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Human
Rights Commission Act gazetted: Parliament's one-day sitting - Bill
Watch 47/2012
Veritas
October 14, 2012
Both Houses
of Parliament Met on Tuesday 9th October and Have Adjourned until
15th November
No Date
Yet for Official Opening of Next Parliamentary Session
Correction
of Error
In Bill
Watch 46/2012 of 9th October the item on the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission’s invitation to organisations wishing to provide
voter education gave an incorrect telephone number for making enquiries
of the Commission. The correct number is Harare 770340. Veritas
apologises.
Zimbabwe
Human Rights Commission Act Gazetted
The Zimbabwe
Human Rights Commission Act was gazetted on Friday 12th October
as Act No 2/2012. It came into force immediately. [Act available
from veritas@mango.zw]
Although members
of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission [ZHRC] were sworn in on
31st March 2010, the Commission has been waiting for the promulgation
of this Act to enable it to become operational. Members have however
been able to prepare for their duties by paying familiarisation
visits to similar national human right institutions in other countries
in the interim. Now, however, they should be able to get down to
work, which includes hearing complaints of human rights violations
– both current and those since 13th February 2009. Their work
will also include something not specifically mentioned in the ZHRC
Act or the Constitution – a pivotal role in the implementation
measures against politically-motivated violence and intimidation
in the context of the coming general elections. This is provided
for in the new Part XVIIIB of the Electoral Act, as enacted in the
Electoral Amendment Act gazetted on 28th September 2012. [Electoral
Amendment Act available from veritas@mango.zw]
Facilitators
in Harare
Members of the
South African facilitation team arrived in Harare on 9th October
to check on progress in the constitution-making process and on the
Roadmap to Elections. They were able to see that preparations for
the Second All Stakeholders’ Conference were more or less
on track. But MDC’s Prof Ncube told them on 9th October that
elections could not be held in March 2013 – ZANU-PF’s
latest idea – because reforms had not been put in place. And
their visit also saw the unnecessarily physical police arrest of
MDC-T Minister of Energy and Power Development Elton Mangoma on
10th October on allegations of undermining the President in a speech
at a party function in Bindura in May. The Minister denies using
the words attributed to him; he was held at the police station for
3 hours and only released after making a warned and cautioned statement.
The next day MDC-T leader Mr Tsvangirai met the team and told them
the political environment was being poisoned by ZANU-PF violence
and intimidation and partial police action against MDC-T in stopping
rallies and making arrests.
Annual
Budget Preparations
2013 Budget
to be presented 15th November - The Minister of Finance has given
formal written notice under Parliamentary Standing Orders that he
will present the 2013 National Budget Statement on Thursday 15th
November. His Pre-Budget Strategy Paper has been issued [available
from veritas@mango.zw
as a 2 MB pdf document].
Victoria Falls
Pre-Budget Seminar - On 9th October the presiding officers in both
Houses of Parliament announced the Pre-Budget Seminar for Parliamentarians,
which will run from Thursday 1st to Sunday 4th November at Elephant
Hills, Victoria Falls. The seminar’s purpose is to enhance
the contribution of members of Parliament to the process of budget
formulation and prioritisation.
Other Budget
preparations - Without waiting for the next session to be officially
opened, Parliament’s Budget programme will start with public
hearings by the House of Assembly Portfolio Committee on Budget,
Finance and Investment Promotion all round the country from Monday
15th to Friday 19th October [details in separate Bill Watch Parliamentary
Committee Series bulletin], with a hearing in Harare later.
After the Budget
presentation - The chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Budget,
Finance and Investment Promotion, Hon Zhanda, has warned that Parliament
will not be prepared to rubber-stamp the Budget without proper consideration
– Ministers will have to defend their Budget allocations.
And after presentation of the Budget on 15th November the committee
will require two weeks to study it. This clashes with the Minister’s
programme for the Budget to be debated and passed by both Houses
by the end of November. [Note: the original Parliamentary calendar
for 2012 envisaged no sittings at all in December, but the calendar
is flexible and has already been departed from several times.]
In Parliament
Last Week
Both Houses
sat for only one day - 9th October
House of Assembly
Death
of Hon Mudenge
Members observed
a minute’s silence in memory of the late MP for Masvingo North
and Minister of Higher Education and Technology, Hon Stan Mudenge,
who died on 24th September.
Bills
Securities
Bill - The Securities Bill was presented on behalf of the Minister
of Finance by the Minister of Energy and Power Development and was
given its first reading. It was then referred to the Parliamentary
Legal Committee for its report on the Bill’s constitutionality.
National
Incomes and Pricing Commission Bill – this item was not
taken. The Minister of Industry and Commerce has not yet delivered
his second reading speech.
Motion
on following up Government assurances to Parliament
Hon Sululu,
MDC-T MP for Silobela, presented his motion on the need for a follow-up
mechanism on Ministerial assurances to Parliament. Hon Eddie Cross,
MDC-T MP for Bulawayo South seconded. After a two-hour debate that
included contributions by both MDC-T and ZANU-PF MPs, the House
adopted a resolution calling on committees:
- to follow
up resolutions, including resolutions adopting portfolio committee
reports, and Government undertakings given on the floor of the
House
- to propose
the imposition of sanctions [not specified during the debate]
by the House on any Minister who fails to respond to committee
reports.
Contributors
deplored Ministers’ failure to implement committee recommendations
and assurances given to the House and its committees, complaining
that the Government does not take the House sufficiently seriously.
Hon Cross suggested that MPs should consider refusing to approve
the forthcoming Budget if the Minister of Finance does not take
on board input from the Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and
Economic Development. There were calls for the revival of the former
Committee on Government Assurances which functioned until 2005.
Senate
Death of Senator
Rimbi - Senators observed a minute’s silence in honour of
the late Senator Josiah Rimbi, MDC-T elected Senator for Chipinge.
The Swakopmund
Protocol on the Protection of Traditional Knowledge and Expressions
of Folklore [a protocol within the framework of the African Regional
Intellectual Property Organisation] was approved without debate.
Such protocols have to be approved by Parliament [section 111B of
the Constitution]
and as this one has already been approved by the House of Assembly,
the Government can now ratify it.
PLC adverse
reports on statutory instruments - The Minister of Justice and Legal
Affairs brought Senators up to date on developments over the Parliamentary
Legal Committee [PLC] adverse reports on a large number of statutory
instruments dealing with charging of fees and penalties by local
authorities. He read out the joint statement agreed between himself
and the PLC in terms of which the statutory instruments will be
amended to take into account the PLC’s concerns. PLC chairperson
Shepherd Mushonga then withdrew the adverse reports. Another outcome
of the agreement reached is that municipal uniformed employees will
be gazetted as “prescribed officers” authorised to invite
and receive deposit fines under the Criminal
Procedure and Evidence Act.
The only PLC
item left for discussion is the adverse report on the Minister of
Defence’s SI 61/2012 restricting access to Army’s boarding
school by declaring it to be a cantonment. The Minister of Justice
and Legal Affairs has advised the Minister of Defence to repeal
the SI.
Status
of Bills as at 12th October 2012
Private Member’s
Bills held up pending Supreme Court decision
[See Bill
Watch 20 and 21 of 15th May 2012 for background]
Bill awaiting
Second Reading
- National
Incomes and Pricing Commission Amendment Bill
Bill being considered
by Parliamentary Legal Committee
- Securities
Amendment Bill [referred to PLC after its first reading on 9th
October]
Bills gazetted
and ready for presentation in Parliament
- Microfinance
Bill [gazetted on 31st August] [not yet available]
Bills being
printed None.
Government
Gazette of 12th October
Acts The Zimbabwe
Human Rights Commission Act was gazetted on 12th October
Bills No Bills
were gazetted
Statutory
Instruments [copies not available]
State procurement
SI 160/2012 contains a new schedule of administration fees and penalties
applied by the State Procurement Board. SI 159/2012 lists new monetary
thresholds for implementation of various tender procedures, plus
updated lists of public enterprises and local authorities bound
by the Procurement Act and regulations.
Rural district
councils SI 158/2012 contains standard-form by-laws regulating land
use and conservation for communal and resettlement land in the Nkayi
RDC area. SI 157/2012 is a proclamation transferring two pieces
of land between wards of the Manyame RDC area.
General
Notices [copies not available]
Competition
and Tariff Commission
Three notices
contain information about Commission decisions: GN 465/2012 sets
out the order the Commission proposes to issue to stop restrictive
trade practices by CIMAS medical aid society affecting haemodialysis
treatment, and calls for representations from interested persons
or parties. GN 466 and 467/2012 announce that the Commission is
about to investigate allegations of restrictive trade practices
against CIMAS re use of laboratory services, and against Innscor
Africa Ltd re use of its position in the basic commodities market
to restrict competitors and potential entrants.
Veritas
makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take
legal responsibility for information supplied
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