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Indigenisation Regulations Discussed by Council of Ministers –
Bill Watch 9/2010
Veritas
March 08, 2010
The
Senate will resume on Tuesday 9th March, The House of Assembly has
adjourned to Tuesday 16th March
The regulations
were discussed at an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers
on Thursday 4th March. Strong objections were voiced to some provisions
and it was agreed that the responsible Minister, Youth Development,
Indigenisation and Empowerment Minister Savior Kasukuwere, would
prepare amendments for consideration at the Council’s next
meeting on Thursday 11th March. The Minister’s public remarks
in the meantime leave little room to expect significant changes.
Update
on Inclusive Government
Negotiations
on GPA
Disputed Issues: The MDC-T have said that negotiations
on the disputes between the two main parties in the inclusive government
are deadlocked. They held a National Executive Council meeting on
Thursday and a National Council meeting on Friday and it was decided
that they would ask the South African facilitator and SADC to step
in. [National Council resolutions available on request]
Elections:
President Mugabe declared last Thursday that the Global Political
Agreement has a two-year lifespan which means that if the constitution-making
process succeeds there will be an election and if it fails that,
too, would lead to an election. [In fact there is nothing in the
GPA to indicate its lifespan.] The President said he would be standing
for re-election if his party nominated him. Speaking at a MDC-T
rally over the weekend Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, referring
to the next elections, said "We want a peacekeeping force,
so that we can have a free and fair environment for the election
to keep our people free so that they can vote. We can use AU and
Southern African Development Community forces for peacekeeping during
the election period."
“Sanctions”:
US President Barack Obama extended the travel and financial restrictions
on Mr. Mugabe and other individuals until 6th March 2011. During
his State visit to the United Kingdom last week President Zuma pressed
the British government for the removal of all “sanctions”
against Zimbabwe, but the British Prime Minister said there first
needed to be clear evidence of improvement in human rights, reform
of governance and freedom of speech. He reiterated that the EU's
sanctions did not target Zimbabwe or Zimbabweans but "individuals
who are responsible for violence and a number of businesses linked
to them."
National
Security Council [NSC] Meeting: The NSC met on Friday 5th
March, and is now scheduled to meet on the first Friday of every
month, monthly meetings being required by the NSC
Act. It has taken a year to arrive at this point. What has not
been established is whether JOC continues to meet.
In Parliament
Last Week
The House of Assembly
met on 2nd, 3rd and 4th March. The Senate was in recess.
House
of Assembly
Speaker’s
Ruling on Submission of Notices of Motions: To avoid the
disorder that arose in the House last month when a motion was introduced
without prior warning, the Speaker confirmed the previous practice
of Parliament under which the Speaker has had sight of motions before
their announcement on the floor of the House, thereby enabling the
Speaker to assess the admissibility of all motions and to withhold
from publication or to amend any motion not complying with Standing
Orders. “In future, therefore, all Notices of Motion must
be submitted to the Clerk’s Office by 11 am on the day on
which Notice is to be given. Notices of motion not abiding by this
ruling will not be allowed.”
Motions:
The House approved Hon. Bhasikiti’s motion calling on the
Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Mutambara to “engage
the European Union, the United Nations, the British and American
governments to urgently and unconditionally remove the illegal sanctions
imposed at their instigation on the government and people of Zimbabwe
as confessed in the British Parliament by the Foreign Affairs Secretary
Mr David Milliband”. Curiously, although MDC-T contributors
to the debate challenged the motion’s attribution of responsibility
for sanctions to Mr Tsvangirai and demonstrated that Mr Miliband
had been misquoted, they did not move amendments to the motion,
which was approved without apparent opposition.
BIPPA
between Zimbabwe and SA approved: At the request of the
Minister of Economic Planning and Investment Promotion the House
approved the Agreement between Zimbabwe and South Africa for the
Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investments. [Electronic
copy of agreement available on request.]
Coming
up in the Senate this Week
Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe Amendment Bill: The Committee Stage of
the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Amendment Bill is on the agenda for
the Senate’s sitting on Tuesday 9th March. Senator Mutsvangwa
of ZANU-PF has tabled major amendments; Senator Gutu of MDC-T has
tabled one amendment. [Bill as amended by House of Assembly available
on request.]
Court
Cases Affecting Parliamentarians
High
court rulingexpected on validity of speaker’s election:
Last year Jonathan Moyo [at that stage an Independent MP, but now
back in ZANU-PF] went to the High Court seeking the setting aside
of the August 2008 election of Lovemore Moyo as Speaker of the House
of Assembly. The complaint was that voting had not been conducted
by secret ballot as required by the Standing Orders of the House.
Justice Patel is expected to hand down his decision on Tuesday 9th
March.
MDC-T
MP Acquitted of Fraud: Tichaona Mharadze, MDC-T MP for
Masvingo West, has been acquitted of fraud at the close of the State
case; the charge alleged misuse of agricultural inputs allocated
to him under the Master Farmer Scheme.
Bennett
Case resumes March 8th.
POSA
Amendment Bill
The Portfolio
Committee on Defence and Home Affairs have finished holding public
hearings on the Bill around the country. The opinions from the public
expressed at these hearings indicate that most people would like
POSA repealed and a
simpler new Act drafted from scratch, based on the intention of
protecting the public when exercising their right of assembly and
freedom of expression, rather than one that can be used by the State
to repress these rights and freedoms. In the meantime the amendments
were considered a step in the right direction. Also raised repeatedly
in the hearings was the need for retraining and reorienting the
police force. The Committee will meet again on 8th March to discuss
its draft report, and may invite the co-Ministers of Home Affairs
and Hon Gonese, the sponsor of the Bill, to appear before the Committee
for further discussions. The Committee will then finalise its report
on the Bill for presentation to the House of Assembly during the
Second Reading debate. The Parliamentary Legal Committee will meet
on Tuesday 9th March to consider the constitutionality of the Bill.
[Available [1] POSA with all amendments to date; [2] POSA annotated
to show the effect of the changes proposed by the Bill.]
Update
on Constitutional Commissions
Media
Commission [ZMC]: President Mugabe said during a meeting
with editors and journalists last week that the new Media Commission
should get down to work without delay and deal with the accumulated
applications for registration of media houses and journalists under
the Access to Information
and Protection of Privacy Act [AIPPA] that await its attention.
They do not need to be sworn in before commencing their duties.
There is still a legal question mark over whether or not AIPPA needs
updating, as there is now a Constitutional Media Commission as opposed
to the former statutory Commission to which AIPPA refers.
Electoral Commission
[ZEC] and Human Rights Commission [ZHRC]: The Judicial Service Commission
and Parliament’s Committee on Standing Rules and Orders are
being consulted on these appointments, as required by the Constitution.
[The proposed chairpersons are former High Court Judge Simpson Mtambanengwe
[ZEC] and Prof. Reg Austin [ZHRC].]
South
African Court Judgment on SADC Tribunal Farm Case
Having obtained the registration
in South Africa of the SADC Tribunal’s rulings in the Campbell
cases, legal practitioners for the three farmers who applied for
the registration have said that the next step could be legal proceedings
to attach Zimbabwean Government properties located in Cape Town
in order to recover the costs awarded to the applicants by the Tribunal.
The properties are said to be “non-diplomatic”, i.e.,
not protected by the immunity from legal action applicable to buildings
and land used for the purposes of Zimbabwe’s diplomatic mission
in South Africa. [SA court order available.]
Chiadzwa
Diamonds Case
African Consolidated
Resources [ACR] has alleged that mining is continuing in the area
in dispute between ACR and the Government’s joint venture
partners, notwithstanding the Chief Justice’s order that there
must be no mining there pending the Supreme Court’s decision
on the Government’s appeal against Judge Hungwe’s September
2009 decision in favour of ACR. ACR has also indicated its intention
to contest the recent administrative action taken by the Permanent
Secretary for Mines and Mining Development to cancel its mining
rights under the Mines and Minerals Act. Minister of Finance Tendai
Biti, lamenting that Government has received no royalties from the
exploitation of the diamond field, has suggested that: “In
the interest of transparency, all mining licenses, leases, special
grants that have been given in Chiadzwa must be cancelled forthwith.
All mining operations must cease. There must be a new diamond law
in Zimbabwe."
Legislation
Update
Acts:
No Acts were gazetted last week or this week.
Bills passed by Parliament
last year awaiting gazetting as Acts: Financial Adjustments Bill,
Public Finance Management Act and Audit Office Bill.
Bill in House of Assembly:
POSA Amendment Bill.
Bill in Senate: Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe Amendment Bill awaits its Committee Stage.
Statutory Instruments:
SIs 35 to 67/2010 dated 4th March [available on request] notify
the assignment to Ministers of responsibility for the administration
of Acts of Parliament. [See Bill Watch 8/2010 of 6th March 2010
for an explanation of these statutory instruments.]
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