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SENATE HANSARD 08 MAY 2019 28-41

PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE

Wednesday, 8th May, 2019

The Senate met at Half-past Two o’clock p.m.

PRAYERS

(THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE in the Chair)

MOTION

BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE

HON. SEN. DR. SEKERAMAYI: I move that Order of the Day,

Number 1 on today’s Order Paper be stood over until the rest of the

Orders of the Day have been disposed of.

HON. SEN. NCUBE:  I second.

Motion put and agreed to.

MOTION

PRESIDENTIAL SPEECH: DEBATE ADDRESS

Second Order read: Adjourned debate in reply to the Presidential

Speech.

Question again proposed.

HON. SEN. SEKERAMAYI: I move that the debate do now adjourn.

HON. SEN. NCUBE: I second.

Motion put and agreed to.

Debate to resume. Tuesday, 14th May, 2019.

MOTION

REPORT OF THE 44TH PLENARY ASSEMBLY OF SADC

PARLIAMENTARY FORUM

Third Order read: Adjourned debate on the Report of the delegation to the 44th Plenary Assembly of the SADC Parliamentary

Forum.

Question again proposed.

HON. SEN. SEKERAMAYI: I move that the debate do now

adjourn.

HON. SEN. O. HUNGWE: I second.

Motion put and agreed to.

Debate to resume. Tuesday, 14th May, 2019.

MOTION

HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS SUFFERED BY ZIMBABWEANS    Fourth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion condemning all forms of violence.

Question again proposed.

*HON. SEN. CHABUKA: Thank you Mr. President for according

me this opportunity to add my voice to this motion. I want to thank Hon. Sen. Ncube for moving this motion which condemns all forms of violence across our country. Violence discourages peace in our country and I want to thank the mover for bringing this motion. There is a lot that is happening especially with regards to violence around the mining areas in our country. If you go to most mining towns, they have coined the term “maShurugwi or mabhemba” and this is emanating from the violence caused by people trying to eke a living. If you go further, you will find that this is caused by unemployment which is driving most young people to become artisanal miners. Government must find ways of stopping young people from becoming violent as this is not good for the development of our country. Government must also realise that violence is being perpetrated by both young and old people. We also notice that women are raped which is another form of violence.  We should look for ways of solving these problems of violence. When we talk of violence, we are not talking of fighting between husband and wife – we mean anything that disturbs another person’s way of thinking, something that causes another person to be insecure.  Violence is not only physical assault but it takes many forms. Rape like I stated above, is a form of violence. Bad neighbourhood or neighbourliness is violence.

So we should look for ways of creating peace.

I am pleading with the Government to create a conducive atmosphere that leads to high investments, thus creating jobs for the many youths who are roaming the streets and forests. These youths indulge in violent activities which include killing each other using machetes, housebreaking I cases, where house owners who resist are injured or killed.  These youths also take dangerous drugs so that when they indulge in these violent acts they will be under the influence of these drugs.  Violence is not only related to domestic violence but takes many forms as I have stated.  With these few words, I would like to thank Hon. Ncube for this motion which values people’s lives; a motion which encourages that we have peace in our country and those who visit this country should find us in peace.  I thank you Mr. President for the opportunity you have given me.

*HON. SEN. CHIFAMBA: Thank you Mr. President.  Hon.

President, violence is a very painful experience especially with us mothers when we see these youngsters fighting. The other day I was in a bread queue and a fight broke out because bread had been in short supply.  The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) had to be called in to maintain peace.  At times violence is caused by shortage of fuel; when people jump queues violence erupts.  People use weapons such as knives, machetes and guns.  Some people have lost teeth in some of these fights because somebody will have tried to jump the fuel queue.  Youths indulge in deadly substances such as bronco and when they have taken these substances they fight over trivial issues such as women.  Such a scenario happened in Bindura and Marondera where some of the victims were injured and others died.

I will now turn to domestic violence which usually happens when the father hits the mother or the opposite and children have no peace.

They end up hating the father or mother, whosoever causes domestic violence.  In most instances, domestic violence is caused by broken down marriages or in bereavement cases whereby, stepmothers or fathers abuse the children in the family.  They forget that when they were married these children were already there and hence need their love.  There have been instances whereby a stepfather impregnates a step daughter.  The most painful aspect of this scenario is that the daughter is advised not to report this case because the family would suffer when the stepfather is incarcerated.  These children are forced to live with that violence in silence.  Even some women can fall in love with their step sons and it is painful to notice that the boy would live in pain for the rest of his life since he will be afraid to tell his father or any relative.

With women, it is painful when you notice that step children are given chores when children of their age are out playing.  They are even denied food or turned into child minders when age mates are playing or are in school.  I also think that Government should find ways of creating employment by opening the many industries so that our children are occupied and have less time of roaming around.  With these few words, I thank you Mr. President.

HON. SEN. NCUBE: Thank you Mr. President.  I move that the debate do now adjourn.

HON. SEN. DUBE:  I second.

Motion put and agreed to.

Debate to resume: Thursday, 9th May, 2019.

MOTION

FIRST REPORT OF THE THEMATIC COMMITTEE ON HUMAN

RIGHTS ON THE ZIMBABWE HUMAN RIGHTS ANNUAL

REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 2017

                  Sixth Order read: adjourned debate on motion on the First Report of the Thematic Committee on Human Rights on the Zimbabwe Human

Rights Annual Report for the year ended December 2017.

Question again proposed.

HON. SEN. SEKERAMAYI:  I move that the debate do now

adjourn.

HON. SEN. CHIMBUDZI:  I second.

Motion put and agreed to.

Debate to resume: Thursday, 9th May, 2019.

MOTION

IMPORTANCE OF INTERCROPPING AND GROWING OF SMALL

GRAINS

Sixth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the need to educate the nation on the importance of intercropping and growing of small grains.

Question again proposed.

HON. SEN. MBOHWA:  Thank you Mr. President for affording me this opportunity to debate on this motion.  I would also like to thank

Hon. Sen. Tongogara for bringing up the motion into this august House.

It is true Mr. President that before independence, people used to use traditional methods of farming, namely intercropping which mixed various crops on one piece of land.  However, our people used to farm only for human consumption and not for selling but with the coming in of independence, Government introduced cash crops to black farmers.  This shifted the concentration of our farmers and they put their attention on cash crops which prohibited intercropping.  Those who come from Gokwe know that if you are a cotton farmer, you do not mix cotton with any other crop. Even with sweet sorghum – I do not know about maize.

I am talking of cotton because that is our cash crop in Gokwe.

Each farming method has got its own advantages and disadvantages, but today I am going to dwell much on the advantages of intercropping since it was the one raised in this august House.  With intercropping, you can maximise the use of land and production.  You can also realise maximum return per unit area from whatever crops you will have ploughed. Intercropping also prolongs the soil life.  If you mix different types of crops – we have got groundnuts, you know how the roots are.  They bind the soil particles together and erosion is reduced.  Due to the ground coverage of the mixture of these crops, it also helps maintain moisture since evaporation is reduced as well.

We also notice that we have different sizes of these small grain crops or even large grain crops – they maximise the use of nutrients from the soil because they will extract nutrients from various soil depths.  Also, for these small crops, we have got some diseases and pests which are plant specific.  This means that there are some crops which produce unpleasant smells.  For those who are into intercropping, they know that we have some crops which produce unpleasant smells that drive away pests.  It means that expense is reduced.  It means we will not have total crop failure.  If one crop fails, the other might thrive and produce the desired yield or if all crops do well, it means that the farmer is going to realise maximum production of a variety of crops from one piece of land.  That is the good of intercropping.

Intercropping also helps in the reduction of malnutrition because these various types of crops have got various nutrients as well.  You can get potassium, iron, calcium, carbohydrates thus reducing the chances of malnutrition.

Small grains are good and I think it is high time that we should look or take serious the ploughing of small grains, taking into consideration the various regions that we come from.  Some regions have got poor rainfall patterns and some are good.  I think those with poor rainfall patterns should go for small crops because these mature early and they can stand any season.  Even in short rain seasons, they can survive.  Small grains can also be stored for a long period of time without being affected by zvipfukuto.  If you put maize in a sack today, next month there is a lot of zvipfukuto which is contrary to other small grains.

You can also use small grains to brew beer for both village and commercial purposes.  They can be used for stock feed and also as a source of income.  There are a lot of things that you can use small grains for.

For your own information Mr. President, with your age I think you know the rapoko/millet mealie-meal.  If you eat sadza prepared with rapoko or millet mealie-meal, it will satisfy your hunger for a long period of time.  It also gives you energy which is mostly needed by people who do a lot of manual work like our farmers.  It is really good to let our people grow these small grains.

From my own point of view, the Government should at least have a paradigm shift towards these crops. They should also give attention to these small grains.  I come from Gokwe – when the inputs come, there will be large quantities of cotton and maize seed and sometimes one packet of millet.  You then ask yourself what this Government is teaching us again because it should also encourage farmers by putting those inputs in numbers so that they can know the importance of farming small grain crops.

They should also incentivise farmers.  I heard that there is growing

Castor Beans which is being sponsored by the Women’s Bank and already they have found a market for the caster beans, I think at US$1 per kg.  If they could do the same for our small grains, it would incentivise the farmers. They should also find the sponsorship and also a favourable market for the farmers’ produce.  I think people will be encouraged to grow small grains.  However, if the Government has a negative attitude, the farmers will in turn have a negative attitude also.

I think in those regions with poor rainfall, the Government should construct good roads so that those farmers who would have produced small grains should have easy access to market their products on the markets which are readily availed by the Government.  That is my addition to what other Hon. Senators have debated on this motion.  I thank you Mr. President.

HON. SEN. TONGOGRARA: Mr. President, I move that the debate do now adjourn.

HON. SEN. CHIFAMBA: I second.

Motion put and agreed to.

Debate to resume: Thursday, 9th May, 2019.

MOTION

CORRUPTION ALLEGATIONS BY THE ZIMBABWE CRICKET

BOARD

Seventh Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the allegations of corruption by the Zimbabwe Cricket Board.

Question again proposed.

HON. SEN. TIMVEOS: Thank you Mr. President.  I want to close my motion.  Mr. President, I want to thank everyone who supported this motion.  This motion is critical; I know that it has a lot of issues.  Years back, cricket was a joy to watch but now it has gone down.  There is a lot of revenue that comes with sport, as much as soccer brings.  The money that is generated from cricket can actually build

Zimbabwean sport.  If this corruption is not looked at – I was hoping and I still hope that the Minister can investigate and see how cricket can be improved in this country.  There are a lot of loopholes in almost every sport and this has to be looked at.

I want to thank everyone who debated this motion. I move that this

House adopts the motion.

Motion that:

CONCERNED with the allegations of corruption by the Zimbabwe Cricket Board whose affairs are currently managed by the Chairman of the Board;

COGNISANT of the need to restore the integrity and ensure good corporate governance and professionalism by the Board:

NOW, THEREFORE, calls upon the Ministry of Youth, Sport,

Arts and Recreation to ensure –

  • there are mechanisms in place to prevent abuse of the funds of the

Board by its management; and

  • elections of officials to the Board are conducted in a transparent manner, put and adopted.

MOTION

OUTBREAKS OF VELD FIRES

Eighth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the recurrence of outbreaks of veld fires with devastating effects on the environment.

*HON. SEN. CHIFAMBA: Thank you Mr. President. Veld fires

are very dangerous especially to our crops and animals.  It can even destroy crops which will be about to be harvested but people burn everything because of a small thing that they will be chasing.

Community leaders like chiefs from the areas we live should come up with stiff sentences for those who cause veld fires whilst hunting for small things.  This is because stiffer penalties will cause perpetrators to be afraid to face the chief’s court charges as one may be asked to pay a fine of a cow.  The veld fires can even destroy homes as people will be hunting small things.

Smokers should also be warned and made aware through our media by educating them that they should not throw away their cigarette stubs through windows because they cause veld fires along the roads.

We end up having many accidents because fire is dangerous yet some people play around with fire as if it is a good thing or toy.  I am saying we should go back to our tradition that even if one’s child causes fire, they should approach the chief and pay a penalty.  That way, they will be afraid because they will always be cautioned because they would know the consequences of causing veld fires.  Fire is very important but also very dangerous.

People should desist from causing fires when they are hunting because if nothing happens to them after causing fire, tomorrow they will do it again.  However, if they are made to pay penalties at the chief’s court, it means that they will be aware and cautious as they would be afraid of being asked to pay a penalty.  Some people cut down big trees by burning the tree. Just to sever one tree but we end up losing many trees because of that.  Those who do not do things properly should be asked to pay a fine.  Thank you Mr. President.

*HON. SEN. MALULEKE:  Thank you Mr. President, I want to

add a few words in support of this motion.  Very true, for veld fires to destroy forests is not good as we lose a lot of things like trees that are used for making medicines and herbs that will help to keep us healthy when we fall sick and to live long; we also lose food.  Sometimes fire can occur at night when people are asleep especially some of us who stay along the borders, we lose a lot of wild animals like elephants in Gonarezhou.  If you see veld fires, I think we should help each other as this august Senate.  We must teach our constituencies that causing veld fires is not good for us as a nation.  We should look after our forests so that we get enough food.  If we get good strong animals, it means we will be wealthy.

Last year, there was a veld fire that destroyed sugar cane plants and thousands and thousands of hectares of sugar cane was destroyed and people were not able to harvest anything from there.  So, fire is not good. It is good when we use it properly like for cooking purposes. We should also help when it comes to veld fires by putting out the fires.  I remember there was a year when we had a veld fire and people stopped drinking beer and they all helped putting out the fire.  I do not know these days whether it is culture or what, people tend to leave veld fires going on without showing any concern.  So, we are pleading with this august Senate that we should educate people that if you come across fires, you should go and help and also investigate the causes of that fire.

We are losing a lot of forests and also burning our animals, even the snakes are not spared.  I do not know why we leave fires going on – it is not God who is causing the fires but it is us people.  We should help our chiefs, headmen and us leaders in this august Senate to teach the community not to cause veld fires.  We should look after our forests and our areas.  Those who go to university to study pharmacy use the trees to extract herbs or tablets.  We now go to churches and clinics and no longer believe in cultural values of using our natural herbs.  We used to use herbs for treating the sick but these days we visit hospitals and clinics.  Long back, it was good because our elders used to look after these forests so that they would help us when we fall sick.  Long ago, when women die giving birth, elders used to make herbs from trees that were given to those infants so that they could grow strong and healthy and you could not even tell that this child is an orphan. All the trees are important, every wild plantation is important; there are different types of grass we used to eat when herding cattle and we grew up strong.  With these few words Mr. President, I want to thank you.

+HON. SEN. A. DUBE: Thank you Mr. President, I want to add my voice on issues to do with veld fire.  In Matabeleland North, when we grew up, we knew that we used grass to do many things but now you realise there is no more grass left.  I come from Somthanyelo River where we used to have plenty of grass but you cannot even make a broom out of the grass that is there now which is a sign that we no longer have grass in our areas.  We used to have different types of grass but now you cannot find anything and you cannot even admire the beauty of nature.  There was a time when I travelled to my rural area and I saw one bird, I could not understand why it was doing what it was doing and someone was saying it is trying to protect its nest.  On leaving that place, I also realised that there were so many snakes that were affected by the veld fire.  When I got home, I was wondering whether there is something that the Government can do to protect our wild animals. We have lodges with thatch roofs and they are not spared in the event of fire breaking out.  We should teach each other as a nation on the dangers of veld fires.  It is not only wild animals that are destroyed but even our cattle are also affected.  I thank you Mr. President.

HON. SEN. GUMPO: Mr. President, I move that the debate do now adjourn.

HON. SEN. MATHUTHU:  I second.

Motion put and agreed to.

Debate to resume: Tuesday, 14th May, 2019.

On the motion of THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR

MANICALAND PROVINCE (HON. DR. GWARADZIMBA), the

Senate adjourned at Eighteen minutes past Three o’clock p.m.

 

 

 

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