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MTP on Governance; Adverse Report on Mines Indigenisation - Bill
Watch 30/2011
Veritas
July 25, 2011
Both the House
of Assembly and the Senate will meet on Tuesday 26th July
Medium
Term Plan: Governance and Development
The Medium Term
Plan [MTP] was launched on 7th July. In his foreword the Prime Minister
acknowledged that some previous economic blue prints had fallen
short on implementation. The plan lists some of the achievements
made under the Short
Term Economic Recovery Programme [STERP] in bringing the country
from gross economic instability characterized by hyperinflation
to considerable economic stability. This has enabled the government
to improve social service delivery, especially health and education;
and to bring about some improvements in infrastructure; but there
have been only meagre gains in the rights and interests cluster
embracing fundamental freedoms and national reconciliation. The
MTP is supposed to build on STERP’s gains and plans to transform
the economy during the period 2011 to 2015. Meeting the MTP’s
growth and development targets is optimistically premised on approximately
$9.2 billion being harvested from Zimbabwe’s own natural resources
and growth dividend. Foreign direct investment will be considered
“a bonus”. [The glossy 285-page MTP document is available
from the Ministry of Economic Planning and Investment Promotion,
4th Floor, Block E, New Government Complex, Harare. It is not on
the Ministry’s website.]
The MTP has
a chapter on Governance and Economic Development. Good governance
is acknowledged to be “integral to the successful implementation
of the MTP”. Planned measures presented include:
- Independent
Budget Office for Parliament: The plan envisages Parliament having
its own independent non-partisan professional Budget Office to
provide information and analysis concerning the national budget
to legislators, parliamentary committees, civil society organisations
and citizens. The idea is to enhance Parliament’s understanding
of the budget and enable it to debate it with the executive on
equal terms, and also to enhance transparency in the use of public
funds by enabling citizen participation in the formulation of
budgets and monitoring and evaluating the performance of Government.
- Anti-Corruption
Drive: There is a promise of intensification of Government efforts
to crack down on corruption, and to work towards increased accountability
and transparency.
- Transformation
of Security Sector: Paragraph 24:13 of the MTP promises that security
organs will be transformed “in a manner that enables them
to perform their constitutional duties without fear or favour,
in defence of the people, the country and its sovereignty”.
The security sector will be adequately resourced and there will
be an emphasis on training and ensuring improved conditions of
service for the security forces.
- Prison Reform:
The need to improve living conditions of prisoners is recognized
and there are plans to address it.
Mining
Sector Indigenisation: Adverse Report from PLC
On Tuesday 19th
July the Speaker announced in the House of Assembly that he had
received an adverse report from the Parliamentary Legal Committee
[PLC] on the requirements for indigenisation of the mining sector
gazetted by the Minister of Youth Development, Indigenisation and
Empowerment in General
Notice 114/2011 in late March. Veritas will provide further
details as soon as they become available. [Prominent lawyers have
given opinions condemning the requirements as both unconstitutional
and ultra vires the Indigenisation
and Economic Empowerment Act.]
In the
House of Assembly Last Week
The House sat
on Tuesday 19th and Wednesday 20th. The Senate did not sit.
Bills
National
Incomes and Pricing Commission Amendment Bill – there
was no movement on this Bill, so it remained awaiting its Second
Reading. The responsible Minister is Minister of Industry and Commerce
Welshman Ncube.
Zimbabwe
Human Rights Commission Bill – this Bill was still under
consideration by the Parliamentary Legal Committee [PLC] at week’s
end. The PLC could take until the 19th August to come up with its
report on the constitutionality of the Bill – or even longer
if the Speaker grants it more time. The House cannot take the Bill
further until the PLC has reported.
Motions
Unconstitutional
Statements by Service Chiefs On Tuesday, debate on Hon Chikwinya’s
motion [see Bill Watch
29/2011 of 21st July] lasted for over four hours, with MDC-T
and ZANU-PF MPs putting forward sharply differing views. ZANU-PF
members defended the right of military officers to express publicly
their personal political opinions, and also insisted that the main
culprit identified by MDC-T members, Brigadier-General Nyikayaramba,
was not speaking for the Defence Forces. Debate petered out at 6.47
pm when the number of MPs present fell below the statutory quorum
of 25 and the Speaker adjourned the House.
Question
Time
Wednesday saw
full use being made of the two hours allocated for Ministerial replies
to members’ questions. Topics referred to included:
Police
spot-fines for motorists
Co-Minister
of Home Affairs Theresa Makone told the House that spot-fines collected
by police are, with the permission of the Ministry of Finance, retained
for use within the ZRP; she also said that there is no law requiring
spot-fines to be paid “on the spot” and that people
should be give time [“maybe seven days”] within which
to pay.
Sanctions
The Prime Minister
assured a questioner that there was no division within the Government
on “sanctions or restrictive measures”; from a government
point of view the issue was being attended to from “a united
position”.
Ratification
of UN Convention against Torture
In a question
without notice, Hon Madzimure raised Zimbabwe’s continued
failure to ratify this convention. The Speaker directed that the
question be put in writing to enable a properly considered response
to be given.
Asiagate
Soccer Scandal
The Minister
of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture said he had only just received
the ZIFA report on this matter, and would be raising it with the
police and the Attorney-General.
Police
Ban on Public Transport in Diamond Zone
Co-Minister
of Home Affairs Makone confirmed the existence of a ban on public
transport in the Mutsago, Mukwada and Chiadzwa
areas “in the interest of state security”, i.e.
to keep the area clear of illegal diamond panners. Private vehicles
are allowed to enter under a permit system administered by police,
with permits having to be renewed every month.
Coming
up in Parliament This Week
Mid-Term
Fiscal Policy Review
The Minister
of Finance is expected to present his Mid-Term Fiscal Policy Review
in the House of Assembly on Tuesday 26th July. The Minister has
already said he will not be announcing a supplementary Budget, i.e.,
a Budget increasing the overall revenue and expenditure approved
by Parliament for 2011. But he could still present Amended Estimates
of Expenditure proposing adjustments and re-alignments in certain
Ministry votes, without changing the original Budget’s overall
revenue and expenditure figures. That is what happened at this time
last year, when Amendment Estimates were approved and an Appropriation
Amendment Bill passed.
Bills
Electoral
Amendment Bill – the Minister of Justice is due to present
this Bill in the House of Assembly on Tuesday 26th July. After presentation
the Bill will be referred to the Parliamentary Legal Committee for
the committee’s report on its constitutionality. [Standing
Orders allow the PLC 26 business days – i.e. up to the 2nd
September – to present its report, and also allow the Speaker
to grant an extension of that period if the PLC requests it.]
Deposit
Protection Corporation Bill [H.B. 7A, 2010] – awaiting
its Second Reading in the Senate.
Public
Order and Security [POSA] Amendment Bill [H.B. 11A, 2009] –
this Private Member’s Bill, long since passed by the House
of Assembly, has been held up for months in the Senate pending an
amendment to Standing Orders to grant its sponsor, MDC-T MP Innocent
Gonese, the right to speak to it in the Senate although he is not
a Senator. The amendment has now come into force, so Mr Gonese at
last has the right to present his Second Reading speech and see
the Bill through its remaining stages in the Senate.
Veritas
makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take
legal responsibility for information supplied
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