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SENATE HANSARD 31 JANUARY 2017 26-22
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Tuesday, 31st January, 2017
The Senate met at Half-past Two O’clock pm
PRAYERS
(THE HON. PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENTS BY THE HON. PRESIDENT OF THE
SENATE
BILLS RECEIVED FROM THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
THE HON. PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: I have to inform
the House that I have received the following Bills from the National
Assembly:-
- Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Amendment Bill [H.B.12, 2016].
- Land Commission Bill [H.B.2, 2016].
INVESTIGATIONS ON THE ALLEGED THREATENING
MESSAGES TO MDC-T MEMBERS
THE HON. PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: I also have to
inform the House that the Privileges Committee appointed to investigate the alleged threatening messages sent to some Members of the MDC-T party is currently conducting its enquiry. Hon. Senators with evidence of the messages are requested to avail such evidence to the Assistant Clerk, Mr. Gandiwa in order to facilitate the conduct of the enquiry by the 6th of February, 2017.
INVITATION TO A CATHOLIC CHURCH SERVICE
THE HON. PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: I wish to inform
the House that there will be a Catholic Service, tomorrow, Wednesday, 1st February, 2017 at 1200 hours in the Senate Chamber. All Members who are Catholics and non Catholics are invited.
HON. SEN. MUMVURI: On a point of Order Madam President.
I think the Order Paper which is infront of me has incorrect dates. It was designed for the 17th January, 2017 and today is the 31st January, 2017. For Thursday, the date written there is 19th January, 2017. Both these dates are way behind.
THE HON. PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: Thank you, the
Clerks-at-the-Table will take note of that. Thank you very much for pointing it out.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
HON. SEN. MOHADI: 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. TAWENGWA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
MEASURES TO CURB VIOLENCE PERPETRATED BY POLITICAL
PARTIES
HON. SEN. B. SIBANDA: Thank you Madam President. I move the motion standing in my name that;
NOTING that violence has become an integral part of our socio- political way of life;
CONCERNED that we cannot build a progressive developmental nation within a violent environment;
CONCERNED about the violence oriented and negative legacy we are developing as a nation;
NOW THEREFORE calls upon this House:
- to denounce all forms of violence being perpetrated upon and among the people of
Zimbabwe;
- to call upon the law enforcement arms of Government to enforce law and order without fear or favour;
- to admonish political parties so that they desist from the use of violence in order to impose their will on the people of
Zimbabwe;
- to challenge the Executive to fulfill its constitutional obligation by respecting human rights in terms of Sections
48-78 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
HON. SEN. NCUBE: I second.
HON. SEN. B. SIBANDA: Madam President, I thank you for this opportunity. I kick off my motion by stating that Zimbabwe, as a geographical entity is endowed with exceptional fauna and flora, a vast range of minerals and is distinguished as a God-given blessing. It is also endowed with great human potential. However, the social and economic performance of the nation is a pale shadow of these endowments. One of the reasons for this state of affairs is our various social and political forms of violence that we inflict upon each other within the body politic and the social strata. These tend to have a negative impact on our development thrust.
Within the context of this motion Madam President, I perceive violence as the application of force to achieve specific socially and politically negative objectives. Such violence can manifest itself in physical, emotional or psychological form. The Zimbabwe society has lived over various forms of violence for a period of over a century or even more. Interestingly, the perpetrators of violence often pontificate at every opportunity about the peacefulness of the nation while the victims experience trauma, cringe under violence of one form or another. This is the dichotomy that we experience in this land. We are a land of two societies; the violators and the violated.
What are the constitutional provisions that should guide us? Sections 48 through to 78, Part Two of Chapter Four of the Constitution of Zimbabwe detail in clear and specific terms fundamental human rights and freedoms that the Zimbabwean population is entitled to. In that list, violence upon them, that is, the people of Zimbabwe, is not listed as one of those fundamental rights. The implication therefore is that any violence against the people of Zimbabwe is a clear breach of the Constitution.
I will then look at the state of denial. I have listened with all and terrific amazement as the President, various legislators have tripped upon each other to tell a terrified nation that the country enjoys unparalled peace. One wonders whose standards they are using. A national standard should be set against national values. Unless we do not have any values, then our perceptions are misplaced. One assumes that the apologists are so ashamed of the violence in our midst that they are in a denial mode. Each time I talk to people about them enforcing simple rights like entitlement to food rations, they tell me about fear to confront the system.
Madam President, let me be the first to admit that our value systems within the body politic are varied and diverse. For certain people, when one person dies, they see peace. For those of us who fear God and dread the loss of human life, particularly Zimbabwean life, are not only saddened but are also horrified.
Madam President, let me deal with two types of violence that I want to address. The first type of violence that I want to deal with is gender related violence. My research indicates that 68% of Zimbabwean women have suffered one form or another of gender related violence. I think women are a precious gift from God and I ask the question - how come men abuse such a precious gift?
Secondly Madam President, religious personalities sexually assault female congregants at will in the name of religion and I find this unacceptable. Young boys are sodomised by all and sundry on a daily basis as our social values evaporate into thin air. Older women, some as old as I am now sexually assault young boys, a thing previously unknown to the custodians of our values. Those custodians are women.
Where women lose the values of the society, those values disappear. Lastly, I observe that fully grown up men are now in the habit of raping minors, including three months old babies. All these are forms of violence. This can only be a case on our society and this is the level of decadence we have allowed this God-given nation to sink to. The big question that I ask is - why and how? The great philosophers, I believe were predictably correct in stating that “when the gods want to destroy you, they make you mad first.” What we see here is rank madness.
As a nation, I believe we have got to intervene and do something about this state of affairs. Government attempts have been made but have not produced the desired results. Madam President, it is my belief that the support structures do exist to exorcise this nation of the violence demon that has gripped our society. The answer to this kind of violence lies in our traditional systems, specifically within the ambit of Chiefs and other traditional structures. I believe however that this antidote must be comprehensive and holistic in its approach – empower the Chiefs, allow them to do their work and some of our problems may be resolved. However, it is also note-worthy that there is generally some co-relation between the state of national deviance and the socio-political environment that develops therefore.
Madam President, I have said so much about social violence, particularly gender related violence. I now move to the second aspect of violence, which is politically engineered violence. There are claims at various quarters, including in this House that Zimbabwe enjoys unparalled peace within the region. These claims are derived, in my opinion, from a narrow definition of peace as the absence of war against a comprehensive perception that encompasses a sense of human wellbeing. When our people spend nights on empty stomachs and cannot choose their political leaders freely, I consider this to be violence against their constitutional and fundamental rights.
I would like to show that there is evidence of political violence in this country. The violence that I now submit to this House shows that
Zimbabwe as a nation is replete with numerous incidences of violence.
In fact, one could write a PhD thesis on political violence in the country.
The first confirmation of our appetite for violence was gukurahundi, where in my opinion a sledge hammer was used to repair a swiss watch. When the President eventually confessed that, that was a moment of madness, we assumed that, that would mark the end of violence on the sons and daughters of Zimbabwe. In fact, the late icon
Cephas Msipa dismisses the moment of madness clearly in his book “In
Pursuit of Freedom and Justice”. He says it never was and actually claims that it was a planned activity. But alas! This end that we anticipated did not come. What is the implication of this non-stop? It suggests to me that people may have continued to live in a madness mode and then you ask the question – should they be leading us if they are in that mode?
Madam President, I am an advocate of land redistribution, however, I also abhor and despise the violence that accompanied that programme. Often times we are reminded that settlers used the same tactics when they took our land. Madam President, I have serious reservations about such mentality that equates African behaviour at the beginning of the 21st century to European behaviour at the close of the 19th century. It says in general, if we follow that way of thinking, it means we are living over a century behind in thinking patterns of white people, which I definitely disagree with. It is my submission that we did not have to lose a single sole in order to recover our land. The loss of lives underlines our appetite for human blood and our incremental and insatiable appetite for power retention.
I also know that between the years 2000 and now, over 400 Zimbabweans have lost their lives simply because they have different political views from ZANU PF. This has happened under our very noses and …
THE HON. PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: Order Hon.
Senator, can you actually document that and quote the source because in this House we want to deal with proven facts.
HON. SEN. S. NCUBE: Madam President, I observe your comment but I also want to say I have done some research but I am not sure I will be successful in quoting. Do you want me to withdraw that Madam President?
THE HON. PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: Could you please
or you can rephrase it in some other way unless you can prove the 400 figure from a legal source. I am not trying to stifle anything but as you know, I am here to guide debate.
HON. SEN. S. NCUBE: Madam President, I take note of your comment and I hope that my comment is also heard. This has happened under our very noses in various august Senate sessions. We have been complicit in my opinion while Zimbabweans die just for the sake of power. To substantiate my claim, I quote one Senator who on January,
4, 2017 stated “Bikita west is not a constituency for funny politics. There are some who disappeared in 2008 because of politics and we all know that, so let us go and vote properly.” The implication is, lest you disappear. I think this is bare callousness, if people were killed in 2008 and we remind people that we can kill them again, my observation is; what has gone wrong? Once again I ask - do the popular win elections by threatening the electorate? I will also quote a learned Judge Justice
Mathonsi who on 23rd January also said “apparently we have become a nation of violent people, which is of concern to the judiciary. We therefore need a deliberate programme to research on the scourge of violent conduct defining our society and come up with a lasting solution to the problem.” He said this when opening the 2017 Legal Year for the Gweru High Court session.
My research on violence took me through a long list of those killed since the year 2000. Half way through, I abandoned the list as I was overwhelmed by emotion and I could not continue. Madam President, we cannot be so callous to our own, no we cannot. In my opinion, this is a shame. The sad story is that these that have been killed are our brothers, fathers, sisters and mothers. In my opinion, it is because they hold different but progressive political opinions. I ask the questions; is this peace or violence, is this the Zimbabwe we want and is this the freedom we fought for, for 28 years? Some of us consider any death of a Zimbabwean to be heinous. Several times I have heard Hon. Members address all Zimbabweans begging them to put their heads together in order to address the national challenges. It reminds me of a violent man who boasts of degrees in violence in wife bashing but still hopes for goodies at night. I do not think we should be doing this to ourselves. I actually believe that we should exorcise ourselves of degrees in violence and we should turn those degrees into gigantic hurricanes of solving created economic challenges and corruption facing the nation.
As early as 1986, seasoned politicians like Joshua Nkomo had seen through the ruling elite’s propensity for violence and hate. He said, “we are enveloped in politics of hate. The amount of hate being preached in this country is frightful. What Zimbabwe fought for was peace, progress, love, respect, justice and equality.” We must remember that hate breeds violence as aptly summed up by one Ndabe Ncube, a villager in Matshetshe communal lands, as I was doing my research. He said, “we have created a nation characterised by a vicious cycle of violence and revenge, where each generation may seek to avenge the cruelty perpetrated upon their predecessors. Let us stop this tribalism and political nonsense if we want to build a nation based on peace and prosperity.
I submit that these words are from a local person we could call povo and I think he sees things better than some of us in leadership positions do. Madam President the question I ask is, are we proud to leave a legacy of violence? I believe it is never too late to reverse our patterns, the good Lord and the people may forgive us. What I have said Madam President sounds like a sermon, maybe it is, the reason being that it comes from my heart.
In conclusion, these submissions Madam President, compel the august House to denounce all forms of violence, be it social or political being perpetrated against the citizens of this country and to intervene whenever such violations do occur. Further, that this House plays its oversight role to ensure that the Executive respects all constitutional obligations by respecting human rights and in this instance take measures to ensure the obliteration of violence from the face of Zimbabwe by allowing law enforcement arms of Government to operate without fear or favour.
I am reminded Madam President of what happened to us in 2008, when homes were burnt down in Gwanda. Unfortunately, when we reported to the police we were told that during currents of the run-off, there can be no arrest. However, when some youths misbehaved and retaliated on known criminals, they were immediately arrested. I am sure they spent over 60 days in detention, God stood by their side and they were not convicted.
Lastly, I request that this House must monitor incidents of violence and publicly denounce all forms of violence and admonish any political parties that engaged in violence in order to impose their will on the people of Zimbabwe. If we do not do this, history will record us as Legislators that failed the mandate that the people of Zimbabwe gave them. I thank you.
+HON. SEN. NCUBE: Thank you Madam President for the
power that is given to this House. I am requesting to read my speech, some of the words I have written in English, I cannot translate them into Ndebele; hence I am making the request.
THE HON. MADAM PRESIDENT: You can read.
HON. SEN. NCUBE: Thank you Madam President for giving me
this time to also add my voice on the motion that was tabled in this House by Hon. Senator B. Sibanda on the issue of violence. There are different forms of violence and abuse. When I went through the motion that was tabled by Hon. Sibanda, I thought it was good for me to check everything that concerns violence. I saw physical, sexual, emotional, physiological, spiritual, verbal violence and financial abuse. When somebody wants to control another person, they often use violence.
Madam President, Hon. B. Sibanda is talking of gender based violence and political violence. Our Zimbabwe Constitution is very clear on Chapter 4, on political rights where it says ‘Every Zimbabwean has the right to free and fair regular elections, for an elective public office established in terms of this Constitution or any other law; to make political choices freely. On Section 59, every person has the right to demonstrate…
HON. SEN. NTABENI: On a point of order. I think I need to be educated on the rules. Do we read or we debate off the cuff?
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT: In this case the Hon.
Senator had requested to read.
HON. SEN. NCUBE: Thank you Mr. President. On Section 59,
every person has the right to demonstrate and present petitions but these rights must be exercised peacefully’. That is not happening Mr.
President. We have no freedom of expression as the Constitution says. What is the meaning of violence? When I was at school, the teacher used to ask, what is a noun? I thought I should say this in this House, my dictionary told me that violence is a noun; it says behavior involving physical force intended to hurt, damage or kill someone or something.
‘violence erupted in protest marches’ synonymous brutality, brute, force, roughness, ferocity, fierceness , savagery, cruelty, sadism, barbarity, barbarisms, ruthlessness, inhumanity, heartlessness, pitilessness, mercilessness and more. It also says strengthen of emotion of a destructive natural force, the violence of your own feelings.
Violence is defined by the World Health Organisation as the intention, use of physical force of power, threatened or actually against oneself, another person or against a group of community which either results in or has a high likelihood or resulting in injury or death, physiological harm, maul development. There are many definitions, Mr.
President; I can go on and on.
Today, I will dwell on political violence because I have already debated on the issue of gender violence. Madam President, we have experienced a lot of violence in this country. The issue of Gukurahundi where people were maimed and killed, attacked, assaulted, raped, tortured and some seriously injured. For example, our leader Mr. President, Morgan Tsvangirai was assaulted by police in 2007 and the world was shocked to see his pictures.
Many people have suffered in this country and a lot of our members have been killed while others disappeared. The other example is Mr. Nhavanhava and Cain Nkala I talk of these ones because they were in my constituency. Dzamara and some other MPs have been beaten but most of the people who have made these beatings and killing as well as raping are walking scot free Mr. President. I thank you.
HON. SEN. MAKORE: Thank you very much Hon. President of
giving me an opportunity. Just to share a few ideas as related to the motion that was brought by Hon. Sen. Sibanda and seconded By Hon.
Sen. Ncube. Mr. President, the kind of a motion is very important, if you are in this particular House bound to generously develop a need to start a new page which we are going to be a nation that is respected nationally and internationally. We are also old enough to understand what peace is.
The meaning peace is understood by anybody else peace and tranquility.
I want to quote from a man who was mentioned here that is Vice President Nkomo. During his time he emphasised the need to have peace and tranquility. We also understand as elders what gender based violence is. This particular motion came at a very right time, the way I look at it. There are two forms violence that have been spelt here; one is political the other is more or less a domestic one which means to say both of them are violence in terms of conceptions.
The first one is political and the Constitution we have is the best Constituency so far because it spells how people should behave politically. The state institutions are required to behave in accordance with Constitution both of them are apolitical as is articulated in this Constitution. The traditional leaders in terms of Section 280 of this particular Constitution, they are all apolitical. The role of each individual does not allow anybody to exercise violence in terms of this Constitution. In view of these articulated facts Hon. President, we are bound to be sober even at any time that we are involved in political campaigns and so on. You do not have to step on the rights of certain other individuals and the rights are so much important. I know we are subject of disagreement, we all must know that we emanated from a disagreement colonially but, even before that there were some form of violence. Yes, this particular political violence had a tendency in us for which we wanted to be independent. We were all at one time violent because we wanted a political independence in terms of this particular country.
Unfortunately, we are bound to share that particular nature gradually it must shed off from us because we are bound to respect the human animal. We are bound to provide also the independence and respect deservable as a people. I am calling on all institutions that are apolitical to observe this particular Constitution. I am also calling the elderly and law makers to abide by this particular Constitution. – [HON.
SEN. Hear, hear.]- I know power is sweet but do not get it through those means. Anybody else has also a right to live as in accordance to this particular Constitution. As a point fundamentally, that is articulated in our Constitution.
I also want to believe that as a people we all need joy and independence. We all need space Hon. President and we must shed fear completely because fear is also a cancer for a person to make decision. When we want to live harmoniously in this country, we are bound to respect each other. I want to thank you very much Hon. Sibanda because there could be gross misconceptions over references here but all in all what we want and attempting to do, is to shape the country and become violencelessness so that we emerge as a people. We respect all leadership but we are praying that at least let us be sober as a country and start from somewhere and move as a country. There are a lot of events that have been referred to, there are a lot of loses at any cost as a result of this particular violence. We may name almost everything but the intention is not bring such a distinct spell but the intention is to ring a bell that be normal and let us move as country, let us lead with examples, lets us abhor violence and move as a country. Let us abhor all these complains people have because we are leaders who are bound to be respected. The way you want somebody to do the best for you is the way one also wants for you to do the best for her/him. – [HON. SEN.
Hear, hear.]- you do unto others what you want also to do unto yourself. It is very unfortunate that we would want to respect this particular motion and take it through the way it really advocates for the justice and peace that is expected. I want to thank you very much and I believe that you were listening from the very small contribution that I am making. I want to say that do not look down upon it be serious and get this reflection correctly. Thank you very much. –[HON. SEN: Hear, hear.]-
*HON. SEN CHIMHINI: I would like to thank Hon. Sen.
Sibanda for raising this motion which has been seconded by Hon. Sen. Ncube, when we discuss about the forth coming elections in 2018. We hear the ordinary men and women asking what will happen when the previous shortcomings in the other elections were not been corrected. If we are talking about electoral reforms people will have observed that certain malpractices need correcting. If those malpractices were not corrected, people then ask how safe is their votes and themselves after voting and that are they not going to revisit the same scenario that they had earlier on witnessed. It is heart rendering to observe that our parents are now fearful of going to cast their votes. In other countries you find that people go and cast their vote freely and fairly. The hate language that we use towards election time intimidates the majority of the people who would be apprehensive about going to vote in their election. I urge everyone in this august House to go out there into our constituencies and tell them that an election is a free contest where one has a right to elect the leadership that they prefer and that there should be no violence.
I know that all of us, whenever we start our deliberations in Parliament, we have a prayer. We belong to different denominations; so, what becomes of us as Christians when we are moving towards an election? Men belong to certain men’s guilds and they put on uniforms and women do the same thing, they also have their uniforms but immediately after church service, they go and batter their own kith and kin they utter abusive words. Thereafter, they go and wear their church uniforms and praise God. Are we doing the right thing? Do we have to kill because you want to perpetuate the rule of Mr. Chimhini? If you behave in such a manner; are you mentally sound because you want to perpetuate the rule of a particular individual. As Senators, we should lead by example and exude or show that we know what we are talking about.
What pains us most is that when we speak in this august House, we do it just to please ourselves but when we go out there; we forget that we are fathers and mothers. We also forget that once I kill someone, the spirit of the avenging person affects or torments members of my household. We forget that the children that we send out to perpetuate this violence because they are poor or because they want beer and marijuana, they kill people because of that influence. I urge all of us to go out there and ensure that they be a difference; that a general election does not mean that people should kill each other.
To the chiefs that are in this august House, if you say that you do not want violence and that you abhor violence, it will end in this country and there will be no violence in Zimbabwe and we can have peaceful elections. I urge you chiefs that are in this august House to be forthright and upright. Once you do that, elections will be held freely and fairly.
If we are to be elected into positions, we should enjoy the positions that we have been elected into because the people love you. You should not rule because you threaten people and they are afraid of you - that is not good governance. This motion gives us a chance to reflect and self introspect on how we have conducted our previous elections and that if there are any malpractices, we should be able to correct these anomalies. Those that are at home, expect us as their Members of Parliament to inspire confidence to them that as we go for the 2018 elections, no blood is going to be shed. What Hon. Sen. Sibanda has said, I have read it, it was also recorded; about the utterances said by Hon. Mahofa. I am not ashamed to name and shame her because the utterances that Hon. Mahofa made are threatening that people will be killed. If you win an election using such modus operandi, is that good? I urge all of us in this House that we debate and do it in a ….
HON. SEN. MOHADI: On a point of order Mr. President. Mr.
President, we are not told what to do, we are not kids.
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Hon. Sen. you have heard
that.
HON. SEN. CHIMHINI: Thank you Mr. President. I reiterate that I urge everyone in this august House that every time that we stand up and address crowds; we should speak and encourage peace because no one wants a country that is violent. We want a country where elections can be held in a non-violent atmosphere. Chiefs, I once again urge you to lead by example. I thank you Mr. President.
*HON. SEN. CHIMANIKIRE: Thank you Mr. President for the opportunity that you have given me as I want to give a few words as a mother. I will direct my debate about violence to our daughters and sons. As mothers, when we have the Women’s Caucus, we should urge each other to talk to our sons. Our chiefs and grandfathers are there; if a daughter in-law has not lived up to expectations, return her to the inlaws for counselling. Our fathers should talk to our sons that if your wife fails to live up to expectations, please do not assault her. Our daughters can also no longer be remonstrated with. They no longer take our advice and they want to encourage the husband to assault them and you try by all means to stop this violence. I urge women all over the country to go and talk to our children both male and female.
I will now talk about violence pertaining to politics. A lot of politicians; those in the National Assembly and in the Senate do not have children that fight their wars for them. Their children do not go and assault other children – they are well educated and they are at work.
We are abusing other people’s children. They go barefooted and you go into your constituency and create a violence prone team that is fed on a daily basis on marijuana and alcohol. At the end of the day, those children that are so abused, have nothing to show for it and they move around wearing slippers. But in the meantime, your children as a Senator go out of the country, board airplanes, learn abroad and come back. Where is this leading us to as Zimbabweans? We are Christians and should walk the talk. If we were to borrow what happens in other jurisdictions, we will observe that several political candidates line up and address the people. They are given equal opportunities to address the people who then elect their own candidates and not to gain a constituency through violence or by shedding someone else’s sons’ or daughters’ blood. The parents that are being killed have their own children and no longer have bread winners. Once you become a Senator or a Member of Parliament, you come here with blood stained hands and enjoy the benefits of living in a hotel, having a good life and everything that goes with it but you would have shed blood. We should desist from this and may God have mercy on us. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. CHIEF MUSARURWA: Thank you Mr. President.
I would like to add my voice to this motion raised by Hon. Sen. Sibanda and seconded by Hon. Sen. Ncube which deals with violence in our country. It stems from domestic violence, which is the assault of men by women or vice versa. It could be the raping of women or men, abduction, kidnapping and extraction of men’s sperms for sale. All this is violence.
The motion also touches on the issue of political violence. This happens on a sphere of elections. As Chiefs, we are grateful for the motion that you have raised. As Chief Musarurwa, I say all that violence should be stopped in Zimbabwe. We should not turn a blind eye to such violence. If today someone forms a political party – like what I heard some time back in broad daylight saying, I now want to be the leader when there is already a leader. They went on to say, Mugabe must go peacefully; if he does not want to go peacefully we will remove him violently. – [ Hon. Sen. Musarurwa having called for protection from the Chair] –
I was saying newcomers into the political arena, who formed their own parties and then strike the heart of a ruling leader, that should be stopped. There should be no such statements, that you will remove a leader violently; that you want to march to the State House. Even in the Western countries, they do not march to the Queen’s residence. This country was fought for and it was decided that the ballot would be the best thing whereby people choose their leadership.
This is a good motion and if political parties are going to pay heed, this violence will end. As chiefs, we have the power to stop violence. We have the power if you listen to us when we say, do not come into my area of jurisdiction whether you are a Member of Parliament for NDU, baboon or hare, without informing me that you want to come into my area. Respect us in that manner, there will be no such violence because as chiefs, we know how we live in our areas. We know who is in our constituency and they cannot go and assault a child from another family because they know each other.
It becomes difficult for you to go to Chivhu, you want to campaign and you bring people from Mutoko. By so doing, you now perpetrate violence to the constituency because we would not appreciate where you are coming from. I urge this august House during the course of this debate not to open old wounds. The opening of old wounds is not a good thing. The things that we keep on repeating, like the issues of Gukurahundi tend to divide the country and everything concerned with it. My considered opinion is that when the issue of Gukurahundi is debated, we further divide this country and tend to be retrogressive.
Chiefs who sponsored the Unity Accord, have never talked about the issue of Gukurahundi, which you the leadership consistently talk about. We do not deny that it happened. If it so happened, it did happen but you should not open old wounds. There are others with certain incidences that might have happened before and when the two incidences are brought together, we tend to be divided as a country and this is detrimental to us.
This motion which was raised by Hon. Sibanda; we know we want to go for elections. This land belongs to the chiefs, give the chiefs a chance and ask us what we think so that we can give you our advice which can enhance the development of this country. You do not just stand up here and give us your opinion and in the end there will be no peace. By so doing, we will have done nothing. We will not build anything constructive. Mr. President Sir, it is my appeal that as we go to these elections, we should ensure that those that are going to debate, debate so as to ensure that we have free and fair elections and that they will be done peacefully. We should not be apprehensive of these elections. Maybe we are not ready and we want to hide behind a finger and say you foresee violence – [HON. MEMBERS: Inaudible
interjections.] –
THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: Order,
order. Let the Hon. Chief speak.
*HON. SEN. CHIEF MUSARURWA: Thank you Mr.
President. When the Chief is speaking, it is good to clap hands at all material times even if it affects you. You should not be grumbling when this affects you. As chiefs, we take no sides. What is bad is bad. If you tell me that you are going to remove me violently, I will then make preparations. I heard the leader who was threatened saying, the people have spoken. I was chosen by the people, so let the people have their
say on the next election – [HON. SEN. MARAVA: Inaudible
interjections.] -
THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: Order
Senator Marava. Let the Chief be heard in silence.
*HON. SEN. CHIEF MUSARURWA: Thank you Mr.
President. If someone has done good, we should appreciate it and encourage such behaviour. On the contrary, if one has done badly, we should remonstrate with them. I will not belabour the point except to say, peace and love should be the tenets that we treasure most in this august House. Whenever a motion is raised, we should debate it with a view to improve ourselves and develop our country. We should not open old wounds, especially the issue of “Gukurahundi” which you seem to be obsessed with. Such issues are best left to the chiefs, the owners of this land who can come up with amicable solutions.
If you look at what happens in other countries such as Sierra Leone, there has been civil war emanating from the opening of old wounds. We do not envisage such a scenario happening in a country where there are peace loving people like Zimbabweans. With those few words, I would like to urge Members of this august House to remain focused and respect the will of the people to the extent that whoever will have won an election should enjoy their reign in a peaceful environment.
Thank you.
THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: I am
advised that there is a serious interpretation problem. Those that are using Shona or Ndebele, their debates may not be reflected. If you see an error in your speech, it will be due to the interpretation problems. So, please check your debates.
HON. SEN. B. SIBANDA: Thank you Mr. President. I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. MAKONE: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 1st February, 2017.
MOTION
STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS BY HIS EXCELLENCY
THE PRESIDENT
Third Order read: Adjourned debate on motion in reply to the State of the Nation Address.
Question again proposed.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF MEDIA, INFORMATION
AND BROADCASTING SERVICES (HON. SEN. MATHUTHU):
Thank you Mr. President. I move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 1st February, 2017.
MOTION
PRESIDENTIAL SPEECH: DEBATE ON ADDRESS
Fourth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion in reply to the Presidential Speech.
Question again proposed.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF MEDIA, INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING SERVICES (HON. SEN. MATHUTHU): I
move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 1st February, 2017.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE DELEGATION TO THE 68TH SESSION OF THE
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE AFRICAN PARLIAMENTARY
UNION
Fifth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the delegation to the 68th Session of the Executive Committee of the African Parliamentary Union.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. GOTO: Mr. President, I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. MOHADI: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 1st February, 2017.
MOTION
FIRST REPORT OF THE THEMATIC COMMITTEE ON GENDER
AND DEVELOPMENT ON THE STATUS OF CHILDREN’S HOMES
Sixth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the First report of the Thematic Committee on Gender and Development on the Status of Children’s Homes.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. MAKORE: Perhaps, let me seek your guidance. These two motions have overstayed and we request that there be some response from the relevant Ministries. I do not know whether we should continue debating or be guided because as of now, I do not know how to go forward.
THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: My
view is that you adjourn. We, as a Chamber and in agreement with the President of the Senate took a position that this time around, we would want to see Ministers responding to our motions before we wind them up. - [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear] – So we will convey the message again to the President of the Senate.
HON. SEN. MAKORE: Thank you very much Mr. President.
On that note, I move that the debate do now adjourn
HON. SEN. MARAVA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 1st February, 2017.
MOTION
SECOND REPORT OF THE THEMATIC COMMITTEE ON GENDER
AND DEVELOPMENT ON EARLY CHILD MARRIAGES
Seventh Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Second report of the Thematic Committee on Gender and Development on Early Child Marriages.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. MAKORE: Mr. President, I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. MARAVA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 1st February, 2017.
MOTION
REPORT OF THE DELEGATION TO THE 39TH PLENARY
ASSEMBLY OF THE SADC PARLIAMENTARY FORUM
Eighth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the Report of the delegation to the 39th Plenary Assembly of the SADC Parliamentary
Forum.
Question again proposed.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF INFORMATION, MEDIA AND BROADCASTING SERVICES (HON SEN. MATHUTHU):
Mr. President, I move that the debate do now adjourn.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 1st February, 2017.
On the motion of THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF
INFORMATION, MEDIA AND BROADCASTING SERVICES
(HON. SEN. MATHUTHU), the Senate adjourned at Five Minutes to
Four o’clock p.m.