PARLIAMENT OF ZIMBABWE
Tuesday, 16th March, 2021
The National Assembly met at a Quarter-past Two O’clock p.m.
PRAYERS
(THE HON. SPEAKER in the Chair)
ANNOUNCEMENTS BY THE HON. SPEAKER
PETITION RECEIVED FROM Y-FM YOUTH BROADCASTING
THE HON. SPEAKER: I have to inform the House that on 11th March, 2021, Parliament received a petition from the Y-FM Youth Broadcasting beseeching Parliament through the Portfolio Committee on Information, Media and Broadcasting Services to exercise its oversight function by examining the licencing process of the community radio stations in the country.
INVITATION TO A ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH SERVICE
THE HON. SPEAKER: I also wish to inform the House that there will be a Roman Catholic Church Service tomorrow, Wednesday, 17th March, 2021 at 1230 hours in the Senate Chamber. All Catholic and non-Catholic members are invited.
HON. MISIHAIRABWI-MUSHONGA: On a matter of national interest Hon. Speaker Sir. Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I stand on an issue of national interest. The issue that I seek to raise is in connection with Harare City Council. As Africans when we bury our relatives, we take it very seriously. It is something that we hold very dearly, but the situation that has happened in Harare City Council in the places of burial is really sad. As you drive along Masvingo road, there is one place that was called Mbudzi and that place was the only burial place before burial places like Warren Hills, which was largely a white only burial place and now Glen Forest which is where only the elite can afford. So that place is the place where most of our people bury their own, my mother is buried there.
Mr. Speaker, just trying to find the grave of your loved one in that place is unbelievable, you cannot just do it. It is just so bad and for me it was an indication of the kind of rot that has taken place within Harare. Whether it is the growing of maize all over the place, but I think we have a real crisis around the city. The reason why I am raising it is, I am actually going to request from you Mr. Speaker, that we have the Minister of Local Government coming here to issue a Ministerial Statement on the state of Harare. We cannot have a capital city that is in the state that it is. I think he needs to come here and we need to talk to him. We need to have conversations with him around what it is that we are doing. There is no explanation about how any city in this particular century can be deteriorate to the level that Harare City Council has deteriorated.
For me, the one thing was just that place of burial but it is everything, nothing works. They cannot even send the bills. I was watching on television yesterday; they had an advertisement where they are saying ‘or you can pay in this way’. You do not get bills from the city council. You do not even know how much money you are supposed to pay, so the whole system has grounded to a halt. I think as a capital city, something needs to really be done and done urgently. I am actually requesting through you Mr. Speaker Sir, that the Minister of Local Government urgently comes to this House and issue a Ministerial Statement, specifically on Harare since we do have an opportunity to find out what is going on in this city? I thank you.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Hon. Misihairabwi, your request is accepted.
HON. T. MOYO: Hon. Speaker Sir, I have an issue of national interest. It is quite painful and saddening that after 41 years of independence , we still have skulls of our revolutionary icons; those chiefs who were beheaded. After the First Chimurenga/Umvukela, first war of liberation, 1896-1897 their heads were taken and shipped to Europe, to Britain in particular. On record, we have 11 such heads of very prominent chiefs such as Chingaira, Mashayamombe, Mapondera and many others.
I am requesting your honourable office to request the Hon. Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage to come to this House and issue a Ministerial Statement so that the remains of those revolutionary icons; those chiefs can be expeditiously repatriated back to Zimbabwe without much ado. I thank you Hon. Speaker Sir.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Let me respond to Hon. T. Moyo. A similar request was made last week.
HON. T. MOYO: Last week Mr. Speaker Sir, my request was centred on iconic head statues, some were returned.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Why did you not combine?
HON. T. MOYO: That is why I stood for a point of privilege because I forgot to mention this very important issue, so they can be combined.
HON. T. MLISWA: In the Minister’s response, he alluded to the fact that all outstanding issues including that. If you look in the Hansard, he did capture all that we are talking about. He mentioned that any outstanding issues as well to do with that will be responded to. It is just that when he responds we can then interrogate.
HON. MARKHAM: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. Mine should have come up before Hon. Moyo’s. We have not received that report on the dualisation of the Airport Road. I think it is fundamental when it comes to issues of the wetlands or land distribution without accountability. My biggest concern Mr. Speaker Sir, this report is open; it is on the internet. I cannot understand why the Minister cannot bring it to us. I thank you.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Is this the dualisation of the Airport Road? I will remind the Hon. Minister because we sent the Hon. Minister a copy of that report when he pleaded ignorance about it. So, we will ensure that he brings that report.
(v)HON. MUSARURWA: Thank you Hon. Speaker Sir. I would want to speak on a matter of national interest. This is on the issue of COVID-19 vaccine. Mr. Speaker, there should be more awareness campaigns about the vaccine so that people in different areas can understand the importance of getting vaccinated and how the programme is being rolled out. Last week I heard the Minister of Health and Child Care saying we have less than 50 000 people who are vaccinated from the available dosage which amounts to 100 000. When I went around Harare, very few people understand the issue of being vaccinated and they do not even know where they can get vaccinated.
The other thing Hon. Speaker Sir, the vaccine that we have should be distributed to many areas. Many people want to get vaccinated but they do not have transport to go to vaccination centres. Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
*THE HON. SPEAKER: Thank you. When you listened to the Hon. Minister of Health and Child Care speaking, he explained that there are stages and right now they are on stage one. However, there are doses of vaccine that will arrive, maybe today or tomorrow. They are going to do as you are saying. They will broadcast so that people understand about the vaccine. Thank you.
HON. MAVETERA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I rise on a point of privilege to just thank His Excellency for affording a State assisted funeral to the late Anne Nhira or Vimbayi Jari from Studio 263 – [HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear.] – What I really want to appreciate Hon. Speaker, Sir is the efforts that our Government is doing towards making sure that they recognise artists. Indeed, we really want to appreciate this. Indeed, this is actually forward in making sure that artists also are appreciated and can see that whatever they are doing in the country is appreciated very well. Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
HON. TOGAREPI: Thank you Mr. Speaker. I move that Orders of the Day, Number 2 to 8 on today’s Order Paper be stood over until Order of the Day, Number 9 has been disposed of.
HON. MPARIWA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
PRESIDENTIAL SPEECH: DEBATE ON ADDRESS
Ninth Order read: Adjourned debate on motion in reply to the Presidential Speech.
Question again proposed.
THE HON. SPEAKER: Before I call for this debate, I want the motion to be concluded at the latest early next week. Ministers must be invited to respond accordingly, otherwise we have exceeded the time limit in terms of our Standing Orders.
HON. CHIKUKWA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. Mr. Speaker Sir, I would like to add my voice to the motion moved by Hon. Mhona, seconded by Hon. Togarepi. Mr. Speaker Sir, first and foremost, I would like to thank His Excellency.
THE HON. SPEAKER: What is happening? In my notes, it says the motion was moved by Hon. Togarepi.
HON. CHIKUKWA: Mr. Speaker Sir, I would like to add my voice to the motion that was moved by Hon. Togarepi and seconded by Hon. Mhona. First and foremost, I would like to thank His Excellency, the President for his Presidential Speech.
There are two issues that I would like to debate on, the Cyber Security and the Devolution with regards to how they relate to the Special Economic Zones.
In his address, His Excellency referred to the Cyber security in Zimbabwe which is very crucial as the world is fast becoming a global village. I am aware that Cyber security is the practice of protecting our computers, laptops, servers, smart phones, networks, software and system data from any malicious attacks and cyber threats.
The emergency of a global and borderless information society has brought and continues to bring new opportunities to all countries worldwide. However, these technological gains have resulted in the emergency of new threats to networks information. At the moment, everyone who has a gadget is also a suspect of any criminal activities on cyber networks.
Zimbabwe has suffered a number of cyber security breaches in various institutions, mostly in Government departments. According to 2015, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Report, cyber crime is listed as one of the crimes contributing to the 1, 8 billion estimated illicit proceeds generated from criminal activities annually in Zimbabwe.
Between 2011 and 2015, about 140 cases of cyber crimes were reported and these included:- phishing – 20; credit cards fraud – 13; identity theft – 10; unauthorised access -24; hacking -72 and telecommunication piracy – 1. These statistics are evidence of Zimbabwe’s vulnerability to computer and cyber crimes and thus the pressing need to legalise the frameworks to combat these crimes before they become pervasive.
Between 2013 and 2016, 37 Government related sites were hacked including the Parliament of Zimbabwe’s website. This resulted in disrupting the online service of the country’s official portal, zim.gov.zw.
In the Education sector, the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) and the Harare Institute of Technology (HIT) websites suffered cyber attacks on the 21st of June, 2017 with the hackers demanding a ransom of about 1000 Bitcoins to restore information to their websites.
Mr. Speaker Sir, the need to put in place a legal framework cannot be over emphasised. The Cyber Crime Data and Protection Bill which intends to address cyber crime concerns and increase Cybersecurity in order to build confidence and trust in the use of ICT’s is still with us. I am urging the Legislature so that we can speed up in finalising the Bill and make it a law so that we can protect ourselves from these crimes.
These are my own recommendations with regard to enhancing Cyber Security: – that the Ministry of information be adequately funded to enable them to sensitise the public about cyber crime; that we as Parliament expedite the passing of the Cyber Security and Data Protection Bill into an Act.
On the issue of devolution, this is critical and it has been with us for some time. We have been waiting for the Bill to come and we hope this time it will come because there are more advantages of having devolution in motion instead of us having to disadvantage our communities.
Some of the advantages that I think we can all benefit as Zimbabwe or communities are: – it will address the shortcomings of central planning such as societal inequalities, resources disparities, economic gaps and political concentration.
The process will assist in promoting the democratic and accountable exercise of power and fosters national unity by recognising diversity. It gives powers of self confidence to the people and enhances the participation of the people in the exercise of the powers of State in making decisions affecting them. It further promotes the protections of interests and rights of minorities and marginalised communities to mention but a few.
In my conclusion, I want to say something about the special economic zones. The special economic zone is a concept that started in China and some of the countries in Africa, Nigeria and Kenya. If we are going to implement, I am aware that Special Economic Zones are already available in areas such as Harare and Bulawayo. I also think that the same privileges that we are availing to people who are going to open in Special Economic Zones should be availed to our own people like those in Small and Medium Enterprises. For example, they could be exempted from paying total rates, let us also extend the same advantages to our own small and medium entrepreneurs. I thank you.
HON. T. MLISWA: Thank you very much Mr. Speaker Sir. Mr. Speaker Sir, I move that the motion on the Recalling of Members of Parliament that was superseded …
THE HON. SPEAKER: No, no, no, I thought you were going to debate the motion that is before us. No, no, we cannot do that – [HON. T. MLISWA: Remember I spoke to the…] – You must come in after the debate has been adjourned – then you can come in. – [HON. T. MLISWA: Okay, I am sorry.] –
(v)*HON. NKANI: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir. I would like to add my voice to the State of the Nation Address that was presented by His Excellency the President.
Firstly, I would like to thank the President regarding the Presidential Input Scheme. This year is quite a good year because we got inputs on time and tilled our land. This will culminate in a bumper harvest. On the same issue, we have some A2 farmers who were supposed to benefit from the Command Agriculture Programme. Some benefited and most did not because banks delayed in processing their papers. So they failed to benefit from the Command Agriculture Programme. I therefore, request that banking institutions should cater for those who are supposed to benefit from the Command Agriculture Programme this coming year. It is also important that they also benefit from the Command Agriculture Programme this coming year. My wish is that those who are still new to the A2 programme who do not have experience should also benefit.
For example, there are big companies like Golden Valley. If we look at the past 100 years, these companies mined less than 20 claims meaning that they have many other claims that they have not mined and it will take them a long time to exploit these claims and allow our children to mine in these claims. They claim that these are their mining claims, yes it is a fact that they own them but Mr. Speaker Sir, this has culminated in our youths being unemployed. Therefore, they end up invading on claims that belong to these companies which results in conflicts and this is illegal. As legislators, we do not encourage this but because they do not have an alternative source of income, this problem becomes so glaring.
Mr. Speaker Sir, I am saying that our children are labouring for these companies. In view of these, I would like to propose that the Mining Act be reviewed so that it caters for the challenges that have been identified, to curb the monopolisation of resources by these companies that hold onto claims without fully exploiting them.
Furthermore Mr. Speaker Sir, there are areas that do not fall under the jurisdiction of these companies that are called, EPOs. These areas have not been pegged, these are mines that are protected and no one is allowed to prospect and mine. When people make enquiries regarding these mines, they are told that it is not public information and no one is prepared to disclose the owners. I would like to propose that this august House looks into the Mining Act for posterity. For example, from Chegutu to Kadoma, there is a claim that is being referred to, an undisclosed EPO. So it is my humble request Mr. Speaker, that this august House expeditiously reviews the Mining Act for the development of our nation. With these few words, I thank you Mr. Speaker Sir, let us continue working hard.
(V)*HON. CHITURA: Can you hear me Mr. Speaker Sir?
*THE HON. SPEAKER: Yes, I can hear you. You may proceed Hon. Member.
(V)*HON. CHITURA: Thank you Mr. Speaker Sir, for giving me this opportunity. I would like to start by thanking our President for the good job that he is doing in leading this nation in peace and in sourcing for vaccinations for us to be able to survive. I am going to say a few words over the State of the Nation Address by His Excellency the President. I want to thank him for officially opening Marovanyati Dam which will enable the Buhera community to irrigate so that they will be able to achieve food sufficiency and look after their families. It is my plea that in parts of the country where there are no dams there should be construction of such dams so that communities can benefit from irrigation schemes.
The President also talked about tourism and that it should be promoted so that we have a lot of tourists. If you talk of Mutare and Victoria Falls, these prime destinations should not be travelled by road but the tourists should be able to visit these areas via the skies. I would urge Government to renovate Magamba Training Centre which is in a bad state. The centre is very useful and strategic to the people of Mutare. By so doing, Government will also improve the social economic environment of our people.
The President also talked about drilling of boreholes and that roads infrastructure should be improved especially during the rain season when a lot of these roads are damaged by the rains. Once again, I would like to urge Government to drill a borehole at each and every village so that women who are pregnant do not go long distances to fetch for water. I thank you so much.
(v)+HON. S. K. MGUNI: Thank you for giving me this opportunity to debate. There are a lot of things that came to my mind when I listened to the President’s speech. The President actually gave guidelines and a roadmap on the legislative agenda for this year. The President encouraged the use of virtual platform systems when people are debating or conducting meetings. He discouraged people from congregating and meeting in the wake of this deadly pandemic. Here in Zimbabwe some people fell sick and others passed on as a result of COVID-19 complications.
I observed in the President’s speech that he encouraged us to continue to be united. The President said if we are united a lot of things would be easier for us as a country. We are enjoying peace in this country which was brought about by unity and I want to thank the President for that. The President also spoke about a special programme to make our Vision 2030 feasible. In addition, he talked about the five year programme called NDS1 which runs from 2021 to 2025 where he encouraged citizens to protect the gains made so far in our economy.
I would like to talk about Matabeleland North where generation of electricity is underway and this will boost our output as a country as outlined in the National Development Strategy 1. I think our vision as a country will be met because of the guidance of our leader, His Excellency the President.
(v)HON. S. S. KHUMALO: Thank you Madam President for giving me the opportunity to add my voice to the Presidential State of the Nation Address by His Excellency the President Dr. E. D. Mnangagwa. The State of the Nation Address was presented when we were experiencing the deadly pandemic, the COVID-19.
The COVID-19 attacked our country at the beginning of March 2020. Today as we speak, we are still under restrictions of the same pandemic which has affected a lot on our economic activities and our general lives. As a country, we thank our President who has diligently led the country through this deadly pandemic seeing how it has affected our country in comparison with other countries. Our President must be applauded for introducing measures that have assisted us to keep our numbers. Today as we speak, we have vaccination drugs being administered in our country having been sourced by our President. His Excellency is doing exceptionally well in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic.
Madam Speaker, we heard from His Excellency about the need for all people from all walks of life to fight the scourge of corruption, which everyone agrees we are able to improve and develop our economy. The campaign to eradicate this scourge through both print and electronic media is very encouraging indeed. I think in our country everyone knows that there is a watchful eye through the Anti-Corruption department created through the wisdom of His Excellency, the President of Zimbabwe for Zimbabwe. We believe that these efforts that are being made to arrest suspects that engage in corruption is when the land barons that have brought a lot of problems for development, particularly of our cities and towns where construction of infrastructure and construction of houses is no longer being done by the requisite planning authorities but the people are building on wetlands as has been witnessed in the current rain season. The efforts that are being taken to curtail this scourge are highly applauded. We believe as our President has said, all will be corrected and we will live the normal life, that we will arrive at the middle income status by 2030.
To achieve this, already we have seen the Transitional Stabilisation Programme (TSP) that has stabilised particularly the financial management system where the impression that was affecting our currency has been put on stop. Madam Speaker, those that are bent on derailing the efforts to develop our economy are fighting very hard to counter the measures that have been put in place to stabilise our currency as you will realise there is now the rise of the ugly head of the black market whilst our currency has been raised to 80 to 85 Zimbabwean dollars to US dollar. We have it now trading at 115 to 120.
Madam Speaker, we thank the President with the efforts that have been made to curtail the groups of the people that want to revive the black market in our economy. Madam Speaker, let me also thank our President for declaring the state of our roads as a national disaster because our roads are in a very bad state but the President has put them along the category of infrastructure that requires urgent rehabilitation and repair. We believe from what is happening across the board the effort would arrest the situation.
Madam Speaker, I was reading where a toddler was killed around Lupane area along Victoria road whilst they were trying to repair potholes on the road because kids tried to jump and a truck ran over him. I am happy to say i can see we are making concerted efforts to develop our water harnessing and infrastructure that can pull the waters so we have adequate water for our cities. We have adequate water for agriculture activities and the construction of the dams that I cannot mention gives us a strong hope that this issue of improving our infrastructure is going to be pursued vigorously. Therefore, as we achieve that we will be giving a boost to our economy.
Madam Speaker, I will just mention one thing that concerns my constituency that is on the road construction. We have the Bulawayo/Tsholotsho road, it is in such a bad state that usually it would take some 45 minutes driving from Bulawayo to Tsholotsho but today it takes about 3 hours on the same stretch of road because of its bad state coupled with the heavy rains that we have experienced this year, the state of that road is quite bad.
I am certain that works were started last year but was stopped, in passing I discussed with the Minister of Transport and he indicated to me that it was his intention to go and see the state of that road and I believe out of that meeting the road is going to be repaired. I want to also recognise as I discuss the State of the Nation address to thank the Government of Zimbabwe for the programme Pfumvudza/Intwasa on issues of alleviating the drought situation. However, this year we had a normal to above rainfall pattern across the borders of our country and from what we have experienced in the fields; it promises that we will have a good agricultural season.
The efforts by His Excellency the President in this Pfumvudza programme and the Presidential inputs, we believe will go a long way into alleviating the problem hunger as well as curtail the issue of year in year out on us in procuring food from outside our country hence diverting the leaking foreign currency that we get from improving our economy by going to buy food for ourselves. We believe the foreign currency that we get from exporting our produce is going to be invested in our industries and some needy things.
Lastly, Madam Speaker, I want to say thank you very much for giving me this opportunity to debate the Presidential that we got from the Third Session of our Parliament. I thank you.
(V)* HON. NHAMBO: Thank you Madam Speaker for giving me this opportunity to debate on the Presidential Speech. I want to thank the President for introducing national lockdown a move that helped us to curb the spread of COVID-19, we did lose our people at a faster rate as compared to other countries. I want to thank the move that was taken our President on stabilizing the economy, it looks like the economy has not stabilized.
The President also mentioned about Pfumvudza and the growing of short season crops like rappoko, sorghum and so on. In my constituency in Muzarabani farmers grow cotton and this is now creating employment to sustain their families. The President also mentioned about helping vulnerable families in my constituency people are receiving maize, I commend Government for this effort. The Government is also looking at the issue of rehabilitating roads. The President also emphasized on love and unity so that our country moves forward. I thank you Madam Speaker.
(V)*HON. MARIKISI: Thank you Madam Speaker, I would like congratulate His Excellency the President for his resounding victory in 2018 elections. It showed that he is a good leader; this is evidence by what is happening in our country, our roads have been rehabilitated, people are now having access to clean water and our hospital are now clean, I want to applaud that.
His Excellency is trying to improve mining and agriculture in our country. Looking at agriculture the introduction of Pfumvudza has made it possible that people put food on their table and I want to applaud that. I thank you Madam Speaker.
(V)*HON. MARIKISI: I want to thank you Madam Speaker for giving me this opportunity to debate on the Presidential Speech. (part of the speech not recorded due to network challenges.)
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon. Mpame please can you mute gadget.
(V)*HON. RAIDZA: Thank you Madam Speaker for the opportunity you afforded me to add my voice to the State of the Nation Address delivered by His Excellency the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Hon. Dr. E. D. Mnangagwa. I want to express my joy on the success of the programme that we have of rebuilding our country’s economy. The President stated that PSP was a success in relation to stability of our economy. If we look at our economy we all see that this programme was a success because prices of goods and services stabilised. Even foreign currency exchange is now stable, it is no longer going up as it used to be in the past.
I also want to thank the President for what he did for this nation during the COVID-19 era, young people were supported with money, those in sport and those is small businesses. He distributed about ZW$18 billion to those who engage in various businesses and projects. This also includes women in small and medium business. We also noticed that even those in rural areas were assisted. For example, in Mberengwa East, I witnessed the presence of this programme in my constituency when women were asked to register so that they can receive the money. I would like to thank His Excellency the President for bringing this programme to rural areas because it will improve the livelihoods rural people. I actually noticed youths from my area filling in forms so that they can also benefit. Even though they were few but some of them benefited, this shows that the President’s programme to assist people reached even the remote areas.
The other issue which the President spoke about is the Presidential Input Scheme which came to rural areas specifically for horticulture. This programme is going to develop rural areas so that our constituents can engage in other farming methods instead of waiting for natural rainfall, they can also engage in irrigation and grow crops like vegetables, onions and they will continue to get the President’s support. When addressing the nation during SONA, the President emphasised on the need to maintain and re-construct roads in our areas, including minor roads were budgeted for in 2021. It is clear that our President has people at heart and he treats us equally, whether it is a road in urban or rural area, it was included in the budget.
Coming to devolution, I notice that it has succeeded because the first batch of money which was distributed to our councils is improving our livelihoods. In Mberengwa East, we have a clinic which is near completion because of that money. I am pleased to say that Vision 2030 will be achieved because our President is a hard worker, he is a visionary leader. I would like to thank him for his statement which encourages us. There are also some pieces of legislation which he wants to see being passed through this House – these are good laws because they enable our country to succeed in all developmental projects. For example, bilateral relations and other issues which help business people to do their businesses on with other national. The President always says Zimbabwe is open for business, which means there is need to have enabling legislation which supports the President’s vision. With these few words I thank you.
(v)+ HON. Z. SIBANDA: Madam Speaker Ma’am, I would like to thank the President on what he said. The President spoke about agriculture. He was also consoling his people, especially those who benefited from the Land Reform Programme. Some people were worried that they were going to be moved away from the land but the President assured them that they were not going to be removed. I would like to thank our President, Hon. Mnangagwa for that and I would also like to thank him for his vision, especially on agriculture and irrigation schemes, which will develop most areas, especially Tsholotsho. He also spoke about roads. Due to the heavy rains which we received this year, most roads were damaged. We have seen that here and there roads are being repaired, which is the President’s vision.
Madam Speaker, we are happy with the President’s vision. When he visited Tsholotsho in Matabeleland North, when he came to commission the Gwayi-Shangani Dam, especially on the issue of water Madam Speaker, we were very happy with what the President said. He is not a President who discriminates. When he came to Matabeleland North, people were very happy and when he spoke about his vision on the Gwayi-Shangani Dam. That will help most of these places to get water. Even Bulawayo will get water from the Gwayi-Shangani Dam.
The President also spoke on education. We are happy that schools are opening. We are worried though on the issue of teachers because there are some schools without teachers. What can we do Madam Speaker so that we have enough teachers in schools? In Matabeleland North, you will find that at times there will only be a headmaster without teachers. So, how can he operate like that? It is just that we only have limited time to talk about what the President was saying. With the few words that I have said, I would like to thank the President, especially on the devolution of power. If you visit most of these places, people are working. We are happy with the President’s vision and even the councillors are happy with the issue of devolution of power. I would like to thank you Hon. Speaker for affording me this opportunity.
+HON. S. MATHE: Thank you Madam Speaker.
HON. MUSHORIWA: Point of order Madam Speaker.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: What is your point of order Hon. Mushoriwa?
HON. MUSHORIWA: My point of order Madam Speaker is that no Member is allowed to debate twice on a motion, especially the Presidential Speech. Most of the Members that you are calling to debate are now doing it for the second time and I am just wondering …
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Do you have the proof Hon. Mushoriwa?
HON. MUSHORIWA: Yes, we were in this august House when they were debating.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: It is not true. Please may you take your seat Hon. Mushoriwa.
HON. MUSHORIWA: Hon. Speaker, if I happen to bring the proof or the Hansard tomorrow, would the Chair be in a position to acknowledge it because we now have a feeling that …
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Hon. Mushoriwa, you are wasting our time. Please bring the proof. Hon. Mathe, may you please go ahead.
+HON. MATHE: Thank you Madam Speaker for affording me this opportunity to add my voice on the issues that were brought by the President of Zimbabwe on 22nd October, 2020. This is a motion that was moved by Hon. Togarepi and seconded by Hon. Mhona. I remember that we spoke to the President of Zimbabwe virtually. It was the first time that we did it because our country is following the World Health Organisation (WHO) regulations. Zimbabwe is also supposed to follow those regulations in order to curb COVID-19.
The President, in his Speech, spoke about the challenges that Zimbabwe is facing that are hindering development. He also stated that this was because of sanctions that were brought by countries from the West and also the issue of COVID -19. This has hindered the development of the country. He also stated in his Speech that he is grateful to the people of Zimbabwe for their patience and that they show that they have love for their country and also this is going to pass at some stage. After thanking his people, the President also explained that schools had opened and that children would go back to school, especially those who were supposed to sit for examinations. He said it was a deliberate effort on his part so that school children do not lag behind. We would like to thank him for that.
The President also spoke about the “Pfumvudza” Programme where people ploughed and we had good rains, so people are going to have a bumper harvest. All this came from our President, Hon. E. D Mnangagwa’s vision. He also spoke about how funds were going to be divided amongst the provinces. Here I am talking about devolution funds. He said devolution funds were going to be distributed, especially to those provinces that were lagging behind. I am here to thank the President.
I would also like to thank the President on behalf of the people of Nkayi. They have a dam that is called Ziminya Dam. People started talking about this dam since I was a young girl but now because of the Second Republic, Ziminya Dam is now going to get some money. They have already started working on it; they have started pegging because of our President, Hon. E. D. Mnangagwa. I would like to thank him for being a good President for this country Zimbabwe. I thank you.
(v)+HON. BRIG. GEN. RTD. MAYIHLOME: The Hon. Member could not debate due to network problems.
(V)+HON. NYATHI: Thank you for affording me this opportunity Madam Speaker. I would like to thank the President of this country, E. D Mnangagwa for his speech that he presented to Parliament.
I would like to thank him for the Pfumvudza Programme that he initiated, there will be no hunger in the country this year. People are looking forward to a bumper harvest and the money that was being used to import grain from other countries will now be ulitilsed for other purposes in the country.
His Excellency spoke about unity; he said we should unite as Zimbabweans. He further went on to say we should not discriminate each other on tribal, religion and political lines. He said we should unite for the progress of our country.
The President spoke on sanctions that were imposed on us by Western countries. He also spoke on corruption that people should shun from it because corruption is causing disharmony in the country.
As a Member of Parliament for Matabeleland South, I would like to thank the President because in Insiza, there is now an irrigation scheme called Ntalanya Irrigation Scheme. There are women, youths and men who are doing irrigation farming using that scheme. The President and his Government noticed that people were failing to pay their farming debts, he paid for them and the people are very grateful for that.
On COVID -19; some schools have no gadgets and electricity. May the Government assist by electrifying our schools so that our children may also benefit from e-learning.
There is a road that was tarred from Insiza to Mahole, Silalatshani and Avoca up to West Nickleson. This road was tarred from Filabusi up to the 50km peg. People from Silalatshani are requesting that this road be tarred up to West Nickleson. Insiza is divided into two sections that is, Insiza South and Insiza North. Insiza north is a resettlement area and children have to walk long distances to school. When people want to go to Bulawayo, they walk long distances, therefore, my request is that more schools and clinics be built so that they do not have to walk long distances.
There are many mines in Insiza, so, women and youths are requesting that they also be given mining claims so that they can also do their own mining to survive. I thank you.
(V)+HON. O. SIBANDA: Thank you Madam Speaker for affording me this opportunity. I would also like to thank the President for presenting the State of the Nation Address. He touched on a lot of topics and issues which shows that he is a listening President. These are things that he was being told by the people and his Cabinet Ministers. I would like to thank him mostly on the issue of COVID -19; because of his wisdom, he made us to follow the World Health Organisation guidelines on COVID -19.
However, on doing that, Madam Speaker, businesses were affected. I come from a rural constituency. Businesses in the rural areas have been affected a lot and because of COVID, a lot of them went down but we have to follow what the President said about Pfumvudza/Intwasa scheme, especially where I come from in Lower Gweru. Due to heavy rains, some people did not harvest as much as they thought they would, meaning that a lot of people are going to go hungry in Lower Gweru. In other areas, the Intwasa programme went on very well.
On education, the President spoke a lot on the issue of education as it pertains to the issue of languages that these young children should be taught in their mother languages. When it comes to the examination period, children from rural areas are transported to other schools to go and sit for examinations and most children fail to perform well. We appreciate that others did well and we would like to applaud that.
On irrigation, we are happy about the money that we got for irrigation. We received money to repair roads from Mango turnoff to Crossroads and roads leading to Masvingo/Lupane and Victoria Falls. We would like to thank the President for that because he is a listening President since that had never happened before but in this Second Republic, our Mnangagwa listens since he is a listening President – this is happening. We say that he has been in office for one year because the other year was overtaken by the COVID period.
There are elderly people who are on National Social Security Authority (NSSA) who are earning very low monies and have to travel to town from their rural homes to collect their pension money yet they used to collect money from the nearest post office. We now plead with the traditional leaders Madam Speaker; we must respect our traditional leaders. In Vungu, we have three chiefs and only one is substantive. We would like the other two to be made substantive so that our area can also develop. Boreholes should be drilled in every province and those on farms, the farms are dry because there is no water in places like Somabhula, Tugwi and other places.
We also received funds for devolution Madam Speaker. The President also spoke a lot on the endemic issue of corruption. I come from Gweru Town and people are happy because of the actions of our President, who is a listening President. We applaud the action taken which has led to people being arrested, especially those who were allocating residential stands on wetlands.
Now turning to the issue of security, the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) has neither vehicle nor is there a police station in my area. In an area called Magebhe, armed people came and killed an old woman and a three year old child but the President is saying that we should live in peace. I would also want to thank the President for his stance on empowering the people.
Vungu Constituency is full of women bakers who are working very hard. I do not want to take much time for other Hon. Members. I would like to wish the President a long life. I thank you.
(V)*HON. MUCHIMWE: Thank you Madam Speaker for affording me this opportunity to add my voice to this motion. His Excellency is a man of truth and it is no wonder he was named an investable figure. What he says will come out correctly and positively. He planned that all Members of Parliament should get tablets. He is a man of great vision. Now the tablets have proved crucial to the discharge of parliamentary business because without them, it would be difficult for Hon. Members to conduct Parliament business.
Hon. Madam Speaker Ma’am, in Marange communal lands, from 1980 we had never witnessed any work in progress on roads being tar macadamised, but today it is real and a dream come true as we are actually witnessing such work being done. People are happy in Mutare West Constituency, even children who have never seen a tar macadamised road have now witnessed the construction of such roads.
On dam construction, an excavator and diesel were donated. As a result, the dam that was constructed is now full of water. You would be surprised that not even a single officer has died of COVID-19, even though they were exposed to areas where COVID was prevalent. Thanks to His Excellency the President for his vision. He had also planned for the Independence celebrations commemoration in Bulawayo. This was going to be a first of its kind since no such event has ever occurred outside the capital since 1980 – what a national father he is. I thank you.
HON. TOGAREPI: Madam Speaker, I move that the debate do
now adjourn.
HON. BITI: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
Debate to resume: Wednesday, 17th March, 2021.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
HON. TOGAREPI: Madam Speaker, I move that Orders of the Day, Numbers 1 to 22 be stood over until Order of the Day, Number 23 has been disposed of.
HON. BITI: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
INTEGRATION AND INCLUSION OF ETHNIC MINORITIES IN ZIMBABWE
HON. BITI: I move the motion standing in my name that this House:
CONCERNED about the long history of the displacement of African communities in colonial Zimbabwe to make way for the white settlements;
DISTURBED that the legal infrastructure for the dispossession for African land remains intact 41 years after independence;
NOTING the continuous post-independence displacement of African communities;
NOTING FURTHER the uneven and unequal treatment of ethnic minorities in these relocations and displacements;
PARTICULARLY CONCERNED about the intended relocation of Shangani communities in Chilonga Chiredzi;
This House;
1. Urges a relook and revisit of communal land legislation permitting dispossessions and relocations.
2. Resolves that the Government must stop forthwith the relocation of the Chilonga communities.
3. Urgently enacts the laws necessary to enable devolution to become a reality.
4. Resolves that the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission prepares a report within six (6) months from the adoption of this motion on ways and means of the total integration and inclusion of ethnic minorities in Zimbabwe.
HON. TSUNGA: I second.
HON. TOGAREPI: On a point of order. Madam Speaker, when you look at this motion, it has many aspects that are now before the courts and allowing it to be debated, I do not know whether we are not going to expose ourselves to contempt of court or interference with another arm of the State. While the Hon Member is keen on debating this motion, I think we may end up crossing the other arm’s line of work. We need your ruling. I do not think it is correct that we debate something which is before the courts.
Hon. Biti having approached the Chair.
HON. BITI: In light of the discussions that I have had, if the motion could then be stood down pending further discussions with the Hon Speaker.
THE HON. DEPUTY SPEAKER: Thank you Hon Biti.
MOTION
BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
HON. TOGAREPI: I move that we revert to Order of the Day, Number 20 on today’s Order Paper.
HON. MPARIWA: I second.
Motion put and agreed to.
MOTION
INFRASTRUCTURE TO REPLACE DILAPIDATED WASH SYSTEMS IN OLD SUBURBS COUNTRYWIDE
HON. MUSHORIWA: I move the motion standing in my name that this House;
NOTING that some old high density suburbs in Zimbabwe’s cities such as Dzivaresekwa in Harare and Luveve in Bulawayo, among others were established several decades ago to cater and service a very limited number of people;
AWARE that there has been massive population growth in these suburbs with no commensurate investment in social services such as water provisioning, sewage reticulation and roads resulting in deplorable living conditions characterised by sewer, water and road challenges;
FURTHER AWARE that local authorities are currently incapacitated to invest huge sums of financial resources towards the renewal and revamping of these suburbs to meet the minimum urban standard requirement of a modern city;
CONCERNED that the constant deterioration of service delivery in such suburbs culminates in inadequate provision of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) contrary to the focus of Sustainable Development Goal No. 6;
WORRIED that the situation prevailing in these old suburbs is a time bomb which may result in massive deaths due to the outbreak of diseases such as diarrhea, cholera, typhoid and other social ills;
NOW THEREFORE, resolves that the Minister of Finance and Economic Development annually allocates at least two percent of the National Budget towards investment in new infrastructure to replace the dilapidated WASH systems in the old suburbs in cities, municipalities, towns and local boards countrywide.
HON. MARKHAM: I second.
HON. MUSHORIWA: Madam Speaker, you will recall that the first city to be established and the old suburbs that were established in Zimbabwe were established some many years ago. In 1890, the first high density suburb was established at Mucheke in Masvingo. In 1894 in Bulawayo, Makokoba was established. These were the earliest high density suburbs. The other old suburbs, for instance if you come to Harare you will see that Mbare was established in 1907. Highfield was established in 1930. Dzivaresekwa, Mufakose and Mabvuku were established in 1950s.
When these suburbs were established they were strategically built. In Harare, the industrial areas like Willowvale and Graniteside, the people from Mbare, Highfield were supposed to be working in those industrial areas. If you look at Msasa industrial area, people from Mabvuku were supposed to be working there. When they were established, it was meant for very few people. In fact, a number of city dwellers then were mostly bachelors. Those that were married used to go to their rural areas every weekend. The infrastructure in these suburbs, be it in Sakubva established in 1925 or Vengere in Rusape and all these cities, you will find that the number of dwellers that were intended to be serviced or stay in those areas were very few. What has happened is that over the years the numbers have actually gone up.
In Harare for instance, the population in Dzivaresekwa has ballooned to twenty times the normal size. Right now, the sewer system in Dzivaresekwa, Highfield, Vengere or Sakubva can no longer sustain the population that is within these suburbs. The provision of water is no longer possible. It is even worse when you look into the state of the roads – the roads were not meant for the volume of traffic that we now have. You will recall years back you could know that in Mbare or Dzivaresekwa, there is Mr. X who has a vehicle. Most people did not have vehicles but now many people do have vehicles. More importantly Madam Speaker, the high density suburbs that I am talking of are the high density suburbs that gave birth to the liberation of this country. It does not matter which political party you want to think of, be it ZAPU, ZANU or any political party, it was formed in the high density suburbs. Every one of us, every Hon. Member who is in this august House except a very tiny percentage – most of us, it does not matter where we are staying at the moment, our roots are in the high density suburbs. Either you were staying in the rural areas but when you were visiting your relatives, you would come either to Highfield, Mbare, Sakubva, Makokoba or Luveve. These suburbs Madam Speaker have got a rich history of this country and these places have moulded some of the best lawyers we have in this country, best engineers, politicians and many celebrated individuals that we have in this country. To that extent Madam Speaker, it is my view that we cannot allow those suburbs to die. We need to make sure that there is a mechanism to ensure those suburbs are rejuvenated, revitalised so that they continue to be urban centres.
Madam Speaker, the challenge that we have faced over the years is to do with the local councils. Their budget does not have the capacity to even invest into the huge infrastructure that is needed. For you to do the infrastructure budget for Harare only, if you look into the high density suburbs in Harare, you are talking of close to about US$3 billion or so for you to do proper sewer, proper water or even to look into the roads issue under. Understandably Madam Speaker, we do have other Government department like ZINARA that is collecting vehicle licenses, but the truth of the matter is even that money is not enough to sustain or to make Dzivarasekwa what it was when we attained independence or in the 1980s – even Highfield, Mbare, Luveve or even Sakubva. What is needed Madam Speaker is a deliberate plan and action by Government to ensure that resources are put into old high density suburbs so that they could be regenerated.
Right now Madam Speaker, if you go in some of these areas, the stadiums are now dilapidated. The social amenities, everything is now dilapidated. What is needed is a deliberate position taken by this House, by the Government to say out of the budget that we have, we allocate maybe 2% of it towards these suburbs. It does not matter whether it is Mazini in Beitbridge, whether it is in Kariba – all these suburbs, we need to bring back the urban aspect. The very thing that we used to say when we were down in the rural areas, I want to go to Harare. I want to go to Bulawayo. That old feeling needs to come back.
Madam Speaker, this is the reason I am asking this august House to help in this motion to say can the Government allocate a specific 2% of the budget towards the rehabilitation of these old suburbs so that when they do that, we will be in a position to move forward knowing that we have an urban set up. The problem of not doing that Madam Speaker is that if you look in Harare, Bulawayo and other cities, the new upcoming suburbs are no longer even maintaining or doing the standards which we had before. They look at the state of Dzivarasekwa, the state of Mbare and say we will just do the bare minimum. If we make sure that we maintain those old suburbs, it means all new developments will aim to do better or surpass the standards that are there. We cannot have new dwellings only having well built houses but with no infrastructure. The reason is that we have lowered the standard of urbanisation and this is the reason, I move that this august House compels the Minister of Finance to allocate a certain amount of money towards the rehabilitation, re-modernisation of the old suburbs, the suburbs that you think of across the country. I thank you Madam Speaker.
(v)HON. S. NDLOVU: Thank you Madam Speaker for giving me this opportunity to add my voice on the motion by Hon. Mushoriwa of Dzivarasekwa titled dilapidated infrastructure in the cities. Madam Speaker, I want to thank Hon. Mushoriwa for bringing this good motion indeed; noting that there are a lot of these old suburbs doted around the country and are in a dilapidated state. Madam Speaker Ma’am, allow me to zero in on old suburbs in Bulawayo, the second largest city in Zimbabwe, the City of Kings and Queens; especially the oldest townships as they are popularly known, emalokishini/kumarokeshini namely Makokoba, Luveve and Mzilikazi. Madam Speaker Ma’am, the first suburb to be established in Bulawayo is Makokoba in 1894, that is a hundred and twenty-seven years ago. For nearly 35 years, Makokoba was the only township for Africans in Bulawayo.
In 1931, the Southern Rhodesian Government built the Luveve African Village which is the second suburb to be established in Bulawayo, 90 years ago. After 1931, the next township to be built was Mzilikazi. Unlike Luveve which was sited far from the city centre, Mzilikazi Township was close to town and to Makokoba in particular. Mzilikazi Township built in 1945, that is 70 years ago, the township itself being named after the founding king of the Ndebele nation, King Mzilikazi Khumalo. Madam Speaker Maam, many structures within Mzilikazi Township were named after King Mzilikazi, namely Mzilikazi Primary School, Mzilikazi Library, Mzilikazi High School, Mzilikazi Arts and Craft Centre.
More townships were built in the post World-War II era in what was later termed the Bulawayo African Townships and that included Barbourfields and Nguboyenja. Challenges in the suburbs; physical infrastructure, sewer and water pipes have dilapidated and deterioration has taken place big time because of age. The sewage bursts are an eyesore and also a breeding ground for mosquitoes and this lead to waterborne diseases such as cholera, dysentery and diarrhoea that took place last year. A lot of people fell sick and some were hospitalized and some died, especially in Luveve Township.
Madam Speaker Ma’am, social infrastructure has dilapidated in terms of community facilities. The suburbs were adequately supplied with community facilities such as stadium, sport clubs, beer gardens, beer halls, swimming and community halls. These facilities are deteriorating because of poor maintenance and lack of funds to hire staff to manage the social infrastructure. The dilapidation of infrastructure is affecting the young because they run out of leisure and entertainment areas.
Madam Speaker Ma’am, solid waste dumping in nearby streams and near houses is becoming an eyesore. There is high crime rate which is highly perpetuated by the unemployment in the city; young people resort to robbery and pick pocketing. There is high employment levels leading to high crime rate and drug abuse.
Madam Speaker Ma’am, the houses in Makokoba, Luveve and Mzilikazi were built for bachelors looking for employment opportunities. After independence, big families started to move in into the small bachelor rooms which exposes the people to infectious diseases such as COVID-19, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. There is also invasion of privacy since a family of six to eight people will be sharing only a room. This puts a strain on the water and sewage infrastructure which best explains why sewer bursts are rampant in these areas.
Madam Speaker, I concur with Hon. Mushoriwa that Government grant 2 percent of budget to revamp these old townships since councils have no capacity to revive these buildings even the revenues they get are not enough, especially in this COVID-19 era. It will be a good thing to put a smile in our elderly who still reside in these very old suburbs. We have old flats that are dotted around the country that were built for bachelors but are for family residents now. I appeal to Government to demolish these structures and build decent flats for families.
Madam Speaker Ma’am, I want to thank you for this opportunity that you have given me to speak on behalf of the voiceless around the country, especially the people of Bulawayo and of course my own constituency which is Luveve Constituency.
HON. TOGAREPI: Thank you Madam Speaker, I would like to thank Hon. Mushoriwa for coming up with a very pertinent motion about urban development and the challenges that our old urban centres or areas are facing today. I observed that these old settlement, the ones you have listed like Mbare, Makokoba, Sakubva and so forth have been neglected even during colonial times and now. If you look at all the developments in all urban centres today you do not see focus on improving service delivery in Mbare. The same old story, I used to come to Harare as a young boy, the same state that Mbare is today is very close to what it was 30 years ago, meaning we really need to take the view taken by the mover of the motion that Government, the City Fathers must redirect resources to ensure that these settlements are improved.
If you look in terms of population density up to today, most of our people stay in Mbare, Makokoba and Sakubva in their numbers. This shows you that these same people are very disadvantaged. The sewers are bursting, water system is not reliable, electricity is not servicing all the houses, and they have to improvise for them to get electricity. It looks like nobody cares I want to implore City Fathers to really look at how they can improve service delivery in these cities.
These cities for example, I will tell you in Masvingo, Macheke, it is largely as it was 30 to 40 years ago. We would want to preserve these. There are good areas that we can refer to as our own colonial settlements that then developed into proper urban areas. We need to improve them and preserve them as well but improve them in terms of all the social amenities, all the schools. If you go to those suburbs we want to see those schools, roads, water system improving and even the type of accommodation but maintaining the historical perspective because these were specifically designed for us as Africans; they are a historical monument, if you want, but we need to improve them as a people so that our people can get better services. In some areas, we can then start building upwards so that those who want to remain in Mbare associated with that history can remain there. When the mover of the motion came up with this, I said to myself – if it had come before the Budget, we could have pushed that such settlements get some share in the National Budget so that they are improved. If you go to Matapi today, you may not want to go there again but we can improve Matapi like what we saw recently our Government trying to spruce up some of the flats there. We can spruce the whole area and re-plan within the same area but maintaining the historical perspective of how Mbare, Sakubva and Makokoba were originally planned.
I would like to agree with the mover of the motion that we really put aside some money. We implore the City Fathers of Harare, Bulawayo, Mutare, Masvingo and Gweru to consider improving because these settlements have remained disadvantaged for a long time and we need a deliberate effort to improve these settlements for the good of our people. I thank you.
HON. BITI: Thank you Hon. Speaker Maam. I would like to rise in supporting the motion but I want to submit with respect that we should not romanticise past colonial injustices. These townships were created by colonialism in its ugly form.
Makokoba, Luveve, Mbare, Cowdry Park, Dulibadzimu and Sakubva were created as an expression of racist colonial dominance. The Pioneer Column moved into our country in 1888. Pursuant to the Rudd Concession, they thought they had a mandate to look for gold in Mashonaland and Matabeleland. They thought that up the Limpopo, there was another Rant or Eldorado. It became clear after 1897 that there was no Eldorado or Rant in this country. Attention then turned to the land, manufacturing and production of wealth in factories.
Initially, they did not require black people but they realised that they required labour in these settlements. They then created machinery in respect of which they disempowered the black men. By 1897, they passed the 1897 Native Ordinance Act that proscribed natives, Africans or indigenous people into reserves. All Africans were forced to stay in reserves. The few Africans who in fact required passes to come to urban areas were then put in small houses to provide labour to white capital. You were not allowed to bring your wife. If you go to Makokoba, Matute-Mbare or Block C Shashi in Mbare, there were bachelors’ quarters. Women were smuggled into those territories.
What we call kuchaya mapoto today was directly borne out of a system where men were not allowed to bring women but sometimes some of the labour that was required was female labour. Men and women who were not married started staying together sharing pots in order to provide work to the white person. Naturally, when you start ‘hitting the pots’, you also hit other things and that is how that term was created. We need to revisit the land question and the unfinished business of the liberation movement to reverse the colonial infrastructure.
In 1914, the Privy Council of Britain as it then was, determined the question brought on the question of land in Zimbabwe. There were four claimants to our land. First was the British Southern African Company (BSAC), Cecil John Rhodes’ Company which said and argued that we conquered the Africans in 1894 or after the First Chimurenga (Umvukela) therefore we are entitled to this land. Then there were the white settlers who were saying, you the company, you cannot own the land when you defeated black people here, it was an imperial act but let us own the land. There was the crown, queen or King George who argued that no, when the company conquered the Africans, it was doing so on behalf of the crown, therefore the land belongs to the crown. The fourth claimant was African people themselves who argued that this is our land and we are entitled to our land.
The Privy Council handed down judgement in 1919 – you cannot go through first year law without being taught this judgement; it is a 19 AC Judgement. This is what the Supreme Court or the Privy Council or the Highest Court in colonial Britain said about us Africans and I will read: “The estimation of the rights of Aboriginal tribes is always inherently difficult. Some tribes are so low in the scale of social organisation that their usages and conceptions of rights and duties are not to be reconciled with the institutions or the legal ideas of civilised society. Such a gulf cannot be bridged. It will be ideal to impute to such people some shadow of the rights known to our law and then to transmute it into the substance of transferable rights of property as we know them.” We were too uncivilised to own land.
In 1923, there was a referendum that took place in this country. White settlers, by a narrow majority decided to be a self governing colony. We could have easily become the ninth Province of South Africa. In 1925, the colonial Government then set up a Land Commission known as the Morris Carter Land Commission. The mandate of the Morris Carter Commission were two things; one, can whites and blacks live together; two, can blacks own land? The dominant view of the Morris Carter Commission was that we could not own land because we were too uncivilised. The dominant view was that whites and blacks could not live together because we were barbarians and we could later rise. They referred to a theory written by some sociologist called Stoddard who argued that there was congenital barbarism, in other words a black man can pretend to be civilised but he will go back to his natural status.
Madam Speaker, allow me to quote a submission that was made to the Morris Carter Commission by a certain Stanley from Manicaland Province. He is referring to what is called the congenital state and he wrote “deceptive veneers of civilisation may be acquired, but reversion to congenital barbarism ultimately takes place. To such barbarism stocks belong many of the peoples of Asia, the American Indians and the African negros”. One of the scholars referred to a theory called social confiscation and he argued that tribes and civilisations were like a cone. So the rich and sophisticated people were at the base. We, Africans were deemed to be 100% worse than the worst civilisations. The Morris Carter Commission accepted that and the result of that acceptance was the Land Apportionment Act of 1940.
One of the things that this Act did was that whites and blacks cannot live together. If you now look at these townships you have got Makokoba, Luveve and Nketa then you have got the Bulawayo city centre but on the other side you have the white man suburb, the Hillside of this world, Burnside and so forth. When you come to Harare, you have got Mbare, Mufakose, Dzivarasekwa, Chitungwiza then you have the city and the white men in Borrowdale, Greystone Park, Mandara, Highlands and Chisipite. So it is apartheid that has been maintained and reproduced. Therefore we need to revisit these cities not because we romanticise dispossession of land, we cannot romanticise Mbare or Makokoba. We need to dismantle the permanent features of the Rhodesian apartheid state which was codified in the Land Legislation, in particular the 1987 Ordinance, the 1930 Land Apportionment Act, Smith’s Tribal Trust Lands Act and present day Communal Lands Act. So it is much more than urban regeneration. It is attending to the unfinished business of the liberation struggle. We have to destroy the outstanding abuse of colonisation. If you go to Mbare or Makokoba you have families living in one room divided sometimes in partitions by curtains.
You have a situation in Matute where they take turns to sleep. You find young children loitering around midnight because it is not their turn to sleep. You find the indignity of parents/husband and wife being forced to sleep together in the presence of their children. No wonder why if you look at the rate of child marriages in Mbare or Makokoba and you look at the rate of vice, it is disproportionate to the size of the communities because of the way that our people are living. So, to me Madam Speaker, even two percent is not enough. We need to revisit this colonial legacy, this practice of apartheid that conflated the greed of the white person with racial interest and was supported by academic theory, the congenital barbarism, the theory of social cannonification. Crazy things but they believe them and if you have any doubt Madam Speaker, read the 1819 judgement of the British Council in the case called ‘In the Southern Rhodesia’, which held that black people were too uncivilised to own land. Forty-one years after independence, we have perpetuated that myth. You cannot get a title deed in Mbare, Magaba or Makokoba because the African was not a person and he could not own land. So, let us complete the unfinished business of the liberation movement. We went to war for land but once we took these huge farms, we failed to address the domestic de-socialisation brought about by these ugly suburbs. They are hooligans yes, I do not dispute that but they are also a colonial sobriquet and a colonial legacy which we need to dismantle. I thank you Madam Speaker.
(v)*HON. NYASHANU: Thank you Madam Speaker for giving me this opportunity to debate. I support the motion moved by Hon. Mushoriwa and seconded by Hon. Ndlovu. It is true that the old towns urgently require revamping. However, these towns are being run by leaders. We therefore expect such leadership to give us their development plans before we conclude that 2% of national budget should be allocated to municipalites for resuscitation of deteriorating suburbs. Are we saying those running these local authorities are not seeing this and if they are seeing it, what is their plan? We expect those in leadership to assume responsibility. I thank you Madam Speaker.
(v) *HON. R. R. NYATHI: I want to add my voice to the motion raised by Hon. Mushoriwa on the development of dilapidated old suburbs. This is an important motion especially at this time when everyone is supposed to live well. We do not expect to be in the state they are today after the country attained independence 41 years ago. We must look at the root cause of these issues. Councils get money from rates and rentals and there is an English saying that says, “Rome was not built in one day”. We are not seeing the little effort that is being done by the councils to improve living conditions of people in these mentioned areas or locations.
I am the Member of Parliament for Shurugwi North. We have a place called Makusha. Right now, we are setting money aside from the devolution funds to build toilets because people were using communal toilets where the elderly people share ablution and bathroom facilities with children, which is dehumanising. So we decided to do this project to help our people but the most important thing that has to be done in these areas is to have yearly work plans for what you want to achieve so that you can actually monitor and assess whether those projects are being undertaken. You will find that if we agree that they get that 2% which is very critical for our people we may end up coming back to the same problem in that even if they get that 2% on the ground, nothing will be happening and the monies will be diverted to paying salaries, allowances and buying cars which will not benefit the community. So we need to look at this issue carefully on how this money will be used.
Going back to what has been alluded to by the previous speakers, that during the colonial area people were not given any respect and had no rights. They were expected to live in one room or small house with no privacy even if they had a wife coming to visit. We do not expect our people to be still living in such conditions now. We want to applaud our Government for coming up with a special strategy through the Ministry of National Housing that looks at building new houses to accommodate families/people who are living under such conditions.
Hon. Speaker, you understand that a person’s life ishonga kamwe sehumhandara. A person has one life and that life is very important such that it has to be enjoyed to live a long life. So, it is important that from the devolution funds from Government …
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order Hon. Nyathi, we have been advised that we have got a technical fault which cannot enable us to translate from vernacular to English. So, I am kindly asking if you can either speak in English or alternatively submit a written contribution to the Hansard so that it can be captured for the benefit of everyone and the nation. I am kindly asking if you can speak in English and going forward, Hon. Members, I am kindly asking you to then speak in English. If not, that means you have to make your contribution through a written report to the Hansard. I am really sorry but as soon as the fault gets fixed, I am sure we can then proceed in any other language.
HON. TSUNGA: On a point of order Madam Speaker. I may not object at this stage to your ruling in regard to use of language, but I am only highlighting that it may actually be unconstitutional in that you are depriving Hon. Members to debate in a language of their choice that is provided for in the Constitution of this country. I am not too sure how we can be able to proceed if members are denied the right to contribute in a language that the Constitution of this country has said is one of our recognised official languages. Can there not be an alternative way of capturing the submissions by Hon. Members and the Hansard team can then be able to translate that much later.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: That is a very valid point but currently, we are saying this is just a technical hitch. It can be rectified maybe anytime soon. So I thought maybe it would not really make sense for you to then speak and see your contribution not in the Hansard. The reason why I was speaking is because now we have a technical challenge which I believe is quite short-lived. I am sure it is going to be rectified anytime soon. So I am going to indulge Hon. Members that would want to speak in English so that at least we do not deprive them their right to contribute but however, the other option if the technical hitch is to continue, I would advise that this motion is not going to be closed today. Any Hon. Members that feel they would want to contribute after can be able to do that, but not today if it means it is actually depriving them their rights.
(v) *HON. GONESE: On a point of clarification. My point of clarification is that apart from the issue raised by Hon. Tsunga, I think previously we have also raised it in this august House. I am referring to the issue of simultaneous translation so that if one is speaking in whatever language, the other Member who is not conversant with that language, can follow proceedings in a language of his or her own choice. If you participate in zoom meetings for example, on regional or continental platforms we have got that facility for simultaneous transaction. I would like the Chair to clarify what steps have been made by Parliament to ensure that in future we have a situation where Members are not able to express themselves in a certain language but any language of their choice because it is provided for in the Constitution.
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Thank you very much, it is also a very valid point. I am sure this is being noted. I think there is need to expedite movement when it comes to that issue because it has not yet been addressed but it is an issue that was raised before. I am sure the Clerk is privy to this and it can be rectified as soon as possible. I also want to say that Members have not been denied their privilege to debate but the alternative that we have given is meant for Members who feel that they really need to contribute today, whereby they would write their contributions. The other solution is that as for future debates, the problem will have been rectified. I am going to indulge those that are going to be speaking in English for now and when the problem has been rectified then we can indulge everyone.
(v)HON. R. R. NYATHI: I want to add my voice to a very important motion that was raised by Hon. Mushoriwa and seconded by Hon. Ndlovu. I am looking at the developments that have taken place since our independence. It is very important for us to note that the coming up of independence has actually blessed most of us. We now own land and houses in towns but where I think there is a problem is an area where Hon. Mushoriwa has raised a motion, that much of our oldest towns still remain unattended to.
Madam Speaker, I think we need to look at what has caused this deterioration yet we collect money from water, electricity and so forth. It shows that our councils are not managing finances very well, which I think we need any oversight role over the use of finances in our councils. I think with the little money they are getting we should be in a position to see some little improvements here and there. For example, we want to see three kilometres of sewerage pipes being repaired since you know that when these houses were built they were meant for one person but now a room has about five to ten people. So, the sewer system cannot cope with that and as a result, we now have sewer bursts and raw sewer all over causing diseases.
Madam Speaker, I am also looking at a situation that we are taking up in Shurugwi; I am the MP for Shurugwi North Constituency. We also have an old town there called Makusha, built during the colonial era. You would see that they were using communal toilets and communal bathrooms and some of the toilets did not have doors. So you would see a grandfather, father, school going child, Grade 1 child and a five year old child sharing the same toilet and bathing facilities which I feel the situation is very dehumanising. I think we need now to look at it with a perspective of improving the living conditions of our people on a daily basis or monthly basis. Our councils should have a budget for the improvement of such areas.
At Makusha in Shurugwi, we have started building some toilets using part of the devolution funds to try and improve the situation there. In Makokoba, Mbare and all these other old settlements, you see that there is raw sewerage in almost every city, even in Chitungwiza the situation is the same. Madam Speaker, we must start refocusing on improving those areas. We need to applaud the coming up of the Ministry of Housing because they have brought up a new strategy of building houses. This is also saving us from the much talked about topic on wetlands and demolitions that are most likely to happen in many places. People have invested a lot of money and some went to the extent of getting loans from the banks, built houses worth something like US$200 000 and you just watch your house being pulled down. Some of the children are doing ‘O’ levels and others are doing Grade 7; they will be traumatised. I just want to say all of us now go that route because we may not have adequate money to look after people that are in old suburbs. I think for the meantime, it is proper for us to use the little money that councils are getting from the residents. Also, we should put to good use the monies that are allocated to our councils through the devolution funds so that we can improve the lives of our people.
I want to thank Hon. Mushoriwa for coming up with this pertinent motion. I think as we put this item on the budget, it is also very important that we improve the status of our people; the living standards of our people. A happy person is a person that is able to produce better for his or her country and in the long run, it will also upgrade our GDP. It will also improve our productivity. Thank you Madam Speaker.
HON. MPARIWA: Thank you Madam Speaker for giving me this opportunity to add my voice to this very important motion moved by Hon. Mushoriwa and seconded by Hon. Ndlovu. I think a lot has been said in terms of what connects people with the routes where they come from. If you look around or if you hear anyone here comes or connects with a certain community – if you say Mbare, some grew up there, if you say Mabvuku, some grew up there or they still have relatives or their parents in these old communities.
Let us not forget that even those that are not mentioned here are also to do with old suburbs. You will find that in all these set ups where accommodation is a problem and the houses are no longer fit for a huge family, there is the face of a woman, the child, the youth and hence, the abuse that you may even see in the communities. I think Hon. Biti touched a lot on those and so I will not belabour the House by repeating.
Madam Speaker, there has been massive urbanisation, relocation from growth points and from our own rural homes to the urban areasbecause when anyone grows up, they believe that they can make it in the capitals. Therefore, they go to the various community locations in order for them to look for employment or any lucrative attractions. Unemployment has also caused that and you will find that idleness in terms of even the amenities that are supposed to be attractive because people are overcrowded – you will not identify anyone with suburbs that are to do with those who have the monies.
I will cite for example the toilets, the showers, Shawasha Flats, Mapitikoti Flats in Mbare – if one was to go there where you used to flash the toilet, it is no longer there and nobody knows whether it was there in the first place. If one was to go to bath in the communal toilet or bathroom, there is no shower to talk about and people use buckets. To an extent, if one is not careful with your soap or towel, it will just disappear before you can finish bathing. Such is the situation everywhere where you have overcrowded communities.
Accommodation and decent housing is a basic right as pronounced in the Constitution. Therefore, as Zimbabwe I think we need to improve and move with speed in terms of improving the living standards of our people in the communities. In fact, they form the highest figures in terms of our voters – so we need to look after them. We are not looking for votes, but to improve their living conditions. Earlier on in the 50s and 60s, for one to acquire a four roomed house – because there is a difference between a four roomed house and a four bedroomed house. To acquire a four roomed house was an achievement but nowadays, it is not even adequate for one to say I have got a house.
My persuasion is that Government has to come up with a plan through the Ministry of Housing and Social Amenities for four roomed houses that they can construct and give as a loan facility to the communities. You can design even the Makokoba, Mzilikazi Flats or houses that are totally dilapidated into museums for our children and grand-children not to forget the history of this country. We should not hide even the names and the addresses because all the leaders – everyone who is anyone wherever they are in the lucrative suburbs, they belong somewhere in these dilapidated locations.
Madam Speaker, I looked at several ministries that could team up and I came up with the following ministries: the Ministry of Small to Medium Enterprises, Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Ministry of Local Government and the Ministry of Housing and Social Amenities. I recommend that there has to be a joint visit to all the old locations tabulated to say if we are going to Bulawayo, which suburbs are we going to visit. We have to dig deep into the files of the local authorities to find out which ones came first so that we do not leave any of the old locations.
The relevant Portfolio Committees can team up and tour all those suburbs as Parliament so that they can produce a report and present that report in this Parliament. Hon. Speaker, I worry that we may talk of one, two or three leaving the others. Some of us have backgrounds in Mufakose. There is a lot happening in terms of the sleeping arrangements like Hon. Biti has mentioned. In my closing, I want to applaud Hon. Mushoriwa and his seconder and those who have spoken before me in coming up with such a motion that release the memories in terms of where we come from.
In the location, children are playing football which is made up of plastics because there are no social amenities. During the evenings, they cannot also put up in a decent house. At least can they have decent accommodation? Those who are learned will say these houses which we are talking about are no longer fit for human habitation. I rest my case. Thank you Madam Speaker.
HON. MUNETSI: Thank you Madam Speaker. I rise to add my voice to this very important and unfamiliar presentation by Hon. Mushoriwa, seconded by Hon. Ndlovu. This is one thing in one area people never thought of that we are a people together in this country and if we should talk about equality and we leave people living in squalid conditions like that, then there is no equality. If you look at the types of shanty homes which were described by the presenter Hon. Mushoriwa, you can vividly see with your eyes and in your mind the type of life that those people are facing from those small archaic homes, built long ago. We cherish the towns that we have today brought but we should also try by all means to make sure they move to the current situation. I hope there is one day from this discussion – to equate Mbare and Belvedere, and then we are moving in the right direction. By looking at the types of homes in those areas, they are very small. There are a lot of children playing along the roads, at times bumping into cars, at times avoiding cars. I look at the health centres which were built long ago, they are still in use just like the flats we have in some of the suburbs, very old. I look at how people are crowded in those areas, which is also a health hazard. Of course, those old suburbs have brought a lot into this country. Take for instance ZBC is in Mbare, meaning to say then it was a splendid centre but now it has been left behind by time. What the presenter was simply saying to us is let us take it upon ourselves to make sure those areas move with time and I agree with you 100%.
Look at the gaping environment in most of those suburbs. Take for instance Mbare, if you go down to Mbare there and see how children are playing in the dirty water, something which is not in the up market suburbs. We do not see that. Is there no way to harness the dirty water so that children do not play in dirty water?
What of the dirty environment. I passed through some of those suburbs once upon a time and some of the flats have no windows. You just see some boxes which are fit on the windows. People are staying there and they appear to be happy, but are we happy as leaders that our people live in such kind of situations? Look at the clumsily built shanty houses. I cherish those areas, like I said ZBC is in Mbare. Some soccer giants also came from suburbs like that, for example Gwekwerere who was born and bred in Mbare. Some big musicians have come from suburbs like that.
So all I am saying is there is a lot of talent in those suburbs. Old as they appear, there is a lot of talent. That is the reason why before we go to Heroes’ Acre we go to Stoddart Hall. It is in Mbare, it is an icon there. So we cherish and like those areas, but let us improve them.
If I may ask a question – is there no way we can get them a budget and do something about those places than for those people to wait for maybe a donor or someone who may come whenever they feel they want to come. We are a country, we should walk together with those people. Is there no way we can get to the budget? If we are the people who pass the budget we can as well get back and make sure something is done immediately to uplift those areas. If you are serious about equality, Hon. Speaker, then let us do something about those areas like yesterday. I thank you.
(v) HON. I. NYONI: Thank you Madam Speaker for affording me this opportunity to contribute on this very important motion by Hon. Mushoriwa seconded by Hon. S. Ndlovu, the motion on the state of the old suburbs, particularly the issue of water, sanitation and lighting.
It is indeed true and a fact that provision of water and adequate sewer system in these suburbs is no longer adequate. It is also true that in these suburbs is where you find these hostels that were designed as single quarters a long time ago. At the moment these quarters are also accommodating families which is not a good thing as such.
I recall on the 2021 budget strategy paper by the Hon. Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Hon. Ncube, the housing strategy was in the budget which involved the rehabilitation of all suburbs such as Makokoba, Mbare, Sakubva and others throughout the country. The Minister, I recall, stated the rehabilitation project of these suburbs would be done if Parliament approved and yet in the approved budget there was something like $1.3 billion. However the issue of these suburbs should not be taken in isolation. We recall the new suburbs that were built under operation Garikayi/Hlalani kuhle. Sometime in 2005 citizens were also allocated stands during this operation. The idea was good that stands…
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER (HON. MAVETERA): Hon. Nyoni there seems to be something wrong with your network. I am sure we have lost him. He is still there but we cannot hear him.
(v)HON. CHARLES MOYO: Thank you Madam Speaker for affording me this opportunity so that I can add my voice to this important motion by Hon. Mushoriwa and seconded by Hon. Ndlovu.
First and foremost, Madam Speaker, I think I need to highlight that I like the debate here because it points to lesson building. I think I was used to the blame game to say our local authorities are run maybe by the opposition and surely we blame the councilors that they are failing to run the affairs of our city, but I am seeing a different
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order Hon. Moyo. May you please go and dress properly?
HON. S. BANDA: Thank you Madam Speaker Maam. I want to thank Hon. Mushoriwa for coming up with a very important motion, seconded by Hon. Ndlovu. The issue of all towns concerns all of us. I think most Members of Parliament may have stayed in such towns. The problem that we face is there is no more room for expansion. The population continues to grow. For instance, Harare was meant for about 500 000 people but now it inhabits about 3 million people over the same facilities having been there since time immemorial. So, sewage blockages, water absenteeism, pro-limitations which no longer exists, refuse collection which is a nightmare, et cetera, are a problem because time has passed and we have really been lined for the future.
Residents always wonder whether they have to pay rates or not because the majority of the things they are supposed to pay for are no longer happening. For instance in Harare, only 32% of rates are being paid so the majority is not paying. We have about three councils in Zimbabwe. The money that councils are receiving was not going towards capital expenditure, it was going towards maintenance. So it means we are maintaining existing infrastructure without necessarily adding new infrastructure so that we ease pressure which cause sthese symptoms that we are seeing now. This disease did not start after independence but it started way back before independence due to population growth which exceeded infrastructure growth. If we look closely Madam Speaker, since this city was constructed, what other infrastructure has been constructed after that. We can find that there is almost nothing, it is almost like that in those small towns we are referring to.
In my memory, the last construction work which took place, we have not really seen much in terms of that particularly with the existing ones. So sources of capital are decapitating. Allow me to say, also on one end, due to sanctions. When sanctions came in we were unable to borrow any funds from any external sources. That has constricted and that is where infrastructure suffers because we do not have a source of capital. I also call on Hon. Members and all Zimbabweans to move together so that at the end, we address issues that are primary but these sanctions must come to an end. That way we can be able to get infrastructure capital Madam Speaker.
Corruption is another disease which we need to solve. I support Hon. Mushoriwa where he said 2% of the budget should go towards infrastructure development. I also support Hon. Biti where he spoke about the bids for small towns otherwise Section 71(2) of the 2013 Constitution on people’s rights is being violated. I would also like to thank the Minister of National Housing for the initiatives that they are coming up with. We would like to see those policies being implemented because we have seen policies being talked about, we need to construct this road and that but nothing happens. Let this be a real thing Madam Speaker. Lastly, we also need to declare a national disaster on the state of housing in all townships so that they can get due attention. I thank you.
Hon. I. Nyoni resumed debate after having been reconnected.
HON. I. NYONI: I would like to thank you for giving me this opportunity to continue with my debate on Hon. Mushoriwa’s motion. I was talking on operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle, which also was taken together with this issue of these common suburbs because residents in these new Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle houses also have no water and proper sanitations. We have Cowdry Park in Bulawayo, we have some here in Harare, we have Sakubva in Mutare, Masvingo and other areas. So it is important that when budget is allocated, this issue is also taken into account.
I also agree with Hon. Mushoriwa on the 2% allocation. However, I would like to add that perhaps local authorities should also encourage payment of rates so that part of that money is included in the refurbishment of these suburbs. Also the devolution funds allocated to these towns and cities, part of it, I think it is logical that it is used in these issues.
Last but not least, let me conclude by saying that devolution of these funds should be made a priority on building of new family suitable flats. Also allocation of adequate resources to ensure implementation is done. Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am.
Hon. C. Moyo resumed debate after having been properly dressed.
HON. C. MOYO: Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am. I was highlighting that this portion is very important because it is bringing the august House in togetherness in terms of debating about issues which are affecting our people. Let me also highlight that by providing clean water and sanitation to our people, we will be responding to SDG 6, that is from our Sustainable Development Goals. I think what is very important to highlight is the incapacitation of our local authorities and I will explain more about that Madam Speaker Ma’am. Our residents are paying whatever they are paying in RTGs but the service providers will require United States dollars for their services either for pipes or chemicals. Hence, our local authorities are failing to cope with the demand to get the US dollars to pay these suppliers. Most importantly is how budgets are done in our local authorities. I will take for example, the budget priority list for Bulawayo City Council for 2020 where they prioritised water as number one, health as number two, sewerage as number three, housing as number four, roads as number five, education as number six, public lighting as number seven and social services as number eight.
Madam Speaker Ma’am, it means whatever funds they receive from the rate payers, they will share accordingly, to say of course we will give more share on our water. We give secondly on health, maybe leaving sewerage, housing, roads, education, et cetera with no cent. So, it is important to note that our local authorities are incapacitated. Hence they take whatever they get from ratepayers maybe just to maintain rather than revamping our old cities Madam Speaker Ma’am. For example, my constituency Mpopoma-Pelandaba, we have got ten people sharing one room. I am trying to buttress the point of population growth. We have got 30 people sharing one ablution facility. That is inhuman Madam Speaker Ma’am and surely something has to be done.
Mabuthweni and Iminyela residents do not have title deeds. I am also trying to buttress the point which was highlighted by Hon. Biti and Hon. Banda. Something must be done so that our people have got title deeds, more ablution facilities and do not share one room when they are about ten people. I thought it is important to highlight and what I am trying to point at is maybe let us not just look at Mbare, Makokoba, Luveve, Mpopoma – Pelandaba. We need to work with our local authorities so that they can prepare a list and provide their budgets to say maybe as Bulawayo City Council, we are dealing with how much so that they can revamp all the cities. We go to Harare and other local authorities. That is very important Madam Speaker Ma’am.
If they are able to come up with those important budgets, we will be able then to say let us embrace smart city concepts. Smart city concepts includes having smart infrastructure, smart road networks, smart energy, smart technology, smart health care, smart sporting activities and lastly smart education. So, let us have the 2% or more because that will depend on what our local authorities would have budgeted and make sure we provide accordingly so that they can embrace the smart city concept.
Makokoba re-development project was muted in 2015 Madam Speaker Ma’am. I think it is important to highlight so that we may not say maybe local leadership and our local councils are doing nothing. After that because of financial incapacitation, that re-development project has been on standstill from 2015 until 2017. In 2017, there was an expression of interest and my understanding is there was no taker. What it means is the Makokoba re-development project will remain a shelve project because of incapacitation. Surely, I support that we need to provide the 2% or more depending on what our provincial councils could have budgeted so that we revamp all our locations. Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am.
HON. TSUNGA: Thank you very much Madam Speaker Ma’am. I also rise in support of this motion by Hon. Mushoriwa, seconded by Hon. Ndlovu. Before I go into my debate Madam Speaker Ma’am, I wish to quote two sections of our Constitution. The first one is Section 51, entitled ‘Right to Human Dignity’; “Every person has inherent dignity in their private and public life and the right to have that dignity respected and protected.” So, the question we ask is, given the squalid conditions under which our people in the various settlements cited in the motion, are we promoting the right to human dignity.
The second constitutional provision that I want to cite Madam Speaker Ma’am is Section 73 of the Constitution, ‘Environmental Rights’. Section 73 (1) (a) reads, “Every person has the right to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being.” So, again Madam Speaker Ma’am, given the squalid conditions that our people are living in the cited settlements, are we promoting the realisation or progressive realisation of this right. The answer is a categorical no. We must be seen to be taking the necessary actions, policies, programmes and projects that promote the progressive realisation of these rights.
Madam Speaker Ma’am, a lot of those that have spoken before me have already highlighted a number of issues, which included the siting of these locations that they are on the windward side where all the fumes from our industries nestle at the end of the day, where all the dust blows towards and where all the pollution or the rivers that have been polluted flow through. The Government has not taken the necessary steps to ensure that the rights of these people are protected in so far as fighting pollution is concerned.
Madam Speaker Ma’am, in Mutare for example, we have such locations as Old Township Singles, referred to commonly as OTS. We have Chisamba Singles, Mundembe, Mutangadura, Zororo, NHB, Mawonde and other council owned areas that are also in a sorry state, including one area called the Sanitary Compound or the Pit. I think this is where the employees used to tend the sewerage ponds. Madam Speaker Ma’am, these locations are in a sorry state. Local authorities have to be capacitated to be able to rehabilitate, renovate and perhaps demolish and reconstruct the houses at these sites.
Madam Speaker, I also have a bone to chew with our Local Government in conjunction with local authorities. The focus has been to demolish dwellings of those people making an effort to provide themselves with decent accommodation, while the people have made or taken all the necessary steps to ensure that the allocations of stands are above board. We have seen a willful desire by the authorities to demolish those houses of individuals who are making an effort to provide themselves with decent housing. Why not take an effort to regularise where land barons have moved in to prejudice home seekers of their hard earned money through illegal land sales? Is there no way that Government and local authorities can move in to regularise rather than take pride in demolishing?
Madam Speaker, we have also seen local authorities, for example in Mutare where people who have been living in council owned houses for over 20 -30 years, in some instances being evicted from those houses, dilapidated as they are because they are no longer on the council employ. All this is happening when people were made to believe that ultimately they will own those houses and they are in their 60s, 70s and 80s yet they are evicted. Where do they go?
In a way, local authorities and Government are promoting the squalid living conditions that our people have to endure. We have people who were living for several years in the Fire Brigade Compound in Mutare who have been rendered homeless because they have been evicted. We also have people in the valley that I have referred to earlier on, who are also threatened with eviction. These people have no capacity of building their own homes at that advanced age. The option for them is now to also go and further congest the already congested old townships in our cities.
Therefore, there must be definite steps taken by local authorities and Government in ensuring that some kind of home ownership scheme is made an option for those people who have been staying in council owned houses for so long. If anything, those people have been paying rentals to council and if those houses were to be on the market, they are already paid up and yet people continue to pay rentals and are evicted after providing service for so many years.
Madam Speaker, my plea is that Government must rein-in local authorities that are overcharging residents in terms of rates. Already, we hear a national outcry of residents about the amounts of rates that local authorities are charging that are way beyond the capacity of residents to pay. In Mutare for example, we have seen petitions being submitted to the Ministry of Local Government where people are saying council has been insensitive in terms of the upward review that it has made for rentals. It does not appear like there is any sympathetic ear of the suffering masses.
The rehabilitation of recreational facilities in these locations is also long overdue and must be prioritised. I have already talked about the need for a mandatory home ownership scheme so that our people do not remain homeless and at the end of their working lives, they are condemned to destitution.
The whole concept of Public-Private Partnerships in housing delivery must be considered by both local authorities and Government. There must also be some kind of partnerships even with formal financial institutions that are making huge profits from people’s deposits. That money could well be used in upgrading the living conditions of our people by way of constructing new houses, renovating the existing ones, demolishing those that are beyond redemption and building new structures.
One Hon. Member, I am happy has already talked about the need for high rise structures and I think this needs serious consideration given that the space in our urban areas is not expanding yet the population is increasing. So, the whole idea of high rise building can help alleviate the problem of scarcity of space because then we can use our space to accommodate more people.
Madam Speaker, I now turn to devolution. For now, we all know that we do not have an enabling Act that gives effect to the devolution clause in the Constitution. We do not have an accountability structure for devolution funds that Government is already disbursing. What we now suspect is that local authorities have the capacity to apply those funds in a manner that does not necessarily advance the devolution agenda per se and nobody can be able to question them because there is no point of reference in terms of legislation that operationalises the devolution clause in the Constitution.
Therefore, my plea is that the Bill to operationalise the devolution clause must be brought before Parliament so that we debate it and ultimately pass it, then the legislative process takes its due process. At the end of the day, we will have an Act that can now enable us to monitor the application or utilisation of devolution resources by various local authorities.
Madam Speaker Ma’am, although the motion specifically talks about the old townships as they were called in the major towns and cities, I would also want to expand it a bit to include mining and farming compounds because the living conditions in those areas is as bad as those in the townships in our towns and cities. If anything, we still have pole and dagga under thatch compounds and we have our people living in such conditions. So there is need for a wholesome approach to addressing the whole issue of housing in the townships and compounds so that our people across sectors live in decent housing that promotes healthy living and national development.
I have spoken about demolitions and to conclude Madam Speaker Ma’am, I would say that through the Ministry of National Housing and Social Amenities, the 2% as proposed by the mover of the motion is supported but we can also have an alternative of a matching grant by Government. Where councils are able to raise a certain amount towards housing delivery then Government should be able to provide a matching grant so that the money put together is now a pool towards housing delivery. It is an alternative because people may start asking, what is magical about 2%? Why not 3, 5 or 10 and so forth? So 2% is correct in terms of how it has been presented but questions can still linger about the magic behind it. So perhaps a matching grant can be an alternative Madam Speaker Ma’am…
THE TEMPORARY SPEAKER: Order, order! Hon. Tsunga, you are left with five minutes.
HON. TSUNGA: Thank you very much; I think I should be able to finish Madam Speaker Ma’am.
All said and done Madam Speaker Ma’am, the funds mobilised for this urban renewal concept as presented by the mover of the motion, must go towards investment in high-rise buildings, improvement of social amenities including our swimming pools, sports fields, recreational parks, road repairs. Now, we see youths taking pride in filling potholes on our roads using earth but it does not last long. It is not sustainable; schools, clinics, water and sewerage, even cemeteries in these areas are in a sorry state. These need to be looked at and upgraded too. This also must go towards re-greening efforts in our cities, so they must look beautiful and of course, let us also have museums to record all that has happened over the years so that we do not lose some of the important issues over time.
Madam Speaker Ma’am, railroad crossings in these areas have continued to cause problems for our citizens and we have seen a lot of fatal accidents happening. This renewal process must also include investing in fly-overs so that we do not have railroad level crossings that pose a danger to our motoring public and pedestrians. Madam Speaker Ma’am, I support this motion and hope that it will be adopted by this House. All said and done, I thank you.
HON. T. MOYO: Thank you Madam Speaker Ma’am for giving me this opportunity to express my sentiments and also to ventilate on the most important motion tabled by Hon. Mushoriwa and seconded by Hon. Ndlovu. I will ensure that I deliver a short and sweet debate in the interest of time.
I will start with the numbers game Madam Speaker Ma’am. In 2018, 4.2 billion people, that is 55% of the world’s population lived in our cities. It is anticipated that by year 2050, there will be 6.5 billion people living in our cities. This is very important because the issue of housing is a very central issue which needs some assessments and evaluations. Urban population has dramatically increased as a result of rural/urban drift in light of the Malthusian theory which states that, ‘when population is not controlled, it has a tendency to increase in a geometrical progression’. In this vein, old suburbs like Mbare and Makokoba are no exception in terms of overpopulation and also in terms of infrastructure that is failing to cope with the ever-increasing population.
Before the rise of these townships, it is important to note Madam Speaker Ma’am, that initially there were compounds that were in Mbare and not townships. There were compounds and there was a Compound Manager. There were so many restrictions in the compounds as a way of restricting movement of Africans into towns – this was in line with racial discrimination. I will not say much about racial discrimination so that I do not repeat. It is important to highlight the fact that the infrastructure, particularly water and sewer pipes are too old. They were installed around 1900 and some of those pipes are still surviving to date. This explains why it becomes inevitable for those pipes to burst leading to water shortages in the townships that will culminate in high morbidity and mortality rates. We have seen townships experiencing diseases like dysentery, diarrhoea and cholera to mention but a few. Those diseases are caused by poor service delivery in the hands of local authorities.
According to Sustainable Goal 11 on Citizen Communities, it is important to know that sustainable development cannot be achieved without significantly transforming the way we build and manage our urban spaces. We need to build and manage our houses and housing policies in the same way we did to the Central Business District (CBD). As an economic historian, I will inform the House that the CBD for Harare was not where it is now. It was along Kaguvi Street because of the transformation which was done then, it was seen fit to move the CBD to First Street. That is where Government buildings were constructed. Now, we are also progressing to have the CBD relocating to Mt Hampden, that is where offices of Ministers, Presidium and Hon Members who will be lucky to survive in 2023 will be housed there.
In the same manner that we have expanded the CBD, we should transform places where Africans live. How is that going to be achieved? I will make a few recommendations. The first recommendation is that there is need for a commission of inquiry – we cannot just say 2% of GDP or what is collected per year should go towards rehabilitation of those suburbs. We need to find a scientific way or an enquiry of some sort which will come up with a figure of how of the GDP should be earmarked for the expansion of those townships or suburbs.
We need to have a holistic solution to this problem. For us to achieve that goal, there is need for this commission of inquiry. The issue of ownership is also very crucial and important. People need to have title deeds to their houses. We have people who are in Mbare who have been living in those small rooms or in the flats for the past 40 years without title deeds. Thank you very much for the little time that l got.
HON. MARKHAM: Thank you very much Madam Speaker. Most of my points have been covered but I would like to labour on one or two very small things and I will be very short. The issue is the infrastructure everywhere in Harare or any town has been grossly out- grown by the population by a factor of 4:1. This issue is worse in high density areas because that is where most of the population live. In order to solve this, we have a major funding issue both in local government and national government. The only way forward is for money to be set aside specifically for service delivery for infrastructure – whether it is water, sewerage, and roads.
One of the things I would like to labour is Public Private Partnership. The PPPs could be partnered with because they are simple. Over a period of 20 years we could partner with water, sewerage and electrical companies, particularly the Pomona waste dump, I have no idea why it has not been put into a PPP for 20 years. That way it takes the service delivery issues both on the national government side and the local government for 20 years while we concentrate on the secondary issues which follow from that which is housing. Housing is a great thing for people to go in for 20 years but we seem resistant to go into PPPs. I cannot see anywhere out of our current predicament particularly where we are looking at schools that have got four times the population. We are looking at roads that are totally dilapidated.
I am saying we should go into PPPs for 20 years for all these service items to get us out of trouble and remove it from the national budget so that we can coordinate ourselves because we have major issues. We have master plans in city of Harare that are from the 1980s. We have nonexistent local government plans in areas which are already built up. We have councils selling state land without local authority. We have local authorities selling wetlands to cover their debts. All these issues just lead to a degradation of our whole infrastructure. My prayer is that in view of this motion we should look at changing the book.
If you look at Asian countries they have gone high rise. You do not talk of stands but flats. Hon Biti talked about title deeds. When someone owns something they look after it. When it is something public, no one look after it. Those are my submission and I thank you.
HON. MAHLANGU: Allow me to add my voice on the motion raised by Hon Mushoriwa, seconded by Hon Ndlovu. As we speak about the old locations, let us not forget Pumula Constituency where there are thousands of houses that were built using mud. They did not use any cement. Due to the heavy rains this year, we experienced a lot of damages. Most houses fell down because they were not as strong as those built by bricks that are used with cement. The sewer system is always giving them a lot of problems just because the system is worn and it is very old. Most of those people who are occupying those houses are old people who are above 100 years who stay with their grand children or child headed families and they only survive through pensions and vending, and it is a problem for them to renovate those houses as long as they do not have any income that is coming.
My prayer is that NSSA and National Housing Ministry should prioritise Old Pumula so that at least they build three rooms for each granny for them to have good shelter. I would also like to invite Parliament to come and tour Old Pumula and see for yourselves. I thank you Madam Speaker.
HON MUSHORIWA: I want to thank Hon Members that debated on this motion- my seconder Hon. Stella Ndlovu, Hon. Togarepi, Hon. Biti, Hon. Nyashanu, Hon. Nyathi, Hon. Mpariwa, Hon. Munetsi, Hon. Nyoni, Hon. C. Moyo, Hon. Banda, Hon. Tsunga, Hon. T. Moyo, Hon. Markham and Hon. Mahlangu for the contributions that they have made. I just want to thank them and the entire House for this unity in terms of making sure that as a country, we move together. This is the spirit that builds nations. I want to thank, especially the Chief Whips who have made it possible for this debate to be taken today. Madam Speaker, I therefore move for the adoption of the motion.
Motion put and agreed to.
On the motion of HON. MUTAMBISI, seconded by HON. MPARIWA, the House adjourned at Twenty-Four minutes to Seven o’clock p. m.
