BILL WATCH 64/2021

[11th September 2021]

Only the National Assembly Sat This Week:

Both the Senate and the National Assembly Will Sit Next Week

Update on Acts

Attorney-General’s Office Act [Chapter 7:19] (No. 4 of 2011) now in force

By Statutory Instrument (SI) 224/2021 the President fixed 25th August 2021 as the date of commencement of the “Attorney-General’s Office Act [Chapter 7:19] (No. 4 of 2011) as amended by the Attorney-General’s Office Amendment Act, 2020 (No. 6 of 2020)”.

The Attorney-General’s Office Act of 2011 provided for the date of commencement of the Act to be fixed by the President by statutory instrument in due course at an appropriate time.  Before a commencement date had been fixed, the new Constitution of 2013 came into force and changed the constitutional role of the Attorney-General by moving responsibility for prosecutions from the Attorney-General to a new constitutional body, the National Prosecuting Authority headed by an independent Prosecutor-General.  This left the Attorney-General as chief legal adviser to the Government, with responsibility for civil and constitutional litigation on behalf of the Government and for drafting legislation.  Alignment of the Act to the new Constitution eventually took place in 2020, with the Attorney-General’s Office Amendment Act amending the principal Act before the principal Act  was brought into force; see Bill Watch 35/2020 [link].  The principal Act of 2011 and last year’s amending Act have now been brought into force together by the same statutory instrument.

Centre of Education, Innovation, Research and Development Act [Chapter 25:34] (No. 3 of 2021)

This Act was published in the Government Gazette on 3rd September 2021 and came into force on the same date. 

The Act establishes the Centre for Education, Innovation, Research and Development – and describes the object of the Act as follows:

“The object of the Act is to undertake research and innovation through fostering High-Quality Education, Innovation, Research and Development in strategically important sectors that have impact on the economy and society of Zimbabwe by harnessing a renowned pull [sic – “pool”?] of talent in the public (Government, Universities and Research Institutes) and private industry .”

The Centre is a body corporate in its own right [yet another State “public entity”], with its functions [including establishment of “Centre satellite institutes” in all provinces] and provisions for its governance by a Council [all members appointed by the President], financial matters and staff [headed by a Chief Scientist appointed by the President] all set out in the Act.  Its reports will go to the Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development [who is the Minister responsible for administering the Act] and to Parliament.  The Centre will establish a Centre for Education, Innovation and Research Development Fund the object of which “to fund projects which cause industry”.  The Minister is empowered to give the Centre such policy directions of a general nature as to the policy the Centre is to observe in carrying out its functions, subject to prior  consultations which will be detailed in the Centre’s annual report if its views on a proposed direction are overridden by the Minister.

Acts of 2021 to date

Only two Acts of 2021 have been passed by Parliament, assented to by the President and gazetted as law, as shown in the following table:

* This slot for Act No. 1 of 2021 was obviously reserved for the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 1) Act, when it was still generally assumed that re-publication of the Act would necessarily follow the “successful ?” second Third Reading of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 1) Bill earlier this year [now sub judice]. . 

New Bills Gazetted Friday 10th September

Two Bills were published with the Government Gazette yesterday, Friday 10th September [General Notice 2637/2021 in the Gazette is the formal notification of their publication by the Clerk of Parliament].  Both can be downloaded from the Veritas website by following the links indicated below.  These Bills are the second and third in a package of three major related Bills from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.  The first Bill in the package to reach Parliament was the Pension and Provident Funds Bill, which was passed recently by the National Assembly [with some amendments] and now awaits consideration by the Senate [see below].

Insurance Bill [link]

The purpose of this 146-clause Bill is to repeal and replace the existing Insurance Act with a new Act which, according to the explanatory memorandum gazetted with the Bill, is intended to introduce best practices in the insurance industry. 

Insurance and Pensions Commission Amendment Bill [link]

The purpose of this much shorter Bill is, as its title states, to amend the Insurance and Pensions Commission Act, which established the Insurance and Pensions Commission [IPEC].  Clause 11 is particularly noteworthy for two new Parts it proposes to add to the Act:

• Part IIA, to provide for IPEC to co-operate with foreign law enforcement authorities and foreign pension and insurance supervisory authorities  and to regulate the exchange of privileged information with them;
• Part IIB, to establish a Policyholder and Pension and Provident Fund Members Protection Fund, to compensate insurance policy holders and pension and provident fund members.  This Fund will be funded, among other sources, by levies to be paid by every insurer, pension fund, provident fund or retirement annuity fund; the levy will be fixed by regulations to be made by the Fund’s Board with the approval of the Minister of Finance and Economic Development.

Update on Other Bills

Bills passed by Parliament but not yet sent to the President for assent and gazetting as Acts

Once Parliament has passed a Bill, it is reprinted to incorporate any amendments made by Parliament.   When the reprinted version is ready the Speaker of the National Assembly or the President of the Senate must send the Bill to the President’s Office and give public notice of the date on which it is sent .  The President then has 21 days in which to decide whether to assent to the Bill or to send it back to Parliament for consideration of any reservations that the President may have as to the Bill’s constitutionality or otherwise. 

There are two Bills currently in this category, neither of which have yet been sent to the President. 

Forest Amendment Bill

Cyber Security & Data Protection Bill

Update on Other Bills

Bills passed by Parliament but not yet sent to the President for assent and gazetting as Acts

Once Parliament has passed a Bill, it is reprinted to incorporate any amendments made by Parliament.   When the reprinted version is ready the Speaker of the National Assembly or the President of the Senate must send the Bill to the President’s Office and give public notice of the date on which it is sent .  The President then has 21 days in which to decide whether to assent to the Bill or to send it back to Parliament for consideration of any reservations that the President may have as to the Bill’s constitutionality or otherwise. 

There are two Bills currently in this category: Forest Amendment Bill and Cyber and Data Protection Bill.

Bills already introduced in Parliament but not finally passed

Bills in the Senate

Marriages Bill – stalled in the middle of the Committee Stage

Pensions and Provident Funds Bill – recently passed with amendments by the National Assembly, now awaiting introductory Second Reading speech by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development

Bills in the National Assembly

Copper Control Amendment Bill [link] – Second Reading debate under way.  The report on the Bill by the Portfolio Committee  on Defence, Home Affairs and Security Services was presented on Tuesday 7th September . 

Police Amendment Bill [link] – Second Reading debate under way.  The report on the Bill by the Portfolio Committee  on Defence, Home Affairs and Security Services was presented on Tuesday 7th September. 

Guardianship of Minors Amendment Bill [link] – Second Reading debate under way.  The report [link] on the Bill by the Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs was presented on 25th August. 

Zimbabwe Independent Complaints Commission Bill [link] – Second Reading debate under way.  The Portfolio Committee has reported [link].

Bill with the PLC for initial post-First Reading report

Public Finance Management Amendment Bill  [link]

Bills awaiting introduction in Parliament

This is the category Veritas uses for Bills that have been published in the Government Gazette [“gazetted”] but have not yet been introduced into one of the Houses of Parliament – usually the National Assembly, but the Constitution also allows for Bills to be introduced in the Senate.  Standing Orders that require 14 days to elapse between gazetting and introduction are almost invariably followed, but this requirement can be waived by vote of the House concerned.

There are no Bills presently in this category.

Bills awaiting gazetting in the Government Gazette

Once Cabinet has approved the final draft of a Government Bill, the Minister responsible for the Bill may send it to Parliament for printing and gazetting.  Parliament then engages the Government Printer to print the Bill.  Once the printing process is complete – after the final proofs have been checked and approved by the drafters in the Attorney-General’s Office and by Parliament – the Clerk of Parliament has the Bill published with the Government Gazette; a General Notice in the name of the Clerk notifying the fact of gazetting appears in the same issue of the Gazette.

According to the latest Bill Status update from Parliament, only one Bill currently falls into this category:

Financial Adjustments Bill [Proofs with the Attorney-General’s Office for checking since 17th August] 

This Bill is presumably the Minister of Finance and Economic Development’s replacement for the unsatisfactory Bill of 2019 condoning massive unauthorised expenditure by the Government in the financial years 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018; see Bill Watch 66/2019 of 5th December 2019 [link]. 

Note: The Private Voluntary Organisations Amendment Bill, approved by Cabinet at its meeting on 31st August, has not yet been received by Parliament for printing and gazetting.