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SENATE HANSARD 13 JUNE 2023 VOL 32 NO 37
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Tuesday, 13th June, 2023
The Senate met at Half–past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENTS BY THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE
SWITCHING OFF OF CELLPHONES
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: I have to inform Hon. Senators to switch off their cellphones before business commences.
INVITATION TO A ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH SERVICE
THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: I wish to inform the House that there will be a Catholic Church Service tomorrow on the 14th of June, 2023 at 1200 noon in the Senate Chamber. All Members are invited and non-Catholic members are also invited.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
HON. SEN. KAMBIZI: I move that Orders of the Day, Numbers 1 to 6, on today’s Order Paper be stood over until the rest of the Orders of the Day have been disposed of.
HON. SEN. CHIRONGOMA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
SUSTAINABLE HEALTHCARE SYSTEM
Seventh Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the sustainable management of waste.
Question again proposed.
*HON. SEN. CHIFAMBA: Thank you, Mr. President. We are very thankful for the motion which was raised by Hon. Sen. Tongogara with regard to the issue of health. This is a very important aspect of our country. We are touched a lot because there are other remote areas that have hospital facilities away from their homesteads. People get sick and they have nothing to take them to these hospitals. Some end up going to prophets and even traditional healers. It is allowed but because people would have failed to rich hospitals, they then resort to these faith healers. We are thankful to those hospitals that are being built within the proximity of homesteads because we do not want people to travel long distances to access health.
We wish to find these hospitals all around the country so that people can access health services in less than 10 kilometers. Even pregnant women end up giving birth in their homes because hospitals are a distance away. It is our wish that the Government makes sure that we find hospitals within the proximity of settlements all around the country. There are others who are skipping collecting their anti-retroviral tablets because hospitals are very far away. If hospitals are close to people, then it becomes easy for them.
There are other roads that are inaccessible, others actually are using donkey carts which are not as efficient, they are actually dangerous. If a scotch cart is involved in an accident, people can get worse than the problem they will be having whilst going to the hospital.
We anticipate a lot of hospitals around rural areas. We kindly ask also attention to be given to roads so that there may be smooth movement of patients and people to and from hospitals which enables easy access to healthcare.
*HON. SEN. MALULEKE: Thank you very much Mr. President. We are very thankful for the motion that was raised by Hon. Sen. Tongogara. This is a very good motion that came in at the right time to say we should have access to healthcare in all the provinces and districts in the country. We can see that it is now different from back in the day. Now it is very easy for us to go to the hospital. Way back, it was very difficult for women to access healthcare services. Usually, it was difficult because we would take the whole day to reach the hospital. We are thankful to our Government that is helping us access hospitals in rural areas. We now have got a lot of hospitals in the rural area. The situation has improved very well. Even if you get sick, in the hospital, the situation has improved.
We are also grateful to Cabinet Ministers for all they are doing to assist the nation. Reflecting back to the COVID-19 scourge, people survived, a few people succumbed to COVID-19 but the majority survived because of the availability of medication.
With the desire and effort being exerted by our Government, people have been told to go to the hospital, we do not even consider going to faith healers for help. Despite being old Senators, we should continue going to school so that we understand these things to say what is needed exactly in a particular situation. We will be working together to help each other especially women in rural areas. We should work together to achieve easy access to healthcare so that we have our own hospitals.
We have not yet gotten rid of all diseases, right now we hear of Cholera, as leaders, it is our responsibility. We should work together with headmen and chiefs so that we lessen the burden on the Government.
Firstly, we were given cement to construct hospital toilets but others were very resistant to the idea. We were learning, it was a process but if you are not learned, you do not even know the benefits.
Thank you very much Mr. President. The Government is doing all it can to assist us. We also thank His Excellency the President, Dr. E. D. Mnangagwa, for the efforts that he is doing to assist us so that we have good health as Zimbabweans. I thank you.
+HON. SEN. S. MPOFU: Thank you Mr. President of Senate for giving me this opportunity to talk about this motion which was tabled by Hon. Sen. Tongogara and which is quite pertinent on the good health of Zimbabwe at large. The importance of the healthcare sector is that in the rural areas there are a few clinics. So, there is need for Government to increase clinics in different constituencies so that people can access healthcare facilities.
I will talk about Matabeleland North where I come from. The clinics are interspaced and quite a distance from communities. This makes people desperate for healthcare facilities because they end up staying at home because of the distance. My desire therefore, is that Government ensures that devolution funds are channelled towards the construction of clinics so as to bring clinics closer to villagers.
I also want to appreciate the fact that there are village health workers who are doing their best but they travel long distances to assist people with tablets and other medication. It is my view that if clinics are nearby then it would be easy for people in different communities to access the healthcare services from health workers.
I also appreciate the efforts that are being made by the Ministry of Health and Child Care in ensuring that people receive requisite medical attention. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of people were confined in their homes and could not access hospitals. Government ensured that everyone received vaccinations against COVID-19. Both doctors and nurses were deployed under harsh working conditions, without enough tools of trade but despite all that, they continued discharging their duties with fortitude. Government should consider allocating funds to the rural clinics and hospitals during difficult times. With these few words Mr. President, I thank you.
HON. SEN. TONGOGARA: Thank you Mr. President. I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. CHIRONGOMA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 14th June, 2023.
MOTION
PROMOTION OF DEVELOPMENTAL PROGRAMMES FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT
Eighth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the
sustainable management of waste.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. S. MPOFU: Thank you Mr. President Sir. I would like to take the opportunity to wind up my motion. Firstly, I would like to thank the Hon. Senators who debated to the motion and raised valid points. I wish that the Hon. Minister of Environment, Climate Change, Tourism and Hospitality Industry was here to respond to some of the points that were raised by Hon. Senators. With those few words Mr. President, I move that this motion be adopted. I thank you.
Motion That this House -
MINDFUL that every person has the right to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being;
FURTHER MINDFUL that every person has a Constitutional right to have the environment protected for the benefit of present and future generations, through reasonable legislative and other measures that prevent ecological degradation and pollution;
DISTURBED by the filthy garbage that has become an eyesore in all our towns and cities countrywide as a result of rampant and unabated littering which seems to have become a way of life;
CONCERNED that the littering of our urban centres has been further exacerbated by industrial waste pollution which is surely a time bomb that will explode anytime if this is not expeditiously brought under firm control:
NOW, THEREFORE, calls upon the Government to— (a) come up with secure ecologically sustainable developmental programmes; (b) rigorously promote conservation; (c) introduce stiff penalties for all those willy-nilly littering and polluting our environment; and (d) secure ecologically sustainable development and use of natural resources while at the same time promoting economic and social development, put and agreed to.
MOTION
PROTECTION OF VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING
Ninth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on measures to
combat human trafficking.
Question again proposed.
*HON. SEN. GIJIMA: Thank you Mr. President Sir for affording me the opportunity to contribute to the motion regarding human trafficking which was brought to this House. This is an issue of concer which is retrogressive to the development of our nation. Most of our people are taken after being promised jobs outside the country because they see greener pastures. People end up enslaved, performing jobs that have nothing to do with what was promised. Most young people are emigrating. You would find that now adults monitor where children are and how they are playing, they fear for their children because of child and human trafficking. This is really retrogressive. In that regard, this issue needs to be investigated in relation to the processes that are done by human traffickers. I thank you Mr. President.
*HON. SEN. CHIFAMBA: Thank you Mr. President Sir. I want to appreciate the motion that was raised by Hon. Sen. Dube which is quite a painful motion. It is really painful. Human trafficking is sad because you hear that children go to school and are kidnapped on their way to school or from school and eventually sold or mutilated for ritual purposes, leaving the body behind. This is painful to parents because sometimes parents are found burying some parts of the body whilst others have been mutilated. There are people who are so evil who are doing these activities, even sometimes killing women. Some promise people greener pastures outside the country. People are promised jobs. When you see what is happening in the media, you would see that girls and young people are being abused by people who lure them offering jobs.
Those who advertise for such bogus jobs luring people should be arrested and prosecuted because these people are part of such cartels and they know the processes of human trafficking. They tell people who are trafficked that the moment you arrive at the destination airport the relationship is no longer there. I implore the responsible authority that those who advertise such should be arrested and there should be punitive laws to curb human trafficking which is enslaving our people. It is better to work hard in your country and one would rather walk from Mbare to Chitungwiza than to go outside the country only to be taken as a slave and one’s passport to be held for a number of years and there is nothing one can do about it. When you hear testimonies of people who have been through that, it is really painful and sad that there are people who do that.
Sometimes you find that a woman or child has gone outside the country even without communicating with other people, there are young boys and girls who are taken and exploited sexually. They are forced to perform commercial sex work and at the end of the day they are found to be coming back with different diseases. The girl child is disadvantaged. She can come back pregnant or with a baby without any accountability on the perpetrators. Human trafficking is really sad and painful. It is not easy for people to go through that, even those who entice people with good perks, luring people who believe that they would work hard and support their families. It is sad that the victims come back after getting assistance from Zimbabwean embassies and authorities. I would like to implore embassies to continue assisting victims of human trafficking. Some come back with diseases; children and even the families that you are working for sometimes do not accept you as a victim of human trafficking.
Human trafficking is bad. I do not know how to explain the pain but it is indeed really painful. Even the crossing border points in the country should be monitored. Our security departments should monitor them for human trafficking. The sad part is that sometimes people go through the borders trafficking. If they overwork people, it is much better than abusing them sexually and in different ways. My prayer is that our economy should improve so that we are able to support our children and urge our people to stay in Zimbabwe instead of going outside the country. It is better to suffer in your country than anywhere else where you are taken advantage of. Sometimes you find people falling to peer pressure being influenced to go. I thank you Mr. President Sir.
HON. SEN. KAMBIZI: Mr. President Sir, I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. GIJIMA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 14th June, 2023.
On the Motion of THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR MASHONALAND CENTRAL PROVINCE (HON. SEN. MAVHUNGA), the Senate adjourned at One Minute past Three o’clock p.m.