- Version
- Download 32
- File Size 298 KB
- File Count 1
- Create Date October 11, 2017
- Last Updated November 16, 2021
SENATE HANSARD 11 OCTOBER 2017 27-09
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Wednesday 11th October, 2017
The Senate met at Half-past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE ACTING PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE ACTING PRESIDENT OF THE
SENATE
INVITATION TO A ZIPAH MEETING
THE ACTING PRESIDEN OF THE SENATE (HON SEN.
TAVENGWA): I wish to inform the Senate that the Zimbabwe
Parliamentarians on HIV and AIDs (ZIPAH) Executive is inviting all ZIPAH members to a ZIPAH meeting on Thursday, 12th October, 2017 at 1200 hours in the Government Caucus Room.
MOTION
PRESIDENTIAL SPEECH: DEBATE ON ADDRESS
First Order read: Adjourned debate on motion in reply to the
Presidential Speech.
Question again proposed.
*HON. SEN. MUGABE: Thank you Mr. President for giving me the opportunity to make my contribution on the Presidential speech. The motion was raised by Hon. Sen. Chief Charumbira and seconded by Hon. Sen. Chief Mtshane. Mr. President, I am very grateful for the speech delivered by the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces. He noted that in the promulgation of the law, particularly in the alignment of laws – he encouraged the august House that the 30 pieces of legislation which have to be aligned should be scrutinised intently so that they are aligned in the correct manner.
When he was delivering his speech, I was very much touched when he talked about the climate change. I think His Excellency had a question regarding climate change especially being foresighted that if we do not have any rains in future or if we have excessive rains what will happen. At times we could have severe colds, freezing temperatures, how will we survive. When we talk of climate change, this is something for real and it is really happening. We have heard of people talking about climate change but some of us take it as rhetoric and yet we can see the blowing of winds. At times the weather patterns have changed in such a manner that either the rains are delayed or come sooner than they are expected. We have had instances of flooding. As stated before we have had the change of climate.
Climate change works hand-in-hand with the performances of different ministries which are supposed to take corrective measures to stand the changes in the weather patterns. We also notice that the lives of the people and animals, all the flora and fauna will have been changed. At times we find even the harvest is affected and we have a poor harvest. The health systems are also disturbed. We may have diseases such as cholera and typhoid which are induced by this climate change. We have people with albinism; they are disturbed by this climate change and these ultraviolet rays.
His Excellency foresaw all this happening in the country, hence he introduced this in House so that we may take corrective measures. I will take the example of Kariba Dam. I am using it as an example because it was given as an example in the report by the Catholic Relief Services. In their report, they are saying we all know that Lake Kariba is one of the biggest manmade lakes in the world. The length of this dam is 140 miles; maybe you will have to convert to kilometres, the width is 20 miles and the depth is 320 feet which may have to be changed to metres in order to understand it. We have since noticed that Lake Kariba was once drying up, there was a time during these dry periods that this dam was running dry and there was shortage of water. This dam was constructed in the 1950s and it straddles the Zambezi River. This dam has been used for periods exceeding 50 years in agricultural purposed such as irrigation and fishing. We also know that we get our electricity from the dam. Not only does it benefit Zimbabwe but other countries which are along the Zambezi River such as Mozambique, Zambia and other countries in southern Africa. There is reduction of water and the rains which is caused by the drought. The reduction is also caused by such climate changes as the Elninos. What this means is, water animals which live in the water will have survival problems because the dam will have dried up. These include the Hippopotamus, crocodiles and even the elephants as they do not have enough water to swim and also the mermaids are also affected by the lack of water. This means that our country will be losing out on its economic empowerment because we also benefit from tourism but if some of these sources which are tourist attractions are drying up that means the tourism financial resource also dries up.
Somebody said no good living, no life. This is a very important quotation. They have even given that as an example. I know it is terrifying and it may send shivers down under other people’s spines. Therefore we need to work hard supporting this disaster risk management belt. We have to make a thorough research so that we make meaningful contribution in this august House.
At times, we rely on the weather forecasters but it is not enough to say they have told us that there are going to be floods and we say that we are going to take the necessary steps. Just like what happened in the days of Noah, people were warned that there were going to be floods but people just said Noah was mad and they suffered at the end. We need to be very careful in the conservation and preservation of our flora and fauna and natural resources. That is why the President emphasised on this point. We are also responsible for the destruction of the environment, which causes climate change.
We have people who are building on the wet land and use pole and dagger. Some of these structures quickly crumble because of the weather changes. When we are aware of these problems and when we are making alignment of the laws, we also make laws which are pertinent to the construction of buildings which will suit the changing weather patterns. We also need to make strategies which will correct all the problems which may be brought by this climate change.
If we would observe, we notice that in the last farming season, the
President introduced the Command Agriculture and this has borne fruit.
It also works hand-in-hand in alleviating the climatic changes in the country. When you look at the Command Agriculture, we are now concentrating on water harvesting, construction of dams and irrigation and because of that, Zimbabwe no longer imports food but is now one of the exporters. We are no longer importing food and we are also earning foreign currency for the country and embarking on a job creation exercise in order to alleviate unemployment rates which leads to the growth of the Zimbabwean economy.
Mr. President Sir, when we talk of agriculture, especially when people wait for the rainy season, this is what we call gambling in farming because you never know whether there will be sufficient rains. So, we want to concentrate on constructing irrigation schemes. This is not a source of prestige and showing off but a project that needs to be taken seriously. People should be educated and enlightened on the use and construction of these irrigation schemes.
I present another example of the tobacco crop. In order for tobacco to be cured, we need to use either charcoal or coal hence when we look at the end result of using flames; we have fumes that go up into the sky. We need to have mechanisms in place which lead to the reduction of atmospheric pollution and the depletion of the ozone layer because the sun may disturb the progress and development.
Mr. President Sir, the research by the World Bank revealed that the climatic changes we are experiencing when we get to 2050, there will be very little rain. Rivers may dry up or may have little water, even the underground water will be scarce. When I look at His Excellency the
President’s speech, I see a visionary and focused man who gave the nation a chance to prepare for adverse effects of climatic change.
The President of the United States of America, Mr. Donald Trump, refused to be a signatory to the Paris Agreement which talks about climate change, yet the United States of America is on the front in terms of to air pollution because of its many industries. One would have thought that they would be the first ones to support this Paris Agreement. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. MATIRIRA: Thank you Mr. President for giving me the opportunity to make my contribution to the President’s Speech that was tabled by Hon. Sen. Chief Charumbira and seconded by Hon Sen. Chief Mtshane Khumalo. It was a pleasant and constructive speech which was delivered at the occasion of the Fifth Session of the Eighth
Parliament of Zimbabwe aimed at developing our country, Zimbabwe.
The President’s speech dwelt on a lot of issues that are of benefit to the people. We know that as the leaders, we benefited a lot from the speech. The President spoke about agriculture and we are all aware that Zimbabwe industries are agro-based. When we look at Command
Agriculture, a lot of things will be happening and this is very essential for us. Now, the country has a lot of food since we had a bumper harvest. We need to see such developments being embraced in the provinces in order to boost our agriculture. We have some areas that are located in the dry lands which did not receive sufficient rains. We wish if more dams could be constructed in those areas so that irrigation projects are undertaken. When we look at the amount of agriculture that was done by people especially those who joined the Command
Agriculture, they worked so hard and led to the prosperity and progress of Command Agriculture. We are proud that Zimbabwe is now self sufficient in food production. The Government is now in a position to look at other facets of development in the country because we have sufficient food provisions.
I will add a word or two on climate change. Mr. President, I would like to encourage rural dwellers to conduct awareness campaigns because some of them are told of climatic change but it has no meaning to them since they cannot conceptualize what it means. We should hold road shows to educate people in the rural areas on the effects of climate change, hence we are in full support of the President’s Speech.
He also introduced two very important Bills to this august House and encouraged us to work hard. The President call for Hon. Members of Parliament to work hard means that we should make thorough research on issues relating to climate change so that we make meaningful contributions in our debates. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. JADAGU: I will start by thanking Hon. Sen. Chief
Charumbira for tabling this motion and his seconder Hon. Sen. Chief Mtshane. This shows that these two chiefs are visionaries. This is going to be my contribution. The President touched on a lot of issues which had to be debated and as a result I have some few issues which I would like to contribute to in this House so that whenever we need to promulgate some legislation we do that. The President talked about early child marriages and some of these can be equated to raping these youngsters and we also notice that some women are raped and at times some people also molest some of these men. This august House should work hard in supporting the speech raised by His Excellency because we need to talk about these issues.
I will talk about rape cases. I have a feeling that the traditional leaders should have their powers bestowed upon them because we now have a change in behaviour which is contrary to our African culture. The changes which have come about are that you find a young lady kissing his father as a way of exchanging greetings. Yes, we know it may be good when a father kisses his daughter because they gave birth to that child but what we are saying is that if this child is matured she is a woman and she has some parts of her body which are not supposed to come into contact with her father, brother, or other elderly people. When they are kissing, they hug and these parts do come into contact. This is taboo. We may be following the Eurocentric values but I say this is taboo.
When we are talking of mother; m.o.t.h.e.r – in some other languages we say mother, mummy or mai and in lingua franca it is moms. Just as well when we talk of the father or when we look at you father, the President of the Senate, baba is spelt as b.a.b.a. Even in Ndebele it is also b.a.b.a. I am still talking about the rape cases perpetrated on the females. What is of great shame is these fathers who rape their daughters. Unashamedly, we also have some elderly women who are indulging in sexual intercourse with their sons and then you start wondering is it because we are saying daddy, daddy, or mummy, mummy. That is why I am calling for the bestowing of the powers on the traditional leaders, especially the elderly and grandmothers. We need to preserve our culture.
I am married to a Korekore man and they do not believe in the hugging, kissing, or shaking hands of a young lady with men. When they exchange their greetings the women should be at some distance. What is of concern is that we are now losing our culture. We are no longer following our culture.
Let me give an example of Hon. Sen. Mumvuri who is my relative. I have noticed that we have people who will hug like I may hug Hon. Sen. Mumvuri in such a way that some of his private parts are aroused. That loses the respect that is between me and him and our culture is lost because the private parts have touched. This normally happens when people exchange greetings and this is taboo.
I also wanted to say to all these fathers – especially those who are in this august House, starting from the President of the Senate, I experienced these things especially when I am travelling to Chitungwiza when we finish very late. What happens in the streets is that we see some of these people who are very naked. They open up and expose themselves to motorists who are passing by. To tell you the truth they will be scantily dressed and the whole body will be in the open for the passersby to see. Even the breasts are not decently covered but all they are contented with is covering the nipples and all the other parts of the body will be exposed. What a shame! One of the ladies of the night came to my driver and asked him how much he could pay for a one night stand. I asked my driver whether he knew this woman and he said mama, these are what are called sex workers. We believe that people should be properly dressed.
In the past culture was passed from generation to generation through aunts, uncles, mothers and fathers. Nowadays, we have ladies who are moving scantily dressed, it is a shame and they are moving out in the open. As people of Zimbabwe we see these people and what are we going to say. Is it not one of the ways which contributes to rape? We need to promulgate some laws and align them to the culture of the country so that our children, especially ladies may be well behaved because this is very shocking. My request is that we need to go back and look for ways of dealing with these commercial sex workers.
Last week I took my husband to West End Hospital and he needed some time off to use the restrooms. I asked my driver to accompany my husband to the restrooms. When they came back, my husband said Mai Patty, while I had gone to the restrooms, I saw four ladies who were stark naked and dancing. There was not a single thing covering their bodies. There were some men who were clapping hands in approval and encouraging these ladies to go and have sex. When a man wants one of these girls, they will simply take them out for a quick time. As Members of Parliament, please let us promulgate some laws which may lead to the upholding of our culture because we have a lot of rape cases which are going on.
What is really astonishing is that we also have same sex relationships and we are women and men. We are saying, we need to come up with some measures and ways of protecting the people from these rape cases.
I thank you for giving me this opportunity to make my contribution.
HON. SEN. MASUKU: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. MOHADI: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 12th October, 2017.
MOTION
CODE OF CONDUCT AND ETHICS AND
IMPLEMENTATION REGISTER
Second Order read: Adjourned debate on the Code of Conduct and
Ethics.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. MASUKU: Mr. President, having tabled this motion in this House and having had a well-elaborated document circulated to the Hon. Senators, I would like to thank the seconder of the motion, Hon. Sen. Mohadi who debated this motion. Mr. President, I believe that although the Code of Conduct and Ethics was overdue, I believe that Hon. Members who went through the document would agree that Members and Officers of Parliament are now on the right path because in any institution, there is a code of conduct, documented or undocumented and that has been missing for quite some time.
Having said that Mr. President, I move the motion;
That this House:
RECOGNIZING that in 1999, Parliament adopted the final report of the Parliamentary Reform Committee (PRC); and one of the recommendations contained in the report was that of establishing a Code of Conduct, Ethics, and Implementation Register for Members of
Parliament;
ACKNOWLEDGING that the Constitution of Zimbabwe, in section 198 provides for the enactment of an Act of Parliament, which must provide measures to enforce the provisions of principles of public administration and leadership, including measures to:-
- require public officers to make regular disclosures of their assets;
- establish codes of conduct to be observed by public officers; and
- Provide for the disciplining of persons who contravene the provisions of Chapter 9 of the Constitution or any code of conduct or standard so established;
NOTING that the recommendation by the PRC and the requirement by the Constitution culminated in Standing Order No. 48 of the Standing Rules and Orders of the Senate;
COGNISANT of the approval of the Code of Conduct and Ethics and Implementation Register by the Committee on Standing Rules and
Orders on 21st of April, 2016;
NOW THEREFORE, resolves that the Code of Conduct and Ethics and the Implementation Register be adopted 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
Third 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. B. SIBANDA: Mr. President, I thank you for the opportunity to add on to the debate that has already taken place on this subject. First of all, I want to thank the Committee, specifically the Chairperson who presented on behalf of the Committee, the findings of that Committee. Thank you very much to all of you Hon. Senators – [HON. SENATORS: Hear, hear.] – Mr. President, the report is in two parts, the one that deals with the preparedness of the Grain Marketing Board, (GMB), which I think has been qualified that it has not adequately prepared. I am not surprised that the GMB would not be prepared. The GMB has had a history that is not very admirable, some of it their own making and part of it our own making as a nation, where the GMB has been underfunded. Why would a parastatal continue to be underfunded? I cannot answer because I think parastatals should be selfsufficient.
I also believe that the announcement to pursue Command
Agriculture was made around July/August, last year. Effectively, that gave the GMB and the Government about 9 to 10 months before the reaping period, least of all; I am not even talking about the delivery period. If an organisation cannot put itself in a position where it is able to run an efficient system with nine months prior notification, I am greatly concerned about its ability to exist and be functional. It is my hope that in future, when the Government announces a programme, not only to the GMB, but to any arms of Government, particularly parastatals which are directly accountable to Government, there will be responsive activities by the organisations concerned. In that vein, I urge the GMB to be prepared to handle any volume of agricultural business that pertains to it.
Mr. President, I then move to Command Agriculture. If you look at it at face value, the maize is there, we see it, the deliveries have taken place and the stock piles are visible. On the visibility side, I am happy that the nation will not starve. However, I also have some reservations.
I for one am averse to ‘command systems,’ their history is replete with instances of failure. We know the political systems that were based on command, hardly any of them exist today because the sustainability level is low.
Mr. President, I therefore have a reservation about any business system that is based on ‘command’ for the following reasons;
- They lack sustainability, it is a proven historical fact;
- they lack longevity, it is also a proven historical fact;
- they tend to be opaque;
- prone to corruption and that is also a proven fact and
- they tend to accelerate the growth of the have’s and do not promote the growth and development of the have nots
I look at farming as a business and in normal circumstances, should drive its operations. I am worried that farmers who either bought land or qualified for land allocation on the basis of having the means to do that have suddenly got to be assisted to carry out farming. Mr.
President, the next thing that worries me is the price that we are paying. We are paying a basic price of US$390, that is the extent to which our farmers need to be motivated as against an international price of between
US$180 to about US$220 per tonne. That is a huge disinvestment by a Government.
Secondly Mr. President, I believe that if we had thought properly about agriculture, if we had organised our agriculture properly, we would not have had to involve ourselves with Command Agriculture. The price we pay for maize is approximately around 100 percent above the international price. If you take that price of $390 and factor in the cost of deliveries, factor in the cost of demurrage, which is storage and factor in the cost of the employees that run the GMB, I confirmed today that our carrying cost is anything between $430 and $450 a tonne. I am arguing that it is unsustainable. That is one side.
Secondly, my personal view, I believe the price we are paying is inflational. We did a costing today with somebody who indicated to me that it would cost about $600 thousand to do a 100 ha of crop. The realisation from that 100ha is about $1.8 million. You take out the $600 thousand and your net profit is around $1.2 million. That is possibly the best business in the world. My argument is that I am surprised that this whole House can debate that issue without raising the economic dimension of the implications of our activities. I am seriously concerned. As I went through this, I have been postponing my debate on this subject for about two to three weeks and as I turned over, I started to understand why as a nation we are where we are. I was not excited to realise that fact. I would urge parliamentarians, all of us, however much a programme may appear to be good to us, to factor in an economic consideration.
Having said that, I have heard people calling for further assistance with Command Agriculture and I am saying, if you invest $600 thousand and get a net profit, let us reduce it from $1.2 million to $1 million, why do you need further assistance in business? That leads me to suspect that there may be some hidden enlightened self-interests in this project. I will be surprised if I am wrong. The interest could be personal but in individuals or alternatively, it could easily be political.
Mr. President, the next issue that worries me about this project is that, I am told we are selling to millers at $250/tonne. We have escalated our cost from $390 to around $450 and we turn around and sell that same product at $250/tonne. Our economics is a bad situation, even if we exported the product from the Command Agriculture, we will be exporting at a phenomenal loss. I do not know where we will go to from here. My stern belief is that, we need to reorganise our agriculture, we need to produce at cost effective prices so that we can best provide food for our people. I have experience, I do a bit of farming and I am saying, next door to me, there are two derelict farms and until we address that fundamental problem with our farming, we have a huge problem. If we continue like this for three or four years, this nation will grind to a halt largely because of a project that we perceived was worthwhile pushing. Mr. President, with those words, I make my contribution to this motion and still thank the Committee for going out there.
*HON. SEN. MURWIRA: Thank you Mr. President for according me this opportunity to add my voice on this report that was moved by Hon. Sen. Mumvuri and his seconder, which is in line with the success of Command Agriculture and GMBs. Mr. President, I want to thank this Command Agriculture which was a success during the past season. We want to thank our President, R. G. Mugabe for this programme that he launched in our country, which is Command Agriculture. I also want to thank the farmers who were able to do the farming for the betterment of Command Agriculture. Even our extension officers did a splendid job by supervising what was happening on the farms. We want to thank them for that.
Mr. President, I am saying, the issue of Command Agriculture is a good programme judging from the committee’s findings when they went out for the tours. When this programme was brought into Zimbabwe, where I come from, Chikomba in Seke, everyone was supposed to register for Command Agriculture. It was not political at all and I want to say that those who joined had a bumper harvest. As I stand here, I
had a bumper harvest. I want to say, as children of Zimbabwe, when we are given tools, we work very hard for our country. Even if we are living under sanctions, we are not feeling the effect because we have our maize and groundnuts and all our nutritious grains in our country. We want to thank even our ancestors in Zimbabwe and also God...
*THE ACTING PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: Order, I
think you should end there, when it comes to thanking the ancestors because we had given you time to debate before it was removed from the Order Paper.
*HON. SEN. MURWIRA: I debated on the Presidential Speech
Mr. President.
*THE ACTING PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: This motion
was on there before we went on the break and it was reinstated on the Order Paper. There is confirmation that you once debated on this motion, they have checked with their books. Thank you so much that you have so much to contribute on Command Agriculture.
*HON. SEN. CHIEF MUSARURWA: Thank you Mr.
President. I do not think I have debated before on this motion. I want to thank you for according me this opportunity to debate on this report that was brought in by the Committee on Peace and Security that is chaired by Hon. Sen. Mumvuri. I want to thank them for their report which they brought into this House after they have toured the whole country and have seen how the farmers have worked on the land. Farmers are now able to put the land in use as children of Zimbabwe. If we had engaged this programme immediately after we took our land, our Land Reform Programme in conjunction with the Command Agriculture, I think when we said Zimbabwe was the breadbasket of Zimbabwe, it would have remained like that. Besides that, learning does not end.
We want to thank our Government, through our President who sat down with his Cabinet and saw if fit that we should come up with this command programme which will make us stop importing food into Zimbabwe. If I am not wrong Mr. President, I think for five years or ten years, we were importing maize and food for our people from Malawi. I remember in 2008, we were eating yellow maize in this country but because of Command Agriculture and also the good rains that we received from our ancestors – the ancestors of Zimbabwe favoured us because when Command Agriculture was introduced, we received a lot of rainfall. We should praise whatever is good. Mr. President, there are those who might be against the programme. There are always people who grumble but that does not stop the country from going forward. We take advantage of our mistakes and we move forward.
We want this programme to go further and we support the Government when they say that we want three to five years with people getting help. We are saying that all those that get assistance from the Government should take their grains to the GMB and it should revolve within the Government with people paying back their loans so that our country remains receiving good harvests. During the colonial era, when the whites where farming in these farms, they would go and get loans for irrigation. They would be given loans for livestock and no one would raise their heads. They would also take loans to construct tobacco bans and they would be in debt. Some of them did not pay until now.
Our children that are in farms are working very hard in farms that they were given. If you come to our area Chikomba, at Chivhu GMB, you will see maize coming from Mashonaland Central where they had received good rains. The GMB depot in Chivhu is now overflowing. I invite our doubting Thomases to Chikomba in Chivhu; the depot in
Chivhu which you used to know and the whites used to call this United Republic of Enkeldoorn which is now Chikomba district. You should come and see the maize that is there which we are also transporting to other districts; which means that this programme was a success, so we support this programme. We applaud the Government that the programme which they started has been welcomed by people and as a result, our granaries are now full. Looking at the weather, you can see that the rains are near - even in our areas in Chigara, we received some heavy rains. It means that starting from 15th October, many people will start to plough, and that is what we used to do long back.
In October, spring time, our elders could predict the weather by looking at the clouds, they will be able to interpret if rains are due. So, they will prepare their fields and sow maize so that by the time the rains progresses the maize will have sprouted. Mr. President Sir, through this Senate, I am urging Government to speed up the distribution of inputs. If we still have people who still doubt that our country will never move forward, we will still go back and import maize. I think as mature people in this Senate where we have Chiefs, let us give credit where it is due and also rectify our mistakes. Fertilisers and seeds should be given to people in time and they should be monitoring plans so that inputs will be given to the right people. If we do that, we will be talking as mature people so that our country moves forward.
Mr. President, I want to thank you for this opportunity that you have given me. We know that our GMB depots were dilapidated but because of command farming, they have been refurbished and painted. I heard a tenant saying if only they can open the door, I could go and stay there but unfortunately the granaries were refurbished so that our granaries will be full to capacity. When it comes to command farming, we should also have the Zunde Ramambo in place because Chiefs are humans too. They plough, and they look after the orphans. They are just like anyone of us, the only difference is that they have traditional powers bestowed on them that come from our lineages and they are not voted for. What the Chiefs are saying is the truth that command agriculture was a success. I thank you Mr. President.
*HON. SEN. CHABUKA: Thank you Mr. President for giving
me this opportunity to add my voice to this wonderful job that was done by the Committee. I also want to thank the Chairperson of the Committee Hon. Sen. Mumvuri and the whole Committee for a job well done. I want to thank Hon. Sen. Makone who supported the motion. I want to thank our leader Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai for selecting Hon. Sen. Makone to be one of us in this Senate. We have elite leaders in this august Senate.
Mr. President Sir, I want to commend the Committee for a job well done. We moved around the country to see if people where benefiting anything and realised that people had gained a lot. We went to Masvingo and Manicaland Provinces. We went round the place and we were asking the farmers whether they benefited from Command Agriculture and they told us that Command Agriculture was the best thing that has ever happened. We even asked them whether they have received the inputs on time. Some of them informed us that they had received the inputs on time whilst others said they received partial deliveries such as getting seed, no fertiliser and no herbicides. We are saying this is a new project and it has its teething problems but we know that if we continue following this programme, there is going to be development and prosperity in Zimbabwe. We know that Government is making plans of distributing the inputs in this coming season. We are also calling for the Government to bring all the inputs at the same time so that each farmer receives what they want in time. If each province is given an allocation of its inputs such as five or ten tones, that will be
fair.
However, the problem we faced in the Command Agriculture was in the harvest where we had very few harvesters to collect the maize which had been grown by the farmers. Importing grain is a pain in any country; it is a torture. We would like to have our own food and be self sufficient. Moving around places like in Manicaland, we discovered that the people of Zimbabwe are hardworking, very industrious but what was drawing them back was lack of inputs. We discovered that with the support of the Command Agriculture, they have worked well.
Let us craft laws which drive away those money changers in the streets so that money will circulate properly in the banks. We are glad because we were told that if you plant all the hectares, be it 100 or 200 hectares, it does not matter but we would want farmers to make reasonable repayment plans, so that the Command Agriculture Programme continues.
I am pleading with this Committee to continue doing its good work so that Zimbabwe progresses. We have to check on whether
Government is taking the inputs to the farmers on time. We travelled by road into some of these places and I remember at one point we were very much surprised to see very good and healthy crops in Mashonaland West farms. We asked whether one particular farm belonged to an individual and we were told that it belonged to a local farmer. So, inputs should be distributed with no partisan affinity but should be distributed to all the people of Zimbabwe. Some of us are not farmers, we get our food from the supermarkets. That is where we survive from.
We know that the Minister of Finance and the Vice President, Hon. Mnangagwa are working on this programme. I am begging them to make sure that all the money that is circulating in the streets is taken back to the banks for the benefit of all the Zimbabweans – [HON.
MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] -
*THE ACTING PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: Hon.
Chabuka, thank you very much for your contribution. I am pleading with you to keep on spreading that gospel; this will lead to the development of the country.
HON. SEN. MUMVURI: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. CHIEF MUSARURWA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 12th October, 2017.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE ZIMBABWE DELEGATION TO THE
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON PROMOTING
STAKEHOLDER AND PARLIAMENTARY DIALOGUE ON THE
ARMS TRADE TREATY (ATT)
Fourth 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 Treaty.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. TIMVEOS: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. MUMVURI: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 12th October, 2017.
On the motion of HON. SEN. MASUKU seconded by HON. SEN. MAKONE, the Senate adjourned at Twenty Six Minutes to Four o’clock p.m.