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SENATE HANSARD 5 JULY 2022 VOL 31 NO 51
PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Tuesday, 5th July, 2022
The Senate met at Half-past Two o’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENTS BY THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE
DEATH OF HON. SENATOR MILDRET REASON DUBE
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: It is with profound sorrow that I have to inform the Senate of the death of Hon. Sen. Mildret Reason Dube, Senator for Bulawayo Metropolitan Province on Monday, 6th June 2022. I therefore invite Hon. Senators to rise and observe a minute of silence in respect of the late Hon. Senator. Thank you.
All Hon. Senators observed a minute of silence.
BILL RECEIVED FROM THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
THE HON. DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF SENATE: I have to inform the Senate that I have received the Copper Control Amendment Bill [H. B. 3, 2021] which was transmitted from the National Assembly.
MOTION
PARENTING AND EMBRACING A RECEPTIVE CULTURE FOR CHILDREN LIVING IN THE STREETS
HON. SEN. S. MPOFU: Mr. President, I move the motion standing in my name that:
RECOGNISING Government’s mantra of leaving no one behind as envisaged in Vision 2030;
ACKNOWLEDGING that there are institutional care and social protection programmes instituted by Government and Development Partners to promote livelihoods of vulnerable children who are living on the streets;
CONCERNED at the ever increasing numbers of such children in the Harare Central Business District (CBD) and other cities around the country, a situation which violates children’s rights to essential services such as education, health, safety, shelter and protection in general, as enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of Children and the Constitution;
FURTHER CONCERNED that life in the streets exposes children to sexual exploitations, drug abuse, physical, emotional, and psychological abuses, which are detrimental to their general welfare and productive livelihood;
CALLS UPON this House to implore Government to:
- Ensure that the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, assesses the root causes and addresses specific needs of such children so that they do not continue to live in the streets.
- Sensitise communities on responsible parenting that embraces a receptive culture towards children living in the streets and ensure that they do not reconsider living in the street and being provided better places to live in.
HON. SEN. MKHWEBU: I second.
HON. SEN. S. MPOFU: Mr. President, before I lay my motion, I would like to start by congratulating Hon. Sen. Chief Charumbira on being elected the President of the Pan-African Parliament – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] – Mr. President, recent researchers have found out that a number of children living in the streets of Harare and around the country continue to increase. Extreme poverty, parental child abuse, re-marriages and maltreatment tend to drive children out of their homes to seek solace in the streets. However, immediate causes range from abuse such as sexual and physical abuse, death in the family or abandonment by both or one parent, including family breakdown. In most studies carried out, over 77% of children living in the streets mentioned child abuse and maltreatment at home as contributory factors to running away from home. About 62% of these children sleep in the streets while 38% slept both at home and in the streets. Boys tend to outnumber girls in the streets. Maybe it is because the girls are more controlled by their families probably because of their multi-tasks at home.
Mr. President, in order to survive, these children often beg and scavenge. Many die due to diseases associated with poor unhygienic conditions and dirty mouldy food. To survive, a child needs to join a gang, the gangs however have established bases where they sleep and hang out. Many gangs hide out behind supermarkets and in alleyways where rubbish bins are easily accessible and where unwanted food is thrown out. They wait for the moment each day when rotten food or food which has outlived its shelf life is thrown out and then they pick through it, putting anything edible into dirty containers for them to share afterwards.
Food is a priority but drugs are often even higher up the priority list. Studies have revealed that children living in the streets have now moved from abusing glue as a substance to the use of emerging hard core substances such as Crystal Meth known locally as ntshengu, mutoriro, bronclee, musomdodia, codeine, high alcohol liquors such as blue diamond and cane-spirit. Drug dealers and syndicate leaders are now employing these children to sell drugs and substances thereby increasing the vulnerability of children living in the streets to abusing substances. According to a World Health Organisation and United Nations office on drugs and crime publication, illicit drug use among adolescents is associated with mental illness, violence and unsafe sexual behaviour as well as increased risks of STIs including HIV/AIDS.
Sexually transmitted diseases are rampant amongst those in the street. Usually, there are a handful of girls in each gang and they are passed around among the boys. Many become pregnant whilst they are still minors. There is also a lot of abuse where older boys are forcing younger boys into sex. The shame and embarrassment means that it is often only when diseases are at an advanced stage that they have the courage to ask for help.
Zimbabwe is a signatory to International Child Protection Instruments including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children (CRC) (1989) which stipulates that the child has the right to education, health, life and the right to protection against all forms of sexual abuse. It places an obligation upon countries that ratify this convention to ensure that children in their states enjoy their rights. Zimbabwe has also some National Legal Frameworks and Child Protection frameworks in place, which include the Constitution of Zimbabwe (2013), Section 19 (2) (a) which stipulates that the State should adopt policies and measures to ensure that children enjoy family or parental care or appropriate care when they are removed from the family environment and (c) says that the State should ensure that children are protected from maltreatment, neglect or any form of abuse and (d) have access to appropriate education and training. The Zimbabwe Vision 2030 is also anchored on leaving no one behind, especially the vulnerable groups such as children.
It is sad to note that in Zimbabwe, there is a growing disquiet over the numbers of children working and living on the streets. These children have been portrayed as being little thieves or criminals in the making. Their moral values and behaviour are seen as different from that of other children who are not from the streets. This is so as they are seen to lack parental guidance and protection. The public tends to discriminate and stigmatise children living in the streets and label them a ‘menace in the streets.’ Their reaction to such maltreatment is mistrust, anger and bitterness. The major challenge for children living in the streets is dealing with societal perceptions about them and how they are consequently treated.
Major interventions by the Government, though they lack adequate funding, have included the commitment of children living in the streets to children’s homes and reunification. However, some of them soon trickle back to the streets, their usual source of livelihood. It is important to assess the root causes and address specific needs of such children differently. Programmes that have not considered children’s rights, personal needs and freedom of choice in the provision of services and those that have addressed the symptoms rather than the casual factors have been characterized by failure. Unfortunately, most programmes that address children living in the streets seem to fail in isolation without looking at the wider contexts of family and community. A child’s family living conditions play a critical role in determining whether children will remain at home or will move out and take residence in the streets. Poverty, martial breakdown, poor parenting, child abuse, neglect, orphanage and poor quality of relationship with family members contribute to the increase of children living in the streets which at times are brought by economic factors.
Some children require family re-integration, others respond well to a placement at children’s homes and where poverty has been the cause of a child coming to the street, there is need to look at how to support the family so that the same poverty trap does not just repeat itself. Also, the homes should be where the children can go to school and do projects to help out financially. Research has also demonstrated that no amount of intervention programming designed for children living in the street can be successful unless the community is prepared to respect, protect and provide opportunities to these children. Through awareness campaigns, communities should be encouraged to shun child abuse and domestic violence. Should disagreements and challenges happen, they ought to seek professional and counselling services.
In this regard, I call upon this House to implore Government to:
(1) Ensure that the Ministry of Public Service and Social Welfare assesses the root causes and addresses specific needs of such children so that they do not continue to live in the streets.
(2) Sensitize communities on responsible parenting that embraces a receptive culture towards children living in the streets and ensure that they do not reconsider living in the streets and be provided with better places to live. I thank you.
+HON. SEN. MKHWEBU: Thank you Mr. President for giving me the opportunity to make my contribution to a motion moved by Hon. Sen. S. Mpofu in this august House. First and foremost, this is a very pertinent motion which is about street kids or the vulnerable children, children without parents who stay anywhere and everywhere and do not have access to what they should get.
There should be structures in all cities so that such children have access to premises where they can live in. Government should have a budget to cater for them because we now have a lot of these children all over. You find that in streets they sell or beg and some of them should be in school. We expect the Government to cater for these children because they live under very difficult circumstances and they have become criminals whilst they are still young. They do so because they are being forced by the situation they find themselves in. Some have parents while some do not have parents. Some of the parents send the children to beg.
There should be a provision for free education for these children throughout the country so that we do not leave these children behind in terms of education. That is the President’s mantra that no one should be left behind in all Government programmes. There should be some programme or policy to look into these issues concerning vulnerable children and those on the streets. The children should be gathered and taken where they are supposed to be taken and be catered for by the Government without any Ministry looking into it but the Government being holistically responsible. May that be prioritised by the Government, particularly the child headed families?
Some of the children are in the rural areas and are not known that they are there. There should be programmes to conscientise and have records so that all these children are known by the Government. This also drives the problem of child marriages before they have finished school. If they have their own place to stay, the Government will be able to take care of them. Some of the children are still in school and others are not attending school. Due to poverty, parents end up forcing the children into marriage.
The Government should cater for the needs of these children, particularly on the issue of safety nets to avoid begging. If they can be given accommodation, food and all the necessities that they need, the children will not move around begging. Each city and growth point should have a place which caters for vulnerable children so that they can be catered for in all areas. When parents divorce, children become vulnerable. So if these parents fail to look after their children properly, they should be arrested and prosecuted by the Government because these children are now doing illegal things because of the parents. With those few words, I rest my case. I thank you.
+HON. SEN. NKOMO: Thank you Mr. President for the opportunity that you have given me to debate on this motion moved by Hon. Sen. S. Mpofu on the issue of vulnerable children who we call street kids. This is a touching issue particularly when we look at this issue, as a mother or father being able to go and sleep indoors with your children and you just look at the plight of these children. This is so painful. These children live a difficult life.
We could not find any name which we can refer to them in our vernacular languages but we only have this English term which refers to them as ‘street kids’. What do we call them in our culture? I have never heard them being called otherwise, which means it is something that is not right and humiliating for us to have children that are said to have no parents. How can we have children with no parents when they are also people who move amongst us? Who gave birth to them? Did they come from trees? I believe they have parents as I do not think there are children without parents. They have parents who have neglected them because of reasons best known to them.
This is a touching motion and we are really concerned because the population of children on the streets keeps growing. You find that they grow up living a difficult life as has been said. No one knows what they eat. We know they go looking for food in dustbins where they eat dirt food but still they grow. When they have grown old, we will not need them as a country for the development of our nation yet we are not caring for them in their tender age. As Government, we should take measures to see that these street kids get help so that they are also empowered as kids to have a meaningful life in society.
For now, we should take them as children of the nation. Our President, Cde E.D. Mnangagwa noticed that our country was dirty and set aside every first Friday of the month where we have a nationwide Clean-Up Campaign. We are supposed to clean the areas we find ourselves in on that day. We should also have programmes as a nation that set out a day when we can all round up these street kids and have a place where they can be sent for Social Welfare Department to look into the welfare of these vulnerable children. Our Government should build sort of hostels where they can accommodate and educate the children. We also have to try and identify their parents than to just say they are children without parents. When I look at those vulnerable children on the streets, I wonder how they will sleep, whether they will have eaten anything and what will they cover themselves with? It is very cold and it is not that they do not feel the cold because they are vulnerable. They feel the cold. Where do they get the blankets to cover themselves as cold as it is? People will eat adequately and cover themselves and get warm but where do these children get that? Mr. President, we see a lot in these children. In towns and cities, local authorities close water sometimes and you hear them saying they rationed the water when council says they are rationing the water. The local authorities ration the water for us who are not street kids, what of the street kids Mr. President, when the water is rationed what do they drink and where do they access the water from? It is a thing that we should consider as a nation and try and help the vulnerable children. I repeat Mr. President that these children have parents because these are children who are coming from homes. We should identify their parents. Let us come up with a programme to identify the parents of these vulnerable children, to build hostels for them and a programme to gather them and put them in the hostels so they can live normal lives like other children. With those few words, I have added my contribution to the motion moved by Hon. Sen Mpofu. I thank you Mr. President.
^^HON. SEN. MOHADI: Thank you Mr. President for giving me this opportunity to add my voice to this motion. I thank Hon. Sen. Mpofu who raised this motion in this House and Hon. Sen. Mkhwebu who seconded. When you are speaking of these vulnerable children on the streets, it hurts a lot. Looking at the weather currently, it is very cold even though you are under some shelter and you have all the blankets, you feel the effect of the weather. It is worse when you imagine that some of these children sleep under bridges and on the streets without any blankets to cover themselves with. It is so painful and I wonder what we can do to assist these children. We encourage the responsible ministries to come up with measures that can reduce the numbers of children that survive on the streets. It is so amazing that the numbers continue increasing despite the children growing older. Looking at these street kids, some of them have both parents but they are told to go and fend for the family and in the evening when they come home, they are supposed to provide food for the other siblings. As a result, they end up not even returning to their homesteads and stay on the streets for good.
I applaud the First Lady for the counselling and the effort she is making to provide rehabilitation for these children so that they can go back to school and learn. The life that they live in the streets does not allow them to even go to school. What they will be thinking about is to run around the streets trying to find something to eat. It hurts a lot when you witness a small child who is about six or seven years old running with a mutton cloth to clean your car so you can give them something when you stop your car at the robots. This is a strategy to ensure that they get something to eat. My plea is that there should be shelter provided for them to live in and be rehabilitated so that they can go back to their families and grow up like any other children and also go to school. If they are orphans, my plea is that these children be sent to school at the expense of Government which should also cater for their needs. The numbers of the children on the streets continue to increase and not going down.
Looking into the future, in five or ten years to come since they are increasing at this alarming level, we wonder what will be the result if whole streets are occupied by street children. I do not have much to say about orphans who are surviving on the streets. You also realise that they are vulnerable to diseases because they do not have shelter and they are also prone to pandemics that come like cholera and other diseases. It is really heartbreaking to every parent. I wish we could sit down as Senators and put our heads together and come up with a way on how we can assist these children so that they could be reintegrated into society and community. What is needed is that people could get into a consensus on how to raise these children as their own.
With these few words, I thank Hon. Sen. Mpofu for the motion that she has brought to this House. It is a very important motion, of which all of us here are supposed to support and have a say about these issues. I also plead with the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, as we are debating, so that they could come and intervene to see how we could handle the issue pertaining to these street kids. I thank you.
HON. SEN. S. MPOFU: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. CHIMBUDZI: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 6th July, 2022.
MOTION
SCHEMES TO REDEEM THE NATIONAL HERD FROM DEVASTATING AND DESTRUCTIVE EFFECTS OF DROUGHT
Second Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the effects of drought on the national herd in the dry regions of the country.
Question again proposed.
(v)HON. SEN. KAMBIZI: Thank you Mr. President. May I begin by thanking you for allowing me to make my contribution to the motion raised by Hon. Sen. Dube which talks about the effects of drought on the national herd in the dry regions of this country. Before I proceed with my contribution, I would like to pay my deepest condolences to the Dube family following the untimely passing on of Hon Sen. Mildret Dube. She was a joy to work with, may her soul rest in eternal peace.
I also would like to congratulate Hon Sen. Chief Charumbira for being elected President of the Pan African Parliament. Indeed, he made this House and Zimbabwe proud. I wish him well in his new position.
Drought refers to the dry period in the natural climate cycle. Its impact varies including decimation of crops and environmental degradation and socio-economic damage. These can be severe Mr. President and have detrimental effects on the livelihoods of both people and livestock. Zimbabwe’s measures to alleviate drought have been on an ad hoc basis. The country should not focus on managing crises but needs to encompass the full cycle of disaster management. This is now evident that drought is a natural disaster or hazard which we should be prepared for and the impacts should be dealt with before their occurrence. There is a need to come up with appropriate responses and communication actions when drought occurs. Drought is a period of abnormally dry weather.
We have four types of drought namely meteorological, hydrological, agricultural and socio-economic. The last two agricultural and socio-economic have direct negative impacts for crops, people and livestock. So, I will explain them a little bit. I will start with agricultural drought. This one refers to a reduction in water below optimal level required by crops during each different stage of crops resulting in impaired growth and reduced yields thereby affecting fodder. The second one which is socio-economic drought refers to the impact of drought on human activities that are direct and indirect and that include livestock production.
Mr. President, Zimbabwe is a cattle country and cattle play a role in food security and social cultural role in this country. If cattle are exposed to harsh production environment like drought, productivity is under threat. Cattle are very vulnerable to water and food shortages during drought period, hence they are prone to the following: stress, malnutrition, potential deaths, lower craving rate, high mortality rate among young stock, milk output also falls due to reduced feeds. Lactation ceases completely and animal weight falls, susceptibility to diseases increases, hence deaths increases due to stress.
Mr. President, allow me to quickly remind the House, the importance of livestock to citizens of this country, particularly the rural folks and people in general. Livestock provides proteins like meat, milk et cetera. It generates vital income, it provides employment, it brings foreign currency and most importantly, it also offers livelihood to two-thirds of rural communities, it provides manure, we also have some handcrafts coming from products of livestock. It is also involved in tourism and hospitality and it is also used for rituals in the communal areas. Some of the people use it for tillage. Labour is also produced from livestock and it is a form of wealth for many rural communities.
Mr. President, allow me to talk about the impact of drought on livestock. Normally when there is drought, crop failure occurs hence production falls. There will be no water and this will reduce pastures and it also reduces supply of manure, fertility levels and timing of conception is affected because cows are related to nutritional status of the female animals. They will also suffer from rate of conception due to tiredness and incomplete return to pick body weight. Livestock also suffer from high rates of miscarriages and stillbirths due to high levels of stress.
Mr. President, there are quite a number of mitigation measures that can be taken by Government and livestock producers. I will talk of three; the first one is we need water, the second one is we need to protect our water sources and the third one is we need to develop water sources that is macro dams, wells, and boreholes. I can even go on Madam President to say we need to reserve sources of ground water. When the need arises, we might also need to have water rationing and allocation. There is need to restore our pastures, we need to upgrade and modernise the Meteorological Services Department and early warning systems. We also need to have continuous drought monitoring at all levels and give early warnings.
We need to assemble drought informing websites and information houses for our livestock producers. There is need to conduct vulnerability and risk assessments to identify areas or regions prone to droughts. We need to plan and establish response action and strategies. There is need for drought coordination and communication with stakeholders. Another way is to improve legislation procedure of community participation. We need to empower and educate our farmers. We need continuous research on the ground. We need to develop policies to fight drought and to develop and implement drought related public awareness programmes and campaigns.
Madam President, because of diseases caused by drought, there is need for regular dipping of livestock and the regular dosing of livestock. We need to come up with a ten-step drought programme, creating an information management system, conducting research on climate change, giving technical assistance to provincial agriculture departments on drought assessment. Step number 1 is to appoint a drought task force; 2, to come up with objectives of the task force; 3, we need to seek stakeholder participation; 4, inventory resources and identify areas or regions at risk; 5, then come up with the drought plan; 6, need to identify research links and fill the gaps; 7, integrate science and policy; 8, publicise and build public awareness and consensus; 9, develop education programmes for our livestock farmers and 10, evaluate and revise the drought to improve for the next time.
Now, Mr. President, for easy understanding, I want to give examples of loses of livestock that occurred in one particular year although currently the situation might be even worse. In 1992 alone, Matabeleland lost a total of 60% of their herds. In 2019 to 2020, 30 000 cows perished nationally. The same in 2019, Matabeleland South lost 4 500 cows. The same in 2019, Masvingo lost over 4 000 cattle and the same 2019 and Midlands lost over 2 000. I have just mentioned a few provinces. These figures show how bad the situation can be when there is drought. If I have got a true reflection of the situation on the ground today, it may be worse than this.
Mr. President, the Government on the other hand has not been sitting idle, instead here and there, it endeavours to assist in livestock resuscitation using technical expertise from the Department of Veterinary Services, though more needs to be done. It came out with the various droughts policies. It came up with national policy on drought management, it also came with the national policy and programme on drought mitigation, there is the water policy, irrigation policy, drought disaster risk management of 2000, we have a national climate change response strategy, Zimbabwe Drought Risk Management and Action Plan, 2017 is still existing. We also have the Food Nutrition Policy of 2011, we also have an Innovation Policy of 2012 and currently we have a draft policy that is running. It is called a drought comprehensive agriculture policy frame running from 2012 to 2032.
Mr. President, no matter what options or decisions an individual producer of livestock makes, it is important to assess one’s resources now and future and adjust one’s demands to fall within the parameters of one’s resource availability. Also remember to always contact the extension office for drought assistance programmes and enrollment processes - that is the veterinary extension offices which are found in all districts, nationally.
I thank you Mr. President.
HON. SEN. A. DUBE: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. TONGOGARA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 6th July, 2022.
MOTION
POLICIES THAT ADDRESS AND PLUG LOOPHOLES RELATED TO TAX EVASION
Third Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the policies that address and plug loopholes related to tax evasions, illicit financial flows and corruption.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. CHINAKE: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. CHISOROCHENGWE: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 6th July, 2022.
MOTION
MEASURES TO RESUSCITATE THE ECONOMY
Fourth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion on the need to come up with measures to resuscitate the economy.
Question again proposed.
HON. SEN. ENG. MUDZURI: On a point of order Madam President. I wonder whether all these debates, no matter how much we talk and speak in this House, whether anything gets to our Ministers because when we discuss these measures about the economy, someone must be taking notes on what we are suggesting. They might read the Hansard but the essence is that the Ministers must also be around once in a while to listen to these debates so that they become useful. I believe that we are not getting far in this House by just talking to ourselves. I do not know what you can do Madam President, but I strongly feel that the Ministers are letting us down if we are to get far with any policies, especially on the economy right now where it makes us want to be making suggestions.
THE TEMPORARY PRESIDENT OF SENATE (HON. SEN. MOHADI): Thank you Hon. Sen. Mudzuri. I also concur with you. I have been saying that but it is only that I was speaking in Venda and you could not hear that I was requesting the Ministers to also come in this House because it has taken too long for Hon. Senators debating about that. I think the Chief Whips will assist us in notifying them wherever they are, that they should attend. Thank you.
HON. SEN. ENG. MUDZURI: Thank you Madam President. I do not have much to debate on this topic other than to say this motion has been debated many times in this House and in the Lower House. We want to thank the Hon. Senator who suggested that we debate measures that should help resuscitate the economy. I wonder whether our Minister of Finance and Economic Development together with the Reserve Bank Governor ever sit down and look at the way people are suffering out there such that we end up with a monetary system that works. The economy might suffer but the biggest problem is around the monetary issues. The monetary issues are never really debated or the Minister asking for suggestions from different corporates.
When we did our budget, we were given enough warnings by those who advise us to say you are not going anywhere and you will end up dollarising. Today we might find it difficult to dollarise because we do not make the dollar, but we must start thinking of a way to ensure that we have a stable currency. I was reading today about the gold coin. It might look brilliant where we do not have so many currencies but how many currencies do we have in Zimbabwe? We have a multi-currency system which uses the dollar and may be as the base, we use the RTGs, ZWD, Rand, Pula and we also use the gold coin. Do you not think that if we had an economy that works we would be able to use one currency?
My suggestion in this economy is that the Minister of Finance and Economic Development sits down with the Reserve Bank Governor to ensure that we end up with a currency that is trusted by the community. How do you use a currency which you only use cash? For instance, there is no citizen in this country who can use his/her master card. The master card posts money outside the country and it does not stay in the country as foreign currency. So you end up with no reserves of foreign currency, but if you want to use the same foreign currency, you cannot swipe your card. If you are coming from South Africa and you are a Zimbabwean, you get to any shop in the country and you cannot swipe your card, but the moment you leave here into Zambia or Mozambique, you get into any tuck-shop and you swipe your card with direct conversion. So how does the Minister of Finance and Economic Development expect the stability of the dollar when there is no direct exchange between the currencies by using our plastic money which is the card?
I strongly feel that our Minister and our Reserve Bank Governor and probably a team of financial experts are doing what I would consider ‘work avoidance’. We are seeing people in the streets selling money but you cannot get it. If you go into your bank and ask for your money, you are given ZWD5 000 per week. What is ZWL$5000 today? What do you use it for? We are refusing and we are sitting here as Parliamentarians saying we are defending the community – we should call the Minister and ask him to make this currency work.
Honestly, what do ladies in Dotito do when they want to sell their potatoes? They cannot get the machines to swipe in the rural areas. So the economy is determined by the behaviour of our experts who should properly advise the President and Parliament to ensure that people out there survive and live a reasonable life.
I had to complain first because I think some of these suggestions must be made to be understood by the Minister of Finance. We should continue asking him to answer this question on whether we are going to continue with runaway RTGs or we should suggest something that works for the common man. The common man cannot work on a gold coin which they are suggesting you will only get a certificate. You get a gold coin then you get a certificate. You move around with that certificate as money. You do not move with a coin like you do with your 25 cents; you move with a certificate with the number of your coins and the money is reserved in the bank. How do you expect someone out there to understand that this is their currency? Let us not be complicated, let us be simplistic and ensure that a currency is used as a method of transaction rather than a method of cheating our own elders and those who might not understand the academic meaning of certain terms. Thank you Madam President.
HON. SEN. MUZENDA: I move that the debate do now adjourn.
HON. SEN. MATHUTHU: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 6th July, 2022.
On the motion of HON. SEN. MUZENDA seconded by HON. SEN. MATHUTHU, the Senate adjourned at Five Minutes to Four o’clock p.m.