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SENATE HANSARD 30 MARCH 2017 26-45
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Thursday 30th March, 2017
The Senate met at Half-past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENTS BY HON. THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF
THE SENATE
VISITORS IN THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE’S GALLERY
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: I wish
to acknowledge the presence in the President of the Senate’s Gallery of students and teachers from Msasa Industrial Training College from
Harare province – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.]
APOLOGIES FROM MINISTERS
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: The
following Ministers have tendered their apologies;
- The Deputy Minister of Media, Information and Broadcasting Services - Hon. Sen. Mathuthu.
- The Minister of Health and Child Care –Hon. Dr. Parirenyatwa.
- The Deputy Minister of Health and Child Care - Hon. Musiiwa
- The Deputy Minister of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services – Hon. Mlambo
- The Minister of Energy and Power Development – Hon. Dr.
Undenge
HON. SEN. KOMICHI: Mr. President, I want to express my concern that we continue to witness the total disregard by Ministers to come and do their duties here. There has never been even a single day when we saw a full house of Ministers here. There will be five or seven Ministers; it is the greatest number that we have witnessed in this House, why is this happening? Is it that the Executive does not respect this
House or they do not feel obliged to come and do their work here? We object to that Mr. President, that is not right – [HON. SENATORS:
Hear, hear.]
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: Thank
you Hon. Sen. Komichi. I am with you on that and as you know we have always issued statements to this effect and as a result of this we will take up the matter with the Leader of the House. Thank you.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
HON. SEN. TAWENGWA: Mr. President, I move that
Questions Without Notice on today’s Order Paper be stood over, until the rest of the Orders of the Day have been disposed of.
HON. SEN. MLOTSHWA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
ENFORCEMENT OF LAWS TO PROTECT DOMESTIC ANIMALS
First Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on stray dogs and other domestic animals.
Question again proposed.
*HON. SEN. MAKWARIMBA: Thank you Mr. President for
giving me this opportunity to add my voice on the motion raised by Hon. Sen. Mawire and seconded by Hon. Sen. Machingaifa. Mr. Prisident, this is a scary issue concerning stray dogs and domestic animals. As far as I am concerned, these are animals bought by people for domestic purposes. A dog is used for security purpose; donkeys and cows are used for ploughing. They also get milk and meat from it. However, what is amazing is that you find those animals moving around interrupting people and their businesses.
Mr. President, people who buy these domestic animals, what they need to do is to have proper places for them; for example, proper kraals for them to stay. What we have noticed is that these animals are left to stray wherever they want and whenever they want. I think that is abuse of those animals.
Mr. President, if we have to speak about the accidents that we see on the roads because of these stray animals– let me give an example of the Beitbridge-Harare Highway. We witness a lot of bus accidents and we lose many lives. Mr. President, it is frightening to see 20 or 30 people dying at the same time. However, this happens because of people who cannot take care of their domestic animals. They leave their animals to move around and stray on the roads. It is deeply saddening that people just die there on the spot and the owners or the domestic animals are just left to move around with no crime.
Mr. President, I think when we speak of abuse of animals, it should be treated at the same level as child abuse. It should be a criminal case because losing lives without anyone being responsible is tough. There are some accidents that occur such that property is lost like cars would have to be taken to repair and the owners would have to meet the costs on their own if they do not have insurance due to those stray animals that are on the roads. Hon. President of the Senate, I think it would be proper that we leave these animals that are straying and we look and speak to the people that are responsible for those animals. If they are arrested, I think it would be proper and people will learn to take care of these domestic animals.
Hon. President of the Senate, if it is a dog, you would realise that it would go next door, it does whatever it wants, even leaves its own dirt and the owner does not do anything. The owner of the house would have to take care of his house and clean the dog with no compensation. They do not even care about what happens.
Hon. President of the Senate, I think the Government should look into this issue and make sure that we can put a law such that people are able to take care of their domestic animals in knowledge of the fact that there is a law concerning this and they have to be accountable. So therefore, Hon. President, I just wanted to add those few words. I know that a lot of speakers have spoken so much about this motion. What I wanted to say is that we are tired of accidents, we are tired of the deaths that are caused by the dogs and people are left to move around scot free. It was better if a law was enacted such that it became a criminal offence, like other people who do wrong things. With those few words, I would like to say thank you Hon. President.
+HON. SEN. JUBA: Thank you Hon. President of the Senate for giving me this opportunity so that I can add my voice on this motion. Where I come from, it is now so usual because when I went to my community, I saw cows straying around. We looked for the person who was supposed to be looking after them, but we could not find them and the grass is so long right now, so we could not manage to see them.
Cows, dogs and donkeys are taken care of just by the road where people are supposed to be travelling. If we were moving at a very high speed, we would have perished together with my children. People have been told that they should not remove the fence that is next to the road so that these animals do not stray onto the road. The other animals, like elephants, are better because they do not cause as many accidents as domestic animals.
Our children together with our domestic animals are the same. We are supposed to look after them. You cannot allow your child to go next door and steal and say that I am not working; I cannot take care of them. You are supposed to be taking care of them as much as you are supposed to take care of your domestic animals. Some people just leave their animals to go even to other people’s fields and even destroy their crops.
As the previous speaker has said, the Government is supposed to enact a law such that these animals, especially these black ones, if people leave them to stray, then they can be arrested as it would be a criminal offense. Where I come from, there are a lot of trucks that move around and when these trucks run over domestic animals, they come to the small cars. Hon. President of the Senate, I do hope that the issue of a law concerning these stray animals can be looked into.
At night all these domestic animals are supposed to be put into their kraals and they are not supposed to be left to stray such that they cause these accidents. I know that most of them do this because they are in full knowledge of that even if an accident occurs, no one would look for them and they can just go scot free. Hon. President of the Senate, this law has to be enacted because there is so much grass around and so much feeding field for these animals, but people leave them to stray on to the road, where vehicles are supposed to move around. If cars are moving at a speed that is high, people can perish.
Hon. President of the Senate, it is supposed to be made a criminal offence for people to leave their animals straying. People leave them to go to the road. Even elephants, when they get to a homestead, they destroy the things that are there and they get what they want. There is supposed to be a stiff penalty that is set up for these people. Hon. President of the Senate, those animals are just left to stray and they are hit by cars and they die at any time. They are left there on their own. They are not supposed to be left to just go wherever they want and when the owners of these animals see people looking for them, they do not own up concerning their animals. They will not agree that the animals belong to them.
We know that there are cows that are being taken care of and those that move around on their own. There is supposed to be a stiff penalty concerning these stray animals so that there are fewer accidents. With those few words, Hon. President of the Senate, I would like to thank you.
HON. SEN. TAWENGWA: Mr. President, I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. MASUKU: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Tuesday, 4th April, 2017.
ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
HON. SEN. TIMVEOUS: Thank you Mr. President. My
question goes to the Hon. Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Dr. Dokora. Hon. Minister..
THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE (HON.
SEN. CHIEF CHARUMBIRA): Before you ask your question, I see a lot of interest in Hon. Senators who would like to ask questions. I will insist on clarity, short to the point for everyone. Please proceed.
HON. SEN. TIMVEOUS: Thank you Mr. President, I want to ask
the Hon. Minister the policy that is being used at schools when it comes to giving the Grade 7 results to students. I have got a lot of cases in Zvishavane whereby until today children are not going to school because their parents failed to pay the full fees and the headmasters are not giving the students their results. So, I want to know the Government policy regarding that.
THE MINISTER OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY
EDUCATION (HON. DR. DOKORA): Thank you Mr. President and I
thank the Hon. Senator for...
THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE:
Minister before you proceed, the Ministers should answer the questions briefly and to the point and then we proceed. Some Ministers would go round and round and you deny members the opportunity to continue asking questions. Thank you Minister, proceed.
HON. DR. DOKORA: On the back of that advice I shall proceed to answer the question. Guardians and parents must sit down with the school heads and write down their payment plan which is useable in a court of law should there be need to pursue the debt. I thank you.
HON. SEN. TIMVEOUS: Thank you Mr. President. I wanted
clarity Hon. Minister, some parents sit with the headmaster and they try to look for the money, a lot of parents are not working - they are selling goods and cannot manage. Right now the children are not going to Form 1, they are all at home. Is it the fault of the student or for the parent?
HON. DR. DOKORA: I repeat the response I have just given. The guardian or parent must sit down with the school head and write down a payment plan for the debt, such a plan which can be used to follow them up through the courts. I thank you.
HON. SEN. MARAVA: Thank you Mr. President. My question
goes to the Deputy Minister of Agriculture (Livestock) Hon. Zhanda. This year, Minister, we are expecting a bumper harvest, maize and other crops. Does the Government have financial capacity to pay for this harvest that we expect to be delivered to Government institutions like
GMB?
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE
(LIVESTOCK) (HON. ZHANDA): Thank you Mr. President, I want
to thank the Hon. Senator for the question. I think you have read in the newspapers, though not the best for information, but I confirm that Government has already started putting some money aside for that purpose. I thank you.
+HON. SEN. NCUBE: Thank you Mr. President. My question is directed to the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education. Hon. Minister you can answer me in English but I know that you understand what I am saying. Hon. Minister in the education curriculum you put other things but Clothing and Textile, Home Economics is being sidelined in the curriculum yet you talk of ZIM ASSET. What are these teachers going to teach when these subjects are left out?
THE MINISTER OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY
EDUCATION (HON. DR. DOKORA): Mr. President, I am surprised the Hon. Senator is asking this question. I thought the whole burden of the new curriculum was to broaden it and to be as inclusive of the practical disciplines as we can and that is what we have done. The specific areas of skill that she is talking about actually begin from Grade
- I thank you.
HON. SEN. CHIPANGA: Thank you Mr. President. My
question is directed to the Minister of Agriculture. Hon. Minister we have heard about the other components of your Command agriculture, is it your policy and how soon do you expect to hear about the aspect of livestock? I thank you.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE
(LIVESTOCK) (HON. ZHANDA): Thank you Mr. President. I want
to thank the Hon. Senator for that question. Yes, I think it is evident that the Command agriculture has done very well on the crop side and we have just recently submitted a plan to cover the livestock sector, particularly for the sectors in Masvingo, Matebeleland South and
Matebeleland North and part of Midlands where livestock does very well. It is Government’s intention to make sure that the finances are in place as soon as possible so that farmers in that area can also be covered like what we have done with the crop side of Command agriculture. Government takes very seriously the issue of livestock, because it is a major component in agriculture and in the lives of our people, particularly in those regions that I have talked about. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. MALULEKE: Thank you Mr. President, my
question is directed to the Deputy Minister of Agriculture (Livestock), Hon. Zhanda. What is Government policy as regards the abattoirs, they take the hides, offal and rural farmers are not quite sure about what the position should be. May you clarify, I thank you.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE
(LIVESTOCK) (HON. ZHANDA): Thank you Mr. President. I would want to thank the Senator for such a pertinent question. When livestock is slaughtered, hides, heads and offals are taken by those from the abattoirs without payment. The position regarding abattoirs is that they ask for a nominal fee of say US$30 for payment of the slaughter and if you do not have the US$30 fee, you will then pay in the form of hides, heads and offal. This is an arrangement between the abattoirs and the farmers who has the beast. The price of the fifth quarter is almost a US$100 so the slaughtering of a cow that may take about an hour should not lead to such charges of almost US$100. We are looking into that issue because at the moment the majority of the abattoirs are in private players’ hands. Currently, CSC, which is a Government entity, is not operating and it will start operating at the end of the year. So, the farmers will get a better bargain from CSC. I thank you.
HON. SEN. MUSAKA: I thank you Mr. President. My question goes to Hon. Moyo, Deputy Minister of Mines Mining Development. There is great work being done at ZIMPLATS, the community is thankful but the blasters used underground are not appropriate. Houses are cracking in the community and people are demanding compensation. What is Government policy in terms of the blast equipment used and compensation for their property? I thank you.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF MINES AND MINING DEVELOPMENT (HON. F. MOYO): Thank you Mr. President. I
was actually not aware that we have that challenge that is affecting the communities of ZIMPLATS. All blasting systems for all mines must be designed in a manner that ensures that ground and air stability is guaranteed. We should not have structural failure after blasting. If there are failures as said by the Hon. Senator, we kindly request that perhaps we get a community complaint or notice in writing to the Ministry and we get our engineers to look at it. We should not have structures failing out of blasting of mining operations. It should not happen. If it is happening, please let us know then we investigate. I think the issues of compensation should follow after conclusive investigations which we will carry out. Thank you Mr. President.
HON. SEN. B. SIBANDA: Thank you Mr. President. I would like to ask the Hon. Minister of Mines and Mining Development when we can look forward to the introduction of the new Minerals Exploration Bill. Can the Minister favour us with the reasons for what I consider to be a very long delay?
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF MINES AND MINING DEVELOPMENT (HON. F. MOYO): Thank you Mr. President. We
had a few issues on that Bill with our Portfolio Committee. I think we have now created common ground. We were discussing this matter in the Ministry as late as this week. We looked for our Portfolio Committee Chairperson; I think he is not around. We will be engaging the Committee and I believe we will progress with that Bill with least delays going forward. I thank you.
+HON. SEN. NDHLOVU: Thank you Mr. President. My question is directed to Hon. Tshinga Dube, the Minister of Welfare
Services for War Veterans, War Collaborators, Former Detainees and
Restrictees. Hon. Minister, I would like to find out from you, what is Government policy concerning those who fought the liberation war struggle and were not trained to be soldiers but other trades? They trained for different trades during the war. Hon. Minister, they were promised payment, but they have not received it. They go and register after every four years, till when Hon. Minister?
+THE MINISTER OF WELFARE SERVICES FOR WAR
VETERANS, WAR COLLABORATORS, FORMER DETAINEES
AND RESTRICTEES (HON. DUBE): Hon. Speaker Sir, the truth is; yes, what the Hon. Member is saying is the honest truth. There are promises which came up so many times. However, this has not been dealt with. The issue is, we delayed looking into this issue. As you may realise, we have 37 years of independence and we have not dealt with this issue. This issue should have been looked at in the past, in the early 90s or so. However, the Cabinet selected a Committee co-chaired by both Vice Presidents. That Committee consists of Hon. Minister
Sekeramayi, Hon. Minister Chinamasa, Hon. Minister Muchinguri and I.
We are supposed to look into these issues so that we can look into the issue of collaborators, who they are. Once this is defined, it will be quite easy for us to go back to the Cabinet. When it is dealt with at
Cabinet level, it can be brought here in Parliament and you as Hon.
Members can agree on what their compensation can be. Meanwhile, there is this issue of the alignment of laws which has not been looked into and we are working on that. We do not have the right to work with those people directly without the National Assembly and Senate or Parliament. However, when it comes to you, then we will know what we can do. We will do what we will have agreed upon in Parliament. I thank you.
HON. SEN. CHIMHINI: Thank you Mr. President. My question is directed to Hon. Minister Tshinga Dube. There is a lot of discord in the public domain among the war veterans. What is your policy in terms of managing the discord? This is because, in my view, it is a security threat where we have fights among the war veterans in the public arena.
I thank you.
THE MINISTER OF WELFARE SERVICES FOR WAR
VETERANS, WAR COLLABORATORS, FORMER DETAINEES AND RESTRICTEES (HON. DUBE): Thank you Hon. Member. You
have to be truthful and do not just mention war veterans. I believe this goes to all of us. Even in the party, you do not ask what are we doing to resolve the problems that we have within the party, you are only talking of war veterans. This may be very much related. If we have no problems in the party, there may not be any problems within the war veterans. Thank you.
HON. SEN. CHIMHINI: Thank you Mr. President. Hon. Minister, I talked about security threat among the war veterans because these are people who fought for this country and should not be allowed to fight in public. The fights in the public domain become a security threat if not properly managed and you are the relevant Minister. We are not talking of parties but a Ministry which you superintend over. I thank you.
HON. DUBE: Hon. Member, I think I will repeat, unless you do not see any relationship between the issues in the party and those within the war veterans. We are talking about the same people wearing different caps. However, I wish to repeat it again. If we have no problems within the party, there will not be any problems among the war veterans. So, you may not agree with that, but that is the truth as it is. I think you understand what I mean. There is no way I can explain it better than that because you know deeper than me. Thank you.
*HON. SEN. MOEKETSI: Thank you Mr. President. My
question is directed to the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Hon. Zhanda. We have farmers who are under the command agriculture scheme, they got seed in November and they ploughed. They got fertilizer in February when their crop had already been destroyed. What line of action are you going to take as regards such people because you insisted that you want to receive your five tonnes of maize? I thank you.
*THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE
(LIVESTOCK) (HON. ZHANDA): Thank you Mr. President, I would
want to thank the Hon. Sen. for the question. It is true that we will require our mandatory five tonnes of maize. A farmer who is worth their salt should not have sowed the seed without fertiliser. They should have stopped there without sowing the seed. We would want to talk and agree as farmers that you cannot sow seeds without fertiliser. If you had been given seed minus the fertiliser, then you should have not proceeded to sow and if you got the Compound D fertiliser in January; then we would want you to account for it. If you have it then we cannot disclose what steps we are going to take.
I am saying each case is going to be considered on its own merit depending on how truthful the farmer is. We cannot give a blanket statement because we have heard that other farmers are saying they received Ammonium Nitrate and they will claim that it was lost due to leaching yet we know that not everyone is honest. It surprises me that we find dishonest people when the Government has come up with such a programme that is meant to ensure that the country becomes selfsustaining and people then decided to unjustly enrich themselves through dishonest means. Each case will be dealt with according to its own merit and we will make judgments as per each of the cases. I thank you.
+HON. SEN. MLOTSHWA: My question is directed to the
Deputy Minister of Lands and Rural Resettlement but I would have wanted to pose my question in SiNdebele. I know Hon. Minister Chikwama is well versed in the language.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF LANDS AND RURAL
RESETTLEMENT (HON. CHIKWAMA): No, I will have to ask the
other Hon. Ministers to interpret the question for me.
HON. SEN. MLOTSHWA: So I will pose the question in English then. Hon. Minister, I am concerned as to your policy on distribution of land. When I see land being distributed at rallies. I want to know whether it is your policy to make land a benefit to members of your party only – ZANU PF?
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF LANDS AND RURAL
RESETTLEMENT (HON. CHIKWAMA): Thank you Hon. Sen.
Mlotshwa for asking such a good question. I do not think there is such a policy that we can debate on the party rallies. I know the land distribution policy is straight forward not that land would be distributed at rallies.
I am going to give you a written statement should you want to know how we distribute the land.
HON. SEN. MLOTSHWA: My supplementary question is, Hon.
Minister, I said that I have seen land being distributed at a rally. So I am saying is it the policy of the Ministry because it is happening.
I for one applied for land in 2009 at my District Lands Committee but people who are in the Eighth Parliament are members of ZANU PF now have farms and I still do not have. So I am asking whether it is your policy to let land be distributed on partisan lines?
THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: Order,
order, before the Hon. Minister responds. Hon. Sen. Mumvuri, your name is noted on the list. Thank you, Hon. Minister, you may proceed.
HON. CHIKWAMA: Thank you Mr. President and thank you
Hon. Senator. I think it is very important for you to put your question in writing and highlight to the Ministry those people who were given land at rallies because I do not foresee any offer letter or document concerning land distribution for that matter being distributed at a rally. I thank you – [HON. SENATORS: Hear, hear.] –
HON. SEN. MASHAVAKURE: My question is directed to the
Minister of Agriculture. Hon. Minister, now that this year we are having this huge bumper harvest, are we going to start seeing a decline of the price of maize per tonne to the farmer so that the benefits can also trickle down to other food items, chicken feed, stock feed and even supermarket prices?
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE
(LIVESTOCK) (HON. ZHANDA): Thank you Mr. President. I want
to thank the Hon. Sen. for the very important question that affects the value chain in the production of maize.
The price of $390.00 that was set by Government is considered to be a floor price and not a fixed price, especially to those farmers who want to sell their maize to the Grain Marketing Board (GMB). However, it does not stop other farmers from selling their produce to anybody who wants to buy or any other buyers to buy maize from farmers at an agreed price. One would hope that without mentioning the qualities that we are expecting this year, obviously the intention of Government to peg the price or put a floor price of $390.00 was meant and is meant to incentivise farmers to produce adequately for this country to have sufficient maize, thereby eventually reduce the price of maize.
One of the important issues that would obviously lead to reduction on the price of selling maize is efficiency of production when we start achieving the rightful tonnes per hectare; eight to ten tonnes and so forth. Obviously, it is unavoidable that we will probably see the price of maize coming down and it will be good for the value chain. I think that was your intended question. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. MURWIRA: My question is directed to the Deputy
Minister of Agriculture responsible for livestock. Hon. Minister, fertilisers are expensive, can Government not raise the price of maize slightly?
*THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE
(LIVESTOCK) (HON. ZHANDA): Thank you Mr. President, I would
want to thank the Hon. Senator for the question and state that I will not agree with the Hon. Senator’s view that fertilisers are expensive.
The prices of fertilisers in Zambia in comparison to those in Zimbabwe will prove that fertiliser is more expensive in Zambia. Our farmers are failing to get good harvest which is more than seven or eight tonnes per hectare which will help you to make a reasonable amount of money. I want this august House to know that if you are a farmer and you do not make money out of maize production in Zimbabwe, you will never have any other crop that will give you easy money like maize. The world over, US$390.00 per tonne for maize is the highest price as no other country is known for paying such an amount. In South Africa, they pay $200.00; Zambia $180.00; Brazil $130.00; Argentina $140.00 per tonne. Where our difficulty comes is that once our milk and chickens are being produced, livestock such as pigs become expensive.
Hence we urge farmers to make a lot of money selling maize at $390.00 per ton. I thank you.
SENATOR CHIEF NYANGAZONKE: Thank you Mr.
President. My question is directed to the Deputy Minister of Agriculture (Livestock). How effective is the artificial insemination on cattle. My question is based on the recent drought that killed a lot of our cattle including bulls.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE
(LIVESTOCK) (HON. ZHANDA): Thank you Mr. President. I want
to thank the Hon. Senator for that question. The effectiveness of artificial insemination depends on various issues; one of them is obviously the body condition of the animal. The body condition of the animal leads to the fertility of the animal itself. Apart from the body condition in terms of fertility, the other condition is the genetics of the animal, the gene type of the animal which also other animals are highly fertile like our indigenous cattle like the Shona, the Nguni and the Tuli, are very fertile. So, obviously the fertility or the body condition depends on the grazing available or the timing of it.
However, artificial insemination depends as well on whether you do artificially bring the animal to heat using the method called instrument to bring the animal into heat prematurely before the normal circle, obviously, the chances are very lean. If it follows the normal cycle of 21 days and also the timing of it at the tail end of the heat, the chances of getting that animal into calf is better. It also depends on the inseminator again, how accurate he is in terms of insemination process.
So, that obviously deals with how accurate the insemination is. However, others are getting as far as 80%, others above 60% and so forth and others are working very well. So, if you are getting 80%, a conception rate using insemination, then you are doing very well. I thank you.
HON. MLOTSHWA: Hon. Minister, may I get it clearly. The
inseminator is supposed to be a he or a she?-[Laughter.]-
HON. ZHANDA: Thank you very much Mr. President. Since
everybody has laughed, I thought I could join the chorus and I want to thank the Hon. Senator for the question. Traditionally or commonly, it is perceived from human nature that the inseminator from a human being is a ‘He’ but in this context it can be a ‘She’ as well. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. MAWIRE: Thank you Mr. President. My question is directed to the Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Hon. Deputy Minister, F. Moyo. What are you doing to ensure that there is peace in the mines? There are now a lot of fights in these mining locations. I thank you.
*THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF MINES AND MINING
DEVELOPMENT (HON. F. MOYO): Thank you Mr. President of the
Senate. The violence that has erupted in mining areas is a headache. Recently, it was discussed in Cabinet and a Ministerial Committee has been set up to go down to the provinces and districts to deal with district administrators. The provincial administrators and their teams as well as the police, the chiefs, and all the leadership that are in the traditional areas where these mines are located are going to be involved to try and come up with an amicable solution to these problems or I believe Members of the National Assembly and Members of the Senate should also be involved in dealing with this issue so that our mining industry can properly prosper. As a Ministry, we have a duty to ensure that everyone who is allocated a mine has a security of tenure on the mine. There should not be any other persons who then comes to counter claim this ownership. As human beings, let us be certain that we have indeed applied for a plot or a concession and that it is yours. Please do not go into other people’s mining claims. It is illegal for us to try and do that. We are urging our workers to ensure that they should work in a professional manner. There should be nothing that is swept under the carpet or in simple, there should not be any corrupt activities. Those that approach our offices, please come in good faith, do not bribe or corrupt our officers, if ever there are such people who behave in such a manner.
It is our duty as a country, as Zimbabweans, to ensure that we look into this issue and resolve it. Other Ministries are also involved ensuring that they create employment for our youth. It could be townships where they drink bear, they meet those that would have sold some minerals. They go all over, be it in Chipinge, Kariba and Gwanda, they commit offences allover and it becomes difficult for us to know whose child it is that committed these offences. It is an issue that requires a concerted effort from the leadership. It is not a phenomenon to Zimbabwe, it is a regional, continental and worldwide problem. Zimbabwe has been a peaceful country and we want to remain peaceful and orderly. So, that is what we are trying to do so that all of us can come and assist the Government as well as our people. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. MASHAVAKURE: In terms of the allocation of
these licences, why can you not have e-licencing so that it becomes easier for one to track so that if you have corrupt officials, you can easily deal with them.
*HON. F. MOYO: Thank you very much Mr. President. We have
a project that we have embarked on to ensure that we have the titles of all the mines into the cadastral system. The cadastral system will enable anyone to access such information. When you go into any café, the cadastral system should be able to ensure that one person is able to ask if they will require a claim for instance in Gutu then the system will be able to tell you of unoccupied claims. You can then it can tell you which office you should go and after you have filled in your form and send it at1.00 p.m., no one can claim the claim even if one were to send their own application at 1.01 p.m. If you fail to raise the money or after a specified number of days if you have not paid, it is declared unoccupied, but if you had complied with the requirements and have paid, no one can overlap for even a single meter.
We had delayed in coming up with this cadastre system because Treasury did not have money. The programme has started in Mutare.
We are doing the pilot project in Mutare and it will spread nationwide. Just as much as the Ministry of Lands and Rural Development was doing, this is the same system that we are using. This programme may take a year to two years, but it is our intention that we move in that direction so that there is order in the registration of claims so that there will be no multiple ownership claims. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. CHIEF NTABENI: The Ministry takes some one from Mutare and puts them in Midlands. This is why the youth become angry because people are coming out to take some things that are in another area. As chiefs, we do not want that situation where people come from Murewa and mine in Gwanda for instance. Can you clear that?
*HON. MOYO: The Constitution is very clear and we should uphold it as a Ministry and as a Government. It says each Zimbabwean citizen is allowed to tap into the wealth of Zimbabwe. Thereafter, we will then say the local leadership, in their various areas, should be able to see that there is a good relationship between those that come into that area to explore. It is not correct to say people from a particular district cannot go into another district to mine.
Miners can move from one province to the other to mine, to go to school and do other things. It is allowed, but as a Ministry, we say if there is a mine like ZIMPLATS, the people that are not skilled that require employment should be drawn from the local people because in other instances they can move at the end of the day to their homesteads and work at the mine.
If we talk of skilled labour, fit and turners, engineers and accountants, they should compete as a country so that the company can have people that are competent regardless of their province of origin. For general labour, we should not have a person coming from Mvurwi and go to be a general worker in Gwanda. There are general workers in Gwanda. We urge the local leadership, the chiefs, the headmen and the councillors to encourage that the general workers be drawn from the members of the community. I thank you.
HON. SEN. MUSAKA: I thank you Mr. President. This is a supplementary question again on ZIMPLATS regarding local jobs for the low professions. When the Minister comes to investigate the fallen houses, he should also investigate that ZIMPLATS placed an advertisement for 29 menial jobs and people applied from all over and it also caused problems with the community. The policy seems to be disregarded which you have just announced it. Also investigate. I thank you.
THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE:
Usually we end Questions without Notice by 3.30 p.m., but since we started late so, we extend Questions Without Notice by 15 minutes.
HON. SEN. CHIEF NYANGAZONKE: My question is directed
to the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education. Can you direct me on the punishment that is given to teachers and other civil servants that leave their duties to go and collect mopane worms – [Laughter.] –
THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: I think
it only means absenteeism from work and I believe the answer is obvious, unless the Minister wants to take some 30 seconds on that issue. Thank you.
THE MINISTER OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY
EDUCATION (HON. DR. DOKORA): Thank you Mr. President.
Well, mopane worms are very nutritious. It could very well be we need to look at the particular circumstances that are taking place in that particular school.
You are well aware that we are doing school feeding and in some communities the question of relish has been raised and local initiatives have also been flagged. So, I would not give a blanket answer unless we know what the circumstances are. To the outsider it may look like teachers are out on mopane worms collection exercise, but let us understand what the circumstances are. If the Hon. Senator has a specific situation, we can look at it.
THE TEMPORRY PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: Minister,
I had come to your defence somewhat, but the way you have answered, can a teacher go out as an individual to collect mopane worms for students or would the students go out themselves. I think the question is a teacher not in the classroom leaving students, going out to collect their own mopane worms for their own consumption; neglecting duty just because they are collecting some food.
HON. DR. DOKORA: Well, with the amplification from the
Chair, then quite clearly the rules of the job apply.
HON. SEN. MUTSVANGWA: Thank you Mr. President. My
question is directed to the Minister of Mines and Mining Development. Minister, we welcome the recent unbundling of the chrome sector which has been done by Government which has actually broken the duopoly of ZIMASCO and ZIM ALLOY so that many other small miners can come in. We have women who are also into mining chrome. My question is what financial arrangements has the Ministry put into place with global chrome consumers so that our small miners will not be taken advantage of. If they are dealing with big miners in this country, they mine and get US$50 and the bigger companies will get US$400 a tonne. So, what financial arrangements have you made with chrome miners globally?
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF MINES AND MINING
DEVELOPMENT (HON. F. MOYO): Thank you Hon. President.
Yes, the sector has been unbundled, we have finished with ZIMASCO.
22 000 hectares have been put out to our other players, the small producers those who are having smelters who did not have access to claims before. We reserved 10 000 hectares for small players, 7 000 hectares for smelter operators so that they can supply themselves, 5 000 hectares for Government for future use and we are at the moment analysing the status of these claims. Some cannot be mined by underground work, some by open cast work and some have been partially worked. In other words I am saying there are only a certain number that is suitable for small scale miners. The deeper ones are suitable for bigger operators who can raise big capital.
We have put together at the moment for gold and chrome an amount of US$100m which will be made available not as money but as equipment, in other words accessing the equipment from those countries who benefit from our mined mineral resource. We are not going to be able to move that programme forward as quickly as we would have liked to because we need to analyse all those claims that ZIMASCO has given us. We will move on to Zim Alloys where we expect to get another 20
000 owed hectares of claims which again will be specifically distributed to target 4 areas; small scale miners in the form of women, small scale miners in the form of youths, small scale miners in the form of special interest groups which is the disabled people, war veterans and such other groups and then of course the big operators. That is the programme that is at hand at the moment. They will be funding women, youths and special groups will be looked after.
The pricing that you talk about needs also to be corrected. We want to ensure that smelter operators only satisfy themselves up to a certain extend but they cannot be 100% self sufficient because this will then force them to buy from small scale operators who will then have bargaining power to be able to achieve prices that are also most beneficial to them. At the moment we do have loop situation where exporting...
THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF SENATE (HON. SEN.
CHIEF CHARUMBIRA): Sorry Minister we are just encroaching into the very last segment of this and we have a long list.
HON. F. MOYO: Thank you, I just wanted to touch on the point that we are having a challenge in that if you export at the moment you will fetch more money may be as high as US$130 – US$140 per tonne raw. If you sell to our smelters, you will not fetch anything more than US$60 because of cost of production for our country is too high because of infrastructure, higher cost of power, labour et cetera. So, we have that dilemma which we are trying to battle with.
*HON. SEN. KOMICHI: I thank you Mr. President, I thank the
Minister who have finally made it. My question is directed to the Minister of Mines and Mining Development. There are those artisanal miners; you talked a lot about the assistance that you are going to give them so that their mining ventures become easy. What have you done to date to ensure that their mining activities become easier in the form of mechanisation? I thank you.
*THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF MINES AND MINING
DEVELOPMENT (HON. F. MOYO): Thank you, small scale miners
and artisanal miners are assisted by the machinery that they use. There is a US$20m funding given by the Government, it is almost being exhausted. We are training throughout the country using the School of Mines. The Ministry is also conducting training programme and we are registering them into groups so that they have their own membership under the Zimbabwe Mining Federation.
At the moment their production is now 50% in terms of volume as compared to large companies shows that there is a growth in their production.
+HON. SEN. MKWEBU: Thank you Mr. President. My question
is directed to the Minister of Mines and Mining Development. My question is what does Government policy say concerning disputes of two parties for example if one party is to take the other to the High Court and one party remains behind working whilst the other one is not working.
What does policy say concerning these two parties?
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF MINES AND MINING
DEVEOPMENT (HON. F. MOYO): Thank you Mr. President. The
policy is that once the parties take themselves or take each other to
court, then we must wait as Ministry until the court processes are finished. As to what happens to one on the ground and one is not on the ground, I think that tends to be treated on a case by case because the circumstances turn to be different.
HON. SEN. MUMVURI: Thank you Mr. President. At last, I was
the first one to stand up anywhere. I want to thank you. My question is directed to the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education. Mr. President, allow me to commend the Ministry first by engaging in activities which have reduced the cost or activities which are an expense to the parents besides paying schools fees. They banned exit weekends at boarding schools and entrance tests are no longer there. However, there is another activity which is going on more frequently in schools. I want to ask the Minister, do you as a Ministry vet and approve the funding raising activities which go on in schools almost on termly basis. Do you also ensure that the funds which are raised through these functions are accounted for? I thank you.
THE MINISTER OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY
EDUCATION (HON. DR. DOKORA): First of all I thank the Hon. Senator for acknowledging the work of the Ministry. It is true that any fund raising in the school should have prior authority granted by the District Schools inspector or higher up at the provincial education director level, so there is no question about it. Secondly, all schools as of 2015 were put on notice that they are subject to audits. In the course of 2017, our 60 or 70 auditors are actually out in the field at the moment. We are trying to cover about 1 500 schools by the end of the term. We are going to be moving these auditors to one province at a time and clear all schools that have not been audited in the last six months or so.
This is done as part of measures to ensure that every dollar collected is accounted for in terms of the teaching-learning materials in the schools. So, we are conscious of the responsibility that we have.
Once we allow for the fund raising, we must also account for the dollars.
I thank you.
*HON. SEN. CHIEF MUSARURWA: Thank you Mr. President.
There have been too many questions for the Minister of Mines and Mining Development so I will direct my question to another Minister. It is now directed to the Hon. Minister of Welfare Services for War
Veterans, War Collaborators, Former Political Detainees and
Restrictees, Hon. Rtrd Col. Dube. What do you have in place to ensure that the war veterans are also uplifted so that they do not rely on pensions? As Government, what are you doing in ensuring that they start their own businesses? I believe there were companies for war veterans. Thereafter, what do you have in store for them so that they also enjoy the inheritance of this country? I thank you.
*THE MINISTER OF WELFARE SERVICES FOR WAR
VETERANS, WAR COLLABORATORS, FORMER POLITICAL DETAINEES AND RESTRICTEES (HON. DUBE): The question
asked by the Hon. Senator will also be answered on Question Number 12. However, I can explain that we are trying to come up with useful projects for war veterans. We are trying to form a security company that will assist these war veterans. They will own this company which will be like a private company like Fawcett and so on so that they can be able to get employment.
We are also trying to move into the mining sector as the Hon. Minister has said. We were issued with mining claims in the chrome sector. We are yet to start this project. We started by importing maize from Zambia and selling to the Grain Marketing Board. The profits raised are used to assist war veterans on hospital bills and their upkeep.
There are a lot of other things which we are also trying to come up with. For instance, we have a quarry company which we have opened. We will be selling quarry stones to those who are into road construction. We have a conservancy in Hwange. We will be selling wildlife and the proceeds will be used to assist the war veterans. So, we have a lot of projects that we are coming up with. Thank you Hon. Senator.
*HON. SEN. CHIEF DANDAWA: Thank you Mr. President.
My question is directed to the Deputy Minister of Agriculture. I believe last year, command agriculture inputs did not reach people in time.
People were unable to collect inputs from the Grain Marketing Board.
The majority were collecting these inputs from Harare. For the 2017/2018 farming season, what measures are you going to put in place so that farmers can collect the seeds and all the ancillary services from the local area?
The second question is directed to Hon. Minister Tshinga Dube. The war collaborators, former detainees and restrictees have not received anything. What are you going to do with their plight?
*THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF SENATE (HON. CHIEF CHARUMBIRA): Hon. Sen. Chief Dandawa, we allow a
single question at a given time. However, as a chief, I will give you that dispensation and allow the Hon. Ministers to respond to the question.
We will start with the Minister of Agriculture.
*THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE
(LIVESTOCK) (HON. ZHANDA): Thank you Mr. President. It is true that Government intends to ensure that seeds and other farming inputs should be readily available the people’s local areas. This was the inception of the project and it has its teething problems. We have learnt from this experience and we hope to have conquered this problem during the coming season. I thank you.
*THE MINISTER OF WELFARE SERVICES FOR WAR
VETERANS, WAR COLLABORATORS, FORMER POLITICAL DETAINEES AND RESTRICTEES (HON. DUBE): Hon. President,
as I said, this question was supposed to be answered in full in my prepared answer Number 12 on Chimbwidos and Mujibhas. First of all, a lot is being done…
THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Order Hon.
Minister. Take your seat. I think I agree with you, that in the interest of time, since you will still come back to this question when we do Questions With Notice, I believe Hon. Sen. Chief Dandawa will get the full response when the prepared answer is presented.
HON. SEN. CARTER: My question is directed to the Deputy Minister of Lands and Rural Resettlement. May the Hon. Minister please give this House a progress report with regards to the security of tenure for farmers and whether the land is accepted by the banks as a basis for providing loans? Thank you.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF LANDS AND RURAL
RESETTLEMENT (HON. CHIKWAMA): Thank you Mr. President.
I would like to thank the Hon. Member who asked a very important question. In terms of land security tenure, we are now issuing new 99year leases in order for the beneficiaries to get loans from banks. It is now bankable. We were busy discussing and engaging the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe and we agreed on certain issues. They also demand some corrections, which we made and we are now using the 99year leases at the banks. They agreed, we do not know whether they are refusing but we reached a certain agreement with the Bankers Association. We also prepared a new 99-year lease, which also accommodates its use as collateral. I thank you.
HON. SEN. CHIEF CHIDUKU: Thank you Mr. President. My
question is directed to the Hon. Minister of Welfare Services for War
Veterans, War Collaborators, Former Political Detainees and
Restrictees. What is Government policy regarding the children of these war veterans have stopped attending school. What assistance are you going to come up with?
THE MINISTER OF WELFARE SERVICES FOR WAR
VETERANS, WAR COLLABORATORS, FORMER POLITICAL
DETAINEES AND RESTRICTEES (HON. DUBE): Hon. President,
I think the response to the Hon. Chief’s question will still go into the paper that I will present to the august Senate during Oral Answers to Questions with Notice.
*THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE:
Again, the Hon. Minister is going to respond to the question when he deals with Questions with Notice.
*HON. SEN. CHABUKA: My question is directed to the
Minister of Agriculture. Hon. Minister pertaining to the prevailing drought in areas such as Manicaland and in Matabeleland where they are engaging in cattle ranching programme as a lot of farmers have lost their cattle and no longer have draught power. What measures does the Ministry have in place to assist those farmers so that there can be an increase in the national herd as once the national herd has improved, the price of beef will go down?
*THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: Hon.
Senator, I believe the question was posed earlier on today. The Hon.
Minister responded and there was a similar supplementary that Hon. Sen. Mlotshwa raised which was an interesting question too. Hence in the interest of time, we will not repeat that question. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. MACHINGAIFA: My question is directed to the Minister of Mines and Mining Development. Hon. Minister, what do the laws as pertaining to mining say in our country, when a mine has been discovered and something happens or there is an accident, the Ministry will come back and say the miners would not have consulted the local traditional leadership.
An example is in Gache-gache, the machine that was being used in Gache-gache was drowned as there was a lion that was on the prowl in that area that caused people to abandon their work. It was then said that the traditional leadership had not been informed about this. Why do such things happen, or what leads to such things happening?
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF MINES AND MINING
DEVELOPMENT (HON. MOYO): Thank you Mr. President, I
believe I got the gist of the question.
Our Constitution states that everything that is in the communal areas be they natural resources, land, minerals, animals are under the custodianship of the traditional leaders. Traditional leaders are the chiefs, headmen and the village heads as well as Government officials such as District Administrators. I did not say that they possesses but are the custodians. So, if miners have prospected, they must inform the
Rural District Council that they want to prospect or mine in that area. They should also see the traditional leadership although it is not clearly spelt out in the law, but it is our intention that these things be done so that the community is involved and they are acceptable to the community. Hence the community and miners live harmoniously. I believe that is what the companies are doing but once in a while certain things may tend to be overlooked. Should that be the case, the leadership should inform us and we redirect them accordingly so as to ensure there is coexistence between the parties and the involvement of
EMA.
They will even ask you whether there has been community consultation in terms of the Community Environment Impact Assessment because the Environmental Impact Assessment should also involve the community. This is what the Ministry expects, should it not be done that way, the Ministry should be informed so that we can intervene and redress these anomalies so that no mining activities take place without the consent of the local community. That is how it should be done, I thank you.
Questions Without Notice were interrupted by THE HON.
TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE (HON. SEN.
CHIEF. CHARUMBIRA), in terms of Standing Order No. 62.
ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS WITH NOTICE
MONEY FOR WAR VETERANS
- HON. SEN. MAWIRE asked the Minister of Welfare
Services for War Veterans, War Collaborators, Former Political
Detainees and Restrictees to explain to the House as to how the War Veterans would continue to receive paltry sums of money considering that some of them were affected by chemicals during the war while some need specialist treatment and medication.
THE MINISTER OF WELFARE SERVICES FOR WAR
VETERANS, WAR COLLABORATORS, FORMER POLITICAL
DETAINEES AND RESTRICTEES (HON. DUBE): Hon. President
Sir, I wish to thank Hon. Sen. Mawire for raising this very pertinent question to the august House. I also wish to apologise for the delay in giving an appropriate answer to this question, this was due to situations beyond my control.
Hon. President Sir, yes it is true that the war veterans may not be getting satisfactory remuneration in terms of both pension as well as war victims compensation. We must agree that a lot of things were not reviewed after the war. In the first place,…
THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: Order,
order Hon. Sen. Mlotshwa and Hon. Sen. Sibanda order please.
HON. DUBE: In the first place, Special After War trauma clinics could have been opened. This is a normal case in most countries that experienced war. However, the war veterans in Zimbabwe are getting a pension, though far below the poverty datum line. Over and above, they get some medical care in Government hospitals. It is not always enough as we know that some hospitals may not have sufficient drugs or medical equipment. However, the Ministry is obliged to pay for medical services rendered to the war veterans.
We appreciate that as the Hon. Senator says that some of the war veterans were victims of chemical warfare such as napalm, itching gas, anthrax and many other chemicals that were used deliberately by the former Rhodesian forces against the fighters. Some of these chemicals take a long time to cause body damage leading to the death of the affected war veterans may be even years after. Napalm bomb peels off the skin as it burns. Some of these war veterans are without flesh in some parts of their bodies. Yes, they require specialist treatment.
There is a provision to pay for the treatment except if funds are not available due to our dire economic situation. The war veterans also get some other benefits which you all know such as payment of school fees for their children. Our register shows that we have 23 000 children of the war veteran who are benefiting on this welfare project. While the number of the war veterans is about 34 000, this is just an approximate number because we have not taken into consideration the worst such as death and so forth. Over and above, there is a provision for funeral assistance, an amount of US$500 as part of funeral expenses is provided, while an additional US$300 of what we call chema comes from the President. It is given to a member and this has been the norm for a long time.
Indeed we are heartened to realise that the Legislators are concerned about the welfare of the war veterans and can only hope that as our economy improves, more shall be done for the members. We are in the process of establishing some projects which will generate funds that can assist to improve the welfare of the war veterans. We also want to appeal to the population at large to realise that it is a duty of every citizen as it is in our Constitution to take care of war veterans. Meanwhile, we are in the process of aligning laws to the Constitution, the definition of the Veterans of Liberation Struggle excluded other categories in the current Act. The purpose of this process is to emphasise on the provision of the rights and benefits of the Veterans of the Liberation Struggle.
The Bill will maintain ex-political prisoners, detainees or restrictees as provided in the Act. The Bill will also provide for nine combatant cadres, war collaborators and nationalists, war victims, widows of National Heroes will continue under their two existing Acts.
Mr. President Sir, we are doing everything we can to finalise the issue of collaborators who are mujibhas and chimbwido’s. We cannot do much in the Ministry itself before this issue has gone past the Cabinet and Parliament. As I am talking, I have already mentioned earlier that a Committee was specially established by the Cabinet to look into these issues. Once they complete this exercise, it will be forwarded and passed in the Cabinet before it comes to Parliament. So, everything is being done to make sure that this is done as soon as possible. It is unfortunate that these exercises started many years after the end of the war, as you all appreciate that we are now in the 37th year after the war. So, a lot has been done, it has also not been very easy to establish who are these mujibhas because from what you all know, you may find that everybody here or elsewhere around here may qualify to be a mujibha if you follow certain definitions. However, it will be up to this Committee to come up with very strict definitions of who qualifies as a mujibha or chimbwido otherwise we will have a chaotic situation when we will probably have a million people coming to say we are all mujibhas and chimbwido’s and they will all expect some form of remuneration which I do not think our economy will be able to carry.
So, Hon. President Sir, I believe I have answered the question satisfactorily but if there are any more questions pertaining to this, we will be very happy to explain further.
THE ACTING PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: On question
24, the Minister said he handed the response to the Hansard Department because Hon. Mlotshwa was not present at that time. So, you can find the response in the appropriate Hansard.
DEPLOYMENT OF SCIENCE TEACHER
- 25. SEN. MLOTSHWA asked the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education to give statistics on deployment of science teachers per province 2013 to 2017 including the beneficiaries of STEM per year, per province, gender disaggregation and the subjects on the Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programme.
THE MINISTER OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY
EDUCATION (HON. DR. DO.KORA): I am able to give a complete list of teacher deployment by Province. The first column will show those science teachers with pedagogy, the second column will show those who have a science degree but without pedagogy but all the same the two groups attending to the teaching of the sciences.
I have also given you a sense of the output from the group of students that went through Advanced level last year. We extracted from there those who were dealing with the sciences so that you could look at the teacher deployment and the performance of the student in the particular disciplines across the province. So, because I have these documents, I am sure I could just submit these without further prejudices
(see attached document). As to those that have actually received the
Government support from the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary
Education, just like what I said in the oral response, that really should be directed to those who have control of that funding module, they would have the breakdown of who they have paid for and who they have not paid for. All I have on my side is the student cohort and my teacher deployment part two.
The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has since 2013 received a sizable number of teachers who can teach a number of learning areas as per the Ministry’s curriculum. However, the Ministry is on record that one of the shortage areas is the sciences. Learning areas such as Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics and Biology are still experiencing some shortage. The deployment of science teachers per province as from 2013 to 2017 is as follows:-
Bulawayo 125+66
Harare 114+13
Manicaland 263+28
Mashonaland Central 156+74
| Mashonaland East | 140+174 |
| Mashonaland West | 175+75 |
| Masvingo | 240+150 |
| Matabeleland North | 120+152 |
| Matabeleland South | 117+16 |
| Midlands | 186+131 |
| Total | 1 636+879=2 515 |
With regards to the STEM beneficiaries, the fund and the records thereof are under the purview of the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development.
HON. SEN. MLOTSHWA: On a point of order Mr. President, I see that there is no quorum in the House. `
THE ACTING PRESIDENT OF SENATE: So, you want to
destroy your own questions. Have you counted?
HON. SEN. MLOTSHWA: We are less than 26.
[Bells rung]
[Quorum formed.]
HON. MLOTSWA: Mr. President, I had posed the questions deliberately because I wanted Hon. Minister Mzembi to come and address the Senate. So, my interest is having Hon. Mzembi to address the meeting because if he goes away in May, we will not see him again. So, I wanted him to come to the House and deliberately answer to the questions.
THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: The
person raising the questions is not interested now in hearing from the Deputy Minister, but the Deputy Minister can respond in brief and I believe the rest of the questions, you can simply hand in your responses to the Hansard.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF TOURISM AND
HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY (HON. A. NDLOVHU): Thank you
Mr. President. For the purpose of addressing the questions on the Order Paper, I am going to submit them to the House and say to the Hon. Member that Minister Mzembi is currently away campaigning. Today he is in China, he had a meeting with the Foreign Affairs Minister of China as well as his counterpart to canvas support and I receive that prophecy that by May he is going to win and we go, which is very good, but I can promise this august House, through you, Mr. President, that once he is back in the country, he is going to give a ministerial statement to this august House and update Senate on the campaign which is very critical for Senators to be clear in terms of why this is important for the country to have a position at the highest level in as far as governance is concerned globally and also explain to this same House our chances and why it is important for all of us in this House and the whole nation to rally behind the candidature of the country.
I know the Hon. Senator is very passionate about seeing tourism grow. She comes from one of the prime tourism areas of our country and I want to also give her and other members in this august House, through you Mr. President, the commitment of Government to growing domestic tourism. So, I want to thank her for composing these questions and without any further ado, Mr. President, I thank you and I am going to brief the Minister and give him your regards and the best wishes you have for him on behalf of our country. I thank you Mr. President.
THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: So we go
question by question so that the Minister can then submit the reports one by one.
GDP PERCENTAGES CONTRIBUTING PER YEAR FOR THE PAST
10 YEARS
- 19. SEN. MLOTSWA asked the Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry to give the GDP percentages contributing per year for the past 10 years, of the tourism and hospitality sector.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF TOURISM AND
HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY (HON. A. NDLOVHU): The tourism
sectors’ annual contribution to GDP over the past ten years is as follows:
| YEAR | TOURISM CONTRIBUTION TO GDP (%) |
| 2007 | 5 |
| 2008 | 4.7 |
| 2009 | 4.9 |
| 2010 | 5 |
| 2011 | 11.3 |
| 2012 | 11.7 |
| 2013 | 11.3 |
| 2014 | 11.4 |
| 2015 | 11 |
| 2016 | 10.9 |
GDP Source:- WTTC Travel and Tourism Economic Impact WTTC – World Travel and Tourism Council.
NUMBER OF JOBS WHICH WERE CREATED BY THE
MINISTRY
- HON. SEN. MLOTSHWA asked the Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry, the number of jobs which were created by his Ministry during his tenure.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF TOURISM AND
HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY (HON. A. NDLOVHU): The tourism
sector’s contribution to direct job creation is as follows:
Direct Contribution to Employment:
| YEAR | EMPLOYMENT IMPACTS (‘000) (Direct
contribution of Travel and Tourism to employment) |
| 2010 | 173.1 |
| 2011 | 197.4 |
| 2012 | 201.9 |
| 2013 | 188.8 |
| 2014 | 179.7 |
| 2015 | 180.0 |
| 2016 | 179.8 |
Indirect jobs are also created as tourism impacts on all sectors of the economy, in particular, agriculture, transport and manufacturing among others. It is important to note that statistics for indirect contribution of tourism to employment creation can be obtained through a Tourism Employment Survey which has been outstanding for a long time due to financial constraints.
HOSTING OF THE UNWTO IN 2014
- HON. SEN. MLOTSHWA asked the Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry whether the co–hosting of the UNWTO in 2014 has attributed to the Ministry successes or the inclusive and promising peaceful atmosphere created by the GNU.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF TOURISM AND
HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY (HON. A. NDLOVHU): The `20th
Session of the UNWTO General Assembly, co-hosted by Zambia and Zimbabwe was held in August 2013. The General Assembly is not attributed to the Ministry’s success only, but to the country as a whole as illustrated below:-
Destination Endorsement by the World Tourism Body.
There was a huge endorsement for Brand Zimbabwe as over 120 countries were represented by 700 delegates and 900 affiliate organisations. I am proud that the people of Zimbabwe are well known for their Zimbabwean hospitality. Zimbabweans are naturally a peace loving people and this is a special endowment from God. In the tourism sector, we consider our people and our culture as one of the country’s Seven Wonders. Zimbabweans therefore derive their peacefulness from nature and not from the GNU.
Infrastructural Development
The US$150 million up-grading of the Victoria Falls International Airport and the overhauling of roads, water reticulation and sewerage system are some of the tangible benefits the resort town gained from the conference. The Victoria Falls International Airport registered significant increase in revenue from landing and other fees as a number of new airlines and airbuses were introduced on the Victoria Falls route.
As an example, Air Zimbabwe added two new airbuses namely, Airbus
320 and an Embraer which offered direct flights in that route. Air Zimbabwe also increased its frequency and number of domestic flight schedules especially between Harare, Victoria Falls and Bulawayo.
Hotel Refurbishments
Most of the hotels in the town refurbished their facilities and registered 100% occupancy rates for the duration of the General Assembly. These included the Victoria Falls Hotel, the Zambezi River Lodge (AZRL) and the Elephant Hills Hotel.
Curio Shop Owners
Curio shops registered the highest revenue increases especially those located in areas where there was reasonable interaction with the guests. These included those that were located at Elephant Hills Hotel, the Victoria Falls International Airport and the Landela Complex along Livingstone way.
Independent Home Ownership in Victoria Falls
Independent home owners who rented out their houses to vendors from Harare, Bulawayo and Beitbridge for that whole week also realised reasonable revenue.
IMPACT OF THE LAND REFORM PROGRAMME ON TOURISM
INDUSTRY
- 22. SEN. MLOTSHWA asked the Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry what the impact of the land reform programme on Tourism industry has been considering that certain individuals occupied some lodges and conservancies.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF TOURISM AND
HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY (HON. A. NDLOVHU): The majority
of the Land Reform Programme was to empower the people of
Zimbabwe through their active participation in the country’s economy. Due to the forward and backward linkages that tourism plays in the economy, the introduction of the Land Reform Programme had a positive effect on the tourism sector as we say a number of indigenous people joining the sector, competing with those already in the industry. The negative perception to the Land Reform Programme by countries opposed to the programme resulted in economic sanctions against the country which had a negative effect on all sectors of the economy, including tourism. Concerted efforts by the Government of Zimbabwe to revive all sectors of the economy have started to bear fruit. Like all other sectors tourism is now on a recovery path.
POLICY TO ENSURE UNIVERSAL ACCESSIBILITY OF TOURIST FACILITIES
- HON. SEN. MLOTSHWA asked the Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry what policies have been put in place to ensure universal accessibility of tourist facilities, products and services for everyone.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF TOURISM AND
HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY (HON. A. NDLOVHU): The Ministry
has a National Tourism Policy which was launched in 2014. This policy clearly mandates the tourism industry to ensure that it is compliant with universal accessibility guidelines. In addition, Statutory Instrument 128 of 2005, makes it mandatory for tourism facilities to have ramps at points of entry and also have appropriate facilities for person with disabilities within the establishments.
Further, Statutory Instrument 128 of 1996 outlines that accommodation units should have toilet cubicles suitable for persons with disabilities.
The 2016 World Tourism Day was celebrated under the theme
“Promoting Universal Accessibility” in order to conscientise the world on the need to provide for people with disabilities. The Ministry is engaging relevant stakeholders to map-out a way forward on the implementation of national and international accessibility guidelines.
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF
THE SENATE
ADVERSE REPORT RECEIVED FROM THE PARLIAMENTARY
LEGAL COMMITTEE
THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: I have
to inform the House that I have received an Adverse Report on the land Commission Bill [H. B, 2016]. What this means is that the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Legal Committee, Hon. Samukange, will come to this chamber, I believe Tuesday afternoon, to present that report and indicate why there is that adverse report. For your information, the procedure then is the Senators can debate and if they want agree or disagree. Because the PLC is an advisory Committee, it does not make a ruling, but the Senate will then make a ruling and say we reject what you are saying, we stand by the Bill or we agree with your adverse report.
On the motion of THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF TOURISM
AND HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY (HON. A. NDLOVHU), the
Senate adjourned at Half past Four o’clock p.m. until Tuesday, 4th April, 2017.