- Version
- Download 66
- File Size 193 KB
- File Count 1
- Create Date February 13, 2013
- Last Updated November 13, 2021
SENATE HANSARD 13 FEBRUARY 2013 VOL. 22 NO. 10
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Wednesday, 13th February, 2013
The Senate met at Half-past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(MADAM PRESIDENT in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENT BY MADAM PRESIDENT
SWITCHING OFF OF CELLPHONES
MADAM PRESIDENT: I wish to remind hon. senators to switch off their cell phones before commencement of business.
MOTION
PRESIDENTIAL SPEECH: DEBATE ON ADDRESS
First Order Read: Adjourned debate on motion in reply to the Presidential Speech.
Question again proposed.
THE GOVERNOR FOR MATABELELAND NORTH: I move
that the debate do now adjourn. Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 14th February, 2013.
MOTION
CONDOLENCES ON THE DEATH OF THE HON VICE PRESIDENT
JOHN LANDA NKOMO
Second Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the tragic and untimely death of Hon. Vice President John Landa Nkomo.
Question again proposed.
SENATOR ENGINEER CHITAKA: Thank you Madam
President. First, I would like to thank Hon. Senator S. K. Moyo for moving this motion. I stand here not to give a long history of the Late Vice President because I believe several speakers before me have done justice. I simply stand to add my condolence.
I simply stand to offer my condolences to the family of the late Vice President John Landa Nkomo, the people of Zimbabwe and this august Senate. The only statement I need to say is, it is through his work and life that some people like myself stand here today, without him and people like him, I personally would not be enjoying some of the privileges and freedoms that I enjoy today.
I just want to put it on record that I do sincerely appreciate his life, what he contributed in his life and what he achieved for this nation of Zimbabwe. I thank you.
*SENATOR CHIEF CHISUNGA: Thank you Madam President.
I rise to speak about the loss that we suffered as a country. I have a lot to say about the late Vice President John Landa Nkomo during the few years that I worked with him. I remember when I was still a councillor, he helped us a lot as a country, in addressing the Rural District Councils Act so that it would also assist the Government and the communities. I believe that most councills also passed through this period when he addressed such issues of the Local Government Act.
I also want to appreciate the fact that when he was the Minister of Local Government, he assisted in addressing the law that actually pertained to chiefs. We now have the Chiefs and Headmen Act. Hon. Vice President Nkomo left a legacy during his life. A few days ago I passed through Hwahwa and remembered that this is the place where he spent some time during the liberation struggle. For this country to be liberated, he had to be incarcerated at that place. I want to thank the late Vice President that he did a lot to assist this country and I want to say to his family and the country at large, that we are deeply saddened by the loss.
I stand here representing the Chiefs and we also suffered a great loss. His experience was going to be quite useful in our generation. He had wisdom which could have assisted this country to develop. I think his legacy will continue to lead this country in the future. May his soul rest in peace. Thank you.
THE GOVERNOR FOR MATABELELAND NORTH: I move
that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 14th February, 2013.
MOTION
ABOLITION OF THE DEATH PENALTY
Third Order Read: Adjourned debate on motion on the death penalty.
Question again proposed.
SENATOR ENGINEER CHITAKA: Firstly, I would like to thank the mover of the motion, Hon. Senator Marava for bringing this issue to our attention. My submission Madam President is that, the death penalty is “unchristian”; it goes against our Christian beliefs, it is cruel, it is inhuman, it is irreversible and it ignores the needs of the victims.
Previous speakers have demonstrated and reminded us of how the Bible teaches us not to kill. We pray every time hon. senators, before we start our businesses, asking for God‟s wisdom, pledging to do his will and follow his commandments. Therefore, we cannot support any law that allows the taking of life. Only God can give and take away life. It is also cruel, I do not know if people have ever seen the hanging process being carried out. If you had the opportunity to see and witness how it is carried out and how the victim appears after being hung, you will see how cruel this process is. I am talking from experience.
It is also inhuman. I will give an example of a broiler chicken that we keep for four to six weeks and then we kill it to eat it. In the case of the death penalty, you see people who have been on death row for more than ten years waiting to be killed. It is worse than a chicken because you know that after six weeks it is killed, but we keep someone on death row for more than ten years. So every day that person is living a nightmare of being killed. Therefore, it is very cruel and inhuman.
It is also irreversible. Some things you can reverse, if you make a mistake, you kneel before God and say God Father forgive me, but if we kill a wrong person, what are we going to do? There have been several cases in history where the wrong people have been hung or killed.
People have been accused of crimes that they did not commit only to find out years later that the real killer is walking the streets but the one who was accused is now dead, how do you feel? We cannot reverse that process. If it was a process that I would just go and resurrect him and say sorry, it was not you who killed so and so, can you come back to life, it would be alright but it is irreversible.
Also, this death penalty ignores the needs of victims. We spend so much money trying to kill someone but how about the victims. What do we do about that? We spend so many resources to try and keep this person for 15 years or 20 years, but we do not do anything about the victim. So, what are we achieving? It would be better to reserve those resources to look after the needs of the victims of that crime.
Finally, I would like to comment that, contrary to some of the sentiments expressed by my colleagues who debated earlier, the proposed draft does give us an opportunity to abolish the death penalty. Therefore, I am calling on all future Governments, any future
Government that comes out of the next election, to remove from all our statutes any law that allows the death penalty. The power is in the Constitution, so let us use that power to abolish this cruel, inhuman and degrading practice. I thank you.
MADAM PRESIDENT: Thank you. I am going to allow Senator Makuyana to debate again today because when he debated he was not captured. The translators, for some reasons did not capture his speech. So I do not want any one raising Point of Order because he is not in the Hansard, he needs to come out. His contribution needs to be recorded, so no Point of Orders please.
*SENATOR MAKUYANA: Thank you Madam President, firstly
Madam President, I want to apologise for the problems that happened yesterday. Despite that, I would like to repeat a few words that I would want to say concerning the death penalty. – [HON. SENATORS: He was captured; his speech appeared in yesterday‟s Hansard]
MADAM PRESIDENT: So you were captured, it is in the
Hansard. Thank you.
SENATOR MAKUYANA: Thank you Madam President, the one
who announced that to me is a secretary for Parliament out there, I cannot remember the name. I was misled and may the House forgive me. I was misled, thank you.
MADAM PRESIDENT: It is important that when you contribute, you are captured in the Hansard, remember we have Constituencies back there; they need to know what we are doing here. So I appreciate his concern.
+SENATOR MLOTSWA: Thank you very much Madam
President, I stand up to utilise the opportunity that had been given to hon. Makuyana. I also want to add my voice to the motion that was raised by hon. Marava in this august House.
Madam President, I think yesterday there was a bit of confusion because we were talking about the Draft Constitution Report, that we all embraced and yet this motion talks about the Government, when it goes to the General Assembly, that they should not vote for the death penalty. Even if we still have the death penalty, it should not be used willy nilly because for the past 10 years, no one was executed. So this motion was brought to this august Senate, but we are saying that, even if we all embraced the Draft Constitution Report, we are not going to use that law. Unless if there are very strong reasons as to why we have to use that law, but for now, let us wait for the Government to go to the General Assembly. The Government should go and vote against the death penalty and that is what should happen.
I think this motion is very important, Madam President. The death penalty is not a solution to the problems that are there. There is a saying that goes “an eye for an eye makes the world go blind,” because here in Zimbabwe, we went through some very difficult times. Many people were killed some time back. So if we were to kill each other for having committed an offence, then it means we will end up with no people. If someone kills someone, we do not have to kill that person.
I heard what was said by one of the hon. members: They said, if someone is murdered, the family members then appease the wronged family by paying or even by giving them a girl child. But that is not what is done in the Ndebele culture. To me it appeared funny that they replace that person with a woman. It is important that people forgive each other or they should make compensation by paying with cattle, cars or other things. That is all I wanted to say, Madam President.
SENATOR MARAVA: Thank you Madam President, I rise up to wind-up the motion on Abolition of the Death Penalty. Madam President, the motion generated a lot of debate. What made me extremely happy, Madam President, is the level headedness of this august Senate. Hon. members debated and proved beyond reasonable doubt that death penalty is not only cruel but also foreign, hence must be abolished. Hon. members across the divide have totally agreed to abolish death sentence.
I will have done this House a dis-service if I do not mention some of the hon. members, who contributed to this motion. A big thank you goes to the following; Hon. Senator Hlalo, Hon. Senator R. Muchihwa, Hon. Senator Makamure, Hon. Senator Rugara, Hon. Senator Ncube
Spiwe, Hon. Senator Sibanda, Hon. Senator Sinampande, Hon. Senator Makore, Hon. Senator Makuyana, Hon. Senator, Hon. Senator
Mzerengwa, Hon. Senator Mambo Charumbira, Hon. Senator Mohadi,
Hon. Senator K. Dube, Hon. Senator Chitaka, the list is endless Madam President. The motion was debated at length. I want to thank you very much. Therefore, I ask for the adoption of this motion by this Senate, thank you. Sorry Madam President, I forgot someone very important, Hon Senator Mlotshwa.
Bells rung
Senate divided
SENATOR RUGARA: On a point of order, Madam President, I
think when we are in the House we follow certain rules, when he said that, he was just shouting slogans like most of us do here. I am sitting near Sen. Makuyana, he did not move like it should be done.
MADAM PRESIDENT: Sen. Makuyana, you moved for the
division, have you withdrawn?
SENATOR MAKUYANA: Sorry Madam President; if there are
still other people who want to debate; you have already said the „yes‟ have it so there is no need for division. Let us adopt.
MADAM PRESIDENT: You cannot, because the mover of the
motion has put the motion for adoption. If some Members do not feel like the motion should be adopted and some feel like it should be adopted, that is when we divide the House. Dividing the House means we are going to vote – those who say yes will be on one side and those who say no will be on the other side. Then we count and the outcome determines.
SENATOR MUMVURI: Madam President, I think just for the
record, let us divide the Senate.
An hon. senator having walked into the Senate after the bells have stopped ringing.
MADAM PRESIDENT: Order hon. senators. We run this Senate
according to the rules and regulations as stipulated by the Standing
Rules and Orders. If the rules state that an hon. senator should not enter the Senate after the bells have stopped ringing, then we should follow that. Thank you.
Ayes – 16 – Chitaka P.; Femai M.; Hlalo M. M.; Makamure E. K;
Makore J.; Makuyana C.; Masaba J.; Muzerengwa T. S; Ncube S.;
Rugara K.; Masara S. B.; Sibanda A.; Sinampande H. M.; Zvidzai S.
Tellers: Marava M. and Mlotshwa S.
Noes – 15 – Chibagu G.; Chimbudzi A.; Dete A. A.; Georgias A.; Jacob E.; Kanyemaenza V.; Mandaba M. I. N.; Manyeruke J.; Mathuthu T. A.; Mbambo L.; Murerwa H.; Mutsvangwa M.; Muchenje V.
Tellers: Mohadhi T. B and Mumvuri D. D. E.
Senate resumed.
Motion put and adopted.
On the motion of THE GOVERNOR FOR MATABELELAND
NORTH, the Senate adjourned at Twenty Five Minutes past Three o’clock p.m. until Tuesday, 19th February, 2013.