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Senate adjourns to July; Another delay on POSA - Bill Watch 19/2011
Veritas
May 13, 2011
The Senate
met on Tuesday then adjourned until Tuesday 5th July
The House
of Assembly will meet on Tuesday 17th May
POSA
Amendment Bill Still Not Through Parliament
The Public
Order and Security [POSA] Amendment Bill has still not been
dealt with by the Senate, although it was passed by the House of
Assembly in December last year and has been awaiting its Second
Reading in the Senate ever since. Now there will be a further delay
until the 5th July before there will be another chance for it to
be considered.
In the
Senate on 10th May
Tuesday’s
sitting was the Senate’s first for six weeks – it has
not met since 31st March. The sitting lasted two hours before the
Senate adjourned for another eight weeks.
Business
Dealt With on Tuesday:
- the General
Laws Amendment Bill, as amended by the House of Assembly,
was passed without further amendment. [Electronic version available.]
The Bill will now be printed and sent to the President for his
assent. It will then be gazetted as an Act – and only at
that point will it take effect as a law. [Note: At the request
of the Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs the Senate suspended
Standing Orders to allow the Bill to be “fast-tracked”
through all its stages in one sitting. Although not mentioned
by the Minister, the reason for the urgency is obvious: once the
Bill becomes law, clause 11 will block further forced sales of
Reserve Bank property in settlement of the bank’s many unpaid
debts. Swift gazetting as an Act is therefore to be expected.]
- the Minister
of Defence made a Ministerial statement on the establishment of
the National Defence College. The College is scheduled to be completed
in three years and to achieve University status in 2016. The mission
of the College will be “to prepare selected senior military
officers, senior public officials and senior officials from the
private sector of Zimbabwe and their equivalent from friendly
countries for higher responsibilities in their respective organisations,
by developing their analytical powers, knowledge of defence and
international security and strategic issues through high professional
training and exchange programmes”.
- Senator
Simon Khaya Moyo, ZANU-PF party chairperson and recently appointed
ZANU-PF Senator, made his maiden speech during the resumed debate
on the President’s speech opening the current Parliamentary
session. He called for the conclusion without further delay of
the constitution-making process and the concurrent lifting of
“illegal economic sanctions”; the holding of elections;
and the intensification of national economic empowerment programmes
through the vigorous pursuit of indigenisation.
Business
Deferred to July:
Bills [Electronic
versions available.]
- Public Order
and Security Amendment Bill – awaiting Second Reading [see
above]
- Small Enterprises
Development Corporation Amendment Bill – awaiting Second
Reading [passed by House of Assembly and transmitted to Senate
on 5th April]
Uncompleted
motions on the Order Paper: motions to take note of the report of
the Senate Thematic Committee on HIV and AIDS on Access to Treatment
and the report
of the Senate Thematic Committee on Peace and Security on The Role
of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Promoting Peace and Security
in Zimbabwe; a ZANU-PF motion on sanctions; and MDC-T motions on
the repercussions of elections on ordinary citizens, and on incidents
of violence in Mbare, Budiriro and surrounding areas earlier this
year.
On the
House of Assembly Order Paper for Next Week
Bills There
are two Bills awaiting Second Reading [electronic versions available]:
- Deposit Protection
Corporation Amendment Bill; This Bill proposes the establishment
of a Deposit Protection Corporation and Deposit Protection Fund
to provide for the compensation of depositors in failed financial
institutions. This would replace the existing compensation scheme,
which is spelled out in the Banking Act and in regulations made
under that Act.
- National
Incomes and Pricing Commission Amendment Bill; This Bill provides
for the National Incomes and Pricing Commission to become a board
with much reduced powers and functions. Powers to fix prices and
pricing standards and control rentals, incomes and service charges
are repealed. The new board will be an advisory body tasked with
research and monitoring functions. Price control will be covered
by Ministerial regulations and orders under the Control of Goods
Act.
Motions
include:
- several “take
note” motions on Portfolio Committee reports on: The Constitutionalisation
of Housing; Provision of Early Childhood Development; The Ministry
of Higher Education’s Cadetship Support Scheme and Scholarship
Programme; Air Zimbabwe and the Civil Aviation Authority; The
National Social Security Authority; and Local Authority Service
Delivery in Harare, Chitungwiza and Norton [electronic versions
of these reports available]
- private members’
motions:
- to condemn
the Minister of Local Government's “unwarranted interference
in and micro-managing of local authorities”
- calling for
the removal of ghost workers from the Government payroll and the
improvement of remuneration for civil servants and others paid
through the Treasury.
Wednesday’s
Question Time 21 written questions await reply by Ministers. Some
date back to November last year. Three questions feature the; impact
of diamond mining
in Chiadzwa on the local community: they seek information on
the re-location and compensation of residents; transport problems
caused by police excluding public transport from the area; and government
policy on employment of local people by the diamond mining companies.
Other questions include one asking for the Government’s position
on licences of business operators that are “counteractive
to the drive towards indigenisation”; and a question asking
for statistics of former civil servants still occupying government
accommodation.
Update
on Legislation
Bills Passed
and Awaiting Presidential Assent and/or Gazetting as Acts [Electronic
versions available.]
Bills in Parliament
[see above]
Bills Gazetted
and Awaiting Presentation in Parliament – None
Bills Being
Printed for Presentation in Parliament [electronic versions not
available – texts not yet released]
- Older Persons
Bill [a Bill from the Ministry of Labour and Social Services]
- Human Rights
Commission Bill [NEW TO LIST – only just sent for printing
– probably not available for some weeks]
Bills
Referred for Drafting after Approval in Principle by Cabinet
- State Enterprises
Restructuring Agency Bill
- State Enterprises
and Parastatals Management Bill
- Zimbabwe
Investment Authority Amendment Bill.
Requests for
electronic versions that have been offered should be emailed to
veritas@yoafrica.com
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