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SENATE HANSARD 19 JUNE 2019 28-54
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Wednesday 19th June, 2019
The Senate met at Half-past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE HON. PRESIDENT OF SENATE in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE HON. PRESIDENT OF SENATE)
ICT LITERACY TRAINING SESSIONS
THE HON. PRESIDENT OF SENATE: I wish to remind the
Senate that there will be half day ICT literacy training sessions for Members of Parliament. The sessions will be held at the TelOne learning centre near the Harare Show grounds in Belvedere from 17th June to 12th 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 18th to Thursday, 20th June, 2019 for registration purposes.
Further to that, Hon. Members are advised that those who registered for group two are starting tomorrow Thursday, 20th June, 2019
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, from 30th March to 4th April, 2018.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. MOHADI: On point of order Madam President. I thought since we have lost one of our Hon. Members in the National Assembly, we will stand up and observe a minute of silence.
THE HON. PRESIDENT OF SENATE: I am being advised that
it is done in the House where he sits.
HON. SEN. MUZENDA: I move that the debate do now adjourn HON. SEN. MKHWEBU: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 20th June, 2019.
THE HON. PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Can I remind Hon.
Senators that we have to concentrate on the business of this House because I can see that some of us, their minds are not in this House. I
have been asking a question. It is not just doing it to pass a day; we should participate.
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. A. DUBE: Thank you Madam President. I want to thank the mover for the report of the delegation which went to Cote d’Ivoire. The report talked about technology. Technology was identified as a key enabler for effective Monitoring and Evaluation. Because of this reason, it was identified that there is need for member countries to bench mark, institutionalise and promote stakeholder participation. In this regard, several African countries have set up formal structures for Monitoring and Evaluation that will assist the Government with accountability barometer.
Monitoring and Evaluation is paramount in the country because development programmes and projects require appropriate and effective Monitoring and Evaluation systems that will measure performance, assess impact and draw lessons from previously implemented programmes and projects. Hence it is important not only within the Government but with any organisation that exists within a community society.
Madam President, notable countries in Africa such as Rwanda, Benin, Uganda and South Africa are some of the countries that have adopted Monitoring and Evaluation and have since recorded significant achievements in the implementation of Government programmes. First world countries like Australia, Malaysia and Japan also have good and strong Monitoring and Evaluation systems. As a result, corruption has lessened and the accountability of the Government and other public institutions has been strengthened.
However Madam President, the adaptation of Monitoring and Evaluation at national level has led to realisation that there is a gap in knowledge and understanding of the course and how it works. This is evidenced by the fact that there is lack of technical personnel and specialists to drive the agenda, let alone young people and adults who have mastered how Monitoring and Evaluation works and what it aims to enhance if Zimbabwe is to implement M & E, the people in high offices have to understand what M & E can do for an organisation and the country at large. To implement these strategies in Zimbabwe, there is need to establish the current position, submit preliminary monitoring and evaluation report consequent upon engaging various relevant stakeholders. A national monitoring and evaluation conference should be held in order to create awareness and consensus on the phenomenon of monitoring and evaluation. There is also need to cultivate a culture of monitoring and evaluation across the country through public media, social media, churches, workshops and civil society organisations. This will not only benefit the Government but will also help other organisations in being accountable, assess management and growth of the organisations.
Countries like South Africa and Benin have used M&E as a tool to fight corruption as it provides a platform for accountability and transparency. These countries have developed and implemented their evaluation systems so much that they now extend beyond national level, and it goes down to provincial and municipal levels. Monitoring and evaluation provides a proactive and reactive mechanism in the fight against corruption as evidenced by South Africa and Benin. The systems for M&E are undertaken at the diagnostic, formative and summative longitudinal stages.
It was recommended that Government officials and parliamentarians be capacitated through some awareness and appropriate training programmes that will help them understand the programmes. It was also recommended that resources should be made available to these people as this will help them through their projects and programmes. Monitoring and evaluation will strengthen the Government of Zimbabwe against corruption and will also enable the country to keep up with the neighbouring countries such as South Africa and Benin. I thank you.
HON. SEN. CHIEF NECHOMBO: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. CHIEF NTABENI: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 20th 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 on the Zimbabwe Human
Rights Commission Annual Report.
Question again proposed.
*HON. SEN. SHUMBA: I would also want to debate on the report of human rights which was moved by Hon. Sen. Chidawu. I shall behave as if I am a preacher Madam President, but I will be talking about human rights. Human rights have been in existence from time immemorial. Even in the Bible if you look at Numbers Chapter 27, you will find that there was a man who had seven girls. The man did not have a son. According to their customs and traditions, a girl child could not inherit her father’s estate. The seven girls stood up and went to Moses and the priests said that since their father had a lot of riches and had died without a son who could inherit his father’s estate, Moses failed to come up with an answer. He went to God to consult and that is when the human rights came into play and the girls were given their rights.
God said from today henceforth, I give a law that if man was to die without a son, the girl child should inherit the man’s wealth. That is a law that came from God. That is why I said it has been in practice from time immemorial.
I continue with the issue of human rights still within the confines of the Bible. You will find that it was unlawful or not permitted for us as women to stand at the pulpit and preach. The first woman to preach at the advent of Lord Jesus was a woman who said I have found a person who gave me everything and that is when it was recognised that women can also go at the pulpit and preach. That is when human rights came into play.
Madam President, I will then come to our country Zimbabwe. During the colonial era of Ian Smith, women were seriously oppressed because they were not allowed to have their own national identity cards. I recall that women were not permitted to earn the same salary as their male counterparts doing the same line of work. A woman would be given less. Women were not allowed to have their own national identity cards. They were not even allowed to sit in Parliament but now they are here in Parliament because of these human rights. I am quite grateful and I would like to express my gratitude to those that prosecuted the war of liberation struggle and removed all oppressive systems.
Women are now equal to men when it comes to remuneration and other tenets. I would want to thank the liberation fighters who liberated us because at the advent of our independence, it was realised that women can also obtain national registration documents on their own and that they could even operate their own bank accounts. Things have been moving in such a direction. These are all human rights that were encapsulated in our society at the advent of our independence after the prosecution of the liberation war, hence I had to stand up and say this is a good report.
A short while ago we were discussing about the 50/50 issue and realised that it was going to present problems for us. This was while we were watching the Mai Chisamba Show where they were discussing issues and I said that women should not be given the rights to do as they please in the home. The word of God tells us that the man is the head of the house, but when we come to politics others are advocating for women to openly tell their husbands that they are visiting their boyfriends and vice versa. Would this be socially moral - even if we call them human rights? We should not be abusing these human rights.
Madam President, this is my contribution on the Human Rights motion.
I thank you.
*HON. SEN. TONGOGARA: Thank you Madam President, I
just want to appreciate the biblical history that has just been presented to us because personally I was not aware of it. All I had to put on the table was the role that was played by our liberation war fighters who made us to be independent today. I would want to thank Hon. Sen. Chidawu for tabling this motion because it has helped in highlighting the human rights issues and is useful history.
I also want to thank the Thematic Committee on Human Rights for the sterling work that they did in highlighting the weaknesses and strengths in the observation of these Human Rights. Their report also highlights on the welfare of our prisoners whose human rights issues also need to be considered. It is my hope that Treasury, considering the current state of our economy, will be able to avail a budget for the rehabilitation of our prisons so that the welfare and upkeep of our prisoners improves, and they can live comfortably. We all know that to err is human and the same humane acts should be practiced even for those who are in incarceration. It is my fervent hope that this word will get to the Minister of Finance and Economic Development to have this issue addressed in upholding the human rights of our prisoners. I hope that you will assist us Madam President. I thank you
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE HON. PRESIDENT OF SENATE
VISITORS IN THE PRESIDENT OF SENTATE’S GALLERY THE HON. PRESIDENT OF SENATE: I recognise the
presence in the President of the Senate’s Gallery students and teachers from Seke 1 High School in Chitungwiza. You are most welcome -
[HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] –
*HON. SEN. CHIRONGOMA: Thank you for the opportunity
to add my voice to the motion on Human Rights that was tabled by Hon.
Sen. Chidawu.
Madam President, in respect of human rights issues we will be dealing with issues of our national development. On human rights, the black nationals were deeply oppressed in their birth country by former colonizers who were dictating the pace for us; hence the rise of black consciousness and the liberation war in a quest for freedom. Our parents and chiefs were displaced from fertile lands to settle in arid areas. Furthermore, it hurts that people also lost their cattle after a decree had been made that a certain number of cattle had to be confiscated by the settler regime and forcibly taken from them - all these acts were in violation of our human rights.
I reiterate that people should understand and appreciate that our human rights were non-existent. As we were young boys we realized the abuse of our human rights. Our parents started revolting against the settler regime and the war of liberation came because people wanted their land back. Oppression was even visible during the voting period as a white man’s vote would be equated to 20 black votes as human rights were not being exercised in an equitable manner. Today we are discussing human rights that these acts were a direct violation of our human rights.
Coming back Madam President, women were not afforded their due respect, yet they were responsible for procreation. So this motion on Human rights should be held sacrosanct and we observe that there was a liberation war that was prosecuted because of the abuse of human rights. Independence culminated in us having human rights. It is pleasing to note that we even have married women in this august House.
In our African culture we say that, ‘musha mukadzi’, meaning a homestead is made up of women and they should be respected. In the past women could not attend the schools that we were in and were limited to work as teachers, nurses and air hostess, to which we later disputed and said that these were not the only areas that they could work in. Also on workers’ rights in workplaces to say that this is a male teacher and this is a female teacher, they have the same rights as they both went through the same teacher’s course and both qualified as teachers. Today we have female Ministers, Madam President; even in this august House we have Madam President as Chair. We are proud of this development as a country.
Madam President, we want this motion to be observed. We as the Senate, as mature members of society, should understand one another, meaning if we were to have a debate, we must have a meaningful debate between the men, women and chiefs. It helps us to have vision and understanding of issues.
I was in Mutare a few days ago and I observed that our children have now lost the meaning of the rights that we fought for. We came up with the Constitution after we consulted the people and the people contributed accepting the position that they wanted and rejecting others that they did not want. I travelled with our Thematic Committee on
HIV/AIDS on a fact finding mission to find out how best we can curb HIV/AIDS. While in Bulawayo and Mutare, rowdy youths wanted to rise against us. They now want same sex marriage. This is unheard of in our culture. .
*THE HON. PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Hon. Senator, may
you come back to the issue of the Human Rights Committee report. It appears as if you are giving us a reporting on the Committee on HIV and AIDS.
*HON. SEN. CHIRONGOMA: Thank you Madam President. Let me come back to the Committee on Human Rights, whose motion was moved by Hon. Sen. Chidawu. The Committee should continue to do the good work that it has done. These human rights should be continuously reviewed as this is a good thing. They did a wonderful job in educating people on human rights. I applaud the Committee for a job well done and should continue to do such good work. Madam President, with these few words, let me say that it is our right to know our human rights and to exercise these rights.
HON. SEN. CHIEF MATHUPULA: Thank you very much
Madam President. I would like to advise you Madam President and the
House that I have taken over this motion. In taking over this motion, I would like to first thank all those who debated this pertinent motion which was put before the House.
We are all here because of human rights. The exercise of our political rights is what brought us all into this House and our people are also looking for us to push that their rights be also protected – rights to education, water and health. Our people in our communities look at that with utmost importance. So, I would like to thank all Hon. Senators who took time to reflect on this debate on this motion and to come to this House to debate on this motion. We would like to thank you very much and would also like to thank the Human Rights Committee for bringing this motion before the House. Thank you very much, Madam President.
In conclusion, allow me then to move that this that this House takes note of the First Report of the Thematic Committee on Human Rights on the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission Annual Report for the year ended December, 2017, be adopted.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE 44TH PLENARY ASSEMBLY OF SADC
PARLIAMENTARY FORUM
Fourth Order read: Adjourned debate on the Report of the delegation to the 44th Plenary Assembly of the SADC Parliamentary Forum.
Question again proposed.
+HON. SEN. S. MPOFU: I thank you Madam President for giving me this opportunity to add my voice to this report on SADC
Parliamentary Forum which took place in Maputo, Mozambique from 26th November to 8th December. There are a few things which I observed from this report which was moved by Hon. Sen. Mohadi. The most important thing in this report that they talked about is child marriages that is the protection of children from being married while they are still young and that this be curtailed so that children do not get married before their legal age of consent. That makes me happy because as Parliament of Zimbabwe, we are also looking into this law so that we protect children and that parents should be educated so that they do not marry off their children before the legal age of consent.
It is good for us as a country that we have a strong law which looks into such matters. The parents and the perpetrators of this scourge should be given a deterrent sentence. Mostly children are being married off whilst they are still young and sentences being given to people engaging in such practices is not deterrent enough. The sentence should be deterrent enough such that people who engage in such practices do not do that. We should also take care of those who are already in such relationships because every child has a right to be a child.
I also observed that in that report, they mention that there should be trade among SADC countries. This is good because most of our people survive on cross-border trading. In that conference, they resolved that there should be one currency for SADC countries that helps particularly our cross border traders when they go to other countries to buy goods. Normally, when they go to other countries they face problems when changing their currencies. If as SADC we have a currency, all our problems will be solved. Even when tourists visit us, they will not face problems of being robbed of their money.
The other thing I observed in this report is that the Speaker of the National Assembly was elected into the Executive Committee and he is in the Sub-Committee of Legal Affairs in SADC. That is indicative to us as Zimbabweans that we have people who are competent. It is also indicative that Zimbabwe has people who are educated and knowledgeable. Hon. Mutsvangwa who was Vice President of SADC
PF, she was actually in charge of Women’s Parliamentary Caucus here in Zimbabwe. We hope that whoever replaced her will continue with the programmes and must promote women’s rights. Hon. Mutsvangwa also brought us a lot of programmes as women. We look forward that our
Women’s Caucus will further some of these programmes. There were some resolutions that we made in this conference that Zimbabwe will be in charge of the establishment of a Parliamentary Studies Institute.
The resolution was that they should liaise with the University of
Zimbabwe so that parliament staff and Members of Parliament should participate in studies like that so that we learn more about Parliament. That will capacitate us to be competent in our debates and make pertinent contributions. That was a good resolution which was made. This resolution should be followed up and be implemented. They also said that Parliament of Zimbabwe should be involved in gender participative programmes that will enable women to work well and gender oversight programmes should also be incorporated in our work plan.
They also looked at election Observer Missions, it was observed that it was men who were always involved in such exercises. We now therefore request as women that women be incorporated into these
Observer Missions so that we will also further women’s programmes.
With those few words, I thank you Madam President.
HON. SEN. MOHADI: Madam President, I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. SHUMBA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday 20th June, 2019.
On the motion of THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR
MASHONALAND EAST PROVINCE (HON. SEN.
MUNZVERENGWI), the Senate adjourned at Eighteen Minutes past
Three o’clock p.m.