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SENATE HANSARD 13 JUNE 2019 28-51

PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE

Thursday, 13^th June, 2019

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

ICT LITERACY TRAINING SESSIONS

THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE:  I wish to

remind the Senate that there will be half day ICT literacy training sessions for male Members of Parliament. The sessions will be held at the TelOne learning centre at Harare Show grounds in Belvedere from

17^th June to 12^th July, 2019.  The training will be conducted in groups of

40 members over a period of three days.  Officers from the Information Technology Department will be stationed at the Members Dining Hall every sitting day from Tuesday 11^th to Thursday, 13^th June, 2019 for registration purposes.

APOLOGIES RECEIVED FROM MINISTERS

THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: I have

received apologies from the following Hon. Ministers:

Hon. K. Coventry – The Minister of Youth Sport, Arts and

Recreation;

Hon. V. Haritatos –The Deputy Minister of Lands, Agriculture,

Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement;

Hon. O. Moyo – The Minister of Health and Child Care;

Hon. W. Chitando – The Minister of Mines and Mining

Development;

Hon. D. Karororo - The Deputy Minister of Lands, Agriculture,

Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement;

Hon. M. Ncube – The Minister of Finance and Economic

Development;

Hon. F. Chasi – The Minister of Energy and Power Development and Hon. S. G. G. Nyoni – The Minister of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development.

ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

*HON. SEN. CHIMBUDZI:  Thank you Mr. President.  My

question is directed to the Deputy Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services.  What is Government policy regarding passing pre-warnings of cyclone approaches so that people are prepared should disaster strike?

THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF INFORMATION,

PUBLICITY AND BROADCASTING SERVICES (HON.

MUTODI): Thank you Mr. President.  I want to thank the Member for asking this very important question.  I want to also believe that Hon. Senators are aware that as Government of the second republic, we have initiated a programme where we as a Ministry of Information disseminate critical information to do with the economy, environment, the threats and disasters that we may encounter from time to time.  We always announce Cabinet decisions each time Cabinet sits and makes resolutions.

In the case of Cyclone Idai, we realised that this is a natural disaster.  It is a disaster that is unpredictable and we rely on weather predictions and focus that we obtain from the world satellite organisations.  These are meteorological organisations that operate in the United States of America and in other developed countries.  They give us warnings as to when a cyclone can strike.  What we need as a country is mainly the preparedness.  This is something that is supposed to be dealt with under the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing to ensure that Government is always prepared to counter the disasters to ensure that people can be evacuated whenever necessary if they face such risks of being killed or their livestock being destroyed and shelter being destroyed by natural disaster.

I am sure the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing has a unit that deals with civil protection and that is the unit that often communicates with the whole country whenever there is threat to human life.  We also encourage Zimbabweans to listen to radios and view televisions since we rely on these mediam to disseminate critical information.  I know that there are some places where newspapers do not cover.  It will be very important that communities have those radio stations and listen to those radio stations and televisions for awareness as to what can befall their community and be prepared to evacuate themselves if they are facing such danger.  I am sure I have addressed the question.  Thank you.

HON. SEN. NCUBE: My question is directed to the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing.  We paid for stands last year under your Ministry and when we go into offices, those stands are nowhere to be seen. They do not know anything about them, especially for Members of Parliament.  What is the Ministry doing about that?  I thank you.

THE MINISTER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT, PUBLIC WORKS AND NATIONAL HOUSING (HON. J. MOYO):  Thank

you Mr. President.  I think she was right that it might not be a policy question.  The policy aspect of it though is that we have sat with the Chief Whips of both parties and with my officials.  We looked at the policy issue of issuing stands to Members of Parliament and I gave the Chief Whips the people they have to work with and only come to me if they are having problems.  They have not come back to me yet and I am just thinking that maybe progress is being made but if there are specific issues that need to be addressed, or specific stands that were paid for that have disappeared, I think the Hon. Member could favour me with more specific information.  I thank you.

HON. SEN. MOHADI: Thank you Mr. President.  Allow me

before I pose my question to say a few sentiments pertaining to our Ministers.  We need you like yesterday to come into this august House and answer questions because it is not enough for us to have only three Ministers.  I think that will be taken up.

Then my question goes to the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and national Housing.  My question is about Cyclone Idai in Manicaland.  I just want to find out how far you have gone with the development of infrastructure in Manicaland pertaining to schools, roads and the like and also to highlight to us about the food situation in Chimanimani.  I thank you.

THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Before I give

the floor to the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing,  I want to remind Hon. Senators and everybody concerned that not putting your phone on silent is actually holding this House to contempt.  You should switch off your phone or put it on

silent.

THE MINISTER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT, PUBLIC

WORKS AND NATIONAL HOUSING (HON. J. MOYO): Thank

you Mr. President.  Yes, progress has been made in Chimanimani regarding the consequences of disaster that was caused by Cyclone Idai.  I can safely say that all the roads are now passable except only two.  One which links Mutambara to Burma Valley, we are still working on it.  It is not completely passable.  One from Chimanimani Centre to Tisbury is not completely passable but, we are working on it.  The rest of the areas, the 35 areas that we had identified as needing us to access them and to deliver food or to deliver reconstruction materials – those we have now reached but we have reached with temporary structures of either bridges or roads themselves.  It was necessary that we do so very quickly in order to alleviate the suffering of the people.

Some of the areas which were impossible to reach, they grow a lot of bananas and those bananas were not rotting. We needed quickly to reach those areas.  So, we have reached all the areas in Chimanimani and all the areas in Chipinge which were not passable but these are temporary.  We have now moved into permanent reconstruction of roads and bridges.  Some of the bridges like the one at Skyline and at Nyahode which were made temporary, that is where our timber comes from and those in the timber industry have come back and said; please can you design it, we are willing to invest so that we can put a permanent bridge.  So as part of our planning, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Development is designing a bridge which the private sector in that area is willing to pay for.

We have put some money as Government so that we can start proper reconstruction.  Let me hasten to say that up to now, most of the roads, the accessing of these places that has been done were donations by our contracting companies.  Construction companies in this country mobilise resources including their own equipment and manpower to go and assist Government.  These are some of the companies that now we are saying, we can pay for you to build a proper bridge, a proper road that can resist any vagaries of the next season when we have the rain season.  So, we are quite comfortable that this might be achieved.

The second aspect that we are dealing with is shelter.  We have in Chimanimani 1 654 000 households that are housed in tents right now and they were almost reluctant to go into tents until we were able to show them that we will move them to permanent places.  But, we needed geophysical maps that were being developed through the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development together with our Physical Planning Department.  That work has progressed very well and the geo-physical maps are now there and we are now super-imposing on the physical maps.

So, we have identified areas where we can go and settle people.  In Chimanimani area, there are two farms which we have identified and some work is being done.  In Nhedziwe, there is some work which is taking place and there is another place near to Nhedziwe called Shinja where we also think we can go and settle people.  These have been adjudged by these geo-physical map experts that they are not susceptible to any vagaries of the weather even if there was another cyclone or there was heavy rain or tremours.  So, that is what we are doing.

We are working with the private sector in terms of shelter – Higher Life Foundation has partnered with us and they want to build 500 houses.  We have given ourselves a programme, working together with them where we believe that by December, we should be able to have houses.  Other donors and partners are coming with the same information so that we can build permanent shelters for our people.

The third area is our schools.  Of the 58 schools in Chimanimani, most of them had been affected in terms of toilets and in April, we concentrated on building these toilets because while we can get a tent for school children to learn from, the toilet is very difficult to do.  So, we pulled out of the whole of Zimbabwe our artisans and artisan builders, three people and assigned each of those teams to a school in Chimanimani and we said, look for local experiences of builders, for diggers so that we can have a toilet.  I must report now that we are almost through with the building of toilets.  I have visited most of the areas where these people are building toilets. We were not only wanting to build these toilets but we were saying, let us build better than what was there and that is being undertaken.

The same with clinics which were heavily affected, so is Chipinge Hospital.  As Government, we have concentrated on it because this hospital helped us tremendously.  Most of the people who were either wanting to give birth or who were injured, we were able to evacuate them by helicopter to Chipinge Hospital.  During this experience, we found out that Chipinge Hospital itself also needed a lot of upgrading and there is work which is going on.

We looked at Rusitu Hospital which is also serving a large population in the area. When we went there we found out that it had been hard hit, although we call it a private hospital because it is run by the church but it is no regrets because it is saving our people. because of that, we have said let us put resources at Rusitu Hospital so that it can save the people.

The third area is in agriculture. Chipinge area obviously is high rainfall and we depend on it. Most of the people will tell we do not necessarily need food assistance if there was no cyclone but their crops were flattened in a lot of areas. If you go to some of the chieftainships areas such as kwaNgorima or Chikukwa, those areas which used to produce a lot of food for themselves and also selling the food, the situation is now dire and they now need assistance.

However, agriculture infrastructure of your irrigation schemes and canals were very hard hit and although, the Ministry of Agriculture working with us were able to resuscitate some of them it is not permanent so we have put resources in agriculture so that we can resuscitate the irrigation schemes all the way from Chako to Nyanyadzi going down, some work is being down. We have had to waiver some of the procedures for long term procurement through PRAZ so that we can do these jobs quickly and people can start to recover.

On the vegetables, we are working with partners who are giving us seeds and other seeds for cropping and horticulture. That area we are doing. The last recovery that we are thinking of in terms of infrastructure is the livelihoods. The damaged infrastructure in the commercial farming areas whether our fruits are macadamia or timber, we are working with them now to resuscitate. This includes electricity that had been completely cut off from these industries and that has now been restored but we are saying let us restore livelihoods so that those who are growing bananas or doing whatever they are doing can continue to do it.

The issue of food continues to be a worry for not just

Chimanimani, we are looking at drought throughout the country and of course, those who were hard hit in Chimanimani area, Chipinge, Buhera,

Bikita, Zaka or Gutu, and those areas which were hard hit by Cyclone Idai we want to take care in a special way those whose houses were destroyed in Chikomba for instance. We have isolated those because we not only need to give them food items or maize but we have to look after them because they are intense. They are not the same as those who are suffering from drought and are in their homes. So we now have two programmes in the Cyclone Idai hit areas where we are looking after those who are living in tents for whom we must look for shelter so that they can have permanency.

Then there is the general drought that is affecting the whole country and I am sure that Senators here are aware that the President has made an appeal for drought mitigation which covers the whole country and the United Nations have made a fresh appeal, initially for 5,7 million people to be assisted but I think we will work with them to revise the figures and those figures I think will be revised upwards after the vulnerability assessment programme that is going on right now. I thank you Mr. President.

HON. SEN. MPOFU: My question to the Minister of Local

Government is that we are approaching 12 months after the last election. What is the Government policy on the implementation of devolution and the swearing in of provincial councils.

THE MINISTER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT, LOCAL

GOVERNMENT, PUBLIC WORKS AND NATIONAL HOUSING

(HON. J. MOYO): I want to thank the Hon. Member. Yes, the President has said we must follow the Constitution and implement it as quickly as possible but I must admit that we have had difficulties in terms of the devolution part of the Constitution. I did allude to it when I made statements earlier in the year that we have elected people, ten of them in each province except in Harare and Bulawayo Metropolitan Provinces.

In Harare and Bulawayo Metropolitan areas there are no elected 10 proportional representatives during the last general election. When one closely reads the Constitution, you will see that there is some omission. Whilst the 10 are not listed as members of the metropolitan councils, when we come to another section in the same vein, Section 271 - they start being alluded to as the chairpersons of the committees of the Metropolitan Council, yet they are not there. So, we have had to look at

all these issues and say what do we do.                  

Then of course, there is the major issue of what to do with Members of Parliament whose oversight role should be to look after the finances that are being given to the metropolitan councils, but if all members of councils including Senators who are here are also members of the metropolitan councils who will do that oversight. So, there is a lot of consultation that is going on so that we can see our way forward.

Coming back to those who are elected, now that Parliament has passed the 5% which amounted to $310 million and of that $310 million, we have said $75 million should go to metropolitan councils. We think that we now have funds in order to swear in those who have been elected so that they do not remain in limbo and the President has let us organise for this so that we can actually fulfill the tenets of the Constitution that we have alluded to. I thank you.

HON. SEN. MPOFU: What is the timeline because previously, the elected individual stayed up to five years without being sworn in. now, that you are alluding to finances being available what timeline are we looking at?

HON. J. MOYO: Mr. President, I want to assure this august House that it will be done and certainly maybe before the expiry of the first anniversary of the election of these Members.

HON. SEN. CHIEF NGEZI: My question is directed to the

Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage.  As the Government, what plans do you have with regards to makorokoza and machetes causing havoc in mining areas?  These people are not being arrested and the police are facing challenges of transport in order to carry out their duties timeously.

*THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS AND CULTURAL HERITAGE (HON. MADIRO): Thank you Mr.

President. Indeed, it is true that we are losing a lot of our young boys and girls through these machetes. However, the Government, through the ZRP, is taking measures especially in those areas where this problem of machetes is on the increase.  A few months ago to date, our ZRP is working hard to deploy more police officers in those areas.  The police are also taking those machetes from motorists at the roadblocks.  In addition to this, there are awareness programmes that are being carried out encouraging people not to take alcohol whilst carrying dangerous weapons like those machetes.

HON. SEN. CHIEF SIANSALI: My question is directed to the

Minister of Health and Child Care.  What qualifies the health institution that is, the hospital or clinic to have a resident doctor or at least a visiting one?

THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON.

1. O. MOYO): Thank you Mr. President. For a health institution, we normally look at the number of patients arriving at that particular institution. Clinics at the moment, because of the number and shortage of doctors in the country, we would expect those to be looked after by clinical officers or even qualified registered general nurses.  So, the most important thing is that there has to be a qualified health care professional.  If we move up, we then look at the district hospitals or the rural health care centres. For rural health care centres - we would like them to be looked after by someone with the calibre of a clinical officer.  We have got to rationalise the use of our medical personnel. So the district hospital, we envisaged that it will be looked after by at least four specialists.

We are looking at specialists who have a general knowledge of family medicine, who can do pediatrician, bones, fractures and general medicines.  At the provincial level, we want to see more specialists looking after that level including what we call Government medical officers.  We can also have rotating doctors at the clinic level and at the rural health care centers.  We want doctors who will go round the district, these are the district medical officers, they are expected to go through all the clinics and rural health care centres within their area.

They have to come up with a roster so that the clients know that on such a particular day we are going to have a doctor coming through.

So, eventually once we have a large number of personnel available, we expect that the rural health care centre will be looked after by rotating doctor, the districts will have a whole gamut of medical personnel of all categories including the GMO’s at that level and at the district level like I have indicated, we want those specialists.  Right now we also have specialists who have trained whom we are planning to send to the district hospitals and to the provinces in general.  So, the coverage of health care centres or clinics varies with the size of the institution and as far as we are concerned, we would like to make sure that each and every health care centre has a doctor who comes through that centre.

*HON. SEN. CHIEF CHARUMBIRA: My question is directed

to the Minister of Information, Hon. Mutodi.  What is the Government policy on the issue of social media which is being abused?  I have talked about the issue saying we want protection. There are twitters of innocent people circulating.   For example, I do not have a twitter account but it would be circulating saying Chief Charumbira said this and that on twitter.  So, what are you doing as a Ministry with regards to this?

THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF INFORMATION,

PUBLICITY AND BROADCASTING SERVICES (HON.

MUTODI): Yes, it is true that we have fake twitter accounts and fake Whatsapp accounts.  This is not only happening in our country alone but it is widespread throughout the world. It is believed that in the United States, we have 11% of fake accounts.  Some of them have been used by fraudulent criminals who use those accounts to defraud unsuspecting members of the public.

So, in Zimbabwe, we face a serious situation of these fake accounts because usually popular individuals, the Head of State and Government, the Head of the army or the head of the C.I.O or any of those prominent organisations are used to peddle lies in their names as if they would have said something.  Once it is said that someone like the President of the Chiefs Council has said this statement, it means that issue is easily accepted by the public as correct information.  So we are in the process of coming up with a Cyber Security Bill.  This is a Bill that is being crafted by the Ministry of Information, Communication Technology working in conjunction with the Ministry of Justice, Legal and

Parliamentary Affairs.  The Bill mainly concentrates on ensuring that we plug the loopholes for people who are bent on creating fake accounts and on spreading falsehoods, some behaviour that turns to infringe into the rights of other people such as the spreading of nude pictures and the spreading of defamatory information that can injure the reputation of another person.  Obviously, if an account is opened in your name, it means that person is trying to defame you and give you a very wrong image in the public domain. The Bill will address that but I cannot ascertain at what stage the Bill is now.  I am sure the Ministry of Justice is working round the clock to ensure that we have the Bill before the end of this year.  We also need to understand that whilst the law is being created to deal with fake accounts, there is a limitation that we face when we come to our Constitution.  If you read Section 60 and Section 61 of the Constitution, it guarantees freedom of expression, freedom of opinion and freedom of research. It will be difficult to convict someone for publishing falsehoods or for publishing information, putting someone’s name as Donald Trump and you see information written as if it is coming from Donald Trump and so on.  It will be very difficult because our Constitution currently protects the right to freedom of expression and freedom of research and all those rights that are guaranteed by the Constitution.

It will be something that will be very difficult for us to deal completely with because of the rights that are guaranteed, unless Parliament comes up with stringent laws that can look at abolishing fake accounts.  Again, the issue of jurisdiction, like I have said, some of the people who may pretend to be Chief Charumbira would be staying in South Africa, in the UK or in the United States.  It would be very difficult to bring those people to face justice in Zimbabwe because of the jurisdiction issues that are associated with such processes of law.  It is something that we are working on and we will make sure that before the end of the year, we may have a Bill tabled before Parliament and signed into law by the President.  I thank you Mr. President.

*HON. SEN. CHIEF NHEMA:  Thank you Mr. President.  My

question is directed to the Minister of Health and Child Care.  What is Government policy regarding the clinics and hospitals constructed but would take two to three years for them to be operational?

THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON.

1. O. MOYO): Thank you Mr. President and Hon. Senator. It is not policy as such but it is availability of funds.  If there are no funds available and the project has not been through the PSIP or approved

PSIP, obviously we have to wait until that has been approved.  However, I want to emphasise one issue and I am glad that you ask this question.  I want to encourage ourselves to help ourselves.  I realise that there are a few clinics which have been constructed but are not open yet like the ones he is talking about.  Individual Senators and Members of Parliament have constructed these clinics.  We want to get a collection of all the clinics that are incomplete.  I have just come from a meeting, funny enough, where I have been discussing with a group that want to assist us to complete all these clinics.  Within the next few days, we

shall be requesting for information about clinics that are incomplete which we can use as part of our primary health care in the rural areas.  That is what we are emphasising right now.  It would be very helpful if we could get that information and give it to some partners who are willing to assist us to finalise these clinics.  We want this as part of our universal coverage where we will be able to ensure that everyone has access to a hospital or to a clinic.  Yes, it might be like that but it is an issue that we all have to work on together and be able to come up with fully functional hospitals.  We await information from the Senators and from the Members of Parliament.  I thank you.

*HON. SEN. GUMPO:  Thank you Mr. President.  I direct my question to the Minister of Local Government.  I am one of those that went to Chimanimani and managed to go to a place called Ngandu.  I heard you talk about your good plans to move people here and there.  I just want to find out whether Ngandu is one of those areas that are going to be moved to another new location?  I thank you.

THE MINISTER OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT, PUBLIC

WORKS AND NATIONAL HOUSING (HON. J. MOYO):  Thank

you Mr. President and Hon. Sen. Ngangu is one of the hardest hit areas.  Fortunately, we have identified as I said, just above Ngangu itself, on the right, there is a farm that we have identified that we think can take some of the people.  There is another piece of land to the left of the

Chimanimani Centre which we believe can take some more people but we believe some of the people can move to Nedziwe and some will move to Shinja.  Shinja is closer to Muwusha area.  We think that we can move people there.  We have discussed with the communities and about two weeks ago, we had an opportunity to sit with all the 23 councillors in Chimanimani and the six chiefs.  We said, we wanted to learn from them area by area, ward by ward what they desire to be done.  We were very glad that the chiefs as well as many of the councillors are aware that where some of their people are settled right now is not safe.  They are appealing to Government to see if they can be moved.  Those who want to continue farming in the Rusitu area, were we have identified some places where we can move them but not divorce them from their activities of banana growing and other activities, they are willing to do so. We are doing this consulting closely with the stakeholders in the area and we have asked that the chiefs and the councillors go back to their areas and consult even further.  As we progress this work, we will be having deeper consultations.  As I have said, there are a number of organisations who are willing to assist in shelter, so we need to move very fast to assist the people.  I thank you.

*HON. SEN. CHIEF CHIKWAKA:  Thank you Mr. President.  I do not know which Minister is going to respond to my question.  I am very much concerned about theft of electrical gadgets such as transformers.  Who is supposed to replace a transformer when it is stolen or vandalised? When there is theft of a transformer, dangerous electrical wires are left open but they are supposed to be treated as live.  These cause a danger to the nation.  What is Government policy with regards to such situations?

*THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER

DEVELOPMENT (HON. MUDYIWA):  Thank you Hon. Senator for such a pertinent question with regards to the theft of transformers not only in rural areas but all over the country.  In the first place, when transformers have been stolen, the people in these areas should go and report to ZESA offices as soon as possible.  As the chief stated, the wires which will be on the ground will be live and dangerous hence my call for you to report to ZESA so that they can switch off those live wires because they pose a danger to children and animals both wild and domestic.

It is the responsibility of ZESA to replace transformers and not the beneficiaries.  As of late, we have noticed that ZESA has financial problems in terms of replacing those vandalised transformers because these are mounted and repaired at ZENT.  At times they may ask residents to chip in with financial assistance.  We have had situations whereby some individuals or organisations offer to buy the transformers because they know they will be benefiting and the loss of a transformer means a loss to them.  This is an agreement between ZESA and them – nobody is forced to do so since it is ZESA’s responsibility.

*HON. SEN. CHIEF CHIKWAKA:  This is where the main

problem lies.  What is Government policy regarding the safe keeping of these transformers especially when you look at what happened to the National Railways of Zimbabwe – we used to have an electric train running from one end of the country to the other but the lines were vandalised and these are no longer in use.  Some of these vandalised transformers are used for industrial purposes such as farming and other industrial cases, hence a loss and my call.  What is Government policy in quickly replacing these transformers?

*HON. MUDYIWA:  The policy of Government through ZESA is as I have said before; we have a subsidiary company which is ZENT.  ZENT is responsible for manufacturing, maintenance and repairing ZESA transformers.  The repair of these transformers may not be done as urgent as may be expected by residents because of financial constraints.

*HON. SEN. CHIEF NTABENI:  My question is directed to the

Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage.  Are we ever going to have order on our streets because at the moment the drivers are very reckless?  Some use cell phones whilst driving and others engage in chats whilst their cars are side by side hence blocking traffic.  They have no respect for the traffic lights.  Have you ever come across such problems of these disrespectful drivers in the country?

*THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS AND

CULTURAL HERITAGE (HON. MADIRO):  Thank you Mr.

President. That is very true.  There is chaos on our streets with disrespectful and reckless drivers.  This kind of a question is a twin because we are talking about the flow of traffic in cities whereby we are saying the issue of traffic is not under the Ministry of Home Affairs but since there is the Ministry of Local Government, I think the Minister will be able to chip in and give us information to add on to what I am going to say.

As far as Home Affairs is concerned, we have a policy which says that we should put up cameras that will be able to photograph these errant drivers especially when they go through red robots.  They will be captured on camera especially when they go through red robots, they will be captured on camera or CCTV and we will make a follow-up and prosecute them, but this is in the pipeline. It is not yet implemented. What we know is that we have other unlicenced shuttle of buses which move all over the place.  We are saying let us work in unison and I ask my co-Minister to talk about these shuttle buses.

THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: The Hon.

Sen. Chief’s question was really on the chaotic situation as it prevails to utter disregard of the law by mostly these young people who are going through red robots, etc. I think that was the impact of your question Chief even elders of course, I am just saying it. I think you have answered it by saying you are doing something about it.  I think he is echoing the sentiments of people in terms of the apparent lawlessness which appears to be prevailing on the roads.

HON. SEN. NCUBE: Thank you Hon. President. My question is directed to the Minister of Health and Child Care. What is Government policy on donations by individuals? I say so because there is a donation that was donated to Chiredzi Poly Clinic and that donation has been thrown away from the hospital.

THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDNET OF SENATE: Would you

like to repeat the question because the Minister wants clarification on ‘thrown away’.

HON. SEN. NCUBE: Okay, I am saying the donation that was donated to Chiredzi Poly Clinic has been thrown away from the hospital.

Is the Minister aware of that?

THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: I think with

all due respect Hon. Sen. Ncube, you should ask about a policy issue and if you want to quote a specific incident which you are aware of, put it down in writing so that the Minister can go and find out what happened.

HON. SEN. NCUBE: Thank you Mr. President. Before I put my question in writing, what is the Government policy on donations from individuals? I thank you.

THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON.

1. O. MOYO): Government has a policy that each and every donation must be appropriately recorded and reported to Treasury. There is no donation which must just be left at the institution without being recorded appropriately. That is what the policy is, that everything must be recorded. I would like however, to request with regards to the other parts of her initial statement, to know exactly what the product was that was donated by this individual so that we know. Let us take for example if it was medicine, maybe they were thrown away because they had expired. So I would really want to have some more information about that which I can answer today if I get to know what the product that was donated by the individual was. We can work out what warranted the refusal by the hospital or to throw away the particular product. Thank you Mr.

President.

THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: I think Sen.

Ncube, can you go and put it in writing so that the Minister can come with the response next week. Thank you.

HON. SEN. NCUBE: The Minister said he can answer today.

THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Do you have

the specific information and if the Minister says he can answer, you go ahead.

HON. SEN. NCUBE: Thank you Mr. President. My

understanding is that there is an ambulance which was donated at the polyclinic, 30 wheel chairs, some blankets and also three tanks of 1 000

litres.

HON. DR. O. MOYO: Certainly Mr. President, now that we

know the depth of the matter in terms of the quantity and items that were supplied and were refused, it now becomes very necessary that the Hon.

Sen. puts it in writing so that we can thoroughly investigate this matter. For a hospital to refuse an ambulance is absurd. There is no hospital which would refuse an ambulance or the other items that she mentioned. So, we definitely need to investigate that and I agree with you that it should be put in writing. I thank you.

Questions without Notice were interrupted by THE HON.

DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE in terms of Standing Order No.

ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS WITH NOTICE

CAUSES OF BLINDNESS AND JAUNDICE

4.    HON. SEN. CHIMBUDZI asked the Minister of Health and Child Care to explain the causes of blindness and jaundice in human beings and measures being taken to raise awareness in that regard.

THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON.

1. O. MOYO): Thank you Mr. President. I am grateful for the question. The answers will make everyone realise the causes of blindness and jaundice in human beings and the measures that are being taken to raise awareness in that regard. Let me start by saying blindness in human beings has various multiple causes and in Zimbabwe specifically, chief amongst the causes is cataracts or opacity of the eye or the eye globe which emanates from aging and other causes such as genetic predisposition.

We also have other significant causes of blindness such as an injury to the eye. An eye globe might be damaged and it will be perforated. These injuries happen at work places and in our households and even among school children as they play. One of the causes of blindness which is completely preventable is an infectious cause known as blinding trachoma which is caused by bacteria known as Chlamydia which is spread by a household fly. I would like to emphasise on this cause of blindness as this is completely preventable and is completely curable.

We also have diabetic blindness which is caused by sugar accumulation when the condition of diabetics is not properly controlled. We also have glaucoma which can also lead to blindness. The other question refers to jaundice or yellow eyes or yellow mucosa. This is not a disease but it is a symptom telling us that something is not well in the liver, either due to liver disease or liver infection or any other cause. In this case, one should go to the nearest health facility for investigation so that we know the cause and we get appropriate help.  I thank you Mr.

President.

WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS TO QUESTIONS WITH NOTICE

STATUS OF NYAMANDLOVU CLINIC

5.    HON. SEN. S. MPOFU asked the Minister of Health and Child Care to clarify whether Nyamandlovu Clinic in Matabeleland

North Province is a district hospital or health service centre and if it is a district hospital, to explain why it has no resident doctor.

THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON.

1. O. MOYO): Nyamandlovu is a designated district hospital for Umguza District, and is currently functioning as a rural hospital due to the unavailability of infrastructure. (Reasons as to why there is no infrastructure is as per answers to Question 1.) The current state of the hospital and its functions does not require a resident doctor.  A District Medical Officer is available on a visiting basis.

CONSTRUCTION OF MORTUARY AND STAFF HOUSES AT

NYAMANDLOVU CLINIC

6. HON. SEN. S. MPOFU asked the Minister of Health and Child Care to state when a mortuary and staff houses will be constructed at Nyamandlovu Clinic in Matebeleland North Province.

THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON.

1. O. MOYO): Nyamandlovu hospital is currently the designate district hospital for Umguza. It is designated as it cannot perform the full functions of a district hospital due to infrastructural incapacitation.

Of note, the district was allocated RTGs $3 million in the budget and the province is still awaiting release of these funds from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.  It is however of concern that this amount will not suffice for the construction and furnishing of the hospital block, para-clinical, administrative departments and staff accommodation.  We however hope that amount will be released soon so that the works can start in earnest.  The Ministry of Public Works is fully abreast of the developments of the construction of the district hospital as this has been discussed in a provincial forum quite recently.

A mortuary is part of the district hospital design and thus when the hospital will be built; it will be part of the structures.

It is noted that there were community members who were willing to build a mortuary at Nyamandlovu hospital and this is encouraged while we await the funds from the Ministry of Finance.  The community is urged to work with the Ministry of Public Works to see through this development.

NATIONAL AIDS COUNCIL STRUCTURE AT PROVINCIAL

LEVEL

7.   HON. SEN. TONGOGARA asked the Minister of Health and

Child Care to explain why the National Aids Council structure at provincial level lacks the vital position of a programme officer.

THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON.

1. O. MOYO): The National AIDS Council mandate is to coordinate and manage the multi-sectoral response to HIV and AIDS through decentralised level structures such as Provincial Action Committees,

District AIDS Action Committees and Ward Action AIDS Committees.

National AIDS Council does not implement programmes but works with partners who have a comparative advantage in various HIV and AIDS programmes.  In order to remain relevant and serve our communities as well as addressing the changing landscape of the HIV and AIDS especially with the advent of antiretroviral therapy, the National AIDS Council continues to review its structure and positions that will enable it to deliver effective, affordable and cost-effective programmes.  The post of programme officer is one of several positions that has been modified to ensure the National AIDS Council is fit for purpose.  This is for coordination at national level.

National AIDS Council is no exception.  The issue of gender balance at NAC can however only be addressed once vacancies arise and women with the required minimum qualifications and experience respond to public advertisements for the positions.  Those who apply will be considered on merit and if found suitable, they will be appointed to any position within the National Aids Council

GENDER IMBALANCES IN THE NATIONAL AIDS COUNCIL LEADERSHIP

8. HON. SEN. TONGOGARA asked the Minister of Health and

Child Care to explain why there are gender imbalances in the National

Aids Council leadership, particularly at Chief Executive Officer and Director levels.

THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND CHILD CARE (HON.

1. O. MOYO): The National Aids Council currently has six positions of directors and that of Chief Executive Officer. Of the six directors, two are female and four are male whilst the Chief Executive Officer position is currently vacant. The Ministry is very much aware of the need to have gender and regional balance within all its institutions and parastatals National Aids Council is no exception.

The issue of gender balance at NAC can however only be addressed once vacancies arise and women with the required minimum qualifications and experience respond to public advertisements for the positions.  Those who apply will be considered on merit and if found suitable will be appointed to any position within the National Aids Council.

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF

SENATE

BILLS RECEIVED FROM THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: I have to

inform the Senate that I have received the following Bills from the National Assembly:

1. The Micro-Finance Bill [H. B. 11, 2018]; and
2. Consumer Protection Bill [H. B. 10A, 2018].

MOTION

REPORT OF THE SPEAKER OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY’S

BILATERAL VISIT TO THE SHURA ADVISORY COUNCIL IN

DOHA

First Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the

Speaker of the National Assembly, Hon. Advocate J. F. Mudenda’s Bilateral visit to the Shura Advisory Council, Doha, Qatar, 30^th March to 4^th April, 2018.

Question again proposed.

THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR MASHONALAND CENTRAL PROVINCE (HON. MAVHUNGA):  Mr. President, I

move that the debate do now adjourn.

Motion put and agreed to.

Debate to resume: Tuesday, 18^th June, 2019.

MOTION

REPORT OF THE ZIMBABWE DELEGATION TO THE AFREA

CONFERENCE ON MONITORING AND EVALUATION HELD IN

ABIDJAN

Second order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the delegation to the AfrEA Conference on Monitoring and Evaluation held in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.

Question again proposed.

HON. SEN. CHIEF MATHUPULA: I move that the debate do

now adjourn.

HON. SEN. SEKERAMAYI:  I second.

Motion put and agreed to.

Debate to resume: Tuesday, 18^th June, 2019.

MOTION

FIRST REPORT OF THE THEMATIC COMMITTEE ON HUMAN

RIGHTS ON THE ZIMBABWE HUMAN RIGHTS ANNUAL

REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 2017

Third Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the First Report of the Thematic Committee on Human Rights Commission Annual Report.

HON. SEN. S. NCUBE:  On a point of order Mr. President.  I do not think that we any longer form a quorum.

[Bells rung].

Notice having been taken that there being present fewer than 26  members, the bells were rung for Seven Minutes and a Quorum still not being present, THE HON. PRESIDENT OF SENATE adjourned the

House without question put at a Minute to Four O’clock p.m. pursuant to the provisions of Standing Order Number 55 (2).

NOTE: The following members were present when the House adjourned: Hon. Sen. Chimbudzi, Hon. Sen. Chief Chundu, Hon. Sen.

Gumpo, Hon. Sen. Masendu, Hon. Sen. Chief Mathupula, Hon. Sen.

Mavhunga, Hon. Sen. Moeketsi, Hon. Sen. Mohadi, Hon. Sen. S.K.

Moyo, Hon. Sen. Muzenda, Hon. Sen. S. Ncube, Hon. Sen. Nhema, Hon. Sen. Chief Ntabeni, Hon. Sen. Nyangazonke, Hon. Sen. Nyathi, Hon. Sekeramayi, Hon. Sen. Shumba, Hon. Sen. Siansali and Hon. Sen.

Timire.