|
Back to Index
The
last two weeks in Parliament - Bill Watch 24/2013
Veritas
June 16, 2013
Both Houses
of Parliament will sit on Tuesday 18th June
Countdown
to Dissolution of Parliament
There are now
only six regular sittings days left before the automatic dissolution
of Parliament at midnight on 28th June
Coming
up in Parliament Next Week
Unless the Extraordinary
SADC Summit in Maputo on 15th June brings about a reversal of the
dramatic steps taken by the President on Wednesday and Thursday
[See Bill Watches 20/2013,
22/2013
and 23/2013], the
Parliamentary programme for the coming week will be essentially
humdrum, as follows:
House
of Assembly
Bills
- Income Tax
Bill – this is listed for continuation of the Second Reading
debate started last month by the Minister of Finance with his
speech explaining the Bill, and continued last week with the report
presented by the Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Investment
Promotion. The Minister has indicated his readiness to incorporate
some of the committee’s recommended changes.
No other Bills
are listed, but the short Electricity Amendment Bill gazetted on
13th June [available from veritas@mango.zw]
may be brought up an urgent basis. The Bill provides for the unbundling
of the Zimbabwe Electricity and Distribution Company [ZETDC] into
two separate companies, one responsible for electricity transmission,
marketing and systems operation, the other for electricity supply.
Motions
Portfolio Committee
reports – debate is due to continue on reports presented by
committee chairpersons over the last two weeks: Ministry of Local
Government, Rural and Urban Development Budget Performance; SME
access to financial resources; diamond mining with special reference
to Marange
Diamond Fields; chrome mining; the education sector. Still to
be presented is a Mines and Energy Committee report on the electricity
sector.
Members’
motions – also listed are a number of adjourned debates on
motions such as Public Service remuneration and the historical prominence
of certain prisons once used for the detention of nationalist leaders.
Question Time
[Wednesday] The number of written questions carried forward has
been reduced to 19. There are no new questions.
Senate
Motions
There is one
new motion, to take note of the report of a delegation that attended
last month’s Conference in Bahrain of the Association of Senates,
Shoora and Equivalent Councils in Africa and the Arab World. Also
listed are adjourned debates on delegation reports on two sessions
of the ACP-EU Joint Parliament Assembly held in 2011.
Adverse PLC
reports on statutory instruments - The Senate is yet to consider
the Parliamentary Legal Committee’s adverse reports on three
statutory instruments – the Youth Council regulations in SI
4/2013; the most recent tariff of mining fees in SI 29/2013; and
the Mangwe sand extraction by-laws in SI 25/2013. These items have
now been on the Order Paper but not attended to for a long time.
In Parliament
11th to 13th June
House
of Assembly
The Second Reading
debate continued with the presentation of the report of the Portfolio
Committee on Budget, Finance and Investment Promotion, recommending
some changes to the Bill after conducting public hearings around
the country.
- Portfolio
Committee reports
The House concentrated
on motions from Portfolio Committee chairpersons presenting reports
[a full list of reports presented recently is in Bill Watch –
Committee Series 14/2013].
Question Time
[Wednesday] – Matinenga on Constitutional Court’s Election
Date Judgment and Other Election-related Matters
Backbenchers
kept Minister of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs Eric Matinenga
busy during Question Time. On the Constitutional Court’s judgment,
he explained that the court had unfortunately “ordered the
impossible” but said it was feasible to approach the court
“to seek an indulgence to carry out the order in an extended
period”. On voter registration he told the House how the voter
registration and inspection teams should be operating. On the legislative
programme for Parliament he said that in its remaining two weeks
Parliament would need to pass a number of pieces of legislation
related to the implementation of the new Constitution,
including the Electoral Amendment Bill approved by Cabinet only
the day before.
On bringing
the Electoral Amendment Bill to Parliament Minister Matinenga said:
“Before I left Cabinet yesterday to come to Parliament, I
specifically asked the Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs as
to when he anticipated bringing this Bill to Parliament. What he
told me is that he is only able to do so next week.” [Comment:
It is ironic that at that very moment only a few blocks away workers
at the Government Printer’s must have been busy toiling over
the printing of the Presidential Powers (Amendment of Electoral
Act) Regulations that were gazetted bearing the date 12th June.]
Senate
The Senate sat
on Tuesday [for 15 minutes], Wednesday [for 5 minutes] and Thursday
[for 36 minutes]. Nothing of any importance was done.
In Parliament
4th to 6th June
House
of Assembly
The House sat
on Tuesday and Wednesday only, before adjourning until 11th June.
On Tuesday the Speaker announced that there would be Prime Minister’s
Question Time the following day, but on Wednesday he announced it
had been postponed.
Bills
Only the Income
Tax Bill was on the Order Paper. It did not come up and was carried
forward.
Motions Two
Portfolio Committee reports were presented by the committee chairpersons
[see separate list of reports, below]. After Question Time on Wednesday
the House approved the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
before adjourning for the week.
Senate
The Senate sat
for only 5 minutes on 4th June, but until after 5 pm on both the
5th and 6th.
Bills On Wednesday
both the Securities Amendment Bill and the Microfinance Bill] were
passed by the Senate, with the Minister of Energy and Power Development
standing in for the Minister of Finance and delivering the Second
Reading speeches. There was no debate, and both Bills were passed
without amendment and returned to the House of Assembly, where they
had originated. The next step for both Bills is Presidential assent,
followed by gazetting as Acts in due course.
Adverse
PLC reports on SIs
The Parliamentary
Legal Committee’s adverse reports on three SIs were carried
forward, unconsidered.
Motions - The
Senate passed Ministers’ motions for the approval of five
international agreements [see list in separate paragraph below],
and began discussion of reports of delegations to ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary
Assembly meetings in May and September 2011.
Parliament Has
Not Been Busy – it Could Have Dealt with a New Electoral Law
Neither House
has been really busy during the last fortnight. Many potential sitting
hours have gone unused. The Senate has had very little to do. The
House of Assembly has been more or less marking time with business
that could easily have been shelved in deference to tasks of national
importance such as passing essential amendments to the Electoral
Law or tackling other essential pre-election reform legislation
if only the necessary Bills had been brought before it.
This lack of
Parliamentary activity prompts the observation that there would
have been plenty of time for Parliament to deal with a fast-tracked
Electoral Amendment Bill if Cabinet had been able to consider the
already agreed Bill as planned on Tuesday 4th June. Why was the
time not put to that use? Apparently, because the President’s
prolonged absence from the country [28th May to 7th June] to attend
a non-essential three-day conference in Japan [1st to 3rd June]
meant there was no Cabinet meeting on the 4th June. This in turn
meant that Cabinet consideration and eventual approval of the Bill
was delayed until 11th June, providing the President and Zanu-PF
with an excuse of sorts for claiming that the time factor justified
invoking the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) Act to amend
the Electoral Act
and rushing into print with the Election Proclamation. .
What
has Happened to Private Members Bills
No Private Member’s
Bills appear on the House of Assembly Order Paper. This situation
results from the judgment of the Supreme Court on 20th May nullifying
Hon Matimba’s Urban
Councils Amendment Bill in the case brought by Minister of Local
Government, Rural and Urban Development Ignatious Chombo to stop
the Bill [noted in Bill Watch 17/2013 of 30th May]. Before the judgment
the Order Paper featured both the Urban Councils Amendment Bill
and Hon Gonese’s Bill to repeal section 121(3) of the Criminal
Procedure and Evidence Act. Also now on hold are Hon Chikwinya’s
proposed Media Bill and moves to revive Hon Gonese’s POSA
Amendment Bill.
Recent
Parliamentary Approval of International Agreements
- UN Convention
for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism
- Statute of
the International Renewable Energy Agency [IRENA]
- United Nations
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
- African
Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally
Displaced Persons
- WHO Framework
Convention on Tobacco Control [WHO FCTC].
Government
Gazettes 7th to 14th June
Bill
- The Electricity
Amendment Bill was gazetted on 13th June [see above for an explanation].
Statutory
Instruments [NOT available from Veritas]
Friday 7th June
regular Gazette [No. 41]
- SI 79 –
Redcliff Traffic By-laws
- SI 80 –
Redcliff Animal By-laws
- SI 81 –
VAT General Amendment Regulations
Friday 7th June
Gazette Extraordinary [No. 42]
- SI 82 –
Customs and Excise Suspension Amendment Regulations
Friday 7th June
Gazette Extraordinary [No. 43]
- SI 83 –
Electoral (Amendment) Regulations, 2013 (No. 19)
- SI 84 –
Electoral (Special and Postal Voting) Regulations, 2013
Wednesday 12th
June Gazette Extraordinary [No. 44]
- SI 85 –
Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) (Amendment of Electoral
Act) Regulations, 2013
Thursday 13th
June Gazette Extraordinary [No. 45]
- SI 86 –
Election Proclamation [not available until between 3.30 and 4
pm]
Thursday 13th
June Gazette Extraordinary [No. 46]
- SI 87 –
Electoral (Amendment) Regulations, 2013 (No. 8)
- SI 88 –
Electoral (Nomination of Candidates) Regulations, 2013
- SI 89 –
Electoral (Accreditation of Observers) Regulations, 2013
Friday 14th
June regular Gazette [No. 47]
No statutory
instruments
General
Notices
Appointment
of commissioners of oaths for voter registration purposes
GN 33A of 13th
June lists a large number of individuals appointed to be commissioners
of oaths for Zimbabwe “only for the purposes of voter registration
2013”.
Government financial
statements for March and April
GNs 261 and
262 published on 7th June.
Veritas
makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take
legal responsibility for information supplied
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
TOP
|
