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SENATE HANSARD 05 OCTOBER 2017 27-7-1
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Thursday, 5th October, 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 ATTEND AN URGENT MEETING OF THE
ZIMBABWE WOMEN’S PARLIAMENTARY CAUCUS MEETING
THE HON. PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: I have to inform
the Senate that all members of the Zimbabwe Women’s Parliamentary Caucus are invited to attend an urgent meeting on Tuesday, 10th
October, 2017, at 12 noon in the Senate Chamber. The meeting is to discuss the women’s manifesto - [HON. SENATORS: Hear, hear.]
ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
*HON. SEN. NCUBE: My question is directed to the Deputy
Minister of Home Affairs, Hon. Mguni. I want to find if a circular which states that children born outside the country should not pay to get birth certificates has been distributed to all responsible authorities.
People are being requested to pay US$50 dollars. I thank you.
*THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS (HON.
MGUNI): Thank you Madam President, it is true that the circular from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development left out a waiver that those born outside the country should not pay. In fact, there are two things that are not paid for, issuing of birth certificates for a children, death certificates and Identification Cards (IDs). It left out those born outside the country that they should be issued without paying a fee, but if one of the parents is here and the other one is outside, they should be issued with birth certificates for free. This waiver should come from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and distributed to all offices. I thank you.
HON. SEN. TIMVEOS: My question is directed to the Hon. Minister of Defence. I have just seen a circular on WhatsApp that has been written by the Zimbabwean Army that says we are worried about the escalating tension between the Ruling Party and the Opposition and they will not be allowing any demonstrations until further notice. Is this true? Are we having problems in this country, do we have something going on, are we in a state of emergency or what is going on. Is this real but the message has the Zimbabwean Army logo.
THE HON. PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: I want to urge
Hon. Senators to stick to the rules and ask questions that are related to Ministries’ policies and not what we come across in newspapers or whatever. Having ruled that, may be the Minister would like to respond to the question but let us observe our Standing Rules and Regulations.
THE MINISTER OF DEFENCE (HON. SEN. DR.
SEKERAMAYI): Madam President and all Hon. Senators, the Zimbabwe National Army and in fact the Zimbabwe Defence Forces have got official spokespersons and when a statement has been issued by an official spokesperson, I am then able to reply to that but I cannot be expected to reply to statements made by those who are not official spokespersons of the Defence Forces.
I also want to say, let us be very careful about what is written on Facebook and other social media. There are people and organisations who would be quite happy, who would want to celebrate if there is turmoil in this country. They spread this and that rumour to get the population agitated; to get the people in a state of uncertainty about their own security and the security of the country. So, we must be very, very careful about taking at face value some of the statements that are being circulated. As I have said, the Zimbabwe Defence Forces have official spokespersons and when a statement has come from the spokesperson, then you know that it is an authentic statement. Thank you.
*HON. SEN. MAKONE: My question is directed to the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs. I think that it has been two weeks now when it was said that people who were known as aliens can now go to get IDs close to where they reside. But, when these aliens get to the district offices in the areas where they reside, they are told that they do not have a written instruction from the Minister. So, they are unable to get their IDs.
My request is that, you enlighten us on when this information will be decentralised to the districts since the registration blitz will commence on the 10th yet people do not have the necessary documents.
They are Zimbabweans and are still referred to as aliens. Thank you Madam President.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS (HON.
MGUNI): Thank you Madam President of the Senate. The alien issue is very sensitive. Firstly, if a refugee comes to Zimbabwe and stays for ten years and then has children, according to the Constitution under Section 38 (2), we have to allow that child to get citizenship yet within the African Union (AU) and within our indigenisation policy, we are still saying that we need to indicate that the person is not a Zimbabwean.
They have no equal benefit with a person who is really of Zimbabwean origin. So, there should be something showing that, that person was born by a foreign person.
Now to the people who came as miners or as farm workers, they will also work for more than ten years and have children. When they are registered, their birth certificates are written alien. It is those people who come now to probably vote during this time. So, the Act says that the person or that child must come when he reaches 18 years to denounce the origin status whether his/her parents where from Malawi. When he/she reaches 18 years, he/she approaches the Registry and say, I do not want to be a Malawian. There is a form that person completes in order to acquire the Zimbabwean citizenship. So, there is no exemption now during this process but we still need them to come and complete those forms in our Registry Office because there are a lot of check ups that are done, not only by the Ministry of Home Affairs but also by other Ministries. I thank you Madam President.
*HON. SEN. MAKONE: Hon. Minister, I am talking of
provisions that are in the Constitution of Zimbabwe. I am not talking about aliens who come in through refugee status but I am talking about someone of my age who was born in Zimbabwe and now has daughters and sons-in-law whose grand children are here in Zimbabwe. That person with the children and grandchildren are covered in the
Constitution that they are Zimbabweans. If they go to the Embassy of Malawi, they are told that they are not Malawian citizens because they are not known. They are asked about their chief who they do not know. So for that reason, they are not known in Malawi, they have nothing to renounce and they are taken as Zimbabwean citizens.
Then, we come here again and say you are Malawians, go and renounce your citizenship. Minister, we are making people stateless and it is a crime in Zimbabwe. The Government is causing statelessness of its citizens. I am talking of people who were born here and that person might be above 60 years but was born in Zimbabwe. The parents probably came through the construction of the railways for example. I have a child who was born in England, myself and the father are
Zimbabweans but just because he was born in Birmingham, he is British.
Those people that I am talking about were born in Mbare, they are Zimbabweans and have no other place that they call home. Their parents passed on long ago and if you put them on the bus to go to Malawi, they do not even know where to go. So now, if you ask them to come and renounce something that they do not have, you are causing statelessness and it is contrary to the Constitution. So, do you want us to be found wanting that we are not acknowledging our citizens?
*THE HON. PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: Hon. Senator,
you did not pose a question but you gave a statement.
*HON. SEN. MAKONE: My apologies Madam President. My
question is, we have people who were born and have grown old here in Zimbabwe. They have never left or gone out of Zimbabwe to go to other countries like Malawi, Zambia or Mozambique. They know one country Zimbabwe, one flag and one President – what are we going to do about those people because the Constitution says that they are
Zimbabweans? That is my question Madam President of the Senate.
HON. MGUNI: Thank you Madam President of the Senate. I
think that is what I illustrated by saying, the children that are born in Zimbabwe will be Zimbabweans, but there will be an indication to show that they are from the foreign parents by the word ‘alien’. I said that person is allowed when he/she reaches 18 years of age to approach our office to become a full Zimbabwean citizen but there are processes that need to be followed. It cannot be used on this system of 90 days because they have to approach our Registry offices. I thank you Madam Speaker.
HON. SEN. MUTSVANGWA: Thank you Madam President.
My question is directed to the Minister of Sport and Recreation Hon. Hlongwane. I must commend the work we are seeing. There is a lot of activity happening in that Ministry and we have seen the champions of sport coming into the country. What I would want to ask is what policy the Ministry has to make sure that they identify talent from all the provinces, even the rural areas because we have seen there are children with talent there. What is the Ministry doing to ensure that they bring those children on board?
THE MINISTER OF SPORT AND RECREATION (HON.
HLONGWANE): Thank you Hon. Mutsvangwa for the question. Last year in the month of August, Cabinet adopted the National Sport and Recreation Policy which deals with, as one of its foremost priority areas, a whole issue around mass participation in sport as well as Community Sport and Recreation Development. On 2nd May 2017, Cabinet further adopted the operationalisation of that thematic area through a blueprint we call the Community Sport and Recreation Club System. Immediately thereafter the Ministry of Sport and Recreation started to implement the blueprint under the competition structure of the revised National Youth Games Strategy.
We sought this year to start the competition structure of the national youth games at the world level across the country. Members would attest to the fact that they saw quite some palpable presence of activity in the communities during the months of May, June, July into August throughout the country. Government was seeking to identify those youths that are talented in different sporting disciplines. An added advantage to that process has been that we have also tried to broaden the number of sport disciplines that are participated in, in the rural areas. We have not quite achieved that process because of resource constraints especially at the level of National Sport Associations as well as resource constraints within Government.
However, for the first time since the inception of the National Youth Games in 2001, this year in Hwange, Matabeleland North, we were able to host a National Youth Games Strategy that had 21 different sports codes. As for us, we were only one short of the 22 that are enunciated in the Sport and Recreation Club System. We think that we did very well but for the one sport discipline. Now, the competition structure of the revised National Youth Games Strategy which starts at the ward level has a very clear selection process of the talented youths.
It is a select based model starting from the ward.
When there is a competition that happens at the ward level, what comes out is a team that would have won. In order to get to the next tier of the pyramid we only accept a Select Based Model, in other words the ward must have a ward team which is made up of the best athletes drawn from various clubs. If it is football, it must be representative of the ward and so forth. That kind of structure cascades upwards to the district level, provincial level and all the way to the National Youth Games.
At the National Youth Games, I will give you examples of netball – the President of the Netball Association of Zimbabwe was there and only out of the athletes that came from various parts of the country and participated at the national games, was she able to change her entire under 20 netball team and built a new team out of new talent that came from youths across the country. The same happened for volleyball under 20. So, we think that area is being taken care of.
What is now left for us is - post national youth games, how to feed these identified athletes at national youth games into a high performance programmes to assist as far as participation in the Olympic games is concerned and also to make sure that they are kept active in some form of an academy process that then enables them to participate in elite sport. I thank you Hon. President.
HON. SEN. CHIMHINI: My question is directed to the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing. Can I be educated Minister, where does Caledonia fall, is it Mashonaland East or Harare? Secondly, when can we expect proper service delivery given that it is now a big location and the service delivery is questionable?
Thank you Hon. President.
THE MINISTER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT, PUBLIC
WORKS AND NATIONAL HOUSING (HON. KASUKUWERE):
I would like to thank the Hon. Senator for a very important question. Caledonia lies in Zimbabwe but I agree with you, part of it is in Harare and the other part is in Mashonaland East, Goromonzi. It was brought into Harare through a Presidential Proclamation and this is why we have had challenges in terms of its administration. However, we are working very hard now. I visited Caledonia just a few days ago. It is a sprawling suburb with almost over 100,000 households lacking in terms of basics such as water and infrastructure.
We have asked the Urban Development Corporation to become the authority in terms of spear heading development in that particular area. So far they have worked on the 6 km road and they are going to be continuing with the works after our meeting with the residents a few days ago. However, the rest still has to be done, bridges have been built and we are concerned mainly with regards to schools and hospitals. These are very important amenities that are required to give at least all those people an opportunity to send their children to school as well as to hospitals. So far so good, we are on course and we continue to interact with the community. We are also looking at how best we can bring
Caledonia under a kind of township. I have tasked our lawyers in the
Ministry to see how best we can integrate the portions of Harare and Goromonzi and create some form of authority, area committees per-se, which can then work at least to listen to the residents from the 21 blocks that have been resettled right now. I thank you Madam President.
HON. SEN. MAVHUNGA: I would like to find out from the
Minister of Welfare Services for War Veterans, War Collaborators,
Former Political Detainees and Restrictees. The War Veterans Act Chapter 11:15 revised edition of 1996, Section 11 provides for the establishment of a War Veterans Board. The board that was established before vanished long back. When are we likely to have another War Veterans Board?
THE MINISTER OF WELFARE SERVICES FOR WAR
VETERANS, WAR COLLABORATORS, FORMER POLITICAL
DETAINEES AND RESTRICTEES (HON. DUBE): Thank you
Senator Mavhunga for your question. This question has been asked many times. As a matter of fact, it has been overtaken by the new Constitution. As you rightly said, this was first integrated in 1996, which is quite some time ago – but the new Constitution is only three years old. This issue is included in the new Constitution. We are now in the process of aligning the laws to the Constitution, which is at a very high stage. It is at the Cabinet stage now. It will soon be coming to this House for further debate, that is the issue of the board is one of the issues which are covered in this Act. So, very soon you will be able to deliberate on this.
HON. D. KHUMALO: My question goes to the Minister of Sports and Recreation. What policy do you have on children who have neither the mother nor the father but are good sportsmen, and when others are travelling they do not get to go anywhere, but they are in the teams.
THE MINISTER OF SPORT AND RECREATION (HON. HLONGWANE): Thank you Hon. Khumalo. We have developed a policy in the Ministry that we call ‘The Team Zimbabwe Selection
Policy’ and in that selection policy the central thematic area in that document is that selection of athletes across the board should be based on merit. In other words, meritocracy is at the centre of any selection.
What we have tried to do in that document is to get it to affect, not just Team Zimbabwe selection, in other words national teams but also to affect provincial, club and district team selection all down to the ward.
Now, team selection or participation by athletes, especially at the base of the pyramid is riddled with a lot of malpractice, corruption, cheating including age cheating and so forth. It is a scourge that we are busy trying to fight. It is one of the key reasons why we brought in this policy to address those matters. In instances where we get to know that an athlete has been left behind, which athlete had qualified on the basis of merit because corruption has happened, we immediately take action against the selection panel and blacklist them so that they do not participate in selection ever again in sport. I thank you.
+HON. SIBANDA: Minister, may I know since there is a programme running of command, livestock in agriculture. May we know Minister when the programme will be coming on board because people are waiting for it so that they can start working on their livestock?
THE MINISTER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT, PUBLIC WORKS AND NATIONAL HOUSING (HON. KASUKUWERE) on behalf of THE MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE,
MECHANISATION AND IRRIGATION DEVELOPMENT (HON.
- MADE): Allow me Madam President to defer this question to the Minister, otherwise I will end up responding – I am only acting for a few days. The Minister will be back and I am sure we can have patience till he comes back. I thank you.
*HON. CHIMANIKIRE: My question is directed to Hon. Minister Kasukuwere. Minister, my question is on maladministration within the Chitungwiza Town Council. Council officers are not being paid and yet the Town Clerk is abusing funds even the current Town Clerk. The former Town Clerk is said to have embezzled $60 million and yet officers are not getting salaries. What are you as a ministry doing about it and to ensure that officers get their remuneration?
* THE MINISTER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT, PUBLIC WORKS AND NATIONAL HOUSING (HON. KASUKUWERE): I
would like to thank the Hon. Member for the question. It is a pertinent question. The area of Chitungwiza is giving us problems as Government. We have challenges that you mentioned that there are people who held positions and even those who are there now. There was Mr. Makunde who was in office and the challenge is that they were giving each other very high T and Ss and it was about $60 000 in a year. When we considered the matter, we suspended the council and also the officers. Right now we have a Committee that is led by Mr. Pawadyira which is looking and considering how business is being done by the council of Chitungwiza. It is true that Chitungwiza historically, has had a challenge and in terms of service delivery things were not working out well. We hope that Mr. Pawadyira will assist us in coming up with a good local government in Chitungwiza. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. CHIMBUDZI: My question is directed to the
Minister of Primary and Secondary Education. Minister, what is
Government’s policy in terms of schools getting swipe machines to ensure parents are able to pay school fees without facing challenges? I thank you.
THE MINISTER OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY
EDUCATION (HON. DR. DOKORA): I want to thank Hon. Sen.
Chimbudzi for such a pertinent question that will assist us to explain to this House that we took into concern the challenges people were facing in terms of paying fees in cash. We were facing challenges with the bursars who receipt money in schools but now each and every school should have a swipe machine. Having a swipe machine does not require one to have ZESA but as long as there is network, that is what enables one to make payment. So, we instructed that all schools should make an effort to get swipe machines. We also had discussions with the Reserve Bank and the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Hon. Chinamasa and we agreed that we will be able to get these machines in batches and these will be distributed in schools to ensure that parents are able to pay their fees. It also makes it easier for us as a Ministry because when we plan on expenditures, that money will be coming from the accounts. I thank you.
HON. SEN. MAKORE: My question is directed to the Minister
of Home Affairs in relation to birth certificates. Often, it is a problem that single mothers and single fathers sometimes put the task for providing what we call evidence. Some are asked to go and look for their former husbands or look for other parents and some are already grand mothers who are in charge of those children. What would you advise as a correct or exact method that could be used to sort of simplify this difficult task that is being experienced by parents who are single?
Thank you very much.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS (HON.
MGUNI): Thank you Hon. Madam President of the Senate. The policy is that the mother with birth records and the mother with correct identy documents does not need any witness. That is the policy. If the mother is carrying her own birth certificate, I.D. and has got a child that is having a birth record, there is no need for any other witness. If the mother does not have all the documents and the child does not have the birth record that is where we need one relative from the mother’s side to come and witness that the child was born by the sister or the daughter.
If it is the grandmother, she is allowed as long as she comes from the mother’s side. Home Affairs does not allow the father to come with the child alone. If the father comes alone, we will beg the father to go and look for the relatives of his wife to state where you gave birth to this child. So, the father should go and consult the in-laws so that a witness comes from his in-laws. That is the policy of Home Affairs. Thank you Madam President.
+HON. SEN. NCUBE: Thank you Madam President. We hear
him and he is talking about the birth record but there are people without birth records who were born at home. They were not born in the hospital. The birth record is issued from the hospitals but those people are old and mature. They are now over 50 years and they do not have birth certificates. What is done with such people? I thank you.
THE HON. MGUNI: Thank you Madam President. She is talking about a rural set up where birth can be given outside the hospital. We can use two alternatives, for example, the village head of that area can be used as a witness by stamping a letter or an affidavit testifying that the man or the woman was born outside the hospital. We also have health village workers that we use who help those mothers at home to give birth, they can be witnesses. Thank you Madam President.
HON. SEN. MUTSVANGWA: Thank you Madam President. My
question is directed to the Minister of Education Hon. Dr. Dokora. We were quite enlightened and happy to know that the Ministry is now going to bring back some of the teachers who were trained and never got jobs. What is the policy? Are they taking those who qualified earlier or are they just taking randomly? What is the policy because this is what we keep on being questioned everywhere we go? How are the teachers engaged?
THE MINISTER OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION (HON. DR. DOKORA): Thank you Madam President
and I thank the Hon. Senator for asking that question. I must start by indicating that I did speak on the floor of this House early in the year when we indicated that we require a minimum of 7 000 teachers just to enable me to hold the system in a manner that enables kids to get benefit out of the learning experiences. Sometime in April, conversations between the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and the employer Ministry through the Public Service Commission led to the granting of authority to recruit 2 300 teachers. So, the process has been under way and by the beginning of August or mid-August, the process had been concluded by my Ministry working in collaboration with the employer Commission, the Public Service.
Two thousand three hundred teachers were recruited in terms of their specialisation. You will recall that we have defined areas of learning to say did the teacher study mathematics as the main area of study, what is called in the colleges as the curriculum depth study or the main subject or where they did the area of study that they carried out research in. So, was it mathematics, science, RME for religious education or was it any of these disciplines? It is on the basis of these disciplines that they were recruited but their distribution was also controlled by another factor. Remember I want 7 000 but the first installment is that of 2 300.
So, we have to group the schools into what are called clusters and we say in each cluster, we must at least recruit one or two mathematics majors, science and tech-voc major, just to enable those four or five that are deployed to the group of ten to be the nucleus of assisting the other teachers to manage in that cluster. So, we distribute the 2 300 in those terms, of course there is still a gap. I am expecting 4 600 but on the market, there is more than 19 000 qualified teachers. So, what the secretariat of my Ministry was doing was to say, let us start with those that graduated in 2013 – can we pick up any of the teachers there. If we do not find the maths graduates or we have exhausted the maths graduates, the science graduates and language graduates, then we go to 2014, to 2015 and up to the most recent graduants. The truth of the matter of course is that, the authorised recruitment falls far short of what I need and the market still has an oversupply of teachers who are still awaiting recruitment. Thank you.
*HON. SENATOR BUKA: Thank you Madam President of the
Senate. My question is directed to the Hon. Minister of Local
Government, Public Works and National Housing, Hon. Kasukuwere.
What measures have you put in place to assist the Harare City
Council to enable them to keep our City clean? As we are move around the City, we find heaps and heaps of garbage and with the rainy season approaching, we are likely to face challenges. Thank you Madam President.
*THE MINISTER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT, PUBLIC
WORKS AND NATIONAL HOUSING (HON. KASUKUWERE):
Thank you Madam President and I want to thank Hon. Sen. Buka for the question which is about looking at the service delivery in Harare.
Yes, I agree that there are quite a number of challenges that are affecting the residents of Harare. With your indulgence Madam President, firstly, it is an issue that we have kept within the City centre where commuter omnibuses were supposed to operate. All the informal traders selling different wares are now within the CBD. So we sat down with the Council and advised them to ensure that they set up areas for different commuters, for example those going to Beitbridge.
So, they should find conducive areas to build market stalls for people going to different areas such as Beitbridge or Mashonaland West,
Mashonaland Central and all the different areas in order to decongest the CBD. Secondly, we need to deal with the rampant behaviour of the kombi drivers and touts. So, areas such as Fourth Street, Copacabana and Market Square, those are areas that are congested and if you go maybe a kilometer or two from those areas. Even vehicles cannot freely move because of the congestion.
So, we want the commuter omnibuses to operate from outside the CBDs and we have advised our Council here in Harare to look for taxes with meters and are known that if a person accidentally loses his money, the taxi driver can be easily followed up. Those are the measures that we have engaged because without such measures, it causes a lot of confusion and also a lot of dirt and garbage. So, the City of Harare has managed to get lorries in order to dispose garbage.
We are going to give them $100 million for them to construct and address some of the areas that need decongestion. I think it is an issue that if we work together, we will bring cleanliness into the city. Along First Street, a person comes to sell tomatoes – we know that there are economic hardships but for you to bring a box of tomatoes and put your stall along First Street, that should not be the case at all. Even selling offals within First Street, that is not what we want. We want to keep our city clean and that is what we are doing Madam President. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. CHABUKA: Thank you Madam President. I think my question has been answered by the Minister. What I am now saying is a request – Minister we thank you for what you have done with the council by taking buses to Coca-cola for those who will be going to Manicaland. But, my issue is that you need to look into the issue of shelters because we are nearing the rainy season and also you should ensure that there is security because there is a lot of violence that is taking place. People are being murdered and raped: I think you know what the Coca-cola area is like. So, it is a request that I am putting across to you Minister.
*THE HON. PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: Thank you for
your statement.
*HON. SEN. CHIEF MUSARURWA: Thank you Madam
President. My question is directed to the Acting Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Hon. Kasukuwere. We want to find out …..
*THE HON. PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: Hon. Chief
Musarurwa, you heard him say that he is Acting Minister of Agriculture,
Mechanisation and Irrigation Development for a few days and that the Minister will come back but you are continuing posing questions to him when he said that he cannot respond to some of these questions. So, I think you can ask other questions because he cannot respond to questions on agriculture.
*HON. SEN. CHIEF MUSARURWA: Thank you Madam
President, I withdraw my question.
*THE HON. PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: Thank you for
your understanding Hon. Chief Musarurwa.
*HON. SEN. MACHINGAIFA: Thank you Madam President,
how are you today? My question is directed to the Minister of Sport and Recreation Hon. Hlongwane. My question is each and every day, radio stations are broadcasting on soccer from outside the country and also most stores are selling clothes of soccer stars from outside the country. Within our country, is there anything that is assisting our nation in terms of sport from such behaviours?
*THE MINISTER OF SPORT AND RECREATION (HON.
HLONGWANE): I did not understand the question. I understood what he explained but I did not understand the question and how it relates to his explanation.
*HON. SEN. MACHINGAIFA: Hon. Minister, my question is,
the way that they broadcast and promote soccer teams from outside the country and also selling clothes of soccer players outside the nation. My question is, are the radio stations getting something from this publicity that they are making for foreign soccer stars? Thank you Madam President of the Senate.
*HON. HLONGWANE: Thank you Madam President of the
Senate. Firstly, the issue of reporting of sport, we did a survey last year and looked at how our sport was being reported. What you have said
Hon. Senator is very true. When journalists report, they say very little about local sport and they jump over to English sport. What we also discovered is that locally, what they call sport is football. So, if the
President of Chess comes they highlight the match between CAPS and other teams. Therefore, we need to address that issue of sport reporting. We are going to have a workshop as a Ministry to look into the issues that you have mentioned.
Secondly, you also wanted to find out if it was beneficial to the sport here in Zimbabwe - looking at those who sell replica jerseys of soccer stars outside the country. Currently, there is no benefit. People who have shops and who sell those jerseys work and operate under the legislation of the country. We are in the process of looking into how we can come up with a fund to support our sport. We are looking at ways the sport betting companies can contribute towards sport. That is what is done in Kenya. The State gets 50 cents on every dollar bet placed. We however do not see ourselves getting to such an extent but we also hope that with the establishment of this fund, the issue of selling replica jerseys from other countries is an opportunity for us as a Ministry. Our Ministry does not have any income generating services, so we are hoping to do that. Thank you for your question.
HON. SENATOR MOHADI: Madam President, I move that the
time for Questions Without Notice be extended by 15 minutes.
HON. SEN. GOTO: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
HON. SEN. CHIEF NYANGAZONKE: My question is directed
to the Minister of Local Government. As a Ministry, how do you protect the communal farmers, whereas we take note that most of their animals are being sold as stray animals whilst they have ear tags and have been branded? In most cases, our rural folks do not have access to information be it newspapers or radios. Thank you.
THE MINISTER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT, PUBLIC
WORKS AND NATIONAL HOUSING (HON. KASUKUWERE):
Thank you Madam President. I want to thank the esteemed Senator for his question. Your question will be best answered by my colleague, Minister Ncube who is in charge of rural development.
HON. SEN. MOHADI: My question is to the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs. Minister, my question pertains to people who were born outside the country and have birth records. These are mainly people in South Africa. When they come here for registration at the moment, it seems as though it is a problem and is being said that there is an amount which is supposed to be paid. Can you just clarify that issue so that people who were born in South Africa can be assisted?
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS (HON.
MGUNI): Most of our people especially in Matabeleland South and Bulawayo province work in South Africa or Botswana. So, they send their children back home to the grandmothers with birth records. When they are now going to get birth-certificates – remember the policy that I explained, we need the mother and the child to be present to register. In this instance, it will be the grandmother without the mother. In most cases, these children are not brought through the border post because they do not have passports. According to the United Nations law, we are not allowed to register people whom we are not sure are Zimbabwean nationals otherwise the country can fall into a black zone from the
United Nations. Therefore, we need the mother to come back from South Africa or Botswana to witness that the child is theirs. The names on the card should also correspond with the mother’s name because some of the parents change their names when they reach those countries.
One becomes John Maluleke yet here he is known as Willie Musarurwa. It becomes a problem now to register that child because the card is saying John Maluluke but they want to use Musarurwa when they are in Zimbabwe. So, automatically there are discrepancies there and what we are doing now as I stand here today, is that we have written a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to allow Home Affairs to send its teams to go and register those people who are there. They must be allowed to complete birth registration for their children who are this side so that we bring those files and help those children. The cases in Matabeleland South are that half of the schools do not have birth-certificates. I thank you Madam President.
ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS WITH NOTICE
PAYMENT OF TAXES BY CO-OPERATIVES
- HON. SEN. CHIMBUDZI asked the Minister of Small and
Medium Enterprises to inform the House:-
- whether or not members of co-operatives pay taxes to the fiscus
- whether co-operative businesses are insured
THE MINISTER OF SMALL AND MEDIUM
ENTERPRISES (HON. NYONI): I want to thank the Hon. Senator for asking the question on cooperatives. A cooperative is an association of natural persons with a common bond, interest who have voluntarily joined together to achieve a common end through the formation of a democratically controlled organisation, making equitable contributions to the capital required and accepting a fair share of the risk and benefits of the undertaking in which the members actively participate.
A cooperative is a form of business which is member based and
member driven and they are paying taxes in different and various forms which include PAYE for its employees, VAT, custom duty when importing goods and services and so on. Cooperatives also pay a statutory contribution which is 5% of its surplus raised from their operations annually to the Government through the Central Cooperatives Fund as stipulated in the Cooperatives Societies Act Chapter 24 (5), meaning if they failed to yield surplus during their financial year they have nothing to pay.
The question Mr. President, is about whether cooperative businesses are insured? Cooperatives are independent and autonomous entities whose supreme decision making body is vexed in the general membership. It is their responsibility to make decisions that enhance and promote members’ interests which include insurance and any other such benefits for their members. My Ministry only has the function of raising the level of general and technical knowledge of members and staff of societies through training, supply of any information they may need and educational materials that we provide for them. Having said that Mr.
President Sir, there are some cooperative businesses which are insured especially those in transport, manufacturing and agriculture. I thank you.
Questions with Notice were interrupted by THE TEMPORARY
PRESIDENT in terms of Standing Order No. 62.
MOTION
CODE OF CONDUCT AND ETHICS AND IMPLEMENTATION
REGISTER
First Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Code of
Conduct and Ethics.
Question again proposed.
THE MINISTER OF SMALL AND MEDIUM
ENTERPRISES AND CO-OPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT (HON.
NYONI): I move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Tuesday, 10th October, 2017.
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
Second 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. MUSAKA: I wish to thank the Chairman of the
Thematic Committee on Peace and Security, Hon. Mumvuri and the seconder of the motion. Indeed Mr. President, the trip was taken to do the job, to see whether all was complied with and well and good. Indeed, it was found out that it was all well and good. This issue was debated at length. Many Hon. Members who went on the trip indicated that all that was supposed to be done was done. Of course, more could be done and it could be better but members were all satisfied with what has taken place.
Mr. President, the silos are full. The depots are not full which makes it very clear – there is a difference that there is no space to put the grain; it is not well understood. The depots are still receiving. I think the strategy here Mr. President, the day the depots are full - I think those who understand economics; the system of offloading starts, that is when we start exporting but we are not yet there. It needs to be made very clear that there are some mathematical calculations which are made that you reach a certain optimum to a maximum of three years in reserve then you start offloading.
However, what I said in my other speech Mr. President, I think I used the military language, that you needed the charismatic generals to command. Indeed, I think the charismatic general was found maybe in the name of the Vice President. He did a commendable job. He has done very well and that is what we need – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] –
Again, we want to make it clear and point out that those commanding certain sectors who cannot perform should be recalled back to commanding headquarters then reassigned and given less demanding jobs. So far, as far as Command Agriculture is concerned - brilliant staff and that is where we are; we should continue that way. There are also plans to go to command cattle and sheep as you all know. I for one Mr. President, am confident with that particular general commanding the situation; we will succeed.
Mr. President, there was an honourable member of this House who raised concern about Command Agriculture, that in certain areas in our country Command Agriculture, disadvantaged people and/or societies. Mr. President, this was never the idea or aim of command agriculture to disadvantage any member of the Zimbabwean society. I call upon the Chairman of the Thematic Committee on Peace and Security to ensure that the issue is investigated and thoroughly dealt with. Command Agriculture was never intended to disadvantage anybody. With these few words, I thank you Mr. President.
HON. SEN. RTD GEN. NYAMBUYA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN CHIEF MUSARURWA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Tuesday, 10th October, 2017.
HON. SEN. RTG. GEN. NYAMBUYA: Mr. President, I move
that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. CHIMHINI: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Tuesday, 10th October, 2017.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE ZIMBABWE DELEGATION TO THE
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON PROMOTING
STAKEHOLDER AND PARLIAMENTARY DIALOGUE ON THE
ARMS TRADE TREATY (ATT)
Third 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.
HON. SEN. TIMVEOS: Thank you Mr. Speaker. I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. CHIMHINI: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Tuesday, 10th October, 2017.
On the motion of HON. SEN. MOHADI, seconded by HON. SEN. CHIMHINI, the Senate adjourned at Eight Minutes to Four o’clock p.m.