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SENATE HANSARD 30 November 2017 27-17
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Thursday, 30th November 2017
The Senate met at Half-past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE HON PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE HON. PRESIDENT OF THE
SENATE
BODY OF THE LATE DR. MUSIIWA
THE HON. PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: I wish to inform
the Senate that the body of the late Deputy Minister of Health and Child
Care, Dr. A. Musiiwa, will be arriving tomorrow, Friday 1st December, 2017, at 1700 hours.
From the Airport, the body will be taken to Nyaradzo Funeral
Parlour. A church service will be held on Saturday, 2nd December at Nyaradzo at 1100 hours. Thereafter, the body will be taken to C. C.
Molina Farm about 35 kilometres out of Kadoma. Burial will take place on Sunday morning.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
HON. SEN. TAWENGWA: Madam President, I move that Order
of the Day, Number 1 be stood over until the rest of the Orders of the Day have been disposed of.
HON. SEN. MAKORE: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
FIRST REPORT OF THE THEMATIC COMMITTEE ON
GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT ON ACCESS TO SAFE AND
CLEAN WATER IN RURAL AREAS
Second Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the First Report of the Thematic Committee on Gender and Development on access to safe and clean water in rural areas.
Question again proposed.
*HON. SEN. CHIEF CHIDUKU: Thank you Madam President
for giving me this opportunity to make my contribution to this motion brought to this House by Hon. Sen. Makore concerning dirty water in rural areas. In rural areas, we are being asked to drink water from dams and rivers. The majority of the people live in rural areas but people forget about us. All Ministers have their roots in the rural areas. Once they are promoted to ministerial positions, they do not care about the rural folks but when they die, they want to be buried in the rural areas.
Madam President, if possible every household should have piped water. Each and every village should have at least five boreholes. You find that in a village, there is only one borehole or none at all. In some of the areas, there are no rivers. There are only dams where they share the water with animals and then after that we talk about health. Where do we get the health from if we do not have access to clean water? If possible, we should put our heads together. For example, the CDF of US$50 000, I think you should give the money to the chiefs; ask how many villages a chief has and how many boreholes they want. We can then channel the CDF to that area because that is where we get our votes from.
Madam President, the MPs come to rural areas with their bottled water in cars. If you offer them water, they will tell you that they have their bottled water because they do not want that dirty water but come election time, they will ask for votes from people who are sick. My plea is that next time when you come back and Ministers are in attendance, we want to ask them what they are thinking about this issue so that they can give us a response in this House. Come election, we will then ask them how many boreholes they will have drilled and we will also ask the Minister of Finance how much he will have given to the MPs to drill boreholes because people are dying.
Here in Harare there is typhoid but in the rural areas there is cholera and it only takes 24hrs to die but if you surpass 24 hrs then you know you have survived. If we drink dirty water we suffer from cholera. Let me give you an example, if you are home and there is a toilet and someone is sick and there are people who are assisting, everyone will need to wash their hands thereafter. However, water is fetched from very far away, so they will not have water to wash their hands because people have to travel very far to fetch water. I think we should take the water issue seriously because that is where the health of people is.
Thank you Madam President.
*THE HON. PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: Thank you
Chief Chiduku for articulating the challenges being faced by people in the rural areas pertaining to accessibility of water.
*HON. SEN. MABUGU: I also stand to add my voice to this motion. This is a very important motion because we are all aware of how important water is in our lives. Without water there is no life. Even animals and plants also need water. As a member of that Committee, what we saw was a sorry state. We went to Gutu and the area where the water is reticulated, we found out that the pipes were rusty. Water is very important and we should look after it with care. In some areas, we would be told that water is there in the area but ZINWA is in charge and the money that they charge is not affordable. So, it is very difficult that you have resources in your area but you cannot access them because of the exorbitant prices. So in the rural areas, that is where the biggest challenge is.
We should also think of the disabled who are forced to also travel 10kms in search of water and come up with ways of helping people so that they get access to water close to them. There are also the aged who they look after young grand children of school going age. The grandmother can only fetch a little water at a time and so, she has to travel those long distances in search of water to and fro. That makes it very cumbersome for her. So these issues should be rectified. If you say water is important, then it is seen by how you treat it. Everyone should get access to clean water which is a basic right. I think we should seriously look at that because we have failed before. We should relook at the issue.
Our country is beautiful but for us to make things work, we need to talk less and work on implementation. I think it should start with us, to show others that it can be done. I went to South Africa, in the rural areas they have tap water and electricity. The only way you can tell that you are in the rural areas is because of the presence of cows. So, why can we not do the same in this country? I think we should look into that.
Thank you Madam President.
*HON. SEN. MURWIRA: As a woman, I am very happy with
this motion because we are the ones faced with the challenge of fetching water. When he gave us the report, he said when they went around in those areas, people were facing challenges of fetching water from long distances and only a few boreholes were working. I want to say that even when women are pregnant, they still have to go and fetch water from very far away places. That is very painful and that is why people get sick because of walking long distances. We also have child headed families who come back from school late in the evening but still have to travel those long distances to go and fetch water. That is tantamount to child abuse.
I once heard someone saying they went to all the district council offices but they could not get any information pertaining to the availability of water in the areas. So, I was thinking that as Senators we should also go back to our rural areas and attend DA meetings where they are coming up with committees and find ways to alleviate this challenge. When the CDF is disbursed, I think some of the money should be channelled towards the drilling of boreholes because water is life. Once we visited ZOWA and we would fetch water from the river where people were doing their laundry. Animals were also drinking from the same place. It is a big challenge because it causes people to be sick.
I just want to mention that at the growth points where it is over populated because of lack of proper planning, I think that should be looked into because boreholes and toilets are situated next to each other and people get sick. I think our planners should plan afresh and all those people who are involved, the planners I think they should take a leading role and locate where boreholes should be and where toilets should be. We are really troubled by this Madam President. If we do not drink water, we do not live but if we get water we will be happy. What I am saying is that even that Ministry which deals with water issues, when we talk in this House we just implore them to implement those things. When we do our budget, I think that should be looked into and more money should be channeled towards people getting access to clean water. Everyone will be healthy.
I also want to go back to our chiefs. I think what Hon. Sen. Chief Chiduku has said that in those constituency committees, chiefs should be included because they are the ones who know where people are facing challenges of water. If we consult them, they will tell us where to place the boreholes and you find that we will have boreholes everywhere in our areas. With this Madam President I would want to thank you. *HON. SEN. MAWIRE: Thank you Madam President. I stand to add a few words on this motion because I am one of the persons who are affected. Yesterday I was surprised to find two men who debated in support of the motion. Yesterday as I was watching TV, I saw women fetching water from a river, dirty water full of algae to use in their homes. It is very difficult because of the diseases which have been articulated before; typhoid, cholera, diarrhea, et cetera. Long back, we thought that only in rural areas is where you would find challenges of water but even in urban areas. Even in the hotels that we stay, you find that the water is dirty, so what more the water you find in Budiriro or Kuwadzana. It is very painful.
I think there is a lot of programme duplication because when I look at water, you find that DDF is also looking into water. Ministry of
Environment, Water and Climate is also looking into issues of water. We also have people coming from outside who want to help us in issues of water. I think there should only be one structure which looks at the issues of water, whether in the rural areas or urban areas so that we know that it is only one organisation. I think people are becoming complacent because they know that no one has really taken responsibility. They will think that someone will bring donors.
When I was engaging the rural council from our area, they were saying that donors such as Plan and World Vision also come talking about water but they are also corrupt. They sink a few meters and they lie that they have drilled so many meters. So there is a lot of monitoring which is required from our Ministries. Our Ministers should not just sit down and say someone is doing the work. I think the civil servants from our districts should be monitored to see whether work is being done because most of these people are not working. They are just getting into offices to sit. I think the issue of water in the rural areas should be fully investigated and those boreholes which are not functioning, funds should be channeled towards that, whether it is DDF which repairs the boreholes. The boreholes are there in the rural areas but most of them are not functioning.
There is need to educate our people that they should look after the property well and guard against vandalism. At times, you just see children playing with the boreholes, wasting water. Our people in the rural areas should be taught how important water is and how important these boreholes are in their areas. Someone said prevention is better than cure – because most of the time, we will not get the medication and it will be heavy on the Government. Out there, life is very hard for the people, whether you are in the urban area or rural areas. I think a thorough investigation should be done and see whether we should just come up with one organisation which concentrates on water. Some of the boreholes which are being drilled in urban areas, you find that the places are not conducive.
I think the people from the Physical Planning Department are not doing their work properly. They should visit all the growth points and see where people are located and where commercial stands are located. You find that with vendors, there will not be any toilets or water nearby and it is very difficult for people at the market to get access to water to wash their hands. People end up selling their wares in unhygienic places because they do not have water to wash their hands. That will be a challenge to the Ministry of Health and Child Care. The growth points that we are talking about, there are people who cook food. The people who buy the food do not wash their hands. Some are sick, they just buy the food and start eating it without washing their hands. As Government we should put our heads together and see how we can solve this challenge. With these words Madam President I thank you. A lot was talked about yesterday.
*THE HON. PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: Thank you Hon.
Sen. Mawire. I see you have realised that a lot has been talked about yesterday. I know that you are aware of the Standing Orders that we should not repeat, so if you are aware that what you want to debate has been debated before, let us leave it and continue with other motions, because we have a lot of motions before us. Thank you.
HON. SEN. MAKORE: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. MARAVA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Tuesday, 5th December, 2017.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE 7TH RETREAT OF THE ASSOCIATION OF
SENATES, SHOORA AND EQUIVALENT COUNCILS IN AFRICA
AND THE ARAB WORLD (ASSECAA)
Third Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the 7th Retreat of the Association of Senates, Shoora and equivalent Councils in Africa and the Arab World, (ASSECAA).
Question again proposed.
*HON. SEN. CHIEF CHIDUKU: Thank you Madam President. I
am one of those who attended the Retreat with you. Firstly, I want to show my appreciation for being selected to be part of that team that went to Addis Ababa. Secondly, I want to thank Senator Makore and Senator Bhebe who spoke before me. You advised us not to repeat what has already been said and Senator Makore articulated the issue very well but as a rule we also want people to know that we also attended. It was a very important day when we met as Members representing fourteen countries in that meeting on climate change.
The Retreat was attended by professional people but we were all speaking with one voice saying that climate change is affecting us in Africa because developed countries are releasing gases and oils that are affecting our countries and as a result we are affected by droughts. That was the main issue there. Besides that, we also agreed that we would go back to our countries, talk about these issues in all the forums that the countries that are causing this should pay, because they are making innocent people to suffer. Why they do it is because if we suffer here then they will be happy and wait to see how we fight each other, causing animosity between our countries as we will think that someone is not doing their duty well, and then we end up having wars. We agreed that we should talk about it and that those countries should stop useing those gases. If they continue they will have to pay.
I think Senator Makore did not talk about that and that is why I stood up for people to know. Thank you Madam President.
HON. SEN. MAKORE: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. MARAVA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Tuesday, 5th December, 2017.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
DELEGATION TO THE EIGHTH RETREAT OF THE ASSOCIATION
OF SENATES, SHOORA AND EQUIVALENT COUNCILS IN
AFRICA AND THE ARAB WORLD
Fourth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the Parliament of Zimbabwe Delegation to the Eighth Retreat of the Association of Senates, Shoora and Equivalent Councils in Africa and the Arab World (ASSECAA).
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. CHIEF CHARUMBIRA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. TAWENGWA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Tuesday, 5th December, 2017.
MOTION
FIRST REPORT OF THE THEMATIC COMMITTEE ON
INDIGENISATION AND EMPOWERMENT ON THE
CIRCUMSTANCES SURROUNDING THE NON-ESTABLISHMENT
OF THE COMMUNITY SHARE OWNERSHIP TRUSTS
Fifth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the First Report of the Thematic Committee on Indigenisation and Empowerment on the Circumstances Surrounding the Non-Establishment of Community Share
Ownership Trusts in Mudzi and Mutoko Districts (S.C.10, 2017).
Question again proposed.
*HON. SEN. MACHINGAIFA: I rise to add my voice on the motion which was tabled by Sen. Tawengwa. Mr. President, this issue is a very hard nut to crack. I heard one of these past days a woman on the radio saying this stone started being mined in 1972 but up to now there is nothing for us to show that there is mining taking place. I do not know what is happening for them not to have a Community Share Ownership Trust. There are chairpersons who monitor this and there are chairpersons from the community trust who will just be seated, not knowing what is happening on the ground. Looking at this issue, I want to liken it so something that happened in Mashonaland West in Hurungwe in Mashuma. There were people who came there and they said they wanted to mine tantalite. Many would come, do a few workmanship and then go back without giving any report that they were buying it at $20 and selling it at $15. So, they were the ones who were being short changed. Now, for them to come back and give a report that they did not get anything, they did not come back to say that it was not profitable.
Then, there were some who constructed some infrastructure to resuscitate it, making investigations looking at the market, studying the market, but we saw those people leaving the place and saying there was nothing there. So, we are saying this black granite, is there anyone who has made a follow up that when they bring it to Harare, being sold wherever it is being used – is there money that is being realised or is there profit that they are realising because if there is no profit, for them to come up with an ownership trust, it is very difficult. There is research and development that should be done to make a follow up and see where the stone had been used and those who bought it, how much they buy it for and those who are mining it, how much they are making and the people who are doing the mining, how much they are being paid.
I cannot point a finger on this issue but I do not know how we can move forward. Yes, the Committee went there and did a great job but I think if it was possible, this Committee should make a follow up on where all the stones were delivered then they would go to where the mining is taking place. I think we can get the way forward. Thank you Mr. President.
HON. SEN. CHIEF NYAMUKOHO: I was born in Mutoko
myself and have really seen the beginnings of the extraction of the granite that comes from Mutoko. Up to date, it has caused deaths – well that part of it is not my business. That is for the police to get into and find out. It is surprising that the truth of what is happening in Mutoko is what I, as a business man, would call a loss. I know of some people who have gone to Beira and they told me, it could have been fiction that if you get to Beira and you look at the pile of stones, the black granite that is being piled there, it gets up to the height of the clouds. I do not want to doubt it. The Hon. Senator who spoke before me put it that mining has been going on since1970. Did he say that? I really cannot remember but said it somewhere around about there.
If I look back to find out what according to the Government has been said about black granite, not only black granite but all equipment or something that would bring in money to the Government, it looks to me as if the Government has not been fair with us and that I must say again, the Government has not been fair with us because let us look at schools that are in Mutoko, they are the lowest types of schools that are all over Mutoko District and yet the Government has advertised that we will benefit with the extraction of granite that comes from Mutoko. Up to now, somebody put it at 1970 as having been removing granite from Mutoko. It has gone well over that because I know a man who has been doing that business, who has been transporting granite that comes from Mutoko. He started in 1970 and to date, there is nothing in Mutoko that has been created by Government to show appreciation of granite that is coming from Mutoko.
I will also have to learn and find out more if definitely it is worth it to buy granite at 1cent. I have been told, though I may not be correct that the cost of granite is 1cent per tonne – I want to repeat that 1 cent per tonne is what costs whoever is making use of granite. I have seen granite exposed in Harare here. I had a chance at least one time when I went to China and tried to find out what it is they use it for. I have also visited some factories that are in Harare that are doing some work on granite and definitely, there is quite a lot of materials that can be produced from granite stone besides making them as grave stones where they put stones on a grave and call it ‘special’.
My mother passed away and we used that very stone and it cost me so much money. To think that if that was the cost of granite, surely it should bring much more to this country. Anyway, the fact and truth is that surely with the cost of granite and the work it does, like what I saw in China, it should definitely be more than that. I am not exaggerating. Let me say it again that it should benefit our country Zimbabwe in a bigger way than the current position.
I am glad that at one time we heard our former Chairperson saying the price of granite must be wrong because the value of my mother’s grave that I put a stone is not worth her life. I am glad that the then Chairperson of our Committee mentioned that even the cost of properties that come out of granite was lowered up to this moment.
Unfortunately, it is creating more death in Mutoko than sustaining people’s lives. People are dying because of the big lorries that carry the granite to come and laugh at the people in Mutoko and say that is what we have used granite for. Granite is killing people in Mutoko; we are dead ourselves.
Mr. President, I want to thank you for allowing this motion to be brought into this House by the then Chairperson of the Thematic Committee on Indigenisation. Thank you.
*HON. SEN. CHIEF CHARUMBIRA: Thank you Mr.
President. I want to thank Senator Tawengwa and his Committee who brought this report into this House. This has been debated for a number of days. I think I should also add my voice on none establishment of Community Share Ownership Trust in Mudzi and Mutoko. A lot has been touched on but the way I see it, if we want to rectify this problem, the Committee should also look at other trusts in the country, whether it is Mutoko only or it is affecting the whole country so that we come up with a legal institutional framework which rectifies these issues.
Mr. President, this thing called Community Share Ownership
Trust, it says that the chief is the Chairperson; the council in that area is the Secretary and other members from certain ministries in that district. The chief is supposed to chair. You should go and investigate and see whether chiefs are chairing or it is just an assumption that they are chairing. For one to be called a Chairperson, it is a big post but who is driving these things? Also, we should investigate the issue that the
Community Share Ownership Trusts are controlled by the National Indigenisation Empowerment Board (NIEEB). There is no chief who sits in the NIEEB. So, if we are the ones who are the chairperson, why is it that there is no single Chairperson in the NIEEB? NIB is working alone; it does not meet with the chiefs.
This NIEEB – may be now that we are in the new era, probably it will be rectified with the ministries that are coming. What used to happen is that NIEEB was under the Ministry of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment. That Ministry does not have any relationship with the chiefs who are supposed to chair these things.
There is no meeting that takes place; you just meet the Minister and we say as community trusts, why are we not meeting even with the local authorities, can we come together and discuss? There is no institutional framework which enables us to have a voice in the board so that we have a common approach. This is like an institutional arrangement which is fragmented. So, there is no progress. I think this is going to be rectified. We should keep on crying because you find that in Mutoko, this programme is there but people are not getting anything yet there are other trusts which are functioning very well. I think we have about three and these are Mhondoro-Ngezi. It has made strides, I think they got 10 million. They have engaged in a lot of projects and bought many cars. There is another one in Gwanda. On this one, I think the whites there agreed to and it have given out money but some refused to put money into these trusts. I think this is going to be rectified soon because we cannot have some are benefiting and others not benefiting in certain areas.
If you go to Chiadzwa, there is no community share ownership trust on diamonds. I think as we move forward, these issues should be looked into. People in Manicaland are crying that they did not benefit from diamonds and the roads are still in bad conditions. I think in the new era, you will allow us to say the truth so that things will be rectified. I drive from Masvingo to Mutare and have noticed that where diamonds are mined, that is the only area which is electrified. On the left, it will be dark up to Mutare. So, electricity is only found in the mining area. Next to the mining area is Mutare, there is poverty. You cannot believe that it is a diamond mining area. I think we should tell this truthfully from here henceforth, because people really want to do something. Let us say the truth, things are not being handled properly. Let us tell each other the truth so we can ensure these things are sorted out. The people are angry and that does not augur well for the country. Even the rains are not falling as they should because people are angry be it in their sleep, in the afternoon or whatever time. They are just angry and that will make us lose the blessings that we are supposed to get. You even find that our plants are now affected by a variety of pests which we have never seen before because people are angry. So to appease the people we have to make sure these issues are resolved. Thank you Mr.
President.
HON. SEN. TAWENGWA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. MASUKU: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Tuesday, 5th December 2017.
MOTION
FIRST REPORT OF THE THEMATIC COMMITTEE ON
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS ON SDG NO. 3
Sixth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the First Report of The Thematic Committee on Sustainable Development Goals on SDG No. 3.
Question again proposed.
*HON. SEN. CHIEF CHARUMBIRA: Thank you Mr.
President. I would like to thank Senator Mtshane for raising this motion.
I need to debate because the person who is most knowledgeable about this issue is here, Dr. Parirenyatwa. You are a Zimbabwean, so you will advise us on such issues. This SDG cuts across all ages but we need our things to support each other perfectly. As a doctor, you would appreciate that when one becomes older, one becomes more prone to diseases. The aged should be properly looked after because this last weekend a lot of people approached me complaining about their pensions that they are failing to access. Amongst those not disbursing these pensions the chief culprit is the Local Authorities Pension Fund where the majority of the beneficiaries were pensioned two years ago, but to date have not received anything. Some of the pensioners are now deceased.
The main thrust of this report should concentrate on the aged, especially the pensioners who are dying without accessing their pension benefits. We are aware that the Ministry says that the elderly are entitled to free health care, this is compounded by the need for them to pay for drugs since the hospitals do not have these in stock and they rely on giving these poor pensioners prescriptions, so that they can go and buy the drugs from pharmacies. This further compounds their problem since they do not have the money due to the reasons that I have earlier on stated. They end up approaching the poor chiefs and as chiefs, we end up buying them these drugs and paying their children’s school fees. The chiefs will have become the Ministry by default.
We urge the relevant Ministry to have a fund that helps the aged as well as the provision of free health care with adequate medication being provided. The Ministry should also do away with the requirement that the elderly should pay cash upfront for their treatment. The urban population is lucky that it can use plastic money. The same cannot be said about the elderly because they cannot afford to pay even a dollar to have their maize processed into mealie-meal. They really need the government’s intervention. I thank you Mr. President.
*HON. SEN. PARIRENYATWA: Thank you Deputy President
of the Senate. I am debating as a Senator and appreciate what Hon. Sen. Chief Charumbira has said. This SDG 3 articulates health issues very well. I implore all Senators here present to read about these SDGs and note how SDG 3, which is specifically about health has been presented. When this SDG is talking about all ages, this is from a newly born baby where from birth, we assess whether the baby has been delivered well, breathing properly, the size of the baby’s head, any deformities, having all fingers – all that is checked on the infant.
The baby is then infected to immunise against T.B, all the required vaccines and immunisations are administered. So when we say all ages, these are the things that they check. So, we ensure that for mothers throughout the nation, all babies are immunised.
I am thankful that there is no religion that is against immunisation of children. All religions are immunising their children. From there, we look out if the children are feeding well in our country. I think as senators we all agree that when our children are born, they should be breastfed exclusively for six months without getting water or solid foods. That is what we call healthy lifestyle of a child growing up.
Some wean their children at 18 months and some at two years but from 18 months to five years, that is when we come across many children suffering from malnutrition because they will no longer be breastfeeding.
Then we come now to adolescence, that is when both the boy and the girl child get a lot of diseases because they are adventurous. We are looking at their lifestyle. We should discourage them from drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes or even drugs. What is very important is looking at women, especially pregnant women. Are they going for prenatal care? When they discover that they are pregnant, they should start visiting the clinics. Scans are taken to see whether the baby is growing well and that the mother is well.
We come to the aged. We are no longer looking at adolescence and pregnant mothers but we are looking at the elderly as well like what Hon. Sen. Chief Charumbira has articulated; looking at the aged with their pensions. Looking at lifestyle as well, we should look at how we are eating. Are you having fruits and vegetables or you are having a lot of meat and sadza. That has to be balanced. We are also looking at the issue of exercising. How many of us do exercises. We want to see how many wake up and exercise. We want to encourage senators to exercise.
We also want to see whether you are sleeping properly. Some want to sleep for three hours; it is not good. As you grow up, you should have more hours of sleep, so you should sleep for six to seven hours for you to be healthy. We also look at whether you are drinking a lot of beer. We know that some of you when you grow up, you will say you now want to drink whiskey only. It is not good for you because it affects your liver and kidneys. I think we should help each other. I am not answering as a Minister but I am debating as a senator for that debate to go well. Thank you.
*HON. SEN. MAKORE: Thank you Mr. President for affording me this opportunity to debate on this issue which was raised by Hon.
Sen. Mtshane, this issue of health for all. It is a very important issue. As the former Minister said, it shows that we have confined health to getting medication but I want to thank the former Minister that he has articulated other things that help us to achieve good health. One of the issue is that of healthy food. Breastfeeding mothers should have proper food for the children to get healthy milk. I have a dog called Tim. She gave birth to six puppies. Before getting pregnant, I used to give it few good foods but now because it has given birth, I give it a lot of food, not only sadza but dog food.
This is a good motion but it also challenges us in terms of our economy which shows that about 90 to 94% are vendors or cross border traders. This means that it is difficult for someone to get a balanced diet and that we are now in a health for all era and we are meeting people who are only feeding on sadza, there is no nutrition there. Those who work, we have councils where people are not getting their salaries. It shows that people are having a hard time. I really want to agree with all that has been said but there are reasons why people get sick. Some engage in being drunkards because of certain circumstances. We are now faced with that when youths after completing Ordinary level start drinking or smoking due to frustration. There is a lot of indiscipline because they are bringing out attributes of character which we are not used to. This is because they think that they would get confidence after drinking beer or that they would forget their sorrows.
I think we should come up with targets that envision that as a country we should say we want health for all by such and such a year. We should work in trying to close gaps so that we work towards health for all. I heard the President saying that probably that we are in the new era, we are looking at what is going to be brought by the new era. We should create employment and we should end corruption. We should also come up with budgets that fund even in our hospitals. What is happening now is that a person gets in a hospital and pays $10 consultation fee. You see a doctor and then he prescribes the drugs. It now depends on whether you have the money to buy the drugs. This means hospitals are now being subsidised by the sick person who does not have money. We have people who are not visiting hospitals because they do not have the money. They say we cannot go to the hospital because we do not have the money. This is something which we could have curbed a long time ago. There are some reasons or challenges but the vision is very good to say ‘health for all’, but steps to attain that are brought about by our discipline and also people are capable of doing
that.
The other issue is for us to educate people on the need to grow enough nutritious food like vegetables. I really want to thank you Dr.
Parirenyatwa. We have a nutritionist who is not here today Senator D.T. Khumalo. What she says about nutritious food is not bad but people are now taking it as a joke because she talks about it every time. She is always referring to small grains. People should be educated on how to live a healthy life. That is our duty as Members of Parliament to educate people on policy issues and such other matters. I do not want to take a lot of your time. I just wanted to add a few words because this is a very pertinent question. Thank you.
HON. SEN. CHIEF MTSHANE KHUMALO: I move that
debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. MASUKU: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Tuesday, 5th December, 2017.
On the motion of HON. SEN. TAWENGWA seconded by HON. SEN. MASUKU, the Senate adjourned at Eight Minutes to Four o’clock p.m. until Tuesday, 5th December, 2017.