed to you.

Sorry Mr. Speaker, I had forgotten - my apologies.

You came to Parliament and told us that the electricity situation would become better.  However, we are not seeing this.  So, we are expecting you to let us know what is happening and to tell us if it is going to improve.  You also told us that we will have a schedule that will show us when electricity load shedding will be taking place.  What does this mean, will you please explain this to us?

THE MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER

DEVELOPMENT (HON. DR. UNDENGE):Mr. Speaker Sir, I am not

fully conversant with Ndebele but I think I have picked the sense of the matter.  As far as I understood her, the Hon. Member wants to know the position with load shedding.  I am sure the Hon. Member living in Zimbabwe, will bear testimony to the fact that we are now experiencing less load shedding hours than what previously obtained.

The measures which we have introduced for the past three weeks, mitigatory ones, have seen some areas which were deprived of electricity for many –[HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.]-  THE HON. SPEAKER: Order, order! Hon. Mushonga asked a very important question on energy and all of us are affected here.  So can you listen to the response by the Hon. Minister.

THE MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER

DEVELOPMENT (HON. DR. UNDENGE): Mr. Speaker Sir, I was

explaining to the Hon. Member that hours of load shedding have actually lessened when we compare with four weeks ago.  We have undertaken a number of measures over the past three or four weeks ago, to ensure that hours which people are exposed to, in terms of load shedding reduced and areas which previously went for many hours without electricity, that electricity has been restored to such areas.  We are continuing with the efforts to ensure that day by day we experience less and less load shedding hours.  It is an exercise which we are undertaking and I am sure everybody knows why we are in this position. It is because of the dropping water levels at the Kariba dam which are beyond any man’s control.  These are due to drought which was experienced in the catchment area.   As a Government, we have taken precautionary measures to ensure that there is electricity.  We are told that the Kariba dam continues to fall, by January 2016, power generated from there is going to be further reduced.  We are preparing for that eventuality, Mr. Speaker Sir.  I thank you.

THE HON. SPEAKER: Hon. Member, can you indulge the

Minister, if he has to appreciate your question, you speak in English.

HON. MISIHAIRABWI-MUSHONGA: I will just agree

however, it is painful. I understand Mr. Speaker but others speak in Shona and it is never a problem.

We received a message from ZESA yesterday, where ZESA was sincerely apologising that there is going to be an increase in load shedding outside the publicised schedule due to a technical fault in Hwange Power Station and low water levels at Lake Kariba.  Customers will be updated accordingly during the restoration process.

However, the Hon. Minister is telling us that it is getting better when your own ZESA, this is not me speaking, ZESA itself has sent this message to say it is going to be worse.

HON. DR. UNDENGE: Mr. Speaker Sir, I am glad that the Hon Member is mentioning that there has been a technical fault at Hwange Power Station which needs time to be rectified.  That is not a normal situation, when you have a technical fault, it is different from the normal trend.  A technical fault, usually there is loss of electricity hence you are bound to experience some long hours of darkness, that is not load shedding.

We should distinguish between load shedding and a technical fault; perhaps let me enlighten the House that a fault is not equal to load shedding.  If you have a fault, you can undergo total darkness. Load shedding is when normal power generation is reduced at Kariba due to dropping water levels that is what we mean Mr. Speaker.   I think the question arises from a misunderstanding of the difference between what is a technical fault and a load shedding; those two are technically different.  The low water levels, our generation continues at 475 megawatts during this period; until January that is when we will scale down.

The Zambezi River Authority has advised that our allocation of water from January will be reduced to 20 billion cubic metres but from now continuing up to January, we will produce at an average of 475megawatts. The Hon. Member is talking about what is going to happen in future. I thank you Hon. Speaker.

THE HON. SPEAKER: Is that a supplementary question Hon.

Maridadi?

HON. MARIDADI: It is not a supplementary question Hon.

Speaker, it is just a point of clarification. The Minister speaks as if the darkness which is brought about by load shedding is lighter than the darkness which is brought about by a fault. Darkness because of lack of electricity is darkness. If there is no electricity, there is no electricity and that is the point.

THE HON. SPEAKER: Order, order. I think there is some misunderstanding. The Hon. Minister of Energy and Power Development is very clear. The technical fault that has occurred is redeemable and it does not impinge upon the long term schedule which the Ministry has put in place. That is the distinction that the Hon.

Minister has made reference to.

HON. HOLDER: Thank you Hon. Speaker. My supplementary

question is directed to the Minister of Energy and Power Development. These turbines keep on breaking down and the equipment that is used, what lifespan did they have in the first place? Maybe they are outdated completely.

HON. DR. UNDENGE: Hon. Speaker, generally speaking, that is in common balancing the energy sector. A power station’s life is usually 25 years but you can extend that life through carrying out what are called extension repairs. You can give it another lease of 25 years. The Hwange Power Station phase one was built in 1983/84. The second phase was built in 1986/87 and it has undergone some life extension. Of course, technically speaking, it is overhauled after a certain period and refurbished now and again. When machinery is old, it does not perform the same way as it does when it is new and due to its old nature, we experience what are called frequent tube leaks. It has six units and on average we have between four and five units operating …

HON. MUNENGAMI: On a point of order Hon. Speaker. The

Hon. Member was very clear in his question. What is the life span, that was his question and we hope the Minister is able to answer that.

THE HON. SPEAKER: Order, your point of order is misdirected. The Hon. Minister gave a figure of 25 years and I think you were not listening. Hon. Minister, if you can conclude.

HON. DR. UNDENGE: Thank you Hon. Speaker. You are quite

right. The Hon. Member was not listening, he was busy talking to a friend. I have completed the answer to the question. I thank you –

[Laughter] –

         HON. MUNENGAMI: Those are second hand. It seems as if they were brought from Germany. They are actually outdated.

THE HON. SPEAKER: Order, order. Hon. Member! We are not

in a debating club. If you want a further point of clarification, you stand up and be recognised. Thank you.

*HON. MAKONI: My question is directed to the Minister of

Agriculture. What Government policy is in place that concerns contract farming? – [HON. MEMBERS: Ayenda]-

THE HON. SPEAKER: Hon. Mutseyami and Hon. Gabbuza,

may you please give other members a chance to ask their questions. You were given the chance and you have asked your questions. Let us give each other turns to ask questions. Hon. Mutseyami, how can you have a supplementary when the Minister is not available? You are saying supplementary and you are contradicting yourself. The Hon. Minister is not here.

HON. MUTSEYAMI: No, I want to ask a new question.

THE HON. SPEAKER: Hold on to your colleague.

*HON. TARUSENGA: Thank you Hon. Speaker. I am directing my question to the Minister of Energy and Power Development Hon. Undenge. We were informed that the Kariba wall is cracking and that there was need for water in the Kariba dam to be reduced. I am trying to prefix my question so that the Minister may understand me. My question is that the dam wall of the Kariba dam was said to be cracking and water levels had to be reduced. When are you going to repair the Kariba dam wall because high levels will lead to the cracking of the dam wall hence, these low levels of water? When are you going to repair the walls?

THE HON. SPEAKER: That is not a policy question.

*HON. MUTSEYAMI: Thank you Hon. Speaker for giving me

the opportunity to ask a question. I am directing my question to the

Minister of War Veterans, War Collaborators, Former Political

Detainees and Restrictees, Hon. Mutsvangwa. May you please explain to this House so that we know of the Government policy regarding war veterans because of the way which they are living after participating in such a war? Some of them suffered post traumatic stress and they need

to be attended to. With time, that illness is getting to unacceptable levels….

HON. ZINDI: On a point of order Hon. Speaker.

THE HON. SPEAKER: What is the point of order?

*HON. ZINDI: My point of order is the fact that the Hon.

Member is saying the war veterans are mentally retarded – [HON.

MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] – I am addressing the Chair.  The Hon. Member said the war veterans are mentally retarded because of participating in the war of liberation.  I am one of the war veterans and I know that I am mentally fit, I am not retarded. May the Hon. Member withdraw that statement.

THE HON. SPEAKER: Order! Order!  Let the Hon. Minister deal with the question accordingly.  Can you complete your question Hon. Mutseyami.

*HON. MUTSEYAMI: Thank you Hon. Speaker.  For the reason that the war veterans were at the war front, sometimes they saw unpleasant things and some became mentally disturbed.  I would like to ask the Hon. Minister of Welfare Services for War Veterans, War

Collaboration, Former Political Detainees and Restrictees, what the Ministry is doing – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.] – I will speak in English.

Hon. Speaker, my question to the Hon. Minister is basically to do with the war veterans.  We have seen war veterans in and outside the city, in the peri-urban and the rural areas who have a challenge of being traumatised as a result of what they went through during the liberation struggle.  What is Government policy with regard to specific rehabilitation of the war veterans – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] – in the rural areas, bearing in mind that coming to town is a challenge?  If we can have counseling centres and post-traumatic stress centres – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] – I thank you.

THE MINISTER OF WELFARE SERVICES FOR WAR VETERANS, WAR COLLABORATION, FORMER POLITICAL DETAINEES AND RESTRICTEES (HON. C. MUTSVANGWA):

Thank you very much Mr. Speaker Sir.  I would like to recognise Hon.

Mutseyami’s question and acknowledge his clear concern about the war veterans, in particular, the issues that arise from taking part in conflict situations.  For instance, the victimization that arises out of the peculiar circumstances of violent conflict like the one which the country underwent, particularly from the 1960s until victory in 1979.

It is common knowledge that war is a terrible thing because it causes loss of life and damages the body.  In our instance, for those survivors, some of them were victims of experimental biological warfare by the Rhodesian Army where people were victims of napalm.  I escaped cyanide poisoning whilst about 8 members of my colleagues perished after wearing jeans which were laced with cyanide.  On sweating, these comrades all died.  I missed that group because I was elsewhere, I could have worn those jeans.

Chemical warfare was rife on the part of the Rhodesians because they wanted to make up for their inferior numbers to those of the liberation war fighters who were in bigger numbers.  However, beyond that, there were issues to do with napalm bombing from the Rhodesian army in an encounter with the Rhodesian Air force.  There was also biological warfare on the part of the Rhodesians.  There are the infamous cases of the South Africans like ‘Dr. Death’, who were part of the Rhodesian network of chemical warfare.

Obviously, all these things do affect the body, even in the aftermath of the war.  There is also the mere trauma of being involved in combat and surviving where you witness the death of so many people dying.  Therefore, it is true that we do have these cases.  With the way our independence was won, the efforts at post independence, consolidation of our national sovereignty, a lot of these issues were not adequately addressed from the onset.  We were an experimental demobilization state and things which have been done for other countries in post-conflict were not done in Zimbabwe.  So there is an issue arising from what the Hon. Member has said.

I am happy to say that we now have a Ministry which is addressing these issues.  The President has seen it fit to have a dedicated Ministry because he is very alive to these issues which arose from these circumstances.  The issues which arise are the expense and the expectations of what the Ministry can deliver, vis-à-vis, the resources which are available.  Everybody knows that our economy has not been doing well.  We have been a victim of sanctions and many other ailments by our traditional economic cooperating partners.

However, the good thing is that we are now having an engagement and hopefully the fortunes of this economy will start to improve.  It is then that we will begin to have adequate resources. Meanwhile, I keep canvassing the Minister of Finance and Economic Development to do what he can.  Beyond that, we are now working with some of the embassies of those countries which were inimical to working with the war veterans, they are coming on board.  Some of these countries have a lot of experience because they have been involved in many wars since the First World War.

We are hoping that we can tap into their expertise to deal with the disorders which are being referred to.  The response which we are getting, even from the western embassies, is good.  I hope that in due course, the European Union may for the first time consider including the issues of the war veterans in its indicative programmes.  These issues of welfare and post war trauma nature can be addressed.  I am also working on war veterans memorial hospitals, the Cabinet has approved it.  I am happy to say, just yesterday, His Excellency, the President, was with our Indian partners in New Dehli.

We are very grateful that one of the largest Indian companies if not the largest civil contracting company is keen to be associated with war memorial hospitals for the war veterans.  His Excellency is avidly following this matter and the Minister of Finance and Economic Development is also coming on board.  Once we have those hospitals, which will be open to everyone, we may also have a section dedicated to the issues which have been raised by Hon. Mutseyami.

On that note, I would like to say, we are very live to what you have raised.  I am confident to say that it is better late than never.  These issues have not been properly addressed, 35 years into independence but now we are rising to the occasion.  I hope that in the fullness of time and the shortest possible time, we should be having something satisfactory coming to the House to the satisfaction of Hon. Mutseyami and other Hon. Members.  Thank you very much Mr. Speaker.

Hon. Wadyajena having stood up to ask a supplementary question.

THE HON. SPEAKER: How does the supplementary arise?  I thought the Hon. Minister’s response is very comprehensive.  The Hon.

Minister’s response was very comprehensive.

*HON. A. MNANGAGWA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.  I direct my question Minister of Primary and Secondary Education.  We have perennial problems of leakages of examination papers.  What has the Ministry done in trying to stop these leakages and we believe that whosoever is convicted of leaking these examinations should be punished so that they set an example so that nobody would do it again.

*THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF PRIMARY AND

SECONDARY EDUCATION (PROF. MAVIMA): Thank you Mr.

Speaker Sir for giving me the opportunity.  We dealt with this question on these examinations.

We have now adopted a new technology which we are going to use.  If the examination papers are opened on the way at the wrongful place, there is going to be some mechanism which is going to alert the powers that be at the head office.  That is the first instance.  On the second one, we have set up a tracking team which will follow the way these papers will be going through so that we know where the papers are passing through and which avenues. The third step that we have taken is that the sentence for a convicted person who would have led to the leakages of examinations should be severe so as to act as a deterrent.

THE HON. SPEAKER:  There is so much enthusiasm in terms of

the questioning and I have been given a number of names here in their order.  I was following that order so in future to minimise oral questions, may we put our questions in writing so that we balance between oral and written questions?

Questions Without Notice were interrupted by THE HON.

SPEAKER in terms of Standing Order No. 64.

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE HON. SPEAKER

PREBUDGET SEMINAR INFORMATION CIRCULARS

THE HON. SPEAKER:  I have a very important announcement.  All members of Parliament are advised to collect information circulars pertaining to the Pre-budget Seminar from their pigeon holes as soon as the House has adjourned.  May I request hon. members to apply yourselves to read any information that has been put in the pigeon holes and I do not want to be embarrassed at the Pre-budget Seminar there if I begin to ask certain questions and you appear not to have read the information sheet.

ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS WITH NOTICE

ALLOCATION OF HOUSING COMMONAGE STANDS BY

CHIREDZI TOWN COUNCIL CHAIRMAN TO JUSTIN

CHAUKE CO-OPERATIVE

1. HON. CHIWA asked the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing to state the circumstances that led to the allocation of fifty (50) housing commonage stands by Chiredzi Town

Council to Justin Chauke Cooperative owned by Chiredzi Town Council Chairman and explain how the Government and Council are going to benefit from such an arrangement?

THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT, PUBLIC WORKS AND NATIONAL HOUSING (HON.

CHINGOSHO):  Mr. Speaker Sir, I am pleased that the Hon. Member has asked this question.

Some hon. members having stood up and going out of the House.

THE HON. SPEAKER: Order, order.  Hon. Members, those who

are moving out let not the axe fall on you.  Can the Minister be heard in silence please?

HON. CHINGOSHO:  Mr. Speaker Sir, the commonage stands

were allocated by the Ministry and the stands are to be paid for.

Government therefore will get revenue and the council will get rates.

The Council’s waiting list for housing will be reduced by 50 percent.  I thank you.

HON. ZVIDZAI:  Mr. Speaker, I am surprised that Central Government would go and engage in the business of delivering stands in local authorities.  I seem to read a contradiction here.  My supplementary question is relevant to the fact that Government actually goes to a local authority and does a local authority’s work because within the purview of Chiredzi Town Council, it is the Council that must be delivering stands to the people.  What Government is busy doing is interfering with the work of a local authority and we notice that it is happening all over the country.

HON. CHINGOSHO:  I want to thank the Hon. Member.  First and foremost I would like to bring to the attention of the Member that, local authorities are under Central Government and whatever they will be doing, it would be on behalf of Central Government.  Also, the land is State land.  So, whenever Government finds it necessary to come in and do what it did in this instance, it is within its jurisdiction.  Thank you.

HON. CROSS:  I would have thought by now Madam Speaker that the Hon. Minister would have had time to read the Constitution because what he has just enunciated today is a direct contradiction of the devolution principles that are enunciated in the Constitution.  It is not the

Ministry’s responsibility.  It is the local authorities who have dispensation today under the new Constitution and he is not recognising that fact.

HON. CHINGOSHO:  Thank you Madam Speaker.  I want to

thank the Hon. Member for raising that point.  I want to repeat again that yes the Constitution says so, but it does not bar Central Government from coming in wherever it finds necessary.  So in this instance in Chiredzi, it was found necessary that it be done so.  Thank you.

HON. CHIWA: My supplementary question is that, Hon. Minister, are you saying this arrangement was a proper arrangement given that the housing policy that was announced here in September 2014 – we expected that a cooperative should actually be giving Government 10% of the commonage stands but in this case, it is vice versa. It is Government which is giving a cooperative…

THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order Hon. Member. Can I

guide you please? Can you put your question in writing so that the Hon. Minister can research –[HON MEMBERS: Inaudible interjections.]- Yes, I am guiding and I am agreeing with the Minister. Can we go to question number 2 please?

EXPANSION OF BULAWAYO CITY TO THE 40KM PEG

2. HON. MPALA asked the Minister of Local Government, Public

Works and National Housing to state when the Ministry will expand

Bulawayo City to the 40km peg as per the proclamation by His

Excellency, the President Cde. R. G. Mugabe in 2004?

THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT, PUBLIC WORKS AND NATIONAL HOUSING (HON.

CHINGOSHO): Thank you Madam Speaker, I want to thank the Hon Member for asking the question on the expansion of Bulawayo City to the 40km peg. Let me inform the House that although no work has started, the issue is being addressed by my Ministry and according to the

Ministry’s plan, the actual implementation will start in 2016.

THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Hon. Minister, address

the Chair and do not respond to what the Hon. Members are saying. Just address the Chair and stick to your answers.

HON. CHINGOSHO: The actual implementation is going to start

in 2016. However, I would like to quickly point out that there is no such Presidential Proclamation being mentioned. I thank you.

HON. ZINDI: Thank you Madam Speaker. My supplementary

question follows that the Minister’s response indicates that the implementation will only start in 2016, may the Minister explain the delay of why it has taken so long and we have yet another year to go in order for the implementation of the 40km peg expansion. What is the reason?

HON. CHINGOSHO: I would like to thank the Hon. Member for

the supplementary question. I would like to point out that one of the reasons for the delay is finance. The second reason again is that, as you are aware the Ministry is under restructuring. Some of the divisions are going to the new Ministry of Rural Development and Preservation of Culture and Heritage.

HON. GABBUZA: The question is about expansion of Bulawayo

to the 40km peg whatever that means. The Minister says there is no funding, what is it that he really wants expanded? Is it the handing over of land or the construction of buildings or the putting of the boundary?

What does the Minister intends to do which is going to start in 2016?

HON. CHINGOSHO: I want to thank the Hon. Member for

asking the question. The delay is caused by the fact that expansion involves adding more land to Bulawayo City. The process is that the land first of all is acquired by Ministry of Lands and Rural Resettlement and after having been acquired, then it will be handed over.

THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon. Minister, address the

Chair please.

HON. CHINGOSHO: It is both the monetary problem but mostly

as you have rightly pointed out, it is the process itself where the land, first of all has to be acquired by Ministry of Lands and Rural Resettlement and then handed over to the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing and then handed over to Bulawayo City.

HON. WATSON: Could the Minister actually clarify the question of the acquisition of the land on the boundary of Bulawayo City because some of it is actually already acquired by the Ministry of Lands and Rural Resettlement. Therefore, I do not quite understand why there is a delay. Can the Minister also assure us that those people who have already formed peri-urban communities in those areas will not simply be left homeless?

HON. CHINGOSHO: I would like to thank the Hon. Member for

that supplementary question. First and foremost, when that land is acquired, it is going to benefit the people resident around that area. Secondly, the land was acquired already but having been acquired is not enough to just acquire and then you start the implementation of the project. I am saying the process of handing over that land finally to the

Bulawayo Municipality had not been concluded.

BENEFICIATION OF MINERALS

7. HON. CHIRISA asked the Minister of Mines and Mining Development to explain the measures put in place to ensure that the beneficiation of minerals such as gold, platinum and chrome among others is expedited?

THE MINISTER OF MINES AND MINING

DEVELOPMENT (HON. W. CHIDHAKWA): Thank you Madam

Speaker and let me thank the Hon. Member. Let me say that in as far as gold is concerned, we beneficiate our gold up to about 95.6% purity into gold bars that are then exported out of Zimbabwe.

What is critical for us is to say, when we have got the refined gold, what can we do with it?  I want the Hon. Member and this House to know that I spent some time just looking at the jewellery that is made out of gold and the majority of it, African gold, when you go to Belgium.  The jewellery that is made is amazing and what we have done now is that, we have presented to Cabinet and Cabinet has approved a raft of incentives that are targeted towards value addition of our gold and diamonds into finished commodities for the markets.

These incentives relate to the provision of knowledge because what is critical when you are going to do that, the gold you have, but what is critical is in fact, the knowledge to be able to make such jewellery out of the mineral that we have.  This is something that we are very keen to do and we hope that it can succeed.

I also want to just say that on the platinum side, you know that at the beginning of 2015, we had imposed a 15% tax on the export of nonbeneficiated platinum, meaning the concentrate.  We insisted that we wanted our platinum to be exported as platinum matte and subsequently as refined platinum.  We went into a discussion with the companies; first and foremost, let me say that Zimplats has got capacity to beneficiate, meaning that it has got the furnaces to create the platinum matte.

Therefore, this 15% was not going to affect them.  It was going to affect primarily, Unki and Mimosa.  We went into discussions with them; they have now agreed that by 2016, they will have setup their own smelters particularly in the case of Unki; who have now announced and it is contained in their financial statements that they will in fact establish their own smelter.

Let me just say something about our chrome.  You know that we have beneficiated our chrome mostly from raw chrome to high carbon ferrochrome to low carbon ferrochrome and ferro silicon chrome.  We export it in that form, we have got about 12 smelting companies in Zimbabwe.  As we were introducing the export of raw chrome out of the country, we also gave a condition to the smelting companies that they will not be able to export raw chrome unless they fulfill their production capacity in the smelters.

So, we continue to insist that the companies must first and foremost, fulfill their smelting capacity then they will be allowed to export raw chrome.  Basically, that is what we have been doing on the value addition of our minerals.

HON. CHIRISA:  I would like to thank the Minister for a comprehensive response but I also want to find out from the Minister whether we have the capacity, in terms of human resources and the infrastructure for us to benefit more in terms of finished products?  Also, is there a monitoring and evaluation mechanism in place?

HON. W. CHIDHAKWA:  The Hon. Member is right, you

cannot beneficiate or value unless you have the skills.  We have started a programme to establish, at the school of mines, an additional programme for beneficiation and value addition.  This is specifically for diamonds.  We have agreed with an international company which itself is doing value addition of diamonds, gold and other minerals into the international markets.

We have agreed with them that they will train our trainers and our trainers will now come back to the school of mines where we will add another discipline over and above the geology, the mining engineering and the metallurgy.  We will now have beneficiation and value addition studies at the school of mines in order to broaden the capacity and skills capability of our young people.  It is a critical matter and Government has actually extended incentives.

We are in discussion also with the Indians to see if the Chinese on the one hand are coming, the Indians can come and the Italians have also indicated a capacity and desire to assist us in establishing our own design school, design of diamond and gold jewellery.  They have promised to assist us in that respect, thank you Madam Speaker.

THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER:  I will take that supplementary question but Hon. Members, if I may ask the whole House.  The Hon. Minister is giving an answer yet some people are busy having meetings in this House – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!] -  Do you not want to know what is happening in the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development?

This is the reason why you keep asking supplementary questions because you are not listening to what the Minister is saying.  Hon.

Members, I think we should be very serious on the business of the House.

HON. NDUNA: Thank you Madam Speaker and also thank you

Madam Speaker for keeping Mutseyami quiet – [HON. MEMBERS:

Hon. Mutseyami!] – Hon. Mutseyami, I am sorry Madam Speaker, I would definitely, as the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Transport and Infrastructural Development, want this raw chrome that is being spoken about to be transported by rail as it is exported.

However, my question to the Minister, he spoke about the raw chrome exports, I need to know when this raw chrome export is beginning or starting.  He has also spoken in his other response about the special purpose vehicle that has been formulated.

My question exactly is, when are we likely to start exporting this raw chrome even if my wish says, may you please export it via the rail

…

THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER:  Order, order!  Hon. Member,

have you read what the original question is saying?

HON. NDUNA:  Sorry Madam Speaker, my responses are arising from the answer that he gave.

THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER:  There is a question about the

beneficiation of minerals but you are talking about exporting of the raw chrome.

HON. NDUNA:  It is arising from the answer that he gave Madam

Speaker.

THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER:  No, supplementary questions

arise from the original question.  May you please resume your seat.

HON. ZINDI:  My supplementary question is arising from the response by the Minister - [AN HON. MEMBER: Inaudible

interjection.] -

THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER:  We want supplementary

questions from the original question so that we move to other questions.

HON. ZINDI:  Yes, it is emanating from the original question.  In general, I am in agreement with his response in terms of beneficiation but in terms of policy enunciation, in terms of actually having to announce the policy so as to be embraced by the industry in terms of beneficiation. What steps has the Minister undertaken to do, also in tandem with His Excellency’s enunciation of beneficiation on the AU agenda?  What steps have been taken by the Minister?

HON. W. CHIDHAKWA: Thank you Madam Speaker and I

would like to thank Hon. Zindi for that supplementary question. We had two things that we needed to do.  The first was to put in place a policy on beneficiation and value addition.  The second was amendments to the Mines and Minerals Act.  We started off with the policy and as we were going through the policy, we realised that we needed to appreciate what was in our current legislation and what needed to be changed in our current legislation for the purposes of moving the mining sector.  We created a preliminary draft of the policy.  I hear you when you say that the policy must come and inform the legislation but because of the pressures that were there, to change certain things in the law, we found ourselves concentrating a lot on the amendments to the Mines and

Minerals Act.

This is not to say we have abandoned the policy debate that we had started; a consultant had already finished working on the draft and we had started the debate on it but we had to do the Mines and Minerals Act first in order to deal with urgent issues that would help us move forward.

I hear the Hon. Member; we continue to want to do the policy.  There is the policy on the broader mining sector and there is the policy on specific minerals such as the policy on diamonds and coalbed methane gas and so on and so forth.  These are things that we have and we need to finalise.  It is just that we need to look at the Mines and Minerals Act.

CORPORATE TAX AND DIVIDENDS FROM MARANGE

DIAMOND PROCEEDS

8. HON. MARIDADI asked the Minister of Mines and Mining

Development

1. how much money Treasury has received ever since diamonds were discovered in Marange in terms of corporate tax and dividend;
2. to explain the merits of merging companies before they have met their obligations to local communities;
3. if the companies have finally complied with their obligations to

Community Share Ownership Schemes

 THE MINISTER OF MINES AND MINING

DEVELOPMENT (HON. W. CHIDHAKWA): Thank you Madam

Speaker and I would like to thank Hon. Maridadi for the question. The question as it relates to matters of collection of corporate tax and other taxes are matters that reside on the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.  They would ordinarily tell us how much they have collected in the Budget and in the Finance Act.  I am not able to deal with that one.

With regard to dividends which are declared by the companies, I want to advise this House that since the discovery of diamonds in Marange except in the case of Murowa, the dividends that were declared to Treasury amount to $259 452 422. This is the dividend that has been declared out of companies operating in Marange.

The second question Madam Speaker, related to the merger of companies in so far as it impinges on the rights of the Community Share Ownership Trusts.  Let me advise this House that the model that we have created for merging the companies must of necessity assume that the successor company must inherit both the assets and liabilities of the companies that are being merged.  What that means is that if a company comes into the consolidated company, that company has assets and liabilities and has commitments that it has made. All these will be consolidated and brought into this one company.  This one company must therefore, honour the commitments that were made by the successor companies.

I want to assure our communities out there that the process of consolidation itself does not do away with the commitment of Community Share Ownership Trusts that are in place.  This company will also be subject to the laws of Zimbabwe in so far as the laws relate to Community Share Ownership Trusts.  This company must, after being established, take care of communities in the same way if not better than what the individual companies were going to do.

The third part of the question, Madam Speaker, is a question that I think does not lie within my purview. It is a question that lies within the purview of the Minister Ministry of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment.  I would be more comfortable if the Hon. Member referred the question to the respective Minister.

HON. TOFFA: Thank you Madam Speaker.  I would like the Hon. Minister to advise whether his Ministry has now got a structured format for start-up mining companies.  I ask this question because in our meetings with the Ministry, we found that there was no structured format with regards to social responsibility.

THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon. Member, is it arising

from the original question?

HON. TOFFA: Sorry Madam Speaker, yes the Minister was talking about social responsibility and making sure that when companies merge they will be responsible for the social responsibility, if I heard him correctly.

THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: I think it is the same as (c) which has been referred to the Ministry of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment because the responsibilities of ownership schemes are under that Ministry. 

AWARDING OF THE REFURBISHING CONTRACT ON

HARARE CITY ROADS

15. HON. CHIRISA asked the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development to state whether due diligence was done before awarding the contractor refurbishing city roads in Harare, in view of the fact that the recently resurfaced roads already have potholes and melting tar.

THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND

INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. DR. GUMBO):

Thank you Madam Speaker.  I want to thank Hon. Chirisa for asking that question.  The answer to the question is that the refurbishing of city

roads in Harare is being done in-house by the City of Harare maintenance units who are the responsible authority.  Further questions on this project could therefore be directed to the relevant Ministry which is the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing so that they can get the information from the City Council, then the Hon. Member can be fully answered.

The sections done by Group Five along Samora Machel as part of the Plumtree – Harare – Mutare rehabilitation project which were developing potholes and melting tar have since been attended to by Group Five.  I thank you.

HON. PHIRI:  The Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing is responsible for local authorities but the money comes from ZINARA which falls under the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development.  What measures are you putting in place in these cities and towns to make sure that the money that you are giving them is not being used for other things?  Madam Speaker, what might be happening is that the local authorities might not be using the money for the purpose that your Ministry is intending the money to be used for.

1. GUMBO: The Hon. Member is right that the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development is responsible for acquitting funds to the local authority and to the urban councils through ZINARA, but the supervision of that money and how that money is going to be used is the responsibility of that road authority. I thank you.

MEASURES TO CURB ACCIDENTS CAUSED BY CATTLE

ALONG BULAWAYO-SHANGANI HIGHWAY

16. HON. MPALA asked the Minister of Transport and

Infrastructural Development to state measures his Ministry has put in place to minimize accidents caused by cattle along the Bulawayo – Shangani highway.

THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND

INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. DR. GUMBO):

Madam Speaker, a lot of traffic accidents have been happening on the

Bulawayo – Shangani stretch of the road.  The majority of the accidents are as a result of stray animals being hit by vehicles especially during the night.  The Traffic Safety Council embarked on a programme of targeting cattle and donkeys with reflective materials and branding the animals which identifies the owner of the animal along the section of the highway.  This has resulted in the reduction of accidents.  The standard for all our highways is that there should…

THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER:  Oder, order, Hon. Members

at that corner there, stop that meeting.

HON. DR. GUMBO: Madam Speaker, the standard for all our highways is that they should be fenced off to prevent random movement of people and animals on the road.  The fence that goes along the highway was vandalised and its replacement has been hampered by none availability of funds.  As soon as the levels of funding permit, we will improve fencing along that road and also even amongst other roads as well because this is a cause of concern for the Ministry.  I thank you.

HON. J. TSHUMA: Thank you Madam Speaker.  My

supplementary question to the Minister is, while you have alluded to the fact of fencing to try and curb the animals from coming onto the roads, we have got another new problem now.  Your Ministry had done very well by putting reflectors on our highways, so it was so visible you could see.  But now, I have discovered; because I am one of the drivers who drive along that road, I have discovered that these reflectors are being stolen and you can actually go through a patch of the road without the reflectors anymore now.  What is your Ministry doing to try and monitor somehow to make sure that probably there is a vehicle that goes around to check on such things because they happen during the night, obviously?

HON. DR. GUMBO:  Thank you Madam Speaker.  I want to

thank Hon. Tshuma for that question, but I would like to say that his concerns are also my concerns.  The issue that people go about removing fences and reflectors is something that I think every citizen should be concerned about.  It can be very difficult; whilst I take the advice, if funds were permitting then we can have a patrolling vehicle so that people do not remove those reflectors from the roads but definitely, it is something that I think every member and citizen should be concerned about, but it is very difficult.  I can take the advice but it is something that is very difficult to implement.  I thank you.

HON. MUTSEYAMI:  On a point of order Madam Speaker. I

asked the same question about three weeks ago to the Deputy Minister who was present and his response is quite contrary to the response that the Minister has just availed.  The Deputy Minister, then said, they will change the type of the reflectors to have new reflectors which are not made out of aluminium.  So, I do not know whether his response was not in correspondence with the Minister or it was just shooting from the bush.

THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER:  I think you are at an

advantage now, here is a Cabinet Minister we are talking to.  So, that question has helped the whole House.  We have the Cabinet Minister to give us the answer.

PROGRESS ON DUALISATION OF THE KADOMA-NORTON

HIGHWAY

17. HON. NDUNA asked the Minister of Transport and

Infrastructural Development what progress has been made on the Development Bank of Southern Africa Loan facility of US$147 million for the dualisation of the Kadoma-Norton Highway.

THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND

INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. DR. GUMBO): 

Thank you Madam Speaker.  For the benefit of my colleague Hon. Mutseyami, when I read the response by my Deputy Minister, he had said he was going to investigate. That is the answer that was given.  I am still saying we are not contradicting each other, because if it is another plan to bring in something that can be permanent, there is no contradiction at all. I answered the question of thieving and of removing,

I do not think there is any contradiction between myself and my Deputy Minister.

Thank you Madam Speaker.  Pertaining to question number 17, the

Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) agreed to increase the

Plumtree-Mutare project loan, by US$147 million to cover dualisation of the Kadoma-Norton section.  One condition of this extra amount was that the Government must increase the fuel levy by two cents per litre, for which concurrence of the Ministries of Finance and Economic Development and Ministry of Energy and Power Development, was supposed to be obtained. This is yet to be done.

There is also currently some internal discussion on the priority of this road, compared to other such roads as the Beitbridge-HarareChirundu and Harare-Nyamapanda roads.  I thank you.

CONSTRUCTION OF THE BEITBRIDGE-CHIRUNDU

HIGHWAY

18. HON. NDUNA asked the Minister of Transport and

Infrastructural Development, what progress his Ministry has made in the construction of the Beitbridge to Chirundu highway; and further state:

• What will be the local contractors’ involvement in this project?
• What loss the project is expected to make;
• When the project ground breaking ceremony and commencement is expected to be?

THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND

INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. DR. GUMBO):

Thank you Madam Speaker.  Proposals for the Beitbridge-HarareChirundu road are being assessed and it is expected that Government will make an announcement very soon.

As regards to the cost of the project, it is estimated at US$2 billion and also as regards to local component involvement in the construction of the road, it is one condition that we have put in place that whoever is given that tender will have to include a section of our local people to get involved.  We are actually looking at not less than 40 to 50% local people participation in those projects.  I thank you.

RESUMPTION OF LABOUR-BASED ROADS CONSTRUCTION

19. HON. NDUNA asked the Minister of Transport and Infrastructural

Development, whether the Ministry is considering resumption of labour based road construction, as  was the case with Empress-Copper Queen in Gokwe, Gamwa–Tokwe in Shurugwi and Chegutu-Mubaira.

THE MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND

INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT (HON. DR. GUMBO):

Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.  My Ministry is considering the reintroduction of labour based road construction as it is proved from the past experience to assist in attaining fairly good conditions of gravel roads as well as provide incomes to the rural populace through engagement of locals in the projects.

What has hampered the re-introduction of this programme so far, is the unavailability of funding which we require firstly, for the training of contractors and our own staff to be engaged on the projects and secondly, to finance the implementation of these projects.  We will embark on the projects as soon as we secure funding.

HON. GABBUZA: Mr. Speaker Sir has the Minister considered how much it would cost, how much funding the Ministry needs for the training of these contractors.  Why is it not possible to get this funding from the toll fees collected by ZINARA?

HON. DR. GUMBO: Thank you Mr. Speaker.  I want to thank Hon. Gabbuza for that question.  The position is that as a ministry we are looking at providing the locals who will be working on these roads with some tools which we can provide.

As I have already alluded to, we are also looking at training locals who will be responsible for supervising.  The costing as you would want to know, of all these involvements has not yet been finalised because I think what is going to happen is that, different areas or different situations will require different funding and also different ways of supervision.  The point has been taken, as a Ministry we are looking at that, it is critical and very important that we look at the issues being raised by the Hon. Members.  As a Ministry and regarding the importance of the question that has been asked, particularly for our rural roads, it is something which we should be looking forward to because it will assist us in keeping our roads in a better shape, particularly in the rural areas. I thank you.

CONSERVATION OF THE DECREASING WATER LEVELS

21. HON. NDUNA asked the Minister of Energy and Power Development whether the Ministry has considered recycling water being pumped by the three remaining pumping units at Kariba Dam in order to conserve the fast decreasing water levels.

THE MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER

DEVELOPMENT (HON. DR. UNDENGE): Pumped-storage

hydroelectricity is a type of hydroelectricity energy storage used by electric power systems for load balancing. The method stores energy in the form of gravitational potential energy of water, pumped from a lower elevation reservoir to a higher elevation.  Low cost off-peak electric power is used to run the pumps.  During periods of high electrical demand, the stored water is released through turbines to produce electric power.  This system is normally used for small hydro power plants that do not have sufficient water to run throughout the year.

Lake Kariba is a perennial lake, thus it normally has enough water to run the turbines throughout the year without the need for pumped storage.  As such the Kariba power plant was not designed for pumped storage.  Pumped storage would typically require another lower reservoir to be built downstream of the turbines so as to allow for installation of pumps and other equipment. Normally, you use reversible turbines that can work as both turbines and pumps.  That would be used for pumping the water back to the upper reservoir.

It is therefore, technically impractical to pump back the water to the upper reservoir at Kariba with the current design.  You would require 30% more power to pump the water back.  Water also needs to be released downstream for other downstream users such as tourism, Hydro Cabora Bassa, et cetera.

HON. NDUNA: Supplementary.

THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER (HON. MARUMAHOKO):

What is your supplementary question Hon. Nduna?

HON. NDUNA:  I think I have been sufficiently answered Hon.

Speaker.  I withdraw my supplementary.

ZESA’S REQUIREMENT ON FARMERS DEBTS’

22. HON. NDUNA asked the Minister of Energy and Power Development to:
23. Clarify the Ministry’s position regarding the requirement by the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority that farmers and those owing large amounts of money to this parastatals, pay 50% of their current bill before accessing more credit.
24. Explain what position regarding households which do not have pre-paid meters although said households have already paid for them;
25. Explain what help the farmers are getting to lessen the effects of load shedding;
26. Explain the current position of the Rural Electrification Programme, in particular the electrification of Ward 5 and 6 in Negande area which is 12km from Siakobvu, Kariba constituency.

THE MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER

DEVELOPMENT (HON. DR. UNDENGE):  Hon. Speaker Sir, the

hon. member’s question – the position is what had been proposed and implemented by ZETDC before as a ministry we are advised the continued implementation of the percentage debt deductions.  Most farmers are now on post paid system and this means that for the debt, they have to make payment plans for clearing the outstanding obligations with ZETDC.  For those who have prepaid meters, they are having the prepaid purchase standard 40% debt deduction on every purchase made, just like the domestic customers.  There is no difference between the two categories of customers.

On question (b); ZETDC has a ZIM ASSET target to install 800 000 prepaid meters by year 2018.  To this end they have managed to install 551 000.  Currently ZETDC does not have meters in stock to connect new customers and to finalise the retrofitting programme.   An additional 300 000 prepaid meters will be installed by 2018 at a cost of

US$30 million.   Progress to date; tender adjudication for 150 000 meters completed on 18 October, 2015.  Adjudication report was submitted to SBP on 20^th October 2015.  Meters are therefore expected in February, 2016.

In the interim as a Ministry we will facilitate direct purchase of 30 000 meters for interim relief.

On question (c); ZETDC has been engaging the tobacco and wheat farmers every month to find out areas of concern and to provide relief.  For these two groups of farmers they have been given some days of uninterrupted load shedding days to assist with wheat-grain filling in the months of August to end of October and for tobacco planting week.

On question (d); more information is required for consideration of the issue.  However, at Siakobvu, there is electricity and the grid extension to Negande will be planned for by REA according to the funding availed for the next budget period.   Hon. Speaker, this completes the question, I thank you.

HON. GABBUZA:  Hon. Speaker, is the Minister aware in part

(d) that by not providing electricity to Siakobvu, Government is in breach of the agreement that was made between the colonial regime and the people of Siakobvu for the construction of Kariba dam and for the evacuation of the residence in that area?

HON. DR. UNDENGE: Hon. Speaker Sir, it is the current

Government’s intention and programme to ensure that every part of

Zimbabwe is electrified despite the existence of colonial agreements.  We are not guided by colonial agreements.  We are guided by our current policies of which every corner of Zimbabwe must be connected with electricity.  Therefore, electricity is coming to Siakobvu irrespective of that colonial arrangement.  We are not going to bring electricity to Siakobvu because of the colonial arrangement, it is because of the new current thrust to ensure that every household, every corner of Zimbabwe is electrified.  That is why the Rural Electrification Fund was created, simply to ensure that we roll out electricity to most parts of the country as soon as possible.  I thank you Hon. Speaker.

*HON. MACKENZIE:  Minister like what has been said.  The people in Nyaminyami-Siakobvu are the ones that have been removed from Zambezi so that electricity can be made available.  The electricity that is there now is for thermal power coming from Hwange which is not strong enough and the people want their electricity to be hydro.  Do you have any plans for people in Kariba-Nyaminyami to have hydro electricity which is more reliable?

HON. DR. UNDENGE:  Hon. Speaker Sir.  I am glad he is a Member of Parliament from that area, I appreciate his passion for him to consume electricity from the Kariba dam but the connection of electricity has its technicalities.  It has its own logistics, our aim as a

Government is to ensure that every household in Zimbabwe, every area in Zimbabwe is electrified.  We do not distinguish whether it is electricity from Kariba or from Hwange thermal power station.  The objective is to put electricity into every home and every area.  I thank you.

WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS TO QUESTIONS WITH NOTICE

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RESTRUCTURING STRATEGY

ADOPTED BY THE HWANGE COLLIERY COMPANY

5. 5. B. TSHUMA asked the Minister of Mines and Mining Development to explain progress in the implementation of the restructuring strategy adopted by the Hwange Colliery Company Limited at its 2014 Annual General Meeting in particular.

THE HON. MINISTER OF MINES AND MINING DEVELOPMENT (HON. W. CHIDHAKWA):

• To state the physical places where the five divisions will be established;
  • Hwange Coal Mining Division comprises of the following strategic business units and to be established at existing sites.
    • 3 Main Underground Mine o Opencast JKL Mine o Chaba Mine (Mota Engil Contract)
  • Hwange Plant and Equipment Division to be established as cost

Centres at current Engineering Offices and workshops

• Engineering Services

• Hwange Cola Processing and Cokeworks Division will be at the current location of No. 2 Offices, Coal Preparation Plant and Coke Oven

Batteries

• Hwange Properties and Estates Divisions will be established at the current Estates Offices and would take charge of all the residential commercial and recreational properties within the concession area.
• Hwange Medical Division will be established at the current hospital and will run the two hundred (200) bed private hospital and its five (5) satellite clinics.

• Outline the governance structure of each division
  • The Mining Metallurgical Operations, Estates and Medical

Division operates as a profit centre while the Engineering Services Division operates as a cost centre.

• The Mining and Metallurgical Operations Divisions report to the General Manager Operations while the Estates and Medical Divisions report to the Managing Director.
• The Division Executive Manager will be supported by a team of managers with expertise in the relevant areas.
• For accountability purposes, each division will have its own finance and human resources functions.
• The other corporate services will remain at company level and will be shared across all the Divisions and SBU’s.

( c ) Explain the nature of the relationship between the units and the main company.

• These will be operating Divisions of Hwange Colliery Company and they are not separate legal entities.
• The Heads of these Divisions report and are accountable to the Managing Director or any delegated Senior Manager and would form part of the Executive Team together with Heads of Services Divisions.

(d)    State when the process is expected to be completed

• The Estates Division will be operationalised after the full commissioning of the US$31 million equipment that was acquired from BELAZ (Belarus) and BEML (India).
• The process is expected to be completed by 31^st December, 2015.

HOUSING OF HWANGE COLLIERY COMPANY

EMPLOYEES IN OLD COLONIAL HOUSING STRUCTURES

6. 6. B. TSHUMA asked the Minister of Mines and Mining Development to explain:

(a)     Why Hwange Colliery Company employees are still housed in the old colonial housing structures such as Lwendulu, Madumabisa and Makwika villages, where the community shares ablution facilities?

THE HON. MINISTER OF MINES AND MINING DEVELOPMENT (HON. W. CHIDHAKWA): Just after

independence in 1983, the company employed more than 6 000 employees and all were housed in company accommodation.  The notable retrenchments done in 1998, 2004 and 2015 have seen the staff compliment reducing to 2 778 as at 31^st December, 2014.

As a result of the reduction in staff head count, the pressure on housing requirements eased.  The bulk of the occupants of the old housing structures with shared ablutions at No. 1, 2 and 3 villages are non-colliery employees and domestic workers for colliery employees.

In 2012, the company had plans to close down these structures but this would have left some families homeless.  The community leaders pleaded with the company to leave structures available for occupation by the local community at normal and cost recovery charges.

(b)     Whether the company had plans to dispose of these houses to the current occupants and if not, state the scheme in place for employees to own houses.

• For the period 2002 to 2012, there was a project to build self- contained units and a total of 227 units were converted from the communal ablution structures at a cost of $2.7 million. This was confined to No. 1 (Lwendulu) Village.
• In 2010, the company submitted an application to the Department of Physical Planning in the Ministry  of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, for the sectional tilting of the residential and commercial properties in the No. 1 area, which by the way is mined out.  Once approval is obtained, the company can consider whether or not to dispose the properties to current occupants.

There are three (3) schemes in place for employees to own their houses.

• The NEC employees, the company facilitated the establishment of the Dynamic Fund.  Employees contribute US$150.00 per month for low density, US$130.00 for medium density and US$100 for high density suburbs.
• The company in a strategic partnership with Hwange Local Board managed to service 250 medium density stands in Empumalanga.  Colliery employees were allocated 30 stands on a first come basis upon payment of an amount of US$2 500.  For managerial employees, that is from Foreman upward, there is the Company Housing Loan Policy where employees can access various amounts depending on grade and also subject to availability of funds.  This has enabled managers top acquire their own houses in urban areas of their choice.

On the motion of THE MINISTER OF ENERGY AND

POWER DEVELOPMENT (HON. DR. UNDENGE), the House

adjourned at Six Minutes to Five o’clock p.m. until Tuesday, 17^th November, 2015.