- Version
- Download 68
- File Size 527 KB
- File Count 1
- Create Date February 13, 2013
- Last Updated November 13, 2021
SENATE HANSARD 20 FEBRUARY 2013 VOL. 22 NO. 12
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Wednesday, 20th February, 2013
The Senate met at Half-past Two
o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(MADAM PRESIDENT in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENT BY MADAM PRESIDENT
SWITCHING OFF OF CELLPHONES
MADAM PRESIDENT: May I remind hon. senators to switch
off their cell phones before the commencement of business.
MOTION
PRESIDENTIAL SPEECH: DEBATE ON ADDRESS
First Order Read: Adjourned debate on motion in reply to the Presidential Speech.
Question again proposed.
*SENATOR MTINGWENDE: Thank you very much Madam
President. Let me start by thanking the member who raised this motion and supporters of this motion. The motion was raised by Senator Chief Mtshane Khumalo.
Madam President, in the speech given by His Excellency, Cde R.G. Mugabe, he talked about agriculture. Let me talk about what is happening in Gokwe North as far as farming is concerned. Farmers were not able to carry out their farming activities because of the illogical way in which cotton was sold. In Gokwe North, cotton is one of the cash crops that farmers grow.
The price paid for cotton was depressing; hence, farmers were not able to plough back their funds. As a result, you find that the hactrage reserved for cotton was reduced and this reduction in the hactrage for cotton has negative results in the economy of the country. Cotton has a lot of bi-products, therefore, if little cotton is harvested, there is going to be a negative impact on our industry, especially the clothing factories.
Farmers have a lot of complaints regarding the way cotton was auctioned; as a result, we have few farmers who are prepared to grow cotton. We received excess rainfall which led to the leaching of the crop. This means, there is going to be a reduction in the harvest of cotton and this will have a negative impact on farmers. Some of these farmers had taken out loans so that they could carry out their farming activities. The poor yields will result in poor repayment of loans which were accessed for the farming season. This is a cascading effect which is very negative in Gokwe North Constituency and what this means is, the growing of cotton will definitely go down. Farmers cannot just work without getting rewards from their sweat.
May I also plead with the Government that they intervene and improve on the prices offered to farmers by auctioneers. If they have adequate funds, farmers will be able to repay their loans and buy inputs for the next season. Madam President, you will find that, what is obtaining at the moment is that the hactrage which is prevailing will not be able to give farmers enough funds to meet their needs. I also plead with the Government to hold discussions with the funding partners who fund farmers so that whenever they are talking about repayment of their loans, they should take cognisance of the fact that the yield was poor.
Therefore they should take measures to ease the burden on the farmer.
Let me now discuss the Grain Loan Scheme. I plead with the Government to re-think on the Grain Loan Scheme, because as I speak now, in Gokwe North, there is starvation simply because the people cannot get access to those funds. You will find that our roads are very bad, as a result the transporters cannot access the areas where these grains are being distributed to and as a result starvation is on the rise.
You will find that not only do we have problems in transporting the grain but we are also talking of the leaching which happened in the crops because of excess rains. Therefore, it means the hectarage yield has been greatly reduced. As I speak now, we hear of some farmers who are no longer going to their fields because everything has been destroyed by the rains.
These farmers also had problems in accessing fertilizers which could have assisted in these excessive rains but they had problems in accessing the fertilizers. Madam President, we have families who are going for two or three days without getting any assistance or access to food. Yes, in our culture we believe in traditional sharing but as we are discussing now, there is nothing that people can share. Nobody has yet starved to death but that could be happening in the near future. Therefore I plead with the government to take measures to improve on the redistribution of the Grain Loan Scheme. Thank you.
*SENATOR MAKORE: Thank you Madam President, let me make my small contribution on the motion raised by Hon. Chief Mtshane.
Let me say most of the issues were debated in the past but what I want to put across is that we need to put all our attention on agriculture because it is the main-stay of our economy. Therefore, it needs great support from us. We know that in some areas, the agricultural situation is not as bad as it is in other areas but we need to take some measures to preserve this.
However, we have challenges which we are facing; and first amongst the challenges is that, we have to increase on our yields so that we retain the bread basket status of our country. Zimbabwe is a country of hard working people, hard working farmers and what I encourage fellow members and fellow countryman is that, whatever it is you are doing in farming activities, please work hard and produce the highest yield.
Secondly, we need to get the encouragement that we will work hard in our farming activities. One other important thing is that, we need to have training from our demonstrators (madhumeni) so that we share this method of farming which is modern and will lead to high yield in our farming activities. If you get enough funds, you will develop, starting with your family, your district and your nation. You can also be able to take children to school and they will get education because as far as I am concerned, in the past, the farmers who were good were living better lives. Hence let us be serious in our farming projects, let us be serious in funding our farming activities and let us also be serious in the training of better farming methods.
Madam President, may I go to the Higher and Tertiary Education whereby we talk of universities and colleges. We need to have more scholarships to be accessed by children who want to go to those tertiary institutions. Some of the people who go to those tertiary institutions need to be supported by us as parents and the state, so that if there are any funds available, to progress their education, they should easily access them. It is quite a pity to find out that because of the hardships these children face at the universities, they end up living lives which are not worth for students because they will be trying to fend for themselves. They will end up indulging in illegal and illicit activities. Therefore, we need to take measures that will support these education facilities so that they focus on their education and try to support themselves not using illegal and illicit methods. If we let them do that, they will be a disgrace to the country and therefore we need to access these monies. Hence we need to work hard in looking for funds so that we support the education of our children.
Madam President, I will now talk about mining; the President talked of mining and said the country can have a healthy and economic life through our mineral resources. We get money from mining; we have mines that can fund all our projects. We need to support areas which have minerals so that we benefit from these, through the funds which are obtained from mining. Zimbabwe is not a poor country but I do not think it augers well for Zimbabwe to have people who die of starvation or people who walk naked because of poverty. Our country is a rich country and what we really need is to be accountable for whatever mineral that we get. I am one of those farmers who have dogs; I find that at times when I am feeding my dogs, the biggest dog would threaten smaller ones, especially when I give them sadza with nice soup. The biggest dog would eat first; when it is full, others may come in. This shows the greediness of the dog, but in Zimbabwe we believe we are one people, one nation. We are a people who have a very good track record.
You would remember that during the struggle for our independence, every one of us played their role in their own way. What this means is, whatever we get from our wealth, we need to share it equitably and we need to work hard so that we have more yields, hence more profits. What we need to do is, let us manage our mines forcibly. We need to take care of our minerals; we need to take care of our mines; we need to take care of our wealth. Let us not be divided on partisan lines because the party is not the nation. We know that we have had many parties in the past; these have been dissolved but the country, as Zimbabwe, has remained. Therefore, let us be proud of being Zimbabweans and share our wealth equally, whatever we get.
It is important for every one of us in this country to know that
Zimbabwe will be a wealthy nation if we work hard together. I know some people have this misconception that in order for you to be wealthy, you have to be a politician. I want to tell you that, we cannot all be politicians because if a country is full of politicians only, it will go down the drain. We need to play our different roles for the benefit of our country.
The President went on to say that when you are a farmer in the cotton field, do your best in that. We all know that when you are in the field of farming, you look forward to getting a good yield. A good yield leads to good cash in your pocket for the benefit of your family and your country. We need to be forward looking for the progress of our country and we also need to share whatever we get. I would like to thank the President for this speech which prompted the growth of our country.
Let me conclude my speech by saying, we have people who misinterpret some of the things in the country. We know that in our culture, you can never take away somebody’s advantage or gift; it is his to keep. We cannot be all equal but we need to keep a culture of equality, mercy and hardworking. Therefore, what this means is, if we see that some of us are going astray, regardless of their age, they need to be given good advice. We know that an old person is a role model and if he has a bad mouth; he would be a wrong role model. Therefore, we need to think of Zimbabwe first.
When I talk about this, I talk of violence. Is it really worthwhile for us as Zimbabweans to preach the gospel of non violence amongst the youths. We need to give our youths a better future and show them that whenever they are in any differences, they cannot be solved through violence. Difference should be solved through dialogue. The President talked against violence – what we need is that whenever we meet, despite our different political parties, we should talk about our differences in peace. As role models, people should see that we are denouncing violence. Since our President denounced violence, we should also denounce violence.
I remember when I attended the funeral of the late Hon. John Landa Nkomo, we enjoyed the gospel of peace which was preached there. We enjoyed the music delivered by the Seventh Day Adventist. This only shows us that in whatever it is we do, let us know that we belong to God. Whatever we are doing God sees everything, even if it is done in darkness, God is there. The Almighty is there and what he wants is to see people live in peace and harmony.
We know that this country came through the ‘gun’ and what we now need is peace. People should be happy in Zimbabwe. When you are happy, even your face shows that you are living a happy life. Your smile shows that you are living a happy life; your complexion shows that you are living a happy life. Therefore, what we need to do is share the little that we get. Also, let us work hard for our country to develop.
Thank you very much for this opportunity Madam President.
+SENATOR NCUBE: Thank you Madam President, I also want to
thank His Excellency, Hon R. G. Mugabe for his Speech. I will just pick one or two things, which are indigenisation and education. I realise that when it comes to indigenisation, the President touched a lot, especially to those who know how it works. I thank the President, if we realise that as Africans, we are able to help ourselves and work using our own hands; not only depend on being employed.
You would realise that when I look at the illegal gold panners, it is unfortunate that I am going to say this in the absence of Governor Mathuthu for we come from the same area. She was going to support me on what I am saying. When you travel along Bubi road from
Bulawayo to Nyathi; from Nyathi to Lilly mine. I left the rural areas in
1977 when I completed my grade 7 and moved to Bulawayo. The illegal gold panners were not there yet. When I grew up and got married, that is when I stayed for a long time without going back to my rural area. Now when you go to my rural area from Lilly area to Magaya area, there is an area that used to be a farm where we used to go and see the stone where they claimed that gold was found.
During that time we were not allowed to dig but just to see. Later, because of the cleverness of people, they then started gold panning in that area. What we realised is that the area has been degraded. When we went there to lay the tombstone of my mother, I realised that we were not even able to find our way back because people have destroyed the area. They have destroyed even the fenced area that was there. It is only the people within that community who can now identify the road that leads to the main road. That place is now degraded. It is one area where, if we talk about indigenisation, we should try by all means not to destroy it, but it is being destroyed.
During the rainy season, potholes are created such that the road becomes unusable because of its condition. As much as it is important for people to work for themselves, I would like to urge the government to educate people on the conservation of the soil so that degradation of the soil will be limited. On education, you will realize that those who spoke before me have mentioned the fact that most form four candidates did not produce good results. If we were to compare those candidates who first sat for their ZJC before sitting for their ‘O’ Level exams and those who just sat for ‘O’ Level, the latter’s English is not as competent as that of the former.
During my Grade seven, we were told that if you are not able to go to F1, you will not go to F2. F2 schools used to be schools like Mpopoma and Mzilikazi and constituted those children who were not able to produce good results. I would like to urge the government to seriously check on what the children are doing. As parents, we have the same responsibility as that of government of checking on what our children are learning. We are gifted in different ways.
We should realize that sporting activities like soccer were not supported that much in the past and it was difficult for children to make a living from such an activity after they leave school. Teachers should identify the different gifts that children have. From the different clubs that were in schools in the past, children were able to make a living out of that. There were also clubs that were there for school leavers which helped them to make a leaving. If you take note of Emaphandeni High school, sometime back, it used to be a school that catered for home craft and most of us managed to make a living from what we learnt there.
However, our government has neglected that.
Even from our new Constitution we have highlighted that, therefore the government should cater for those who are not able to read but have different talents and are able to make a living out of their gifting. However, as much as they can produce their home craft products, they still face a challenge in identifying markets. You will realise that when tourists come to our nation, they are interested in our home craft products. The government should take note that some of our children are able to make a living from making home-craft products, thus a market place from where to sell these products should be created.
You will realize that a class would have approximately 46 to 48 pupils. A school would have a total of 4 to 5 classes for A-Level; they can all pass with ‘A’s. If we take for instance in nursing, where the posts were frozen and now they have been opened, the total number of trainees is less than the number of qualified candidates. Long back
when someone was at school, they would know that after school they would be able to get a job relating to what they would have been trained
for.
We realize that nowadays, people go to school so as to get qualifications that will quickly give them a job. We also realize that when a nurse is going for training, it is not the job that they would have desired, ultimately they will even harass the patients because it is not something that they are doing whole-heartedly. We all have different gifting that we have been given by God. Therefore the government should take note of that and find a way of how to assist children who are not gifted in reading books.
These children may be very good at using their hands to produce so that in the the end they are not stranded. You would realise that nowadays, most of our children spend so much time on the internet as a way of entertaining themselves, worse off with the coming in of Facebook. There is a lot of danger that these children are exposed to, especially over Face-book for they will be chatting with people whom they do not know.
A lot has been said but all that we are urging the government is that, they should find a way of identifying the different gifting that are in our children, especially using their own hands. They can also reintroduce the schools that dealt with only home craft lessons, which were also called F2 schools, where they used to screen in a way that, if you do not pass your Form 1, you were unable to continue to Form 2. Therefore, it is important that ZJC is re-introduced so that the students would be able to academically measure themselves. This will enable them to conclude on whether they are able to continue to the next level of their education. This will also assist in encouraging the students to work hard knowing that, if they fail their ZJC, they will not continue to the next level. With this new system, there are cases where people have forged certificates in order to get a job.
MADAM PRESIDENT: Order hon. member, you are speaking
too fast for the interpreters, may you please slow down a bit.
SENATOR NCUBE: Thank you Madam President, what I was
saying is that the government should take note that, it is not everyone who is gifted with the books. However, some people are able to make a living from what they do at their homes. What the government can do is to bring back home craft to the schools so that those who are not able to make a living from reading their books can try and do so using their hands. If they have learnt something from home craft schools, they are able to make a living or sell what they would have produced to other countries.
Our country attracts tourists and most of these tourists are passionate about the home craft things like mats, doilies, and materials for home décor. Most of these things from home craft are beautiful and most people like them. I also want to urge the government to bring back the ZJC so that children can be screened from ZJC to ‘O’ Level. This gives an opportunity to the children to weigh their performance in order to move forward to the next level or repeat. I urge the government to seriously take note or identify the old schools which used to have ZJC.
We have so many children and therefore cannot afford to build new schools which can cater for ZJC.
It is not everyone who is going to pass, if everyone passes, are they going to get the jobs? We realize that at one time, posts for nursing were frozen, but they have been re-opened yet few children are going to enroll for nursing because of the crisis of jobs. I therefore urge the government to take note of the fact that, even the issue of indigenisation that we have spoken about still points back to empowering children to use their own hands to make a living. With those words Madam President, I thank you.
*SENATOR CHIEF CHISUNGA: Thank you Madam
President, for affording me this opportunity to make my contribution. May I also thank the members who moved this motion for debate? Let me start by adding my voice to the Presidential speech. I feel that I have to add my voice to this because we know that the Constitution of this country gives freedom of expression and freedom of association.
Therefore, we find that those that belong to the Organ of National Healing have a slogan, which says ‘Peace begins with me, peace begins with you and peace begins with all of us’. What this means is that we should start from the chamber as hon. Members, to preach the gospel of peace. We should also talk of ways and means of solving our differences in peace.
The President talked about non violence looking at the period we are approaching, whereby, we will soon be going to the elections and during our campaigns we should not promote violence, we should not talk of hate speech but we should talk of peace.
I will talk about what happened in here, in this chamber, because what happened yesterday in this august Senate promotes violence and misunderstanding. When there was the division in the Senate, there were some sentiments which were echoed here. As chiefs we were asked to show where we belonged and as a chief I also find that I now do not know where my position stands, because it shows that there are people who are bent on causing violence. As far as we know, our
Constitution says, in Zimbabwe you have freedom of expression and freedom of association. Therefore, even when I am in this Senate I also have the freedom of expressing my feelings without fearing that someone will come and accuse me of belonging to a certain partisan grouping. I find that what was echoed yesterday was violence against the chiefs because it shows that you should belong to a certain party.
I believe in that the Senate is the Upper House. It is honoured to have the elderly of the community and therefore, we should be the people who are the forerunners in preaching the gospel of peace. When people hear us talk they should say our elders have spoken, our elders are speaking of peace but now if we find that as elders, we are promoting hate speech, it means we are preaching the gospel of violence, of fighting and of hate. Therefore, Madam President, I stand up to add my voice, to preach the gospel of peace as stated by His Excellency.
We are now living in harmony and peace because we have gone through the period of fighting. We also find that if we, as the African people of Zimbabwe are to discuss our totems, we will find that we are intertwined. We are the same people because our totems maybe said in
Shona, Ndeble, Kalanga or whatever but we belong to the same totems. Yes, we may differ in our understanding but as chiefs we do not support a few individuals, as chiefs we support the voices of development in the country and I should support without fear or favour.
When the President delivered the speech, the President was quite aware that a country at peace is a country of development, and a country of violence is a country which has no development because there would be a tug of war. It does not mean to say, as people of Zimbabwe, we need to think alike, no. We can have divergent views but we have to agree to disagree. Even in a home setup, you will find out that the husband and wife do not have to necessarily agree on everything but they should agree to disagree. That means, even in our political circles, we should also be able to accept the voice of those people who have different opinions from us. I thank the President for preaching the gospel of peace, especially at this juncture when we are heading towards elections. Peace begins with me, peace begins with you and peace begins with all of us.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT: I move that the debate do
now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Thursday, 21st February, 2013.
MOTION
CONDOLENCES ON THE DEATH OF THE HONOURABLE VICE
PRESIDENT JOHN LANDA NKOMO
Second Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Tragic and Untimely Death of Hon. Vice President John Landa Nkomo.
Question again proposed.
SENATOR MUMVURI: Thank you Madam President. Let me
start by thanking the mover of the motion, Senator S. K. Moyo and the seconder, Senator Mandava. They brought an important motion in which they allowed us to debate the life of the late Vice President. Madam President, I wish to join a long list of all those hon. members who have already debated this motion, paying tribute to the gallant son of the soil, the late Vice President Senator John Landa Nkomo.
I just want to reiterate that he was not just an ordinary man. To me the late VP was a humble, respected, unassuming and a very honest politician. I cannot agree more Madam President, with those of us who have already debated, who described the late Vice President as a peace maker, a unifier, a dedicated and forthright person who appealed to all Zimbabweans across the political divide. Like many others who are in the top hierarchy of leadership today, we are told that the Vice President John Landa Nkomo was a teacher by profession. I am personally very proud to be associated with him and other colleagues who are still living and are former teachers because I am also a teacher or a Rabi by profession. I remember I have got a small incident in which he appealed to me personally.
Sometime back when I was coming from Namibia on Government business, I met the late VP who had visited South Africa. We met at O R Tambo Airport in Johannesburg and I assisted him to carry his bags to the VIP lounge. When I got to the VIP lounge, he entered, I remained back with the bags. In other words, I was refused entry because I was not a VIP because I was carrying a green passport, not a diplomatic passport. He talked with the people at the gate nicely and reminded them that I was also a Member of Parliament from Zimbabwe and they allowed me in through his persuasion. Then we waited for the flight together, enjoying the refreshments before we caught the flight back home.
That incident, I felt touched by that gesture. He could not let me out but again, it is a reminder that we MPs, when we travel out, we do not have diplomatic passports. But you find out that other MPs from other countries travel on VIP diplomatic passports.
Even Swaziland and Lesotho. My point is, he carried me into the
VIP when I was not supposed to be there and then we boarded the plane together back home. My admiration and respect for the late VP, Madam President and other pioneer nationalists who grew when I become aware that, on the diplomatic front, the late Vice President was a delegate to several conferences which were held in an effort to solve the Rhodesia crisis then.
He was a delegate to the Geneva Conference in 1976, he was a delegate to the Malta Conference in 1977 and he was also a delegate to the Lancaster House of 1979 which finally brought about independence in Zimbabwe. As one of the speakers has already said before me that, it is because of selfless sacrifice of such icons like the late VP that we are here today in this House, it is a fact. So, we want to pay tribute to that. I further pay tribute and respect and admire Hon. J.L. Nkomo due to the fact that he, together with our own current Deputy President of the Senate Hon. N.K.Ndlovu, survived a bomb blast which took away the life of J.Z. Moyo in Lusaka in 1977.
We paid tribute to that. What a great feat it was. These are true living and departed heroes which we must emulate indeed. I therefore say, may his soul rest in peace. Before I sit Madam President, the late VP left us a legacy through which we can always remember him and pay tribute by practicing lasting peace. It is now well known that he popularized the saying which goes – you can join me; peace begins with me, peace begins with you, peace begins with all of us. Thank you Madam President.
+SENATOR NCUBE: I thank you Madam President, I also
want to add my voice on the motion that was moved by Hon. S. K. Moyo and seconded by Hon. Mandava. I do not have many words to say. I was not really close to the late Hon. J Nkomo, I came from Matabeleland North. All that I want to say is that, I also mourn with others. I know it is not really an issue that we get to be known by those people as it is not everyone who knows me. We realize that as an elderly person who was a leader of the nation and not only in Matabeleland and as Vice President, we are pained especially when he was not feeling well.
I also want to add my voice on that and we even join the Nkomo family when they are mourning during the loss of the late VP Nkomo. I thank you.
.
SENATOR MANYERUKE: Thank you Madam President. Let
me add my voice to the untimely departure of the Hon. Vice President John Nkomo and also thank Hon. S. K. Moyo for bringing this motion and the supporter Hon. Mandava. It greaves the whole nation that we have lost such a person because as a country, we appreciated his presence and his untimely death is really a blow to us.
We appreciate whatever it is he did because he was one of the freedom fighters of this country who were called terrorists by the Smith
Regime. He is one of those people who talked about the ‘Zhee’ in the start of the liberation struggle. He was one of the people who encouraged the indigenisation and the empowerment of women. We find that Hon. Nkomo was one of the people who really worked hard for the country during the liberation struggle, not only that, even after independence. We all know that he worked hard for this country. If we look into the Holy Bible in the scripture in the book of Genesis, God says, ‘I created man’, but we know that there is death because we cannot live forever. We thank him for the part he took in the ruling of the country; he was the Chairman of our party. He was one person who was really approachable and he was not very selective.
He was a humble and dedicated man and we are independent because of people like him. We also miss his contribution because he was one of us here in the Senate. We worked with him and we shared the same views. It really pains us that we lost such a man, but during his funeral there were testimonies to the kind of a man he was. He was a man of the people and a lot of people came to his funeral. In the national healing programme, he was one of those people who promoted the message of peace, we should think about him when we say ‘peace begins with me; peace begins with all of us’.
*SENATOR MAKUNDE: Thank you Madam President, I feel
obliged to make my contribution on the passing on of the late Vice President. I have heard from people who made their contributions of the good works that were done by the Late Dr. Nkomo. He was a unifier and a peacemaker; he was somebody who preached the gospel of peace. I want to thank Hon. S. K. Moyo for bringing in this motion. The words that he said really touched me. I was also touched by the contributions made by Senator Holland when she was talking about the Late Vice President.
He was successful in making the national healing process to be accepted all over the country. During the time of the liberation struggle he made lots of contributions. The people who were fighting for the liberation struggle were divided because some belonged to ZIPRA and others to ZANLA. The Late Hon. Nkomo and the Deputy Speaker were in Zambia leading the ZIPRA. We also heard people who were in ZANU who were fighting and having their training in Tanzania. The leadership of the Late Nkomo made the first move to unite these fighting forces because there were two armies, ZIPRA and ZANLA and they were fighting in different areas.
He asked for a meeting with the commander of the liberation forces, some of the people whom he called to the meeting were Hon. A. Mutinhiri. He called him in Morogoro for the ZIPRA and ZANLA meeting. He brought them together as leaders of the army and what came out of that meeting was a force called ZIPRA. During that time we were given the topics and advice by our leaders who were giving us direction on how the war was being waged. The ZIPRA were trained by the Russians and the ZANLA were trained by the Chinese. They had different tips on fighting but the leaders were able to amalgamate these forces.
There was also another force that emerged and another Indaba was called so that the two forces would fight the same battles together, and they formed one army which was called ZIPRA. It is difficult to bring together armies that are fighting in different areas so that they fight together. We call for the blessing of these people who managed to survive to preach peace today. What we did during that time is what led us to be what we are today and we still need that peace. Though we were fighting in different areas, we were made to believe that the enemy was one and therefore we needed to be unified and win the war. That is why we are still in Zimbabwe, the land of milk and honey.
I want to thank the Late Vice President for his contribution. When we started the land reform programme in the period 2002 onwards, he was the Minister of Home Affairs. During that time, there were lots of fights when people were getting into farms, especially in Svosve area in Marondera. There was pressure from other countries who were forcing Zimbabwe to send the police to come and drive off the people who had come to settle into these farms. The Vice President knew that people were taking what is rightfully theirs. He was also given another portfolio, that of distributing the land and there was peace in the land distribution. I thank his wisdom and courage because had it not been for his gift we could have been fighting and using riots. I am glad people are saying this man is a peace-maker and some are saying this man is a unifier.
Let me conclude my speech by saying, I am glad I have managed to make my contribution on the Late Vice President, Hon. John Landa Nkomo. I thank you.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND
INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOMENT: I move that the debate do
now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Tuesday, 26th February, 2013.
On the motion of THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT, the Senate
th adjourned at Twenty Minutes to Four o’clock p.m.to Tuesday, 26 February, 2013.