BILL WATCH 7/2023
[13th February 2023]
In the National Assembly 7th to 9th February
Both Houses will Sit in Week 14th to 16th February
Update on PVO Bill
Parliament has confirmed today that the PVO Bill has not yet been sent to the President for his signature. In terms of the Constitution Section 131(5):
“(5) After a Bill has been passed by both Houses in accordance with the Fifth Schedule the President of the Senate or the Speaker, as the case may be, must without delay—
(a) cause it to be presented to the President for assent and signature … ; and
(b) give public notice of the date on which the Bill was sent to the President.”
This does not seem to have been done with recent Bills being sent to the President for signature, but it is hoped that in the present case with so many people anxious about this Bill that Parliament will do so.
After the Bill arrives at the President’s office, he has 21 days to sign the Bill, after which the Bill will lapse.
Last Week in the National Assembly
Note the Senate was in recess all last week.
The National Assembly made some progress on Bills. The previous week’s fast-tracking procedure for Government business was only for one week and expired at the end of sitting on Friday 3rd February. The normal rules of procedure therefore applied, with Question Time on Wednesday taking up its allotted time.
Non-adverse PLC Reports on Bills
On Tuesday 7th February the Speaker announced the receipt of non-adverse reports from the Parliamentary Legal Committee [PLC] on the constitutionality of the four Bills listed below. These reports accounted for all the Bills that had been sent to the PLC the previous week:
Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Amendment Bill [“Patriot Bill”] [link]
Institute of Loss Control and Private Security Managers Bill [link] as amended by National Assembly. Apologies, last week the wrong link was given for this Bill
Judicial Laws Amendment Bill as amended by National Assembly
Police Amendment Bill as amended by National Assembly.
The receipt of the non-adverse reports meant that the four Bills could proceed to their respective next stages, In the event, later progress was made only two of them, the Institute of Loss Control and Private Security Managers Bill and the Police Amendment Bill [see following paragraph]. No progress was made on the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Amendment Bill [“Patriot Bill”] [link] and the Judicial Laws Amendment Bill because the responsible Minister, Minister Ziyambi, was absent on Wednesday and Thursday – but both are on the Order Paper for Tuesday 14th February.
Progress on Bills Tuesday 7th to Thursday 9th February
Child Justice Bill – Completion of Second Reading stage
Note: In Bill Watch 5/2023 , relying on the as yet – and still – uncorrected soft copy of Hansard for Tuesday 31st January on the Parliamentary website, we said that Minister Ziyambi wound up the Second Reading debate on this Bill, which was then given its Second Reading and a date for the Committee Stage. It now appears that the uncorrected Hansard was wrong. The Second Reading debate on the Bill was resumed on Tuesday 7th February, as summarised below.
On Tuesday 7th February the Second Reading debate was resumed and completed, with non-partisan contributions from Hons Biti, Nduna, Mliswa, Brian Dube, Chikwinya, Togarepi and Mayihlome. All supported the principle of the Bill, to separate child and adult criminal justice; all agreed that there should be separate provision for detained children and that they should not be housed in adult prisons. One disagreement was about the Bill giving the age of 12 years as the age at which a child would be presumed to have criminal responsibility. Hon Biti suggested 14 years and Hon Nduna suggested 16; other contributors favoured the Bill’s 12 years. The Minister wound up the debate and expressed his appreciation of the debate and his pleasure with the general support for the Bill, albeit with a few suggested amendments here and there.
As mentioned above, the Committee Stage was not taken on 8th or 9th February. It is, however, on the Order Paper for Tuesday 14th February.
Institute of Loss Control and Private Security Managers Bill as amended.
On Wednesday 8th February, the Committee Stage amendments to this Private Member’s Bill having have been cleared by the PLC’s non-adverse report mentioned above, Hon Dr Col (Rtd) Murire was able to pilot his much-amended Bill through the Consideration Stage [formal adoption of the amendments] and an affirmative Third Reading vote. The Bill was then sent to the Senate.
Police Amendment Bill as amended
On Thursday 9th November the Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage, Hon Kazembe, steered it through the Consideration Stage and an affirmative Third Reading vote. The Bill was then sent to the Senate.
Other Business in Parliament Tuesday 7th to Thursday 9th February
Ongoing debate on the President’s 23rd November 2022 SONA
This debate continued in instalments on Tuesday and Thursday.
Question Time on Wednesday
Both segments of Question Time – Questions without Notice and Questions with written Notice – went ahead on Wednesday, despite a long list of absentee Ministers. Hon Mhona, Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development, was the Acting Leader of Government Business in the absence of Minister Ziyambi; he efficiently handled policy questions on both his own Ministerial responsibilities and those absentee Ministers whose deputies were also absent. The Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, questioned about when the promised free education would start, admitted she did not have the resources at present but suggested that a supplementary Budget was needed. Questions about prostate cancer screening, which were expertly answered by the Deputy Minister of Health and Child Care, inevitably led to the absence of medicines and other necessaries in Government hospitals, on which the Deputy Minister assured MPs that the Ministry was trying to eliminate middlemen from the procurement process in an effort to reduce costs and have adequate supplies. On the shortage of vehicles for the ZRP, Hon Kazembe, Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage, said 100 new vehicles had already been received and 200 more were expected soon.
In response to a written question by Hon Markham about various aspects of ZINARA disbursements and commissions paid to contractor UNIVERN for software over the period 2013 – 2022, Hon Mhona supplied a detailed answer in writing giving the figures. Hon Mhona agreed that the original contract between ZINARA and UNIVERN had been most unsatisfactory – for example, there was no terminal date – but the contract had been renegotiated and would now come to an end when ZINARA had the necessary expertise.
Ministerial Statement: April to September 2022 Mobile Registration Exercise
Hon Kazembe, the Minister of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage, made a Ministerial Statement on the countrywide exercise conducted by the Registrar-General’s Office. The full statement, the follow-up requests for clarification by MPs and the Minister’s responses, are available on the Veritas website [link]. During the six months, 1.8 million birth certificates, 1.35 million identity cards and 53,000 death certificates were issued. The Minister also announced that there would be a “mop-up” registration exercise before this year’s general election – this time it would be co-ordinated with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission [ZEC] so that persons issued with IDs would have a chance to register as voters with ZEC in order to vote in the election; MPs reminded the Minister that there was very little time left for this.
Reminder: Bills Sent to the Senate in February
The following Bills were passed by the National Assembly with amendments and were sent to the Senate in their amended form. Consolidated versions incorporating the amendments will be posted on the Veritas website as soon as they are available from Parliament:
National Security Council Bill – sent 2nd February
Institute of Loss Control and Private Security Managers Bill – sent 8th February
Police Amendment Bill – sent 9th February.
These Bills do not appear on the Senate’s Order Paper for Tuesday 14th February, because the Order Paper was prepared immediately after the Senate went into recess on 2nd February. They will appear on the Order Paper for Wednesday 15th February.
