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SENATE HANSARD 31 January 2019 28-27
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Thursday, 31st January, 2019
The Senate met at Half-past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE in the Chair)
ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: I recognise
two Ministers present in the Senate, The Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation and the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Culture and Heritage. I want to believe other Ministers will be joining us shortly.
HON. SEN. TIMVEOS: Thank you Mr. President. My question
goes to the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs. Will the rule of law ever be restored in the country because we see people getting beaten before they get arrested and women being raped? A lot of lawlessness is going on in the country especially at the moment.
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Before I give
the Minister the floor, we have been joined by the Deputy Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS AND
CULTURAL HERITAGE (HON. MADIRO): Thank you Mr.
President. I respect the Hon. Senator for a very important question. May I assure the Hon. Senator that Zimbabwe respects constitutionalism which incorporates a very important principle of respect of rule of law. There is no doubt that the Zimbabwean people, through the Constitution which is very clear, know that Zimbabwe is a country which should respect the rule of law. That does not mean that you will not have individuals who will break the law. Otherwise there will be no need for a police force which is tasked with responsibility to maintain law and order.
I want to assure the Hon. Senator that rule of law prevails in this country. That is why those who break the law would be apprehended and justice takes its course. I thank you.
HON. SEN. TIMVEOS: Thank you Mr. President. My
supplementary question, through you Mr. President is – is it Government policy that the police must beat up someone, hurt them and arrest them injured without being taken to hospital? We have so many people that are in jail right now who have broken hands and legs who have been denied medical attention.
HON. MADIRO: Thank you Mr. President. Let me assure the
Hon. Senator once again that it is not the Government policy that citizens are beaten as she alleges. Now that she is being specific in terms of her allegations that there are incidents of that nature, it is also the responsibility of members of society let alone Hon. Members of Parliament including Senators here; to bring whatever transgression of law to the attention of relevant authorities and investigation will be done. I invite the hon. senator to report if there are any specific issues she is aware of so that investigation will be done.
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: We have
been joined by the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, the Minister of Industry and Commerce, the Minister of Energy and
Power Development and the Deputy Minister of Mines and Mining Development.
HON. SEN. MAVETERA: Thank you Mr. President. Can th
Minister of Home Affairs enlighten us on what they have done so far because we have heard videos of people who were alleged to have been involved in violence, some running with an ox-drawn plough, within seconds they were apprehended based on that information. We have videos going all over about allegations of police brutality with pictures and people who can be identified. What attempts have been made by the Government to identify those police officers or those who are alleged to have stolen police uniforms and masquerade as police officers perpetrating those heinous crimes against the citizenry? I think for the citizens to have confidence in our law enforcement agencies we should have at least some pointers from Government as to what has been done at this stage to bring culprits to book.
HON. MADIRO: Thank you Mr. President. The Hon. Senator has
asked a very important question, may I once again assure this Hon. House and the Hon. Senator that it is common cause and it is in the public domain that hundreds of those who have broken the law have been apprehended and many have been brought before the courts of law. I want to agree with him that it is important that the public has confidence in the police force and that is exactly what the police force is doing. In terms of its mandate to apprehend, investigate and even prevent the breakdown of law and order. So, I want to assure the Hon. Senator that those who have been apprehended have been brought before the law.
Let me also say that when it comes to those who he mentioned to have been denied the opportunity for medical attention or legal representation – that is a matter that is governed by the Criminal Procedures and Evidence Act. It is very clear in terms of remedies that are available to every citizen when they are complaining of the procedures done by the police, any other citizen can have redress through courts of law – in terms of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act. I thank you.
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: We have
also been joined by the Deputy Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Hon. Mutodi.
*HON. SEN. WUNGANAYI: My question is directed to the
Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage. Hon. Minister, in our country, we have people dressed as they like according to their customs all over the place. When there is a demonstration or riot, we hear some people talking about political parties and partisanship. How do you identify people as belonging to a particular party because people put on clothes of their own choice?
*THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS AND
CULTURAL HERITAGE (HON. MADIRO): Mr. President, I did
not understand the Hon. Senator’s question because he says that people would be dressed in the manner they like and then we end up apportioning partisan politics to them. May the Hon. Senator kindly clarify because the question is vague?
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Hon.
Wunganayi, may you kindly rephrase your question in a more apparent manner than kuiputira.
*HON. SEN. WUNGANAYI: I seem to have spoken in a
language that is understood by most of us which is ChiShona. I am talking about the riots that took place recently in the country. We know that the riots were perpetrated by individuals belonging to this country and were not wearing any party regalia.
Unfortunately, when investigations were being conducted, we were then informed that the rioters and looters belong to a particular party. My question is, how were they able to identify that these people belonged to a particular party?
HON. MADIRO: Thank you Mr. President, the question has now
been clarified. What I know is that our police officers are responsible
for the maintenance of law and order. When these people were arrested, they were not put into political categories.
The police arrested perpetrators of violence. Then when we have somebody who was arrested for inciting the violence and was apportioned to a particular party, may the Hon. Senator please come out into the open and tell us that this individual was arrested, yet he was wearing his work suit during the violence but is now being said to be belong to a particular party which I believe is false.
*HON. SEN. WUNGANAYI: Please when we are debating in
this august House, let us not speak in riddles but speak to the point. The media is apportioning the blame of these riots to the MDC party and my question is, how were these people identified since they were not wearing party regalia during the riots?
HON. MADIRO: The Hon. Senator has not clarified his question that the people who are apportioning this blame are members of the fourth state, that is the media. We are all aware that the police do not belong to the media and I think that the Hon. Senator should direct his question to the respective Ministry because the police do not belong to the media and are not responsible for disseminating information.
HON. SEN. CHIEF NEMBIRE: My question is directed to the
Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation. What policy measures have you put in place in order to tap grassroots talent in rural areas? I am referring to the area of sports?
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Before the
Hon. Minister responds, we have been joined by the Minister of Information Communication Technology and Courier Services. So we have a full bench of ministers now. I thank you.
THE MINISTER OF YOUTH, SPORT, ARTS AND
RECREATION (HON. COVENTRY): Thank you Mr. President and
thank you Hon. Senator. The policy that we are putting in place right now revolves around a few different aspects in terms of different locations, development, redevelopment and refurbishment of recreational facilities throughout the communities and throughout the nation.
We are compiling a list of where those recreational spots are and what kind of situation they are in? How much refurbishment they may need? We are then getting information on whether or not the refurbishments need to happen or we need to start all over. Once that is done, we are then also looking at talking with the Minister of Primary and Secondary Education. We have schools of excellence, we also want that to go throughout all the schools and link it nicely with the new curriculum in terms of the sports. In particular, that now it is part of the new curriculum in terms of being examinable.
With those, we believe that we will be able to then really create a database of young athletes around the country. Who we will be able to identify through the different programmes that we will then run on the database that they would then be entered into. We will be able to link those young people with the different sports groups or through the schools to get them the right coaching that they need. Hopefully that will then lead to growing our national platform across all of our sports. I thank you.
HON. SEN. CHIEF CHARUMBIRA: Hon. Minister, I do not
think that there is much to refurbishment in most rural areas because these recreational facilities have never existed. So you should think of starting developing them from scratch as 90% of rural areas do not have these recreational facilities. Even the schools of excellence, I do not think that we do have a significant number that exists. In a typical rural area we do not have such schools of excellence in sports; even swimming, where you are the best in the world, we do not have swimming pools. I think this being your own passion and area of excellence; we shall see swimming pools, tennis and other forms of sport in rural areas. The point is, there is nothing to refurbish.
THE MINISTER OF YOUTH, SPORT, ARTS AND
RECREATION (HON. COVENTRY): My apology that I forgot to
mention that the area that we are looking is all areas. In regards to where there are facilities, we will take note of what those facilities are and what needs to happen. When there are no facilities, we will hopefully be working closely with the Ministry of Local Government in terms of identifying the new areas that are being built and the new rural areas and having that minimum of 5% dedicated space for recreational and sporting activities. We will work alongside them to ensure that those are properly mandated with sports facilities in particular. I hear your point and thank you very much for that.
In terms of schools of excellence, we have to start somewhere. We have identified a few schools to try and figure out the best way that these schools will run and how they will function. Once we have done that, the goal is then to have that throughout our entire system of education.
In terms of the swimming pools, I would love to see swimming pools everywhere. They are very expensive to maintain. It is definitely a goal in which the Ministry can work towards achieving and we will be happy to work with any of the local councils. As it is right now, what we are doing with most of the City Council Sport facilities as I mentioned earlier is that we are compiling a report of what those facilities are. I have specifically asked for the swimming pools and I have visited a lot of the swimming pools around the country. They are some minor refurbishments that need to happen. We are going to look at how best we can work with that to ensure that these pools as well as the other facilities are up and running across all of our communities.
HON. SEN. CHIEF CHIKWAKA: My question is directed to the Minister of Industry and Commerce. What is Government policy relating to Community Share Ownership Trusts which were promised seed monies by qualified businesses who never honoured their pledges?
Is it a policy to have them choose to comply or not to comply?
THE MINISTER OF INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE (HON.
- NDLOVU): When it comes to Community Share Ownership Trusts, when you fulfil a pledge it is not necessarily compliance. These were seed monies that were promised under the indigenisation programme. As you would know the legislation on indigenisation programme has been significantly. It is up to the companies to offer the seed capital. It is no longer a compliance issue. In addition, Community Share Ownership Trusts that have companies within the diamond and platinum sectors that were designated by Government in the new legislation to continue to benefit are entitled to support to the shareholding by the companies in those communities.
*HON. SEN. CHIEF CHIKWAKA: What is Government policy
regarding the oath which was taken because even in the Bible, Abraham made an oath and it did not supersede what Moses did. My question is, when we introduced indigenisation, we had policies that we followed. People failed to comply with what they had promised. Is that the rule of law?
HON. M. NDLOVU: Let me put it in a different manner. A pledge is not legally enforceable. The companies were paying out of courtesy. It was not out of a legal obligation by the companies. It is difficult for us to then say that they have not complied with any legislation in the land.
*HON. SEN. MURONZI: My question is directed to the
Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Hon. Mutsvangwa. Minister you said that when women were raped they should go and report to the police. It is known that women were raped by soldiers who they do not know. If a woman goes and report to the police that she was raped by a soldier who was in uniform, how will the police carry out the investigation and apprehend the culprit?
*THE MINISTER OF INFORMATION, PUBLICITY AND BROADCASTING SERVICES (HON. MUTSVANGWA): Thank
you Hon. Sen. Muronzi for that pertinent question with regards to the rule of law. What happens to whoever the offender is – in Zimbabwe we do not care who the offender is; he should be apprehended and taken before the court of law. If you feel that your rights have been abrogated, you have the right to go the police and report that my rights have been abrogated. Our police are responsible for investigations and apprehending the offender. This is what I said in my statement.
We have news from the social media and they are apportioning blame on rape. That is why we are calling upon those people who were sexually abused. As a woman, I am also touched. I am very sensitive to such issues. I was the leader of the Caucus and one of my main assignments was to coordinate with other women institutions so that we instil confidence in women. I was also vice co-chair in COPAC. When we went around searching for information from the people, they talked about the dignity of women. When an offence such as rape has been perpetrated, it should not be swept under the carpet but it should be taken before the courts of law. The women have their rights, they have to be protected. That is why we are calling any woman who was sexually violated to go and report the matter to the police.
What we know is that every police station has a victim friendly desk where that woman can go and approach and report. There is empathy towards such people. They should not fear and there is no victimisation. I know we have some civic organisations which are also aimed at protecting and guiding the welfare of women. Women can also approach those civic organisations so that they can put their cases across the law enforcement agents. These civic agencies should empower these women. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. WUNGANAYI: I have supplementary question
Mr. President. The question that Hon. Sen. Muronzi asked, I did not quite get the answer given because the allegations are that these people who are the perpetrators of sexual violence are said to be people who stole army regalia and perpetrated these crimes putting on this regalia.
So, how are they going to be apprehended? I thank you.
HON. SEN. MUTSVANGWA: Thank you Mr. President. In
Zimbabwe, we have security that is why we are able to live our homes and move around doing our businesses freely because we know we are in a securely protected country. What this means is, whosoever stole army uniform and perpetrated a crime putting on that uniform; we have intelligence officers, we have security agencies and that criminal is going to be apprehended and brought before the law.
*HON. SEN. CHIEF NGEZI: Thank you Mr. President. I am
directing my question to the Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage. What is Government policy regarding the registration of sacred shrines? We also noticed in rural areas that police stations are far away from people in such a way that people travel distances to seek for police assistance. Is there a way of alleviating this problem?
*THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS AND
CULTURAL HERITAGE (HON. MADIRO): I will start with the last
question on the accessibility of police services. We want people to be able to access police services near their environment so that there is visibility and mobility of the police especially on investigating crimes committed in communities. Hon. Senators, it is Government’s wish and that of the Zimbabwe Republic Police to have police stations near people. They should have their stations where they can be easily accessed by the people and must also be mobile.
We also intend introducing satellite stations but the problem we face is financial problems to carry out the erection of such satellite stations where people may move short distances to access the police services.
Let me turn to the registration of sacred shrines in our rural areas. The shrines are in different categories. We have shrines which are well known and registered, and we also have shrines which are visited by tourists. There are also shrines that are being discovered right now. So, I would encourage the traditional leaders to come up with a list of some of these sacred places so that they are registered because at times the Government may not be aware of the existence of such places aimed at up keeping our heritage, culture and normative values. When they have forwarded these names and shrines that they would have recorded; we will do researches and these shrines will be properly taken care of.
HON. SEN. MAVETERA: Thank you Mr. President. My
question is directed to the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services. I want to know whether they are many centres of information in this country. I think if we look at history in other countries, the source of disorder comes from information. If you look at the Rwanda story, it was actually information which was peddled by the media which ended up with genocide in the country. I am talking with reference to our country. I think our Head of State from his time of inauguration was preaching peace and unity amongst the people. We have got a very unfortunate situation which happened a few weeks ago where a labour issue actually organised by the labour body ended up being apportioned to MDC Alliance and MDC Alliance was now the main player. If it was rumours from the streets, we would not be worried but it was peddled by ZBC and writteb it as headlines. Do you have evidence to show that? If not, I think we need to be responsible as a country because what ZBC is peddling is potential genocidal, dividing the country...
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: Hon. Sen.
Mavetera, ask the question you are now putting a motion.
HON. SEN. MAVETERA: It is dividing the country. What I
want to know is; are those stables under your purview? What is said in ZBC, is that the policy or the position of you as Minister responsible for information?
THE MINISTER OF INFORMATION, PUBLICITY AND BROADCASTING SERVICES (HON. SEN. MUTSVANGWA):
Thank you very much. I think the question is actually referring to the disturbances which happened in the country in the last two weeks, which are regrettable and which should never happen among our people because we know Zimbabweans as peace loving people. What happened in Zimbabwe is not the culture of Zimbabweans. I want to make it very clear that the peace which we have enjoyed in this country from the time Zimbabwe became independent is not a gift from foreign countries, it comes from within our Zimbabweans – [HON. SENATORS: Hear,
hear.] –
Section 59 of our Constitution talks to the freedom of demonstration but that gives you also the responsibility of making sure that you demonstrate peacefully, that is acceptable. If people have got frustrations or whatever they want to vent out, they can do it according to the law. What we saw was not a protest but was an uprise. We saw hooligans, we saw criminals looting shops, looting tuck shops. A man who is trying to make a living to look after his family in the suburbs there trying to do a genuine way of looking after his family, the tuck shop was torched, cars were torched, and even a policeman on duty was stoned to death. The roads were barricaded; innocent citizens of this country wanted to go and continue to do their everyday work without hindrance but were actually being disrupted. We lost lives and this is unnecessary in this country. I must say when I speak about this, let us talk about Zimbabweans, what is our culture? What is it that we value most? We value peace and I am happy that the Government’s intervention managed to contain that situation and now peace is prevailing which allows every Zimbabwean citizen the right to go wherever they want to go in a peaceful manner.
Coming back to your question which talks about whether we have got information centres in this country. I think you are very correct that the President from the time he was inaugurated, he has been consistent with his message. He needs everybody to be on board, and everyone should have access to information. This is why our Ministry is carrying out a project of digitalisation which will then allow the whole country, corner to corner, talking from Beitbridge to Chirundu, from Machipanda to Plumtree to access their televisions and radios. It is important for each and every citizen to listen to what their Government is doing and this is the project which we are working on. We also have a lot of officers in the districts. We collect information from the whole country. We also have in areas like Kanyemba, a public viewing screen because we realised not many people have television sets in their homes. So we have actually put that so that they can access. In Mapisa in
Matabeleland South we have also finished a project where we want our people to access televisions and radios. We do have officers across the country so that everybody accesses information because information is power. Information will make even a poor farmer, wherever he is, to know that whatever he is growing; if it is tomatoes, we want that farmer to access information like where can the tomatoes be sold and at what price. So, I just want to say, information is very critical and the Government of the day, which was constitutionally elected to represent the people, whose mandate is to serve the people of this country, is doing everything in its power to make sure that all Zimbabweans access information. I thank you.
HON. SEN. MAVETERA: Part of my question Mr. President is that, we have got Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation saying violence was committed by MDC, which is divisive. We already know that the issue was a labour issue by ZCTU, I am saying, is that the position, where do they get that information because it is divisive and it pushes people apart instead of uniting them on a common cause. No one celebrates what happened, it is very regrettable on the nation. I think we need to be very responsible and try not to be partisan when we report such unfortunate incidence which befell our country. So, it is about the nature of ZBC reporting.
HON. SEN. MUTSVANGWA: Through you Mr. President. This
country has intelligence, there is nothing that happens in this country which intelligence does not pick. There is a threat on this country for regime change and that is the information which is there. On the 3rd to the 7th of November, meetings were held at Wild Geese, it is on record. On the 12th of January, a meeting was held in Belvedere and there is a record. So, when they report, they report from the reports coming from our intelligence and our security institutions. So, this is what we need to understand, there is no country which does not have – and we would not be where we are and would not have enjoyed peace if we did not have intelligence and security institutions which are concerned about the security of its citizens.
HON. SEN. S. MPOFU: Thank you Mr. President. My question
is directed to the Hon. Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs. What is the Government policy on monitoring prisoners who are given community service sentences to serve. I have noted with concern, Hon. Minister, one such person who was given community service sentence only perform his duties when he wishes and does not perform on a daily basis. I thank you.
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND
PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Mr.
President. I want to thank the Hon. Senator for the question. The law is very specific regarding community service. Once one is given community service, they are given specific hours under supervision and at a specific institution to perform. Should there be a specific incidence where there is connivance between those who are supposed to supervise and the person sentenced to community service, we will be glad to receive that report so that we investigate why that is happening.
HON. SEN. S. MPOFU: Thank you Mr. President. My concern is that, the person I am referring to was assigned to do community service at a school, but I have never seen prison officers coming to monitor for the purposes of supervising what he will be doing. That is where my concern is. Who is supposed to monitor that person, is it the headmaster at that particular school or the prison officers? I thank you.
HON. ZIYAMBI: Thank you Mr. President. I want to thank the Hon. Senator for the question. However, I believe my response was adequate. Ordinarily, when they do the visits or whatever, they do not publicise but if the Hon. Senator has specific examples where she went to the school and authorities there confirmed that nothing happened and nobody visited to ensure that the community service was being carried out, we are glad to receive that information. However, the position is still the same that we have people whom you may not see in prison garb because they will not be attending to a prisoner coming from prison but somebody from home to perform specific tasks pursuant to the sentence that they would have been given. So, if you have specific examples, we can do the follow up so that the compliance issues could be monitored and tightened. I thank you.
*HON. SEN. KOMICHI: In my view, Zimbabwe is under fire
because of the problems it is facing. Let me just quote what happened within a period of two months. To begin with, we had doctors on strike, this was closely followed by teachers and the third incidence was the Zimbabwean citizens who went on a shutdown of the economy for a week. My question is directed to the Leader of the House, Hon. Minister Ziyambi. In the past three days, lawyers were marching in the street demonstrating showing that Zimbabwe is a country under siege. When the Government is faced with such situations, what is the solution being proffered by the Government of Zimbabwe, this should be a long lasting solution. Last week, when some of these demonstrations were taking place, brutal force was used to suppress the protestors, is that the solution?
* THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND
PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Mr.
President. I thank Hon. Sen. Komichi for asking this question. Mr. President, the stories being narrated by Hon. Sen. Komichi are not factual because he is trying to integrate things which cannot be integrated. This is because when the doctors were protesting, their issue was debated and rectified. We had thieves, robbers and looters denying people the right to go to work and then saying the doctors’ strike and these looters are in one class and that it shows Zimbabwe is a country on fire. I beg leave to say, when we are in this august House, let us tell the truth as it is, let us be factual. If these people who barricaded the streets and beating up people, looting and erecting false toll-gates were left and police had not intervened, people would have continued to strike. They also destroyed shops and I am wondering what he is saying when he says Government should take measures to stop this, but what I know is that Government really took stern measures to arrest these perpetrators and take them to court so that they receive a fair trial. The court officials were even working on overtime so that they clear these cases.
This was being explained by the Hon. Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Hon. Mutsvangwa, so that we have peace in the country. My question is, what kind of measures do you want to be taken by Government when we know that in the country we now have peace. Government has taken the steps to pacify and to bring peace into the country.
*HON. SEN. MOEKETSI: My question is directed to the Minister of Energy and Power Development. What is Government policy regarding people who are constructing their houses in cities and when they have completed constructing, they go to ZESA asking for electricity and the response from ZESA is they should start by buying the poles and electric cables?
A cellphone rings.
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE: Order,
let us remind all Senators that you should put your phones on silent or switch them off before you enter the chamber. You may proceed. *HON. SEN. MOEKETSI: So my question is, is it Government policy that when you want a service from ZESA, you have to give them all the materials so that all ZESA has to do is to come and erect those poles so that they can access these services in your house and not only that, you also have to buy the meters for your houses?
*THE MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER DEVELOPMENT (HON. DR. GUMBO): This is not Government
policy. Government policy is that Government gives electricity to people in their homes, but when people are in a certain location, if they are able to put their hands together and have a fund which will be responsible for buying materials for their homes, then they can do so. We also find a situation whereby tenants are asked to buy transformers because Government has no money to buy these transformers, but if these residents have purchased a transformer, they will be refunded their monies because as ZESA, we have cash put aside for buying transformers. We have noticed that those people who buy their own transformers come and claim that they bought it for a higher price than the normal price known by ZESA. However, they should be aware that when they come with their costs, they will only be paid the standard price which is known by ZESA because we are not very sure whether the amounts being quoted by the tenants are genuine or they are just fiction.
I have not heard of people being asked to buy their own poles, but we have known of people who are in cooperatives who are the only ones who can buy these poles. I am a Member of Parliament and in my constituency I advise the residents that if you want to access ZESA services easily, please pool your resources together and buy materials so that ZESA will only come and install. The amount you pay is about 40c of the amount which is required for you to access the electricity and this is mainly targeted at rural areas through the programme of REA.
As of now, we have a plan which is aimed at installing electric power in schools and clinics and other essential services and ZESA will benefit through the charges for using the electricity. We are saying we are now asking people to purchase because of the economic situation which is hard.
+HON. SEN. PHUTHI: Thank you Mr. President. My question is directed to the Minister of Energy and Power Development. I want to find out if the Minister is aware that we lose so much on soya beans, like for example Ngwizi irrigation. They had more than 300 hectares of soya beans and most of the soya beans that were ploughed were destroyed because of lack of electricity. If electricity comes, it is only available for 15 minutes. My request to the Minister is, please have a relook at the issue of electricity, especially Matabeleland South. Please change the line that is coming from Maphisa to ARDA and use maybe the line that is coming from Plumtree. Maybe they will manage it better.
Ngwizi farm is under Command Agriculture. They use 2100 litres of fuel per day so that they can supplement ZESA - 2 100 litres of diesel per day while we have electricity and the transformer is working. We do not know what it is that Maphisa is doing. We will ask the Government to intervene in this issue.
+THE MINISTER OF ENERGY AND POWER
DEVELOPMENT (HON. DR. GUMBO): Since it is not a question, I
will ask the Hon. Member to present it in writing and give it to me so that I can respond with an adequate answer. I thank you.
HON. SEN. SHOKO: Thank you Mr. President. I am requesting for your direction because I want to ask a question about POSA. To which Ministry do I direct it?
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: It is Home
Affairs.
HON. SEN. SHOKO: Thank you very much. What I wanted to ask the Minister of Home Affairs is, when are we going to have amendments of POSA so that it complies with the Constitution. Thank you.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS AND
CULTURAL HERITAGE (HON. MADIRO): Thank you very much
Mr. President. Amendments to POSA - there is a process underway and in a reasonable time, the amendments will be brought to Parliament for consideration. Thank you.
*HON. SEN. HUNGWE: Thank you Mr. President. My question goes to the Ministry of Home Affairs. Minister, what is Government policy regarding buying vehicles for the Zimbabwe Republic Police so that they are highly mobile. We have a lot of people who are committing crimes up to the extent of killing police officers. The problem that we have is that the police force has no cars in their stations and when a case has been reported, when the people arrive at the crime scene, serious damage will have been perpetrated. What is Government policy regarding the provision of adequate official vehicles to police stations?
*THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF HOME AFFAIRS AND
CULTURAL HERITAGE (HON. MADIRO): Thank you Hon. Sen.
Hungwe for the question and if I am not mistaken, this question was once asked sometime before. I know Hon. Senators are very concerned about the none availability of official police vehicles for easy mobility by the police because the police perform better when they are highly mobile.
The Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services spoke about peace in the country because of the stance that was taken by Government. When there is peace, we also have the economy performing well. There is no country that can develop economically in the absence of peace because it is constructive. Therefore Hon. Senator, in the past few weeks, about a month or so sometime in late December 2018, Government distributed 40 new cars to rural police stations. There are also other plans that in the near future, another batch of new vehicles will be distributed soon.
We want the police to be highly mobile in attending crime scenes. I remember mentioning that in order for the police to perform to their best, they need about seven thousand (7 000) cars so that they are adequately mobilised but this is a drop in the ocean especially when we look at what is obtaining on the ground which is disrupting police duties. At times we have noticed in situations whereby members of the public end up providing police with cars in order for them to attend to crime scenes.
It is Government’s wish that police stations be allocated adequate transportation. Like I said, in the near future, new cars will be availed to the police.
Questions Without Notice were interrupted by THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE in terms of Standing Order No. 62.
ORAL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS WITH NOTICE
STATISTICS OF COURT CASES RELATING TO VIOLATION OF
PROVISIONS OF THE MARRIAGE ACT
- HON. SEN. CHIMBUDZI asked the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs to provide statistics of court cases relating to violation of provisions of the Marriage Act (Chapter 5.11).
THE MINISTER OF JUSTICE, LEGAL AND
PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS (HON. ZIYAMBI): Thank you Mr.
President, I want to thank Hon. Sen. Chimbudzi for her question.
Following the adoption of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 16 on Peace, Justice and strong institutions as a priority by the Government of Zimbabwe and the exercise to identify key indicators and targets through the Justice Law and Order sector platform, ZIMSTATS and with support from UNICEF proposed to do comprehensive crime statistics assessment.
In other words, Hon. Chimbudzi, we do not have a comprehensive system of collecting statistics at the moment and this is the work that we are going to undertake to do so that once we have that system, it will be easier to collect the information that you so require. So I am currently seized with developing a national coordination system on crime and criminal justice statistics in Zimbabwe.
Most of the data that is produced by institutions is not published hence it is very difficult to collect and find. There is a common listing of crimes used for data collection and it is being used most consistently by the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and Zimbabwe National
Statistics Agents. Also, we have the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) which uses a similar listing but with less disaggregation of offences.
For instance, while the Zimbabwe Republic Police form has 30 categories of theft, the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services form has 11 categories of the same crime. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the Judicial Service Commission also have a shorter listing. However, there is no common standard of criminal offences or dissemination of data on crime and criminal justice. The list of crimes used to record crimes and produce statistics are extensive but there is need for additional information in order to precise the concepts associated with offences and accurately define what is being collected in each offence.
So this is work in progress. Hon. Chimbudzi, I thank you but once we have the system in place, we will be able now to produce these statistics. I thank you.
PROCUREMENT OF GOODS AND SERVICES BY MIMOSA
MINING COMPANY
- HON. SEN. TIMVEOS asked the Minister of Mines and Mining Development to explain whether the Ministry is aware that 90% of goods and services procured by Mimosa Mining Company are being supplied by companies owned by its management and if so, to state the measures being taken to curb such malpractices.
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF MINES AND MINING
DEVELOPMENT (HON. KAMBAMURA): Mr. President, Mimosa
is a privately owned mining company which is governed by the company’s code of ethics. If there are any individuals within the mining company who are aggrieved with whatever is going on, they should go through the set rules and regulations of the company and if ever there are any members of the public who are being prejudiced with what is going on, they should report through the Anti-corruption Unit. I thank you.
SUPPORT TO THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM
- HON. SEN. CHIMBUDZI asked the Minister of Youth,
Sport, Arts and Recreation to explain the Ministry’s plans in relation to supporting the national football team in order to effectively compete at the African regional competitions.
THE MINISTER OF YOUTH, SPORT, ARTS AND
RECREATION (HON. COVENTRY): Thank you Mr. President and
thank you Hon. Senator. Yes, in terms of your question, with funds permitting, the Ministry will support all of our national teams. We will not just focus on soccer but we also have our national women’s’ netball team travelling this year to the world championships amongst other national teams. We will try and support them as best as we can. I thank you.
POLICY REGARDING PROMOTION OF ARTS
- HON. SEN. CHIMBUDZI asked the Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation to explain Government policy regarding the promotion of arts and whether there are adequate recreational facilities of international standards countrywide where artists can develop their talents.
THE MINISTER OF YOUTH, SPORT, ARTS AND RECREATION (HON. COVENTRY): Yes, your question is a good
one and we were talking about this in the morning in terms of adequate recreational facilities for both sport and arts across the country. My Ministry is looking at how we can create stronger and more platforms that have updated technology as well for artists that want to go into music, poetry writing and so on. We are looking at how we can best do that. I will update you on where we are and the policy we want to put into place in order to make those facilities a reality.
SUCCESSES AND FAILURES OF STATUTORY INSTRUMENT 64
OF 2017
- HON. SEN. CHIMBUDZI asked the Minister of Industry and Commerce to explain the successes and failures of Statutory Instrument 64 of 2017, the envisaged benefits of Statutory Instrument 122 of 2018 and level of public receptiveness towards the later.
THE MINISTER OF INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE (HON.
- NDLOVU): May be by way of clarity as well, I looked at the question and I might seek your guidance as I respond to it.
Firstly, Statutory Instrument 64 is of 2016 and not 2017. Statutory
Instrument 122 is of 2017 and not 2018. We then amended Statutory Instrument 122 in 2018. I would like to get your guidance whether the last part of the question is in reference to the amendment that was made last year. But on the first part which is quite clear to respond on the explanation on the successes and failures of Statutory Instrument 64 of 2016, I will look at this from the envisaged benefits of the Instrument when it was promulgated in the first place. This was to try and promote the growth of our industry because at the time, we were largely consuming imported products. From that point of view, the Instrument was quite successful.
I want to also highlight that as it stands, I have requested that we do a comprehensive research so that we have empirical evidence or research based evidence on these successes. From the number of companies that came to set out following this Instrument where we were controlling imports of products and most of the companies who were supplying those products from outside came to set up shop, we have seen successes. Examples include Pepsi and Trade Kings which came from Zambia. We also saw oil expressers -Willowton in Manicaland and some who were already here invested more in re-tooling.
In that respect, I would like to contend that there were successes. However, when you have such measures, they ought to have a timeframe and they ought to have a clear exit strategy – meaning, how do we in the medium term graduate to opening the borders because that is where the continent is moving towards. We are a signatory of the free trade area in Africa. This is where I might also admit that we did not have a clear exit strategy which would have then seen us smoothly move out of those
restrictions.
I would have loved to comment on the receptiveness of the amendment that was made last year but then I will be assuming that is what you wanted. May be you might want to clarify on that one. I thank you Mr. President.
MOTION
SILTATION IN RIVERS AND DAMS
First Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the level of siltation which is threatening the existence of most rivers and dams.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. CHIEF CHUNDU: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. CHIEF CHIKWAKA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Tuesday, 5th February, 2019.
On the motion of THE MINISTER OF YOUTH, SPORTS, ARTS AND RECREATION (HON. COVENTRY), the House
adjourned and Twelve Minutes to Four o’clock p.m. until Tuesday, 5th February, 2019.