- Version
- Download 33
- File Size 274 KB
- File Count 1
- Create Date December 17, 2017
- Last Updated November 17, 2021
SENATE HANSARD 05 December 2017 27-18-1
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Tuesday, 5th December, 2017
The Senate met at Half-past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE HON. PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE HON. PRESIDENT OF THE
SENATE
INVITATION TO A CATHOLIC CHURCH SERVICE
THE HON. PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: I wish to inform
the Senate that there will be a Roman Catholic Church service tomorrow
Wednesday, 6th December, 2017 at half past twelve in the Senate
Chamber. All catholic and non-catholic members are invited.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
HON. SEN. TAWENGWA: I move that Order of the Day, Number 1 be stood over until all the other Orders of the Day have been disposed of.
HON. MOHADI: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
FIRST REPORT OF THE THEMATIC COMMITTEE ON GENDER
AND DEVELOPMENT ON ACCESS TO SAFE AND CLEAN WATER
IN RURAL AREAS
Second Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the First Report of the Thematic Committee on Gender and Development on Access to safe and clean water in rural areas.
Question again proposed.
*HON. SEN. MAVHUNGA: Thank you Madam President for
affording me the opportunity to debate on the motion on access to safe and clean water to the majority of the people which was moved by Hon.
Sen. Makore, seconded by Hon. Sen. Buka. The issue of lack of safe and clean water is pertinent. The lack of it causes a lot of water-borne diseases. I am grateful that our Chapter 4, Part 2, Section 77 (a) of our Constitution talks about the provision of safe, clean water to the majority of the people. That on its own makes us as a Government to ensure that these human rights are met. These are basic human rights that should be provided to the people and should be followed to the later. As a result, I urge that the Water Act and the ZINWA issue be aligned to the national Constitution. Currently, we hear that the Water Act is now in advanced form in its amendments so that it will be aligned to the national Constitution. Nothing has been done about the ZINWA Act in terms of realignment and we urge the relevant Ministry to look into that issue.
Madam President, I was among the people that travelled with this particular Committee. During these field visits, our findings pointed out that there is urgent need to have issues attended to. At
Gutu/Mupandawana, we observed that they do not have a map for the underground pipes in the town. People are building on top of those pipes and when there is a burst pipe, that is when they know there is a pipe underground and the same applies to Mberengwa. It would be good if Government were to ensure that there be research or investigation to find out what the maps for these underground water pipes are like.
There should be modern equipment used to find gold and such equipment should be used in growth points and other areas where development is taking place so that the water and sewer pipes are located so as to avoid theses unfortunate incidents of bursts. As a result of these bursts, people will be having inadequate water as we witnessed in Umzingwane. The plan that is in place was meant to cater for a few homesteads. We urge our local authorities and Government to ensure that the underground pipes where this planning was done a long time ago are known and mapped so that it becomes easier to know where they start from.
Our laws stipulate that people should have access to water at about 500 meters. This will make life easier for the women folk because they are the ones who normally draw water. When it is within that range, it becomes easier for the women because the women carry the babies and water buckets and when water is nearby, it becomes easier for them. We are cognisant of the fact that Government does not have adequate finance but provision of water is a priority. The stipulated 500m from the water source should also be applied. There should be reservoirs where there are mountains where the water is fed by gravity. It becomes easier for people to access this water once it is piped as it will be closer to people’s homesteads.
Turning to the physically challenged, they are having serious challenges in accessing water in the communal lands that we visited. They have boreholes and they are unable to draw water from the boreholes due to their physical disabilities. We need boreholes that are user friendly to physically challenged people so that they can easily access water. The water that we purify and then use for drinking should be drawn from dams. In the areas that we visited, we observed that there were insufficient dams. The Government should embark on a strategy where they make a lot of dams in this area so that water is easily accessed from nearby dams.
There are too many players in the provision of water. There is the District Development Fund (DDF), ZINWA and the local authority.
They have several pipes. The local authority will sink their pipes and ZINWA will come and charge for the water. So there is need to ensure that the three work as a single unit. I am happy that during the announcement of ministries, a lot of line ministries were consolidated as one. The consolidation of these ministries will eliminate duplication of duties. In Umzingwane, we found out that they charge a fixed amount of $7.00 whether you are utilising the resource or not and even when the pipes are broken, you pay a minimum fixed charge of $7.00. At times, people pay this amount without using that water – that should be looked into and rectified.
Madam President, I am mostly grateful for the motion before us. For us to ensure that it is a success, we need to ensure that those who are responsible for water should be given adequate provisions. The Ministry of Health and Child Care does inspections to ensure that the water is portable. They should have adequate equipment to ensure that they discharge their duties. We went to a place where people perished due to diseases caused by lack of provision of water. I leave this matter here and I thank you for affording me the opportunity to speak.
*THE HON. PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: We are also
grateful Hon. Sen. Mavhunga.
HON. SEN. CHIEF. CHARUMBIRA: Madam President, I
move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. MAKONE: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 6th December, 2017.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE 7TH RETREAT OF THE ASSOCIATION OF
SENATES, SHOORA AND EQUIVALENT COUNCILS IN
AFRICA AND THE ARAB WORLD (ASSECAA)
Third Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the 7th Retreat of the Association of Senates, Shoora and equivalent Councils in Africa and the Arab World (ASSECCA).
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. CHIEF. CHARUMBIRA: Madam President, I
move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. MOHADI: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 6th December, 2017.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
DELEGATION TO THE EIGHTH RETREAT OF THE
ASSOCIATION OF SENATES, SHOORA AND EQUIVALENT
COUNCILS IN AFRICA AND THE ARAB WORLD
Fourth order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of
the Parliament of Zimbabwe Delegation to the Eighth Retreat of the Association of Senates, Shoora and Equivalent Councils in Africa and the Arab World (ASSECAA).
Question again proposed.
*HON. SEN. MACHINGAIFA: Thank you Madam President for
giving me this opportunity. I want to greet you in the name of Jesus Christ, how are you?
*THE HON. PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: I am fine and
yourself?
*HON. SEN. MACHINGAIFA: I stood up to add my voice to
the report that was tabled in this august House by Hon. Sen. Sinampande and was seconded by Hon Sen. Mawire and Hon. Sen. Bhebhe. They mentioned why they had gone on investigations in explaining the issue about climate change which has become a challenge for us here. It is a very important issue. I do not know how it can be addressed. How can we deal with climate change, how can we mitigate Climate change?
I remember during one of the years before I even dreamt of becoming a Senator, I read of a book where they mentioned that when they came up with solar energy they were hoping to harness energy from the sun and were expecting that there would be excessive heat. This was expected in years to come, but it seems like this has been a change for the worst as there is a lot of wind that is characterising our weather these days and it is actually destroying our buildings.
We need to mitigate the effects of climate change and find ways of avoiding this phenomenon. In order to do this we need to stop deforestation to ensure that there is no wind affecting the buildings that we have. Some are saying that the seed that they have and are producing have been aligned to the climate change phenomenon. This is looking at the fact that there can be excessive rain or heat. This is a very important issue because the learned should continue getting more knowledge and technology as to how we can mitigate the effects of climate change. Those in different religious groups should also pray for this climate change phenomena. Thank you.
THE HON. PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: Order, order!
Hon. Minister Mutsvangwa, may you please take your appropriate seat?
Thank you –[HON. SENATORS: Hear, hear.]-
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR MANICALAND
PROVINCE (HON. SEN. MUTSVANGWA): Thank you Madam
President. Please forgive me because I had become used to my seat. I move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 6th December, 2017.
THE HON. PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: I wish to heartily congratulate Hon. Sen. Mutsvangwa on her recent appointment – [HON. SENATORS: Hear, hear.]- We have been recognised as the Senate, so when you are there in the Cabinet you will be representing us.
MOTION
FIRST REPORT OF THE THEMATIC COMMITTEE ON
INDIGENISATION AND EMPOWERMENT ON THE CIRCUMSTANCES SURROUNDING THE NON-
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE COMMUNITY SHARE OWNERSHIP
TRUSTS
Fifth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the First Report of the Thematic Committee on Indigenisation and Empowerment on the Circumstances Surrounding the Non-Establishment of Community Share
Ownership Trusts in Mudzi and Mutoko Districts.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. TAWENGWA: I move that the debate do now
adjourn.
HON. SEN. B. SIBANDA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 6TH December, 2017.
MOTION
FIRST REPORT OF THE THEMATIC COMMITTEE ON
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS ON SDG NO. 3
Sixth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the First Report of the Thematic Committee on Sustainable Development Goals on SDG
No. 3.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. MUMVURI: Thank you Madam President. I rise to support the motion brought by the Thematic Committee on SDG’s moved by Hon. Sen. Chief Mutshane and seconded by Hon. Sen. D.T Khumalo. Hon. Sen. D.T. Khumalo constantly talks about nutritional issues. We are not just talking of ordinary foods but we are talking about foods that are good for health. The problem that we are facing these days is that we are having too much refined foods. These too much refined foods are causing diabetes. Dr. Mangwiro, if we observe on television constantly urges people to have a small amount of sadza in the afternoon and not to consume large quantities when going to bed. A lot of food should be consumed at lunch and breakfast at least. That is what is encouraged not that we constantly eat because this constant eating is causing non-communicable diseases, the majority of us are aware of this.
Processed foods are not right and we should eat unrefined foods and fruits such as bananas, apples, pawpaws and watermelon. This is what we must consume because these foods do not have side effects on our bodies. These foods reduce cholesterol in our bodies and the fruits that I have mentioned, if we fill our stomachs with those, there will not be side effects in our bodies, these foods are easily digested and releases the energy required.
If you give a child a choice between a banana and ice cream they chose an ice cream. We should teach our children the correct things; they should eat more fruits than these sugary foods. You must have good eating habits of foods that are healthy to our bodies. Kwashiorkor is caused by some of these things because they lack the necessary vitamins needed by the body resulting in malnutrition. At home I encourage my family to consume brown bread and roller meal and say no to refined mealie meal. During my absence they are happy and take white bread and refined meal. I always tell them that they will consume refined foods once they have their own houses.
I urge them to have foods that are good for their health. A sickly workforce cannot work to uplift or develop the economy of the country. They can only be healthy once they eat healthy foods. We are lucky that food security has been achieved this year through the Command agriculture exercise that we conducted. We are not importing food from outside the country. All this supports Goal number 3 which the Committee has made mention of and found it pertinent to bring such a motion before us. All sports persons including footballers should consume health foods; there must be a suitable diet for sports persons and non sports persons. Healthy people do their work properly because a healthy nation is vital and this lead to development. Sickly persons cannot spend 8 hours working. I urge people to stick to healthy foods so that we fulfill Goal number 3.
I once lived in Sweden they do not use sugar and salt in their food. They believe that all foods contain natural salts and sugars and this is why their elderly persons live longer. I copied the habit because I saw that it was good, sugars and salts are not good for one’s health. People believe they can get a lot of strength from consuming too much salt but salt can cause liver cirrhosis. The consumption of alcohol and being drunk all the time is not fashionable. In Sweden they take one or two pints of alcohol between a meal and they are dismissed to sleep or elsewhere. They do not spend the whole night drinking beer, they only take it during weekends.
We cannot be a society that does not know how to eat healthy foods because the best doctor for anyone is the foods they take. Prevention is better than cure. I am happy that the Minister of Health and Childcare has just walked in. I want to repeat that we must eat a lot of fruits and avoid alcohol. Drunkards are prone to accidents and require compensation after being injured at work and come late to work because of hangover. I am happy because now we have a new dispensation and I would like to congratulate several Ministers appointed in this House, including Dr. Parirenyatwa, Hon. Mupfumira, Hon. Sen. Masuku and others that I might not have mentioned not forgetting Hon. Sen. Khaya Moyo – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] - The President is leading by example, he arrives at work at 0800hrs and leaves at 1800hrs...
THE HON. PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: You are going out
of topic Hon. Senator.
HON. SEN. MUMVURI: All this comes from good food. The
President of the Senate and has informed me to stick to my debate, let me wind up my debate by saying this motion which was brought by Hon. Sen. Chief Khumalo and his Committee is a good one. We should take it very seriously and practice what we preach. Over and above taking good food, we must exercise – as old as we are, we must exercise. Let us set aside 30minutes daily of burning fat. With these few words, I thank you Madam President.
* THE HON. PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: We thank you
for your warning Hon. Sen. Mumvuri.
HON. SEN. GOTO: Thank you Madam President for the
opportunity that you have granted me to speak on the motion. I thank the movers of the motion, Hon. Sen. Chief Mtshane and the seconder of the motion on the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) No. 3 about healthy foods that we require to live. This is a good motion, you may not understand it but it is important because if you were to follow what is being set out in that motion, all of us can live.
I want to give an example that in the olden days, our forefathers used to eat good and healthy foods unlike us. Our great grand parents lived up to 120 to 130 years because they were eating good food and not the junk food that we are eating these days. I want to support the previous speaker that we must have a balanced diet. Like he said, without repeating, we must have sadza made of rapoko and round nuts, okra and mice, that is balanced diet. We should be able to eat what we grow. Mice and caterpillars are a balanced diet. Protein is derived from mice and caterpillars, and vitamin C comes from the fruits. Rapoko sadza gives us energy. We can have our food which is balanced and we would not have spent a single cent.
I am quite happy about the motion on the balanced diet. At one time I was a nutrition promoter. There is nothing useful about meat, it actually causes a lot of diseases. I am happy that he made mention of having light food during the evening, let us have light meals. A plate full of sadza or rice and chicken is not good for one’s health. Hon. Sen. Chief moved a very good motion and if you follow such a motion, you will have a good health. If you go to the doctor and you are sick then you are told to stop eating certain foods, you will still be tempted to eat such foods.
A lot of food can be consumed and they protect one from diseases. I support the motion by the Hon. Chief and Hon. Khumalo, we are all healthy because of such dietary issues. In the hotel, there will be caterpillars, dried vegetables with peanut butter and people cannot even take okra, they put everything there and fruits but you see Members rushing to have ice cream which is detrimental to one’s health. I am grateful for such a motion, I fully support it and if possible all of us should go home and practise that.
I would like to thank the appointment of Ministers in this august
House and that God should lead us. We are happy that we have been recognised. I thank you. I no longer have more words to say Mr. President. I am happy that the Senate has been recognised through the appointment of Ministers.
A lot of people did not speak on this motion because a lot of them did not understand it because they do not practise it. If at home you are having a mountain full of sadza and a lot of meat, you will have eaten nothing. You will only have had two types of foods, which is energy and protein and you do not have Vitamin C. There is no warmth which can make you live a healthy life. You are refusing to eat the vegetables and wild fruits, let us consume this. I thank you Hon. Sen. Chief.
HON. SEN. CHIEF MTSHANE: Thank you Mr. President. I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. CHIEF SIANSALI: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 6th December, 2017
MOTION
PRESIDENTIAL SPEECH: DEBATE ON ADDRESS
Seventh Order read: Adjourned debate on motion in reply to the
Presidential Speech.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. KOMICHI: On a point of order Mr. President. I
strongly suggest that the motion be removed from the Order Paper because the Presidential Speech is now outdated, we expect the new President to come up with a speech that we can debate on.
HON. SEN. CHIEF CHARUMBIRA: Mr. President, I concur with Hon. Sen. Komichi. However, I wanted to be more democratic than democracy itself by allowing anyone who would have wanted to debate, I do not have to close. My duty is to look around and say, if there are no more Senators who wish to debate, I am now closing. Mr. President, I therefore move that this motion – to remove maybe too strong. There are those who debated this motion, several of you, probably more than 20 and we cannot just throw away all the good words you mentioned but we take note that this motion, because of the recent developments in the country, it has lived its useful life, the shelf life is expired, it has to be removed from the shelves so that we put new items.
As a result, those who might have wanted to contribute, I believe the issues and challenges of the country remain the same. So, when another opportunity arises where they will be debating a motion under the new President, the same issues will still be brought in because the challenges remain the same. I am aware that the new leadership will also simply highlight on the same issues. So, I move that we adopt. When we adopt, meaning zvamakataura zviya zvinobvumwa. So, we agree zvamakataura nguva iyoyo zviri right; we adopt so that the Ministers can even respond in future to what you said under the previous leadership. So I, so move that the motion be adopted.
Motion that a respectful address be presented to the President of
Zimbabwe as follows:-
May it please you, your Excellency, the President:
We, the Members of Parliament of Zimbabwe, desire to express our loyalty to Zimbabwe and beg leave to offer our respectful thanks for the speech, which you have been pleased to address to Parliament.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
FIRST REPORT OF THE THEMATIC COMMITTEE ON PEACE
AND SECURITY ON THE PREPAREDNESS OF THE GRAIN
MARKETING BOARD TO HANDLE THE 2016/2017 CROP
DELIVERIES AND THE SUCCESS OF THE COMMAND
AGRICULTURE PROGRAMME
Eighth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the First
Report of the Thematic Committee on Peace and Security on the
Preparedness of the Grain Marketing Board to handle the 2016/2017
Crop Deliveries and the Success of the Command Agriculture
Programme.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. MUMVURI: Madam President, I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. CHIMHINI: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 6th December, 2017.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE ZIMBABWE DELEGATION TO THE
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON PROMOTING
STAKEHOLDER AND PARLIAMENTARY DIALOGUE ON
THE ARMS TRADE TREATY (ATT)
Ninth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the Zimbabwe delegation to the International Conference on Promoting
Stakeholder and Parliamentary Dialogue on Arms Trade Treaty.
Question again proposed.
THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON.
- PARIRENYATWA): Madam President, I move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 6th December, 2017.
On the motion of THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD
CARE (HON. DR. PARIRENYATWA), the Senate adjourned at
Twenty Five Minutes past Four o’clock p.m.