BILL WATCH 17/2024

[15th May 2024]

In the Senate Last Week & In Parliament This Week

This is continuation of yesterday’s Bill Watch 16/2024 [link] covering:

·      the business conducted by the Senate last week; and 

·      what business was on the Order Papers of both Houses for this week.

Tuesday 7th May in the Senate

Tuesday afternoon’s sitting was abandoned due to a technical problem affecting the recording system.  The Deputy President of the Senate allowed fifteen minutes for repairs.  When the problem persisted, he adjourned the sitting until the following day.

Wednesday 8th May in the Senate

Continuing debates on motions already moved:

ZEC Report on the 2023 Harmonised Elections   Senator Chapfudza who, as the Deputy President of the Senate  commented, had obviously read the report with an eagle eye, complained of imperfections he had found – illegibility of some maps and pie-charts; faults in the list of acronyms at the start of the report [“CCC” was distorted as “Citizens for Coalition for Change” instead of “Citizens Coalition for Change”, while “ZANU PF” in the list was used nowhere in the report].

Plight of children on the streets  Senator Moyo suggested a Government monthly stipend for poor people would help but was against the rounding up of street children to remove them.  Senators Mohadi and Shiri complimented the First Lady for her work with disabled street children.  Senator R. Ndlovu thought that removing street children for rehabilitation in special centres would be advisable.  Several other Senators contributed their ideas on the causes of the problem.

Climate-smart agriculture  Senator Tongogara said the Ministry of Environment should be taking the message about climate change to the people, and suggested using after-church meetings for the purpose.

The debates were all adjourned to be continued later.

Thursday 9th May in the Senate

Question Time  As has been the custom in recent weeks, the Deputy President of the Senate read out a long list of apologies from Ministers and Deputy Ministers.  Among the few who were available for Questions without Notice was the Deputy Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, who spent some time explaining to Senators that the introduction of the new currency was an ongoing process;  he mentioned that in an effort to make foreign currency available to citizens the Government was having discussion with mobile network operators – such as Ecocash – to resuscitate the network of agents closed down by Government in 2020.  As for variations in the price of gold affecting the exchange rate of the ZiG, he said that was the reason the backing of the ZiG included US dollars, because the US dollar usually went in the opposite direction, creating a balance.  He assured Senators that the interbank rate published by the Reserve Bank was not manipulated by the Reserve Bank but was a true rate emanating from a free foreign market.

In answer to Written Questions with Notice, Hon Chitando, the Minister of Mines and Mining Development, dealt with Government policy on mining of limestone by saying that the Government had prohibited the export of unbeneficiated limestone as a strategic mineral by SI 5/2023 and that the matter would also be covered by the forthcoming Mines and Minerals Bill, which is currently with the Government Printer.

Coming up in Parliament This Week

International agreements for approval of ratification

On the Order Papers for both Houses are four international agreements which will be proposed for approval by the Ministries of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare.  They are referred to in earlier Bill Watches:

·      the International Convention on Migrant Workers and their Families, and

·      three Protocols to the African Charter on Human Rights regarding older persons, persons with disabilities and social protection and social security.

Bills On the National Assembly Order 

There are four Bills on the Order Paper:

·      Private Voluntary Organisations Amendment Bill [link]

·      Criminal Laws Amendment (Protection of Children and Young Persons) Bill [link]

·      Administration of Estates Amendment Bill [link]

·      Death Penalty Abolition Bill [link]