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Parliament
resumes on 10th July for important bills and Mid-Term Financial
statement - Bill Watch 28/2012
Veritas
July 01, 2012
Both
Houses of Parliament sat last week before adjourning until Tuesday
10th July
Extra
July Sittings for Parliament
The Parliamentary
sitting calendar has been modified to cater for extra sittings next
month to deal with urgent business. Both Houses will sit from 10th
to 12th July and again in the following week. Urgent agenda items
include:
Both these important
Bills are expected to come up in the House
of Assembly on 10th July. Passing both of them is part of the
Roadmap to Elections. [If these Bills are passed and gazetted as
Acts they may only be temporary. A new constitution, if approved
in the forthcoming Referendum and passed by Parliament, may necessitate
new Bills or Amendment Bills.]
- Mid-Term
Financial Statement/Budget: 12th July
Two weeks ago
the Minister of Finance warned MPs of ‘a major revision”
of his US $4 billion 2012 Budget, saying: “Part of the major
revision arises out of the underperformance of the revenue targets.
I can tell you that between January and May 2012, we have failed
to meet our revenue target by US $194 million, almost close to US
$200 million. Therefore, the figure of US $4 billion is going to
be revised downwards”. This means the Minister will be presenting
Amended Estimates of Expenditure and a consequential Appropriation
Amendment Bill.
As a result
of these extra sittings the opening of the next session of Parliament,
originally scheduled for Tuesday 17th July, will be pushed back
to a later date still to be notified, but probably in August.
Facilitation
Team Visit Delayed
The SA facilitation
team had to put off its return to Harare, planned for 25th June,
because the Zimbabwean GPA
negotiators were not ready to present them with a report on what
progress has been in fulfilling the terms of the GPA since the Luanda
SADC Summit at the end of May.
Palermo
Protocol Approved by House of Assembly
On 21st June
the House of Assembly passed a resolution approving the Palermo
Protocol [the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish
Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children] as proposed
by Co-Minister of Home Affairs Theresa Makone. The Minister explained
that in terms of section 111B of the Constitution
the Government needs the approval of both Houses of Parliament before
it can go ahead and accede to the Protocol, thereby making Zimbabwe
a State party. Several MPs spoke in support of the motion, giving
examples of trafficking that occur in and from Zimbabwe and stressing
the need to ensure implementation of the protocol following ratification,
including the passing of an Act to “domesticate” its
provisions in Zimbabwean law. The Minister will ask the Senate for
its approval on 10th July.
Press reports
have incorrectly said that Parliament is “ratifying”
the protocol. The correct constitutional position is that Parliament
“approves” an international agreement and that the President
as Head of State then “ratifies” it or “accedes”
to it. Ratification is the procedure followed when an agreement
has already been signed on behalf of Zimbabwe; accession is the
procedure when it has not already been signed. In the case of the
Palermo Protocol the period for signing expired in December 2002
without Zimbabwe having signed – hence the need for Zimbabwe
to accede rather than ratify. After approval by Parliament the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs will prepare Zimbabwe’s instrument of accession
for signature by the President. The signed instrument of accession
will then be deposited with the UN Secretary-General and the protocol
will come into force for Zimbabwe 30 days later.
[See Bill
Watch 27/2012 of 18th June for notes on the protocol. The protocol
is available from veritas@mango.zw]
In Parliament
Last Week
Both Houses
met on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, 12th to 14th
June. Once again, neither House dealt with waiting Bills.
In the
House of Assembly
Prime Minister’s
Questions Time [PMQs] - The Prime Minister began by referring to
the lack of regular Parliamentary attendance by Ministers during
the session and said he hoped the next session would see “a
greater presence of the Executive”. Questions included:
Drought-affected
livestock - The PM said there was a Cabinet task-force on drought
problems and Government policy was to arrange movement of livestock
to areas with sufficient grazing or feed.
Politically
partisan statements by security force officers - The PM asserted
that the majority of patriotic Zimbabweans serving in the forces
“are committed to upholding the Constitution and the protection
of the people of Zimbabwe”. But he then quoted from minutes
of a police meeting at which a senior officer had said that every
member of the police force must be aligned to ZANU-PF. He said this
was unacceptable and emphasised the need for “the re-alignment
of our security establishment to respect the will of the people,
to respect the security of the vote, to respect the security of
the persons and of course to respect the mandate of the people”.
Lowveld ethanol
project - The PM confirmed the Government’s commitment to
the project and the use of ethanol in fuel; he explained the problem
was that the arrangement between the Agricultural and Rural Development
Authority and Green Fuels had been reached without Government sanction,
that it was “suspect” and that “the initial ownership
structure needed to be corrected”.
ESSAR iron and
steel project - Cabinet had, the PM said, resolved the problem about
iron ore mining rights. He acknowledged that there should have been
proper consultation between the Ministry of Industry and Commerce
and the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development before the deal
was signed.
Civil Service
salaries - While denying there was any Government policy to freeze
wages, the PM reminded MPs that the country is “really in
a budgetary squeeze”, with diamond revenue expectations not
having been realised
Broadcasting
Authority Board - The PM insisted that the position was unchanged,
i.e., the Minister of Media, Information and Publicity was still
under orders to regularise the position. The Minister was “out
of line” if he had assured the House that the Board had been
regularly appointed.
Ministerial
Statement on UNWTO 2013 Conference - Minister of Tourism and Hospitality
Industry Walter Mzembi made a statement to the House on the United
Nations World Tourism Organisation [UNWTO] Conference to be co-hosted
by Zimbabwe and Zambia at Victoria Falls in October 2013. He outlined
the Government’s plans for making the event a success.
Motions
There was lively
debate on motions in the House of Assembly which sat longer than
usual hours.
The House approved
a motion by Hon Bhasikiti-Chuma of ZANU-PF referring to the plight
of cotton growers and calling on the Government to fix the price
of cotton “so that cotton farmers can benefit from the land
reform”. MPs from all sides supported the motion in a debate
taking up all of Tuesday afternoon’s lengthy sitting.
- Peaceful
Pre and Post-Elections Transition
On Wednesday
Hon Chitando of MDC-T proposed a motion calling on the Government
to put in place mechanisms to ensure a peaceful pre and post-election
transition, and urging SADC and the AU to ensure that their member
states subscribe to the ethos of African Charter on Democracy, Elections
and Governance. The motion was fully debated and supported on all
sides; it was approved on Thursday after further discussion.
In the
Senate
PLC
adverse reports
On Tuesday
the whole sitting was devoted to consideration of the Parliamentary
Legal Committee’s adverse reports on six statutory instruments.
The reports were presented by PLC chairperson Hon Mushonga. No vote
was taken and debate will continue when the Senate resumes. [For
a list of the SIs concerned see Bill
Watch 24/2012 of 6th June.]
Motions
New motions
were introduced on the following:
- Public Service
ghost workers
Senator Makore
introduced a motion expressing concern over the lack of expeditious
response to the reports of ghost workers within the Public Service
and calling on the Public Service Ministry to clean up the payroll
and report to Parliament as a matter of urgency.
Senator Chief
Musarurwa introduced a motion referring to the low remuneration
of teachers and urging the Government to take appropriate measures
to alleviate their plight.
- Report on
the International Women’s Conference on Women and Technology,
held in Bangalore, India, in February 2012.
- Report on
the Conference of the African Parliamentary Union [APU] held in
Khartoum, Sudan .
- Thematic
Committee report on the indigenisation and empowerment policy
which was presented by the acting chairperson of the Thematic
Committee on Indigenisation and Empowerment, Senator Hlalo [available
from veritas@mango.zw].
- Thematic
Committee report on access to clean water in Masvingo and Bulawayo
[available from veritas@mango.zw].
Government
Gazette of 22nd and 29th June
[NOT available
from Veritas unless otherwise stated]
Customs duty
Four statutory instruments were gazetted:
- a new customs
tariff [SI 111/2012] and new surtax tariff [SI 112/2012]
- suspensions
of duty for the purposes of section 9J of the main regulations
[SI 113/2012]
- suspensions
of duty for three specified mining companies for periods of 3
or 5 years [SI 114/2012]
Collective bargaining
agreement – 2012 minimum wages for the leather and shoe, sports
equipment, animal skin processing and taxidermy, and leather goods
manufacturing sector [SI 115/2012]
Local authority
by-laws – Chitungwiza service charges [SI 117/2012] and rents
[SI 118/2012].
Firewood, timber
and forest produce controls SI 116/2012, effective from 2nd July,
contains detailed regulations made under the Forest Act by the Minister
of Environment and Natural Resources Management and designed to
protect Zimbabwe’s trees. Firewood sellers and traders, timber
traders and farmers using firewood for flue-curing or flame-curing
tobacco will need licences to cover their activities. The use of
msasa, munhondo, mopane and certain other trees for curing tobacco
is prohibited except under stringent conditions. Persons transporting
or exporting more than half a cubic metre of firewood or timber
will need a permit. Licences and permits will be issued at district
level by Forestry Commission officials or local authority officials
authorised by the Commission. In addition to criminal penalties
for breach of the regulations, control measures include provision
for seizure, pending court proceedings, of both wood and vehicles
used to transport it that may be liable to forfeiture on conviction.
Veritas
makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take
legal responsibility for information supplied
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