BILL WATCH 25/2024
[21st July 2024]
Coming Up in Parliament This Week
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Tuesday 23rd July
The following items of business are on the National Assembly’s Order paper for the 23rd July, but they cannot all be dealt with on that day and the Assembly may change the order in which they are considered.
Bills on the National Assembly Order Paper
There are four Bills set down on the Order Paper to be dealt with during the week:
· Death Penalty Abolition Bill [link]
The Second Reading of this Bill is due to resume.
· Private Voluntary Organisations Amendment Bill [link]
The Committee Stage of this Bill is due to continue from where it left off when the Assembly adjourned on Thursday 11th July. Several amendments to the Bill were passed on that day and many more are yet to be considered.
· Parks and Wild Life Amendment Bill [link]
This Bill is due to begin its Second Reading.
· Persons with Disabilities Bill [link]
This Bill is also due for its Second Reading.
Reports of constitutional bodies
· The Assembly is expected to continue debate on the annual reports of the following bodies:
· The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission [ZEC]
· The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission [ZHRC] and
· The National Prosecuting Authority [NPA].
· The Assembly will also debate reports of ZEC on run-off and by-elections held in 2023.
Ratification of treaty
The Minister of Environment, Climate and Wild Life will ask the Assembly to ratify the SADC Protocol on Environmental Management for Sustainable Development of 2014 [ink].
Motions on the National Assembly order paper
Among the motions set to be debated by the Assembly are the following:
· To combat piracy of intellectual property rights and to set up a compensation fund for people whose rights have been pirated
· To promote the teaching of more of Zimbabwe’s national languages in schools
· Measures to improve public transport
· To urge the Government to start and intensify cancer awareness programmes and to provide modern cancer equipment at Parirenyatwa and Mpilo hospitals
· To pass a law prohibiting foreign entities from promoting LGBTQI+1 activities and condemning those activities
Petitions to be considered
Debate is scheduled on the report of the Portfolio Committee on Defence, Home Affairs, Security Services and War Veterans’ Affairs, on two petitions: one seeking economic empowerment of war veterans and their dependants and the other for reburial of liberation war heroes.
Wednesday 24th July
Questions set down for answer
Among questions set down for Ministers to answer on Wednesday 24th July are questions on the following issues:
· Re-engagement with the US Government
· Human and animal conflict
· The renovation of sports stadiums
· Measures to curb hunger and combat food shortages, and the estimated cost of food aid
· The number of commercial farms purchased and compulsorily acquired since 2000 by Government and local authorities
· Payments to parents under the BEAM scheme
· The resuscitation of ZISCO and Lancashire Steel
· Overlapping rights of small-scale and large-scale miners
· Child marriages and pregnancies
· The amounts collected in carbon and sugar taxes and how the amounts were disbursed
· The collection and distribution of the community social responsibility levy on mining of lithium, black granite and other minerals
· Rural electrification and power sustainability
· Many of these questions have been stood over from previous weeks.
Thursday 25th July
The Minister of Finance will give a supplementary budget statement; it was deferred from last Thursday.
THE SENATE
Tuesday 23rd July
The following items of business are on the Senate’s Order paper for the 23rd July, but they cannot all be dealt with on that day and the Senate may change the order in which they are considered.
Bill on the Senate order paper
The Administration of Estates Amendment Bill [link]: set down for its Second Reading.
Agreements to be ratified
There are two SADC agreements to be ratified. The first is the SADC Protocol on Industry of 2019, which is intended to enhance the level of industrial development in the SADC region. The second is the SADC Protocol on Environmental Management for Sustainable Development.
Annual reports of constitutional bodies
The Senate is expected to debate the 2023 annual report of the following body:
· The National Prosecuting Authority [NPA]
and to continue debating the 2023 annual reports of the following bodies:
· The Judicial Service Commission [JSC]
· The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission [ZEC], and
· The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission [ZHRC]
Motions on the Senate order paper
The Senate is expected to debate motions on the following topics:
· Water shortages, particularly in Harare and Bulawayo
· Rehabilitation of mines and the participation of communities in profits from mining on their land
· Compensation for persons affected by depreciation of the Zimbabwe dollar
· Provision of kidney dialysis machines in district hospitals
· Birth certificates for people living in border areas
· The provision of shunt devices in hospitals to treaty hydrocephaly
Thursday 25th July
Questions set down for answer
Among questions set down for Ministers to answer on Thursday are questions on the following issues:
· Remuneration of teachers in government and private schools
· Labour practices by foreign-owned companies
