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Parliamentary update: No progress on implementation of AG's Office
Act - Bill Watch 5/2012
Veritas
February 20, 2012
Both
Houses are adjourned until Tuesday 28th February 2012
Parliament
Portfolio
Committees at work
ZESA
problems
The Minister
of Energy and Power Development told the portfolio committee on
Mines and Energy that ZESA owed its creditors $800 million, some
of which was for power imports from neighbouring countries. On the
other hand, its customers – including some Cabinet Ministers
and officials from his own Ministry – owed ZESA $400 million
in unpaid bills. The Minister assured the committee that the recent
Government directive to disconnect defaulting customers would be
applied across the board, regardless of a debtor’s identity
or official position. A proposal by a private investor to set up
a 600MW thermal power project was being evaluated; and bids to expand
Hwange and Kariba power stations would be adjudicated by June.
Government
land policy
The portfolio
committee on Agriculture, Water, Lands and Resettlement heard from
the Permanent Secretary for Lands and Rural Resettlement. She said
the Ministry, other Ministries, the Attorney-General’s Office
and the Bankers’ Association were still working on the question
of “bankable” 99-year leases capable of being used by
farmers as collateral for obtaining loans. 1300 farmers had been
recommended for such leases. On the land audit she said farm registers
had been prepared and preliminary work done, but the Ministry of
Finance had failed to fund the audit. On resettled farmers entering
into partnerships with investors, she said partnerships are allowed
as long as farmers retain overall control of their land, but that
partnership agreements must be verified by the Ministry.
Resettlement
in conservancies
The Permanent
Secretary for Lands and Rural Resettlement explained to the portfolio
committee on Natural Resources, Environment and Tourism that resettlement
responsibilities were shared among three Ministries: Local Government
[responsible for AI farmers], Lands and Rural Resettlement [responsible
for A2 farmers] and Environment and Natural Resources Management
[responsible for conservancies]. Her Ministry had transferred responsibility
for seven conservancies to the Ministry of Environment and Natural
Resources Management. Persons already resettled in conservancies
would be assisted to adapt their land use to conform with the Wild
Life Based Land Reform Policy, which had been adopted in 2007.
Constituency
Development Funds
The Minister
of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs has announced that his
Ministry has referred to the Anti-Corruption Commission the cases
of some Parliamentarians who have so far failed to account to the
Ministry for funds received under the Constituency Development Fund
scheme in the financial year 2010. Funds were disbursed to Parliamentarians
on the basis that their use for the benefit of communities in their
constituencies would be accounted for to the Ministry; the deadlines
for reporting expired some months ago.
More
on the Recent AU Summit
The full official
text of the resolution, decisions and declarations of the recent
African Union Summit in Addis Ababa is now available [available
from veritas@mango.zw
– please note this is a 235 kb pdf document]. The only resolution
passed concerned the African Diaspora: “to recognize the African
Diaspora as a substantive entity contributing to the economic and
social development of the Continent, and to invite its representatives
as observers to sessions of the Assembly of the African Union”.
The numerous decisions taken included the establishment of:
- the African
Union Advisory Board on Corruption in Arusha, Tanzania
- an African
Institute of International Law, also in Arusha, Tanzania.
Update
on Attorney-General’s Office Act
At their 8th
February meeting the principals agreed that the Attorney-General’s
Office Act “must be immediately operationalised”. This
Act was gazetted on the 10th June 2011, but will not come into force
until the President gazettes a statutory instrument fixing its date
of commencement. It provides for the separation of the Attorney-General’s
Office from the Public Service, for the office to be managed and
administered by an independent Board, which will be responsible
for engaging, promoting and discharging staff, fixing salaries and
conditions of service, and managing the funds of the office independently
of the Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs. The Act does not,
however, affect the exercise by the Attorney-General of the advisory
and prosecutorial functions conferred on him by section 76 of the
Constitution.
[Comment: There
have been two weekly Government Gazettes published since the principals
met – but still no statutory instrument to bring the Act into
force. The documents necessary for Presidential approval of the
statutory instrument have to be prepared by the Ministry of Justice
and Legal Affairs, which is the Ministry responsible for the administration
of the Act. The Ministry has now had over seven months since the
Act was gazetted in which to make the necessary administrative arrangements
for appointing the members of the Attorney-General’s Office
Board and the handover of responsibilities and functions from the
Ministry to the Board.]
“Banning”
of NGOs
The provincial
governor of Masvingo Province announced last week that he had prohibited
29 non-governmental organisations from continuing to operate in
the province until they complied with an earlier directive that
they should submit their certificates of registration to the provincial
administrator together with memorandums of understanding signed
by the “respective” local authorities [presumably the
local authorities within whose areas the NGOs are conducting their
operations]. The provincial governor was reported to have told a
meeting of the NGOs that “the environment has to be cleared”
before national elections can be held.
Can a provincial
governor prevent NGOs from operating within a province?
The functions
of provincial governors, as set out in section 10 of the Provincial
Councils and Administration Act are:
- to chair
provincial councils.
- to foster
and promote the development activities of Ministries and organs
of central government, through “a process of consultation,
suggestion and advice”.
- to co-ordinate
the preparation of development plans and to promote their implementation
by other Ministries, authorities, agencies and persons.
- to perform
functions that may be conferred on them by other laws.
There is nothing
there to suggest that a provincial governor can prohibit NGOs from
operating within his province.
Private
Voluntary Organisations Act
NGOs which conduct
welfare activities have to be registered under this Act. The body
responsible for registering them, and for cancelling or amending
their registration, is the Private Voluntary Organisations Board.
Provincial governors cannot do so, and they are not represented
on the Board. There is nothing in the Act, or in General Notice
99 of 2007 which sets out the procedure for registration, that requires
NGOs to get permission from a provincial governor before they can
be registered, nor is there any provision requiring their activities
to be approved by a provincial governor. They do not have to submit
their certificates of registration to a provincial administrator,
and once they have been registered under the Act they do not have
to negotiate “memorandums of understanding” with local
authorities in order to carry on their activities.
Directive
and prohibition invalid
The “directive”
which the provincial governor of Masvingo Province issued to NGOs,
therefore, had no basis in law. His subsequent prohibition on their
activities was also illegal.
Status of Bills
as at 17th February 2012
[no changes
since Bill
Watch 2/2012 of 29th January]
[Electronic
versions of these Bills available from veritas@mango.zw]
Bills passed
by Parliament awaiting Presidential assent/gazetting as Acts
- Small Enterprises
Development Corporation [SEDCO] Amendment Bill [sent to President’s
Office by Parliament on 30th September 2011]
- Deposit
Protection Corporation Bill [sent to President’s Office
by Parliament on 8th December 2011]
Bill awaiting
Second Reading in the House of Assembly
Bills gazetted
and awaiting presentation
Lapsed Bills
from previous session awaiting restoration to the Order Paper
Statutory
Instruments and Government Gazette
[Please note
that electronic versions are not available from Veritas]
Collective bargaining
agreements have been gazetted for the following sectors: welfare
and educational institutions [SI 14/2012]; clothing industry [SI
16/2012]; Harare municipal undertaking [SIs 17 and 18/2012]; commercial
sectors [SI 20/2012].
Customs
duties
SI 12/2012 imposes
a 25% surtax on a long list of imported foodstuffs and household
goods, but excludes goods entered in terms of the trade agreements
with Malawi, Namibia and Botswana. SI 13/2012 makes related changes
to the customs tariff. SI 19/2012 provides for a rebate on importation
of a wide range of goods for the National Railways of Zimbabwe.
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