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Swearing-in
of MPs and update on legislation and Government Gazette - Bill Watch
43/2013
Veritas
September 02, 2013
Swearing-in
of MPs of 8th Parliament
The swearing-in
proceedings for members of the new Parliament will take place at
Parliament
on Tuesday 3rd September as follows:
- for members
of the National Assembly, commencing at 9 am
- for Senators,
commencing at 2 pm.
After members
present have been sworn in, each House will proceed to elect its
presiding officers – the Speaker and Deputy Speaker in the
case of the National Assembly, and the President and Deputy President
of the Senate in the case of the Senate [see Bill
Watch 42/2013 of 27th August for more detail about these elections,
who is eligible for election, who presides over the elections, etc].
Ceremonial
Opening of Parliament by the President
Date not yet
announced, but probably Tuesday 17th September
Update on Legislation
and Government Gazette
In the closing
days of the last Parliament before it expired on 28th June, five
Bills were passed. Three of them have now been gazetted as Acts,
joining the Constitution
of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20) Act which enacted the new Constitution
on 22nd May. Two other Acts still await gazetting. [See lists below.]
2013
Acts already gazetted
Constitution
of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20) Act [Act 1/2013]
Gazetted: 22nd
May 2013 [“publication day”]
Commencement:
22nd May [sections 1, 2 and 3 of the Act, and certain provisions
of the new Constitution which was set out in the Schedule to the
Act. These provisions were specified in paragraph 3 of the Sixth
Schedule to the new Constitution,]
22nd August
[remainder of new Constitution]
This Act enacted
the new Constitution, which is set out in the Schedule to the Act.
The entire Constitution is now in force, as indicated above.
Securities
Amendment Act [Act 2/2013]
Gazetted: 30th
August 2013
Commencement:
30th August 2013
This Act makes
important amendments to the Securities Act, the Collective Investment
Schemes Act and the asset Management Act.
Microfinance
Act [Act 3/2013]
Gazetted: 30th
August 2013
Commencement:
30th August 2013
This Act provides
for the registration, supervision and regulation of microfinance
businesses in Zimbabwe, and amends the Moneylending and Rates of
Interest Act and the Banking Act.
Money
Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Act [Act 4/2013]
Gazetted: 28th
June 2013
Commencement:
28th June 2013
This Act was
hastily gazetted on 28th June after being rushed through Parliament
to comply with Zimbabwe’s obligations as a State party to
the International Convention for the Suppression of the Funding
of Terrorism, adopted by the General Assembly in December 1999 and
approved by Parliament earlier this year [see Bill
Watch 26/2013 of 25th June].
In the process,
the usual proof checks were not undertaken, resulting in many textual
errors appeared in the gazetted Act. The Law Reviser has invoked
his powers under the Statute Law Compilation and Revision Act to
revise the Act and has gazetted a statutory instrument making extensive
corrections to the text of the gazetted Act [Statutory Instrument
[SI]123/2013, gazetted in a Government Gazette Extraordinary on
16th August]. This statutory instrument will be followed in due
course by the publication in the Government Gazette of the revised
version of the Act. [Note: The announcement of the publication of
the revised version of the Act made in General Notice [GN] 395A/2013
was premature.]
2013
Acts not yet gazetted
Only two further
Acts of the Seventh Parliament await gazetting:
- Electricity
Amendment Act [Act 5/2013]
- Income Tax
Act [Act 6/2013]
Recent
Statutory Instruments
Census
of “establishments” from June to October
Note: According
to the Census and Statistics Act, section 2, the term establishment
means “an enterprise or part of an enterprise that is situated
in a single location” [at which it is the main activity].
SI 113/2013
contains regulations for a census of “establishments”
being carried out by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency [ZIMSTAT].
Most of the SI is taken up by a lengthy form listing the details
to be recorded for each establishment.
Section 3 of
the regulations places responsibility for ensuring completion of
forms on owner or heads of establishments: it provides that if by
30th October this year the census form has not been completed for
an establishment, its owner or head must report that fact to a ZIMSTAT
officer – and failure to do this within 7 days after 30th
October is an offence punishable by a fine or imprisonment. It is
also an offence for the owner or head of an establishment to fail
to supply the prescribed particulars.
Suppression
of terrorism
Implementation
of UN Security Council resolutions against Al-Qaida and the Taliban
SI 112/2013
contains regulations made by the co-Ministers of Home Affairs, with
the consent of the President, under the Suppression of Foreign and
International Terrorism Act. The object is to implement UN Security
resolutions 1267/1999 and 1373/2001 designed to prevent and suppress
the financing of Al-Qaida and the Taliban. The regulations:
- designate
Al-Qaida and the Taliban as foreign or international terrorist
organisations for the purposes of the Act, which allows any assets
of the organisations in Zimbabwe to be wound up and disposed of.
- designate
the Bank Use Promotion and Suppression of Money Laundering Unit
of the Reserve Bank as the entity empowered to designate individuals
as foreign or international terrorists and notify such designations
in the Government Gazette. This designation may trigger action
against such individuals by the Attorney-General under the Money
Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Act.
Collective
bargaining agreements
Government schools
industry SI 127/2013 specifies wages for employees of school development
associations and committees for the period 8th May to 31st December
2013.
Printing, packaging
and newspaper industry SI 114/2013 specifies wages for 2013.
Cigarette and
tobacco manufacturing industry SI 121/2013 sets out complete conditions
of service for workers in the industry.
Tourism industry
SI 124/2013 sets out complete conditions of service for the tourism
industry.
Local
authority by-laws
Chitungwiza
Municipality - Two statutory instruments specify lodgers’
fees, service, supplementary and water charges [SI 119/2013] and
rents for residential properties [SI 120/2013].
Zvishavane Town
Council SI 117/2013 enacts Hawkers and Street Vendors By-laws. SI
118/2013 enacts Clamping and Tow-Away By-laws.
Social
workers as probation officers
SI 125/2013,
made by the Minister of Labour and Social Welfare under the Children’s’
Act, provides for registered social workers to be registered
with the Ministry for engagement to perform certain specified functions
of probation officers for the purposes of the Children’s Act.
Telecommunications
licensing
SI 122/2013
[republication with corrections of SI 115] specifies new licence
fees for licences other than private radio station licences, backdated
to 10th July 2013.
Toll
road tolling points
SI 116/2013
specifies three new tolling points on trunk roads:
- Harare -
Mutare road, 34.5 km from Harare
- Harare –
Gweru road, 17km before Gweru
- Bulawayo
– Victoria Falls road, 28 km before Hwange.
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