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Senate
votes against POSA Amendment Bill - Bill Watch 8/2013
Veritas
February 25, 2013
Both Houses
of Parliament will sit again on Tuesday 26th February
Zimbabwe
Youth Council (General) Regulations [SI 4/2013]: Update
Parliamentary
Legal Committee [PLC] adverse report
The PLC’s
adverse report on these regulations has not yet been presented to
the Senate, but this is expected to be done soon. As explained in
Bill Watch 7/2013
of 19th February an adverse report, if approved by the Senate, may
result in the regulations being annulled by the President without
anyone having to go to court for them to be declared ultra vires
and invalid. [Report is not available until tabled in the Senate.]
POSA
Amendment Bill
On Tuesday 19th
February Mr Gonese, the MP who introduced the POSA
[Public Order and Security Act] Amendment Bill, tried valiantly,
with the help of MDC Senators, to persuade the Senate to vote for
his motion to revive the lapsed motion from the previous session
seeking the Bill’s restoration to the Senate Order Paper.
The ZANU-PF Senators who spoke opposed the motion, claiming Mr Gonese
had withdrawn the Bill when he agreed to the POSA issue being dealt
with at GPA
Principals level. The facts, according to Hansard, were: in August
2011 Senators had asked for more time to examine the Bill, and Minister
Chinamasa had objected to the Bill on the ground that the POSA issue
was under consideration by the GPA negotiators as part of the Roadmap
to Elections; but Mr Gonese did not withdraw the Bill and the Roadmap
negotiations did not result in agreed amendment or replacement of
POSA. After over an hour of debate a vote was taken and Mr Gonese’s
motion was rejected by 28 votes to 17. The vote illustrates ZANU-PF’s
domination of the Senate; the Chiefs who voted followed the ZANU-PF
lead.
This is not
necessarily the end of the Bill. The other route open to Mr Gonese
is to table a motion in the House of Assembly asking that the Bill,
as passed by the House in December 2009, be sent to the President
for assent, despite the Senate’s rejection of his motion.
This is permitted by the Constitution,
Schedule 4, paragraph 3, which sets out what can be done by the
House when the Senate either rejects a Bill passed by the House
or has not passed it within 90 days of its introduction into the
Senate. Mr Gonese’s Bill qualifies on both counts –
not only was it rejected by the Senate last week, but, as it was
introduced in the Senate in December 2010, the 90-day period was
completed long ago.
Parliament’s
Role in Filling Vacancies in ZEC and ZHRC Chairs
It was announced
by Prime Minister Tsvangirai that at their meeting on Monday 18th
February the President, the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister
Mutambara had selected two persons to fill the positions of chairperson
on the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission [ZEC] and the Zimbabwe Human
Rights Commission [ZHRC], which had both fallen vacant. The selection
was later corroborated by the Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs,
under whose Ministry these Commissions fall. The persons selected
are Justice Rita Makarau as the new chairperson of ZEC and Mr Jacob
Mudenda as the new chairperson of ZHRC. The President cannot legally
make either appointment until both the Judicial Service Commission
[JSC] and the Parliamentary Committee on Standing Rules and Orders
[CSRO] have been consulted. The JSC met last week. The CSRO has
not met yet, but is expected to do so towards the end of the coming
week. Until due process has taken place and the nominees have accepted
the appointments and been sworn in, these appointments will not
be legally effective.
In Parliament
Last Week
Both Houses
took it easy last week, sitting on Tuesday and Wednesday only, before
adjourning until Tuesday 26th February.
House
of Assembly
Bills [all available
from veritas@mango.zw]
Income Tax Bill
and Securities Amendment Bill - Non-adverse reports were received
from the Parliamentary Legal Committee [PLC], clearing the way for
both Bills to move on to the Second Reading stage.
Microfinance
Bill - There was no movement on this Bill, which had previously
received a non-adverse report from the PLC.
Motions
Debate started
on:
- the condolence
motion for the late Vice-President Nkomo, who died on 17th January
- the motion
on the report on Zimbabwe soccer administration and the Asiagate
match-fixing scandal presented by the Portfolio Committee on Education,
Sport and Culture.
Senate
Bills
There were
no Bills for consideration. No Bills were transmitted from the House.
Motions
Most of Tuesday
afternoon was taken up by the debate on Mr Gonese’s motion
on his Private Member’s POSA Amendment Bill [see above]. The
rest of the Senate’s sitting time was occupied by further
contributions to the debates on the Vice-President Nkomo condolence
motion and the motion to thank the President for his speech opening
the Session.
Question Time
did not take place because the Senate did not sit on Thursday.
In Parliament
This Coming Week
House
of Assembly
Bills The three
Bills introduced by Minister of Finance Tendai Biti [all available
from veritas@mango.zw]
are listed for the Second Reading stage on Tuesday, in the following
order:
Motions
Debate will
continue on motions carried over from last week, including the debate
on soccer and the Asiagate match-fixing scandal. New motions listed
for presentation include:
- a motion
by Co-Minister of Home Affairs Kembo Mohadi, in terms of section
111B of the Constitution, seeking the House’s approval of
Zimbabwe’s accession to the United Nations Convention for
the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism. This is high on
the agenda for Tuesday. [Text of Convention available from veritas@mango.zw]
- a condolence
motion following the death of the Deputy Minister of Agriculture,
Mechanisation and Irrigation Development, Seiso Moyo, who died
on 20th December
- motions
to take note of Portfolio Committee reports on:
- the management
of dam projects by the Zimbabwe National Water Authority;
- access to
financial resources by small and medium enterprises;
- and local
authorities [reports not yet available].
Question
Time on Wednesday
The 16 questions
listed for Ministerial reply on 27th February include: questions
previously on the list but carried forward as they had not been
answered; for instance, questions for the Minister of Public Service
about a Commission of Inquiry into the War Victims Compensation
Fund and the payment of pensions for “exaggerated disabilities”;
and one asking the Minister of Industry and Commerce to name authorised
bottled water suppliers and to justify bottled water being sold
at the same price as diesel fuel. There is still a problem of Ministers
not turning up to answer questions. Newer questions include: two
for the co-Ministers of Home Affairs on the Ministry’s policy
on the display of ZRP force numbers on police uniforms, and on the
revenue generated by police roadblocks, the custodians of that revenue
and how it is managed; and one for the Minister of Health and Child
Welfare on the availability of ARV drugs.
Senate
Bills
The Senate is
still waiting for Bills to be passed by the House of Assembly and
transmitted for its consideration.
Motions - No
new motions are listed on the Order Paper, which lists only the
continuing debates on the vote of thanks to the President for his
speech at the opening of the Session, and the Vice-President Nkomo
condolence motion.
Question Time
on Thursday - Only one question, carried forward from last week,
is listed. It asks the Minister of Mines and Mining Development:
for information on haphazard illegal mining activities at Benson
Mine in Mudzi district.
Government
Gazettes of 22nd February
Statutory Instruments
[SIs] [NOT available from Veritas]
Pension funds
administrators SI 20/2013 lays down new minimum requirements for
pension fund administrators – they must be companies with
the prescribed minimum capital and be registered as insurers under
the Insurance Act.
Insurance business
SI 21/2013 fixes new figures for the minimum equity capital of insurers,
and for approved investments and compulsory professional indemnity
cover to be held by insurance brokers.
Collective bargaining
agreement SI 22/2013 sets out full conditions of service, including
wages and gratuities, for the Baking Industry.
General
Notice
GN 45/2013,
made by the Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs, designates the
1st March 2013 as the date of commencement of section 4(2) of the
Legal Practitioners (General) Regulations. This means that from
1st March a legal practitioner may not commence practice as a principal,
whether on his or her own or in partnership or as an associate,
unless he or she first satisfies the Council for Legal Education
that he or she has attended a full course of Council seminars on,
and passed examinations in, the several subjects listed in section
4(2).
Veritas
makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take
legal responsibility for information supplied
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
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