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SENATE HANSARD 14 FEBRUARY 2023 VOL 32 NO 15
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Tuesday, 14th February, 2023
The Senate met at Half-past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE
VACANCY IN THE SENATE
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: I have to inform the House that on the 6th of February, 2023, I was notified by the Movement for Democratic Change that with effect from the 1st of February, 2023, Hon. Sen. Eng. Elias Mudzuri ceased to be a member of the MDC party. Accordingly, Section 129 (1) (K) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe applies, it provides that: - “A seat of a Member of Parliament becomes vacant if the Member has ceased to belong to the political party of which he or she was a member when elected to Parliament and the political party concerned, by written notice to the Speaker or the President of the Senate, as the case may be, has declared that the member has ceased to belong to it”
The necessary administrative measures will be taken to inform his Excellency, the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) of the existence of the vacancy in line with the Electoral Act, [Chapter 2:13].
BILLS RECEIVED FROM THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: I also have to inform the Hon. Senate that I have received the following Bills from the National Assembly: - National Security Council Bill [H. B. 2A, 2022]; The Institute of Loss Control and Private Security Managers Bill [H. B. 5A, 2022]; and the Police Amendment Bill [H. B. 1A, 2023].
MOTION
RATIFICATION OF THE STATUTORY INSTRUMENT TO REPLACE THE FIRST SCHEDULE OF THE CRIMINAL LAW (CORDIFICATION AND REFORM) ACT
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Mr. President Sir. I rise that this House takes note that whereas subsection 5 and 6 of Section 280 of the Criminal Law Code, that is the Codification and Reform Act Chapter 9.23 provides that if the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs wishes to give effect to a Statutory Instrument to replace the first schedule that has the standard scale of fines to that Act by reason of changing the purchasing power of money or for any other reason, he must lay the draft Statutory Instrument before Parliament and that the Statutory Instrument shall not come into force unless approved by resolution of Parliament
And whereas the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs has in terms of Subsection 5 of the said Section 280 made the Criminal Law Codification and Reform standard of scale fines notice 2023 on the 18th January 2023.
And whereas the said Statutory Instrument was in accordance with Subsection 5 of the said Section 280 laid before Parliament on the 18th January 2023.
Now therefore, this House resolves that the Statutory Instrument be and is hereby approved.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE ZIMBABWE ELECTORAL COMMISSION FOR THE 7TH MAY 2022 BY-ELECTION
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND
PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. ZIYAMBI): I move the motion standing in my name that this House takes note of the Report of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission for the 7th May, 2022 by-elections, presented to this House of Parliament in terms of section 241 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe as read with Section 13 (1) of the Electoral Act [Chapter 2:13].
HON. SEN. MUZENDA: I move that debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. A. DUBE: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 15th February, 2023.
MOTION
PROMOTION OF DEVELOPMENTAL PROGRAMMES FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT
HON. SEN. S. MPOFU: I move the motion standing in my name that; 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:
- come up with secure ecologically sustainable developmental programmes;
- rigorously promote conservation;
- introduce stiff penalties for all those willy-nilly littering and polluting our environment; and
- secure ecologically sustainable development and use of natural resources while at the same time promoting economic and social development.
HON. SEN. A. DUBE: I second.
HON. SEN. S. MPOFU: Thank you Mr. President Sir. Waste can be categorised as liquid, solid rubbish, organic waste, recyclable and hazardous waste. Solid waste is therefore, any type of trash, garbage, refuse or any unwanted material that is usually identified and named according to where the waste is generated, for instance municipal waste, solid waste, industrial waste, agricultural waste and hazardous waste, only to mention a few.
According to the World Health Organisation, a solid waste management system is composed of a number of processes that may include production of the waste, its collection, transportation, treatment and disposal. Waste management is therefore emerging as that elephant in the living room bedeviling most if not all local authorities in Zimbabwe. To that end, the dearth of refuse collection and waste management in general has become a perennial problem, particularly in urban local authorities in Zimbabwe that cater for over 1.7 million tonnes of solid waste generated annually.
Mr. President, the above scenario is however not strange or limited to urban centres alone but to the majority of our highways across the country. They are now littered with all sorts of waste. Literature has revealed that it is on record that the volume of waste being generated continues to increase at a faster rate than the ability of city authorities to deal decisively with the growth, mainly because of current growing population and economic activities exerting a huge pressure on technological and financial resources.
In Harare Central Business District (CBD), Fourth Street market; Copacabana; Mbare Market and Market Square among others, have been turned into dumpsites by unscrupulous individuals and companies. Currently, there is mixing of general waste with food and recyclables in most local authorities, Harare included, before disposal at various landfills which adversely increases the generation of methane and other greenhouse gases that are contributing to global warming and climate change.
Single-use plastics are a major concern to our towns and these plastics do not decompose but break into smaller particles or leak toxins into soil and waterways that have negative impact on human waste as well as animal health. The manufacture, use and distribution of these plastic packages of less than 30mm thickness which was prohibited in 2010 must be reviewed upwards. The exception on bread and food packages also ought to be reconsidered and even ponder on the total ban of single-use plastic.
According to the growing number of waste in electronic waste and commonly referred to as e-waste and can be defined as old television sets, old phones, and computers just to mention a few, which if improperly managed, can result in multiple negative impact on the health and development of people and children in particular.
Mr. President, a major source of concern is the role being played by the public which seemingly has little sensitivity to garbage around them and/or awareness of responsible waste management as well as environmental stewardship. A report compiled by the Portfolio Committee on Local Government in 2021, on Waste Management and Devolution Funds, highlighted that in Bindura, there has been an invasion of their designated dumpsite by illegal gold miners. Additionally, their bins in the town have been vandalised by the miners as they use them in their mining activities. Elsewhere in Epworth town, the cemetery is being used as a dumping site, a scenario that is very disturbing.
Contextually, regardless of 80% of waste budgetary allocations being directed towards waste collection, about 50% only of the populace receive this vital service and between 30% and 60% of solid waste remain uncollected. This inadequate waste services lead to unpleasant living conditions and a polluted, unhealthy environment that infringes on many rights and freedoms as alluded in Chapter 4 (Declaration of Rights) of the Zimbabwean Constitution.
Consequently, this unsafe and unsustainable disposal of waste has led to a plethora of persistent outbreaks of communicable diseases in the fold of cholera, dysentery and typhoid among others. Two major outbreaks of cholera have confronted Zimbabwe in the last decade, one in the 2008/2009 season which resulted in over 100 thousand cases including four thousand deaths and another in the 2018/2019 season with over 10 thousand cases including 68 deaths across the 21 cholera hotspots in the country.
Critically important, is appreciating that Zimbabwe is a signatory and party to a number of international agreements from which some of waste management legal and policy frameworks are derived. These agreements include Basel Convention on the control of trans boundary movement of hazardous waste and the disposal as well as the Stockholm Convention on persistent organic pollutants and the Minamata Convention on mercury among others.
The Environmental Management Act (Chapter 20:27) and the Urban Councils Act, Chapter 29:15, explicitly provides for the legal framework for sustainable management of waste in Zimbabwe. However, local authorities have further developed and implemented by-laws in accordance with the Councils Act to deal with solid waste management, for instance Bindura has the Anti-Litter and Refuse Removal by-laws while Harare has the Harare Waste Management by-laws, among others. Importantly, there is a gap in the framework which renders the waste management system unable to track sources, types and amounts of waste from individuals and companies for accountability purposes. While the framework seems robust, it largely lacks in implementation and enforcement. Critically, the levels of penalties imposed on offenders though varying are not deterrent enough, largely because of inflation and currency instabilities in the market among other factors.
Now therefore, this House calls upon the Government to:
- Come up with secure ecologically sustainable developmental programmes;
- Rigorously promote conservation;
- Introduce stiff penalties for all those willy-nilly littering and polluting our environment; and
- Secure ecologically sustainable development and use of natural resources while at the same time promoting economic and social development.
+HON. SEN. A. DUBE: Thank you Mr. President for this opportunity to second the motion moved by Sen. Mpofu. It is a pertinent motion which speaks about the hygiene in urban areas. Hygiene is life because where there is dirty there are diseases. This motion is pertinent indeed. If we enter into all towns including Bulawayo, Harare, you find dumpsites all over. The relevant councils leave dumpsites near houses. That causes diseases and they are generating flies which thereafter go into houses. In towns they go for days without water – those dumpsites create flies and as a result, we have diarrhoea and diseases.
Councillors should take note of that. It is important for people’s hygiene. It is a person’s right here in Zimbabwe to be in a hygienic place. If there are representatives or councillors, they should take note of those problems so as to be sure that there are no dumpsites all over. In some of these dumpsites you find pampers close to houses. Some of our youths pick up pampers, boil them and drink. It is part of a drug. That again creates diseases. Most of the children go to these dumpsites to pick up these pampers because they enjoy the drink they create from these boiled substances. If this rubbish is burned people will avoid going to these dumpsites to go and look for pampers.
Most of those things that destroy our children derive from a drink generated from pampers that they would have boiled. We therefore say most of the children who are addicted to drugs are as a result of drugs emanating from boiled pampers. In urban and rural areas, we should take note of where rubbish is dumped. There should be vehicles that collect rubbish daily or weekly to dumpsites but this is not happening and people are just dumping the rubbish.
We are grateful to our President, His Excellency, Cde. Mnangagwa for designating a national clean-up day on the first Friday of each month. We are grateful for that effort but now that rubbish should be taken to the relevant dumpsites. If the rubbish is dumped anywhere, it goes back to the people. So, there is rubbish and there is no water, flies everywhere and in townships, you find there are a lot of flies in the houses. Those flies are coming from the dumpsites.
It is important that the towns should be hygienic. Those who have been chosen to represent the people should take care of those problems to ensure that people do not live in unhygienic environments. People do not have water and the environment is dirty so diseases continue to spread. We should have potable water and representatives should make sure people have potable water. Sometimes when you open your tap, you find that the water is dirty. How can that water be drunk by people? Even though there are problems, the Government should intervene so that we have the relevant chemicals, so we do not have a lot of diseases. If Government intervenes it will be better and however indicates that someone is failing to do their job.
We cannot have a country without people and which is unhygienic. The towns are very important. We have the big towns and tourist towns which should be very clean and hygienic as they receive a lot of visitors. As a country, tourists should be aware that we value hygiene and that should be indicative of what we are. This is why the President designated a national clean up day. When tourists come, they look at our environment whether it is clean and say this place is led by people who are very diligent and who want to protect themselves from diseases.
This motion is very important because it talks about hygiene. Even local councils should have special places for dumping rubbish. In urban areas it is better because you find designated dumpsites. However, we have some illegal dumpsites in the urban areas. Thank you for giving me this opportunity and I am happy for this motion which has been moved by Hon. Mpofu. A country should be hygienic and ensure that our people are protected from diseases, which is happening in most of our townships. We should ensure that there is no cholera.
Hon. Mpofu mentioned the years in which Zimbabwe has had no cholera which means our country has developed. It means the Second Republic has brought some change. Let us also comply with what the Second Republic is saying.
HON. SEN. NKOMO: I also want to support the motion by Hon. Mpofu which is all about hygiene of the country, be it in urban centres or the rural areas. Rubbish is a disease and diseases cause death. Every area that is dirty, you find the people therein being of ill-health because of the dirt in their environment. Hon. Mpofu said in urban centres, if you look closely, most of the towns are dirty because there are a lot of illegal dumpsites. Of late, we used to have rubbish bins where rubbish could be placed but today rubbish is dumped at some illegal sites which are not collected. That is a very bad habit or conduct.
We had a report from one of our Committees which visited another country. The Committee looked at the hygiene of that country and they were impressed by the fact that some countries are able to remove rubbish. Let us also be like those nations. His Excellency, President E.D. Mnangagwa designated a day for national clean up so as to clean the environment. We as a country should actually comply with that. May that day be enacted as a law that whoever goes against that should be prosecuted; be it a person, local authority or mines. They should know that when we have that law, people will be prosecuted. Rubbish is bad.
I am talking about the rubbish you see here when going to Mbare or Highfield. We have big illegal dumpsites that are caused by big industries which pollute the air. We have diseases such as TB and so on from such gas emissions which affect the people and cause diseases. That day which was put in place by the President should be enacted as a law of the country and it should be adhered to by everyone so that the country is clean.
We move around and see a lot of dumpsites along the roads. We should have legal dumpsites and not these illegal ones so that we place our rubbish there for proper rubbish management.
We have small children who like to play wherever they want. When they find such dumpsites especially this rain season, they play there and they end up being infected. I suggest that such rubbish which causes diseases to our people should be removed quickly because under these sanctions that we are having, it is difficult to access medicines and the necessary finances to acquire medication.
Look at the situation of our children who live on the roads – we are fighting to put them in proper homes but they are addicted to drugs that are made from various things like pampers dumped at these illegal dump sites. They drink or smoke these pampers and they get drunk and get addicted. In order to prevent that, let us put in place a law which stipulates that pampers should not be thrown anywhere. Our councillors have by-laws but Central Government should come in and ensure that local authorities comply with these by-laws. Sometimes they just enact them and live them like that. Central Government should monitor compliance. It is our responsibility that our country is in a hygienic state. When tourists come into our country, they should not only see the cleanliness of Harare along Samora Machel but even Mbare should also be clean like the central business area. Our country should just be hygienic. Thank you for giving me the time to debate on this important motion.
*HON. SEN. TONGOGARA: Thank you Mr. President for giving me this opportunity to add my voice to the motion which was raised by Hon. Mpofu and is a pertinent motion to us a nation. For a country to have healthy people, wherever we are should be clean. It is painful indeed that you find dirt all over the place. The biggest challenge is that local authorities and city councils receive payments but they do not do proper service delivery because of corruption. Rate payers’ funds are not accounted for properly. No one monitors the use of the rates that are received.
Our people also do not have knowledge. We need to work hard so that people know. At our homes, we clean our yards and rooms and put litter in bins. On the streets, people throw litter everywhere. This results in death through diseases. Hon. Sen. Mpofu mentioned that this can lead to cholera and other diseases associated with dirt. The most important thing is that there should be laws which prohibit people especially motorists from littering. All motorists should have bins in their cars and buses. When driving behind a bus, you see people throwing litter through the window and this can damage other people’s windscreens. This is because of ignorance. Bus operators also should ensure that there are bins in their buses so that passengers can dispose of their litter within the bus. There should be public education pertaining to this and also culture change which should be embraced by people. People just throw litter with the assumption that council will sweep the streets and collect litter. We should know that litter should be disposed properly or else there will be disease outbreaks.
His Excellency, President E.D. Mnangagwa introduced national clean up campaign which is done on the first Friday of every month. This programme should be expedited. It should not only be on Fridays but should cascade down to the other days because there is always litter throughout the month. We need to educate people that litter should be properly disposed of on a daily basis.
There are some local authorities who have their own programmes. For instance, when you go to Mvurwi, the local people there are very much organised, they team up and clean their streets. When you visit Mvurwi, there is no dirty at all, the people there are aware that they need to keep their area clean without any litter.
The public must be aware that litter should be recycled. Recycled litter is very beneficial; some people are actually in the business of picking up plastics and resell them. Therefore, it is important that there is grading of litter and for that to happen, the local authorities should be aware of that development. There are no bins, there are no proper facilities but we need to make sure that there are bins and other amenities which are needed for service delivery.
However, some council officials do not come to pick up litter neither do they address littering issues. Most of the times when a person litters, others will follow suit, hence it is important that councils take note of this so that our sunshine city is restored in Harare. There should be restoration of the sunshine status because if you do not do that, a lot of people will die of diseases. If these local authorities do not enforce laws, everyone will be moving around dropping litter.
Mr. President, moving around with bins in cars and buses should be a law and those who do not follow that should be fined with stiffer penalties. As a nation, if we enforce such laws, it will make people to appreciate that for a nation to be a nation it should be clean.
Therefore, Hon. Senators, we have a big job of making sure that this law of people moving with bins in their buses and cars is enacted and passed by both august Houses. I want to thank Hon. Sen. Mpofu for moving this motion which makes us to be a clean people and have clean environs. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. MUPFUMIRA: I want to thank you Mr. President for giving me this opportunity to add my voice on this motion which was moved by Hon. Sen. Mpofu. Having listened to everything that was being said and as this touches mostly on local authorities, I want to take a different route.
I want everyone to take this issue as individuals from our homes, schools, let us educate our children not to just throw litter all over the place. Even as we are here, the other source of litter is plastics, so there should bins everywhere, be it offices and everywhere.
Therefore, as Hon. Legislators in this House, it is important that we start exercising anti-littering. We just dump litter and there are no proper places to dispose of. This issue regarding plastics is quite a challenge because plastics are not bio-degradable; when we throw in rivers, it can be there for 40 years causing other problems. In Lake Chivero and other dams, there are a lot of plastics, so it is very important to look at the issue of plastics.
My belief is that if possible, there is need for a notice which withdraws the use of plastics. We use a lot of plastics in supermarkets but at one point we had resorted to using papers. In other developed and developing nations, the use of plastics has been reduced especially in the northern part of Africa.
As I have mentioned that plastics are not bio-degradable but can be recycled, so the way we handle plastics at our homes and institutions, there is no separation of litter. There is need to separate litter so that those that can be recycled and those bio-degradable litter is taken to different places. That which is bio-degradable can be used for generating bio-gas. You find that the trucks which carry litter just mix bottles, cans, tins, plastics and biodegradable matter, yet there should be separation of litter.
In the past, there were red bins for bottles; green bins for biodegradable food and white bins for something else. So we need to learn that and educate people. When we were growing up, because some of us are grown up - in the mornings we would sweep and dispose of litter. We would prepare composites since we were not using fertilizers in gardens but were using organic manure that we prepared on our own. Now you will find that people just throw away litter, hence the need for educating people on littering.
Young children should be taught from a tender age and this problem will be eliminated because it does not pertain to local authorities only; but as individuals, we are not managing litter properly. You will find that sometimes when using a bus, at our border posts, people will be keeping their litter but when they cross into Zimbabwe they will just dump litter through windows. Like what was alluded to by one Hon. Senator, people just throw bottles out of their windows. I concur with the point that public and private transport should have bins so that we dispose of litter in our cars without even mentioning public vehicles. We need to learn to dispose of litter even in our private cars and not through windows. This should be the law that every car has a bin and there are bins put in cars like plastic bags and other bins that are used for that in cars. This should be a lesson that is taught to individuals and not only car sales because we are throwing litter all over the place yet plastics can be recyclable and can be thriving business through litter.
Sometimes in our neighbourhood, you find people picking up litter, sorting it and taking plastics for resale because plastics are recyclable. We have not properly educated people that we should not throw away litter through windows especially cans and plastics. Banana peels should not be thrown on the roads but if it is thrown into the bush then it is biodegradable. The law should apply to all of us. We need to know what to say and how to educate people. We need to see more bins more than what we see at the moment because sometimes we do not know where to take that litter. So, the law should be enacted and be deterrent enough.
Indeed, we introduced the National Clean-up Campaign on the first Friday of every month. When it was launched, I was the minister responsible and it was indeed quite popular but during the first Friday, people used to leave their jobs to do that. It is important that people dedicate two or more hours to do cleanups every first Friday. We know that COVID came and it is gone but we need to resume taking the national cleanup campaign seriously. When you see His Excellency the President, Hon. E. D. Mnangagwa leading the national cleanup campaign, then we do other things, it is not proper. We need to adhere to that and we need a law that will urge people to embrace cleanliness.
I have a three year old grandchild. When they see anyone throwing litter, they will tell the person that is littering. We want that in our syllabuses; we want everyone, including our children to understand that so that wherever we go, we understand that there should not be littering. We cannot just blame local authorities, they are following what everyone else is doing. The law should be clear. There should be multi-coloured bins that sort litter by grading it into different categories. We have to separate our litter for recycling.
I want to thank Hon. Sen. Mpofu because this motion, from a personal point of view, I need to look at what I am doing. How I am contributing towards the sunshine city status. Even council officials should enforce the collection of bins because sometimes we see bins lying idle without being collected. Every week people take out their bins for collections and they are not collected. You will find that bins end up being overturned by hungry dogs and crows because they are not collected. There should be a strict schedule of bin collection.
Even in schools, schools should be empowered with education regarding anti-littering because when children learn, they take that information home to their parents. The education system should look at hygiene issues so that hygiene starts at school, home and the young children. Throwing litter through windows means that the person is ignorant and was not taught properly. We need to help each other in terms of anti-littering. When there are functions, people should understand that litter should be picked up to ensure clean homes and clean cities. I want to thank Hon. Sen. Mpofu for the pertinent motion. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. MOEKETSI: Thank you Mr. President Sir, for according me this opportunity to add a few words on the motion which was raised by Hon. Mpofu and the seconder. I want to thank you very much. You have brought a very pertinent motion considering the rainy season that we are in. Mr. President, I was thinking that as the august House, if we can agree that each and every household has a bin, I think that would help us.
Secondly, I do not know whether the community health workers are still there. I grew up in a mining compound and there were health workers; life was easy. Every Friday there were people who would come and inspect the workers’ houses. I was asking Mr. President that this august House should have a law in place. To say the truth Mr. President, there is an influx on the population of people, not talking about houses where there are tenants. I am looking at my house where I am staying. There are heaps of rubbish in the yard. I do not have anywhere to plough vegetables. If I go and ask people whether what they are doing is hygienic, they say that is your own problem, you are archaic. This is everyone’s problem.
We are not talking of where we come from, the homes where we stay, but the roads that we travel daily. There are tuckshops, people vending along the roads and we know that is how people are making a living through self-help projects but there is need for stiff laws such that if someone is found with heaps of rubbish next to where they are working, they should pay a fine. I think this would work.
Mr. President, the roads we are travelling and the homes where we come from, in the fields – we cannot even enjoy the vegetables there because there are heaps of pampers and all sorts of rubbish. They have become dumping sites. Thank you Hon. Mpofu, you have raised a pertinent motion. I can only say that God loves us because if only COVID was coming from rubbish, no-one would be here. COVID is not as a result of unhygienic practices.
In some homesteads, you are met with heaps of dumped clothes and when children are disposing diapers, they just throw them in a bin which is in front of their homestead. I think it should be mandatory that each and every household should have a bin and the council should come and collect garbage from bins and then dispose it. That is the law which should be in place. This will place our country on a better standing.
When we were in Rwanda, we did not see any rubbish in the streets but the people in Rwanda are the same as us. The people there are smart, which means there are laws. We attended their clean-up campaign and there was no movement of any cars until the campaign was over. We are pleading with this House that we should have teeth because our country is rotting due to unhygienic practices. Those health workers should be there. If they are no longer there, trainings should be conducted so that the next generation will find help. If I take the responsibility of educating people, they will think that I am being proud.
I grew my vegetables but I could not enjoy because of the rubbish which is being dumped there. We should help each other as a country so that we go forward. At households with tenants, it seems like they are competing to dump rubbish. Some roads are no longer passable because of rubbish. Since this issue has been tabled in this House where we have elderly people, there is a way forward. Thank you.
*HON. SEN. SIPANI-HUNGWE: Thank you Mr. President Sir. I just want to add a few words on the motion and thank Sen. Mpofu for this motion which is in line with health, and is like a cancerous issue which has befallen us. This motion touches on all of us where we come from. Mr. President, I want to mention that where we come from, there are no longer tarred roads. People are dumping waste in the roads because they do not have bins. Someone once said people should be given bins. We last had bins in 1999. People are paying their rates. When you look at the receipts, you will see that people are paying for bins yet there are no bins being supplied. We used to know that when you pay your rates you are also given a new bin, which means that people are supposed to put their rubbish in the bins.
Some Hon. Senators who debated before said that there should be stipulated timeframes when refuse trucks are supposed to be collecting rubbish in each and every area. Everyone should be ready for collection of their bins and place them by the roadside on the day of collection. People now do not have anywhere to dump their rubbish; that is why they are dumping them everywhere and this has resulted in the closure of many roads. The city fathers are responsible for ensuring that our streets are clean. When I clean my homestead, there should be somewhere I place my waste. Where did the bin trucks go? For the past three to four months, I have not seen a rubbish truck.
Yes, now we are aware that rubbish can give us money but I am under the leadership of a local authority and I am paying my money, so they should make sure that the bins are collected. The culprits here are the local authorities. The Central Government should cascade to see whether things are going well. They should see whether rubbish is being collected and investigate if there are any challenges. Even water supplies, we can go for a whole week without tap water.
One day I went to Town House and whilst I was standing there, I was thinking this is the first port of call for our visitors full of rubbish and dirty. This motion should unite us as the august House so that this issue is rectified. For sure, we went to visit other countries and we noticed when they call for a clean up, you do not see a car or people walking in the streets but everyone will be busy cleaning their homesteads. No work will be done for those few hours. As we were walking, we felt shy because we are incomparable with that country but they are also black people like us.
We should teach our children and grandchildren when they are still young on hygiene, as they say ‘catch them young’. What I think is that we should have bins everywhere where we can throw our litter. The issue that I stood up for is that the local authority is not doing its job. There are no bins which are being given to people and no rubbish trucks to carry the rubbish. If they are not capacitated they should approach the Central Government so that they can be given cars to collect refuse.
Even the roads that we are travelling on, the potholes are the responsibility of local authorities to repair. The local authorities should do their job. The councillors should sit down and carry out their mandate and see that we do not die of diseases. In one of the past years, there was typhoid outbreak in our towns to the extent that the President visited places like Glenview because of litter. Litter kills and where I come from, there are three to five people who died and if you visit those areas, you find that those people were staying close to dumpsites where people are throwing rubbish close to their homes. I am therefore saying we should say ‘no to litter’ in our country. I thank you for giving me this short time to contribute.
^^HON. SEN. MOHADI: Thank you Mr. President for giving me this opportunity to add my voice on this motion by Hon. Sen. Mpofu seconded by Sen. Dube. People are talking about litter and our country is full of litter, especially in our towns. Let me look at the issue of pollution as the greater part of Zimbabwe is polluted because we do not follow rules. The department of EMA has set rules but we are ignorant of these rules. Looking at pollution, we realise that there is what is called water pollution whereby farmers use herbicides. When it rains, most of these chemicals are carried to rivers through runoff and they normally kill fish in the different dams that this runoff goes to.
We need to look critically into this issue. Looking at the air that we breathe, we realise that it is polluted. Air pollution makes the air that we breathe to be polluted. Once we breathe polluted air, we realise that our health keeps deteriorating. The things that we burn like tyres and so on continue to pollute our air. Air pollution mainly contributes in disturbing the ozone layer because of too much polluted smoke.
On sewerage especially in the different locations, our children are playing in areas that have sewage. Our councils are not taking their responsibility on this. They are not doing enough to curtail this issue of sewerage. The air that we breathe – most of the time it is smelling raw matter from sewage. Our councils are not collecting bins, people who own bars normally take bottle litter and throw it on the surrounding areas where people stay or areas that are not supposed to be used as dumpsites. The greater part of the surrounding areas are now dumpsites.
On growth points, they need to see to it that there are proper dumping areas. We realise that this is not done at growth points. Litter is being thrown all over. Plastic bags and other forms of litter are being thrown all over. These issues continue to disturb us in this country. Some few days ago, I bought a soft drink. After drinking it, I realised that it was written in bold ‘recycled material’. We need to see to it that each time we are done drinking our soft drinks, let us litter away in the proper way, having considered the issue of the bold print that encourages us to recycle. We need to take EMA rules seriously and make sure that we follow them accordingly. The only challenge that we are seeing is that there is no proper implementation of these rules.
The other issue we need to look into is the different gatherings like church conferences – there is need for mobile toilets if the conference is for more than a day so that we keep our toilets clean.
Most of the things have been highlighted already. I encourage our councils to have enough vehicles for garbage collection to the dumping sites. The dumping sites should be well demarcated and monitored as to how litter is supposed to be dealt with. We also need to see to it that the Minister of Environment needs to respond to this motion so that we can see how we can help each other in enforcing the laws that are there regarding litter.
With these few words, I would like to thank Hon. Sen. Mpofu for bringing up this motion which is critical in this august House to give each other views as to how best we can keep our country clean. I thank you, have a great day.
+HON. SEN. D. M. NDLOVU: I would like to thank you Hon. President of Senate for giving me this opportunity to add my voice to this motion. I would also like to thank Hon. Sen. Mpofu for the motion that you brought in here. The motion touches more on women’s hearts because it talks about litter. When she started debating this motion, I said in my heart that she is wasting our time but looking at the litter that she is talking about, we realise that it is not just litter but death to people. Banana peels that are being thrown all over are being stepped onto by people or cars and they get tripped or slip. Most people get fractures because of banana peels. This is because we do not handle our litter very well.
One Hon. Member indicated that there is need to sort litter. People are just used to throwing all litter in one bag. I started realising this yesterday when I left Harare. There were some vegetables that were planted in an area. When I looked at these vegetables, I realised that there was so much litter that was thrown there and I asked myself how people are eating these vegetables when there is all this kind of litter in there? People continue to reap these vegetables and take them to the market to sell them. When we now buy these vegetables, we do not know where these vegetables come from, you just buy and take it home for consumption. I was also shocked when I heard the issue of people who are picking up used pampers to boil them and then drain some substance from those baby diapers.
We continue to say when we hear the issue of ‘peace beginning with me, peace beginning with you’, we continue to be frustrated about the issue of living our areas littered every now and then. Although we continue to blame the local authorities, we are also drivers of litter in our country.
Looking for instance at a situation where there is a car, it can only move when there is a driver, so we should be the drivers who move these vehicles of litters to the appropriate places. We do not need to put the blame on local councils only but we need to agree to the fact that we have a part to play in making sure that we do a proper management of litter.
I can say I have never thrown litter out of a moving car but some of us have always done that. Therefore, we need to lead by example. The bins that we are talking of are not big bins; one can only use a small plastic bag where they can put their small litter in there rather than just throwing out litter through windows of moving cars. In public transport, when one throws litter out through the window and the next passenger indicates to them that it is not proper, an altercation may arise.
If you are talking of one’s life - we talk of peace when all is well; when things are not well, there is no peace. One’s rights are not there when their life is endangered because of what is happening. My proposal is that peace and security and the Human Rights Commission should look into these issues that are being highlighted here especially in Harare. All these issues are the same, although some areas have less litters compared to others but the greater part of the challenge is in children where these small plastics, whether it is plastic bags or containers, are being picked by children and they use those plastics at school and yet they will not be aware of what was initially in that plastic bottle – it is very dangerous.
Hon. Sen. Mpofu, I thank you for bringing in this motion which is highlighting the problems being brought about by litter in our country. Therefore, as we continue to ignore our lives through littering, we need to see to it that we help the people that we represent in contributing to this august House as to how best we can keep our country clean. I have therefore learnt that I need to look for different coloured bins for the different kinds of litter at my place.
When I was walking around at a certain field, I realised that there were so many bottles in there, I would even step on top of those bottles because I could not clearly see them. This is an indication that we are not taking charge and proper management of our litter. Most of these bottles are a menace to our children who might even end up failing to go to school because of the dangers associated with them stepping on these bottles.
Going forward, I will have to see to it that people continue to encourage each other about keeping their places clean. The issue of pumpkin vegetables, I will have to see to it that I discourage people from buying them.
The issues that were brought about by Hon. Members in this House were indeed critical and the submissions are supposed to be carried further so that littering can come to an end.
*HON. SEN. CHIMBUDZI: Thank you Mr. President for affording me this opportunity to add my voice to this motion which is very important, which was raised by Hon. Sen. Mpofu. This motion is very important for us as a country because in all the debates, we have seen our weaknesses as a country which should be rectified in line with hygienic issues.
Hygiene is very important. We have relatives and friends who come from abroad, and they look at how our cities look like in terms of cleanliness. So if our cities are clean, those friends will invite other friends to come to Zimbabwe for tourism business.
As citizens of Zimbabwe, we should change our mindsets especially if we visit other countries. We should not just go to Botswana then come back saying Botswana is clean yet we do not adopt what they do to make their country clean. You find that Botswana is clean because its citizens respect their laws and work for their country so that their cities remain clean, a thing which we cannot do here in Zimbabwe.
Mr. President, if you see our business communities in towns or in the rural areas, you will find that they throw litter in front of their business premises and look at that litter over years. When you take a walk in our business communities in Harare, vendors will be selling mangoes in front of shops. They will be selling groundnuts, vegetables and other wares in front of the shops. We just look at it and find it as a normal way of looking for money.
I agree with a lot of Hon. Senators that we should keep our cities clean and teach our citizens. Our councils have by-laws as has been alluded to and rural councils have by-laws as well. When councils come up with their budgets and allocate money accordingly roads, clinics, schools, all that is there but when they go for consultation, those things are not adopted by the people.
I used to admire the City of Bulawayo. It was one of the cleanest cities in Zimbabwe but I was shocked when Bulawayo was broadcast on television one of the days with sewer flowing all over. It is the duty of our city fathers because they have their own budgets to rectify those things. Our councils, both rural and urban are now greedy and there is a lot of corruption going on. They are only interested in their salaries and not in the lives of people. Let me say Mr. President, in both our councils even in rural areas, we have vending stalls and if you look at the vending stalls you will not want to buy the wares on sales because they will be dirty.
I think this motion is going to help us to rectify things so that our people exercise hygiene. These councils have money because they would not be in existence if there was no money. They are paying each other hefty salaries - that is why they are still there. We want laws in place where if a person throws litter willy-nilly and in undesignated places, they are prosecuted.
Mr. President, nowadays because of the rain season, there are a lot of fruits and people throw away mangoes. When we come from rural areas, we bring paper bags full of groundnuts and will be eating them on the way and throwing away litter through windows. We should also advocate that the vehicles that we travel on have bins. Our President Dr. E. D. Mnangagwa, when he launched the national clean-up campaign, we ignored it at first and thought it was of no importance. It was only civil servants who would participate in the clean-up campaign. Most people, including vendors, did not participate and say it was the President’s thing and his people. We should rid ourselves of such thinking because this is our country. We are educated and should keep our surroundings clean so that we fight diseases. There are a lot of water-borne diseases and most of them are caused by keeping unclean surroundings.
Coming to the rural areas Mr. President, our chiefs in the rural areas have authority; if we mandate them to look after their areas, people listen to their chiefs. It would help us for most places to be clean. We should involve our chiefs and also churches because they have a lot of followers. Possibly, we should come up with committees where people volunteer to look and encourage people to clean their areas on designated days. Yes, we are very indebted Mr. President. I think through this motion which was tabled by Hon. Sen. Mpofu, we should bring positive change and keep our cities clean so that our children grow up aware of the goodness of cleanliness. Oftentimes when we teach children to bath regularly and not two days a week, they grow up thinking that it is good. Thank you once again Mr. President for affording me this opportunity.
^HON. SEN. MALULEKE: Thank you Mr. President for awarding me this opportunity to add my voice. I want to thank Hon. Sen. Mpofu for raising this pertinent motion. I want to encourage people to venture into recycling of empty drink cans and produce three legged pots. People use these tins to make pots. Where I come from, you do not see any empty cans thrown around.
As we grew up, there were village health workers who were working with rural dwellers, inspecting each household and making sure there is a pit latrine and a toilet. Mr. President, in the rural areas, while we work with chiefs and village heads, there is a day that is set aside every week, as a sacred day where people are not allowed to go into the fields. This day is used to take care of all household chores and making sure that the environment and households are clean.
In towns Mr. President, the previous speakers spoke about the issue of councils making money but virement it to other budgets to make sure that the environment is clean. Our rural areas were once affected by Cholera. This disease started from Chiredzi Town and spread to the surrounding rural areas and many people died. Mr. President, councils should start taking seriously issues of hygiene. In rural areas, the Ministry of Health and Child Care should work with village health workers together with local leadership, including chiefs and village heads to make sure people clean their environments.
Mr. President, most of the issues have already been alluded to. I also support the point that was raised by Hon. Sen. Tongogara that it is very important for buses and car owners to put bins in their cars to reduce littering. Some time back, I travelled to South Africa and an old lady stepped on a banana peel. She hit her head on the ground and started bleeding; from that day, I learnt that littering was very dangerous. In towns, councils must put bins everywhere and make sure the environments are clean. In rural areas, village health workers must teach people on issues to do with hygiene practices.
I once travelled to China where there are no pensioners. Council employs them to work as cleaners and they are put in shifts to clean the environment 24 hours. As a country, we must emulate what our President, Dr. E. D. Mnangagwa is doing. He practices cleaning by sweeping; as leaders in this House, we must lead by example in our households and communities. I thank you.
HON. SEN. S. MPOFU: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. TONGOGARA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 15th February, 2023.
MOTION
PROTECTION OF VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING
HON. SEN. A. DUBE: Mr. President, I move the motion standing in my name that this House:
APPRECIATING the noble efforts by Government to combat Human Trafficking through the following measures, among others
a) Being a State Party to the UN Convention against Transitional Organised Crime Convention for the Suppression of Trafficking in persons and of the Exploitation of the prostitution of others.
b) Signing the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and punish Trafficking in Persons.
c) Enactment of Trafficking in Persons Act.
NOTING WITH CONCERN HOWEVER the increasing incidents and cases of trafficking in persons, particularly women and children, who are easily lured for prostitution and forced labour under false promises of lucrative economic opportunities and study opportunities.
NOW THEREFORE, calls upon Government to:
- a) Step up efforts to identify and protect Victims of trafficking and to provide them with requisite psycho-social and economic support services;
- b) Rigorously raise awareness on the evil and dangerous scourge of human trafficking;
- c) Ensure the availability of State Shelters for Victims of Human Trafficking in all the ten Provinces of the Country; and
- d) Step up efforts to investigate, prosecute and severely punish perpetrators of this heinous crime.
HON. SEN. S. MPOFU: I second.
HON. SEN. A. DUBE: Thank you Mr. President for affording me this opportunity to move my motion regarding the challenges we face in our nation of the human trafficking of our citizens to other countries where they become slaves. Some of them when they get to those countries, are forced to have sexual intercourse with people without their consent and without protection. They are forced to do it because they are in a country which is not theirs. Our country gazetted a law criminalising those involved in human trafficking. We also have a law that is implementable. The statistics globally, it is estimated that there could be 800 cases of human trafficking, inclusive of Zimbabwe where humans are being trafficked daily. We noticed that most of them are women, young ladies and young men who are lured that they will earn a lot of money. They leave their nation in anticipation that they will get a lot of money from what they would have been promised. When they go outside the country without Government knowledge, they are taken by criminals who end up criminalising them.
In the past, we used to say we have got slaves and even now we can refer to them as slaves because of the human trafficking. These children are subjected to child labour and they are given a lot of work to do without payment. In most cases, you will find that what they do is not what they would have been promised initially. Girls are given men to sleep with so that they can get money. You will find that a single girl is assigned to 10 male partners to sleep with. We once had a painful workshop facilitated by Bindura University which is one of the universities that had students who survived human trafficking. These children were subjected to inhuman conditions because they will be in a closed room and they will be under surveillance from the camera in that place. Their phones will be confiscated. These survivors were saying they would wake up around 2 o’clock a.m. after having gone to bed around 12 midnight. You then get up early around 2 o’clock and you will do a lot of work.
In some cases they would be given food which may be having a lot of chilli. If these children demand to go home, they end up being killed. Some of these children are used to transport drugs by swallowing them because we know that in other countries, when you are found in possession of drugs, you are likely to be killed and sentenced to life in prison. These kids are used to doing those dirty works whilst here we will be hoping that our child will send a lot of money or when they come back, they will buy a lot of assets but at the end, you find the children will not be having any means of communication.
There are a lot of people now advertising in newspapers indicating that in certain countries there are people needed, for example to do Red Cross. We now have a lot of children who want to go and do Red Cross. It is not all of these children who are going to get jobs but they are going to be forced to have sexual intercourse with animals like dogs and they are not even supposed to complain. Once they complain, they will be beaten to death. These children are not allowed to rest. In some cases, you find that this girl sleeps with every member of the family where she is taken to. These human traffickers are the only ones who will know that these children will be subjected to inhuman treatment but because they will be given a certain amount of money, they will do the job.
Again as parents, when we hear that our children are going to UK or Iceland, we celebrate a lot but we do not investigate the places that our children will be going to. This is mainly because we do not know a lot about these other countries. If you check statistically, it is said 66% of elderly people in Zimbabwe did not attend tertiary education, which makes it difficult for them to assess where their children are going. This form of education is the one that leads to human trafficking.
We have also heard Mr. President, that these kids in some cases are told to write letters to their friends to lure them indicating that they are getting a lot of money and living lavishly. They will be monitored as they write the letters. In some cases, when one of the children wants to return home, instead of the people killing the girl, they will allow her to write letters to her friends so that she can get her friends to come, either to be persecuted or be killed.
Mr. President, this issue of human trafficking is so painful because we do not know where a number of our children are. Some just die without us knowing because they went in search of jobs. What we want to take note of is that in 2015 to 2019, the Zimbabwe National Statistic Agency said there were about 1 500 cases of human trafficking which included women and children. If we take consideration of 2019 to 2023, you realise that in 2022, there was an exodus of our children going outside the country. When parents are asked if their children have called them, they will tell you the children have not called back home but the agent is the only one communicating.
If you have heard of these survivors at Bindura University, you will realise that you no longer have that kid. Children and women have gone. It is only different when it comes to women in that you find women around the age of 50 have also gone leaving their husbands and children behind. as orphans. Zimbabwe is well-known for having strong people who are dedicated and hard workers, so every nation wants Zimbabweans, which makes our children being on high demand. If it was possible that agents that are taking our children in Iceland, USA and UK be registered by the Government so that we get to know where our children are going. If you check in 2022 how many of our children did Red Cross and went out of Zimbabwe, I am skeptical Mr. President that it cannot be true that everyone who has done Red Cross and went to UK is employed just because of that certificate. There are some chances that these people are used in criminal activities. We also take note of the children who go to South Africa. In December, we had almost 20 children who were fetched from Botswana but I do not know how it ended. These children die due to hunger and thirst, and sometimes because of breakdowns along the way. There is a lot of criminality and persecutions that happen along the way whilst back home we remain optimistic that our kids will bring something better.
We have lost a lot of life Mr. President because of this human trafficking. Some of them when they get there realise there are a lot of challenges and some children write back to the Government indicating that they are being subjected to persecution, forced labour and are expected to do everything needed, and are kept in closed houses. The kids are literally in jails.
Mr. President, the Government has brought back some of these survivors of human trafficking. Some of them end up marrying in foreign land but back home they would have been married. This brings back a lot of family disputes. When these people come back, they are even facing some challenges or are discriminated by close relatives because when they come back they bring nothing which will be against the wish and expectation of their relatives. If it was possible, it was going to be good for our children to have some skills and upgrade themselves instead of them rushing to board aeroplanes to places where they face a lot of persecution. We were also told that some were taken to another nation, for example in Dubai where they will board another aeroplane to another nation where they do not know. It was so painful Mr. President, what we heard from the survivors. It would be good for the Government to take note that when these children come back home, they need a lot of counselling and child care where they will be given places to stay for them to have freedom and also to be employed somewhere. There should be awareness that those who are doing this criminal activity of human trafficking can be sentenced to life in prison.
We once heard that some of the suspects have been arrested but in the end, we do not know where these stories end. Whereas someone who is involved in stock theft is sentenced to 30 years – we have never heard of the sentence of a stock theft dealer. There should be investigations on the offices of the agents. Government should investigate and collaborate with other nations that we get to know these agencies and they should be registered. As of now, we have not seen any registered agent for these. We have seen Cuban doctors and this was a result of Government’s bilateral engagement and this is good. That is what we expect. They should come out in the open like Rwanda which opened up for teachers to go and work there through a Government office.
This is a sad story to us mothers because we will be living in anticipation to see our children coming back with a lot of money but only to get to know that our children have been murdered in foreign land. If we do not take this into consideration, we will lose a lot of children. Some of these stories are caused because of drugs which lead them to go outside the country.
There is shortage of employment in this country which is causing our children to go outside the country. We wish there could be a lot of employment that the Government can create at least to absorb these children. As a nation, we request that the agents be registered with Government. They should be lawful. There should be a law which states that anyone who takes a child to a different nation should be sued. At the airports, we request that there be a security system which will interrogate these girls who will be coming to board the aeroplanes. They should not just be left to board the planes. We request that there be security at the airport who take statistics of how many children are leaving our country on daily basis. Even if we go to the Embassy of America or United Kingdom, they will not give us statistics of how many people have gone outside to their nations because they are benefiting from this exploitation.
With these few words, I thank you for affording me this opportunity. It was a painful motion which has seen a lot of our children going outside the country. We have even heard that some of our children have gone to America without coming back. I have my child who wanted to go to America. I had to sit her down and educate her about the disadvantages of going there. It may assist us as a nation because if all these kids go outside the country, who will remain behind? Some of these kids who are remaining are now abusing drugs and at the end, our nation will not have the young generation. We the elders are surviving on tablets – so who will remain in Zimbabwe? It shows that our children are the ones who are being targeted signifying that there is a cold war which is here and this is leaving us without our children. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. TONGOGARA: Thank you Mr. President for affording me this opportunity to add my words to this motion which was tabled by Hon. Dube.
Mr. President, we did not know much about human trafficking here. We knew that there were people who were forced to leave the county and were enslaved without food or anything. It was a thing that was just being talked about but we were not aware that it was rampant. We did not know that there was internal trafficking which was happening in this country.
Children are just being taken away after advertisements have been posted on social media that there are jobs like what happened to those who were being referred to by Hon. Dube. It is now rampant in this country, jobs are being advertised, come and work as maids, garden boys but 71% of these jobs are agricultural work. Most children are taken to farm tobacco, sugar cane, cotton, forestry and fishing. In all those areas children are being lured that there are jobs; they will then be used to spray the fields without wages.
If these labourers are children, you will find that there will be no more schooling except work. When these advertisements are posted on social media, they put conditions which are favourable yet they will be lying.
This trafficking happened during the lockdown period because of the COVID pandemic. Then poverty was rampant so when people would see such postings, they would quickly rush there. Even those who were in formal employment would look around so that they fend for their families.
Furthermore, there is child sex trafficking; children are just being taken, they are being lured and as parents, we are not verifying the details of the jobs, place and other things. We are just looking at the issue of money. I urge parents to urgently look into such things so that child trafficking will be reduced.
Children between eight and 14 years are being called to be maids and garden boys but once they get there, they will realise its all abuse and yet parents are not aware of all that. That is the trafficking which is happening in this country. It is very disappointing and it is not only happening in the agricultural sector only but also in the mining sector. You find young children being taken down the shaft and they are the ones who will be panning the gold. The owners of these mines and farms are pocketing large monies out of abusing these children. The parents of these children do not even care about their children.
Mr. President, if things are like this, as a nation we should come together and find ways to stop these challenges. If anyone is caught doing human trafficking, they should be prosecuted and be put in jail because if they are allowed to pay fines only, these things will not stop. However, if a law is enacted that anyone caught doing human trafficking should be dealt with and jailed, it will lessen the problem.
A law should be put in place that those people who call themselves employment agents, who are advertising on social media and everywhere else should be scrutinised. Human trafficking has no age limit or sex; everyone is affected, so these people should be thoroughly dealt with by the law enforcers.
Mr. President, I now want to talk about the victims of human trafficking. Once these people have been enslaved to those countries, when they come back to their own home land, they are stigmatized and also the family members, when the child comes back; they start ridiculing them that they went looking for money, now where is the money? It will then be difficult for the victims to come out of their cocoons especially with the challenges that they will be facing, they will not come out in the open. So, survivours should have access to professional counselling services and the counselling should extend to families and guardians as the victims support system. When victims receive counselling, it helps them to be accepted within the family and community as well. So I want to thank the Government Mr. President, because there are 120 women who had been lied to and were repatriated. Counselling really helped both the women and families and guardians.
Currently in Gaza, there is what is called One-Stop Crisis Centre that harbours returnees. They help them with food, clothing and everything to make them comfortable; if we could also have centres like that, they will help victims immensely to be quickly integrated into society.
Mr. President, the other thing that helps people who look after survivors is for social media to report positively so that victims are reintegrated into society. In the rural areas, using our traditional leaders will also impact positively since they are the ones who stay with people and know their subjects well so that victims are accepted in the communities. Nowadays there is Twitter; many children are always on that platform. It will also help if the right information is twitted, it will help survivours to know what to do.
Mr. President, it would help us if our ICT is functioning well and positive information is also disseminated on what Zimbabwe is doing and the steps that we are taking to curb against human trafficking. The other thing is, as different governments, we do not live in isolation and human trafficking is not only rampant in Zimbabwe but is in other regional countries. So, if governments put their heads together, because of the challenges that we are facing as neighbours, by uniting as governments of different countries, it would lower the number of human trafficking victims.
In Zimbabwe, what is happening on our local farms and mines should be seriously looked into so that the elderly and young people are removed from those dangerous places because it is against the law. These people should be rescued from those places where they are being treated as slaves. The perpetrators should also be investigated so that we come up with ways of curbing human trafficking. I thank you.
HON. SEN. DUBE: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. CHIMBUDZI: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 15th February, 2023.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
HON. SEN. MOHADI: Thank you Mr. President. I move that Order of the Day, Number 5 be stood over because we are not yet ready – we will resume tomorrow.
HON. SEN. MUZENDA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
PRESIDENTIAL SPEECH: DEBATE ON ADDRESS
Sixth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion in reply to the
Presidential Speech.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. S. MPOFU: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. TONGOGARA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 15th February, 2023.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE 145TH ASSEMBLY OF THE INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION AND RELATED MEETINGS
Seventh Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the 145th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and Related Meetings held in Kigali, Rwanda.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. MUZENDA: Mr. President Sir, I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. MATHUTHU: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 15th February, 2023.
MOTION
CONSTRUCTION OF SCHOOL INFRASTRUCTURE AND RECRUITMENT OF ECD TEACHERS
Eighth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on challenges affecting early child learning.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. MABIKA: Mr. President, I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. TONGOGARA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 15th February, 2023.
On the motion of HON. SEN. MUZENDA, seconded by HON. SEN. MOHADI, the House adjourned at Twenty-Three Minutes past Five o’clock p.m.